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SWT LOTHIAN MEMBERS GROUPMinutes of the AGM 25th April 2019Present: Ken Knowles Chair, Gordon Swann Secretary, Trevor Paterson Treasurer. Members: Nicholas Warren, Niki Traynor, Jill Masson, Lesley Scoular, Frances Cunningham, Una Martin, Ken East, Alison Morton, Debbie Hitchcock, Robert Douglas, Bridget Blackmore, Jenny and Mike Cheesborough, Barbara Knowles, Johan Doake, Jill Neufeld, Matt Hodson, Peter Bain, Allan Mathieson, Duncan Currie.APOLOGIES : Tim Duffy, Alan Templeton MINUTES OF THE LAST AGM April 26th 2018 were approvedMATTERS ARISING none.CHAIRMAN’S REPORT There have been no significant changes to the way we organise ourselves this year. The sub-committee organises all the outdoor events, winter lectures, produces Lothian Talk which details all our activities and maintains our website. Over the last year the sub-committee has again managed to arrange an excellent series of interesting talks and outings and the talk on the Isle of May just before Christmas attracted the largest audience I have seen in this venue. We have also had very good numbers attending some of the outings. There have been a few changes in the committees during the year. Peter Bain stepped down as Chair of the sub-committee (although stayed on the committee) and Allan Mathieson very helpfully volunteered to take over. Our newsletter editor Declan Duffy had to resign and we are very grateful to Kate Walters for taking over from him. My thanks to both Peter and Declan for all their work over recent years. During the year we co-opted Nick Warren from the sub-committee to serve on the main committee and also co-opted Gavin Stewart back onto the committee for one more year after his first attempt at resigning. Many thanks to Gavin for his many years sterling service to Lothian Group and although he has now definitely retired from the main committee I am happy to say he continues as convenor for Addiewell Bing reserve. The main committee therefore remains somewhat below strength and we have yet to find anyone to cover Publicity and Events which I suggested last year as an area we were not as active as I would like. I would like to express my thanks to the members of both committees for their hard work. Fundraising for the Lothian Group continues to be very largely done by our supermarket can collections. As you will see in the accounts the sum raised has substantially increased from ?2,650 last year to ?4180 in this year. This is very gratifying and is largely due to the hard work of our fund raising secretary Barbara and the many individual volunteers who help at collections. We certainly do not however have a surplus of volunteers and we would encourage anyone else who can help to speak to Barbara – it is a couple of hours well spent. So far the decline in the use of cash does not seem to have had a substantial impact on our collections so we hope we can keep going for a few years yet. As a result of the savings we have put in place and the increased income we have been able this year to make a contribution of ?1000 to fencing at our Brock Wood reserve in East Lothian and also ?1000 to fund the purchase of a chain saw and protective equipment. The chainsaw is retained by the Lothian Group and will be used by qualified volunteers working on Lothian reserves, initially mainly at Bawsinch. Because at the end of the year we still had substantial general funds we decided that we could also reinstate our previous practice, at least for this year, of making an unrestricted donation to HQ of ?1000. For next year we have earmarked a sum of ?1000 to help pay for some interpretation boards to be erected at Wardie Bay as part of our involvement in the Edinburgh Foreshore initiative. We also intend to fund botanical surveys of our reserves initially at Brock Wood. These surveys are a fundamental part of our monitoring of the effectiveness of our reserve management. Lothian Talk. While the paper version of Lothian Talk has been reduced to a single sheet, we now produce a longer version with better reproduction of photographs which has been placed on our website. SWT HQ have now instituted a system whereby they e-mail copies of support group newsletters and other group communications to all those members who have provided their e-mail addresses and given specific consent to receive information about Local Groups. Therefore starting with the next edition of Lothian Talk we will arrange for this to be distributed by e-mail so if you want to receive it you will need to make sure you have signed up for this by ticking the relevant preference boxes on the SWT website. Another advantage of this arrangement is that you will get the e-mailed version of Lothian Talk well in advance of the paper version arriving with the magazine. Planning is also another significant part of our work and a comprehensive report on recent activity of the planning group is contained in the last edition of Lothian Talk on the website. Our thanks go to Tim Duffy and his team for all the work they put in to planning issues.Reserves. As you will have gathered from the last Trust magazine we are now grazing Petershill reserve near Bathgate which will help to improve the grassland flora. Part of the cost of the fencing to enable this grazing was funded by Lothian Group. Following the felling of a conifer plantation at our Brock Wood reserve in East Lothian a lot of work has been done in the last few weeks to plant hundreds of native trees to replace the conifers. TREASURERS REPORT SWT LOTHIANS GROUP ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2019?????2017/18INCOME2018/19????3,338.80Opening balance brought forward2,377.62207.65Donations, Open Days etc273.072,650.07Fundraising - can collections4,180.900.22Bank interest0.00378.67Income from indoor meetings402.96247.20Xmas Card sales364.60366.50Bawsinch Reserve - fees for keys549.007,189.118,148.15?EXPENDITURE479.70Meeting expenses490.141,000.00Donation to Lothians Conservation Volunteers0.00450.00Lothian Wildlife Info Centre – SLA grant450.0024.99Direct expenditure on SWT reserves0.001,138.00Advertising & printing512.391,370.00Transfer to HQ restricted (Reserve Projects)2,000.00212.00Bawsinch Lock and Keys509.00136.80Miscellaneous Expenses 45.00Payment to LCV for Reserve volunteer work283.85Purchase Xmas Cards and Calendars170.004,811.494,460.38?2,377.62(see NOTE 1)Actual balance in bank at 31 March3,687.77(see NOTE 2)0.00Adjustments for outstanding itemsDonation to SWT HQ (Cheque 001162)1,000.00Payment for March use of Guide Hall (Cheque 001163)75.002,377.62Funds in hand 31 March (Bank Balance)3,687.77NOTES1. includes designated funds for 2018/19 as follows:450.00Grant to The Wildlife Information Centre75.00owing to Guide Hall2. includes designated funds for 2019/20 as follows:Grant to The Wildlife Information Centre450.00525.00Total designated funds carried forward1,525.00??1,852.62Balance of general funds carried forward2,162.77Trevor PatersonCOMMITTEE AND OFFICE BEARERS 2019-212OSWT Lothians Group AGM proposed COMMITTEE 25th April 2019Chairman:Ken Knowles Vice Chair:Tim Duffy, Nick WarrenSecretary:Gordon Swann.Treasurer: Trevor PatersonPlanning Secretary:Tim Duffy. Susan Manson covers East and Midlothian, Cameron Easton covers West Lothian and Alan Templeton covers Edinburgh.Fundraising Coordinator Barbara KnowlesOrdinary Members: Rory Sanderson, Alan Templeton, Up to five vacancies.Ex Officio Members:SWT Reserves Manager Julian Warman.Reserves Management Group Ken Knowles + reserve conveners Membership Sub-committee Allan Mathieson.Lothian Conservation VolunteersTrevor PatersonEditor Lothian Talk.Kate Walters MEMBERSHIP SUB-COMMITTEE:Convener, Allan MathiesonPublicity, Editor ‘Lothian Talk’: Kate WaltersWebmaster: Chris Davidson.Other members: Peter Bain, Colin Shepherd, Joe Doake, Nick Warren, Matt Hodson. REPRESENTATIVES ON OUTSIDE BODIES:Forth Estuary Forum: Gordon Swann.Harperigg Local Nature Reserve Group: Jim Hewlett. Linlithgow Loch Users Group: Gavin Stewart.This list was circulated at the meeting, and then approved by the meeting. ................
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