Boardmeeting 15 Februar 2017

The International Club for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Enthusiasts

MINUTES OF A RREC BOARD MEETING HELD AT THE HUNT HOUSE, PAULERSPURY ON 15.02.2017

Attendees

1/ Apologies incl. Resignation of GA on 17 Jan 2017
The Board thanked Gerwald Anderlé for his hard work over the years as RREC Director.

2/ Declaration of Interest for agenda items (payment and gifts)
MC suggested starting a book for both Directors and staff to declare any payments or gifts received while AC suggested surrendering anything over £100 to the Clubs charity (SHRMF). For practical reasons the present agenda item will be maintained.

3/ Minutes of the last Board meeting held on 28 Nov 2016.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 28 November were approved and signed by the Chairman.

4/ Matters Arising from the Board meeting held on 28 Nov 2016 not otherwise referred to elsewhere on the Agenda

4a/ Invite DVLA expert to THH (BG)
Contact has now been made with a senior representative at the DVLA; policy officer Beverly Morgan, and a visit to the Archives will be arranged later in the year.

5/ Identified discussion topics

5a/ PDM contract (IH)
Jackie Robotham’s contract, as the Publications Development Manager, expires in May and it is necessary to review this appointment before the end of April. Although she is now carrying out more tasks than she was originally contracted to complete, she would be accepting should this be extended for a further year.

MC praised the PDM’s accomplishments. The Board voted 8 in favour, with LR abstaining, to extend the PDM’s contract and for her remuneration to remain at the current rate.

5b/ Staff (JVB)

An offer has been received from a Club member offering their services. ACTION: BG to investigate the package offered.

5c/ SJH contract (LR/AC/JVB)
The 2016 audit has identified irregular and outstanding payments from RegalPress Ltd trading as St James’s House. An investigation is in hand on the future of the Yearbook contributions.

5d/ Euro account (AC)
We have two pending queries: (1) Continental Rally: how to manage the exchange rate risk? (2) Belgium Flemish Section Treasurer: “Does the RREC have a Euro account so that we can save on bank charges?”

ACTION: BG to ask Derek Illingworth for his completed Continental Rally budget. BG/AC then to make provisions to feed the Euro account.

It was decided to ask the Continental Sections to pay in Euros into the existing RREC Ltd Euro account at the exchange rate prevailing on the same day as the UK membership subscription is fixed by the Board for the following year. This will be implemented as from 2018 subscription fee. ACTION: AC

5e/ HMS Queen Elizabeth affiliation (JVB)
JVB asked Doug Ryder whether the HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH Committee would want to consider transferring the current affiliation with the Wessex Section to the RREC as this affiliation has tremendous potential for the RREC as a whole. This request was positively met and the Board unanimously voted in favour of this proposal.

5f/ Seminar query Swedish Section (JVB)
A query has been received from a Swedish Section Committee Member regarding possible RREC sponsorship of a Technical Seminar organised by the Section.

Although Section events must be self-funded, AF suggested a £500 one off contribution be awarded to mark the Clubs jubilee year and to show support for the initiative. The Board voted; 5 in favour, 1 abstention and 2 against on awarding the Swedish Section £500.

5g/ 2018 General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (JVB)
Forthcoming changes to General Data Protection Regulations (2018) will be included as part of the General Managers responsibilities. ACTION: JVB to liaise with Giles Usher in the first instance.

5h/ Budget update and AGM preparation (AC)
Queries regarding the 3 year budget and possible questions that might be asked at the AGM were discussed.

AC expressed his concern about the Club’s current Auditors.

JMy asked for minor adjustments be made to the 3 year budget and gained permission to seek advice from a Club member for their professional opinion.

6/ Chairman’s Report [WRITTEN REPORT]

Thanks to all Section and Register officers and volunteers, staff and directors for your commitment and enthusiasm in the past calendar year.

Plan update
JVB requested various directors for a status update of the pending topics of the agreed plan.

Trademark meeting
On 17.02.2017 a dedicated Trademark meeting will be held. Participants will include the RREC’s Trademark Committee (TMC), Andrew Ball (Global Corporate Communications Manager RRMC) and Aimee Gessner (Senior Legal Counsel BMW Group).

Potential issue with a former employee
The RREC may have to deal with a potential issue regarding a former employee. In agreement with the Deputy Chairman and Business Development Manager (BDM), JVB has briefed a member of the Board’s legal team. The BDM has requested advice from Peninsula. Although the outcome is not known yet, the RREC has a well-documented case.

LLoyds Motor Forum
Following contact established at the Book Launch, JVB has been asked whether the RREC would consider giving a presentation to the LLoyds Motor Forum. JVB has agreed on a provisional date and is currently investigating a second suitable speaker in addition to himself.

RRMC update
An update was provided to the Board on a number of discussion topics with RRMC.

Lord Montagu
On advice of Doug Ryder JVB sent a membership invitation letter to Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. As his father has died, it would be good to guarantee continued membership of the son. With grateful thanks to Doug Ryder for his assistance.

7/ Deputy Chairman’s Report [WRITTEN REPORT]
The search for a General Manager is, hopefully, drawing to a close. A total of fourteen people have expressed an interest in the position and six have been selected for an interview. Three are from those provided by Aspire and three from those who applied direct to RREC Ltd. The interviews will take place on Friday and Saturday of this week and will be conducted by Johan Vanden Bergh, Richard Fenner, Ted Meachem, Keith Dewhurst, and myself. Each applicant will have a short conducted tour of The Hunt House site before the interview.

8. Business Development Manager’s Report [WRITTEN REPORT]
Business has continued as usual since the last Board meeting with all staff members continuing to carry out their duties competently and efficiently as always. Individual staff member workloads are ascertained at regular staff meetings. With a small team such as we have, the sharing of each other’s current position facilitates smoother running.

IT
The main computer server has been upgraded with considerable memory and now has over 2 TB spare capacity. External access to the archive area on the server has been provided to Scanning and Data Solutions and they can now log in and upload files, as well as assist with any data errors. The Filestore access has been extended to Lisa’s PC and to my PC, facilitating access to information on demand without troubling Sharron each time.

Book Keeper
Eight applications have now been received for the much awaited book keeper position, these have been passed to AC and will be jointly discussed and considered between he and I prior to invitation to interview.

Membership
Renewals have been staggered with direct debit renewals being moved to February. A mornings training course in Direct Debit renewals was organised in house in which both myself and Ailsa participated. What we learned will again save a considerable amount of time, effort and duplication of data.

One change I was able to implement to our current database allowing data extraction for the purpose of ordering cards for joint members, reduced the processing time from three to four days, to twenty minutes.

DVLA
I have made contact with the DVLA and suggested that we could invite someone at our expense. Karen Brown, of the DVLA, did however point out that rather than go through the motions of formally applying for the return of the original registration number to a vehicle, that we should call her first and ask if the registration number is currently assigned to any vehicle, because if it is, you can’t have it. This would save time and money.

R H Insurance
Emma Airey from Hiscox visited to review our perception of the relationship between themselves and the Club. Emma was delighted with our understanding and our professional attitude, confident that the Club is compliant. Emma discussed Hiscox Private Lines business, their homes, contents and valuables policies which are aimed at the high net worth sector to determine how we might convey this product to our members. Lisa and I made some suggestions and have agreed to develop a plan. It should be noted that the return to the Club would be quite lucrative.

RRMC Product Communications
Andrew Boyle, the Global Product Communications Manager from RRMC visited us with a colleague, in order to see for themselves what it is exactly that the RREC has, and how we could enhance our level of collaboration.

RRMC Brand Communications
Two days later we were visited by four more guests from RRMC led by Jamie Heath, their Brand Communications Manager.

The Hunt House
The building has undergone a considerable transformation over the past month or so involving some remedial electrical work, the replacement of some lighting, new flooring, the refitting of the gents toilet and some redecoration including the conservatory. The programme will continue.

[COMMENTS]

RF suggested greater cooperation between the Club and the Foundation in Club mail-outs, so the Foundation can distribute material in Club mail-outs where postage limits allow.

RF noted continuing direct debit issues, and that the change in processing renewals will impact on the timing of donations to the Foundation.

9. Status report per Team [WRITTEN REPORT] 9a/ Finance (AC)

Quarterly accounts to end January have been prepared and circulated. AC said that he was not happy about the way Sage was being used.

Remote access to both the Barclays accounts and the Sage Accounts Package is still awaited.

Massive changes to the set up of the Sage Accounts Package is required and this will entail removing large numbers of nominal accounts from the Income and Expenditure section of the system to the Balance Sheet section.

Following up on my previous recommendations (which are replicated in the Audit Recommendations Report from HW) the following dates have been earmarked for approval of payroll and payment of sums over £1,000: 23rd February; 24th March; 25th April; 25th May. June to be agreed in the light of the Annual Rally.

9b/ General & Administration (LR) [WRITTEN REPORT]

Annual Rally Auction
All areas of search for a company to proceed with have been unsuccessful.

The Board discussed conducting this ‘in house’.

[COMMENTS]

The Board voted in favour (5 for, 2 abstentions, 1 against) of LR and AF to take ownership of the Rally Auction.

9c/ Sales & Marketing (JMy) [WRITTEN REPORT]

1. Introduction
The following outlines the various activities recently undertaken to improve the Club’s image and presence in the market place and also provide information on the various schemes to increase membership.

Phase 1 is nearly complete and will run until June. A number of proposals will be submitted for discussion relating to advertising and magazine inserts.

2. The following provides details of some of the plans which have been implemented

a. Awareness Campaign.
This is to provide a better image in the market and the following has been completed:- An A1 poster has been sent to 22 dealers requesting them to display them in their showrooms. A stand-up members benefit menu has also been provided.

b. With the 60th celebrations imminent, a car window sticker has been designed and will be available in the next Bulletin. This means there is an opportunity for the members to

promote the Club, so whenever a car is parked there is an identity and association with us in the windscreen.

c. New Member Promotion
A gift voucher for use in the Club shop is given to any member introducing someone new into the Club. This promotion is currently in the new Bulletin and will run for four months. Our members should be our best marketing opportunity and Section support could help therefore words have been submitted for inclusion in their newsletters. Similarly an eBulletin statement would also help and Ailsa can produce this for the next edition.

d. It is proposed to hand out the benefit promotion menus and a poster at the Conference so all Sections can display a better message at their local events which clearly states our identity.

e. Trade Promotion.
This is a similar arrangement and a £500 Prize is offered to the dealer signing up the most members before the Annual Rally. Alternatively a stand at the AR could be offered (a minimum of five members to be signed before eligibility) since we have over 20 dealers currently providing support for our membership all this proposal is asking is simply, to “close on the business earlier so they get the credits for the new membership”. Usually their customers are just left with leaflets to pick up and complete as and when they wish.
The final details for the introduction by February 1st are being finalised by LR. The Hunt House are providing support for both promotions.

With both schemes, they’re totally funded by contributions from membership and therefore there is no cash flow related to these proposals.

3. Other ideas.

a. YouTube.
A number of DVDs are being assessed to see if Club events can be made available to view on modern media. Discussions are in hand to see if the Thousand Mile Trial can be recorded in some way. An appeal should be made for contributors in the Club who can make DVDs and hence the Clubs activities become visible and then there would be a better understanding of what the Club is about and how we do it.

b. Advertising
A detailed assessment proposal will be submitted for consideration by the Board.

c. Exhibitions
New ideas are needed to maximise on membership at the major exhibitions. This has to be one of the main objectives of attending (at considerable expense) these events.

d. Rolls-Royce and Bentley involvement
Discussions need to ascertain if the dealer base each company operates can be better utilised for new members for the Club since every Bentley dealer not only sells new cars but also a wide range of used vehicles. It is this market that has potential for us but our problem is it is the BDC that gets Bentley support.

As far Rolls-Royce are concerned there is only a very small opportunity to penetrate with new membership for their new cars. The second problem is the high second hand residual

value which precludes many people from owning vehicles of this type. Last year we only put one new car on our books but we had five new Continental GTs and one Bentayga.

4. Budgets and finance

To date just over £3000 has been spent getting all this off the ground in design production and postage. Further trade dealers such as service and restorations companies of which we have potentially a further 12 could be targeted.

These proposals are the only innovative drive for membership this Club has done for years and new ideas have to be explored since these could be successful.

9d/ Membership (LR)
An analysis of new members, membership by country and loss of members in 2016 has been expertly produced by David Towers. DT concluded that on the whole, 2016 was a good
year .

During the renewals process 47 members have added another person to their membership, thus boosting membership numbers.

22 new junior members were gained through our ‘buy one get one free’ offer in December.

A total of 178 new members have joined the Club this year so far which is a slight improvement on last year.

70 new members have opted to pay by Direct Debit.

The ‘member get member’ promotion has been launched with the Bulletin carrier sheet displaying a New Members Application form. So far this has generated 3 new members.

LR thanked his membership team (JMy, DT and LA) for their hard work.

9e/ PR & Events (AR)
IH stressed the need to employ someone with experience in PR to develop the Club’s presence.

9f/ Publications (LR) [WRITTEN REPORT]

Bulletin
Positive feedback is received from members on the more modern look and the quality of the articles within the Bulletin. There is great support from published authors who are keen to be included in the Bulletin. An auction feature has been started. Gérard Le Clerc is making many connections for the Club with his new World Watch page. The Bulletin is also being used as part of the driving force for the Target Ten Thousand campaign in liaison with JMy and marketing.

We hope to have a presence at the South of England Rally, as well as the Annual Rally, to allow us to raise our profile to members, and perhaps find further volunteers.

[COMMENTS]

The main area of focus has been connected with the new Bulletin contract. MC personally thanked Rodney Lewis for his expertise in this area. Finer details are being investigated before contracts are signed.

A company was chosen subject to confirmation of further details. Other quotations had been sought but did not reach all of our criteria. The Board voted in favour (7 for, 1 against) of accepting the new contract.

Digitisation of the Bulletin
We did have this in hand but Richard Fenner took this over.

Book publications
We have a couple of possibilities for another book in the Historical Series; one of these is based on research given to the PDM from Mike Evans just before he died. We also have a couple of suggestions for coffee table publications.

Yearbook
The last Yearbook was a great success, the features provided by our membership, Bentley and RRMC were all of very high quality. All went very smoothly and deadlines were met without any problems. All authors provided their articles without charge to the Club.
We already have nine titles and synopsis for consideration for the next edition. We are going to request features for this via the Bulletin with any that are not chosen to be used in the Bulletin at a later date.

9g/ Sections (RF) [WRITTEN REPORT]
To comply with requirements to declare interests, RF requested Directors state whether they or any related party has ever received payments/gifts/perks/accommodation, for any reason, by any organisation the Club has or has had dealings with.

RF worked with LA to determine changes in Section memberships across the Club, and has begun distributing data to Sections. Many Sections focus their efforts on printed newsletter subscribers, rather than on overall members in their area.

RF discussed changes to joining fees and new member packs for non-UK Sections.

RF and AR are informing non-UK Sections about changes to joining fee for memberships paid direct to the Section.

Following consultation with a Section and JVB/RF/LA, it was agreed to show both members of a joint membership as Member on the membership cards, instead of both as Joint Member .

AR and RF report that payments have been made to the French and Romande Sections to support their recent presence at Epoqu’Auto and Rétromobile.

RF attended Rétromobile in Paris, and was impressed with the work of the French Section in representing the RREC. The Section is considering their long-term recruitment and retention strategy.

RF raised mistakes in the online and Bulletin events listings.

RF advised that changes to data protection legislation in 2018 will require new membership and renewal forms. [see 5g/]

RF suggested increased use of the e-Bulletin to distribute Club, Section, and Register material, as well as photo galleries of major events.

RF requested that photographers be credited for their contributions to the Bulletin, in the same way writers are.

RF raised the idea of introducing different types of seminars, to widen their appeal and accessibility, particularly to less experienced owners or enthusiasts.

9h/International Liaison (AR) [NO WRITTEN REPORT] [COMMENTS]

ACTION: JVB to ask AR to liaise with Ailsa Plain with the plan to issue a press release regarding the RBT.

9i/ Registers (MC) [WRITTEN REPORT]
Two rallies have sent budgets in for approval; the SGR and the 20hp Aquitaine Rally.

Marinus Rijkers has resigned from the SZ Register Committee.
TF of the Derby Phantom Register has enrolled the help of fellow member John Arthy.

9j/ SHRMF & Archives (AF) [WRITTEN REPORT]

Hunt House
Members will have noted the completed reception area and are probably aware that the electrical work necessary to meet statutory requirements have been completed at a considerable saving on the original estimates.

Board
The Board of the Foundation now includes David Whale of the FBHVC.

Archivist
Amii Errington is now in post and coming to appreciate the challenges and scope of the tasks. Her duties will involve the Foundation in purchasing some additional office and specialist equipment and it may be that some Section, Register or Tour Event can look to sponsor particular items.

Education
Apprentice awards have been decided and an Apprentice Open Day has been scheduled for March 9th. Invitations have gone to apprentice candidates of MOD, P&A Wood and also RR&B Specialist Association, FBHVC and Bicester Heritage. Presentations will be made on the day.

Finance and Fund Raising
Accounts have been prepared and income and expenditure are comparatively finely balanced. Expenditure during 2017 for office equipment to enhance increased archivist services might offer an opportunity for sponsorship or donations (see ‘Archivist’ above).

A.O.B.
Police have taken action on information received regarding The Hunt House stolen items and a number of items have now been recovered. Congratulations have to be offered to Chris Ball, without whose unstinting efforts this level of success would not have been achieved.

9k/ Technical Support & Tool Hire (MC) [WRITTEN REPORT]

Steve Lovatt has indicated that he is quite happy to continue running the Seminars.

I have taken over the technical advice email help line with the assistance of Chris Brown.

Eric Healey is still sorting the tools out. A basic tool hire scheme is in operation though.

10/ List of intermediate Board decisions

None.

11/ Miscellaneous

MC asked the Board’s permission to take part in this year’s Redbull Soapbox race representing the Club. There were no objections from the Board.

a/ Next Board Meeting Dates

•   Monday 10 April (following AGM and Conference)

•   Thursday 8 June (Q2 (Apr) accounts)

•   Wednesday 30 August (Q3 (July) accounts)

•   Monday 4 December (Q4 (Dec) accounts)

  Lisa ALDERSON Minuting Secretary

  Note: These Minutes remain draft only until approved by the Board at their next meeting. When approved, these Minutes will be authenticated by the Chairman’s signature below.

  Authenticated as true record of proceedings:

  Johan VANDEN BERGH Chairman

  Distribution:

  Board of Directors
  General Manager / Business Development Manager Section and Register Secretaries
  The Hunt House Staff

BM20170215_Minutes_FINAL

The Hunt House, Paulerspury, Towcester, Northants, NN12 7NA
Tel: +44 (0)1327 811788 – Fax: +44 (0)1327 811797 – E-mail: admin@rrec.org.uk Proprietor: R.R.E.C Limited. A company registered in England and Wales. No 1154113

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