Strachur Hall Committee
Quarterly Meeting
Sunday 8th May 2018
1) Attendees:
Executive: Patrick Gibb (PG Chair), Evie Campbell (EC- Booking Officer), Douglas McHugh (DM-Treasurer) Sheena Dowse (SD- Events), Alison Roy (AR-Secretary),
Group Representatives: Ian Asher (IA), Anne Fiddes (AD), Susan Gaffney (SG), Cathie Montgomery (CA), Rita MacKellar (RMcK),
Apologies: Drew Stewart, Jackie Scott- Mandeville, Catherine Harrison. Sheena Anderson, Margaret Asher, Gordon Neish.
2) Chair’s Welcome: Patrick welcomed everyone to the meeting
3) Previous Minutes: The minutes from the Quarterly Meeting- 30th January 2018- were approved. Corrections to the Executive Meeting-12th April 2018- The Argyll Arts Collective concert on 13th May is an independent booking, the Kyle Carey Concert, which was cancelled, is being performed on 27th May and proceeds will go to the Fiddle Workshop. Cathy Montgomery will make shortbread for the ‘Jazz in the Village’ concert on 22nd July- proceeds from this will go to the Memorial Hall.
4) Action Tracker
a) Storage Shed: (SD) Strachur Youth and Drama Club are considering applying for a grant from ‘Creative Scotland’ for funds for a container/shed. Approximate cost £3,000- price does not include wiring, floor etc. AF asked for permission to erect a shed replacing the old container. The White Elephant shop would like a base to store/sell their bric a brac. At present it operates in the church but this is proving difficult. Some funds may be available. SD and AF to discuss their plans and see if they could agree a joint plan that would achieve both their goals.
b) Funding for the multicourt: (EC) EC has received confirmation of a grant from Argyll and Bute Council for £3,800 and £1,500 from the Strachur Community Fund. She is still awaiting the outcome of applications for funding from Crerar Hotels and Tesco. The Committee congratulated Evie on her success. (Update after the meeting – one bid was successful and we can now go ahead with the refurbishment)
c) War Memorial: (SG) Seonaid Maybin is researching this discrepancy of the missing names. She has been in touch with the War Memorials Trust. The Community Council has offered to pay for the addition of the names. It is not yet clear what should be done and it was agreed that it would be better to wait and get the right plan rather than to rush ahead. It appears, therefore, that the work will not be completed before 11th November. However, the history society will prepare an exhibit around this subject for WW1.
d) The Hub: (IA) The table trolley has not yet been purchased. It may be possible to store the tables in the room behind the stage if/when it is cleared out. Action on hold.
e) Peter Pan: (SD) Youth and Drama Club have been given a grant of £1,000 from the Strachur Community Fund for the production. SD is submitting a request to Creative Scotland for an additional grant. Leeway in times with putting up/putting away scenery and props was requested. Also the possibility of an agreed block booking fee was mooted. DMcH was anxious not to create a precedent for one group. RMcK suggested that it was better to have extra income for the hall and the cost of the hall rental should not be so high that it would prevent the show going ahead.
The committee agreed to invoice the club separately for the rehearsals. The bills would be paid and the final bill revisited.
f) Oil Level: DMcH has been monitoring the oil levels. DMcH is to purchase a monitor- cost about £50. PG and DMcH to continue with monitoring.
g) Newsletter: PG and DMcH have discussed this with Drew Stewart. The cost of printing the newsletter is about £1.30 per copy. Most of the costs are met by advertising as the cover price is only 30p. The print run is 170 copies although extras are printed on occasion. Advertising fees are per month and do not increase with increased circulation. The decision was taken to limit the run to 170 as we lose about £1 per additional copy. One other potential printer (the one used by the Clydesider) was found to be more expensive than Drew.
CM suggested that the price of the Newsletter be raised to 50p and this was agreed.
Notice of this is to be intimated in the Strachur Newsletter for June that the price will rise from July.
h) PG has produced a draft ‘pie chart’. Suggestions have been to include more detail- percentages etc.
i) GDPR: All hall contacts will be asked for consent to hold personal information-emails, addresses, phone numbers etc. to comply with the new GDPR Act. AR will circulate the forms.
j) Play Library: Playgroup does not seem to have met for a couple of months. It is still a registered charity and submitted accounts to the Charities Commission last November. PG is trying to make contact to ascertain the viability of the group.
The suggestion was raised of the possibility that some toys could be stored in the ‘Little Squirrels’ shed. RMcK thought that there might not be enough space and the roof of the shed is awaiting repair. Also due to the age of the toys this may not be advisable.
k) Executive Meeting: It was agreed that the Executive would meet in six weeks-date to be announced.
5) NEW ITEMS
A) Storage
a) Toy Library: If playgroup has disbanded, the toys can be removed from the Registrar’s Room The History Society could the move their files there. The old hall minutes could be boxed and put upstairs in the old history society room. Drama could then move costumes etc. upstairs. This would free up space in the room behind the stage.
b) Disposal of unwanted equipment: Old chairs etc. stored in the shed. A date will be set for a working party to ‘get together’ to sort out what can be disposed of. Action PG to arrange work group
c) Storage in the room behind the stage: Permission had been given by Clare for Drama to store costumes etc. there. Old computers stored there can be broken up and disposed of as can playgroup records which need to be burned. The committee agreed that permission must be sought for items to be stored there in future to limit the ‘dumping’ of items. All items should be labelled and identified.
d) The Green Room: Also has items not related to the stage stored there.
B) Responsibilities of Hall Users to leave the hall in a clean condition:
A recent party has left the hall in a poor condition giving Fiona more cleaning hours than is usually needed to clear up. There was also damage to the handle on the disabled toilet and toilets blocked.
It was fortunate that only drama was in the hall the following day, another hall user may have cancelled owing to the state of the hall.
The committee agreed to pay Fiona extra and to invoice the perpetrators for £30.
It was also agreed to ask for a deposit of £30 for all party bookings (discretion required) which would be returnable if the hall was left tidy. This will exclude weddings which pay £350 deposit already.
£100 is also to be charged if the table linen is used for functions.
6) Standing Items
a) Bookings: (EC) Due to problems with the oil boiler, the past few months have been a bit difficult regarding bookings. Numbers of bookings were also affected - 387 bookings Dec ’16 – April ‘17 and 344 bookings Dec ‘17 – April ‘18. The committee room was a great asset over those months. EC would like to thank all the hall user groups for being so understanding regarding the boiler situation, especially as it was often at short notice that they had to reschedule, or in some instances cancel.
Bookings for both halls remains high. There are very few days entirely free. Most groups now know the booking routine; email is best and the bookings always confirmed. If there is no response within a day or two then please get in touch with EC again.
Please also remember to check your group is booked. One or two are nearing the end of their ongoing bookings so be sure to reserve for next year.
b) Events: Jazz in the Village on 22nd July. Nothing else planned for the hall so far. (See also previous minutes).
c) Fabric, Heating and Electrical: Still some problems with the heating. There are two settings- Thursday and the rest. The heating can be altered manually but does revert to a lower temperature at pre-set times. PG to look at the thermostat this week and to put up notices advising how to change temperatures. The installation of the new boiler seems to have worked well
d) Finance: General fund: £2,815; Fabric Fund: £7,621. The bill from Stewart Shaw for the boiler is still to be paid. The latest electricity bill was £323.
The contribution from The Friendship Group of £100 towards the power switch has been transferred to help with the cost of the boiler and an extra £100 added- £200 in total. Thanks go to the Friendship Club.
The May invoices are still to be credited to the account.
Some money due from advertising in the Newsletter is outstanding (£230) as are some rental bills for the hall (£200). DMcH is ‘chase these up’.
An account Amazon Smile- has been opened- (login-Strachur Memorial Hall Committee). Amazon will donate 0.5% of the net purchase price (excluding VAT, returns and shipping fees) from your eligible Amazon Smile purchases. Information is to be sent to the June Newsletter.
e) Grants: EC thanked everyone for voting for the grants from Argyll and Bute Council. Unfortunately the Memory Garden was not successful. EC has registered the hall with ‘Keep Scotland Beautiful- It’s Your Neighbourhood’. This is the year of the young and Youth Club have been given sunflower seeds to plant and compete at the Strachur Flower Show. A rep. from ‘Keep Scotland Beautiful’ is coming to visit on 18th June.
AOCB
No other business
Next Meeting: Tuesday July 31st @ 7.45 p.m.