Minutes of the Committee Meeting
10.00 am 11th November 2006 at the Village Hall, Frampton
Present
West: Michael Stevenette, Pat Pullen, Oscar Winsey
Central: Tina Jackson, David McKinna
South & Purbeck: David Vevers, Mary Mathers
East:
Poole & Bournemouth: Hazel Clifton
DCA: Lois Rose
Apologies from Marian Eldrett
Minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved and signed by the Chairman.
Matters arising (not covered elsewhere)
Carried forward from previous meetings:
Definition of Membership Areas
We need to formalise the outlines of the Areas, by reference to our original map.
Action: Baird to clarify onto publishable map
Jane Raimes 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
Baird said that we needed to register our mailing/emailing database with the Data Protection Agency, and that he needed to get a book costing about £15 which gave the details. This expenditure was approved. Action: Baird to register.
Action: All Committee (and members) to write to their Dorset County Councillors to emphasise importance of Grants to Village Halls. Note that
We need to make an economic case for aid to Village Halls, pointing out what they save the Councils.
Chairman’s report
David was unable to make the last DSP meeting, but attended the NVHF AGM.
Secretary’s report
Committee
Central need one more Committee member, ideally to help Tina & David McKinna.
The North needs two Committee members. Baird said he had been in contact with Brian Shirley of Longburton VH, and might be able to involve him, and check with Colin Rhymes for any ideas.
Emails
We need to coordinate with DCA to avoid sending out duplicate emails to our members who are also members of DCA. Action: Baird to liaise with Lois.
Website
Baird has registered with Ruralclick.com, who are able to help with our Website, and have already set up a skeleton home page for us to complete. This was shown to the meeting.
We agreed we wanted a website with a public area to describe our aims and objectives, benefits and details of when meetings were coming up. Also a Private area for members only, which could include a Forum for people to post Wants and items for disposal.
Treasurer’s report
David reported that the Bank Account was set up with HSBC (despite their efforts to confuse).
We have £365 in the bank, with expenses of about £200 to come from AGM catering and mailout costs.
Organisation, Regions & Membership
Membership & Subscriptions
After further discussion, we confirmed that the Membership year would run from January to December, and that the subscription would include Group membership of the NVHF for their year from April to March, as agreed at the previous meeting.
However, we reversed the previous subscription agreements in favour of the following:
The DVHA will take over paying for the Group membership of the NVHF (£150) from DCA for the year 2007/8.
The DCA will charge £15 for Affiliation for 2007, and the DVHA £5. These will be paid directly to each organisation. Lois will be mailing DCA sub requests in January, so if we can get our Sub requests out by then, these could be mailed at the same time.
For those halls which have already paid £5 as part of their AGM charge, or at Area meetings since, this will be taken as their sub for 2007.
In 2008, DVHA will take over collecting both subs (subject to further discussion at our next Committee meeting).
Membership & mailing List
Tina is now maintaining the mailing List, and updating with email addresses as they become available. Please address any changes that you know of to thola.jackson@hotmail.co.uk and she will update us as necessary.
Hazelbury Bryan wish to join. Michael also supplied a list of others who came to the last Western Area meeting and want to join. Holwell should be West not North area.
Tina to produce Membership invoices for 2007
NVHF
The NVHF have their AGM on
We agreed that David Vevers and Helen Clifton would be our representatives.
We will need to pay the Group Membership for 2006/7 from our funds when the Bank Account is live. Action: David McKenna
Dorset Strategic Partnership (DSP)
As David missed the last meeting, we agreed that in future, we would try and get at least 2 of David, Hazel and Mary to attend each meeting.
The next meeting is this afternoon, when David and Mary will be there.
DCA - Dorset Community Action
Baird wrote to Jane Raimes, The Chief Exec., to confirm continuity of Lois’ role, and the plan for handover to new people.
Jane’ reply was read out and discussed. We agreed that this gave as much reassurance as we could expect, and so no further action was required at this point.
ACRE Datasheets
These are available from the DCA who pay the
Lois will check with
Consider at next meeting
Area Meetings
Baird will merge the report from the Western area and publish the notes to Members with the AGM Minutes.
Current Projects
Connecting Dorset – IT Project
Mary reported that DCC are moving to the next stage of appointing COSMIC - a partner to implement some of the trials. They are trying to establish a profile for suitable halls, and get a feel for how the uses might develop over time. They are also looking for how Halls might gain income from having the facility
Joint buying
Michael has had little success in exciting supermarket suppliers to discount due to low volumes. He will keep an eye out for opportunities
AGM Planning
We agreed that the AGM should be at a Hall near the middle of the County, to minimise travel for all. Baird to try Cerne Abbas, Frampton & Morden in that order.
The programme should include DVHA Business, one speaker of general interest, and end with a buffet lunch to encourage ‘networking’.
Cost of £15 last year was thought to be a bit high.
Lois suggested that we might get a
Any Other Business
Lois reported that DCA are looking at the feasibility of ‘pay-as-you-go’ mobile phones as the best arrangement for Hall Booking Agents. The advantage is that these can be passed to others to cover when the Booking Agent is not available.
Next Meetings
We agreed moving to a regime of one AGM and 2 Area meetings per year.
AGM –
Committee – Thursday 15th February at 10.00 am at the Village Hall, Frampton.
Spring Area meetings in March-June – possible theme of ‘Renewable Energy, and its role in attracting funds’
Autumn Area meetings in September
Post meeting note: The AGM has been fixed for Saturday 10th March at Cerne Abbas. The Committee meeting has also been postponed, unless we need a meeting before the AGM.
David Vevers thanked everyone for their participation at the meeting.
The meeting closed at
Secretary, Dorset Village Halls Association
Abbreviations:
As we seem to be accumulating abbreviations, I thought I would start a list:
BLF Big Lottery Fund – for Lottery grants to 2008
Community Matters aka The National Federation of Community Organisations – the urban equivalent of ACRE(?)
DCA Dorset Community Action – suppliers of the VHAS
DEFRA Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
DSP
DVHA Dorset Village Halls Association
NVHF National Village Halls Forum – National VH representation
VHAS Village Halls Advisory Service – supplied by Lois Rose
Contacts:
Jane Raimes – DCA Chief Exec
Lois Rose – Village Halls Advisor