Dear Member,
I am writing to update you about the recent Friends’ meetings.
At the online Special General Meeting held on 12 November, the members passed the resolution dissolving the Unincorporated Association charity (UA) (no.328630) and transferring the assets to the new Charitable Incorporated Organisation, the Friends of The National Archives CIO (no.1185971). The trustees have begun the process of transferring to the CIO and will close the UA charity in due course. Further details can be found in my latest blog in the members’ area of our website. We will hold the first meeting of the CIO on 23 March 2021, which is very likely to be an online event.
Charity law requires that members of a CIO have to individually agree to support the charity and also to agree to the transfer of their current membership of the UA charity to the new CIO. If you have not already done so, please can you return the transfer form so that we can complete the administrative processes. Details for completion and the relevant form can be found in the members’ area of the website, via the governance tab and SGM papers, or you can complete the form online. Details can be added to all fields and boxes. Save the document and return as an attachment to sgm@ftna.org.uk. Please click here for a copy of the form.
The SGM was followed by the AGM and concluded our business for 2019, approved the appointment of Tony Reed as Secretary and Maggie Deighton was reappointed as a trustee. We had a video update from Jeff James, TNA’s CEO and Keeper, which is available to view on our website. The AGM was followed by a fascinating and well received talk by Dr Helen Fry on her book The Walls Have Ears: The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II. The talk will also be available on our website in due course.
The trustees agreed that we should invite Helen to become the president of the new CIO charity. I am delighted to announce that Helen has accepted our invitation. Details of the appointment and Helen’s background can be found on the Updates page of the website.
Our end-of-year event this year will also be held online: Please join us between 6pm and 7pm on Tuesday 1 December when Dr Caroline Sharples from Roehampton University will be giving a talk on Documenting the death of Adolph Hitler which follows the archive trail of the Allied investigations into his death. Details can be found via the events tab in the members’ area of the website. Please book your place for the event at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/documenting-the-death-of-adolf-hitler-tickets-128252026263
If you have any difficulty in joining then you may do so via Zoom direct:
https://zoom.us/j/98297397159?pwd=WE1SS0F3ejBtd3BlUEJXbGxTMTdGUT09
Meeting ID: 982 9739 7159 Passcode: yJuytof!
To coincide with this event, I am pleased to announce that members will be able enjoy a 30 per cent discount on most purchases made online at the TNA bookshop on 1 December. You will need to use the discount code which can be found in the members’ area of the website.
Our November Magna magazine: Unfortunately, due to ongoing conditions with production of the magazine, availability in pdf format and physical distribution of hard copies of the magazine will again be delayed (as was May’s edition). Members will be contacted when the digital copy becomes available for download from the members’ area of our website and given details about the postal distribution as soon as we have more information. We would like to thank members for their continuing patience and support. Please look at the Updates page of our website, which will advise of further developments.
I look forward to you joining us on 1 December, in the meantime stay safe and well in these challenging times.
With kind regards,
Dr Tony Wakeford
Chairman
