Your Society AGM 2018 Mailing 150 years together Exclusively for National Friendly members
Your Society welcome Welcome to Your Society A round-up of news for National Friendly members. You may have already noticed our gold logo on our recent mailings, literature and website. This is to commemorate a very special year for the Society, our 150th anniversary. We celebrated our anniversary on April 20th. It is a significant milestone that everyone can be proud of our staff, members and partners, whom it wouldn t have been possible without and we want to celebrate it with everyone. We have planned year-long celebrations from charity walks to competitions to mark the occasion. On a separate note our Annual General Meeting ( AGM ) is scheduled for 19th July 2018 and will be held at the Hallam Conference Centre, London. Details are included in the mailing and we hope to see you there so that you have the opportunity to meet our directors and staff, receive an update on our progress in delivering our strategy and vote on the resolutions proposed. Jonathan Long CEO 2
Your Society anniversary A look back at our last 150 years A journey through the National Friendly archives The Society was formed in 1868 by Canon George Portal on the premise of helping people to prepare for contingencies. By setting aside a weekly amount, one could be assured of a useful sum of money to help in times of ill-health. This is still a core value held dear by the Society today; we believe in helping people to help themselves. Our modern products are designed to enable people to make provisions for life s uncertainties such as their health and finances. In preparation, as a business we have researched a lot of our history. On the pages overleaf you can find a timeline that summarises some of the important events for the Society. Watch our video on YouTube We have created a two minute animation that chronicles our history. You can watch the video on the homepage of our website: www.nationalfriendly.co.uk or by searching for National Friendly 150 on YouTube. 3
Your Society our history A timeline of our history Here s a breakdown of the Society s key milestones. 1868 - Rev. Portal establishes The Surrey Friendly Society, a deposit system allowing members to co-fund medical assistance and funeral care. 1889 - As Portal passed away, he had seen his Society go national in twenty years with the original principles as resolute in 1889 as they were in 1868. 1872 - Popularity prompts a name change to The National Deposit Friendly Society. First annual report. E 1911 - National Insurance Act is introduced. The state consulted National Friendly at the time to assist in distributing these benefi ts which they continued to do up until 1946. 4
Your Society our history 1939 - We moved to Shepton Mallet, aware that the London office and, indeed, the records of 750,000 State members, would be vulnerable. 1982 - We moved west, swapping London for Bristol which was accompanied by a design makeover. 1948 - The National Health Service is introduced. The Society worked with Lord Beveridge to understand the problems that friendly societies would face due to this change in healthcare. Beveridge noted that friendly societies can offer in many ways a much better service to the public, free of liability to shareholders. 2014 - At the end of the year we moved into the heart of Bristol to Queen Square, our base for a bright future. Even today, our founding principles of helping our members prepare for life s uncertainties continue to ring true. We are National Friendly, 150 years together. 5
Your Society charity of the year Our charity of the year Supporting the community We could not be more pleased in announcing that we have raised 11,650 for St Mungo s, our Charity of the year 2017. St Mungo s work to prevent homelessness and support people at every step of their recovery from homelessness. To the right is a picture of Jonathan Long, our CEO, presenting the cheque to Kat Lacy of St Mungo s. Throughout 2017 our staff took part in various events and challenges to raise funds. These included a 100k walk for the Cotswold Way Challenge, the Bristol 10k and regular bake sales. One of our biggest fund raisers for the year was our corporate quiz where we invited our affiliates and business partners to take part, providing an enjoyable way for everyone to raise money for our charity. 6
Your Society charity of the year For 2018 our staff have voted the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to be our charity of the year. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust is the only UK-wide charity dedicated to fighting for a life unlimited for everyone affected by the condition cystic fibrosis. We look forward to working with them throughout the year to raise funds for such a great cause. To tie in with our 150th anniversary our Market and Product Intelligence Manager, Neil Thompson, walked 150 miles from where National Friendly was founded in Albury, Surrey to our current location in Queen Square, Bristol with two of his friends to raise money for our charity of the year. Their incredible efforts raised over 2,000. A few weeks later Neil was in action again as he, Stuart Jones, Sandy Brown and Duncan Reeves ran the Bristol 10k (pictured right). Wayne Carter, our Head of Sales and Marketing, also recently completed the Welsh Swimathon. Both events raised further funds and we are well on our way to achieving our target for the year. 7
Your Society member feedback Member feedback Being a mutual society gives our members a voice Your feedback is invaluable to us. After all, this is your Society. The information we learn from it can be used to improve our services to you or simply gain confirmation that what we are doing is right. To make it easier for you to leave us feedback, we now have a new page on our website. Please visit: www.nationalfriendly.co.uk/feedback If you click the Leave Review button on the above page, you can write a review which will be posted on our dedicated page on Review Centre, an unbiased consumer review website. If you prefer, you can leave us a review on Google. Just search for National Friendly and click Write a review underneath our company details on the right hand side of the page (see picture on right). You can also leave us feedback at any time via telephone, email and our social media channels. All of our contact details can be found on page 11 of this booklet. If you leave us a review, we thank you for taking the time to provide us with such vital feedback. 8
Your Society getting involved Getting Involved Our Focus Group and Member Community While leaving a review is very helpful, if you wish to further increase your involvement with the Society, you can do so through our Focus Group and our Member Community. The Focus Group meets on average twice a year with the purpose of receiving an update on developments with the Society and providing feedback on new products and services. There are currently around 40 members of the Focus Group and we are keen to expand this further. The Member Community is made up of a larger group of people from whom we obtain feedback through email or the post. We can contact them from time to time when we would like feedback on products and services that we are developing. If you would like to become a member of the Focus Group or would like to join the Member Community, please register your interest by: emailing: or writing to: focusgroup@nationalfriendly.co.uk Dawn Carey, Executive Assistant, National Friendly 11-12 Queen Square, Bristol, BS1 4NT. Please provide us with your full name and your membership or policy number. 9
Your Society products and services Our products and services Our current range of products and member benefit services We have launched a number of products over the past two years. These are as follows: Optimum Private Medical Insurance Guaranteed Life Assurance Tax Exempt Savings Plan With Profits Bond Assisted Living Insurance We also provide a number of services with our selected partners, as benefits to our members. We have had in place a helpline for later life care with Grace Consulting for many years now and also a long standing link with our financial comparison and advice service through our subsidiary company, 425 Financial Solutions. More recently we have partnered with the Co-Operative for both funeral plans and legal services. Further details on any of the above are available on our website or by contacting us using the details provided on the opposite page. 10
Your Society contact us Contact us There are lots of ways in which you can get in touch with us For further information or to request a copy of this document in Braille, large print or audio please call us on: 0333 014 6244 8am 6pm Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays. Calls from UK landlines and mobiles cost no more than a call to an 01 or 02 number and will count towards any inclusive minutes. Calls are recorded for training and quality purposes. Or email us on info@nationalfriendly.co.uk Or visit us at www.nationalfriendly.co.uk National Friendly Online: Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalfriendly Twitter www.twitter.com/nat_friendly LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/companies/national-friendly 11
150 years together National Friendly is the trading name of National Deposit Friendly Society Limited. Registered office: 11-12 Queen Square, Bristol BS1 4NT. Registered in England and Wales no. 369F. National Deposit Friendly Society Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.