Strathbungo Society
Minutes of Committee Meeting
Monday 23rd October 2006
Held at G/L, 33 Nithsdale Road

Present:	Scott Mackay (Chair), Laura Jones (Secretary), 
	 Matthew Moodie, Joanna Murphy, Andrew Downie, Andrew Greg, Stephen Lamb

1.	Welcome and Apologies
Scott welcomed everyone to the meeting, there were apologies from Lesley McCallum, Lynne Flower, Helen Pollok-Good and Kevin Kane.

2.	Minutes and Matters Arising
Last month's minutes were approved. Our request to hold meetings at Sammy Dow’s had been refused. Laura to ask at Remedy and Mulberry Street (the new Taverna)
As Andrew Greg was in attendance the committee were pleased to discover that around 20 people attended this year’s architecture week walk.
Joanna said she was preparing the flyer for the coffee break and would get the artwork from Liz.
ACTION: LJ to ask Remedy and Mulberry St to host meetings

3.	Finance

Lynne had passed on the finance information to Laura in her absence.
Balance on 29/9/06 was £2,048.55. However, there are a number of cheques in transit, so the actual balance is c £1,600.
Our application to the Office of Scottish Charities Regulator was sent on 9/10/06. There has thus far been no response.
There is still an invoice outstanding from Crosbie’s for the last newsletter. 
Laura was pleased to note that the Society had finally managed to change their bank signatories. As of October 6th the new signatories to cheques are Lynne Flower, Scott Mackay and Laura Jones.
Given the difficulty in doing this there have been suggestions in the past of changing banks to an online provider. Laura agreed to look into switching to the Co-operative Bank as they have a very good scheme aimed at charities and smaller organisations.
ACTION: LJ to look into changing banks
ACTION: LJ to ask Crosbie’s about the invoice.

Christmas cards

The total cost for 2,500 cards was £247.60, making the cost per card just under 10p. Laura and Joanna had decided it would be best to sell the cards in mixed packs of five and Laura put forward several pricing proposals:
£2 per pack (with a bulk discount of 3 packs for £5)
£2.25 per pack
£2.50 per pack
After discussion, it was decided to keep to the lowest price point to ensure sales. At 3 packets for £5, the break even point will be 150 packs sold and if all 500 packs are sold the total profit will be £752.40.
ACTION: All to sell the Christmas cards!

4.	Environment Group

Back Lanes Pilot

There has been very little movement on the back lanes project as, yet again, the prices seem to be increasing. It seems to be uneconomical just to do the small length proposed. This means either finding a new area for the pilot which may bring in more residents to share the cost, or encouraging the council to provide us with funding for the whole area.
ACTION: SL to chase council for another meeting.

Railings

Andrew Downie said there had been some interest in restoring the railings. However, he was having difficulty in piloting the scheme as tradesmen are reluctant to quote for work.
It was suggested by AG and SL to get new quotes for a whole section of the street, rather than getting quotes just for his premises. 
ACTION: AD to chase quotes.

Vandalism

The resident who called regarding vandalism had not attended the meeting, however Scott and Kay had both recently written to the Evening Times in response to a recent article about the area in the context of a Crime Special.
When speaking to Malcolm Cunning, it appears the chief problem in the area is a lack of police resources.

5.	Communications 

Newsletter

Laura’s about to begin work on the Christmas issue in order to get it published before her and Matthew’s impending wedding. 
ACTION: All to find potential advertisers

Website

Matthew has set up a planning notification programme to inform himself and Scott of new planning applications on the Council’s website. He’s trying to strengthen the link between the two sites and encourage people to use the more interactive bungoblog. AD suggested thinking of ways to drive more traffic to the site. LJ suggested providing an e-mail version of the newsletter, with people being able to sign up online.
ACTION: LJ to write article for newsletter on e-mail Strathbungo News
ACTION: AD and MM to look at methods of increasing traffic

6.	Events

Coffee break

•	The hall is booked for Saturday November 4th. Several stalls have booked in advance. Volunteers are needed in particular at the end of the day to help pack tables away and of course to provide home baking.

Bungo At The Bells

AD said he would be happy to host again if they were in over New Year. 
ACTION: AD/JM to make or find the Bungo Bells mix!

7.	AOB

Andrew Greg updated the committee on the local history project and said he was hoping to organise an initial evening of research over the winter in the Mitchell Library.
Stephen Lamb mentioned the hedge cutting work advertised in the newsletter and suggested it might by a good idea for the Society to invest in petrol hedge trimmers. Scott agreed to look into costs and SL and AD also suggested putting money towards purchse on the understanding that they could also use them.
ACTION: SM to look into prices for hedge clippers
ACTION: AG to establish local history research group.

Next meeting 20th November 2006
Venue: TBC!