Community Association Committee

Minutes of meeting - 6th November, 2002 at 7.30pm

Apologies
Apologies were accepted on behalf of Sian Burton, Caroline Anderson, Stephen Renton and Alison Battley.

Acceptance of Previous Minutes
After a short discussion the minutes of the previous meeting were approved on the motion of Kirsty Donnelly and seconded by Ann Marie Cockburn.

Treasurer's Report
Finlay in his report said everything was still looking fine we had around £14,000 in the bank. There were a couple of outstanding bills we were about to pay, namely the Gas and Electricity. The Electricity bill was higher than normal, we were probably looking at an annual figure around £2,180, which is higher than expected, perhaps this was due to the more user groups that we now had. He also mentioned we had received £270 back from the Water Board.

The Treasurer reported that he had also billed some of the user groups who wished to pay on a monthly basis. The Karate had paid their outstanding account and he had sent monthly bills to the Judo club and the Dance class, who had now settled their account. Finlay formally thanked the Ardgowan Football Development for their generous donation of £100 to the Association.

Secretary's Report
George reported that he had received a police call-out on 16th October. There had been three visits from Quality Gas. One on the 22nd October for a leaking radiator. The heating system had failed on 30th October, this was sorted on the same day. They had been called out again on the 31st because of the excessive noise the system was making. This has apparently been fixed. Kinnaird Electrical had been asked to quote for an external light with protective mesh guard for the front door.

The Secretary read a letter of thanks from Evelyn Ritchie, Head Teacher of Wemyss Bay Primary School, regarding the Association's donation of £100 towards their 'Whiteboard Fund'. He also read a letter from Robert Jamieson of the Education Services, confirming the booking of Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings for additional nursery classes commencing on January 2003.

Gala Day
Ann Marie reported she had made several enquiries regarding marquees. It appeared however that the company we had been dealing with for the past two years were our best bet. She had asked about having the marquees erected on the Friday and taken down on the Sunday, if there would be an extra charge for this. Morag at Amicable had told her there would no extra charge for this. She would endeavour to have this confirmed. It was agreed that the ceilidh would be better held on the Friday evening. Ann Marie said she had been in touch with Gordon Ross of 'The Midgies' and at the time of asking they were free on that evening. She had however still not heard anything from Stuart Macpherson from Hospital Radio. George said he had written to Janice Boyd, the Grants Officer for the Council regarding a grant towards helping with the funding of the Gala Day.

Letting Report
Kirsty reported that there were two bouncy castle parties booked for the coming weekend, one on Saturday and one on the Sunday. There were also another three before the end of the month. She was concerned that the disco equipment was not working, as we had a disco party booked for Saturday the 23rd. Liz said she was trying to contact a neighbour of hers to see if he could fix the equipment. Finlay said he would ask his brother if he could help if Liz's efforts failed.

Bouncy Castle
George mentioned that there were now more people capable of operating the castle. The Guides were willing to help out and Paul Canning had assisted at one party. We could still do with more help.

Any Other Business
Finlay reported that he had received a letter from Councillor Campbell regarding the children's play area at the far end of the ground behind the Centre. Bob seemed to be of the opinion that we were somehow responsible for this area. There had been a complaint from a resident in this vicinity, regarding youths using this children's area at night. The Committee discussed this matter at length and agreed to contact Willie Wilson to ask what were the plans for this area in the proposed new children's play facilities. John Reid said he intended contacting Willie Wilson regarding the proposed new development. George also said he would raise the matter with Willie, as he had been informed by Ian Dyer that the new children's facilities were going out to tender in the next four to five weeks.

Liz brought up the subject of new chairs for the Centre. She suggested holding a 'Race Night' to finance this. Her idea was to do away with the existing chairs and purchase the flat pack chairs similar to those in the school. Ian Buchan produced a brochure with the chair information. Finlay said we had the money and there was nothing to stop us just ordering the chairs. After further discussion it was agreed that we order 96 chairs and the required stacking trolleys for them. This was proposed by Kirsty and seconded by John. George agreed to place the order with the company. Liz enquired about the possibility of a new fridge/freezer for the kitchen. George mentioned he had discussed the kitchen with Robert Jamieson and there was a possibility we might be getting a new kitchen. Finlay made the point that at some time in the future there might be an extension being added to the kitchen area and if a new kitchen was put in he didn't see the sense of then having it trashed for the extension. George agreed to fix the plug on the tea urn before Sunday, as the Alpha Group had asked for the use of it.

George reported that Robert Jamieson had told him that the storage container would be delivered to Blairmore Nursery on Tuesday of next week. He felt if we were thinking of one for the centre, the only site suitable would be the gable end of the building. Anywhere else would only provide a ladder for vandals to climb on to the roof. Robert also discussed Finlay's original plan to extend the roof at the front of the building. He said the first step would be to try and get a quantity surveyor to give us an estimate of the cost for this work. Liz said she thought she might know someone who could help us with this, she would 'phone and make enquiries.

Ian Buchan asked when the computer would be available as Ardgowan Football Development now had their own web-site. George said he would ask Caroline when she came home.

Kirsty asked Fiona if she would like to tell the Committee about the Alpha Group. She explained that both her and her husband Paul worked as Alpha advisors. She gave the Committee a comprehensive report on what the organisation was about. Fiona said she was very encouraged by the feedback she was getting in the village. She also said that she had made contact with Stephen Renton and George mentioned that it might be helpful if Stephen put something on the local web-site about her group. Fiona said if there was any way she could help out she would try to be of assistance. Kirsty and George asked if she was available on the 6th of December, and enquired if she could help provide some music or maybe carols in the hall on the evening of the switching on of the tree lights. This would be from about 7.30p.m.to 8.30p.m. Fiona said it was a bit short notice but she would try to organise something.

Kirsty said she had organised the Gala Queen to officially switch on the Christmas Tree lights.

Date of Next Meeting
As had been previously agreed the date of the next meeting would be Wednesday, 4th December, at 7.30p.m.

George Anderson,
Secretary