Meeting started at 7.30pm.

Attendees – Fraser Dykes and Mark Smith – Trustees

Current Management Team – David Cooper – Chairman, Kate Howard, Secretary – Scott Peterson – Treasurer – Diana Hinton and Gina Gibellini – active members

Carole Rogerson, Debbie Smith, Dicky Fusco, Edeigh Aiton, Glen Whalley,  Iain Steedman, Jan Moore,  Kevan Neill,  Kirsty Aiton, Lynn Grams, Malcolm Rogerson, Martyn Hughes, Sally Hughes, Stephen Sparrow, Stewart Cooke, Sue Grant, Sue McCormick, Susan Howarth

Apologies Wendy Stewart, Deb Iden, Annette Cousins.

Review of the 2023 AGM minutes: 

• Missing attendees list
• Amendment that Kevan Neill and Johnny Payne formed the snooker club not Sue Grant.    Correction made

Lynn Grams proposes minutes and Diane Hinton seconds them.

Chairs Report by David Cooper –  see attached

Finance Report by Scott Peterson – see attached

Attended questions (note that all attended are not members of GMI)

Sue Grant – “what are the benefits of a SCIO -Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation over the current management system”?

Rev Mark explains that SCIOs were set up for small charitable organisations. If we were to set up as an Incorporated charity now, we would automatically become a SCIO and would not have the charitable status that we currently have. It removes the need for trustees which can be hard to find and keep and in effect the trustees become part of the management committee.

Concerns were raised by several members that they felt it was better to have an outside body overseeing the management committee. Kate Howard, Secretary, said that ‘The committee were in the early stages of exploring the SCIO and that becoming a SCIO had been recommended to us by Moniaive Initiative who have been helping us with funding. Our job as a committee is to research all the pros and cons and to bring this information back to the members for them to decide what further action to take.

The management were only at stage one which is to confirm title deeds and ownership of the GMI”.

Electricity

Debbie Smith asked “Do we know how much the electricity bill will be each month and do we know how much credit we are owed?

Gina has been dealing with our electricity company EON. We are in credit but we have not had a final credit amount . We are currently not paying anything for electricity but our bills were between £700 and £900 per month. Gina is having on going conversations with EON to secure a final amount and to reclaim any credit if necessary.  She has secured a low rate which would be 50% less than what was billed previously.

Boundaries with Merrick

Fraser Dykes and Sue Grant asked the question “who owns the land between the GMI and  the neighbouring house Merrick?” Stewart Cooke spoke as he and Scott Peterson are trying to sell their house ‘Merrick’ which adjoins the GMI. They have lost several buyers as it not clear who owns the land between the two properties and without this clarity no one can buy their house. Sue Grant and Fraser Dykes suggests the land is owned by the GMI and Scott Peterson states that his lawyer feels that is owned by Merrick. Merrick owners have had permission given by the last committees (prior to 2023)  to park their car in between the two properties as that enables them to charge their electric car. They have at their own expense replaced the iron fence separating the two properties which was broken beyond repair and have maintained the drive at no cost to GMI.

 Fraser Dykes asks that the following be minuted. “The committee should not have agreed to allow the owners of Merrick to use the adjoining land without first consulting the trustees and that doing so may not be in line with the constitution”

Scott Peterson objects to this point as a letter signed by the chair David Cooper on behalf of the former committee acknowledges that the owners of Merrick were using the shared access space for the purpose mentioned in the minutes ie. parking and charging their car and that there was no objection to continuing the same usage as long as it didn’t block access to the Institute. This did not require consultation with the Trustees

The GMI has been in touch with the land registry and the GMI is not registered there. It is the responsibility of the trustees to ensure the GMI is registered properly, and this should have been done by March 31^st 2024 and that there is a possible £5000 fine for not doing so.

Susan Howarth and Kirsty Aiton asks “why can’t the land adjoining land be given to the owners of Merrick”

Martyn Hughes feels that it is the ‘intention’ of the members that the land become the property of Merrick.

Rev Mark Smith offers a draft resolution which would empower the Trustees to instruct a solicitor for the title deed Clarification and Land registration.  Gina Gibellini asked to ensure that the current Management team is made aware of the cost and that the land needs to be registered first and any potential transaction between GMI and Merrick needs to be addressed once this is in place.    

“The voting members of the Glencairn memorial Institute hereby resolve to empower the Trustees to instruct a qualified solicitor to draw up a title deed for Glencairn Memorial Institute (“GMI”) The deeds should accurately reflect the boundaries of the GMI. The aim is to ensure that the GMI is only responsible for land and property that it actively controls and manages. The deed should be in the name of the Trustees of the GMI as instructed by the constitution and registered with the land registry.”

The members present voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Trustees to carry out the work involved in resolving this issue.

Rev Mark Smith proposes a second draft resolution that ‘it is the intention of the members to dispose of the adjoining land to the owners of Merrick’.

There was a lot of discussion on this matter and many opinions shared after which an informal vote was taken.  The general consensus was to allow the owners of Merrick to approach the GMI to explore a transfer or purchase of the land.

Fraser Dykes brought to the attendees that he no longer lives in the Glencairn Parish and although he is happy to remain as a trustee, he would understand if the members wanted him to step down.  It was acceptable to the members of the GMI that he remains a trustee.

All members were happy for him to continue.

A suggestion was made by Sue Grant and Martyn Hughes that we ask Rachel Hurley from the George Hotel to become a trustee.  Gina Gibellini will approach Rachel Hurley.

The committee now steps down and Stewart who was going to chairman over this process asks Sue Grant takes over.

David Cooper and Diane Hinton are standing down from the committee and thanks was given for their service and hard work.

Gina Gibellini, Kate Howard, Scott Peterson are willing to stand again.

Iain Steedman, Kirsty Aiton and Susan Howarth are happy to join the committee.

Iain Steedman voted in as Chair – Lynn Grams proposes and Susan seconds

Scott Peterson voted in as treasurer – Dicky Fusco proposes and Diane Hinton seconds

Kate Howard voted in as secretary – Lynn Grams proposes and David Cooper seconds

Gina Gibellini voted in as events organiser – Martyn Hughes proposes and Lynn Grams seconds

Kirsty Aiton and Susan Howarth voted in as committee members – Kate Howard proposes and Scott Peterson seconds.

Meeting ended: 22:30

• AGM Minutes – Approved – Scott nominated and Stewart seconded.

• Finances. We currently have £4,082.18 in our current account.

£500 ring fenced for sports equipment in account 2 and £2000 ring fenced for Electricity  in account 3.

We have a bill for insurance due in February for £2287 and a bill for the lift maintenance for £436 from Stannah.

Projected electricity use is £440 per month

There is still an ongoing issue with EON who have not provided us with a final figure that we are in credit by. Scott to put in a complaint with Offgen

Cost for land registration is approximately £1700. Evalutaion report cost approx. £800 to £1500. Home report including land up to £2000.

Current figures may rise

Kate to do a monthly income projection based on current bookings

• Discuss administrative impacts as a result of AGM

Iain to be added to bank account

SCIO consultation to rest for now

Committee’s role with Land registry process. We will wait to hear what the progress is from the solicitors before any further action

• Clarify Roles and responsibilities

Iain Steedman Chair

Scott Peterson Treasurer

Kate Howard Secretary

Gina Steedman Events

Stewart Cooke Member

• Update on Land Registry Matter

All matters regarding land registry are now with the solicitor appointed by our Trustees. Thanks to our trustees for carrying out this vital work.

A suggestion was made that we review the situation regarding our trustees to ensure the best interest of the GMI and Merrick and we look at this in conjunction with the SCIO.

• Gazette report

We felt it would be a good idea to write a quarterly report for the Gazette. Iain to approach Gina to do this.

• AOB

A request was made from David Cooper for £121.00 from the Tesco sports fund for a Pickle Ball net after the successful trial day last weekend. Everyone in agreement. Kate suggested the rest of the fund go towards buying new cues for the snooker table as previously  by suggested by Gina. Iain to research prices. The baize of the snooker table was damaged recently. We ask that members of the public book the snooker table via the website. Iain to make a sign. Iain to research prices for replacement baize.

Lift – we still need to have an emergency call out phone installed in the lift. Cost was £1850. We were unsuccessful with our Screwfix Community Application. Kate to research alternative funding.

IT Iain to supply GMI officer with an individual email and will facilitate set up. Share email boxes will be created and a link added to the website for an Office365 portal.

Date of Next Meeting Wednesday 18^th December 7pm Committee Room GMI

I recently took over from the outgoing secretary Anja Lyttle. I want to thank her for all her hard work as secretary over the last few years and for all the other ways she contributed to the Institute. Thanks also for her meticulous note keeping which has helped me take on this new role.

The Institute continues to be well used. There are many groups who benefit from access to the Institute with the Hall beinb oversubscribed at times.

To date we have 16 regular groups using the Hall

Children’s groups

3 x drama for children

2 x Margaret Morris Movement

Brownies
Peacemakers Club

M Power for teens

The school continues to use the Hall for PE 3 x a week and for festivals such as Christmas, Harvest festivals and parties.

Weekly Adult groups

Cairn Chorus Community choir

Bowling

Yoga

Badminton

Table tennis

Monthly groups

Repair café

Balkan Lassies singing group

We recently had 2 successful weddings who transformed the Hall and 1 wedding already booked for next year. The Hall has been booked for several private parties and children’s partys throughout the year.

We have the annual Bluegrass Festival in the next couple weeks.

Downstairs we have the pottery club who meet a couple of times a week and the committee room is used once a month for the Community Council and occasionally by other groups in the community. We have approached the Music Club who were resident in the old pool room whether they wish to continue and that is being assessed at the moment.

We are looking at ways to make the downstairs of the building more financially viable and provide a warm cosy space for older people and disabled people who wish to have a downstairs accessible place to meet. Public consultation will begin soon.

It is hard to believe that it is barely a year since the Hall was tentatively beginning to reopen following the Government’s enforced closures.

It is fair to say that the Hall is now running pretty much as it was before the shutdown. 

From the Management Committee’s point of view, probably the main source of concern is the huge increase in energy costs that we are seeing. (Both electricity and oil).

£1,890 in financial year ending March 2022

£5,810 in financial year ending March 2023

(It probably should be noted however that energy costs in the year ending March 2021 were £2,461). What this means is that the March 2022 figures were during the year of enforced closures when the building was not being used. However, this cost increase is a grave concern and in light of this, the committee are reviewing their pricing structures. 

We are continuing to seek funding for the planned heating upgrade – and have received a revised cost estimate from Nithsdale Plumbing and Heating in July. A grant request was submitted to the National Lottery, (Awards for All), Scotland for £5,000 having already lined-up the majority £15,000+ bulk of the money required with ANCBC and The Garfield Weston Foundation. The Awards for All decision is expected at the end of this month. 

The committee are planning to organise a slightly belated ‘Centenary’ Open Afternoon celebration and commemoration on Remembrance Day, which happens to fall on a Saturday this year. This seems a fitting moment to remember and honour all those people from Glencairn and surrounding parishes whose names are on display on either side of the Hall Entrance. I believe that the actual year of purchase of the Hall – for the benefit of this community – as a living memorial and a legacy for the future was in 1921. One hundred years later in 2021 the building was sadly closed for use. A Remembrance Open Afternoon will provide an opportunity to reflect and remember the actual “cost” of this Memorial Hall, the enormous sacrifices that were made and the foresight to provide this facility for future generations.

At tonight’s meeting, we hope that you will welcome a new constellation of committee members and that you can support us in going forward.

Thank you.

David Cooper – Chair – GMI