Update from Trustees

Robin Kendall Chair of Trustees 

This is a quick overview of what happens in a trustee board meeting, as well as a brief summary of some the topics we covered at our last meeting.  As you will see, we don’t just fight over the biscuits!

We have in recent months gone back to holding trustee board meetings every three months, which makes a welcome change from the weekly Zoom meetings we held for much of the Covid-19 pandemic.  And now that we are back to a more normal frequency of meetings, we have also reverted to a more conventional order of business.  

Going forward, we will start each meeting with a declaration of interest from each trustee, where we all declare any relationships we have with the Samson Centre and any linked organisations like the Guildford Waterside Centre.  The purpose of this is to let the other trustees know what “axes to grind” we each might have and to ensure that our decisions are always made with the best interest of the Centre in mind.  In some circumstances, trustees may not be able to participate in discussions on certain topics that are too close to their area of interest, such as a trustee who is also an oxygen user not participating in discussions on suggested donation levels for oxygen users.

We will then go through the Centre’s Risk Review matrix.  One of the most important duties of trustees is to protect the viability, reputation and assets of the Centre, and ensure the safety of all members, volunteers and staff.  The Risk Review matrix is a summary of all the main risks and threats the Samson Centre and its people face, and we review these risks to ensure that we have got them properly under control.

Once this more procedural business is concluded, we get to the interesting bits which always start with reviews of activities from the Centre Manager, the Lead Physio, the Oxygen Therapy Co-ordinators, the Fundraiser and the Treasurer.  These reviews serve a dual purpose.  Firstly, they give the trustees a detailed picture of what is happening in the Centre and allow us to ask questions and take any actions we deem necessary.  Secondly, they are a useful discipline for the staff writing the reports, as the reports make them think about their areas of responsibility and what is going well, as well as what could be improved.

We then do a review of the action points from the previous meeting, where trustees and the Centre Manager report on what follow-up actions they have taken since the last meeting.  This is the time when the trustees get to hold each other to account!

We then get onto specific actions or decisions that need taking.  These will obviously vary from meeting to meeting.  At our most recent meeting at the end of May, for example, we agreed to allow some funds to be spent on finding out more about the incidence of MS in our area.  This is a really crucial piece of work, as the trustees have long been concerned that we may not be reaching out to all the people who really need the Samson Centre.  We also agreed the specific wording of the new Reserves Policy proposed by Hilary, our Treasurer.  At other times of year we might take decisions on staff promotions and pay rises, or expenditure on training courses.  Generally there aren’t too many decisions like this for the trustees to take, as Jackie the Centre Manager has things well under control.

Eventually we get to the less specific, more open-ended items on the agenda.  This is generally where most of the discussion happens and we tend to leave these points until last so that discussion is kept efficient as the time available is relatively limited.  A topic we discussed last time was fire alarms.  The Waterside Centre’s alarm system recently passed its annual test with flying colours.  However, there is always scope for improving alarm systems, particularly to cater for the needs of people with disabilities (eg audible alarm boosters in the toilets for the hard of hearing).  As any such enhancements to the alarm system would be largely for the benefit of the Samson Centre, the issue also arises of whether it is reasonable to expect other Waterside Centre member clubs to contribute towards the costs.  The discussion concluded with us asking David Kitching, a Samson Centre and Waterside Centre Trustee, to do an audit of the alarm upgrades we might want and to take this to the next Waterside Centre trustee meeting.  At that meeting he will seek approval of the trustees to get quotes for these enhancements.

Another piece of business we discussed and concluded was to ask Gavin Crocker to take over from me as Chair of trustees at the next annual general meeting in December.  Gavin very generously agreed to do so.  David Kitching will also be replacing John Hambly as Vice-chair of trustees with effect from 1st September, the first day of our new financial year.  This changeover has been under discussion for some time and is part of the succession planning that is a key responsibility of trustees.

The meeting concludes with Any Other Business, where trustees and the Centre Manager get to raise topics that weren’t on the original agenda.  If there is time, I like to go round the table and ask people one by one if there is anything on their mind that they would like to bring up, no matter how small.  This can be a good way of flushing out some really good ideas and insights.

I hope this give you an insight into how the trustees carry out their functions, as well as a peek at some of the things we are discussing at the moment.