Jan Mulqueen Vice President and Club Regalia Joan Crabtree IPP, Editor and Membership Gill Young Secretary Lesley Seville Treasurer Karen Durie Sales and Regalia Officer

Clicking on a photograph above will take you to that officers report Articals for the magazine should be sent to: Joan Crabtree IPP, Editor and Membership past-president@tangent-clubs.org

Vice President and Club Regalia

Well, I am finally coming down from the ceiling. Although I was the only one standing for election at the A.G.M.I didn't want to count my chickens. So I can now say Thank you for putting your trust in me as your new Vice-President. Below is an exact copy of the speech I gave to my given question 'What could I do for Tangent' .I am so looking forward to the next three years and would like to get around to meeting as many of you as possible, sharing views, ideas and the odd glass of wine. This is an opportunity of a lifetime for me and with your help I aim to make the most of it.

What can I do for Tangent. MY BEST that was the first thought that came into my head on hearing the question, then these words quickly followed LISTEN. TRY and REMEMBER
I have spent ages trying to put into sentences what each of those individual words mean to me and how I believe they will help me do my best for Tangent

LISTEN To listen to each point of view, remain neutral or even be the devils advocate when needed. I can talk for England but over the years I have learnt that it is sometimes what is not said that is more important than what is. How many times over the years have you been in the car going home and wished you had made a particular point or had the courage to disagree with decisions being made. Sometimes it just needs one person to voice an opinion or disagree to open up debate.

Tangent is changing ,our membership is getting older and Circles are closing. What is our future? Having enjoyed my time in Circle, so much so that I attended 11 conferences and 8 Ladies Circle Internationals, which were always well attended by Circlers, at our Tangent lunches and Past Tangent conferences, I am amazed at how few young faces I have seen. When I say young I mean under 55 Where are the ‘Girls’ who I met when I was in Circle? Lets find out why they haven’t joined.

TRY Try and encourage them to come along or open new Tangents. If it is not for them they will have at least made an informed decision.

February last year I had a heart attack, the cards, phone calls and good wishes I received really gave me a boost at a difficult time in my life. Some of these came from girls I had not seen or heard from in ages but proved once again that the friends made in Circle and Tangent are there for you always.
In June when I went into hospital to have a stent put in the surgeon stopped the operation as the blockage had gone. He said my arteries were in good condition, I had been lucky so go out and enjoy the rest of my life.

During the last year my outlook on life has changed, I now know that one weeks dust on the stairs is the same colour grey as two weeks dust. If the ironing waits for a few days there will still be enough clothes in the wardrobe to last more than a week. That my children can find an alternative babysitter. I also spent a lot of time looking at what I have got rather that what I haven’t. Perhaps it is what Tangent should do a bit more of.
I asked my own Club what they thought I could do for Tangent and they said

“Try and raise the public’s awareness of our organization”
“Remember that just because things have always been done a certain way it does not mean that that is the way for the future”

As a previous Ladies Circle area 16 Chairman and National Community Service Officer they know I have some experience, I am still full of enthusiasm and will put that past experience to good use.

“Don’t change just be yourself” was another comment, so my clothes won’t be YSL or Georgio Armarni they will still be from Elvi and George at ASDA I once heard a Past National President say “That for your three years on the Exec. You are the peacock but then you go back to being the feather duster.” My Club will make sure I am reminded of the feather duster.

REMEMBER This for me is the most important. Remember that for the next three years in office I am only the custodian of Tangent and all it stands for. I don’t own it. That I have to hand it over in as good if not better condition than I inherited it. And that you the members will be relying on me to make the right decisions on your behalf.

I can’t promise to always be right but WHAT I CAN DO FOR TANGENT IS MY VERY BEST and hope that that is enough.

Ladies, could I ask you to help make the job of Regalia Officer more efficient.

Would one person from each club take on the responsibility for this year’s bar and badge orders. This will help both with administration and keep delays to a minimum.

It is up to each club to check the regalia form is completed correctly and a cheque for the correct amount is enclosed before sending to me for ordering.

If after 4 MONTHS you have not received your order PLEASE GET IN TOUCH with me.We only have 6 months from the time of posting out the regalia to get compensation from Royal Mail. Orders take approx 6 weeks to process.

The ONUS is on YOU TO CHECK THE RECEIVED ORDER WHEN IT ARRIVES, FOR ANY PROBLEMS.

Please do not leave it until the AGM before checking

Thank you

Jan Mulqueen

Vice President

vice-president@tangent-clubs.org  ^Back to TOP^

Immediate Past President, Membership and Editor

It has been a great honour to be your National President and I would like to say a huge’ thank you ’to all of you who have helped me on my journey and given love and support, in so many ways.

I must give special mention to my husband and family, to my Executive Team and to the guys and girls of I.O.M. Tangent and 41 club, To all my hostesses, Chairmen and Tangent members who invited me to join you and to all my Tangent friends’ old and new’, thank-you for your fun and fellowship and friendship
.
We had a superb Conference in Torbay,so much fun and fellowship. A big thank you to Mark Fairchild and his team for their hard work.
Our Tangent Day was a great success ,Margaret Coich and her committee had thought of everything. The room looked beautiful, and we had a super meal. New President of 41 club, Drew Cochran sent his greetings with a ‘march through’ of the Exeter pipe band ,ooh the swirl of the kilts ! We had a very successful National A.G.M .Reports and pictures will be on the web-site.

Thank-you to the many clubs who contributed to my chosen Charity ‘The British Heart Foundation, please let me know if you have sent donations to local branches, The total so far is £9,000 and cheques are still coming in.

I am now the Editor of the magazine and web-site. It would be great to have lots of news and pictures about YOUR TANGENT. Please send copy to me in good time.

The final date for copy for the next issue is Sept 1st. You can send by post or use an ‘attachment’ for pictures and your article and use e-mail.

I also look after’ membership issues ‘, do call or e-mail me for a chat if you would like to raise any points.
I am hoping to start a’ Letters to the Editor’in Tangent News (space allowing) and would like to hear from you.

Yours in Friendship

Joan
Imm Past President

past-president@tangent-clubs.org   ^Back to TOP^

Secretary’s Notepad…….

Wow, what a Conference! I hope you all enjoyed the weekend. Congratulations to Margaret Coish, the Tangent Conference Chairman and Mark Fairchild, the 41 Club Torbay Conference Chairman on a job very well done. I hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I know some of you endured less than perfect accommodation, but hey, you were not in bed for long and you cannot put a price on the fantastic fellowship you experienced that weekend, can you? The Luncheon was great, but I admit we did run into time problems when the men wandered in after the end of their NAGM, but we will address that issue next time. Nice to see the Piper’s though – nice legs, guys– did you notice? Thank you, 41 Club President, Drew Cochrane.

The NAGM started exactly on time “2.15” prompt and I thank you all for that. There were 78 voting delegates, 18 Past National Officers and approximately 280 members present. My timed schedule was 10 minutes adrift, finishing at 5.10pm instead of 5pm (I will try and do better next year!) – but you would not have wanted to miss the interruption for the New National President Pat Paulson from Weston-super-Mare 314, nor the presentation of the golf trophy to Jane Fornear of Keynsham & District 104 (which is usually presented at the 41 Club NAGM). I admit I have been taking a lot of stick from the Executive with my time restrictions – but only “in the best possible taste!”

The National Executive recommendation was accepted and I shall remove 7.8 from our Constitution and Rules. I would like to reiterate most strongly that it is not the intention to move our NAGM and Tangent Day from 41 Club Conference – after all, what would we do without them, girls? Seriously, I would like to thank all those who spoke from the floor for and against this Recommendation.

This is, of course, the start of a new Tangent year, and a busy time for all. Thank you to all the 2007/2008 Tangent Secretaries for their hard work. Things don’t just happen and I know the “back room staff” work very hard. And now on to the 2008/2009 Secretaries … I have received about 50% of the Director Details forms from you and require the rest by 10 May to enable your mailing at the end of May, beginning of June, to be sent to the right Tangent member. Well done to High Wycombe 170 – your form was the first I received this year!

Also in the mailing you will receive the Scottish, South West and South East Regional Luncheon forms. These can also be accessed from the front page of our website. So come along, join in the fun and have a great Tangent day out. I thanked all the clubs and Chairman of the 2007/2008 Regional Luncheons in my NAGM speech and do not want to be repetitive, but they do deserve another big THANK YOU, they know who they are. You will, too, if you read the NAGM Minutes that will be mailed to you at the end of June together with your new 2008/2009 Tangent Directory. I am still looking for hosts for the Midland Luncheon which is held at the end of February. OATS 897 are hosting 2009 and from then I have no volunteers, so please think seriously about whether your club could organise the Midland Regional Luncheon and get in touch.

The other exciting news from the NAGM was the announcement of the date for our 40th celebration. This will be held on 11 September 2010, so reserve the date in your diary.
Another year, another President, but didn’t our now “Immediate Past” Joan do well. Many congratulations Joan on a lovely year as our National President. And also fond farewells from the National Executive to Janis Attwell and Jan Turner. Both will be hard to follow, but I am sure Joan Crabtree and your new Sales Officer, Karen Durie, will be fit for the task. And, of course, I look forward to the year ahead with Pat Paulson, our new National President, at the helm.

Stay in touch, communication is the way forward to strengthen our Association.

Gill Young
National Secretary

secretary@tangent-clubs.org   ^Back to TOP^

Treasurer

Frank and I travelled to Torquay this year for the NATC AGM and 41 Club Conference. What a great success both were. It was good to see so many people and to make new friends. What a wonderful organisation NATC is, we really should do everything in our power to promote it.

I cannot believe that I am in my second year as National Treasurer, people have been so helpful and supportive and I have really enjoyed receiving the cards which some of you sent accompanying the capitation forms.

At the AGM it was agreed that capitation should rise by 25p from £3.25 to £3.50 and details will be in the next mailing. The reason for the increase can be identified as the additional cost of paper, the decrease in members by 545 and the great increase in postage due to the Royal Mail changing their charging strategy.

There are unfortunately still a number of clubs who have not paid for 2007/8 and Gill the National Secretary will be contacting you to see if your cheques have gone astray in the post, or whether sadly you have had to disaffiliate due to declining numbers.

I very much look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Regional lunches and next years AGM.

Yours in continued friendship

Lesley Seville

National Treasurer

 treasurer@tangent-clubs.org     ^Back to TOP^

Sales and Regalia Officer

Well what a great time we all had at the conference in Torquay. I am delighted and honoured to have been elected as your National Sales & Regalia Officer. I am now Immediate Past Chairman of Wokingham Tangent, having joined Tangent just 5 years ago. I was introduced to Tangent as a result of becoming the partner of Graham, who has been involved with Round Table and 41 Club for almost 40 years. I was warmly welcomed into Tangent and am proud to be a member of such a great organisation.

My motto for my year in the chair of Wokingham Tangent was my late father's favourite saying "A volunteer is better than ten pressed men (or women!)" Little did I expect that this would lead to a position on the National Executive.

I spent my whole corporate life as a Pensions Specialist for a large insurance company doing various jobs including actuarial work, giving pensions advice to small and medium sized companies all over the country and dealing with compensation claims. Insurance always sounds boring but I had an enjoyable career and took early retirement after 32 years having negotiated a very good pension.

As I was still too young to fully retire I decided to do something completely different and have recently realised a long held dream to set up my own part time business designing and making special occasion dresses.

I am looking forward to combining this with the Sales and Regalia role. I have a background in sales, experience of dealing with people and a creative flair so I hope this will stand me in good stead. I helped Jan Turner out on the Sales Table at the Midlands Regional Lunch this year and realise that she will be a hard act to follow but I am ready for the challenge. Jan will retain responsibility for the Tangent Rose for the time being as this was her baby last year and our new Vice President, Jan Mulqueen, will handle Regalia Orders. Orders for everything else will be down to me.

After the AGM I was overwhelmed by people who came up to introduce themselves and wish me luck and I will try hard to remember all your names next time we meet. I hope to bring some new and interesting goodies to the Regional Lunches, as well as the old favourites, and I hope I will have the opportunity of meeting and serving you all at some point in the next 3 years.

Karen Durie

National Sales and Regalia Officer.

sales@tangent-clubs.org
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