Minutes of the First Steering Committee Meeting

Minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting of the Sailing Ship Anne Margrethe Association

15^th May 2007

Participating: Thomas Bretton Meyer, Niels Gade, Kaj Hansen, Arne Larsen Ledet, Bjarne Møldrup

Not in attendence: Martin Stockholm, Helene Moodie

AGENDA:

1.Founding General Meeting and the new steering committee

All expressed satisfaction with the successful way the meeting developed.

- A few errors crept into the first newsletter sent the 10^th of May. Arne will correct them.

- The Association has finally gotten an SE number (financial registration with the tax authorities) It is registered on the association’s bank account. Arne is working on establishing a netbank for the association.

- We’ve received an email about Helene’s future participation in the steering committee’s work. Thomas will contact Helene and follow up on the mail.

2. Reporter and meeting protocol

As the secretary was absent these minutes were written by Bjarne Møldrup. Until a meeting protocol can be established on a closed page on the Association’s website, Thomas will make a ringbinder as meeting protocol. These meeting minutes will be sent to steering committee members, and Arne will send them on to members.

3. Homepage. How we best use it.

The website is important for our communication with members. Arne is sweating and busting butt to make it as user-friendly and informative as possible. We’re working on the following:

- “Translation” (transcription so it is readable) of the original building contract of the ship. Any volunteers? David has promised to make an English translation.

- Arne is checking on the possibility for banner ads

- A members only part of the site should be established with log-on function.

- A membership list and debate forum will be here. (on that member’s page)

- Following email addresses will be set up:

info@annemargrethe.dk as public contact to the association¨

nyheder@annemargrethe.dk sent to all members- news

bestyrelsen@annemargrethe.dk sent to all steering comm. members

4. Membership list and mail list. 4.A Collection of Dues

Arne will update the mail list, which will be set in the members’ only page of the website. All members who have provided an address will be sent minutes and other information. Collection of dues. Arne will send a Giro card to members. Dues will be collected in two ½ yearly installments of 400 kr. each.

5. How do we get new members?

Each steering committee member has the goal of recruiting 5 new members

Thomas and Niels will try to get companies as members. These can well pay more than 5,000 kr.

Kaj will try to make a link from Thurø Sail Club and encourage TSK members to become members.

Thomas will work on making a folder about membership and a sticker with “We support Anne Margrethe”.

We will offer new members the possibility of paying their deposit in five installments.

Arne and Niels will investigate advertising things to sell from the website.

6. Planning and good ideas for the future.

As it will be a while before we can gather around the ship, it’s important that we establish sociability for members in other ways.

-Niels and Thomas will come with suggestions for courses to offer.

-Over the summer there will be at least two arrangements, for example

A lecture.

An outing to the ‘Loa’ ship project in Ålborg.

-A sail outing possibly to Ærø to visit Bonavista

7. Contact to Peter Ring-Andersen

Thomas will contact him to get the future cleared up. The goal is to get a written declaration of intent with purchase conditions.

8.Exhibition in Svendborg Sparekasse (savings bank)

Niels will check the possibility for getting the exhibition set up in the Town Library. Thomas will photograph the exhibition for the website.

9 PR, Radio, TV and other.

We must check out the possibilities for getting one of the TV stations to follow the renovation of the ship. Niels will contack Thomas Dal.

Thomas will be responsible for ongoing coverage in the press.

10. Invitation to apply for a legate from Birgitte Bruun’s family Fund

Birgitte Bruun has invited us to apply to her family fund for a legate. The application must be in hand by the 24^th of May. Bjarne and Thomas will meet her on the 17^th.

11. Other ideas.

There were no other new ideas.

12. Other and Diverse

The next meeting will be the 29^th of May at the Maritime Center.

Breakthrough!

Orietta Sloth, one of our Peace Odyssey crew from NZ all the way through to HK, 1974 - 1976 and a dear old friend, put the membership account over 250,000 kr. with her membership. Welcome Orietta! The balance stands at 256,000 kr. this weekend.

Gilbert Nicolas, the Frenchman who sailed the whole passage from NZ to arrest at Moruroa formed a Friends of Fri group in Bretagne, many years ago, and has been a faithful supporter and believer in the Fri story all these years. Les Amis du Fri have contributed 40,000 kr. to the membership appeal. They have just sent an additional 8,000 kr. to be used for the ship itself. I thought that it might be a good idea to try to do a basic video documentary of the ship as it is now, before any changes the association might want to make.

I would like to "video and tell" from one end of the ship to the other. The 8,000 kr. could cover professional help and materials to get the story "in the can". Editing and making it into something useful can come later. There are so many precious things from so many chapters in our part of her long story, and stories we've been told by the first owner's daughter and other crew from times past, stories connected to bits of the ship... stories which shouldn't be lost.
The Association applied to the Ragnhild Bruun Fund for money and just got notified that the Association has received a grant of 100,000 kr. with no conditions attached. Thomas Bretton Meyer, the chairman, feels that the money should be put into the membership account towards the purchase of the ship, and can be used for other purposes when the membership drive is complete. This is a big break!

Henk Haazen, one of the gallant gang from the PLENTY International and Nicaragua Peace Fleet projects in 1982-84 has just got his email list up and running again, after a salt water encounter at sea on board his beautiful 'Tiama' Charter Yacht (tiama@clear.net.nz --'Tiama' and Henk sail to some of the most remote and screaming 50's islands in the world, as well as Antarctica, Aussi and NZ)....and has circulated an appeal to Fri friends in NZ. They have started an account towards the purchase of memberships there. They have a balance of 2500 NZD.

I am waiting for the minutes of the first executive committee meeting from Thomas, and will translate and send them out from here.

Apologies for the long pause, my own computer has been destructively creative, and my mail list also is down... help!

Association Founded!

On Tuesday the 24th April a group of approximately 25 people of whom 18 were elligible to vote, chose to adopt the bylaws as presented. (a translated copy soon to come here!) The elected executive committee of 7 members:
Chairman, Thomas Bretton-Meyer, Coast skipper, teacher
Vice chair, Niels Gade, Captain, teacher
Secretary, Martin Stockholm, Maritime Center Coordinator, boatbuilder
Treasurer, Arne Larsen-Ledet, education functionary Svendborg township
Committee members, Bjarne Møldrup Christensen, Maritime engineer, teacher
Helene Tiama Moodie, Mate
Kaj Hansen, Electrician
Congratulations! Everyone seemed pleased that a homebaked Fri crew is on the committee!

The executive committee will hold its first meeting 10 May. Top of the agenda is to reach an agreement with the shipyard about the new date for reaching the purchase price.

Five new members joined during the evening.

It seems to me that the Executive committee has a breadth and depth, which should ennable it to reach out for new members, and an impressive professional set of credentials and experience, which should stand the ship in good stead. All people who are actively engaged in mucking around with boats! A good sign!

The Associations account stood at 226.000 kr. today.

Founding General Meeting Tonight

The association-to-be had 33 members registered and paid, with a total of 221,000 kr in the account today. Tonight at 7 pm (GMT +1) at the Maritime Center in Svendborg the first meeting of the association will be held, and it is expected that the group will adopt the by-laws suggested and amended by Thomas Bretton-Meyer (thomas@annemargrethe.dk), lawyer Palle Petersen and a working group consisting of: Morten Eeg (Morten@annemargrethe.dk), Thomas Dahl (thomas.dahl@annemargrethe.dk), Bjarne Møldrup Kristensen (bjarne@annemargrethe.dk), and Arne Larsen-Ledet (arne@annemargrethe.dk).

Over 200,000 kr today

Short but sweet news today! The membership of Gustav Bretton Meyer, Thomas B-M's son, a First Mate in the Mærsk fleet put the account over 200,000 kr. today.

Spring News and Views 196,000kr balance!

Apologies for the long pause! Have just returned from a retreat in the mountains of NewHampshire, visiting my parents, Helene and Gordon Moodie. My mother had a stroke recently and I and Jane were able to help her with her physical thereapy, and also to relieve my dad, who had been carrying most of the care load himself. Brother Michael was there for a short visit too, good to see him again, the famous WWII Loran magician on our first passage to Hawaii, where there was system coverage. (He used the Loran to double check his faultless celestial navigation. --well almost faultless, we got there didn't we?) He could actually read out the gas bubbles which reckoned the millionths of a second difference in the transmitters' signals!

The email system in NH had some security problems, so though I could mail and receive, it was almost impossible to do anything else online.
Here's the Good News! As of today the association's account stood at 196,000 kr. Some exchange differences account for the uneven amount. We have 9!!!! new members from the California group, including ex crew and the owner of 'Fri' who sailed the ship from Copenhagen to San Francisco in 1969. Thanks to Norman de Vall and to John Sylvester of Marine Chartering Co. for their efforts. Norman, the skipper on their voyage and the initiator of that ambitious historical cargo passage, is planning to come to Denmark in Sept. and to bring substantial documentation of that voyage. John waxed poetic about life on board. ( see sideboard commentary)

While I was away Thomas Bretton-Meyer and a group of five Svendborg folk have also been busy. The shipyard has been apprised of progress and has not insisted on keeping a short leash on the project-- so the deadline for raising the money has been extended indefinitely, but not infinitely! I hope sincerely to have the money in place by the end of the summer.

Thomas and friends arranged an open ship over Easter and he said that he had never seen so many people come into Ring Andersen's to visit a ship. While there was order on deck, the ship is not in sailing trim! In fact the rig is in a hall, mostly.

People were given a realistic appraisal of the scope of the project. The power bilge pump was tested and worked fine! (Norman de Vall please note!) The number of people interested in the project continues to exceed greatly the number who have joined though! Thomas feels that this will change when the Association is founded, and all is legally in place. The lawyer helping us, Palle Petersen, has met with the working group and gone over the proposed by laws again. Palle will be the moderator at the founding meeting.

One of the Association's first members, Arne Larsen-Ledet, an employee in the town's education dept. has volunteered time and expertice in establishing a fine new website: www.annemargrethe.dk where an elegantly organized menu awaits, including by laws, a history of the ship, a gallery of photos from the ship's entire life and much more. (Even a place where you can send a webcard with a picture of the ship-- pretty neat.) It has just come up on line, and lacked a bit of input from me, so we hope to do some corrections when Arne comes home from a short holiday at the end of this week. Will be putting captions on the photos. This site is at this time only in Danish... so if you want to learn what the Vikings are saying, tune in!

The founding general meeting will be April 24th at 7pm at the Maritime Center in Svendborg.
Thomas is optimistic and has plans for all sorts of maritime activities around the ship. The working group has also introduced an offer for students. You can be a member without paying, but then work the price off over a period of time, with volunteer labor!

We have however still to address the problem of how to bring people together who can't afford a whole membership. That will have to wait until the founding meeting.

After the founding meeting we will also be asking all members for permission to publish their names, or perhaps making it part of the bylaws that membership is open to public scrutiny.
Any feedback on that? Experience from other associations? Should it just be the executive committee which is public? Why not everyone, we're not talking of millions of members!

Other good news! My dear daughter Helene Tiama Moodie passed her mates exams at the Enkhuisen Navigation School in Holland, and is now working as an able bodied sea-person! on board the three mast full rigger 'Sørlandet' in Christiansand, Norway--- Congratulations, Helene! Her boyfriend Paul Janssen of Dordrecht, Netherlands has been promoted to Bosun on board the full rigger 'Stad Amsterdam'. He is currently out on the mole in Horta, Azores looking for the 'Fri' painting we did on the sea wall there in 1987. Helene helped paint that-- she was 6 at the time! Ain't that a kick with all those full riggers out there waiting for 'Fri' to come out and work again-- and play a little!





The founding general meeting will be April 24th at 7pm at the Maritime Center in Svendborg

Working Group to be Established

As of the 18th of March there was a 105,000 kr balance in the membership account, but due to a little mistake in the account no. some supporters got, there are a number of memberships paid, which didn't come through yet. These should put the balance at over 120,000 kr during the week.

Thomas Bretton-Meyer has called a meeting for those who have joined thus far, to be held this Thursday the 22nd March at the Maritime Center. They will discuss strategy and sharing jobs in the ongoing membership drive. It has been recognised that the goal of reaching 650,000 kr. in under a month was unrealistic. The shipyard has said that they are willing to let the project continue, as it does look very promising. The following announcement from the bank will also be on the agenda, as the date of March 30 must be renegotiated with parties having deposited money:

----- Original Message -----

From: tlp@svendborgsparekasse.dk

To: david@moodie-mobiles.dk

Cc: pj@svendborgsparekasse.dk

Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 3:35 PM

Subject: Sejlskibsforeningen "Anne Margrethe"

I forbindelse med foreningens opstart er der etableret en konto med reg.nr. 0815 og konto nr. 0000836222, hvor eventuelle interesserede kan indbetale deres indskud.

In connection with the formation of the association ’Anne Margrethe’ an account with reg. no. 0815, and acct. no. 0000836222 has been established, where interested new members can pay their deposit.

Der kan alene indbetales på kontoen indtil der indestår kr. 650.000, dog senest d. 30-03- 2007. Såfremt der d. 30.03 ikke er opnået et indestående på det ønskede beløb, skal alle indskydere have deres indskud tilbagebetalt. Det er derfor vigtigt at navn og adresse opgives ved indbetaling.

Payments can only be made until the ceiling of 650,000 kr is reached, though at the latest 30th March, 2007. In the case that the sum is not reached by the 30^th March, 2007 all deposits will be repaid. It is therefore important that name and address accompany deposits.


Med venlig hilsen
Trine Lyngs Pytlick
Direkte tlf. 6217 6539
E-mail: tlp@svendborgsparekasse.dk


This is therefore also to notify all depositors that the original conditions are being renegotiated and require a response accordingly.

The meeting will take stock and try to reach agreement on a new date for reaching the goal of the purchase sum, and when to hold the founding general meeting, and if that meeting can take place before the full amount of the purchase fund is reached. It could mean that fund raising in the association's name could begin, but only for funds to purchase the ship.

The meeting will also seek statements from supporters to be used in the ongoing outreach-- why this is a project worthy of supporting!

I will be in NH for three weeks from the 20th March until the 11th of April, to be with my mother who is recovering from a stroke. I can check my regular email at david@moodie-mobiles .dk and see if there are any of you who need to contact me directly there.

Let's keep this looking good! Thomas is also cooking up courses for members of the association, for example in the care and knowledge of wood, in ropemaking, smithing, and other delicacies of the wooden ship world.

Svendborg Sparekasse, our bank, reports that there have been numerous visitors to the exhibition in the bank, which I updated today with some archival photos of the rigging of a new jibboom and refurbished bowsprit in 1996, using traditional rigging techniques, according to the old Danish sailor's "bible" Jens Kusk. Pia Jensen, the bank's private customer chief helped rearrange the exhibition, so that it works better visually for visitors. Thanks Pia!

We wish the meeting on Thursday good inspiration, and look forward to hearing what the outcome will be. We also expect that there will be more new members at the end of the month!