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Minutes of the Meeting of
Wednesday 7th. August, 2002
1. Present
were Eric Davidson, Jimmy Kelly, Jimmy Roxburgh and Dane Sherrard.
Apologies had been received from Marion Anderson, Peter Fettes, Sue
Lawson, Donald Nicolson and Jimmy Paterson.
The Chairman welcomed Jimmy Roxburgh, the Property Convener of
Dumbarton Presbytery. Jimmy had replaced Graeme Small who had moved
to Edinburgh.
2.
The minutes of the meeting of 1st. May were approved.
3.
The one item which arose from the previous minute was that of VAT.
No letter had been received from the accountant dealing with our VAT
matters and it was agreed that we would now depart from this matter
and seek to reclaim what VAT we could through the listed places of
worship grant scheme. This would be dealt with by the Church
Treasurer, as the scheme rules required.
4. The
Trust Treasurer, Marion Anderson, being indisposed there was no
financial report. This was not of major significance for the
Trust as the bulk of bills being paid at this time were being paid
through the Church accounts. This was for two reasons: firstly, the
Church had built up some funds and had indicated that it was prepared
to spend these in order to advance the completion of the building;
and secondly, bills paid by the Church would, in certain
circumstances, qualify for partial VAT recovery through the listed
places of worship grant scheme. The Church had put by £10,000
from its general account and £3,000 from its fabric account to
enable the building work to be completed and Jimmy Kelly was
confident that there was sufficient funding now available to complete
the restoration of the Church by the end of the summer period.
5. The report
on the progress of Church restoration was given by Jimmy Kelly.
He indicated that most of the external stonework had now been
completed and the building re-harled. Over the coming weeks the
Church's windows would be completed and additional pointing work on
the tower undertaken. He was confident that the building would be
completed by the end of September.
6. The
chairman indicated that the building continued to be well used although,
naturally, there was less demand for the hall accommodation during
the summer months.
7. Under
'Other Business' there was a useful discussion concerning the work
of the Community Trust now that the building restoration work was all
but completed. Dane was very anxious that everyone realised that
it was only because of the Community Trust that the congregation was
able to exist in its building at all - the Trust was the guarantor
for the future. Yes, the work might (just might but not very likely!)
have been completed under the auspices of the Church's Congregational
Board - but that would not have been satisfactory to the Presbytery
or General Trustees who might well have thought that restoring the
Church was the easy part - keeping it in fine condition would not be
so easy. Now that the building has been restored, it is the task of
the Trust to ensure that it remains in good condition. This will mean
a regular inspection of the building, it will mean a programme of
planned maintenance - or at least, ensuring that the Church has such
a programme in operation; it will mean ensuring that the building is
properly insured. Maybe, now that the building work has been
completed it will require less meetings than before but the Trust's
work will be just as vital, after all it is the Trust which has the
lease on the building for the next seventeen years from the General
Trustees of the Church of Scotland. These are all matters which will
need to be discussed further but it will be more appropriate to
discuss them at a meeting when everyone is able to be present.
8. The
dates of future meetings were noted as being: Wednesday 6th.
November, 2002; Wednesday 5th. February, 2003; Wednesday 7th. May,
2003; Wednesday 6th. August, 2003; Wednesday 5th. November, 2003.
The meeting closed at 8.20 p.m.
Arrochar Parish Church Community Trust
The three monthly meeting will be held on
Wednesday 6th. November, 2002 at 7.30 p.m.
in Arrochar Parish Church Hall.
Agenda
Apologies for Absence.
The Minutes of the Meeting of Wednesday 7th. August, 2002.
Matters arising from the Minutes.
Treasurer’s Report.
Report on the progress of Church Restoration.
Report on the use of the Church facilities.
Any Other Business.
Dates of future meetings.
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