On the 10th of September 2024, The Friends welcomed some 41 members and 20 guests to the 70th Annual General Meeting to celebrate another year of outstanding support for the Hospital in Rugby.
The meeting was opened by our President, Willy Goldschmidt, who conducted the opening formalities including the approval of the minutes of the last AGM and setting out the agenda for the meeting which included 4 guest speakers.
- The High Sherrif of Warwickshire, Karen Lynch MBE
- The Mayor of Rugby, Cllr Barbara Brown
- Sue Noyes, Chair of the Board of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust (UHCW)
- Juliet Starkey, Group Director of Operations Trauma and Neuro Services, UHCW
Our first guest speaker was the Mayor of Rugby, Cllr. Barbara Brown who remarked that she was delighted and honoured to be Mayor of such a remarkable and generous town, with so many volunteers who give their time, energy and expertise to make the town a better place for everyone living there. She praised the amount of time and effort provided by The Friends of the Hospital of St Cross in their fundraising activities and supporting the work of the hospital and generously offered to support future fundraising efforts by providing a prize of afternoon tea in the Mayor’s Parlour.
After giving a vote of thanks to the Mayor, Doug Jones, Chair of the charity gave his report for the year which was supported by slide show of photos of some of the events and appeals the Friends have supported or been involved with not only throughout the previous 12 months but over many recent years. Highlights of his report were that:
- In recognition of the amazing work of the Friends and the Platinum Anniversary of its formation, Rugby Burgh Council have arranged a significant planting in Caldecott Park in recognition of the efforts of all volunteers and supporters both past and present.
- Pauline Masterman and her team on Book Sales raised a great amount of money bettering previous year end results.
- Elizabeth Burnett and the team on the Tea Bar and Ward Trolley Services are very much appreciated by patients and staff alike and raised a significant sum of money for the Charity too.
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Special mention should also be made of Tracey Lennard who last year celebrated her 25th year as Chair of the Social Fund-Raising Committee. A phenomenal achievement that has seen Tracey and her team raise more than £200,000 since 1999.
Finally, Doug thanked the Board of Trustees and Volunteers for all they have delivered in the past year.
Doug's full report can be read here.
Doug then introduced Brian Cheney our Treasurer who gave a presentation with key financial figures. He emphasised that 100% of donations are spent on supporting our aims. All running costs are covered by earned income, interest and dividends. His full report can be read in the Annual report.
The next item on the agenda was the election of the Office Bearers and other Trustees of the charity who were duly appointed and whose profiles are on this page of the website.
At this point Garth Murphy. the newly appointed Chair, took over the running of the meeting and introduced our guest speaker Juliet Starkey who had recently taken over from Dr Jan Jayatilake as the Hospital Director for St Cross.
Juliet gave a presentation which highlighted some recent developments at St Cross including
- Same day hip and knee replacement surgery which commenced January 2024 (using special operating trollies donated by the Friends) is now recognised as one of the leading services of its type in the country.
- Headsets and radios donated by the Friends has improved communication between Theatres and day surgery has led to significant improvements to start times - from 50% to 90+%
- First Breast Cancer Surgery theatre List was delivered on the 8th of September using new equipment purchased by the Trust
Juliet then went on to give an overview on the project to relocate Women's and Childrens and the Diabetes service into Rugby town centre in order to make space available for a new modern theatre and ward block on the site at St Cross. It is hoped that the new Health on the High Street facility will open in the Autumn or Winter of 2026 nad would provide increased capacity as well as better access and conveneince for people in Rugby.
Willy thanked Juliet for her presentation, remarking that it was great to see the ongoing investment that the Trust is making in the Hospital of St Cross. He then went on to give an update on the Platinum Anniversary Appeal which was launched at the previous year's AGM with the aim of raising at least £70,000 to reflect the 70 years since the Friends was founded. The update included a reminder that so far the charity had committed to donate a second ultra-sound machine which would enable an increase in capacity and productivity for the Maternity and Gynaecology Services in Rugby so that fewer people would need t travel to Coventry for these services.
Willy announced that by that day the Appeal had raised over £40,000 and then introduced Graeme Fuller and Ian Southcott from the Rugby Group Benevolent Fund saying that the Fund had supported 3 previous appeals to the tune of £65,000!
Graeme explained that having also been founded in1955 by the then Rugby Portland Cement Company, the Rugby Group Benevolent Fund has provided support to charities and communities local to the cement works and for the last 30 years has been independent of the company which is now part of the CEMEX group. Regrettably the Fund will be closing at the end of the year.
As a final gesture they wanted to make a legacy donation which was local, made a real difference and was visible, and were inspired by Health on the High Street as an exciting Legacy Project. On behalf of the Fund, Graeme presented a donation of £100,000 to The Friends and wished them every success with the project.
Sue Noyes, Chair of the Board of Directors University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire Trust started the vote of thanks to The Friends by thanking the Rugby Group Benevolent Fund for their donation to the Friends for the Health on the High Street project. She then went on to remark on her continued admiration for the volunteers and thanked them for all their support. Sue then thanked Tracey Lennard and team for all their fundraising efforts, Willy and Doug for the regular meetings held during the year and the wider board of Trustees.
Garth thanked Sue for her kind words and added his thanks to all volunteers and Trustees
Tracey then paid a tribute Tony Cousins, a former Trustee who passed away earlier in the year. Tony joined the Friends when her retired from the post of Hospital Secretary in 1998 and served as a Trustee in many roles, including Chair of the charity until his retirement in 2016.
Tony and Treasurer Tony Hill were the main instigators of obtaining support from the Coventry Building Society and this amazing relationship led to donations over the years from 2007 unitl 2022 in recognition of community savings in the St Cross Saver Affinity account amounted to £361,238.
Garth then introduced Karen Lynch MBE, the High Sheriff of Warwickshire, and invited her to present Volunteer Long Service Awards to Ramesh Srivastava, Lesley Kinch and Pat Joliffe. Awards for Steve Purcell and Edna Dewey will be presented at a later date.
The High Sheriff offered a huge thank you to everyone for their kind invitation to attend the AGM and took the opportunity to explain that the role of High Sheriff is 1,000 years old and she is the 14th woman to hold the position.
Under Any other business Willy and the HIgh Sherrif presented gifts and thanked retiring Trustees Ramesh Srivastava and June Witcomb together with retiring Chair of the Trustees Doug Jones for their contributions and support to the Board.
The draft minutes of the meeting can be read in this document.