Minutes:
TRUSTS FOR AFRICAN
SCHOOLS
MINUTES OF MEETING OF
TRUSTEES ON MONDAY 9 MAY 2016
Present: Norma
Empringham, Guy Cowley, Ben Howland, Gill
Marshall-Andrews, Luke Morris, Ben
Taylor Tom Marshall-Andrews (on the phone)
Apologies: Lissa
Campbell, Will Jones, Steve James,
Johnnie Morris,
1.Minutes of
meeting on 9 December 2015 were agreed.
2. Schools update
GMA reported on her recent visit to ten of the schools.
Detailed notes are on the website.
The film company Cultural Media based in Nairobi
accompanied her and Stephen Kameti for 3 days to record material for a short
movie to celebrate TAS’ tenth anniversary.
This has been very generously funded by Journeys by Design.
The first projects at the 4 new schools were all
completed satisfactorily. The quality
seems good and the schools are pleased with the outcome.
The next projects were discussed, namely girls
dormitories at Mitamysi and Jarajara, toilets and educational trips at El Rar, and a trip at Kaseluni. The latter school was the only one not to have
undertaken any proper planning of projects despite having a great need for
permanent classrooms.
At Eburru Primary School the new classroom block is
nearly finished and it was agreed with the new secretary that a period of
consolidation and repair- and cleaning –
was necessary before the next classrooms are undertaken.
Similarly at Loldia, some painting and small projects are
necessary before the next major building work is undertaken.
3. Finance
While GMA was in Kenya in April Chase Bank went into
receivership. As there are 10 school
trust accounts with the bank this was a cause of great concern. Within a few days it was announced that Kenya
Commercial Bank was to take a majority shareholding of Chase and no-one would
lose any money. As KCB is the second
largest bank in Kenya trustees agreed that we should keep the accounts with
Chase but ensure that larger sums for big projects should be transferred in
stages to limit our exposure.
On May 10th it is expected that the bank will
open again for normal activity. Trustees
will be kept in touch with the situation on the ground.
There was a discussion about payment for bank charges in
Kenya. As we pay trusts the exact tender
sum in shillings there is sometimes insufficient to cover the bank
charges. It was agreed that in future we
will round up the sums sent to cover these.
4. Proposals for funding
The list of projects for funding was discussed and
agreed. A total of around £39k will be
sent; some of it will be delayed until more details are received. The bigger projects include 2 girls
dormitories. It was noted that Lissa
Campbell looks at, and comments on, all the proposals as she puts them onto the
website. Her experience in comparing
costs and getting proper detail is invaluable.
5. Educational trips
It was agreed that there should be a requirement for
educational trips to be followed up by feedback from the school and
students. Trustees wanted evidence that
they are of benefit to students and teachers.
GMA and Stephen Kameti will progress this and possibly offer a prize to
the student who writes the best report on a trip. It may also be possible to give the school a
disposable camera to record the trip.
Also, we need to be sure that the buses have appropriate insurance.
6. Marathon 2016
Joan Dickie very sadly injured her leg just before the
race so was unable to run. She has
deferred her place till next year. GMA
will confirm this with Virgin. The funds
raised so far by Joan are around £2k.
7. TAS Tenth anniversary celebration Tuesday
12 July 2016 at the Vista, 9th floor, E&Y 1 More London.
The invitations have gone out for this event. At least 3 people will be coming from Kenya –
Stephen Kameti, Hellen Ndeti, and John Ngoru.
The former VP is still a possibility but he has not confirmed. The Kenya HC will be contacted. Trustees will forward invitations to people
they feel would be interested. The cost
is £12 per head and trustees agreed to contribute to this once Ben (T) is clear
how the bill is to be paid.
There are 2 big screens on which we can show a loop of
photos and the film. The programme will
be determined nearer the time.
There was a discussion about an auction to include the
safari Will has generously agreed to offer.
Trustees thought that a total of 10 items would be good and they will
all try to think of suitable things.
8. Next meeting
Many thanks to Luke for the meeting room and refreshments at
Great Queen Street.
The next meeting
will be on Monday 3 October 5.30 pm at
Ben (H)’s office 6 Kingley Street.
