Page 11 - QARANC Vol 14 No 7 2013

THE GAZETTE QARANC 9
on an annualised basis is 8.4% which is slightly better than its benchmark of 8.0%.
52. The AFCIF Board has continued to meet quarterly and gives the Manager a grilling at every meeting. The QARANC Treasurer and I attended a very interesting meeting of the Board on 1 May. Certain Directors, who work in the City and know what they are on about, are in almost daily contact with BlackRock ensuring that your assets are well looked after. I can assure you that they are. You can also have trust and confidence in that where you are invested is as near to a safe haven as can be found.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Lt Col Marshall and seconded by WO1 CRSM Martin.
Item 7 - Benevolence Report
53. Achievements and performance of the QARANC Association - The trustees make grants to both retired and serving members of the Corps who face financial hardship, their circumstances having been assessed by the Royal British Legion, SSAFA Forces Help, the Officers’ Association or Veterans’ Aid. They support members with grants for adventurous training, certain sporting activities and sporting equipment. Branches of the Association may apply to Headquarters for help for funding social gatherings.
54. The trustees are aware of the commitment made by all serving personnel on operations in Afghanistan and have enhanced, over the past three years, their support to them with grants for conferences and prizes for outstanding professional achievement. The 67 members of the Corps who were deployed on operations at Christmas 2012 were each remembered with a small gift. This was funded by one of our members, Liz Rolfe who lives in France. Every year she raises money by holding an annual curry lunch for all the ex-pats in the area. Last year she raised £500. The afternoon spent in M&S purchasing gifts was great fun and a ‘wrapping party’ gathered from AMD & MDHU FPH with afternoon tea and cakes on offer. A great time was had by all.
55. All members over the age of eighty are remembered on their birthday with a card and flowers and those who might be lonely or are considered in need are sent flowers or a gift at Christmas. At Christmas, gifts of between £50 and £100 were sent to 31 former members of the Corps who were considered in some need. 112 members of the Association were sent flowers.
56. In view of the support given to the Association in its benevolence role, an annual donation of £10,000 is made to the Army Benevolent Fund. The ABF make grants to our members without applying to the QARANC Association. A donation of £2,000 was made to the Queen Alexandra Hospital Home in Worthing. This is a home for disabled ex- servicemen and women and QARANC student nurses may undertake clinical placements there.
57. In 2012, the trustees agreed to make an additional donation of £3,000 to SSAFA Forces Help and £500 to the Korean War Memorial Trust from Central Fund.
58. The commitment and achievements of serving officers and soldiers continue to be recognised with grants towards the Health Care Assistants Conference (£100) and the Director of Army Primary Health Care Services Awards. In addition, the Association funds four prizes a year for achievements by serving officers and soldiers, both Regular and Reserve. Sixteen adventurous training exercises were supported with grants to serving personnel of between £50 and £600 each. A total of £787.30 was granted towards QARANC representative sports. The Annual Director of Army Nursing Services Conference was not held in 2012 due to the support
the QARANC were giving to the London Olympics.
Benevolence
59. In 2012, QARANC Association received a total of 101 benevolence requests. The sum paid in benevolence grants in 2012 was £54,220.30; this was distributed across 86 former and serving members of the Corps. This is a decrease of £1,774.90 paid in benevolence requests from the previous year.
• 15 of the 86 received up to the equivalent of £18 a week as annual or six monthly grants
• 15 cases were declined
60. The nature of the benevolence requests remains largely unchanged; our main benevolence expenditure is on Annuities closely followed by requests for white goods and other household items. We still see a continued increase in the number of requests to pay Bankruptcy fees for individuals who have accrued substantial debt.
There were some very rewarding cases last year most of them were of a general nature as mentioned before.
61. You may remember last year I mentioned that we assisted one of our members who originally was sleeping rough for 3 months, SSAFA found her a one bedroom basement flat, her only meal was at the café where she worked. The Association sent a grant for a microwave and small TV. She managed to get a job in the local nursing home and was keen to undertake her NVQ; we were then informed by SSAFA that she had lost her job due to new owners taking over the company and a making a reduction in the staff. SSAFA came back to us requesting assistance. The Trustees felt that we would make her an annuitant. To our surprise the cheque was returned accompanied by a letter from her stating that she had now found new employment and she felt that the money should be spent on someone more deserving than her.
Adoption of the report was proposed by Col George and seconded by Maj May.
Item 8 – AMS Museum Update
62. The updated situation is that the feasibility Study looked at 3 sites for the AMS Museum to move to. The outcome is that it will move to Whittington Barracks, the acquisition for the land is currently in progress and the proposed build is estimated to cost in the region of £8m
63. Maj (Retd) Wilson asked the Director if part of the funding to rebuild the AMS Museum was going to be used to move the AMS Ambulance Train from Keogh Barracks to the new site. The Director did not think that the current funding included the movement of the train.
Item 9 - Any other business
64. Mr Cheshire raised the question and asked if there were any ethical restrictions on our investments? Mr Mike Adler replied that there are no restrictions within the Armed Forces Common Investment Fund (ACIF).
65. Col Bush, Col Commandant thanked the Director on behalf of all members for his continued support and all that he has achieved during his tenure as Director for the Corps and Association in and on behalf of all QARANC Association members wished him and Mrs Childerley all the very best in their next adventure in civilian life and looked forward to welcoming them at future functions.
Item 10 - Date of the next Annual General Meeting
66. The 66th Annual General Meeting will be held at 1145hrs on Saturday 17 May 2014 at the Victory Services Club, London.