Minutes of the AGM

Chairman’s Report

Minutes of the

Gargunnock Community Centre Management Committee

Annual General Meeting

held in the Community Centre Blue Room

on Thursday 26 February 2003

• The Chairman (Ewan Hunter) opened the meeting at 8.0 1pm, m attendance were: George Keeton Bob Marshall, Jane Arneil, Douglas Johnston, John Pitts, Henk Berits, Ewan Hunter and Gordon Lindsay. An apology from Graham Morgan was received by the Secretary.
• The Minutes of the last AGM (4 February 2002) were moved for adoption by Bob Marshall and seconded by George Keeton and carried unanimously.
• Chairman’s Report. The Chairman expressed his dismay at the poor turnout, then went on to present his report (see Appendix 1).To one of his conclusions, ‘that we could have done a lot better and a lot more , George Keeton responded that having been in his position in the past, the should not undervalue what had been achieved during the year. He was thanked for his support.
• Secretary’s Report. The Secretary (Gordon Lindsay) reported that the committee had met on 13 occasions since being elected and that the average attendance had been 87% with a quorum achieved at all meetings.
• Treasurer’s Report. The Treasurer (John Pitts) presented his Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2002, independently audited by Trevor Boyd (see Appendix 2). The Chairman thanked John Pitts for another year of sterling work, not only as treasurer but also far his key involvement in most aspects of Community Centre business. Douglas Johnston moved for Adoption of the Audited Accounts, seconded by Jane Arniel, carried unanimously.
• Election of Committee. The present committee stood down. It was ascertained that all bar Henk Berits (Vice Chair) were willing to restand for election. It was proposed by George Keeton and seconded by Bob Marshall that: Ewan Hunter, Jane Arniel, Douglas Johnston, John Pitts, Graham Morgan and Gordon Lindsay be elected to the committee. The Chairman thanked Henk Berits for all of his efforts over the past year in particular with respect to fundraising. It was pointed out that with the committee at the minimum size of 6 members, requiring 5 to be quorate might prove difficult.
• AOCB. The Chairman tabled a copy of an email from Bob Marshall to Councillor Helen Scott expressing concern that patients using the chiropody service had been advised by letter that this service was to cease. The reason stated being that the Centre does not have a treatment room and therefore did not comply with H&S regulations. It was ascertained that neither the Management Committee nor the Community Council had been informed or consulted on this matter. The committee was unanimous in backing the Community Council fully in their efforts to have this apparently unilateral decision reviewed and to have the service reinstated.
• There being no other business, the Chairman thanked the two associate members and the Committee members for attending and closed the meeting at 8.29pm.

(signed) G Lindsay

Secretary

27 February 2003

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Thanks to all of our users, Cameron and Trish for their very hard work in keeping the Centre clean, tidy and functional and to our Committee for their efforts in keeping the whole thing moving forward. Special thanks go to John Pitts for his exceptional diligence over our financial position.

• Management! running costs

When we took over the running of the facilities funds were well provided for however the building and its management were in a relative poor state. Since taking over to counter that position we:

• Assessed all expenditure, renegotiated all supply contracts and reduced costs without impinging upon the quality of our service. The net effect has been a significant annual saving in our cost base.
• Assessed the state of repair of the building and thanks to the expertise of Jane and Douglas on the Committee, and a significant amount of pressure, ensured that Stirling Council fulfilled their long overdue duties in care and maintenance of the building...Several £ 1000’s have subsequently been spent on repairing the fabric of the building — thanks to Stirling Council.

The net impact of these two activities and ongoing fiscal/financial control is that we have a well-maintained building and finances that are prudently managed. Indeed the bulk of all new works this year have been funded via cost-savings achieved, increased rental margins and fund-raising, hence we have not eaten into much if any of the development capital available to us.

• Developments This Year

We inherited an ambitious plan for wholesale expansion of the Centre that was shelved at the time of our taking over running the Centre. We focused on general refurbishment whilst conducting a whole scale survey of Community needs.

In addition the costings identified by the previous Committee for storage extension we felt were far too high — subsequently we re-tendered these and reduced the cost of this development by at least 33%.

As a consequence we have successfully completed this development from existing funds and little call upon the development account. In addition new lighting in the main hail has now been budgeted for and works will start shortly including dimmer switches! (work completed March 2003) Partial redecoration has also occurred and we’d like to again thank all those volunteers who helped in painting on a sunny day.

• Community Needs

A survey of all community needs took place, the four greatest priorities identified from 50 responses received were, in order of importance;

• General refurbishment
• Development of a youth facility
• New lighting
• More car parking

It is my belief that the next Committee should use these findings to inform their activities over the next year — they are after all the will of the community.

 Future Plans

Thanks to funding from the Futures Group, a feasibility study is now underway to assess the opportunity and costs for developing the old cottage into a multi-functional Youth/conference facility. Very lately the issue over out of school care has also come to light and we are working with the village to develop and integrate this proposal into our feasibility study, as it will prove a very meaningful source of development funding.

Furthermore it had been our intention to seek partial financial support for such a development from the Cala Homes funds gifted to the village in lieu of planning gain and we would commend the next committee to put such a proposal to the community — the funds are after all ring-fenced for children/youth investment and we see no reason why portion of these funds could not be invested in giving kids somewhere to go to of their own.

• Conclusion

Have we done well? We could have done a lot better and a lot more, however as with most other groups in the village we are constrained by the ability of working people to dedicate more free time to the cause...

The attendance of the broader community to our monthly meetings has been woeful or could perhaps be better described as non-existent and that is a sad reflection on the status with which this community views one of its most significant assets.

The good news is bookings are up and the Centre is getting better month on month. I would personally like to thank all of you in the community and our users who have taken the time, and paid the money, to support your Centre.

Ewan Hunter

The White House

The Square