December 23 Board of Trustees Meeting

14/12/23 17:30
CRIEFF & STRATHEARN MUSEUM a registered charity in Scotland: SC 048238
Board of Trustees meeting, Thursday 14th December 2023 at 11am at Logie.
Minutes
  • 1)  Welcome and Apologies for Absence:
    Present: Marnie Gauld (MG), John Cowie (JC), Dorothy Jones (DJ), Dave Ferguson (DF), Neil Rodan (NR). Ewen Honeyman (EH), Colin Crawford (CC).

  • Apologies: Ann McIntosh (AM)

  • Thanks to Ewen for hosting us.
  • 2)  Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and signed.
  • 3)  Treasurer's Report £7838 in hand. £128.35 payment to JC outstanding awaiting AM authorisation.
  • 4)  Project Plan to March 2024:

  • a) Capital / Revenue Split and procedure for accessing funds: Split has been changed in agreement with Laura. 30 days for CC will amount to £9000. Leaving £8,800 for capital works. NR to take on funds reclaiming process.

  • b) Joinery/Paintwork etc: Alan Murphy is happy to do the paintwork. Pedro may also be available. MG is going to ask John Jack, an experienced builder, to take a look at the building and offer advice.

  • We need to get all the work done by end of February or we will lose out on the funding.

  • We need to get a proper project plan together - DJ suggested the possibility of subgroups being formed to push this forward.

  • We need to develop our vision of what kind of Museum we want. We need to have a flexible space. Do we want to display lots and lots of objects or focus on a few?

  • We agreed we could only do the basics in the current plan then look at further development as we get more funding.

  • Order a big roll of “our” tartan.

  • BOLD may refine our website as part of their branding exercise.

  • We can ask Pedro to do a “Story of Strathearn” board for display in the entrance.

  • We discussed the damp / drains issue and whether we should get a specialist company to send a camera down the drains to find out what we are dealing with.
  • It was suggested to put a secure letter box by the front door rather than cut into our new doors.
  • social media, etc.
  • sessions we are going to get from the Accelerate programme. CC thinks we need policies on a number of things - risk assessment, financial controls etc. CC has been added to the WhatsApp group for at least the duration of the project.
    • 5)  Feedback / Actions from Branding Workshop. The group agreed it was a very good session and we look forward to seeing what BOLD come up with. Ongoing.
    • 6)  Christmas Fliers/Poster: Poster done - MG to put it on display.
    • 7)  Development Day 17th January. Programme is finalised and distributed. JC will bring his portable router so we have wifi on the day. The main outcomes will be a Business Plan and a Development Plan.
    • 8)  External Repairs. AM has written to Mearns who is “taking instructions”
    • 9)  Electricity / Meter Readings. JC to take and send reading to EDF. EDF are
      communicating via JC’s personal email. It would be better to use a Museum
      address. Also EDF have still not told us what their tariff is.
  • 10) Benefits in kind: DJ and NR 12 hours each + 4 volunteer hours. JC 12hours. MG 3 hours. BOLD session 6x2=12 hours. Total for November = 55 hours.
  • 11) Accessioning: A museum quality vacuum cleaner costs around £300. DJ to send details to NR for purchasing.
  • 12)New Trustee Appointments: According to OSCR guidelines a Trustee needs to be a member of the organisation first. We have been lax about this in the past. We need to formalise a process for onboarding Trustees in future. A member of the organisation needs to be over 16. It was mentioned we could have an associate class for under-16’s. There was a discussion on how membership should be structured - “Patrons” and / or Founding Members could get some kind of additional benefits. Could we have a reciprocal arrangement with other organisations?
  • “
    13)Strathearn Archaeological and Historical Society: Deferred
    • 14)AOCB:
    • -  There is a Heritage Trust Network Mentoring scheme. Probably not for us at this stage.
    • -  MG mentioned that the new hospital will have been open for 25 years in 2025. There are some old chairs from the 1906 hospital which could possibly be displayed in 2025.
    • -  Andrew accepted some old McNee Jam Jars for us...
    • -  Glenturret sponsorship - could we tie up with them on a display?
    • -  Meeting next month to decide what we want to display initially.
    • -  Highland Games have a lot of artefacts which we may be able to help them with.

    • Next Meeting: Wednesday 25th January 14:00 at OTH .