We held our Annual General Meeting on Friday 28th July at South Wootton Village Hall. Not only were the staff from West Norfolk Befriending and Board of Trustees present but we were finally able, after 3 years, to invite volunteers and clients. It was so lovely to go back to holding a summer celebration for everyone involved at WNB.
Alan Hayes, our chairman, gave a presentation on the progress WNB has made over the past year and expressed how delighted he was to see so much growth not only in the parishes we are covering which has gone from 23 to 35, but also in the number of clients we have been able to offer our services to. This has been possible thanks to a rise in the number of volunteers we have inducted over the past year. He also introduced our new Treasurer and Board member, Karl Jermyn, our accounts were approved and then the Board members were re-elected.
Pipa May, our CEO, thanked the staff, Board and volunteers for all their hard work. She said how lovely it was to finally be able to come together with some of our more mobile clients to see out the past year and welcome in the new financial year.
We had to say goodbye to two of our Board members. Jean McGuinness has been a member of the committee and volunteer for 9 years and has decided to step down from both positions. She has supported WNB in many ways from helping at our social events such as the coffee mornings and the Christmas Tree festival, as well as giving her time to befriend a number of clients over the years. We will be sorry to see her go but we have no doubt that she will continue to support us at our social events. We also said goodbye to Mike Carter Rowlands who has stepped down as a Board Member but will continue to volunteer as a Telephone Befriender. Our thanks to him for his support too.
Once the formalities were over, we were able to sit down for a delicious lunch of sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and cake. Plenty of tea and coffee were drunk and there was much chatter and laughter. It was a lovely opportunity to talk to our clients, some from past befriending and some current members.
