Minutes of AGM of St Monans an Abercrombie Community Council held on 15^th October 2012 at 7pm in Mayview Hotel Function Suite (draft)

 Present

A. Anderson            V. Bland                     G. Brown                   V. Salvage                 P. Copland        E. Hughes                T. Hughes                  M. Ashworth             W. Buchan                E. Scott         Cllr Riches               Cllr McGregor            Cllr Docherty

 Ian Reekie attended to give St Monans Heritage Centre annual report.

12 members of the public were present.

 1. Welcome and Apologies

A. Anderson opened the meeting.

There was an apology from R. Craib

 2. St Monans Heritage Centre Annual Report

Ian Reekie began his annual report by giving a few statistics: Visitors were significantly higher at 5 West Shore this year.

Visitors for the USA headed those from abroad, followed by Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Cyprus, China, Germany, and Finland.

Some people with connections to the village appeared in the Centre:- The grandson of “Black the Cobbler”, 10 Station Road, was one, as was a cousin of Jim Aitken the author. He donated 25 copies of his book – proceeds to the Heritage funds. Kevin Ovenstone from South Africa visited whilst researching his ancestry. Also visiting was the Great Granddaughter of Wm Easton the photographer. All the comments in the visitor book were very positive. An example was “A fascinating insight into local people and their work”.

Donations too were up by just over £100. July and August were the busiest months of the season.

Many thanks were given to all the local volunteers who give such a warm welcome. Ian also wanted to thanks Mags Sutherland for all her reproductive work. Ian made two suggestions:- 1) Try to arrange a permanent memorial at the slipway for the boat builders of the village and 2) Allan Shedlock has been doing quite a bit of work with the Primary School pupils. He has been giving the pupils black and white photographs from years gone by and letting the pupils find the scenes in the photographs and they then took colour photographs of the scenes as they are today. Ian, with the assistance of Allan would like to produce a book with the black and white photographs on one page, with the colour version facing it. There is money in the Heritage account which could finance this project. Ian and Allan will get costings and report back to the Community Council. The Community Council will try to get suggestions on a potential memorial from members of the public and relatives of the boatyard owners.

Andy Anderson thanked Ian Reekie and all the volunteers on behalf of the Community Council.

3.Minutes of last AGM

The minutes were accepted as correct.

Proposer                                                                                               Seconder

V. Bland                                                                                                 V.Salvage

 4. Chairperson’s Report

In this Olympic year we are double medallists. Gold in Beautiful Fife and Silver in Beautiful Scotland. Many thanks to Win Brown and her dedicated volunteers. The village has been looking great!

Thanks are also due to all the volunteers who keep all the Community events going even in the face of sometimes really adverse weather conditions.

Planning issues this year have been at times fairly contentious. We have done our best to represent the local community and ensure local opinions are considered by Fife Council’s Planning Officers and, where appropriate, the Area Planning Committee.

I would like to thank my fellow Community Councillors for their hard work over the last 12 months.

It should be remembered that Community Councillors give their time freely without any financial or personal gain and do their best to represent local residents and support the local community. It is often the same group of people that are involved in many of the local community events and projects and I would also like to thank this dedicated group.

 5. Treasure’s Report

Audited accounts were shown and approved in May.

Funds are adequate at present.

 6. Election of Office Bearers

All existing office bearers were proposed and seconded as a group

Chairperson – Andy Anderson

Vice Chair – Vic Bland

Secretary – Ruth Craib

Treasurer – George Brown

 Proposer                                                                                               Seconder

V.Salvage                                                                                              M.Ashworth

 

 The meeting closed at 7.25pm