AXA PROVINCIAL PENSIONERS' ASSOCIATION
5th Annual Meeting, Kendal
19th August 2005

The fifth Annual Meeting of the AXA Provincial Pensioners' Association was held on Friday the 19th August in the comfortable surroundings of the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal. The previous meetings had all been held in Bromsgrove and it was pleasing to meet up with so many pensioners from the Kendal area. In all, there were 45 members attending, with a good contingent from Bolton, and several others who had travelled from as far afield as Bristol, Bournemouth and Cambridge.

Chairman Brian Hodges welcomed all of the Committee members with the sole exception of Treasurer Les Prior. New Committee member Alan Bishop, from Bristol rather than the Haverhill Alan, was introduced to the meeting.

We were particularly pleased to welcome David Oversby-Powell, the AXA UK Pensions Admin Manager.

The business session was held in the morning with an update of the activities of both the APPA Association and the AXA UK Group Pensioners' Federation.

Details of the Association's own web site and e-mail circulation list were given and followed by a lively discussion on what members would like to see. It was generally agreed that whilst use of both was limited at present, members did not want to lose either facility. Those attending were encouraged to visit the web site (www.the-pod.org.uk/provpens), and if they wanted to be added to the e-mail circulation list to receive regular updates on Pensioner updates they should contact David Newton at d.newton@dnconsult.co.uk

Brian then advised that he and Derek Sutcliffe had been Chairman and Secretary respectively since the formation of the Association 5 years ago and both felt that it was time to stand down. It was unanimously agreed that Philip Hoyle becomes Chairman and Frank Appleyard becomes Secretary. Brian then paid tribute to the hard work done by Derek, particularly in establishing a database of Pensioners and Pensioner Contacts. Derek had also been responsible for creating and maintaining an excellent relationship with Pensions Administrators Mercer.

The new Chairman Philip brought the session to a close and everyone adjourned to the hotel restaurant for an excellent meal, accompanied by a glass or two of wine.

The afternoon session began with a talk on railway travel and ticketing complexities and absurdities by William Graveson of Gates Travel in Kendal. Any thoughts of this being a bland topic were quickly dispelled and William gave a most entertaining and illuminating presentation.

The final presentation was from David Oversby-Powell who gave us an update on the state of the Pension fund. He then followed this by telling us about the changes to the onerous role of the Trustees of the Pension fund. We have always appreciated David's attendance at our Annual meetings, along with the support he has given to our Association since it's formation.

Philip brought the Meeting to a close by thanking our guest speakers, William and David, and for all the Pensioners who had attended.