Held at the GMI, Chapel Street – Moniaive
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 31st 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