MAJOR CHANGES TO THE NATIONAL ORGANISATION – THIS INVOLVES THURSO BRANCH!

Major changes are happening to Legion Scotland, of which our Branch (not Club) is a part. Without action, the national organisation has around 2.5 years left due to diminishing funds, They have established a Strategic Transformation Committee (STC) to put forward actions to remedy this situation. Those of you who voted will know that one change already agreed is an increase in the National Legion Scotland membership contribution by £5 to £20 a year. Other changes wrt Area finding and a National Branch were rejected by the members.

A Change Management Plan has been created, which is the controlling document for the project and lists all the tasks in detail that are being actioned. The associated programme can also be found here, which defines when a task is scheduled, who is leading it, who is supporting it, the priority of the task and percentage complete. The STC meet monthly to discuss progress against this programme.

For the work to progress and positive changes to be implemented EVERYONE in the organisation will need to be engaged in the detail of this document and the communications and updates which will be provided monthly to all office bearers. Please make yourself aware of what’s going on as you will be asked from time to time to vote on the changes.

Regular updates and ongoing communication will be provided through the following mediums:

  • The Head Office Month End Report will have an STC update every time it is circulated.
  • The Membership Bulletin will be used to communicate directly with all members who have provided an email address.

Each Area has a representative on the Strategic Committee; yours is Simon Middlemas, who can provide in-person updates on the work or conduct presentations.

LATEST REPORT

The Strategic Committee met on the 12 of June to continue with the programme of work on the Change Management Plan. This was a good opportunity to revisit the presentations and workshops from Annual Conference to discuss the feedback received and engagement with the membership. There were still a lot of Branch representatives present at Conference who did not have a full awareness of the Change Management Programme and any interim updates that have been made available. Version 13 of the Change Management Plan and Version 14 of the Change Management Programme are currently available on the Legion website – https://www.legionscotland.org.uk/general-admin.

It is vital that all Area and Branch Office Bearers are keeping up to date with the current versions of these two documents so they are informed on how the work is progressing and can keep the membership updated. The Change Management Programme spreadsheet is a live document that continually tracks the key milestones and tasks within the programme of work. How the tasks are progressing is noted as a percentage for ease of reference along with completion dates between now and the end of 2026.

The Head Office Review is now 100% complete and a summary report has now been created for distribution. A full summary of the review findings has now been created as a stand-alone document and is included along with your Head Office Month End Report for June.

All aspects of the Change Management Plan project are a work in progress, and this requires the engagement of everyone in the organisation to ensure that key milestones are met and the tasks are completed within the timeframes in the document. If you have any questions on the Change Management Plan or Programme you can address these to your representative on the Strategic Committee or your NBT representative. You can also contact the Project Manager, Simon Middlemas OBE on mml.scrabster@btinternet.com.

ACTIONS

There are a number of actions on everybody – these are the ones for Branches, ie. Thurso:

  • Increase gift aid – Thurso has been a very small take up of the income opportunity. You can sign up if you pay tax and it costs you nothing apart from 5 minutes of your time. See details on the home page of this web site.
  • When the Branch raises money, donate a proportion to the Legion Scotland, who after all are our parent charity. Run a separate event for them. The more we raise, the smaller our membership contributions in the future.
  • The Legion Scotland shop is being completely changed. We have a new supplier who can provide clothing and items branded with our Branch title on them. Every sale the supplier makes, he will refund 10% to Legion Scotland. When its up and running, please use it.
  • Legal fees in Legion Scotland have been far too high over the last few years. Anything less than £22k is probably about right for a national Charity of our size, but they have been up beyond £100k, mainly caused by members, Branches and Areas operating outside of the constitution or causing major disruption.

There are many other actions. For details, see the Change Management Programme.

YOUR INPUT

Input from Branches is welcomed and encouraged at any stage of this project. Please contact our secretary Ron Galloway who will coordinate the feedback from Thurso.