Note of the meeting of the North Tolsta Historical Society at the Schoolhouse, North Tolsta , on Wednesday, 8 December 2004 , at 7.30pm .

PRESENT: D.Murray; R.Murray; A.Murray; M.Murray; A.M Henderson; A.MacLeod, S.MacIver, R.MacLeod, DJ MacRitchie  

APOLOGIES : A.A. Smith; N. Moir , A.MacKenzie

CHAIR: D.Murray

•  Note of the Last Meeting   

The Note of the last meeting was approved.  

•  Matters Arising  

Item 4.3: Correspondence had been received of a genealogical nature, e.g. a discussion on the "Donnaich". Most of this correspondence was now being committed to the web site as appropriate.    

Item 7.1: There was no NTHS representation at the Angus Macleod Memorial Lecture.

Item 7.2: Attendance at the Scottish Parliament Outreach Service seminar.

Item 7.3: The meeting of merchant seamen was well attended; several ex-seamen from the village enjoyed what was a very successful evening.

Item 9.1: A new scanner is required to replace the current one which has not been working well. The Comann Eachdraidh is in possession of many photographs which need to be scanned as soon as possible so that the originals can be returned to their owners. It was agreed to purchase a new scanner.

•  Finances  

            The Treasurer was not present and there was no update on the current financial status.

•  Young Historians

Nina's progress report was circulated. The project was due to finish in March 05, although this had been extended to April 2005.  

There was still some work to do on the 'wedding' and 'fishing' projects, but there would be an under-spend on the project.

The Comann Eachdraidh would need to consider how it could spend these unspent funds and/or whether there was a project in the pipeline which might be able to take up these funds, subject to an approval by LEADER+ of course.

            A cheque for £50 had been received from the Comhairle (BNSF)   towards the Young Historians project.

5.            Bàrdachd

Donella Campbell, Gaelic in the Community, had visited the project on 28 October 2004 and was happy with progress.

6.            Tolsta Walks Project

The walk around the Ard had taken place on 12 October 2004 and Susan Rabe, Countryside Access Programme Officer, had forwarded to Donald a draft text and illustrations relating to that walk which would complement the project. Donald would discuss further with Susan.

7.            Links : Partnerships for Change

This project was due to finish in April 2005. The Comann Eachdraidh had been represented at the meetings of 9/11/04 and 7/12/04 . The project was largely about consultation and an exchange of information/experience. We would await the outcome of the project to see whether there might be any tangible benefit to the Comann Eachdraidh and all the historical societies in the Western Isles.      

8.            Caidreachas

Donald attended the AGM and paid the membership. The existing Committee was re-elected. There was some discussion about the funding of a Development Officer to work on their behalf, but it was proving difficult to secure this funding. The Town Hall event held recently, while generating a number of good ideas, had not resulted in any further progress thus far.  

9.            BBC

The BBC had requested the use of some of the Comann Eachdraidh's photographs. There was no problem with this in principle, although we needed to agree how it might be dealt with. It was agreed to sell them the CDs with the photographs and agree with them a charge for any photos used.   Donald would e-mail this information to the BBC.

10.         AOCB

             Mairead was thanked for providing a clock for the office.