5)  We always need more volunteers, and have been heartened to recruit a good team when setting up in Harpenden. Some of these are now taking wider responsibility in the CU.  We need more offers of help in particular fields:

 

a) Two more recruits to the Credit Committee, essentially to vet loan applications.

b) One or two people to work with me, in checking that borrowers keep up to date with their repayments and taking control actions where necessary.

c) And of course, someone to take responsibility for the implementation of various marketing initiatives.

 

6) Lastly but most importantly I should record thanks to those not mentioned elsewhere:

a) To our donors – Churches, one grant from a Housing Association and individuals. If we can keep donations at least at a budgeted £3000 a year, this will help a great deal

b) To Macfarlanes, Solicitors in London who have kindly helped us with the legal side of renewing our office lease recently   

c) To our team of volunteers in the offices, in Harpenden and in St Albans, especially to Scott Prentice, office manager, who continues to provide a friendly front office welcome to the CU as well as run the back office very competently.

d) To our internal audit function – the Supervisory Committee continues to work well on your behalf. Very grateful to Andy Petch for leading it – and colleagues Iain Dobson and Rodney Moss who took over from Ken Blackburn in the course of the year. Iain will also be standing down at this AGM – but only because he would like to take a more operational part in the CU! Chris Hall remains our Money Laundering Reporting Officer and the FSA attaches great importance to this position.

e) To my colleagues on the Board for their regular and constructive contributions. We co-opted David Edwards and Sheila Broadhead to the Board in the course to year to strengthen our finance team – you will be shortly asked to elect them. I would like to thank them and the other members  (Jane Bennett, Arthur Chapman, Derek Calver, Lesley King, Allan Plumpton and Veronica Peters), for all their work and their competent advice and direction during the year.  Special thanks to Veronica who had to stand down from the Board last autumn under pressure of other voluntary work, and to Jane who is now resigning from the Board to move to the Supervisory Committee  – and I hope you will elect her later in the meeting!

f) And of course warm thanks to the many “saving” members of the Credit Union who support the work financially by being patient about dividends. If you could on occasion see the help that we can bring to someone who is  -or who would be forced to be - in high cost debt, you would already have a reward.

 

 

 

Anthony Baker   February 2008

 

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