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Note
of the Annual General Meeting of the North Tolsta Historical
Society at the Tigh Ceilidh, North Tolsta, on 28 February
2005, at 8pm.
PRESENT:
D.Murray; R.Murray;
A.Murray; A.A.Smith; S.MacIver; DJ MacRitchie; A.MacLeod;
A.M. Henderson; M.Murray; J.A. MacIver; D. Lawson; R.Moir;
A.Campbell; M.Campbell.
APOLOGIES
: A. Mackenzie;
R. MacLeod
CHAIR
: D.Murray
•
Note of the last Annual
General Meeting of the North Tolsta Historical Society
The
Note of the AGM of 1 March 2004 was approved.
Proposed
: A.A. Smith
Seconded
: J.A. MacIver
•
Chairperson's Report
The
Chairman welcomed those in attendance and thanked them for
their best wishes during his period of ill health.
The
Chairman's report, which was circulated at the meeting, was
approved. The main points were as follows:
•
Young Historians
Two
group leaders, John A MacIver and N. Moir, had been employed
on the above project which was funded by LEADER +, the Better
Neighbourhood Fund Scheme and the Comann Eachdraidh. John
A had resigned due to work commitments, but Nina continued
to manage the project for its duration. The project had
been very successful on a number of levels and this was
recognised by local funding agencies and the community.
2.2.
Bàrdachd
Marsali
MacLeod had been employed to progress this project. She had
started work on the collection of village bàrdachd
collected by the Committee. Angus Macleod provided editing
and proofing assistance. Both Angus and Marsali were photographed
for the Gaelic in the Community newsletter, Gaelic in the
Community being one of the funders along with the Comhairle
and Comann Eachdraidh Tholastaidh.
2.3
Ard Walk
Some
members of the Committee had accompanied Susan Rabe, Western
Isles Countryside Access Officer, on the proposed walk. The
Comhairle had approved provisionally £12k, funding from
the Countryside Access Programme, in support of this walk.
2.4
Activities/Functions
The
following main functions/activities had taken place over the
course of the year:
Bill
Lawson's talk on genealogy on 12 March 2004; Classic Cars
visit culminating at the Garry Bridge where John Morrison,
New Tolsta, gave an interesting talk on the history of the
Bridge.
Meeting
of merchant seamen in Stornoway–sponsored by Pròiseactan
nan Sgeulachdan. The Comann Eachdraidh arranged for a mini
bus to take the seamen to the British Legion on Friday, 5
November 2005.
2.5
Seanchas
The
Chairman reported that Seanchas and private donations paid
for the Comann Eachdraidh's running costs. 400 copies of Seanchas
were being printed every quarter and the Society now had 78
subscriptions to the magazine. The Chairman expressed his
thanks for all those who had subscribed to Seanchas and provided
donations throughout the year.
•
Special Interest Groups
These
groups met throughout the year and work was ongoing- the fishing
and wedding projects were progressing. It was hoped that these
would lead to exhibitions/displays at the end of the project
.
2.7
Membership
Membership
stood at 352. Efforts to increase this number were continuing
as it would affect the per capita grant. A number of visitors
from the mainland and further afield had visited us and we
continued to receive e-mail and mail correspondence from all
over the World.
2.8
Website
We
had experienced some problems with spam; we needed to secure
a number of pages, in particular, the memories and guest pages.
We now had more control over our website and the Chairman
thanked Rhoda and Ruairidh for their help in keeping the site
up to date.
2.9
Caidreachas Eachdraidh
The
Chairman had attended all meetings of the above group. Representatives
of the Comann Eachdraidh had attended a number of other relevant
meetings throughout the year as necessary.
2.10
Database
It
was important to maintain the local database, which as at
February 2005 showed the following:
Pre-school
children 30
School
age children 64
16-18
year olds 11
18-59
year olds 244
Over
60s 140
Total
489
Births
4
Deaths
7
Holiday
Homes 16
Unoccupied
homes 5
No
significant changes from 2004.
The
Chairman thanked all parties concerned for their efforts throughout
the year. The chairperson's statement was moved for adoption.
Proposed
: A.A.Smith
Seconded
: John A MacIver
•
Treasurer's Report
The
Treasurer outlined the Comann Eachdraidh's financial status
to date as per the report circulated. The report indicated
receipts of £9,602.18 and payments of £9,686.65,
leaving an excess of income over expenditure of £84.47.
The balance as at 31 January 2005 was £3,313.78.
The
per capita grant would be paid into the account in May 2005.
The
Treasurer's report was moved for adoption.
Proposed
: John A MacIver
Seconded
: M.Murray
•
Election of Office Bearers/Committee
The
Society's Ofice Bearers were elected as follows:-
Chairperson
: Donald Murray
Proposed:
J. A. MacIver
Seconded:
M.Murray
Vice
Chairperson :
A. MacKenzie
Proposed:
DJ Macritchie
Seconded:
S.MacIver
Treasurer
: A.A Smith
Proposed:
S.MacIver
Seconded:
A.M Henderson
Secretary
: Angus Murray
Proposed:
D.J. Mac Ritchie
Seconded:
J A. MacIver
•
Society Committee
N.
Moir would be standing down from the Committee, which now
had 6 permanent members and 6 co-opted members.
•
Programme for 2005
A
number of projects were planned for 2005 as follows:
•
The Ard Walk project, via funding
from the Western Isles Countryside Access Programme.
•
“Aig Muir” Project: this would
involve an evening in the Community Hall on 11 March 2005
to which ex local seamen and fishermen (including those from
outwith the village) would be invited. The Comann Eachdraidh
would arrange the catering and refreshments. This event would
be recorded by the Young Historians, as part of that Initiative.
•
Publication on local fishing
history.
•
Bus trip/study visit to Uist
to see some of the historical sites of interest including
visits to Kildonan and Taigh Chearsabhaigh. It would be a
good idea to record this on video as part of the Young Historians
project.
It
was noted that all claims for the young Historians project
had to be submitted by April 2005.
6.
A.O.C.B.
Children
in Need
A
presentation on their grant application process would be given
at Voluntary Action Lewis on 3 March 2005 at 7.30. Donnie
and Ruairidh would attend.
Correspondence
Dingwall
Printers Ltd
A
letter of apology had been received from Dingwall Printers
Ltd for the poor quality of the paper for Seanchas. We were
assured that normal service would resume and it was agreed
that we would continue using them on that basis.
Links
: Partnership for Change
A
conference would be held on 26 -28 April 2005 and it was agreed
that we would send a number of representatives, to be decided.
7.
The date of the next meeting was left open.
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