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AGM Panel Event
MINUTES OF THE AGM OF WHITHORN AND DISTRICT BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, HELD ON 15TH JANUARY, 7PM, AT WHITHORN TRUST VISITOR CENTRE
Chairman Gill Bailey welcomed members and assembled guests and reported on the year 2009 as follows :
During 2009, the Association has
1.Produced a local Business Directory for the South Machars, which volunteer members distributed through each door in all the villages of the South Machars. 5000 were produced and almost all of these have been put through doors or left in libraries, shops, caravan parks and tourist board outlets. It has been very well received and attracted new members.
2. Produced a set of new postcards for Whithorn and the area, which have been very popular. Some of these were produced from images from the photographic competition we ran in 2007. As usual, we produced a Whithorn and district calendar for 2010.
3)Many of our Whithorn members have benefited from the CARS scheme, which we initiated in 2005. We did object to the training day being held in Castle Douglas; but the overall effect on George Street has been very positive.
4)We have been represented on the CCTV working group for Whithorn and Newton Stewart, and can report that funding applications are now in progress, with outcomes to be decided within the next couple of months. We continue to liaise closely with the Police on issues which are of concern to business owners and have met with Inspector Smith.
5)We are represented on the Whithorn Trust by its Chairman, George Pattison, who has reported to us on a busy and productive year for the Trust, including their presentation to the Scottish Parliament and subsequent visit by the Minister for Culture.
6)We have kept a close watch on plans for a Traffic Management Scheme for the town and attended the meeting of a "working group". No results have yet been reported; our concerns about the proposals remain, as they have done, since 2003.
7) We held a beach clean at St Ninian's Cave beach, as usual, with thanks to the Council for supplying bags and gloves and to Robin Johnston Stewart for the trailer, and Forsyth Vance for driving the farm bike for picking up bags.
8)We have introduced a Green theme into our agendas, as a forum for exchanging ideas on energy savings and other green measures. We also created the town's reusable shopping bag, in distinctive maroon and white.
9)We alerted the local Press to changes to the Treasury rules on taxation of furnished holiday lettings and advised accommodation providers to contact their accountants for advice on how changes might affect them.
10)Members have contributed to the consultation on fire regulations for B&B and holiday letting properties and there is still time to contribute before 18th February 2010. Details of the link to the government consultation were sent to members by e mail.
11)We supported the Whithorn Trust in requesting that the Scottish Government extend an invitation to Pope Benedict to visit Whithorn, during his visit to the UK. We have received copies of ministerial correspondence from Alasdair Morgan, in his kind furtherance of this request.
12)We nominated Machars Movies for the Countryside Alliancer Awards and they won their section ( Rural Business )
13)We continue to campaign for footpaths in the Whithorn area and hope to meet the footpath officer in the New Year.
14)We maintain the banners at the foot of the town and repainted the fingerpost at the Grapes corner.
15)We entered our local grocery shop, Galloway's, into the Wiseman's Shop of the Year competition, and are pleased to report they are the regional finalist.
16)We initiated an article in the award-winning magazine DG Life, which appeared in its June issue. We thank local advertisers for their support and Julia for supplying the main prize of a mini-break in her holiday cottage.
The chairman thanked the Committee for support, Janet Butterworth for use of the Trust's premises, and Janet and Julia for their work.
Linda Vickers, Treasurer, reported a healthy bank balance of £3034.62. Linda was thanked for her time as Treasurer, and Margerie Clark was nominated by Julia Muir Watt and seconded by Eddie Richards, as new Treasurer. Gill Bailey and Janet Butterworth were re-elected Chairman and Secretary. New Committee member, Keith McElrea, was proposed and seconded, and all existing Committee members, except for Carolyn Galloway, agreed to be re-elected.
The second part of the meeting consisted of an “Any Questions?” panel, chaired by Councillor Graham Nicol. Participants in the panel were :
Russell Brown MP, Alasdair Morgan MSP, Councillor Peter Duncan, Rev. Alex Currie, Father Ben Lodge, Fiona Colley and Adrian Turpin, chaired by Councillor Graham Nicol, fielded questions from the members and guests assembled. Three hours proved to be barely enough time to fit in all the questions, but those which were put to the panel provoked much debate and thought by the speakers and audience. Topics raised included training and the need to keep young people in Galloway; the moral and ethical crisis in British society and politics; the burden of Big Government on small businesses; how to pay the national debt and rising unemployment costs; global warming as the greatest threat to mankind; the difficulties of obtaining supplies of life-saving drugs for NHS pharmacies; the benefits or otherwise of the Lisbon Treaty; and the future of Post Offices and the need to save them
Date posted:
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