AGM Reports
Report and members thoughts from the CWL CIO National AGM in the Hayes Centre – October 2017
AGM Reports
Report on the Weekend from Alison Love – National Executive member
Your Section or Branch representative will be sharing their report with you, so here are my own reflections of our weekend.
‘Who ordered the weather? We were blessed with mild, outdoor conditions and The Hayesl ooked after us beautifully, especially in the choice of food at meal times. It is always good to be under one roof giving us more time to spend together. Margaret asked us, at the Friday welcome, to get to know each other.
Two ladies from different Sections in the country did just that and found out they were related!
Sr Imelda Poole IVBM certainly gave us a lot to think about as she shared the work of RENATE. Shame on us that our consumer driven lifestyle encourages, trafficking on a huge scale. We were so moved by her talk, that a retiring collection raised £1550. A legacy from Loris Squirrell’s Estate, added another £1000 which Sr Imelda will use for her Women’s project in Albania.
We held the AGM on Saturday morning. Our total membership is 2456 a loss of 188 from the previous year. We were asked for ideas for attracting new members ? I would love to have some responses from you, to this question.
Please send them to Jean (National Secretary – details on contact us page) and we will get them printed in our next newsletter and on Facebook. A great start, is the template for a leaflet which will soon be available to all Sections to add their own pictures and information. Now that we can move on with our new constitution and model rules, we need to put our hearts and soul in to THRIVING and not just surviving.
Then it was off to the National Memorial Arbo- retum on 5 coaches on Saturday afternoon.
Members found ‘our Bench’ with the help of Bernie’s directions – thank you, Services Committee, for placing the Bench and for maintaining it for the League. It was a very moving experience for me. There were other memorials to remind me of my own associations with the Services and I found the main Memorial at the NMA very moving and particularly so sad were the blank walls ready (and I pray they will never be needed) for Service men and women who will give their lives in future conflict.
National Treasurer, Jeanette Collins, put together this wreath of beautifully knitted poppies.
Back to the Hayes in time for a rest before Saturday’s evening meal and then a hearty enter- tainment from the Salford ladies who roped in our National Officers in an hilarious homage to Radio advice shows. Then Jill had us dancing the night away…
What a lovely Mass to begin our last few hours at the Hayes. Can we refuse the invitation to ‘come to the Banquet?’ If the singing was anything to go by—then the answer is a resounding No!
There was time to remember and pray for the members of our Sections who have left us this year and President Margaret lit a candle by our Book of Remembrance.
The Offertory Collection at Mass, totalling £1300 was for ‘A light for Venezuela’ and will be going via Caritas Jersey and Portugal to help relieve the growing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. As always, your generosity is over- whelming and all in all a total of £2800 was given to both this project and RENATE—thank you.
Our very last session was with CSAN look at separate report. Then to finish, our closing prayer was to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of Blessed Oscar Romero’s birth this month. A fitting end to a great weekend and we all went away thinking of the challenges in the year to come.
Alison Love
MEMBERS COMMENTS –
Received from Hilary Waight from our newest Section Gidea Park, Brentwood Branch – Had a great time at National Conference at Swanwick this year, my first conference. Made lots of new friends.
MORE INFORMATION ON TALKS GIVEN AT THE AGM
Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation
“Working tirelessly to rehabilitate victims, free the world of sexual and labour exploitation, slavery and forced organ harvesting.”
RENATE is a European network of religious committed to work together against human trafficking and exploitation. The members of RENATE are people belonging to various congregations, missionary societies and laity who are focused on this issue. The members are working, alongside so many other organisations around the world, to eradicate modern-day slavery. At present RENATE is represented in twenty seven European countries. This number grows as new people from other European countries request to become new members of RENATE.
A LIGHT SHINES IN VENEZUELA’S DARKEST HOURS
People are starving in Venezuela. Children and adults are dying from malnutrition. Last year 75% of Venezuelans lost 19 pounds or more. Thousands pour over the border into Colombia, seeking a free meal and another day’s hope before returning to their homes and families in Venezuela.
Hearing that there is milk in the stores, locals line up outside early in the day, hoping they can feed their children today. Many will walk away disappointed when supplies run out. How did things get this bad?
Not so many years ago, Venezuela had the strongest economy in all of Central and South America. People were well educated and sophisticated. Venezuela was a popular tourist destination for Americans.
Economic downturns brought Hugo Chávez and his strong socialist agenda to power. Under Chávez and his successor, current president Nicolás Maduro, severe shortages and steep inflation led the population into increasing desperation. Maduro continued to consolidate power, taking control of all imports into the country and even maneuvering to neutralize the power of the congress and other government entities.
The economic and social effects have been disastrous. Hospitals are closed for lack of resources. Basic necessities, including food and propane for cooking, are in short supply. Inflation skyrocketed, reaching 1200% in August. People took to the streets in protest, and the government retaliated by killing some protestors and imprisoning others.
