Community Association Committee

Minutes of meeting - 12th November, 2003 at 7.30pm

Attendees and Apologies
A Committee of 13 members were in attendance. Apologies for non-attendance were received and accepted on behalf of John Reid and Liz Canning.

Acceptance of the Previous Minutes
After discussion the minutes of the previous meeting were approved and adopted on the motion of Ann Marie Cockburn and seconded by Eila Roberts.

Gala Report
As Ann Marie had to leave the meeting early, because of another commitment the Gala Report was brought forward on the Agenda. The 'Treasure Hunt' Sheet from this year's Gala was opened to find out the winner. Ann Marie stated that she had made enquiries regarding prices for the Marquees and she reported on the quotes she had to date. The Committee discussed the sizes quoted for and the options of having one large marquee with a section 'walled off' for the bar area or two separate marquees as before and the cost of the hire for the three days. The Gala Convener said she would talk to the firm again on the subject.

She also reported that the fish suppers would be supplied for £3 each. It was agreed that rather than cause a lot of complication we should restrict the choice to either a fish supper or sausage supper. It was agreed this could be finalised when the ticket price was discussed, perhaps in January.

Ann Marie said she hoped to convene a Gala Committee meeting sometime in January as she had a couple of people who were showing an interest in helping out. The DJ Stuart Macpherson was keen to be involved, he would charge £20 an hour and the 'Midgies' were willing to perform at the same price as last year. Kirsty asked lain Buchan about his brother-in-law, whom he mentioned before last year's Gala. lain replied that he was now part of a very popular 'Country and Western' group. Finlay enquired how much it would cost to have them at the Gala?

Eila Roberts said Mearns McCaskie were willing to supply 500 beefburgers for 35pence each. The meeting agreed that we should try to give the local butcher the business as they were one of our main sponsors. Finlay suggested that we could possibly help finance the cost of the burgers to make sure Liz Canning's youth clubs didn't lose any money.

The 'Climbing Wall' was discussed and it was felt it might be difficult to break even because of the cost. George was asked about the chances of getting a grant from the Council again. He said he would ask for the grant forms to be sent to him, as the application had to be in by early Spring. Ken Roberts answered various questions regarding the 'Climbing Wall' and it was decided to leave the decision to the next meeting. Ann Marie mentioned some other attractions including 'A disco bounce' and also go-carting, she would make more enquiries and report again at the next meeting. She also highlighted the need for volunteers, mentioning the fact that people were reluctant to commit themselves so far ahead of the event. Stephen said he would make an appeal through the web-site and Ken and Eila would also give it space in the Village News. Stephen also agreed to put on the 'Beat the Goalie' attraction again.

Treasurer's Report
Finlay reported that he had finally purchased the new software package for doing the accounts. He said it had cost £150 and was well worth the money. He was now feeding all the relevant information into it and it should make things a lot simpler. Finlay went on to give an update on the alarm system. He spoke about the option which was now available to us namely the 'Red Care' system with a power failure back-up system and an updated intruder alarm system. The approximate cost of the installation would be between £1,500 and £1,600, this was slightly less than we first thought, but did not include a fire alarm system, although it was possible to add this system on later if we so wanted.

Kirsty mentioned the subject of the School Campus, which was again under discussion. Should we wait to see what was going to happen before we spent the money? lain said there was to be a meeting to discuss the primary school issue in December. Eric Forbes the Councillor, who was attending a meeting in another room had promised to try and attend the meeting, when he was free from the other meeting, could perhaps give us some indication when a decision would be available on the School Campus subject. It was agreed to delay the installation until we had more details regarding the school development.

In the meantime Finlay asked if anyone knew of a telephone engineer who could assist him in getting the Broadband up and running at the centre. Chris Kelly who helps run the Judo Club was mentioned. George said he knew him and would try to speak to him at the Judo Club on Friday night, to see if he could help.

Letting Report
Kirsty reported that she was getting plenty of party bookings, she felt that this had been helped by the advertising in the News. The new Wednesday night youth club was now started and this just left Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings available for lets.

Any other business
Lorraine asked the Committee what action should be taken regarding advertisers in the Village News who didn't pay their invoices. After discussion it was agreed to delete these adverts until all outstanding debts had been paid.

A discussion took place regarding the switching on of the Christmas Lights. The subject of some form of Christmas music was discussed, also the mulled wine which we had provided last year. Kirsty said she would speak to Liz regarding the wine, George said he would speak to Caroline to see if she would be available to help. Putting up the decorations and the tree in the Centre was discussed. It was suggested that they could be put up on Friday afternoon 5th December.

Date of next meeting
It was agreed that the date of the next meeting would be Wednesday, 3rd December at 7.30p.m. and would be held in the Inverkip Hotel.

George Anderson, Secretary

(Minutes edited appropriately for publishing on web site)