Fence Club Annual Review 2020-2021

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends

Fence Club

Annual Review 2020/21

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Contents 3 - Chairman’s address 4 - List of members and Wall members 5 - New members and dates 6 - Letters from Charities 8 - Guidelines for financial donations and Mission Statement 9 - AGM 10 - Fence Club Golf 12 - Autumn Fine Dining

Special thanks to Michael Angel for the photography and Toys ‘n’ Playthings for the production of this review

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CHAIRMANS ADDRESS

What’s another year!

The current Chairman Mr. Philip Richardson ‘Panzer’ end of year Address

A

s I come to the end of my second year as chairperson of the club. Due to lockdowns, travel restrictions etc. the 2021 AGM is the first function since the Toy Fair Party since January 2020 that I have been able to attend.

I would like to welcome our new members Michele Bates, Paul Reader, Amy Saunders and Sue Barratt who have joined the club since the start of the pandemic.

Committee meetings have continued via Zoom throughout the pandemic.

I would like to thank my fellow committee members for their help, dedication and support over the last 12 months and a huge thank you to all our members who continue to go above and beyond to raise funds in these difficult times.

A special thank you to Simon Anslow (and his golf sub-committee) for organising a very successful golf day at Oakdale Golf Club in June. A fantastic turnout and a bunker full of

money was raised.

Many thanks also to Ian Dayus for organising the September dinner at the ‘Lucky Cat’ at short notice after Dublin was postponed for another year.

I was privileged to have been in the chair for the last two years (a little

A special thank you to Simon Anslow (and his golf subcommittee) for organising a very successful golf day at Oakdale Golf Club in June

Bramford and I ask all members to support him in his term of office.

I look forward to seeing you all in the flesh in 2022, especially in Dublin on September 8th (3rd time lucky) in the meantime take care and stay safe.

Go raibh maith agat, Slán Panzer

frustrated at the cancellation of functions).

My best wishes to our new chairman David

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Members List Simon Anslow Committee Member Sue Barratt New Member Michele Bates New Member David Bramford Assistant Charity Secretary & Vice Chair John Baulch Nicola Bergot Committee Member David Bowman Mark Collinson Andrew Carley Peter Cassidy Simon Cox Ian Dayus PC Social Secretary Ian Edmunds PC Ian Faulkner Paul Fogarty Graham Gardiner Andrea Gornall Gary Grant Stuart Grant Jon Gregory Committee Member John Hutt Steve Ireland

Clive Jones PC Secretary Richard Keel PC Andrew Laughton Francesca Lisle Dave Martin David Martin Gerald McKay Philip Morris Mark Naish Jonathan Nurse Committee Member Linda Osborne Simon Pilkington Paul Reader New Member Roger Robinson Amy Saunders New Member Nick Saunders Derek Scott Committee Member Jonny Taylor Jacqueline Taylor-Foo Committee Member James Triptree PC Steve Wells PC Assistant Secretary Mary Wood

Wall Members Jim Andrews Michael Angel Robert Anslow John Athwal Alan Baxter Richard Body David Bottomley Peter Brennan Peter Brown Graham Canning Malcolm Cook Bill Cornelius Clive Crouch Bill Dowle Roger Dyson Keith Elmer Ciaran Fitzpatrick Brian Gray David Howard Denis Horton

PC Honorary Member PC Honorary Member PC Honorary Member PC Treasurer

PC Honorary Member PC

PC

PC Honorary Member PC Committee Member PC

John Howson Kevin Jones Joe Kissane Richard Levy David Lipman Malcolm Naish Alan Munn Sir Torquil Norman Peter Otley Terry Padgett Mike Redfern Philip Richardson Jon Salisbury Nigel Seary Geoff Smith Ken Wallman David Welsh Steve Wilks Ronnie Yaffe

PC PC Charity Secretary Honorary Member PC PC PC

Chairman

PC Honorary Member

PC

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New Members Michele Bates Ex Detective of 12 years, turned to PR 17 years ago and was given a real chance by Peter Brown of Flair. Have built the agency over the years and represent only Toy Industry clients. Have also worked with Toy Trust on the committee. Hobbies include golf, watching cricket and walking.

Paul Reader Learned a lot about retail from some great people at Beatties of London, ELC and Hamleys, Regent Street. Discovered a passion for Independents and joined Toymaster 20 years ago.

Loves Man Utd., Border Terriers and spending quality time on family holidays in Cornwall.

Amy Saunders I started my journey in toys with Import Services. My main account was Bandai and after five years at ISL, I joined Bandai as part of their Operations team. After 20 years, in 2019 a new opportunity came my way to set up a UK subsidiary for SkyRocket Toys. After a successful launch, I joined the Just Play UK team in 2020.

Sue Barratt First started in the Toy Industry as a sales rep for LEGO over 30 years ago and have since held roles at Matchbox toys, Tyco toys, Leisuretime, 10 years as General Manager of Mega Brands, six years as Country Manager for Meccano, five years at Melissa & Doug and am currently Country Manager for IMC Toys.

Diary Dates 2021/22 Official Functions

Christmas Ball: 4th December 2021 -- London Marriott, Grosvenor Square Toy Fair Party: 26th January 2022 - TBC Spring Dinner: 12th May 2022 - TBC Golf Day: 16th June 2022 - Oakdale Golf Club, Harrogate

AGM: 3rd November 2022 - London Marriott, Grosvenor Square

Non-Official Functions Chairmans Curry Night: Thur 2nd Dec 2021 - TBC

Wall Members Lunch: Fri 3rd Dec 2021.- London Marriott, Grosvenor Square

Autumn Dinner: 8th September 2022 - Hibernian Club, Ireland 5 List of Members 2021.indd 2

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Donations in a Here are just a few of the kind words from those that benefited by the actions of the Fence Club. Money raised making a real difference!

I am writing to THANK YOU for your wonderful donation of £3,000.

The donation will help us to improve the quality of life of children with serious bone conditions by giving them the ability to gain independence with their communities and homes.

THANK YOU for the award of £2,000 towards the production costs of ‘Sensory Squad’, a YouTube educational series for children with special needs.

We are so grateful to you, and everyone involved in the decision making for this generosity.

A film credit will be given to The Fence Club, and we will let you know when the series is live.

I would like to thank the Trustees of The Fence Club for their generous support of £3,000.

This donation will help towards our work benefitting blind and partially sighted people by creating two new titles for our free sensory library.

With your help, we can continue to inspire more visually impaired children.

I am writing to THANK YOU for the donation of £2,820 and express our gratitude for your continued support of our services for children with lifelimiting illnesses and their families.

Your grant will make a significant difference to our patients and their families, helping us to continue providing vital support during times of crisis, and when we are needed day to day.

The generosity you have shown by funding three pieces of lifesaving equipment will have a huge impact on their lives.

THANK YOU for helping us continue making the difference when it matters the most.

At this special time of year, we want to THANK YOU again for your support over the past year. It has made such a difference to the lives of the children we support with life-limiting and life threatening conditions and their families, enabling us to continue to provide the specialist care and vital support they need.

We, and our families, are delighted with the new equipment, made possible through your grant of £1,153.

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Woohoo!

Amazing news - the team were just cheering!!

THANK YOU once again for joining us to give children with special needs the best start in life with a very generous donation of £2,604 that allowed us to purchase a Windsor Castle Nursery Gym. Your support is very much appreciated; words cannot express our gratitude.

I am writing to THANK YOU for the wonderful donation of £4,127 – this means so much to us in these difficult times.

In this very uncertain time we now face, your donation will allow us to help very vulnerable young children who, due to their learning disability and medical complexities, do not understand fully the impact of the Covid-19 situation.

Your donation will allow us to plan and carry out activities which will give the children a sense of normality and something positive to look forward to in the future.

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n action Once more, we cannot THANK YOU enough for your support and myself and Ruby will be working on a card for all your Trustees Ð The donation of £2,500 to purchase an All-Terrain Buggy is truly appreciated.

You all make the world a much better place.

With love and best wishes, Carrie and Ruby xxxx

A huge THANK YOU for your generous grant of £2,980 to help us purchase outdoor play equipment for our Weekenders’ Club.

The money you have donated can help us to continue providing fun and inclusive spaces for disabled children.

As a small charity with limited statutory funding, we rely on the goodwill of people like you to keep us doing what we do best.

THANK YOU so much for your help in arranging the £3,500 donation to Children’s Aid Team by The Fence Club.

I know that all the kids with learning disabilities who benefit would like to thank you personally - but you’ll have to make do with me!

So, THANK YOU so much for being such a good friend.

Keep safe and with love and appreciation from us all.

THANK YOU for your generous grant of £2,100 which will put hope hope, opportunity, and self belief on the agenda for young people.

The donation will provide much-needed respite breaks for children and their families. We can only provide this unique opportunity with the continued support of organisations like The Fence Club.

THANK YOU for your wonderful donation of £1,500. We are delighted to receive this generous support at such a challenging time.

In these extraordinary times, we could not rebuild futures of children throughout the UK who are living with the devastating impact of meningitis without the kindness of our supporters and would like to extend a sincere THANK YOU to the Trustees of The Fence Club.

Your support has made a meaningful difference to 3 incredibly deserving young recipients.

THANK YOU so much for your donation of £2,650, it means so much to us that you have thought of us during these strangest times!

We understand that you and your fellow Trustees must be feeling the strain of Covid as much as we are here at CAFT, and we’re grateful to you for continuing your support of our charity.

Your fantastic donation will provide entertainment from Goofus Theatre at CAFT Fest giving hundreds of families the opportunity to enjoy the fun of a festival here at the Adventure Farm.

I am writing to thank the Trustees of The Fence Club for the amazing donation of £4,000. I can confirm that it will be used to continue running a varied programme of online activities and then to support children, plus their volunteer ‘buddies’, to attend their chosen weekly mainstream leisure activity.

To support our children, online activities are taking place during the challenging times of Covid and your donation will help to provide this facility.

THANK YOU so much for your kind donation of £4,194. It really is very much appreciated.

The children are absolutely over the moon and enthralled by the new sensory kit. It has many features including an aromatherapy function to accompany the standard sensory kit apparatus of bubble tube, LED spaghetti lights, projector, and music player.

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Guidelines for financial donations The Fence Club will support the following:• Helping ‘disadvantaged’ children up to the age of 14 and their families • Projects where the Fence Club can make a big difference, with a small amount of investment, including building projects to enhance the environment for the children • Applications from organisations based in the UK & Ireland • Requests that come via or on behalf of a registered charity or community organisation • Recomendations from Fence Club Members subject to an audit from a GPC member • Donations to an individual not registered as a charity which are specific to a life enhancing need e.g.

Converted tricycle for a severely handicapped child will be subject to an audit by a member of the GPC before the application is presented to the GPC The Fence Club will not support the following;• Donations to organisations concerned with animals • Donations to fund-raising charities • Overseas applications • Any form of advertising in souvenir brochures for a charity dinner or any goodwill advertising messages in any other sort of publication • Scout/Guide/Playgroup fund-raising activities as they are not specific to children with either disability or disadvantaged needs • Funds for adult charities • Salaries for charity employees or care assistants

All donations must be supported by the majority of the GPC. All applications will be considered at the Quarterly GPC Meetings.

Charity Mission Statement ‘To raise money predominantly from, but not limited to, Fence Club Members, their associated companies and others; and to distribute the money raised to disadvantaged & disabled children’s charities.’

Methodology A limited number of events and other fund-raising activities will be held annually to include, but are not limited to, the following:• Hong Kong Football Tournament - every other year • Fence Club Golf Day • Christmas Ball • Various raffles & auctions

The allocation of funds The role of the General Purposes Committee is to allocate money to the most deserving charities and to coordinate the fund-raising events with assistance from the Fence Club Membership

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AGM

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Fence Club Golf 68 players and 87 for dinner, with over £31,000 raised for charity.

Overall winner was Jason Shaw (guest of Joe Kissane), best Fence Club member was David Bowman with 36 points. Good food, good friends and some great golf (by some!). Next years date for the golf day is Thursday June 16th

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Autumn Dinner

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This is what Chairman Philip does during lockdown!

Fence Club

Annual Review 2020/21 Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends Front & Back Cover FC 2021.indd 2

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