A NEW CHAIRMAN for HAYING ISLAND BUSINESSMEN’S CLUB Report by the Publicity Team
At the Annual General Meeting of Hayling Island Businessmen’s Club on Tuesday 13th January, John Cushion was elected as Chairman for 2015. John moved to Hayling from his home county of Bedfordshire in 2011 and joined the Club the same year. He became publicity officer in 2012 a post he held for two years before becoming vice chairman in 2014. Although a relative new comer to the Club, John has a fine team of committee members to assist him and is greatly looking forward to his year in office.
In his review of 12 months in office, outgoing Chairman, Dave Stanway reported another successful year for the Club. Fund raising met with some fine efforts including the Annual Barbeque, Pig Race Night and several other events. Although a great deal had been achieved, Dave reminded members that there is still much more to be done and asked everyone to work hard towards keeping the great Club going and able to support the community with the minibus and donations to worthy applicants. Although a few members had been lost during the year mainly due to ill health and other commitments, membership levels remain good with several prospective new members in the pipeline. Dave also expressed his thanks for the excellent support he had received from the Officers and Members of the Club which had helped to make his year in office most enjoyable.
Although the main aim of the Club is to purchase, maintain and run the Hayling Island Community Bus, many other worthwhile causes were supported during 2014 with a number of monetary awards being made to numerous local organizations. In addition, the Club made its normal donations to the Hayling Island Dramatic Society and continued to support students at Hayling College with the Wally Egan Award and Sportsperson of the Year Shield. The Christmas party at Sinah Warren was again a great success and was enjoyed by over 300 local senior citizens. Club members were in attendance to meet and greet the guests and generally ensure the success of the afternoon. However, many thanks must go to the management, staff and entertainment team at Sinah Warren for their wonderful generosity without which the event would be difficult to stage.
Before closing the meeting, members elected Marcus Foot as their Highest Achiever of the Year for 2014 and he was presented with the Doug Broughton Cup for his outstanding services to the Club. The “fun” award of the Wooden Spoon for the Club’s Biggest Stirrer for 2014 was awarded to Pat Keane for the tenth time!
The Club Committee and Members would like to thank all Islanders who contributed to the Club’s street collection in Mengham before Christmas which raised a fantastic £524. The generosity of local people never ceases to amaze us and everyone can rest assured that every last penny is spent on running the Community Bus and supporting other worthwhile causes.
The Community Bus was put to excellent use on Christmas Day when Club secretary Richard Chapman collected senior citizens who would otherwise have been alone at Christmas from all over the Island before helping to cook their festive lunch at St Andrews Church. All the food and “goodies” were donated by local organizations with the Club and the Lions providing financial support. Plans are already underway for a similar event this year.
Club members now look forward to the challenges which 2015 will bring. Several fund raising events are already planned including the ever popular Annual Barbeque on 11th July. The Club will also be heading up the this year’s Hayling for St George event on Eastoke Plaza on 30th August. A great deal of hard work is envisaged but with the help and generosity of the Island community and businesses a very successful year is in prospect. This will be the fourth year the event has taken place and although initially planned for St George’s Day was moved to August last year in the hope of more clement weather. Several local bands have already been booked so look out for more details in the coming months.
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Club or with an interest in joining is welcome to contact recruitment officer, Brian Smith at recruitment@hibc.org.uk or speak to any member at any of our forthcoming events.