Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting

held on 30th November, 2003, at 17.00 hours at 98 Laid

 

Present:                                 E. Meyer, A. Walker, A. Marsham

Apologies:                             L. Black, F. Keith

 

Agenda

 

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

 

No ready yet. Secretary is on holiday.

 

2.                  Letters / mails sent

 

20.11.   HMS Sutherland                                  Visit in March

23.11.   To all with Laid connections                  Christmas Party invitation

 

3.                  Letters / mails received

 

07.11.   Ann Avison                                         Pier Committee / MOD Meeting

14.11.   Scottish Land Court                              Port Chamuill

19.11.   HMS Sutherland                                  Visit in March and September

 

4.                  Outstanding membership fees for 2003

 

The treasurer reported that everybody was up-to-date with their membership fees with the exception of Elisabeth Whitelaw, Colin Curtis, Jenny MacKenzie-Hillcoat and Kenneth MacKenzie-Hillcoat. This is in spite of last reminders sent in October and November to give them a payment deadline of 15th November.

 

Decision was taken to send out a letter of suspension.

 

E. Meyer said a penalty should be set for non-payers since this creates additional costs to the association.

 

It was decided that a decision will be taken at the AGM.

 

5.                  Laid Website / Notice Board Advertising

 

E. Meyer suggested that the Laid website needs revising. This was agreed and the following points were discussed:

 

a.         Home Page:                 Picture to be added similar to the new Durness website.

 

b.         Constitution:                 No change

 

c.         Meetings/Minutes:        Minutes of Executive Committee Meetings are to be kept on the site

for approximately 12 months. Minutes of AGM’s and EGM’s will be kept for an undefined period.

 

 

 

 

d.         Events:             Update of HMS Hood Memorial Shoot on board HMS Sutherland                            to include pictures of the event pictures and the scores of both teams.

 

Laid re-union to be taken off. This was being organised by Jean Morrison. Since her departure from the Executive Committee nothing has progressed, mainly because the existing committee members have insufficient knowledge to organise a re-union. Also, there has been no response from other people with Laid connection.

 

E. Meyer reported that the History page will be ready soon. This is a huge task and requires a great deal of background research.

 

Christmas Party 2004 will be added as an event.

 

e.         Gallery:                        Pictures to be revised. There were only put up as a temporary

                                               measure and need to be updated as soon as possible.

 

f.          Publications:                 The site is to be updated to reflect latest developments in Laid.

 

g          Links:                          The Laid Grazings Committee is to be contacted to establish a link                              to  their site and vice versa.

HMS Sutherland has offered to link to their site. This offer will be taken up and a letter will be written to HMS Sutherland to this effect.

Link to HMS Hood site will also be established. The HMS Hood Association will be contacted.

 

E. Meyer will contact Ronnie Lansley in order to discuss and implement the changes. Target date for completion is the AGM 2004.

 

Notice Board advertising will be discussed at the next meeting.

 

6.                  Christmas Party on Monday, 22nd December

 

Christmas Party 2004 will be held on Monday, 22nd December at Port-Na-Con. Donny and Katy have confirmed that they will provide the entertainment. Father Christmas has confirmed that he will come as well.

The Committee decided that the event will be cancelled if 10 or less will attend. A decision will be taken when Lesley Black has returned from holiday and has confirmed the number of people who have made a reservation.

 

7.                  Shoot 2004

 

The location of the 2004 shoot will be changed to the Gualin Gun Club ground in Durness.

E. Meyer reported that the Gualin Gun Club had offered this prior to the meeting.

A. Marsham said that this would make sense since space is limited at Port-Na-Con and the restriction is considerable. Holding the event at Durness would ensure that Easter holiday business at Port-Na-Con would not be interfered with.

 

 

 

 

The poster advertising the shoot will be changed accordingly and distributed locally and to members of the gun club.

Lesley Black will be asked if she wants to do the catering once again, providing soup, sandwiches, soft-drinks etc.

A discussion regarding prize money followed and it was decided to keep it as flexible as possible depending on the number of entries. This year’s prize money was too high and will have to be reduced. The maximum next year will be £50, £30, £20 for first, second and third place. Should there only be a small number of entries, this will be reduced to £30, £20, £10. In addidtion there will be a token price for everybody competing.

The raffle will be held as well. The draw in the Sango Sands Oasis should be held at a later hour than last year in order to sell more tickets. It was decided to be as flexible as possible with regard to the time of the draw.

John Carbreck and Donny McDougall will be asked if they could play in the Oasis after the shoot.

It was decided that there will be no change in the entry fee of £8. The price of the cartridges will be decided shortly before the shoot.

E. Meyer reported that there was sufficient ammunition in stock, the stock of clays need to be checked.

 

8.                  HMS Sutherland crew visit

 

E. Meyer reported that a team of approx. 13 including the Captain would come to Sutherland in March. The time will be from 8th to 14th March. It is not yet known when and for how long the team will stay in the Durness area.

Damian Malins, HMS Sutherland, who has taken over from Mick Harris, has been in contact and would like to have a shoot organised during their visit if time allows. They would also like to have a ceilidh organised in the Oasis in the evening.

The timing of the shoot for the HMS Hood Memorial Trophy was discussed and it was felt that it would be better if the competition could be held in September when the ship is visiting Loch Eriboll.

It was agreed to have a shoot based on an re-entry competition at either Durness or Port-Na-Con in March and the full event for the HMS Hood Memorial Trophy in September.

 

9.                  AGM date 2004

 

The date for the AGM 2004 has been set for Thursday, 8th April 2004 depending on the availability of Durness hall.

 

10.              Laid Community Group / Laid Community Trust Ltd.

 

There is no news regarding any activities of the group. Hugh MacLellan did not attend the meeting. The item will be discussed again at the next meeting.

 

11.              Port Chamuill Pier Development

 

A. Marsham reported that there was nothing new to add to the Minutes of the last Pier Committee meetings. Funding for the project depends on the Land Court decision which can be a long way off, but this is uncertain.

 

 

 

E. Meyer said that he had received a reply from the Scottish Land Court confirming that the case will go ahead. The Applicant (Hugh MacLellan, Laid  Common Grazings) will have to put an advert to this effect in the Northern Times for two successive weeks. Nothing had appeared yet.

 

12.              Durness Estate / Press & Journal article, Saturday, 8th November

 

A. Marsham said that Ronnie Lansley has said that the article was over the top and explained the background of the article.

It was pointed out that, should Durness Development Group buy Durness Estate, Laid would be included in the sale as well.

Under the circumstances it was agreed by everybody that Ian Wilson should be re-approached for another offer.

 

13.              Any other business

 

A. Marsham said there seems to be confusion with regard to the status of co-opted members on the committee, e. g. Hugh MacLellan, Laid Grazings Committee. It was not clear if co-opted members would have a vote or not.

E. Meyer said that, should a member of Laid Residents’ Association be co-opted on the Laid Grazings Committee, he would not expect for that member to have a vote on the other committee. The co-option was purely to express opinions or follow discussions, but without a vote. According to the Constitution members must be elected to the Executive Committee of the Residents’ Association in order to obtain a right to vote.

This was agreed by everybody present.

It was decided to write a letter to the Laid Grazings Committee in order to clarify and confirm the position of the co-opted members on each others committee.

 

14.              Next meeting

 

The next Executive Meeting will be held in early 2004, unless some important or urgent business comes up.

 

There being no other business the meeting closed at 18:15 hours.