Crail Preservation Society
Minutes of Annual General Meeting
Tuesday 23 February 2021, 7.00pm
via Zoom
Present: Dennis Gowans (Chair), David Mann (Hon. President), David Jerdan (Hon. Vice-President), Kelsey Jackson Williams (Secretary), Derek White (outgoing Treasurer), Lyall Docherty (incoming Treasurer), Steve Illingworth, Anne Black, Kevin Thurlow, Derek McLean, Jude Gallon, Paul Hutchison, Tony Kingsbury, Lynne Pascal, Sutherland Madeiros, Murray Shaw, and Sandy McNaughton.
The meeting was chaired by David Mann as Hon. President.
1. Apologies were received from Ian Ramsay.
Part I: SGM
A motion was made to approve the following amendment to the Constitution of Crail
Preservation Society to follow Para. 4.1:
In exceptional circumstances, as determined by the trustees alone, an Annual General Meeting (or a Special General Meeting) may be held virtually, by phone, videoconferencing or other electronic means. Members would still have the right to vote, but the Society can require this to be done electronically or by other means (eg by post). Where the decision is made by the trustees to hold a virtual meeting, members will not have the right to attend a meeting in person or participate in meetings other than to vote by the means laid down by the trustees.
This was unanimously approved.
Part II: AGM
2. Minutes of the AGM held 17 February 2020 were approved as read, having been proposed by Anne Black and seconded by Sutherland Madeiros.
3. The Chairman’s Report was delivered by Dennis Gowans who opened with thanks to Steve Illingworth for his invaluable assistance in preparing the Annual Report and helping the secretary on that front. He offered thanks to Derek White for his service as treasurer of the CPS during some of the most active years of the Society and was pleased to welcome him back as an ordinary committee member. He also offered thanks to Derek McLean and Laura Mackay, who are stepping down from the committee, for their service to the CPS. He noted the successful visit of Sir Mark Jones, chair of the Pilgrim Trust and NTS, to the kirkyard and doocot. The kirkyard flyer was successfully distributed and has resulted in an increase in membership. Another flyer is in the works for the middle of this year to let residents know of progress on the kirkyard progress. Paul Hutchison has almost all the needed resources for work on the Mercat Cross to begin when possible. £1,229 in gift aid recovery has been received by the society in the past year, thanks to the diligence of Derek White. Denburn Wood is looking beautiful with its carpet of snow drops, but renovation work also continues with concrete going into part of the burn next Saturday. Thanks to Mike Griffin for organising this side of Denburn work.
4. The Planning Report was given by Paul Hutchison who reported that the meeting which will decide funding from HES for the Mercat Cross will occur later this month, but the other sources of other funding have already been secured. The plan will be to commence work on the cross later this year, all things going well.
At this point David Mann noted thanks to the authors of the several reports contained within the Annual Report.
5. Derek White presented the Annual Accounts, observing that the society’s finances are in satisfactory shape despite the impact of COVID-19 on fundraising events. The loss of the Wormiston open day was made up for by the temporary cancellation of the hanging basket scheme and by the dramatic increase in donations with this year’s sum totalling £7,900 (including £2,000 from an anonymous donor and £2,000 from the Crail Wine Club). The overall surplus of the society this year was in line with past years, or slightly better. He offered thanks to Jude Gallon as membership secretary for her work in organising subscriptions and donations as well as for her financial work on the ground while Derek was based in Edinburgh. He concluded by wishing every success to Lyall Docherty as his successor. The accounts were proposed by Jude Gallon, seconded by Anne Black, and so approved.
David Mann offered personal thanks to Derek White for his outstanding work as treasurer and noted his appreciation that Derek would be staying on the committee. He also welcomed Lyall Docherty as new treasurer and thanked the two retiring committee members for their work.
6. This was followed by the Election of Office Bearers and Committee Members for 2021-2022. All those proposed were elected as follows:
- The current chair and secretary were re-elected and unanimously approved by the floor.
- Lyall Docherty was elected as treasurer and unanimously approved by the floor.
- Anne Black, Jude Gallon, Sutherland Madeiros, Steve Illingworth, and Sandy Young were all re-elected as ordinary committee members and unanimously approved by the floor.
- Derek White and Kevin Thurlow were elected as ordinary committee members and unanimously approved by the floor.
7. AOCB included three questions from the floor:
I. Anne Black enquired what funds might come from the EDF wind farm? Dennis Gowans noted that no funds would be disbursed until electricity production at the farm was online, but was optimistic that funds would be forthcoming.
II. David Jerdan enquired of Paul Hutchison how renovations were progressing in Marketgate? Paul noted that only the HES funding was outstanding.
III. David Jerdan also enquired about the possibility of a fund-raising golf day in September. Dennis Gowans replied that this would be looked into.
David Mann concluded with thanks to the outgoing committee and to the incoming committee members and officers. He sincerely hoped that the next AGM would be held in person.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelsey Jackson Williams
Hon. Sec’y
23 February 2021
Crail Preservation Society 