Annual Meeting 2010
Synopsis of AGM 2010
The 3rd Annual General Meeting of RLS-UK/ESA was held on September 11th 2010 in the Marble Arch Tower buildings in London. The board purposefully set the agenda to allow members to socialise with each other for a short time before the formalities of the meeting commenced and from the responses we received via our feedback forms, this was a great hit amongst all of those in attendance.
We were fortunate enough this year to listen with great interest to Professor Adrian Williams as one of our guest speakers. Professor Williams (FRCP DipAASM) holds the first substantive Chair of Sleep Medicine in the UK and is based at Kings College London. Our second guest speaker of the day was Dr Julian Spinks; Dr Spinks provided a very informative piece on the NICE guidelines, and discussed the lengths that are gone to in devising these important diagnostic criteria and the time lines involved; also advising us that there are at present no NICE guidelines for Restless Leg Syndrome.
It was also part of the agenda of the day to appoint Dr Spinks to our Medical advisory board. The board of Trustees of RLS-UK/ESA felt it prudent to appoint another medical advisor to our panel, with a different perspective. We are now fortunate to have an internationally renowned Consultant Neurologist on our panel, and a highly regarded GP, both with tremendous and varied experience in dealing with RLS.
For the first time this year we allocated a specific ‘question time’ for our Guest Speakers to answer some pre submitted questions from the floor, this was facilitated by our Vice Chair Sonja Crisp and the feedback from this aspect of the AGM was a resounding success.
Members felt that this year’s venue was comfortable, easily accessible, and conducive to a great afternoon of friendship and enjoyment. When asked if they would recommend attending the AGM to other members, everyone who completed a feedback form (approximately 89%) said ‘Yes’ they would return again and highly recommend that others do the same.
The AGM saw the resignation of Mrs Sonja Crisp as Vice Chair and Trustee, and her subsequent re-election for a further term of three years.
*Further interest in volunteering on the committee was also generated at the AGM and these members were invited along to a meet and greet session.
A resolution was also passed permitting members to put forward suggestions for motions or amendments at future AGMs. The finer details of this are being worked on and you will be notified in due course of how this procedure will work.
All in all, a great day out was experienced by everyone in attendance; with members from as far south as Devon attending, to the North of Scotland. It is appreciated by us, that so many of members dedicated their Saturday afternoon to attending our AGM and we thank you for that support.
* Update
We have now appointed 3 new Board Members and a prospective addition of a 4th Trustee to the Board in the New Year as a result of the meet & greet meeting held on 23 Oct following the interest shown at the AGM.
