BWG Bangkok Contact Magazine April 2022

AGM, 10th March 2022 Our AGM was held on the 10th, we had a good turnout and a good day. Our new patron, Christopher McCormick came along and introduced himself and we could confirm that our Queen’s Jubilee coffee morning on June 9th will be held in the Embassy residence.

The following is pretty much what I said:“After the March 2021 AGM I remained Treasurer and was then made the Chairwomen’s deputy when Sue left for the UK and the Vice-Chair Laura was also travelling. When Thailand was put on the UK’s Red list I was officially made the Chairwoman. At that point most of the committee were away and with our Secretary Tina and Membership Secretary Karen, both fairly new members we held the fort, but it truly was the blind leading the blind. Lots of thanks and appreciation to Becky who edits and compiles our monthly Contact magazine and has kept us all up to date throughout it all.

One success of the year though was getting around 50 people double vaccinated against COVID at MedPark Hospital. Not all members, I think we were all a bit skeptical in the beginning, but it happened.

This is the third year that the Chair and Treasurer’s reports have begun with some comment alluding to the unusual year it has been. Perhaps it’s not so unusual now.

Things ground to a halt after the AGM. We had no income at all for a few months with nothing happening. Zoom committee meetings and book club. In June cracker making started up with very few people, but we began to meet twice a week and others joined for an informal lunch on Wednesdays.

Alms bowl coins trickled in and in October we began to hold coffee mornings and lunches. Numbers were very low with the average attendance being about 20 only. We started to collect membership dues and decided that our membership year would run January-December to mirror our accounting year and giving everyone four free months. Mahjong began again and we had a welcome influx of new, younger members replacing many who had left throughout the year. In fact, our membership stands at 78 paid and around 10 active honourary members. You’d think with those numbers we could manage a decent do.

The BWG calendar is 1st Thursday of the month the committee meeting, all welcome. 2nd Thursday coffee morning, 3rd Thursday lunch and 4th Thursday activity. This is not set in stone of course, public holidays intervene, but you can mostly complete your calendar for the year on that basis.

Mahjong Mondays and Wednesdays, crackers on Tuesdays and Book Club first Tuesday of the month. A crafting group is being set up too.

To the money, our accounts are run in three funds. I’ve simplified things a bit so that it is easily understood.

Firstly, we have a cracker fund, quite autonomous. Income comes from cracker sales and the profit, after deducting costs, is donated to pet charities. This year they still managed to donate B70,000 despite starting late and having fewer members.

Secondly we have a General Fund. This fund is for our activities and group expenses. Most of our income these days comes from membership fees. Recently our coffee mornings and lunches are usually on a pay for yourself basis and that generates no income. Our sundry expenses cover things like insuring me as I go about town with the cash box; storage fees at the Fatima shop for our cardboard cutout Queen and the aforementioned coffee mugs and machines, etc.; expenses for our domain name and website; sending flowers to members in hospital or for significant birthdays or events. The largest sum is an