LOCH AWE COMMUNITY WEBSITE ASSOCATION

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

DALMALLY CHURCH HALL, 20 FEBRUARY 2002

1. OPENING REMARKS

K. Baird, Chairman, welcomed those present and thanked them for attending the meeting. Apologies for absence were received from P. Gibson, J. Goel, M. MacDougall and D. Wilson.

2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

The Minutes of the last meeting, on 24 November 1999, were taken as read.

3. ACCOUNTS, FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING 31 OCTOBER 2000

Income for the year (including balance of grants) was £1,965.31. Expenditure was £1,891.59 (including purchase of a photocopier for the access point). The amount carried forward from the previous year was £1,649.50, which left a balance of £1,723.22 on 31 October 2000.

4. ACCOUNTS, FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING 31 OCTOBER 2001

Income for the year for use of the access point was £235.54 – 50% of the previous year, which was mostly due to the effect the foot-and-mouth disease had on tourist trade in the area.

There was no other income as no maintenance fees were collected in the course of that financial year. The Committee decided that for the year 1 November 2000 to 31 October 2001 the maintenance fee should be £12.50, which kept us in line with the Tourist Board who halved their membership fee for that year. The maintenance fees for 2001 and 2002 (which the Committee set at £25) are now in the process of being collected, along with amounts due from members for use of the access point during the two-year period.

Expenditure for the year to 31 October 2001 was £751.83 and a balance of £1,235.44 was carried into the current year. The estimated expenditure for the current year is ca. £800.

5. ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS AND COMMITTEE

K. Baird explained that, according to the Constitution, the whole Committee retires at an AGM and is eligible for re-election. As no applications to stand for election had been received, a motion to re-elect the Committee en bloc was passed by those present.

As P. Gibson and J. Goel had expressed their wish to retire from the Committee, it was proposed that the two vacant positions be filled by one for the whole of South Lochaweside (assisted by K. Baird) and one to assist with the Dalmally area. At the request of tho9se present, R. MacPherson agreed to cover South Lochaweside and S. Boardman agreed to take on part of the Dalmally area.

The composition of the Committee is now:

Chairman: K. Baird

Secretary/Treasurer: F. Maher

Members: S. Boardman, C. Gillespie, J. Kerr, M. Johnston, R. Macpherson, J. Wylie.

6. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

I apologise of the lack of an AGM for the year ending 31 October 2000, which was largely due to health reasons, and I hope that future meeting will be held on a regular basis. I would like to thank the Committee for their efforts over the past two years – but in the same breath would remind them to chase up their members and community activities for any new/revised information. It is important that the site is kept as up to date as possible.

As already mentioned the foot and mouth certainly affected us, also in the use of the access point. Gross income for this fell from £551 in 2000 to £235 in 2001, a sizeable drop.

One of the areas of our site that is very poor is the ‘What’s On’ section. Mrs Jamieson tried to set up a social diary for the area, from which we could have got information, but she was stymied by lack of interest. If we want visitors to the area, we have to let them know what there is to see and do.

We have had some technical problems with the equipment in the access point which has incurred expenditure with Gaelforce, who set it up. It is therefore important that we have a reasonable reserve/depreciation fund and ensure that ongoing costs (web hosting, domain renewal, maintenance charges, essential office expenses, etc.) are covered by annual income (maintenance fees and charges for use of access point).

It is very difficult for Frances and me to tell how well the site is working as so many businesses now have their own e-mail address at home. But judging from the number of requests that come through us for information and bookings, we feel it must be helping. Certainly guestbook entries are full of praise for the site [the file of entries was available at the meeting and is available at the access point].

The Committee would like to know what members and non-members would like to see added to/changed on the site, and would be grateful for any feedback you have.

7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

K. Baird reported that at its December 2001 meeting the Committee had asked him to look into the possibility of ongoing grants from AIE or similar. This will be done.

In response to a request from J. Kerr, it was reported that a total of £566.50 had been received for 2001/2002 maintenance fees, etc., and that invoices totalling £548.30 were still outstanding. It was noted that the fact that so many had responded so quickly was perhaps a better gauge of the amount of interest in the site than the low attendance at the AGM (which, regrettably, fell on the same date as the Dalmally Golf Club AGM).

M. Johnston asked if it would be possible for us to update the ‘What’s On’ directly as and when necessary. This will be looked into.

The meeting was declared closed at 8.30 p.m.

PRESENT: K. Baird (Chairman), F. Maher (Secretary/Treasurer), S. Boardman, Dr Goel, M. Johnston, J. Kerr, M. MacKenzie, R. Macpherson, I. Whitehead, J. Wylie