Minutes of the Committee Meeting
10.30 am 22nd June 2006 at the Village Hall, Tolpuddle
Present
West: Michael Stevenette
Central: Tina Jackson
South & Purbeck: David Vevers, Mary Mathers
East:
Poole & Bournemouth: Hazel Clifton
Apologies from Pat Pullen, Oscar Winsey, David McKinna
Matters arising (not covered elsewhere)
The minutes of the AGM were provided for review, but not approved and signed, as this will be done at the next AGM.
Panto Competition
The Annual Pantomime competition is in danger of dying out unless Lois can find someone to take it on. No-one came forward to offer help, but Baird said he thought this was in hand from among the competitors, and would get more information. Action: Baird
Chairman’s report
David said he thought the AGM had been a very successful meeting with good, relevant speakers.
We now need to confirm each Hall’s membership to them – preferably with a Certificate for the year.
David has prepared a letter to go to members asking for support in providing Committee where Areas are short – Central 1, North 2. This is to go with confirmation of membership and notification of the next Area meeting.
David has proposed a calendar for Committee meetings for the next year.
Secretary’s report
Baird said that we needed to register our databases with the Data Protection Agency, and that he needed to get a book costing about £15 which gave the details. This expenditure was approved.
Jane Raines of DCA wants to know what information we will have on our Databases. We agreed that information will only be released after agreement of the Committee. Action: Baird to write
Treasurer’s report
David McKinna was unable to be present, but we discussed the setting up of an Account, having 4 signatories and at least 2 to sign each cheque. We await his feedback on what will be necessary to initiate this. Signatories were agreed as David Vevers, David McKinna,
In the meantime, Baird will take the £40 cash from the AGM fees to partly defray the cost of the lunches.
Correspondence
We had an e-mail warning that where people on Benefit were doing volunteer work and getting re-imbursed for lunches etc., then these payments will probably be considered as Earnings in future, and so be taxable.
NVHF
The NVHF have their AGM on
We agreed that David Vevers and Helen Clifton would be our representatives.
We were unsure whether Lois has paid our Group sub for the year 2005/6 or 2006/7 from the £2 on DCA subscriptions. Action: Baird to write to Lois
Post meeting note: Lois has paid for 2005/6, and so its up to us to pay for 2006/7, and make our subs of £5 which were agreed at the AGM will be for 2006.
AGM report
We had 25 people representing 21 halls.
We agreed that the proposed format for the occasion was good, and formed the right mix of formal meeting and informative talks.
The lesson is to stick to the timings proposed. We went on too long during the meeting, so the talks ran late and some people had to leave before completion.
Baird has produced the first cut at the minutes to go to all members, and asked the Committee to check and notify back any inaccuracies & omissions. Action: Committee check AGM report
We have received a letter from Mike Lawford who spoke for Norris & Fisher (Insurance Brokers) Ltd., offering a donation of £5 to DVHA for each hall which gets their insurance through N&F.
After discussion, we agreed that it would become a problem for any ‘per hall-based’ donation to be seen as an incentive by our members or the other suppliers. We agreed that any unattributed donation would be welcome, but that we would not want to pick up pressure from any implication of incentives. Action: Baird to write to N&F to this effect
Organisation, Regions & Membership
Definition of Areas
In view of the lower number of members in Poole & Bournemouth and the South-East Area around
We need to formalise the outlines of the Areas, by reference to our original map.
Action: Baird to clarify onto publishable map
Image
Baird suggested that we have not clarified our role, and needed a short definition. “Shared information from Local knowledge” was discussed, but does not identify our role in lobbying at County and National level. Action: Propose something better
Committee
Central need one more Committee member, ideally to help Tina & David McKinna.
The North needs two Committee members. We should try and encourage Jean & Bill Miller to at least host the next Area meeting, and check with Colin Rhymes for any ideas.
Subscriptions
When we know the position on our NVHF membership, we can work out our membership for this year and write to the members, giving a Certificate.
Mailing List
Currently Baird is maintaining the mailing List, and updating with email addresses as they become available.
Tina will take over once she has her new PC, printer and email address sorted out.
Meetings
David Vevers has proposed that the Committee meet on the third Thursday in each month.
For Tolpuddle, this conflicts with a regular booking. We chose Thursdays as Baird is free then, but he can now be more flexible. Marian finds Thursdays difficult, and David Mondays and Fridays. We will meet at Morden for the next time, and discuss further then.
We propose moving to a regime of one AGM and 2 Area meetings per year.
Area Meetings
These serve the members best when there is plenty of opportunity for exchange of ideas in a relatively structured way. We need to settle to a standard format, such as:
Main Topic from ‘outside’ – e.g. Fire Risk legislation, Connecting Dorset IT Project
Local changes and achievements
Individual Hall Issues etc.
We plan to have the next round of Area Meetings in the week commencing 11 September.
Michael plans to get a speaker on the Fire Risk Assessment for his West meeting. Mary will have the latest information from the ‘Connecting
Current Projects
Connecting Dorset – IT Project
The aim is to have a PC in each village for use by Parish Council and Hall Committee for the distribution of central information, and internal communication.
Mary has circulated the latest information to all who asked her at the AGM. Please ask Mary if you want it as well.
Other joint buying
Michael is working on the supermarket chains who might be willing to give discounts for purchase of event catering needs, in return for promotion within DVHA. Most likely at the moment is Tesco.
Any Other Business
Next Meetings
Eastern Area – Monday 18th September at
Committee - Thursday 21st September at 10.00 am at the Village Hall, Morden.
David Vevers thanked everyone for their participation at the meeting.
The meeting closed at
Secretary, Dorset Village Halls Association