Annual General Meeting 2023

DATE OF NEXT MEETING:
Monday March 11th 2024, 12.00 pm in the Green room at The Rosie Hospital

All are welcome

 

The Annual General Meeting of the Friends of the Rosie was held on Monday March 13th 2023 at
12.00pm in the Green Room in the Rosie Birth Centre, Cambridge.

MINUTES: Due to the pandemic it had not been possible to hold an AGM in 2022 but reports were read,
written by the chair, Mary Sanders, the Tea Bar organiser, Ann Laskey, the Rosie in Stitches organiser, Avril
Williams and the Treasurer, Chris Cooper.

MATTERS ARISING: None

CHAIR’S REPORT:
Mary welcomed everyone to the meeting especially Claire Garrett (Head of  Midwifery), Emma Rose (Lead midwife for Quality and Patient Experience) and Annie West (Midwife).
She thanked the committee for continuing during the pandemic.
She outlined the history of the ‘Friends’ explaining that it had started in 1972 when the maternity hospital
was in Mill Road. The activities organised then were a Sunday tea trolley for patients and visitors and the
start of telephones on trolleys which could be wheeled round the wards instead of new mums having to
stand in a queue outside, to access the public telephone. When the Rosie was opened in 1983 the ‘Friends’
moved too and continued with both the Sunday tea trolleys and the telephones on trolleys, which were
particularly lucrative until the hospital introduced a combined TV and phone facility at each bed. We also
bought many items which the NHS could not provide.
When ACT (Addenbrookes Charitable Trust) was introduced, we did not join it as we wanted all our money
to go to the Rosie. However, although we agree to pay for requested items, we are often not invoiced for
them and we assume that ACT pays. We would very much like the Rosie staff to speak to the Finance
department to direct the invoices to us so that we can spend our money on requested projects at the
Rosie. However, we prefer to finance items which will last a long time and be of significant benefit to
patients rather than items like toasters, office furniture etc which don’t last long.
In 2018 A nurse asked us to provide a comfortable room for counselling in or just outside Clinic 23 but we
never got asked to pay for this.
Mary explained that the Tea Bar didn’t reopen after the pandemic as we were having difficulty getting
volunteers and it wasn’t as necessary since the WRVS café had opened. She thanked Ann Laskey for
providing regular rotas and Sally Munday for buying all the stock. Amanda Rowley (former Head of Midwifery) had said that the Tea Bar could be used as a clinical room and this is still under review.
In discussion Claire Garratt (Head of  Midwifery) said that Clinic 23 is now used as a triage area. They are investigating whether the area outside could be converted for medical use as CQC said it was important to triage ladies quickly. They are getting quotes. Annie said bereavement rooms are very important and they are also waiting for a quote for this alongside improvements for a waiting area.

TREASURER’S REPORT
Chris reported that in 2021 we had paid £870 towards projects but in 2022 we had not been asked to
support any projects.
It was unanimously agreed to close the Tea Bar account and transfer the £493.16 left into the Main
Account.
In 2021 Rosie in Stitches had transferred £4,000 and in 2022 £3,000 into the main account, which was
fantastic in the Pandemic.

We have received some unnamed donations through CAF and have been promised some small donations
from other sites but these are very difficult to access. We have to wait until those setting up these
platforms to contact us for our bank details.
The total money available to be spent is £44,571.

In discussion Claire said that she has regular meetings with the Finance Department so Chris asked her to
tell them that, if they want us to pay for items they should send the request on an official letterhead with
the bank details for the account into which the money should be paid.

TEA BAR REPORT by Ann Laskey
Ann thanked all the volunteers who had supported the Tea Bar. She had contacted them after the
pandemic but there were not enough people available to continue so the room was cleared and any
surplus stock sent to a local Foodbank.

ROSIE IN STITCHES REPORT by Avril Williams
In 2022 we started the year with two commissions for nativity scenes. Thank you, Sue, Sue, Sue, Paula, Pat
and Georgie for completing the commissions in 2022.
We are still selling crafting items through eBay, books on Amazon and new toys and clothes through our
website. We have a Facebook page where we highlight our vast catalogue. In 2022 we participated in 4independent virtual markets via Facebook and eight in person markets in Longstanton and Bar Hill.

Because we have an online presence, in the Pandemic we received a large amount of
money (£766 in 2021 and £1,197.64 in 2022) from people rounding up their online payments.

Our takings in 2022 were:
Fetes £176,
Incidental Sales by knitters £103.55,
eBay charity store rosieinstitches2010 £549.32,
Bar Hill Community Market £243.95,
Checkout donations via PayPal £1,197.64,
Amazon book sales and Smiles donations £95.53
Website and Facebook £148.91.
The TOTAL raised  was £2,063.72 (after expenses for online fees, stall fees, postage and  insurance)

So far in 2023 we have raised nearly £400.
We have joined a new charity fundraising platform called Benevity and we have received our first donation
of £87.68.

Last year we had an intimate gathering at Byron’s Pool to wish our friend Rhoda a last farewell.
Last month our crafting volunteers had a lovely day meeting up in person again with our delightful hosts,
Pat and Bob. We had a lot of lovely things to admire and share. The ladies who knit enjoy the social side of
this activity.

We have just taken ownership of a small storage space at CB Storage and we have been lent sturdy storage
containers for our knitted clothes.

These are the sites where we are selling our goods
https://www.rosieinstitches.org.uk
https://www.facebook.com/RosieinStitches
https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/rosieinstitches2010
NikkWilliams on Amazon

These sites are raising money for us
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/forh/
https://causes.benevity.org/causes/826-1036092

Our stalls booked for 2023 are in Bar Hill and Waterbeach, one nearly every month.
We have already had one in Bar Hill on 4th March
1st April in Bar Hill
21st May in Waterbeach
8th July Bar Hill Fete with a 1960s theme
17th September in Waterbeach
7th October in Bar Hill
25th November in Bar Hill
17th December in Waterbeach

Avril and Jo were thanked for running these stalls.

ELECTION OF COMMITTEE: The committee were all happy to serve for another year and were duly re-
elected.

Annie West said that she would like to join the committee.

AOB: Emma Rose, Lead midwife for Quality and Patient Experience, explained that the Rosie needs more staff. Annie West,  explained that the number of applications for student midwife training has dropped as the government has stopped funding the training and just gives small bursaries, so students have to take out Student Loans. Midwife apprenticeships are very hard to set up and due to Brexit, we have lost European midwives.

Erica mentioned that we used to buy TENS machines and Annie thought that these would be very useful, particularly specific ones for labour. However, when lent, they do go missing so it might be better to have a system where ladies could buy them through the Rosie.

The Rosie staff agreed that the profile of the ‘Friends’ should be raised in the hospital as many staff do not know about us. It was suggested that we could celebrate our 50th anniversary alongside the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Rosie which will be celebrated in October. We should speak to the new Comms Officer Charlotte Reid.

We have a list of all the items we have bought since 2012, which Mary C. will circulate and will extend it
back to 1972.

The knitters supply the Rosie with knitted breasts so that the staff can show the ladies how to breast feed
without touching them and they can take them home so that the Community midwives can use them too.
Traffic light hats are also donated. These show staff which babies need more frequent checks due to risk
factors.

Annie spoke of another project, a ‘Well-being hub’ near the Birth Centre where staff can go for yoga,
therapies etc as many staff are very stressed.

Finally there is a Rosie Picnic being held outside the WRVS café on 14th May from 11-3pm to which families
who have had babies at the Rosie will be invited. This may be a good place to have a stall and the
International Day of Midwives is on May 5th .

DATE OF NEXT MEETING:
Monday March 11th 2024, 12.00 pm

Purchases for the Rosie by The Friends since 2012
*indicates where we agreed to buy an item but were never invoiced for it.

2012
4 Billimeters £12,229
Special incubator cots for premature babies
Pictures for the walls
Rosie Birth Centre leaflets £422
Posters for GP surgeries advertising the new Birth Centre £100
Burial fee for a stillborn baby whose mother lived in a hostel £63
2013
Leaflets for ‘What’s in a nappy?’ £99
6 Doppler pockets £1783
2 Jaundice meters £4000*
Furniture for Daphne Ward £4000*
2014
2 Billimeters*
Chairs £5150.58
Suturing bed £8364
2015
Resuscitaire £12,000*
3 hand held satruation monitors*
3 breast pumps £3900
3 apnoea monitors £2475
10 cots £5355
2016
Refurbishment of Ultra sound £768-26
I-Pad and camera £311.99*
42 Cool bags for community midwives to carry drugs £1370.38
2017
Dolls to demonstrate breast-feeding £502-898
Recliner chairs £8880.48
Training course £200.07
2018
A Conference in Edinburgh £380
Training mamikin £3250.47
Cots, trolleys and stools £4687.96
2019 – nothing
2020
Recliner chairs £3541