Committee Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 July 2006 at 9 Frosterley Close, Newton Hall, Durham
Present: D Gibson, D Sowerbutts, J Hogg, R Logan, R
Cowen.
1. Apologies:
None.
2. Minutes of last meeting
Accepted.
3. Matters arising
None.
4. Correspondence
David G produced a number of letters that had been received. Ones of note were:
» from Anne Westerburg following her departure from RSPB and thanking us for our support.
» Kirsten Whittaker introducing herself as she is replacing Anne but is now based, covering the new enlarged Region, at Denby Dale.
» Yorkshire Wildlife Trust giving information about Potteric Carr - which it was suggested may be a suitable venue to visit next year.
» Local Group Annual Report - now been submitted to Regional Office.
5. Speakers, Rooms and Parking
Julie has so far arranged 5 speakers for the 2006/7 season. She is still looking to cover the Jan to March period.
David S confirmed that booking the usual room appeared in order. He also confirmed it was now possible to park on the University site to attend meetings when the room was booked.
Ray confirmed he will make enquiries in respect of printing the Programme Cards.
6. Summer Reports
Julie confirmed she was receiving reports for trips.
She also agreed to write the report for the visit to Teesmouth. Richard agreed to write the report for the visit to Holy Island.
7. Newsletter
The Committee agreed the new format appeared acceptable and that delivering it by email was an acceptable idea. This would also make it possible to include some colour photographs.
8. Signatories, Door and Raffle
There was a discussion as to whether the cost of admission to meetings should be increased and the raffle continued. David S reported that at present he did not consider there was a problem with finances. The raffle did bring in some extra finance.
It was decided to let the current arrangements remain but David G would devise a rota for Committee members to conduct the raffle. David G would keep the raffle papers between meetings to ensure they would be there when for the relevant person on the rota.
The Committee also considered subscriptions. Ultimately, this would be a matter for members to consider at the AGM if any change to subscriptions were proposed. It was considered that if there were a case to increase subscriptions, this should be considered nearer to the date of the AGM.
At present only David S and Richard are signatories on cheques. David G is also to complete the forms to become a signatory.
It was also considered whether the day of meetings should be changed e.g. to a Saturday afternoon. This however was considered unlikely to be acceptable to members and would be unlikely to increase attendance.
9. AOB
Richard enquired whether anyone was interested in the BTO Open Day on August 5. It was agreed that it was unlikely that anyone would be able to go down but if there is a repeat of the event, a trip for the weekend could be considered.
Richard also raised the question of set aside land, a point he has raised before. He considered spraying had taken place later this year, probably because of poor weather earlier in the year. It was agreed it may be helpful to draw this to the attention of Durham Bird Club. Richard agreed to do this.
Julie mentioned we had not arranged any trips for the next season. The following dates were considered and will be announced on the Programme Cards:
6th Jan - New Year Outing (car trip)
24th Feb or 3rd Mar - Solway Coast (minibus)
28th Apr - West Durham (car trip)
19th May - Leighton Moss (coach trip)
9th Jun - Northumberland Valleys and Hulne Park
Local evening trips will be announced later.
10. Date of next meeting
3 October at 9 Frosterley Close.
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