Trustees Meeting

Tuesday 16th October 2012

Weedon House, The Darren, Risca

MINUTES

Attendance

Martyn Bond, Carl Close, Andrew George, Sue Evans, Terry Evans (Chair)

Apologies

Apologies were received from: Roger Stevenson.

1. Minutes of AGM and the Constitution

1.1 The minutes of the AGM were not yet available. However AG presented a final draft of the Constitution which included amendments that had been discussed at the AGM and the technical amendments suggested by CTS member Andrew Parks.

1.2 The main point discussed was under Para 5 (Membership) where the AGM draft mentioned a “Junior Membership section”. The final draft now reads:

“People under the age of 18 are welcome to be associates and come to meetings and participate generally in furthering the aims of the charity, although they cannot be members and vote until they are 18”

After discussion at this meeting and the AGM, it was agreed to include in these minutes the statement:

“Membership involvement is of paramount importance to the Society. All members and associates must be given the opportunity to voice their opinion on the Society’s aims and projects and information about the Society’s work must be freely available through the website, e-mail and newsletters”.

Membership Subs

1.3 MB said that some people who had attended the last “talk” event on 15th October had been reluctant to join the Society at the time because subs would again become due in just two months time. It was agreed that membership should be due annually on the date of joining – and members should be given a choice of payment options.

Action

• MB to explore the option of allowing members to set up a standing order of £1 per month.
• TE to open a PayPal account for the Society and set up links on the website so that members can pay their subs online.

2. Appointing officers and signing of Constitution by Trustees.

2.1 All members present agreed to be Trustees of Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society and signed the Constitution. Executive posts were duly proposed, seconded and unanimously agreed as follows:

• Terry Evans – Chairman
• Carl Close – Secretary
• Treasurer – Martyn Bonds
• Andrew George and Sue Evans agreed to be Trustees with no official post

2.2 It was pointed out that member Maggie Thomas has done very good work as Membership Secretary and although she does not wish to be Trustee she would be willing to continue in this post.

Action

• CC to arrange for RS to sign the document as he previously agreed to become a trustee.
• TE to contact MT thanking her for her work thus far and invite her to continue as membership secretary.

3. Police Liaison report

3.1 – CC updated us with the work of PC Simon James and announced the appointment of the Supt Brandon Williams as the new Officer in Charge of the Caerphilly Local Policing Unit. CC informed us that he had arranged to meet with BW on 22nd October to:

• ensure that he was fully aware of the work CTS
• to discuss how we may develop further the existing good working relationships with the Police
• ensure that the Landscape Officer is retained in post beyond December 2012.

4. Objectives

4.1 – The Objectives and Priorities that were presented at the AGM were discussed. Whereas some Short Term Priorities had been achieved or well advanced, little progress had been made on the exploration of the Multi Agency Project.

Action

• TE to contact Les Murphy of the Commoners’ Association who had spoken about the Welsh Government’s “Glas Tir” initiative at our September meeting and invited us to meet them. Rob Southall had volunteered to attend the meeting.

5. Events

5.1 It was agreed that the lecture evenings should continue but that the content and presenters should be more closely vetted to encourage better interest and attendance.

5.2 The walk with 14 Locks Society was scheduled for 3rd Nov. TE had produced a poster to advertise the event.

5.3 – TE said he’d been in touch with Gwent Wildlife Trust who had agreed to give a talk at some point in the future. It was agreed that if they cannot do November the 19th that we should hold a Quiz Night on that date – MB agreed to help with compiling and possibly presenting the evening with TE – they are to confirm once we hear from GWT.

6. Tump Watch and Survey

6.1 – TE said that Rob Southall had made a start on compiling the questionnaire for the survey. TE would make his suggestions on the draft questionnaire before circulating it to the other Trustees for comments.