Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting

held on 6th February, 2004, at 18.00 hours at Port-na-Con

 

Present:                                  E. Meyer, A. Walker, L. Black

In Attendance:               F. Keith

Apologies:                              A. Marsham, H. MacLellan

 

Agenda

 

1.                  Minutes of Committee Meeting, Wednesday, 5th November 2003

 

Minutes of Committee Meeting, Wednesday, 5th November 2003 were distributed.

Matters arising:

                        Eddie Meyer asked if the letter to Jean Morrison had been sent.

Lesley Black replied that she had sent a suggested letter to Andrew Marsham last November (passed copy to Chairman) and requested he advise her as soon as possible if acceptable since she was going away, but no response had been received. It was not known if the letter had gone.

Eddie Meyer asked if the relationship between Hugh MacLellan and Kenny MacRae had been resolved, but so far it did not appear to have done so.

Lesley Black had spoken to Hugh MacLellan and Kenny MacRae and Francis Keith with a view to arranging a meeting last November / December. Hugh MacLellan had agreed and suggested Kenny MacRae contact him to make fix date / time. It would appear this had not happened.

Eddie Meyer stated that he was happy to ‘broker’ such a meeting.

But Francis Keith suggested that such a meeting now be postponed until after the Land Court hearing.

This was agreed.

 

2.                  Minutes of Committee Meeting, Sunday, 30th November 2003

 

Minutes of Committee Meeting, Sunday, 30th November 2003 were distributed.

Matters arising:

Secretary reported that Minutes of 5th November meeting had been sent to Andrew Marsham for his perusal and completion of one small missing item. She had not had either from Andrew Marsham hence the distribution had not been earlier.

With regard to the Website, Lesley Black requested the return of her photos, since they had been handed over 18 months ago.

Eddie Meyer reported all photos were with Ronnie Lansley and as Eddie’s computer had broken down he was now going to have to re-create much of his earlier work with Ronnie so photos would still be required.

Francis Keith reported that the visit by the crew of HMS Sutherland appeared to be on for the 9th, 10th and 11th March, and a ‘shoot’ would be arranged for them.

Lesley Black offered Port-Na-Con if required.

 

3.                  Letters / mails sent

 

01.12. HMS Sutherland Visit in March / HMS Hood Memorial shoot

01.12. Colin Curtis Membership suspension

01.12. Elisabeth Whitelaw Membership suspension

01.12. J. + K. MacKenzie-Hillcoat Membership suspension

09.12. Ian Wilson Durness Estate Offer

09.12. Laid Grazings Committee Website link

15.12. Lotte Glob Christmas Party Cancellation

15.12. Ronnie Lansley, NT Christmas Party Cancellation

10.01. HMS Hood Association Website link

10.01. HMS Sutherland Website link

 

19.01. Elisabeth Whitelaw Re-instatement as Member

05.02. Ronnie Lansley Website changes

 

4.                  Letters / mails received

 

02.12. HMS Sutherland March visit

02.12. John Thurso, MP Christmas Party

09.12. John Thurso, MP Land Court

07.01. Hugh MacLellan Christmas Party, Web Site, Executive Committee

03.02. Ian Wilson Durness Estate / Laid

 

5.                  Membership fees for 2004

 

The Treasurer reported that the Smiths, Marshams and Hugh MacLellan still had to pay. A reminder letter will be sent to all of them.

The Blanco’s had opted out.

Suspended for non-payment of the MacKenzie-Hillcoats and Colin Curtis.

 

6.                  Position of co-opted members of other local organisations on LRA Executive Committee

 

The issue of co-opted members to the Executive Committee was raised.

Eddie Meyer said that it was a pity that Hugh MacLellan could not be at the meeting.

Under the Residents’ Association Constitution it states that since there was potential conflict of interests if an executive member of another organisation was to hold an executive position on the Residents’ Association committee, and any co-opted members representing other organisations have no rights to vote on issued at the Executive Committee meetings. Hugh MacLellan was not elected by the Residents’ Association to sit on its Committee, he had been elected by the Laid Grazings Committee / Laid Community Group to be their co-opted representative at the Residents’ Association meetings and as such has no rights to vote.

In the interest of community harmony perhaps this could be addressed at the Annual General Meeting.

Eddie Meyer will write to the Laid Grazings Committee to clarify this matter.

 

7.                  Christmas Party Cancellation

 

Lesley Black reported that she was unhappy about the way the party cancellation had been reported in the ‘Northern Times’. Although there had only been one positive response to the party, several Association members had already indicated that they would be away on the day of the party and would not be attending, so this was the main reason for cancelling the party. The NT article implied that it was cancelled due to lack of enthusiasm, when in reality it was not. At least 12 people (residents) were not in Laid on the day. The Secretary had only one response from a non-permanent resident indicating that they would not be attending, so assumed that the remaining non-permanent residents would not be coming either.

It is hoped that this year’s event will be held as scheduled.

30 invitations sent out, 1 reply received

 

8.                  Fire Hydrants

 

Francis Keith stated that, to the best of his knowledge, Durness Community Council has written to the Fire Officer who has responded that there will be 3 Hydrants in Laid, but we have not been advised of their proposed location.

Francis Keith will check with secretary of the Community Council to see what number of hydrants they were advised since the Residents’ Association thought it was to be three and this may differ with the information from the Fire Officer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.                  Notice Board

 

A bill for £325 had been received from Kenny MacRae for the Laid notice board, which seemed expensive, since it has already suffered some inefficiency. The wind has caused one of the doors to open and had to be kept shut with a wedge.

Eddie Meyer and Lesley Black will check it out.

The Durness Community Council had granted £100 towards the board, already received and banked, but Francis Keith thought he might have suggested a possible grant from another source.

Eddie Meyer will check previous minutes to see what was suggested.

 

Eddie Meyer asked if the Secretary had received copies of the Durness Community Council Meeting Minutes for inclusion on the notice board, but so far these had not been forthcoming.

Francis Keith will follow this up.

 

10.              Laid Postal Address

 

A copy of a letter addressed to Kenneth MacKenzie-Hillcoat from John Thurso, as well as a copy of a letter to John Thurso from the Post Office was presented at the meeting and it was agreed that consultation would take place on the format of the ‘Laid’ address. As previously reported the address caused serious problems for an ambulance crew last year and to ensure this type of thing does not happen again a formal representation had been made to the Post Office for a change. The Post Office advised John Thurso that they had no objection to a change but there must be full consultation with all those persons in the postal codes affected (IV27 4UL and IV27 4UN).

Basically, this includes Port-na-Con, Laid, Polla, Fhoulin and Eriboll Farm.

Lesley Black suggested that the Laid new address be:                    House Name

                                                                                                            House Number (e.g. 103 Laid)

                                                                                                            Loch Eriboll

                                                                                                            Sutherland

                                                                                                            IV27 4UN

Polla and Eriboll Farm to be in similar format.

Eddie Meyer will speak with James Clarke for his opinion and the matter will be discussed at the Annual General Meeting.

 

11.              Laid Website

 

A breakdown of Eddie Meyer’s computer means he is unable to get this moving forward for another two or so weeks.

Eddie Meyer had sent a letter to the Chairman of the Laid Grazings Committee requesting permission to link to their site. As Kenneth MacKenzie-Hillcoat has resigned as Chairman the letter had been passed to Hugh MacLellan who had indicated that the ‘drive to Laid’ website was his personal site and should not be linked to the Residents’ Association site.

There was some confusion over this since the site states that it is the ‘Official Laid Grazings’ site and as such is linked to the Durness website.

Ronnie Lansley will be requested to remove Executive Committee Minutes prior to 2003 from the Association’s website.

 

12.               Shoot 2004

 

This will be held on Saturday, 3rd April 2004 at the Gualin Gun Club site. Lesley Black was asked to cater for the event, but if the site does not have any cover this will be impossible. The Gualin Gun Club are undertaking some building work and Eddie Meyer will check if this will be in place in time.

Alternatively, Lesley Black suggested the Highland Gathering Marquee could be hired.

The Residents’ Association had been asked by the Gualin Gun Club to host the Highland Gathering Shoot and this has been agreed. There is already sufficient ammunition and clays in ‘stock’ so any income will be profit to the Association.

 

 

13.              HMS Sutherland crew visit

 

HMS Sutherland crew visit (about 14) is expected 9th, 10th and 11th March. A shoot will be arranged, venue yet to be agreed.

Eddie Meyer will be organising a ceilidh for the evening. The ship is hopefully visiting Loch Eriboll in September when the HMS Hood Memorial Trophy Shoot will take place on board HMS Sutherland.

Dates and times have yet to be determined.

 

14.              Land Court / Port Chamuill

 

Eddie Meyer reported that he had been in discussion with Hugh MacLellan about the Land Court hearing, and was impressed on how open Hugh had been with him and shown him correspondence. This included letters of the Laid Grazings Committee solicitor. He had been instructed to get the matter underway.

            Hugh MacLellan had been very annoyed at the length of time it had taken the solicitor to act.

 

15.              Durness Estate

 

At the Executive Meeting on 30th November, Andrew Marsham had suggested an approach to Durness Estate for an improved offer on the land take over.

Eddie Meyer read a reply from Ian Wilson, which stated that since Durness Development Group had shown an interest on behalf of Durness Grazing Committee and that two feasibility studies, are now underway, any change in the original offer could not be made until results of the study were known.

 

16.               Annual General Meeting 2004

 

This will be held on Friday, 26th March, assuming the Durness Village Hall is free, not on Thursday, 8th April. The April date was too close to Easter.

Eddie Meyer will check the availability of the hall.

 

17.              Any other business

 

1.)                Erika Seki has completed her report and a copy made available to Hugh MacLellan.

Eddie Meyer has read the report and despite all the time she spent here, there are just four pages relating to Laid and much of that was addressed to the Laid Grazings Committee. All concerned had expected much more of this and it was considered disappointing that so little had been forthcoming.

 

2.)                Eddie Meyer suggested consideration be given to changing the Constitution in relation to the election of officers. He believes the same committee should have a longer term of office – say 2 or even 3 years.

Lesley Black considered this might not be acceptable since it meant that some residents could resent the same persons in the job for so long, whilst a potential candidate for office might not want to take on the job for much more than one year at a time.

It was decided the issue should be discussed at the AGM with a view to changing in time for the AGM in 2005.

 

18.               Next meeting

 

The date of the next meeting will be on Wednesday, 24th March, 18:00 hours at Port-na-Con.

 

There being no other business the meeting closed at 19:30 hours.