BEG Meeting 13th June 2011
Present: Nancy Anderson, Ally Lyall, Rachel Elliot, Ron Sutherland, Terri McGuigan, Ruth Ellis, Jono Ellis, Ruth Longmuir, Geraldine Bouglas, Brennan Bouglas, Jim McPherson, Ric Gill
Apologies: Gordon Happell, Roger Hemming, Christine Anderson
Minutes from Previous Meeting: Brennan referred to incorrectly as Adam on previous minutes. No other changes or comments.
Proposed by – Brennan Bouglas; Seconded by – Rachel Elliot
1) Matters Arising from Previous Meeting Minutes
○None
2) Treasurer’s Report
○Gordon has been contacted and has had a lengthy meeting with Jono.
○Argus Centre hire has now been paid for past 18 months, and Gordon has checked that no double payments have been made.
○YET paid for 2011
○Insurance paid for 2011
Accounts for last year – Jono has them but Laura didn’t get them signed by Kenneth. Nancy will take them to Kenneth and get it done ASAP. Gordon has gone through them all.
○The mystery Ukraine £130 has been located - it was mistakenly paid into the Chile account rather than the main BEG account
○Cheques for 2010 membership repayment have been paid in (£180ish). Most people have been happy to repay.
○Main BEG account balance is sitting approximately around the £2k mark now, but further payments will need to be made throughout the year, therefore BEG will have to undertake fundraising activities again in the near future
○£27 for BEG raised from old tshirt sales at weekend
○£3 markup on buffs – so if all sell £300 profit for BEG
○Jim paid general BEG £16 Selkirk High School photocopying bill out of Ukraine account – but he is happy to treat it as a good will payment from Ukraine as thanks to the support from other expeditions
○£250 cheque for contribution to Nan Lyle’s memorial cairn and walk has been given to Ron Sutherland
3) Chile Finance
○3 cheques have recently been paid out – to the Ukraine (the missing £130 noted above), Pat Manson (expedition expenses), Ruth Ellis (training weekend materials).
○No further info at present about the total amount to be sent out to Chile.
4) Ukraine Finance
○Joni Bennet has been given a cheque from the charities comission which has had to be paid into the main BEG account - this will need to be paid back to the Ukraine account.
○A donation of £500 was made to the Ukraine expedition from Lindsay solicitors.
○£200 was received for manning the gates at Hawick Mair
○£187 was raised at the BBQ at West Morriston
○Expedition is now £1500 in black if everything works out, but could easily be affected by currency conversion rates, and some variable costs (e.g. food and some travel)
○Still some more fundraising to come in (in the region of several hundres) from the grocery hamper raffle, quiz sheet’s, Brennan’s donation, Selkirk clean up, and the Kelso dog show
○Copy of accounts was circulated among those present by Jim
5) Cuba Finance
○Account is set up and Tom Ogilvie treasurer.
○The account has a balance – Jim has paid his money early to save having to get the customary BEG loan.
6) Chile General
○Pam & Nancy were hoping to run a charity shop in Hawick to raise money for Los Coipos. BEG’s insurance doesn’t cover buildings insurance to let the shop from the council. Likely cost may be a couple of hundred – Jono has passed this info on to Pam, and they have decided not to pursure this option further.
○Mille – The family appear to have moved - either within Scotland to Perthshire, or possibly to the States. Terri has contacted her about the outstanding money and she has responded She has responded to Terri’s email saying the family has moved to Perth, she is worried about it and trying to plan an event, but nothing has been done actively as yet, and again, there is anecdotal evidence of significant non-essential expenditure on her part, e.g. music festivals and socialising.
○Ron no longer needs to contact Helen Howden – Rob Hemming has already done it and given the talk.
8) Ukraine General
○Richard has now received photos of the Orphanage’s Summer Camp accommodation and the work to be done there
○The bus to/from the airport has been organized but still needs to be paid for
○Further recommendations have been sent to venturers and parents about immunisations
○Each venturer and leader needs to have a medical note stating that they don’t have AIDS, Encephalitis, etc. This is individual. Pat is organising this.
○The last training weekend is this weekend. An email is to go out about it to parents this week.
○Edinburgh airport is now open overnight so the drop off to leave for the expedition will be at midnight on Saturday the 3rd of July for the 6am flight. The group are arriving back on Monday18th July at 9:45pm.
9) Cuba General
○The team have now all been selected – there are 25 venturers and 12 leaders
○The first training day went well and the team enjoyed the Ukraine BBQ
○The next leader meeting is next Monday in the Lauderdale at 7:30pm
○Group fundraising is going to kick off soon
○Immunisation planning is already underway
○A reminder is to be sent out to all participants that individual fundraising is more than the £2k stated as each person will need to get the extra money needed for immunisations etc.
10) PVG
○Application forms are now back for everyone bar Lisa that did self declaration forms. (Rachel has another form for Lisa).
○Still not got self declaration form back from Nick (Ukraine). This means he will not be able to be left in a position of responsibility whilst in Ukraine, and another cleared leader must always be there.
○Rachel to try to organize a meeting with Youth Borders to get the IDs verified.
11) Inclusion
○No further meetings or discussion have been held yet as everyone involved has too many other BEG commitments currently. This topic will be resumed after the Ukraine expedition returns.
12) West Morriston
○No change as yet. Currently the farm is building chicken sheds rather than houses, so the development plan is going more slowly, and the timescale for moving out of the premises is less tight.
○Nancy will keep track of the situation, and Jono/Nancy will pursue in Autumn.
○There are various grants that may be available, such as the Wooden Spoon, Exchange Scotland, Youth Scotland / Borders.
○Any ideas on other sources of funding or locations to pursue would be appreciated.
13) Nan Lyle memorial
○Jim & Ron to provide short summaries of Kenya and Zambia to put up in the church hall for after the walk.
○BEG is making a donation of £250 to the memorial fund.
○BEG is providing marshalls, for the walk on Sunday 26th June, but not first aid. Ron is leading the walk. Other marshalls will be opening gates and bringing up rear. Jono to bring 4 orange jackets. Meeting at the bottom Moor gates at 12.30
14)20th Anniversary
○Peacock Catering have been booked. There will be one set meal (still to be chosen) and dietary requirements will be separately catered for (as long as advanced notice is given). Based on the assumption that there will be 100 people the meal will cost £20 per head, the band will cost £3, the hall is free, decorations will cost £2 giving a ticket price of £25. The event will be self-financing but the committee agreed that BEG will underwrite it in case of an overspend.
○It was agreed that the best way to run the bar would be for a few BEG members to take short shifts each and to buy the alcohol on sale or return.
○Tickets will be sold per table and as individuals with 10 people per table.
●Buffs are now on sale at £12 each - email to get yours
15) AOCB
○Nancy and Ron are heading up the Cuba Training team and would like to put together a training guide to use for other leaders in the future i.e. what needs to be included, how it can be done, what must be done etc. Nancy will make a start over the summer.
○European Young Person’s Volunteer credits – Terri is going to look into getting this set up for BEG and is also going to look into the potential for BEG Experience credits. Both of these things could be used to encourage and recruit volunteers.
○A discussion was had about the advantages of changing BEG’s legal status to “Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation” and it’s potentially a way forward for BEG as it means no board member is individually responsible for debts etc. Terri is going to circulate further information to committee.
○Jono looked in to doing a training weekend at Over Phawhope Bothy to help the Mountain Bothy’s Association maintain the building - they rejected our offers of help but Geraldine suggested that a training weekend helping maintain the Roundhouse in Glentress might be a possibility as it’s used for residentials and might benefit another group
○Thanks to Graham for designing the Buffs - they look brilliant
○Thanks to Jim for looking after the BEG email lists whilst Jono was on holiday
○Nancy looked into Outward Bound at Loch Eil and has also suggested Comrie Croft but doesn’t want to overload everyone (as many BEG members are currently busy with training and expeditions) so she is suggesting a weekend away later in the year or at the start of 2012
○Ukraine membership money and forms needs to come to Ruth ASAP – Jim has Awaiss Ellahi’s and Ric has others (All now received)
○Agreement that as a trail the next meeting will start at 7:15pm
○One gas burner and cylinder has been stolen from the BBQ area at the ponds at West Morriston - please be aware of this and don’t leave anything of value outside
Next meeting: Monday 29th August at the Argus Centre at 7:15pm