2013

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 17 September 2013

Directors in Attendance:

Dinah McDonald                     Chair

Pearl Brown                            Treasurer

David McKenzie                      Secretary

David Eaglesham                   

Members in Attendance:

Carolyn Stewart

Beth McClure

Clive McClure

Cllr Bruce Marshall

Apologies

Victor Sandall

Billy King

Lynn O’Keefe

Minutes of last AGM

The minutes of the last AGM held on 15 September 2012 were proposed by David McKenzie, seconded by Pearl Brown and adopted.

Chair Report

Dinah McDonald reported on the activities of the Trust since for the period March 2012 through March 2013.

The major activities of the Trust were:

NP Soon, Seen, Successful grants. An application during the 2012 / 2013 year for a £1000 grant towards the cost of a bus shelter at Riverbank Surgery was approved; with these funds from the Trust, the Council were able to bring forward the construction of the shelter and it is now completed. In the 2011 / 2012 year, a similar grant was approved towards the cost of an archaeological investigation of the Collegiate Tower in Kilmun which was carried out with participation of local schools.

Funding has been provided towards the Villages in Bloom (VIB) initiative. Councillor Marshall maintains a total of 13 flower tubs throughout the area and a further 5 (Kilmun Hall, Uig Hall, Clachaig) are maintained by others. The VIB initiative is part of the Beautiful Scotland program.    

Pearl Brown and David Eaglesham continue to represent the Trust at the regular meetings of the Paths Group.

The Walking Group continues and is involved in a local paths clearance action.

A grant is in process from the ‘Paths for All’ organisation. This will cover 3 elements:

Contribution to running a course to train local volunteers in removal of invasive species. Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) will also provide additional funds for this purpose.
Tools for the above volunteers
Improving the path running by the Eachaig to Benmore Gardens. This will also involve some 60 tons of planings to be provided by the Council and should be complete by mid-October. 

Ongoing support for maintenance of Graham's Point. Trust and NP volunteers have maintained the Willow Walk. The Council will be treating invasive species and providing regular maintenance early next year. An issue has arisen with regard to inspection of the play equipment and will be discussed at an upcoming regular Trust meeting.

The new 5 year Community Action Plan (CAP) has been completed with the support of the Community Partnership. Actions are being carried forward by the both the Trust and the Blairmore Village Trust.

The Cowal Multi-Utility project, which was originated by the Trust, has been strongly supported by the NP and by Michael Russell MSP. Workshops have been held involving all the major utility companies and an action plan is being drawn up.  

Work continues to bring Broadband to all communities in the Trust area. Community Broadband Scotland has been involved.

Continued guidance to Argyll Mausoleum Limited.

Treasurer’s Report 

Pearl Brown presented the report of the Trust finances through end of December 2012.

Dinah McDonald proposed the adoption of the Treasurer’s report; this was seconded by David Eaglesham and adopted.

Appointment of Directors  

The Constitution of the Trust requires that one third of directors retire annually, although they can stand for re-election. The following Directors retired as per the Trust Memorandum & Articles of Association:

David Eaglesham

Billy King

David Eaglesham indicated that he would be prepared to stand for re-election. Bruce Marshall proposed that the following member(s) be elected as Directors:

David Eaglesham

The motion was seconded by Dinah McDonald and approved unanimously.

Next AGM     

The next AGM will be held on Tuesday 16 September 2014.