The Board of Trustees of the WRAC Association have now taken the difficult decision to cancel both the AGM and the Unveiling of the Statue event planned for 31st October 2020 at the NMA, in light of the ongoing government and scientific advice surrounding Covid-19 and large gatherings. The NMA are unable to give us any definite guidelines to enable us to plan on numbers for October, so it seemed the only sensible idea was to cancel the AGM for 2020 and postpone the Statue event until the Summer in 2021.
Given the cancellation of the AGM for 2020, we will now submit the Accounts to the Charity Commission as approved by the Trustees at the February meeting. The Charity Commission are content with this course of action, particularly in such strange circumstances as the present. However, every Member will receive a copy of the Annual Report, including accounts, with their next Lioness, due out in September. We are still planning on the 2021 AGM being held on 20th March at the VSC, followed by a Dinner.
A new Statue event is being discussed for Summer 2021 and I (the Association Secretary) am liaising with the NMA. For planning purposes this will be viewed as a completely ‘new’ event. Since the October event has been ‘cancelled’ we will refund the £5 ticket price to all those of you who had booked (in line with other organisations’ cancelled events) – unless you wish to make this a donation to the Association. We will refund your money in the same way you paid (ie cheque for cheque, Credit/Debit card refund, etc), unless you tell us otherwise – please let us know by 30th September if you wish for your ticket cost to be treated as a donation. Refunds can be made early in October. For logistical reasons reservations/tickets for this year will not be ‘held over’ to next summer.
The Prize Draw will still go ahead, albeit virtually, on the 31st of October. Further details regarding the draw will be published in the upcoming Lioness.
A copy of this notice will appear in the forthcoming Lioness, to ensure all members of the Association are kept informed of this decision. However, if you know of someone who was planning to attend but doesn’t have email, please do let them know. A notice will also appear on our website and Social Media channels.
If you are still planning to visit the Association plot at the NMA, in October or any other time, please be aware that you do have to pre book (both day and time), direct with the NMA. See http://www.thenma.org.uk/plan-your-visit/ for more details.
Thank you for your interest and patience in this matter.
Penny Muxworthy
Association Secretary August 2020