Welcome to the second newsletter of the year. I hope this finds you all safe and well, but if not then on the road to recovery. We have had two events already, namely the coffee morning at The White Horse on 19th February and our AGM on the 16th March at The Brend Devon Hotel at Matford. A report on the AGM follows after these opening remarks.
Your committee has agreed to a full programme of events this year with
three of them detailed later in this newsletter. That will be the free cream
tea at The Hartnoll Hotel at Bolham (near Tiverton and the Knightshayes
NT property) on Friday 24th April followed by our late Spring lunch at
The Belmont Hotel, Sidmouth on Weds 3rd June. After that we thought
something in July would be good and have settled on an extra coffee
morning with cakes on Weds 8th July. This will be at the Bistro,
Powderham Farm Shop, Kenton. We have tried to run a boat trip from
Exmouth at that time, but the tides are against us for an afternoon on the
river Exe.
After that we will have a theatre visit in August to the Sidmouth Pavilion
Theatre, another cream tea afternoon in September followed by an
October Pub lunch. November will be coffee time again at a venue to be
decided and December is already booked at The Victoria Hotel in
Sidmouth on Thursday 3rd December. How about that to fill your diaries!
AGM Review
We held our 51st AGM on the 16th March at The Brend Devon Hotel where
we were made very welcome by the staff and had a lovely room to
ourselves and a carvery lunch. Numbers were better than last year with
42 booked in plus our guest speaker Stephen Powles with a most
illuminating talk and slide show on the life of otters.
This was a short notice switch of venue from The Swan’s Nest at
Exminster due to a severe flood and closure of that venue. However, the
set up and atmosphere at The Devon Hotel was superior and widely
appreciated by all attendees. Whilst more expensive, I feel we will go
there again in 2027 for our 52nd AGM.
The normal business part was quickly done: all parties duly elected on
including the addition of Jan Russell to our committee. We do have a
further Committee vacancy if you would like to volunteer for a non-
arduous position. Please get in touch with me or Secretary Barbara.
Ray Cavill’s Wellbeing report included his usual plea seeking an extra
person to join his team of volunteers. We always need some help….so
please consider volunteering to join us.
The business part was followed by a very memorable presentation by
Stephen Powles, a retired vet and expert on otters. He showed us a
number of videos & photos about their life and the agility to catch fish.
When you walk by a river do keep your eyes peeled for activity.
With my Chairman’s hat on I did the usual round of thanks to my
Committee without whom this Club could not keep going and welcomed in
13 new active members to the Club this past year.
The AGM minutes and summary of all the reports are available from
Barbara, our Secretary.
To all of you, please stay safe and healthy. I look forward to seeing you at
one or more of our 2026 events.
Chairman Garry
Financial Review
You will be pleased to know that our finances remain in good order. Roger
Handover completed the examination of the 2025 accounts, his 3rd outing
as our accounts examiner. Thank you, Roger. I am pleased that he wishes
to continue in post!
With my change of hat, I can report that in 2025 we achieved a deficit of
only £295 which was rather less than anticipated in my budget for the
year. As a result, we have brought forward into 2026 a balance of £5551
to which we now add our annual subscriptions (£850) and the grant claim
this year of £4356 plus interest of about £84. Total income thus £5290
expected……
With our proposed full programme of events this year (being 10 in
number), I estimate a net expenditure of £5500 on social subsidies and
£950 on Admin and Welfare payments. That should result in a deficit of
£1160 in the year. That reduces our final balance to around £4390 at the
year end. As you can see we are gradually using up our surplus funds.
We do however need our members to attend events as our social grant
income (which is 65% of the funds from HO) depends upon attendances.
If you can attend just one event in the year, then that benefits our annual
grant claim!
I can end our financial review on the extra positive note that for your £5
subscription, Active members can enjoy subsidies and free events to the
tune of about £130 per head across the year, if you were to attend all
those events. Wow! Not bad for a fiver!
Best wishes from Treasurer Garry.
Secretary’s Notes
A belated Happy Easter to you all and welcome to spring, after the long
wet winter. It is lovely to see the abundance of spring flowers and the
greening up of trees, as well as the longer days now we are into ‘Summer
time’.
If you haven’t been to an event recently, why don’t you come along to the
next one(s)? Never mind if you are on your own, we are a friendly bunch!
And, you never know, you might find someone you know or perhaps
worked with in the past is there too.
This is the second Newsletter for 2026 and the next ones will be issued in
July & October – so please keep a look out for them around the middle of
these months. If you don’t receive anything, please let me know, but do
check your ‘Junk/Spam’ email box first! Note: If you do not hold an email
account, we will continue to post a copy to your home address.
Finally, thank you for the kind responses to our ‘Reminder’ emails about
events. BUT, please don’t rely on them and if you want to come along to
an event, the sooner you ‘sign up’ the better. It is also a big help to the
committee members who are organising them! Thank you. (Regretfully,
with the rising cost of postage and time involved, we are unable to send
reminders by post.)
I hope you are keeping well,
Best wishes Barbara Johnson, Secretary
Wellbeing
Good to see so many of you at our recent AGM at The Devon Hotel. My summary
of events then very much resemble more than one of my many previous AGM ‘performances’, as we are still looking for someone else to join the Wellbeing Team.
I continue to oversee 2 of the 5 post code allocated areas, but hope that I can
pass the EX20-24 area on to another member. PLEASE seriously consider helping us, and I will provide additional information and support. Here’s hoping!
Regret that we shall be missing from the upcoming Cream Tea, but will look
forward to seeing some of you at The Belmont Hotel.
Ray Cavill, Wellbeing Coordinator
Social Functions
Free Cream Tea – Friday 24th April at 3.00pm – The Hartnoll Hotel, Bolham, Tiverton EX16 7RA
Numbers have now been advised to the Hotel. We look forward to seeing those who have told us of their intended attendance on the day.
Wednesday, 3rd June at 1.00pm – Spring Lunch at The Belmont Hotel, The Esplanade, Sidmouth EX10 8RX
Booking form is attached. Please complete with your menu requirements and return to Barbara and Peter to arrive no later than Saturday 16th May.
BACS payments please to “Exeter Spread Eagle Club” Sort Code 20-30-47
Account Number 10138878. Or by cheque with your booking.
Wednesday 8th July at 10.30am – Free Coffee and Cake morning at The Bistro at Powderham Farm Shop, Powderham Estate, Kenton EX6 8JQ
Please notify Barbara or Peter by Monday 22nd June if you are able to
attend so we can advise the Caterers of expected numbers.
Future dates for your diary: (mostly provisional at this stage full details will be given in the July Newsletter)
Mid – Late August (Evening) – Theatre visit in Sidmouth
We are awaiting notification of the Summer Play Festival programme.
September – Cream Tea Afternoon
October – Pub Lunch at The White Horse Inn
November – Coffee Morning
Thursday, 3rd December – Christmas Lunch at The Victoria
Hotel, Sidmouth
New – Photograph Policy
BARCLAYS BANK EXETER SPREAD EAGLE PENSIONERS CLUB takes
photographs during events for social purposes, which are posted on our
website including social media (Facebook).
- Lawful Basis: We process these images based on your explicit consent which is assumed unless you tell us otherwise.
- Your Rights: If you are featured in a photo on this website and wish for it to be removed, please contact the Club Secretary by email barbj@talktalk.net, or in writing. We will remove your image promptly upon request.
- Data Retention: We keep photos only for as long as necessary for their intended purpose.
- Withdrawal of Consent: If you have previously provided consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time by contacting the club Secretary.