A NEW CHAIRMAN for 2016 HAYING ISLAND BUSINESSMEN’S CLUB Report by Bruce Mowatt Publicity
At the Annual General Meeting of Hayling Island Businessmen’s Club on Wednesday 6th January, Brian Smith was elected as Chairman for the ensuing year. Brian was born in Portsmouth in 1950 and moved to Hayling after marrying Penny Cleeve in 1980. He is currently office manager at a local solicitor. Brian joined the club in 2013 and became Recruitment officer in 2015 a position he thoroughly enjoyed. Although a relative new comer to the Club, Brian has a fine team of committee members to assist him and is greatly looking forward to his exciting year in office.
In his review of the last 12 months John Cushion reported another successful year for the Club. Fund raising had met with some fine efforts including the Donkey Derby stall, Annual Barbeque, Pig Race Night, Christmas street collections, Christmas Fayre and several other events. The Club raised its profile by overseeing the Hayling for St George event in August, earned much praise for arranging the senior citizens party at Sinah Warren for the tenth consecutive year and visits to Hayling Island Dramatic productions, The Club was represented at the election of Leah Turner as the new Mayor of Havant, Prince Charles’s visit to the Island and also at the launching of the new Life Boat. All prestigious occasions for Hayling.
There was more in the way of donations during the year. In addition to the Achiever of the Year and Sports Person of the year at the Hayling College the Club was also able to sponsor a full kit for a Hayling United junior team. Many other worthwhile organizations were helped during the year and all this in addition to running the Community Bus.
Membership had been well maintained and although a few members have been lost during the year mainly due to pressure of work and other commitments we have welcomed five new recruits with others in the pipeline.
The Club’s year was crowned with the acquisition of the new 17 seater Community Bus which will enable many more local senior citizen and other groups to enjoy an important transport lifeline.
In concluding, John thanked every member of the Club for the support he had received and for making his year in office so 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 2015 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 John Cushion as their Highest Achiever of the Year for 2015 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 2015 was awarded to Pat Keane for the eleventh time!
Club members now look forward to the challenges which 2016 will bring. Several fund raising events are already planned including the ever popular Annual Barbeque on 9th July.
A great deal of hard work is envisaged for the coming year, but with the help and generosity of the Island community and businesses a very successful year is in prospect.
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Club or with an interest in joining is welcome to contact recruitment officer John Cushion on 02392340660, or visit the Club web site www.hibc.org.uk or speak to a member at any of our forthcoming events.