Minutes of Part A of the Board of Society Meeting held at St James’ Centre on Monday, February 19, 2007 at 6.30pm.

Present: Denise Watts (Chairman), Rob Doidge, Martin Lawrence, Ian Jubb, Tony Badcock, David Treharne, Chris Phillips, Helen Bigwood, Fran Jenkin, Pete Martin and Damien Mills.

Officers: Tony Boston, (Secretary) and Nigel Banks (Treasurer)

No non-BoS Trust members attended.

A/07/14 Welcome and Apologies for Absence:
Apologies for absence had been received from Neil Le Milliere, Trevor Manley and Adrian Hitchcox.

A/07/15 Minutes of the Meeting of January 16, 2007:
a) Under A/07/6, Club finances, the latter part of the third paragraph was amended to read “…at an earlier stage, i.e. before approval by the Club Board”.
b) Under A/07/13 a), the date of the fans forum was amended to January 29 rather than February 29.
After these corrections, the minutes were signed as a true and fair record of the meeting.

A/07/16 Matters arising:
a) Re A/07/3d(, Denise Watts said that she had now heard from Nina Wills’ family and they had suggested that the trophy in her memory should be “The Nina Wills Trust Member of the Year”. As far as something in memory of Paul Palmer was concerned, it was considered that it would be a little premature to suggest anything at this stage.
b) Re A/07/5, the Club “Wish List”, Tony Boston said that Dacre Holloway had offered to take members of the BoS on a tour of the ground “warts and all”. This received general approval as it would help the BoS to get a better idea as to the relative merits of the Wish List. Tony Boston asked for interested parties to e-mail him. Action TBoston
Tony Badcock mentioned that the proposals should be looked at in the light of the Drivers-Jonas report and mentioned in particular the bar, parking, catering and the scoreboard which had been considered among the most urgent from the last BoS meeting,
Rob Doidge said that he was concerned about the catering for next year and said that the BoS should look at getting a square deal and reducing some prices. Denise Watts said that the Club Board were discussing this and it would now be looked at more urgently now that the Tribunal had finished.
David Treharne asked that the Club Board should bear in mind the catering at Kidderminster and this was echoed by the other members of the BoS who had been to that match.
It was decided that there was a need for a Joint Boards Meeting to discuss catering amongst other items.
Helen Bigwood informed the meeting that Red Army parents have taken over catering in the Family Room until the end of the season and will be able to advise on popularity and pricing of different food/drink. The Red Army are waiting for a decision about running a tuck shop in the Family Room.

A/07/17 Financial Update:
Nigel Banks had circulated a report prior to the meeting and mentioned the important points
a) He is concerned about losing members, particularly those who pay annually, and suggested that a membership “push” is required. The possibility of producing a list of members paying annually some month or two before their renewal and sending out a reminder was mentioned and Tony Boston said that he would try to find out whether this is feasible. There is a complication with Paypal in that members whose membership had “run out” are shown as “cancelled”. Action TBoston
b) Re Footypitch, everything is now settled and a line has been drawn under it. The accounts show an amount of £2,910 owing, but this is no longer required and would be written back.
The figure shown of £500 is for the negotiating solicitors. Nigel Banks said that he is now proceeding to finalise the whole situation.
c) Nigel Banks said that he had written to the Club regarding the donation of the standby generator and had received a letter, signed by Justin Quick, accepting this.
d) Tony Badcock said that he recalled an amount of money being ring-fenced for the refurbishment of the kitchen and asked what the situation was. Nigel Banks said that it was £2,000 and would be written back as he had heard nothing.
e) Tony Badcock asked about the amount of money for the 5-year season tickets. Nigel Banks replied that the amount asked for was £4,810 and would be exactly the same this year.
f) Rob Doidge asked about the reserve of £10,000 which had been agreed at a previous meeting. Nigel Banks said that this had had to go by the board and it was agreed that this should be reinstated. Likewise, the proceeds from the Far Post, where the BoS had decided that these should be spent after consultation with the volunteers. Nigel Banks said that he would prepare proposals for next season.

A/07/18 Community Matters:
a) Fran Jenkin said that she had circulated the minutes from the last Kick-It-Out meeting. She also mentioned:
(i) Their plans for a 5-a-side football competition were on hold at the moment as she had not been able to contact Julian Tagg. The prospective date is June 3 and she asked for ideas to make it a family day.
(ii) She said that they were at last getting a leaflet, which had been produced by a print-media student at Exeter College. There would be a mention of Exeter College 5-a-side competition in the next evening’s match programme and, when the leaflet has been completed, she would bring it to the BoS.
b) Helen Bigwood mentioned that they had hoped for most of the players to turn up at their last function, but only 4 had actually joined in, possibly due to it being half term. She also mentioned that there would be a Spring draw on Wednesday.

A/07/19 Communication:
Martin Lawrence reported that the latest Trust bulletin had recently been circulated and he was investigating mass mailings with Paul Wynne. David Treharne said that Pete Bishop and Nigel Weaver were able to do copying.
The next Car Boot Sale was to be held next Sunday and Damien Mills asked Martin Lawrence to e-mail the details to him and he would ensure that they got into the correct place in the Express & Echo. Martin Lawrence asked for volunteers and said that he would send out an e-mail to all BoS members who were not at this meeting.
Pete Martin thanked Martin Lawrence for his efforts while he had been indisposed.

A/07/20 Trust Office:
Tony Boston said that there had been a lot of talk about the Trust having its own office and Denise Watts agreed to talk to the Club about using the old shop. It was mentioned that various equipment and furniture would be needed, but this was not seen as a problem. Action DW

A/07/21 Meeting with Police:
David Treharne said that it would be useful to meet with Adrian Brigden to get some clarification regarding the policing at both St James’ Park and at away matches and how we could possibly help. Pete Martin suggested that we invite him to one of our Trust meetings and Tony Boston said that he would write appropriately.
Tony Badcock said that it would be helpful if we could get the names of people who have potentially brought the Trust into disrepute. Action TBoston

A/07/22 Charity/Grecian Associates:
Charity Update: David Treharne said that he had recently been to Newport to get outline details regarding setting up a CiC to run a charity. He emphasised that he needs input from all members of the BoS and asked Fran Jenkin and Helen Bigwood and others to submit aims and objectives. Tony Badcock asked whether setting up such a CiC would preclude the Trust setting up other CiC, and David Treharne said that we could still set up others for different purposes. He also said that he had spoken to the Club, who were well along the path of forming a charity themselves. This depends on their relationship with the FA, because they are hoping to get funding from them.

A/07/23 Trust Fans Forum:
It was agreed to aim for an evening in late March and Denise Watts agreed to write to Paul Tisdale to ask about his availability. Tony Boston, Damien Mills, Martin Lawrence and Pete Martin agreed to organise the evening, including catering and the bar. It was suggested that the tag-line for the meeting should be “Why your Trust membership matters”.

A/07/24 Any Other Business:
a) It was mentioned that Nick Saunders had recently resigned from the BoS because of ill health and Tony Boston agreed to write to him expressing the thanks of the BoS for his efforts. Action TBoston
b) Tony Boston reported that he and David Treharne had produced a job description for the position of Chief Executive and this had been put on to the Club website and a mention had been made in the Express & Echo. Damien Mills said that it was hoped to make a bigger story out of this in Thursday’s edition.
c) Neil le Milliere had written to reiterate Chris Phillips request for a hard copy of the V10 proposal. David Treharne said that he had a copy.
d) It was noted that Neil Le Milliere had written to say that he was about to check through the new Constitution as agreed at the previous AGM and then this could be signed off. He would then look into the best way to get this accepted by the FSA and turn his attention to the Framework document.
e) Neil le Milliere had written in with 3 questions regarding Red or Dead, as follows:
i) as soon as the additional (already spent) expenditure that was in the note from Mike Cooper and Justin Quick, he will start sending out the letters. This was approved by the BoS.
ii) The next stage is to consider whether to contact pledgers who have not yet paid the money but have stated their preference as to where it is to go. This was approved by the BoS.
iii) The last stage is to consider whether to contact pledgers who have not paid any money or expressed a wish for where it would go if they did. This was agreed by the BoS.
f) Neil Le Milliere also reminded the BoS that there is a special meeting for trusts at Clubs in Trust ownership or majority ownership on February 28 and asked for an indication as to who may go. Rob Doidge said that he would talk to Neil Le Milliere about this.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 8.55 pm