May 2021

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Our new constitution requires one third of the Board of trustees to retire each year in order of thier length of service. This year it was the turn of Maurice and Paul. We must have a minimum of three and can have up to a maximum of twelve trustees on the Board and retiring members can stand for re-election if there are spaces. Paul did not wish to stand for re-election. In addition to Maurice, the names of Andrew and Joe were on the list of nominees…all three were elected.
Current Board of trustees: Maurice Greenham (Chair), Andrew Colclough (Vice Chair), John Miller (Secretary), Joe Waring (Treasurer), Angie Boote, Dennis Layton, Stephen Malkin,
The Chair gave a special note of thanks to Paul who has been Secretary of the group for many years and took over the role of treasurer when the Group became a charity, steering us through the challenging passage of the past year. We wish Paul every success in his latest contract that takes him away from home and hope to welcome him back whenever he is in the area..
MONDAY EVENINGS ON ZOOM
Our weekly online meetings continue to be well attended and to attract new people. It is gratifying to see how well newcomers have been made to feel welcome. New faces bring fresh perspectives and opinions. We were a pretty diverse bunch to start with…but it is always good to welcome new faces and hear fresh points of view. It is the group’s policy to refer trans inquiries to Kirsty at Trans Staffordshire, but we also try to be as inclusive as possible when it comes to social activities. Even so, it was a delightful surprise for one brief moment to have 5 trans people in one of our meetings.
After a very wet month, it was a joy to end May with a couple of days of glorious sunny weather. At our final Monday online meeting, it was suggested we take advantage of the mini heat wave with a picnic in Longton Park. Apologies, to everyone who would have liked to have come with a bit more notice…but worry not…another picnic is planned for Burslem Park later in June