Draft Minutes of Annual General Meeting
1th June 2009 Venue: Village Hall Time at 7.00pm
Present: Michael Craster (Chairman), John Gallon (Secretary/Treasurer), Kevin Brown, Jennifer Doherty, Carol Grey, Peter Howard, Hilary Punton, Fyona Robson, Jim Shaw, Joyce Shaw, Marjory Taylor, Michael Taylor, Jane Woolley
Apologies for Absence: Alex Ainslie, Michael Gibbs, Rosemary Gibbs
1. Minutes of 2008 AGM
The minutes of the 2008 AGM were accepted as a true record, subject to amendment to the final sentence of Section 5 to read, “The result was passed by a majority decision”.
2. Matters Arising
The History Group has been looking at using the computer currently owned by the Trust and stored in the Chapel. Following discussion, it was agreed that the Trust should try and find some use for the computer within the community. John Gallon was asked to check out the specification of the computer to see if it was fit for use with Internet and common programs.
John Gallon reported that the Trust EC had agreed a fixed price of £4.00 per copy wholesale for “We Can Mind The Time” and all sales since the last AGM had been made at that price.
3. Chairman’s Report The Trust’s year had been dominated by 2 main concerns – the NWL proposals to improve the sewage disposal within the village, and the future management of the Memorial Hall. As the tenant of the kickabout area the Trust had played a pivotal role in the negotiations over the terms on which NWL would take over the land during the work on the South Side outflow; and there was strong movement within the existing Hall Committee, with support from the wider community, to merge the executives of the 2 Trusts into one, allowing the Hall access to the fund–raising potential of the Development Trust, and trying to make best use of the pool of voluntary workers within the village.
Despite the best efforts of our professional adviser, Mr Hugh Fell, to try and secure a licence arrangement for the use of our land, NWL had insisted on applying for a CPO. Following the Public Enquiry in March the SoS had granted the CPO, and we were now waiting for the Statutory Procedure to take place. How long it will take to find Parliamentary time for that to happen is not clear; in the meantime talks with NWL continued. It was clear that the Trust would receive a great deal less money from whatever deal is concluded than had originally been agreed with NWL – and on which they chose to renege. This in its turn would have a considerable impact on the planned and potential activities of the Trust.
The question of the merger of the Trust with the Memorial Hall, forming one Trust with one Committee and one set of Trustees, had been under discussion throughout the year. There were clear advantages to the Hall, which would have more immediate access to the advice and support of the Development Trust. It would also serve to bring closer together 2 of the 3 major voluntary institutions within the community and hopefully reduce the demands on the inexorably diminishing supply of volunteers. CAN had been asked to provide a draft constitution for agreement by both of the existing sets of Trustees, and their draft was at present with the Charity Commission. As soon as it became available it would be brought to both for discussion and hopefully agreement! Thereafter it is suggested that the whole matter should be put to a major community meeting, with the aim of generating as much support as possible for what would be, in effect, a new start.
These had not been the only matters to occupy the Trust, however. The Playpark remained an important strand of our work, and the demands of maintenance and insurance mean that we needed to consider carefully how we should best manage its future. The original NWL terms meant that we could be quite sanguine; now, as our Treasurer’s report makes plain, we needed to take a hard, clear-eyed look at the options.
A major success of the year had been the Village Web Site, for which the Trust and the community as a whole owed a considerable debt of gratitude to Peter Howard. It is a great success – extremely informative, very user friendly and, as people become increasingly used to consulting it, will become an essential part of our lives (at least for those who use their computers!). The Oil Purchasing Syndicate proposal lost its impetus when the cost of oil fell so dramatically, but it remained a possibility, and Peter is retaining a link on the website. Should conditions change it is an idea which could be quickly revived.
The idea of a book exchange or library was overtaken by an initiative of the Hall Committee. The question of mobile phone reception had re-emerged, as had that of parking – both of them in the context of the best management of tourism within the village. It is clear that the economy of the village relies very heavily on our visitors, whether it be the provision of accommodation, of food and drink, of visitor attractions and activities or opportunities to shop. We were one of the best known and most heavily visited locations in North Northumberland, but this had grown up on us almost unawares, and quite unplanned. The result was an attraction that did not always live up to the expectations of the modern tourist, and that frequently caused great aggravation to the residents. It was perhaps time that the community put its collective heads together to decide exactly what it did want, and what it could do to improve the situation for both residents and tourists; and perhaps it was to this, working together with the Parish Council, that the Trust should turn its attention in the next year.
4. Treasurer’s Report The Treasurer first reported that the Auditor (Michael Gibbs) had signed off the accounts and financial statements held by the Trust as a true and fair view of the financial affairs of the Trust. The Treasurer thanked Michael for his work.
The Treasurer continued by reporting that it had been another unpromising year for the Trust, which is not fully reflected in the financial summary for FY 2008/9. This shows that the Trust had funds on hand of £8485.53 at the end of the year against an opening balance of £7767.65 (an apparent increase of £717.88). However, this did not reflect the real situation as the opening balances were after the expenditure on the new information boards for the Arnold Reserve in March 2008, but before the grant income of £1497.33 had been received. Allowing for this the Trust had actually seen its funds decrease by £779.45 over the year. This would have been rather worse but for the unexpected income of £483.00 from the sales of “We Can Mind The Time”. The Trust still retains a stock of 646 books from which it should obtain some revenue in the future. The timing and value of this revenue is uncertain.
There have been two significant areas of expense for the Trust. The Unrestricted Funds had seen a major expenditure of £210.00 for Trustee’s Liability Insurance. The Trust has not carried this before, but has now taken on the cover in view of the personal financial risk that would be carried by Executive Committee members in the event of a claim against the Trust.
Of the Restricted Funds, the main area of concern once again was the Playground Funding. The Capital Fund had reduced by £418.02 this year due to replacement seats being required on some of the swings leaving a balance of £1830.57. As the playground was now starting to enter the time when replacement of time-expired equipment would become a regular cost, the Treasurer estimated that the Trust only had enough funding under this head for another 4 to 5 years. The Revenue Fund started the year with a deficit of £1140.99 which had risen to £1817.18 by the end of the year. Once again the main cost was for Public Liability Insurance. The Trust had conducted a market search and managed to find an alternative insurer, enabling it to obtain the same cover for a smaller premium than for 2007/8, but this still came out at £888.06 for the year (as opposed to £975.00 from our original insurer). Unless the Trust finds a source of income to cover the costs of the playground, it will have spent all of the funds remaining in the Trust within the next five years.
The Accounts were accepted as a true and fair view of the financial activities of the Trust for the financial year 2008/9 by unanimous decision.
5. Northumbrian Water Limited The Chairman reported on the current state of the Compulsory Purchase Order process and the negotiations between NWL and the Parish Council/Development Trust. The Compulsory Purchase Orders had been granted by the Secretary of State which would enable the works to go forward. However, NWL could only take possession of the lands once Parliamentary consent had been given. In the meantime, Hugh Fell continued to negotiate with NWL to try and reach a fair settlement for both the Community and NWL. Michael Taylor informed the meeting that he had spoken to DEFRA who expected the Parliamentary consent to be given by 21st. July. There was some discussion about how any funds received from NWL would be handled. The Chairman stated that the funds would be paid into a Client Account at George F White. The Trust would then have to agree with the Parish Council how the funds would be distributed.
6. Mobile Telephone Reception Following discussion, it was agreed that the Trust should continue to press for better mobile telephone coverage in the village. It was agreed that a petition to the Parish Council should be raised in order to show the level of demand for this facility. John Gallon reported that The Jolly Fisherman, Mick Oxley Gallery, Piper’s Pitch and the Tourist Information Centre had all agreed to take copies of the petition and encourage their customers or visitors to sign. John Gallon had still to approach The Cottage to see if they would also take part. A house-to-house canvass would also take place. It was suggested that the web-site should also invite people to sign the petition and Peter Howard agreed to follow this up.
7. The Future Direction of the Trust
7.1 The Chairman introduced this by noting the difficulty in getting volunteers to take part in community activity within the village, particularly when there were a number of organisations trying to make use of the same volunteers. It had been suggested earlier in the year that there might be an opportunity to reduce the demands on the pool of volunteers by combining the activities of the Memorial Hall and the Trust. David Francis of Community Action Northumberland had agreed to draft a possible constitution for a combined charity; this draft was awaited. It was agreed that a single charitable body would make sense for the Craster and Dunstan community. Marjory Taylor noted that any new charity would need to have an open constitution. Michael Taylor asked whether such an amalgamation was Trust policy. The Chairman’s response was that any radical change such as this would need to be agreed by the whole community. As he saw it, the process would first be to ensure that the Management or Executive Committees of both bodies would need to agree to further moves towards a combination, but that neither of the two bodies would have the mandate to go ahead until the proposal had been put to the whole village (probably at an open meeting) and the community had agreed that the amalgamation was the correct way to go forward.
7.2 Fyona Robson raised the problem of parking within the village. Those attending the meeting all felt that the parking situation was untenable and that ways should be explored to alleviate the problems. After further discussion it was felt that options such as a parking permit scheme which was not accepted by the community some time ago may now offer a solution although there were many practical problems that would need to be addressed. However, this was not something the Trust could take forward. It was therefore agreed that the Secretary should write to the Parish Council offering any assistance that the Trust could give if they wished to take things further.
7.3 Marjory Taylor expressed concern that the Trust appeared to be managing its affairs behind closed doors, as there had been no public meetings since the last AGM although there had been a number of Executive Committee meetings. Michael Taylor supported that view. After discussion, the Chairman told the meeting that Executive Committee meetings would as a rule be open to press and public.
8. Resignation of the Executive Committee The meeting accepted the resignation of all members of the Executive Committee as required by the Constitution.
9. Election of Executive Committee Nominations for election to the Executive Committee were:
Alex Ainslie |
Kevin Brown |
Michael Craster |
Jennifer Doherty |
John Gallon |
Carol Grey |
Keith Hobbs |
Hilary Punton |
All were elected. One member would also need to be appointed by the Parish Council, although this could be an existing member of the Executive Committee.
10. Any Other Business
The Secretary told the meeting that he had received an e-mail from Kate Hunter of Northumberland County Council asking if she could carry out 2 play sessions for the children of Craster on the playpark at 11:00 on Thursday 20th. August and Thursday 3rd. September. It was agreed that he should write back to Kate giving the Trust’s assent subject to satisfactory assurances that all involved from Northumberland County Council had satisfactory CRB checks, the sessions were covered by Northumberland County Council insurance and that a first aider would be present.
The Chairman offered a vote of thanks to two members of the Trust who were stepping down from the Executive Committee. Firstly to Michael Doherty who had been one of the driving forces in the formation of the Trust and who had served the Trust in an executive capacity ever since its inception. He also thanked Peter Howard and said that he was particularly grateful for the work that Peter had done to create and maintain the Trust web-site.
Agendas and Minutes 2008 to 2009 |
