A.S.A.P. Alonnisos Society for Animal Protection.

ALONNISOS SOCIETY FOR ANIMAL PROTECTION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Held on Thursday 23rd May 2009 At the Pleiades Hotel, Patitiri IN ATTENDANCE: Julia Browne, Annie Green, Les Green, Mike Holmes, Carol Holmes, Dawn Kiriannaki, Michaela Kiriannaki, Jill Donnelly, Dianne Lewin, Jeff Moon, Jan Moon, Lyn Ivison, Nik Ivison, Victoria Cranshaw, James Cranshaw, Guy Routh, Jan Juan-Thomas, Dave Court, Beau Dendy, Belinda Walton, Anni Bason, George Anagnostou, Harry Greenwood, Jackie Fenton, Dinah Sinclair, Craig Sinclair, Valerie Greenwood, Polly Norman, John Norman. Before the meeting the members’ attention was drawn to the appeal for new committee members which was placed on each table. They were urged to see Les Green before the proceedings started if they wished to be considered for the committee or if they were nominating someone. The Meeting commenced at 19:20 Apologies Apologies were received from Jane Routh, Chris Browne and Carol Holmes who said she would be late arriving Chair persons address Welcome to you all to the ASAP AGM for 2009. Thank you all for coming this evening and for your continuing support of ASAP. Our thanks are especially due to George for once again allowing us to use his facilities here at the Pleiades. It is difficult to sum up our year briefly but, to stress the positive, we have had several visits from George Michail and also a highly successful visit from a vet and veterinary nurse sponsored by 9lives, a charity based in Athens. My thanks to Mike & Carol and Guy & Jane for giving us ‘surgery space’ at their homes. We are currently in communication with other vets and organizations in order to arrange further visits. Because of these visits we have been able to neuter a number of feral female cats and have also been able to acquire the drugs we need to continue to neuter toms and treat those animals which have been injured or which are unwell. The details of veterinary visits have been given in the newsletters. Over the winter a small band of dedicated volunteers have fed feral cats at designated feeding stations all over the island and the feeding programme has been administered by Carol Holmes. Many thanks to the entire committee for their hard work in feeding animals in all weathers and also to Dave & Gerry and Nik & Lyn who have fed cats in the Old Village. At each of the feeding stations there are shelters: one necessary job for the new committee as the weather improves is to clean out and repair these shelters and to replace old bedding. If anyone has old towels or blankets that could be used or, indeed, old pans to replace the damaged feeding and water bowls, these would be gratefully received. There have once again been incidences of deaths from viral enteritis and influenza but mercifully fewer than in previous years. Yet again there was a spate of poisonings. Organophosphates were responsible for the deaths of many cats and dogs in Patitiri and the Old Village. Someone laced food with broken glass and there were even incidences of small fish hooks being deliberately left in food – I’m sure you can imagine the consequences of an animal ingesting these. As spring develops I would urge you all to be on the look out for newborn kittens and puppies dumped in or around rubbish bins. As you all know, our web address was hi-jacked by some crooks and has been out of action for much of the winter. Thanks to Mike Holmes and Tony, our new address is now up and running. This was a very time consuming process and I would personally like to thank them for all their hard work. In recent months we have addressed the ASAP constitution. As you know, when ASAP was set up the constitution was based on that of SCAN on Skopelos as a matter of expediency. Now it has been refined and adapted to meet our own requirements: thanks are due to Annie and Les for their work in this regard. Our ASAP stall was highly successful last summer and we have been promised a licence to operate again this year. When we have the paper from the licensing authority on Skopelos Michaela Kirianakis has agreed to accompany someone from the new committee to arrange the details with the port police. Annie Green ran the stall last year and, even though she will be talking about this a little later, she could do with some more help this year: any volunteers will be most welcome. We have purchased some items designed and produced by Wil Oosterveld: some of those are here if anyone would like to see them. The stall itself was built by Dick Dendy, who sadly passed away shortly after its completion and who never was able to see the results of his endeavours. It was the intention of ASAP to arrange for a plaque in his name to be placed on the stall: to our shame this was never completed but we now have this in hand and when our stall opens this year it will be complete with a dedication to Dick. Mike Holmes has modified the stall to waterproof it and to allow for storage space underneath: once again thanks to him for this and also for his modification of the shelters and feeders used at many of the feeding stations. Jeff and Jan Moon raised a huge amount of money for ASAP last year from their sale of books and preserves in the Old Village and have agreed to do the same this summer. Beau Dendy has also kindly offered to organize some fund-raising events. The overwhelming comments last year from visitors to the island concerned the good health of the feral cats. Our on-going care of the animals on Alonnisos has led to a further donation of 2,500 pounds from the Edna Smylie Memorial Fund and 1,500 euros from Ellen Stucki and her organization in Switzerland. The size of these donations has overwhelmed us, but other smaller but no less important donations have been received from many people – cat biscuits from Andrew Lewin, 100 euros from Susannah Mattes in Germany to name but 2 other benefactors. Margaret Halliday has donated more collecting tins and the MoM organization recently donated some drugs they no longer need. Our committee for most of the winter has consisted of 5 people and this small band has put in an enormous amount of time and effort. With the resignation of our treasurer, this onerous and often thankless task fell once again to Annie who, in addition to her time-consuming duties as secretary – not least of which has been trying to keep me focused on the finer points of our legal requirements – has had to present our yearly returns to the accountant. A monumental achievement, many thanks to her. I doubt whether anyone else truly appreciates how much time, energy and emotion goes in to the running of ASAP – often we receive comments, mostly negative, on what we should be doing and how we should be doing it. I would urge those who feel we are not doing a very good job to perhaps do more themselves to help rather than denigrating our efforts. One small example of how much is involved is that in the last seven days alone I have made 10 visits to sick or injured animals, and this is not unusual, but is a tiny part of what ASAP is committed to doing. And let me remind you all what that is: ASAP was set up with the express purpose of looking after the animals here – that involves treatment, feeding, housing or re-homing wherever possible, neutering, disease prevention and alleviation of distress or suffering. Allied to these objectives is the commitment to promote an ethos of better care for animals among the local population and to educate people in order to achieve this. Of course we need money to achieve these objectives and the ability to raise funds is incredibly important. However, unless we can demonstrate that our animals are well looked-after our major benefactors will no longer support us. To conclude, my sincere thanks to the outgoing committee members who have quite frankly run themselves ragged this winter. As always, thanks to those generous souls who have raised or donated money, food or drugs and to those who have taken over various feeding duties, especially Dinah, Ellen, Jane and Belinda. And special thanks to Guy Routh who gives his time and expertise with a generosity of spirit which is truly refreshing. Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting. Julia asked if everyone had received and read a copy of the Minutes and it appeared that everyone had done so. It was proposed by Julia Browne and seconded by Belinda Walton that they were a true copy of the meeting held on 21st May 2008. Matters arising from the Minutes There were no matters arising. Secretary’s Report Annie opened her report by saying that some of what Julia had said in the Chairperson’s report was similar to what she had to say, and asked that members bear with her on this As secretary I have had quite a lot of emailing to do one way another, through the summer particularly in thanking people who kindly donated money to ASAP. To people such as Jeff and Jan Moon who worked so hard for us to raise money with quiz nights and the selling of books and homemade goodies outside their house. To Guy and to Nik and Lyn for their help with the veterinary visits and to the one or two people who helped on the Stall especially Anni Bason. Without Anni I do not think the stall would have been able to be open as long as it was. Consequently, although we raised some money it was nowhere near the amount we raised two years before, and I am sure it was because we were unable to have the stall manned every day. I had people asking if we were to be open such an such a time and because I had to say no, we lost quite a lot of possible sales. The Licensing office has said that there should be no problem with a Licence again this year so if more people could spare even one hour it would be a great help and would possibly raise more much needed money. As far as the accounts are concerned, as there was no one else willing to take it on, I again said I would because I thought that during the period that Andrew Lewin was Treasurer and then Andrea Klemm, the accounts would be in an understandable, up to date and tidy state. I soon found out that this was not the case and spent many weeks up to the time in December when I had to hand them over to the Accountant, very stressed and upset. I do not pretend to understand anything at all about financial matters but somehow or other, with help from Les, managed to put together a balance sheet which did balance and satisfied the Accountant and hopefully the Tax man. At any rate this time the accounts were presented in time so that ASAP did not incur a penalty fine for the accounts being late. On a personal note normally I really love doing the secretarial things and do not find them hard or worrying but apart from running the stall and for attending the quiz nights, this year has not been a happy one for me as Secretary. I have been continually stressed and upset quite often on behalf of other people who had problems with ASAP, and which made it difficult for me to back away from. I have been trying not to get frustrated and depressed about the lack of interest and help from members. Because we are a registered Charity all members are part of it and should want to take a positive interest in it. I know we had serious problems last year which greatly upset people, but as it is an Animal Charity and the animals have no control over human difficulties, it seems to me that the only sufferers were going to be, and possibly still will be, the animals. Prior to both the AGM for last year and this year, I sent out proposition notices and asked that people let me know if they wanted to stand or propose anyone for the committee. I have had very few replies. Last year the members who could have attended the AGM did not do so but were loud in their disapproval of who was elected. The committee who were elected volunteered because we had nobody opposing them. We even introduced a secret ballot as we have this year so that people did not have to let everyone know who they were voting for. Whoever you select to form the committee that will run the Charity for you needs your support and if possible any help you can give. I have to say that constructive criticism is ok but if anyone has any complaints or grievances, please do not email or telephone individual members of the committee. The correct procedure is to write a letter to the committee addressed to the secretary who will read it at the next meeting where it will be discussed and if necessary acted upon. The letter will then be acknowledged by the secretary with details of any action taken. If this Charity is to continue as a registered charity then we have to have a full working committee. We will never always agree on things but whatever we do should be for the common good of the animals and fund raising is probably the most important part of that, because without it we will not have the money we need to pay for the food or vet’s bills. If the Charity were to dissolve because of what I see as lack of interest, or us humans not being able to get along together, then we will lose our main sources of donations. The Edna Smylie Trust and Ellen Stucki in Switzerland.. In particular we have to account to the Edna Smylie Trust and show them what we are achieving here and what we are doing to try to raise money ourselves, as well as producing a mini account to show them what we spend the money on. A new one is the Association that Ellen Stuki is involved with in Switzerland, who have recently donated 1,500 euros and is one of the sources that Ellen uses to obtain cat boxes and treats and so on which she sends or carries with her when she visits Alonnisos. I can’t believe that all the good work will have been for nothing and I hope that this meeting proves to be a good turning point and that ASAP will continue to flourish and show the Greek people (and I think we are beginning to do so), that with good food and care cats can be more that just working rat catchers to them. I hope that 2009 will be happy and successful for everyone. Treasurer’s Report Annie explained that she had some difficulty in producing anything because of the state of the accounts when she took them over. She referred to Les who said that, as there were no accounts presented at the last Annual General Meeting because the Treasurer resigned immediately prior to it, there was no information to enable proper accounts to be presented at this Annual General Meeting. Annie said that the bottom line was that the amount carried forward from last year was €4,493.87. The Income from January 2009 to 22nd May 2009 was €4,993.94. The Expenditure for the same period was €3,891.31. The total in the Bank is €4,554.28, cash in hand is €1,042.22. This leaves a working total of €5,596.50. Annie stated that the food bills for April will almost certainly be in the region of €700 and presumably May will be similar. Julia thanked Annie and Les for sorting this out and said that if anyone can spare any time at all to help in fundraising, it will be greatly appreciated. Proposals There was a proposal from Beau Dendy who said “I would propose that the annual membership fee is increased to €15 and that this is reviewed each year at the time of the Annual General Meeting”. This proposal was seconded by Anni Bason and carried by the majority. Les proposed some changes to the new constitution. Article 3(d) be changed to: Arranging for regular visits of Veterinary surgeons for the free care of sick or injured stray animals, guidance on their diet and other advice given for the animal’s benefit. Article 3(e) be changed to: Providing free First Aid to sick or injured stray animals, in the absence of a Veterinary surgeon. There was a great deal of discussion concerning these propositions and when voted upon there was a majority vote against the changes. Article 6 – Les proposed that this be changed to: Members resigning from the association may not reapply for membership for a period of 5 (five) years. Any reapplication for membership must be reviewed by the Committee at that time, with full reference to the circumstances of the original resignation. Again, this proposition was discussed at length by the members present and was voted against by the majority. The last proposition from Les was a new addition to the Constitution, it was approved by the members present and is the third attachment to the email with these Minutes. This should be attached to the Constitution Guy proposed that there should be some way in which we can suggest a donation to cover drugs and treatment without actually charging a fee, which is something that is not permissible. There was some discussion about this and it was generally agreed that a donation could be suggested by the person treating the animal, to help towards the cost of the drugs or treatment. Election of Committee for 2009/10 A secret ballot was conducted and the voting papers were checked by Guy Routh. Four nominees were included who had not put their names forward before the meeting commenced and there was some discussion as to how they could be included on the committee. It was decided that the five members who had been elected confer and co-opt the other four onto the committee at that time instead of waiting until the first meeting. At this point Annie remarked that we still did not have a Treasurer, and Les or Craig were suggested. Craig said he would rather wait a year to get settled. Jan proposed Les and the majority agreed. Consequently your committee for 2009/10 is: Chairperson: Julia Browne Secretary: Annie Green Treasurer: Les Green Committee: Mike Holmes, Dianne Lewin, Dinah Sinclair, Craig Sinclair, Lyn Ivison, Nik Ivison. Any Other Business Guy said that at the moment he and Jane were storing a lot of cat boxes and other related articles. He suggested that if we could have a few in different locations it would speed up the process of getting help to a sick or injured animal. At the moment it could be case of the animal waiting until someone could get to his house or Julia’s house and this could be distressing for the animal. Dinah, Dave and Lyn and Nik said that would take some. George suggested that the Veterinary School in Thessaloniki may be approached to see if we could get Trainee Vets here, because although George Michael is important to ASAP, we do need to save money and maybe these Vets could visit and treat animals here to help us achieve this. George said that he would be willing to find out if such a thing would be acceptable to the Veterinary School. Julia thanked him and said we would be grateful for anything he could do. Dave raised the subject of accommodation for visiting Vets, he said that his Studio would be available and Lyn and Nik also kindly offered accommodation as well. Julia said it would be a good thing and thanked them for their suggestion, especially if the Vets were to stay for several days. Julia asked people to have a look at cards that Will Oosterveld had prepared for sale on the Stall and had a sample key ring, coaster and fridge magnet which we may be purchasing from him. He also has a mousemat which is in the process of being prepared. T-shirts are also being prepared and the new committee will be discussing the cost of these items and deciding if it will be viable to purchase them this year. Annie thanked Julia for all her hard work. The first meeting of the new committee will be on Wednesday 10th June, 2009 at Villa Annalese commencing at 19:00. There being no other business the meeting closed at 21.10.