(Minute Secretary)

P Copland welcomed everyone.

Apologies from: W Buchan, P Peddie, S Tarvit and Cllr J Docherty

None

I Reekie began by thanking all the loyal band of volunteer Welcomers, whose friendliness and depth of knowledge of local history, he said, is greatly appreciated and frequently commented upon most favourably in the visitors’ book.

This year there was an increase in the number of visitors (up by 500) and donations also increased by a small amount.  On the whole it was a good year.

There were a great number of overseas visitors.  Topping the overseas list were visitors from the USA, Australia and Canada; followed by Spain, France and New Zealand.

Mr Reekie quoted some of the visitor comments:

“A fascinating collection, beautifully presented, about St Monans’ history.”

“Lovely to see and hear fishing history.”

“Enjoyed the history, photos and paintings.”

“Wonderful collection of photographic history.”

“Very informative displays.”

“Superb.  Not to be missed.  A must see.”

He went on to say that the Collection has a number of photographs by

William Easton; mainly of life around the harbour.  William Easton’s camera took glass plate negatives and these are held in the National Museum of Scotland.  There are also some paintings on display.

P Copland asked about the number of volunteers this year.  I Reekie said that the loyal band of volunteers was fairly small.  He said that he keeps asking for people to join the band – to welcome visitors – and to use their local knowledge to make the visitors’ experience even better.

P Copland thanked Mr Reekie, and said that the CC (Community Council) were pleased that the visitor numbers are up and that we are continuing to welcome people from all over the world.

P Copland said over the past year we have ridden a few high waves, with one or two problems regarding Planning and some houses that have been built in the village. He hoped that there will be some resolution on that.  He thanked those who had attended the meetings during the year: members of the public; Councillors and gave thanks to E Hughes and the Mayview for allowing the CC to use the Mayview’s facilities.

G Brown said to bear in mind that the Accounts ran from March to March, so they are already 6 months out of date.

Cash Management – there was an addition of £1.42 in interest.

Cash Flow Account and the Floral Display Accounts – These Accounts are the ones that show most movement.  They are both somewhat skewed by things that happened in previous years.  In the Cash Flow one we had a donation from the Dawn Walk people in St Andrews University.  There was £1,000 in and £1,000 out.  At that particular time the Cash Flow did not look too healthy.  It subsequently has improved dramatically.

The Floral Display Account is more skewed by the Chelsea Flower show because £3,000 went in in the way of sponsorship and these funds did not come out until 2016.  Regarding the Floral Display, G Brown said that last year he was warning about lack of funds, but, since then it has improved very dramatically and he thought it was in quite a healthy state now.

Heritage Account – Last year, we had a rental that cost us £240.50.  We then had a new lock and roof repairs, so overall the Heritage Account has gone down by about £200.

G Brown invited questions.  No questions.

The Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting of the Burgh of St Monans and Abercrombie Community Council, held on Monday, 19 October 2015 were approved.

Proposer: V Salvage                      Seconder:  W Buchan

For this part of the meeting the Chair was handed over to Cllr D Macgregor.

G Brown said he would like to stand down from the CC now.

Cllr D McGregor said that we are very sorry to hear that.  V Salvage said he had given excellent service and would be greatly missed.

Cllr D Macgregor asked for nominations:

Chairman:

P Copland was nominated by V Salvage; V Bland seconded.

P Copland was appointed to the position of Chairman.

Vice Chairman:

V Salvage was nominated by P Copland; M Ashworth seconded.

V Salvage was appointed to the position of Vice Chairman.

Secretary:

G Brown said that he had been doing the job of Secretary for the last year along with the Treasurer’s job and, he said that it was not too difficult, as long as you have a Minute Secretary.

P Copland nominated M Ashworth.  M Ashworth declined, saying that she could not carry out the role properly because of her other commitments.

The Secretary’s post was left to be filled at next month’s meeting.

Treasurer

The Treasurer’s  post was left to be filled at next month’s meeting.

Cllr D Macgregor said that the filling of these posts could be postponed until next month’s meeting of the CC, but  added that we must have these posts filled.

Ordinary Members

Cllr D Macgregor addressed the other Members of the CC who were in attendance and received confirmation from them that they were willing to continue as Ordinary Members.

P Copland thanked everyone who had attended, and closed the meeting.

(There was a spontaneous round of applause from all in attendance for G Brown.)