March 24 Board of Trustees Meeting

11/03/24 14:00



CRIEFF & STRATHEARN MUSEUM
a registered charity in Scotland: SC 048238

Board of Trustees meeting, Monday 11th March 2024 at 2:00pm at Old Town Hall Crieff.

Minutes

  1. Welcome and Apologies for Absence:

Present: Ann McIntosh, Chair (AM), John Cowie (JC), Dorothy Jones (DJ), Marnie Gauld (MG),Dave Ferguson (DF), Colin Crawford (CC), Neil Rodan (NR).
Apologies: Ewen Honeyman (EH).
Note: The Trustees present signed a card of condolence for Charlotte, Martin Boyle’s niece.

  1. Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and signed.

  1. Treasurer's Report £10,942.06 in hand. Company Tax Return has been submitted. Electric supply is in the process of switching to another supplier. Business Stream has been contacted regarding removal of one of the water meters - so far no response. NR to follow up.

  1. Project Costs: Review expenditure and remaining charges to March 2024.:
All of the £17800 award needs to be claimed by 15th March. Invoices received from Painter and House of Edgar. CC to submit final invoice. NR to make final claim to CLLD before Friday 15th.

  1. (Item 6 on Agenda) EOI for CLLD funds 2024/25
JC wants to get his EOI in before going on holiday on the 24th March.
Potential sources of funding: CLLD, Gannochy, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Archaeological Heritage Fund. CLLD can be used towards stock for our shop, bookshelves upstairs. We could investigate changing the heating system to a more efficient one. AM supportive of Air Source Heat Pump. Infrared heaters that deliver heat only where required. CC mentioned the Cultural Regeneration Funding for Crieff which CaSM would very much be a part of.


  1. (Was 5 on Agenda) Preparation of Opening Displays
  1. Lady’s Room etc. Lady’s Room.. Discussion about whether it’s a bedroom / boudoir / salon. Need a mannequin - DF to put a message on Facebook. AM to bring the rest of the Martin Boyle items to OTH. Lorna Ramsay will help AM with this display. CC will talk to David Campbell about interior design ideas.
  2. Justice / Punishment. MG to make display / posters. She will try to get the provost’s chain, show the Burgh Tartan and the Arms of Crieff.
  3. Drovers. DF has text which needs to be edited - All to help DF with this.

DF has some Railway items which could go in the upstairs room. AM feels it would be a bad mistake not to have something in the upstairs room upon opening. We agreed to set an opening date of 3rd May.

  1. Business Plan Activity 2024/25. CC has been populating the templates he previously produced. He has policies on Health & Safety, Safeguarding, Volunteers etc. CC to meet with NR on w/c 18th March to discuss finances.

  1. Trifold Leaflet: JC has been in touch with Alan at Crieff Camera Club to take high-res pictures. This will include monuments and photos of children enjoying the Museum. MG to write up the text. AM to set up Danscot a/c.

  1. Membership Policy. Extensive discussion regarding types of membership, costs, what members will get in return, the idea of Founder Members. Consensus appeared to be that for “normal” members we should not ask for more than £12 per year. AM/DF to write up text for NR to send out to membership list on Mailchimp.

  1. Offer of Volunteering We should talk to Katie ASAP to find out what her expectations are. JC is going to Glasgow soon and will see if he can meet her for a coffee. DF has been in touch with Nicola Sutcliffe who will meet some trustees at the OTH ( NB This already happened with what appears to be a positive outcome!)

  1. Book Purchase
  1. Perthshire Booklets (David Robertson) - we should buy 6 of each
  2. Burns in Perthshire buy 6 of these.
Also discussed was the Peter McNaughton gift of books of local interest. AM to send a letter of thanks to him and also a Gift Form.
We agreed it would be good to have the books available in a bookcase in the upstairs room so the public can access them.

  1. Running Costs
  1. Electricity and Water. NR has arranged to switch from EDF to a new supplier, UGP. Their estimate based on actual usage since we moved in on 6th Sept is £4966. We hope we will use less than this. NR has contacted Business Stream to enquire about removing one of the water meters. They have not yet responded - NR to follow up.
  2. Insurance: JC has arranged a non-profit policy with Zurich. Cost £157. Paper copy of the certificate to be kept in OTH.

  1. Perth Museum Opening Reception AM has been invited to the opening reception and will attend.

  1. Networking. Michael Aldridge, Factor at Drummond Castle.has always been supportive. If we have an opening party we should invite Lady Jane. AM is meeting Lucy who works at Lalique and may be able to help us develop a relationship there.

  1. External Repairs No update from Mearns. Alan Murphy’s pal can sort the slates on the cells free of charge - just a thankyou on our Facebook. JC to ask lawyers what our recourse we have in view of the terms of our lease.

  1. Upcoming Events
  1. CCC Spring Fair. We have no resource for this. AM to send Brian Wilton an email apologising for our inability to attend.
  2. AGM 24th May at 11:00 upstairs in OTH. AM to put notice in Herald, DJ to put in Quair.
  3. MG and DF are going to do a history walk at Trowan on 12th May.

  1. Accessioning: Almost done. We will seal the concrete floor of the cellar to keep down the dust.

  1. Benefits in kind: DJ and NR 12 hours each. JC 6 hours. DF 8. Total for February = 38 hours.

  1. AOCB:
  • BOLD will do a design for our sign.
  • Networked sensors are too expensive
  • Can BOLD arrange a design for our website? Cost?
  • Peter Flett thought he had arranged to meet AM - he hadn’t. Still plan to meet him.
  • Tanning Display should be done later on.
  • DF to get printer from Andrew.


Next Meeting: Thursday 28th March 14:00 at OTH .