Minutes of Woodcraft Folk Scottish Committee Meeting

held Sun 3rd Sept 2017, Glasgow

  1. Welcome,Apologies

Present: Rosie, Elaine, Laura, Claire S

In attendance: Clare R

Apologies: Kathleen, Susie

  1. Minutes of previous meetings – May and July

May minutes approved – proposed by Claire S, seconded by Rosie

Aug Minutes approved – proposed by Rosie, seconded by Elaine

  1. Matters arising

All to be covered under agenda items

  1. Review of Summer Camp

There were lots of positives to note:

  • Opportunity for children and young people to feed in to the planning of camp via survey forms.
  • Good numbers of Scottish members participated: 46 in total: 20 adults, 26 young people - 4 Venturers, 7 Pioneers, 10 Elfins, 5 Woodchips -particularly taking into account the significant travelling distance of 5 to 6 hours.
  • All of our 6 districts were represented and bonds were developed and/renewed between adults/ children and young people from different districts.
  • Camping with the North of England districts (Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Gateshead and Birkenhead and Stanley) – sharing in and learning from some of their activity sessions. Joint activities like the closing ceremony – generally developing links with these groups.
  • Two significant medical incidents dealt with properly. Scottish village managing to continue running a successful camp despite these incidents.
  • Trial of use of indoor toilet block/shower/kitchen and some indoor accommodation – not done by Scotland in recent years – benefits identified of having these facilities.

Clare had shared the write up of evaluation bingo which she facilitated on Friday afternoon with 30 of the camp participants. We noted that the results suggest some confusion about the process with some of the questions probably being answered several times by the same person, amplifying some of the responses. However the information is still useful. Positives to note from evaluation bingo

  • All under 16 respondents and the majority of adult respondents wanted to go on another Woodcraft Folk camp.
  • People of all ages had tried new things and learned new things such as putting up a tents/going on a bivvy. One of our Elfins said they had learned ‘to be nice’ at camp.
  • The river on site, the boat race and the bivvy were big successes

Possible areas for improvement identified by evaluation bingo:

  • More ethical sourcing of food.
  • More recycling
  • Less sheep poo
  • Flatter/more comfortable site
  • More/more accessible fire on site
  • Co-ordination of Venturer bedtimes between villages

In terms of the budget Clare R advised that:

Total income from participant fees = £3,632.00

Total expenditure = £3,513.91

Current balance = + £118.09

We still have van hire and fuel to pay for but Claire S advised that this will be £70 approx. Camp will be within budget – well done to the organisers.

Actions:

Clare R to thank Anna – camp co-ordinator- on behalf of Scottish Committee

Clare R to thank Charles – van driver – on behalf of Scottish Committee and remind him about claiming van expenses.

Summer Camp 2018 :

Elaine shared that Jethro (Glasgow Southside) is interested in progressing a Scotland wide camp next year – possibly at Coldingham – a site which has been used previously. Scottish Committee noted that this is not a Scottish Committee decision. Next step should be to email membership in Scotland and invite interested people to join a camp planning committee for next summer. Scottish Committee note value of having indoor facilities and importance of camp being accessible.

Action:

Claire S to respond to Jethro re camp planning for summer 2018

  1. STUC Anti Racism March in November/Scotland wide event

The expected date and route for this march – Sat 25 Nov, am – is listed on the Glasgow City Council website (parades and marches section). However the STUC have not published the date yet.

SC agree that we cannot promote the march before the STUC do.

Agreement that if the event is going ahead SC want to promote Scotland wide participation and organise a Scotland wide Woodcraft Folk event in the afternoon. Given location of march Garnethill Multicultural Centre identified as a good venue.

SC in agreement that if the march is not going ahead, Scotland wide Woodcraft Folk event focused around the march should not go ahead either. Better to identify a future march to focus an event around.

SC in agreement that if the event is going ahead there should be a social element: food/ceilidh/singing. But also a learning/development element. Clare R highlighted that main training need identified through sustainability planning was outreach and inclusion. NVOSF application has been submitted to fund training in this area. Focus of this likely to be at Scottish Gathering but some of it could happen at Nov event. Decision on application not yet available. SC feel that an input from a speaker might be preferable to/as useful as a training workshop.

Actions:

Laura to contact STUC to seek confirmation of the march.

Claire S to check availability of Garnethill Multicultural Centre on Sat 25th Nov and book provisionally.

Clare R to talk to Debs about potential speakers/learning/development input.

In her Aug email to group contacts re planning meetings Clare R shared information about the march and also shared SC suggestion that groups should run sessions prior to 25 Nov – exploring racism and doing placard/banner making for the march. The email stated that SC would share resources to help with sessions exploring racism and Rosie had been looking for resources. Rosie shared she has not found it easy to find resources but she has found some.

Clare R shared that Sapna (Kelvingrove) has said she can share some resources/info re: black history month which is in October.

Action:

Rosie to share resources she has found and Clare to pool with any others eg from Sapna and email to group contacts asap.

  1. Scottish Gathering

Crianlarich Youth Hostel is booked for Scottish Gathering for the weekend of Fri 2nd – Sun 4th Feb 2018.

Clare R advised that Scottish Gathering mailing needs to go out to all members mid to late Nov. Next SC meeting is scheduled for Sun 12th Nov. Clare R advised that by then all info for going out to members would need to be prepared. Suggested SC could approve at next meeting on 12 Nov and it could go out immediately after. Clare advised that Alex may have some staff hours to work on Scottish Gathering to supplement Clare’s hours.

Claire S felt that it would be better for Scottish members to have more opportunity to input to the planning of Scottish Gathering at an earlier stage – including children and young people.

Action:

Clare R to Email all members highlighting the date of Scottish Gathering and the usual cost (to help people plan their finances). Email to invite any adult/young person/child to put themselves forward to help with planning and delivery in particular areas. Areas to highlight: 1. children and young people’s programme, 2. Food (KP), 3. Evening entertainment.

  1. Officers report

EIF/Scottish Govt funding – report for the second quarter of this year (Jul-Sept) due on 16th Oct. Clare has sent out requests to groups to complete outcome wheels/smiley face charts this term for monitoring purposes -

Actions:

Clare to collate quarter 2 report by deadline.

Clare to send out paper copies of the outcome wheels and smiley face charts to group contacts to follow up on electronic copies already sent. Aim is to have all these back by the end of this term and report on results in mid January, Quarter 3 report.

Camelon Project – started on 21 Aug – Clare Project Officer 7 hours per week. Dani Outreach Assistant working 7 hours per week. One successful outreach event already with others being progressed for this term.

NVOSF – grant application submitted by Debs to fund training – awaiting outcome

Other activities this term so far have included getting start of term info out to groups for planning meetings, book keeping and general support to groups

  1. BBC Children in Need Project Update

This project finished on 31 Aug.

  1. Treasurer’s report

Clare R provided information as follows:

The balance on the Woodcraft Folk Scotland account (including outstanding invoices) is approximately £38,000. A significant part of this is the Camelon project grant for year 1 which is £20,880, with spend on the Camelon project to date £500 approx. The Children in Need grant spend has been completed. We have received EIF funding of £4,250 for the first quarter of this year (Apr-Jun) £4,250. We expect the same amount in quarters 2, 3 and 4. In summary the grants we have are the Big Lottery Our place grant which is restricted to the Camelon project and the EIF grant which will cover Scottish Officer salary plus a small amount of other core costs and Scottish Committee activity. Any other costs need to be covered from reserves.

Susie reported that Scotland has been asked to absorb some costs for Staff Cost of Living increases and advised that our current grants are sufficient to pay these costs and going forward new grants will have higher salary costs built in.

Clare R advised that she has received £95 of delegate fees for Folk Assembly participants in June. There are two further payments expected from participants: £20 from an individual plus £125 from a district. To date no invoice has been received from Folk Office for delegate fees.

Action:

Clare R to chase up payments and invoice re: Folk Assembly

  1. General Council feedback

Claire S highlighted date for UK AGM –Sat 23rd Sept in Birmingham. We anticipate that not many Scottish members will manage to attend. Claire S will be attending and advised that groups can register Claire as a delegate if they wish her to vote on their behalf.

Claire advised that there are concerns re: diversity in relation to the nominations for GC. The majority of nominees are white men. A re- nominating process is going on to try and address this. (Claire will continue beyond AGM as Scottish Rep on General Council as this role is elected at Scotland AGM at Scottish Gathering).

Other things happening within GC are:

  • Development of a new strategic plan for 2019 – 2025
  • Reviewing roles in relation to social media and the membership: political and educational.
  • Co-ordination of International Camp for 2020 in Kent

Action:

Claire S to write an email for Clare R to forward to group contacts regarding the option to ask her to vote on behalf of their groups at the UK AGM.

  1. AOB

Staffing update

Alex will be continuing in employment in post until the end of December, 7 hours a week. Focus will be supporting Kelvingrove to integrate the Garnethill group and if time allows providing recruitment and promotion support to groups across Glasgow. This means there are currently three part time staff employed in Scotland.

Update on Glasgow East End from Elaine:

There have been big efforts made in terms of outreach by Elaine and Robert – school flyers, local posters and Facebook. Elaine will also be attending the upcoming Friends of Alexandra Park meeting. There has been interest generated including a new family who attended on Monday. Well done and keep up the good work !

Financially the district have calculated that they need an average of £15 income per week to cover rent. This level of income has not been met recently. They owe the church money for last term and also instalments to Folk Office for registration fees. Clare R advised that there is some money in the Scotland account for new group start up which could be used to help cover rent.

Action:

Clare R to Email David (District Co-ordinator) and Robert (District Treasurer) about District Finances

Potential new group at Kinning Park Centre:

Action:

Clare R to get feedback from Alex on how the outreach event on 20th Aug went.

  1. Next meeting– Sun 12th Nov, 10-12, Glasgow

Agreed to hold phone conference week beginning Mon 23rd Oct if required for organisation of Nov event and Scottish Gathering.