DraftMinutes of the Annual General Meeting

Held in Cramond Kirk Hall on Monday 27st March 2017at 7.30

  1. Present- President – Margery Naylor; Vice President – Prof Anthony Seaton, CBE; Secretary – Diana Hart; Treasurer – Georgena Wylie;and Committee members: Bert Scott, Kathleen Dods, Adam Cumming, Norah Carlin, Alan Brebner, Lois Bryden, Ian Huggan, and Tom Wylie.
  2. Apologies for absence- Angela Smith, Richard Bright, and Stefan Slater
  3. Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 21st March 2016 and the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 31st October 2016- These have been on the Association’s website for some time.Approval ofthe AGM minutes as a true record was proposed by Tom Wylie, seconded by Ian Huggan, and approved by the meeting. Approval ofthe EGM minutes as a true record was proposed by Ian Rodgers, seconded by Mike Ramsey, and approved by the meeting. There were no matters arising from either minutes.
  4. The Association’s Annual Report -The President presented the Association’s annual report for the year. The report had been circulated via paper copies, and on the Association’s website. The President took the opportunity to highlight the work of the InterpretationGroup, which is a collaboration of several voluntary organisations within the area. As a result of their work, three new information boards will shortly be appearing around the area. The Presidentthanked all the committee members for their support during the year and in particular the work of the office bearers.
  5. Treasurer’s report - This had been circulated within the Association’s annual report. The Treasurer reported total income from subscriptions and donations for the year of £6546, which lower by £815 compared to 2015. Total funds at the end of the year less committed expenditure stood at £6500. This is regarded as a sound position to be in. The Treasurer announced that this year subscriptionswould be able to be made direct to the bank via the Internet. Approval of the Treasurer’s report was proposed by Kathleen Dods, seconded by John Naylor and approved by the meeting.
  6. History Section report- Norah Carlin, the convener, took the opportunity to thank Una and Tom Wolf, who have both retired from their roles, for all their work over the years with the History Section. There are currently vacancies for a secretary and committee members.
  7. Becoming a Scottish Charity- The Vice President advised the meeting that the application to become a SCIO member has been successful. An immediate benefit of this will be that future subscriptions and donations can be gift aided. The committee is currently updating its procedures to ensure they conform to SCIO rules. Under the new constitution it has been decided that the committee and office bearers would be elected for one year and thereafter retirement by a rota system will be introduced. Approval of this arrangement was proposed by Yves Foulis, seconded by John Naylor and approved by the meeting.
  1. Woodlands Group- In Stefan Slater’s absence, Duncan Fraser presented a short slideshow, which clearly indicated the excellent work and progress being made in improving the path network near Cramond Kirk.
  2. Airport- In Stefan Slater’s absence, Adam Cumming gave a short presentation on Edinburgh Airport’s Airspace Change Programme. As the plans are still at stage 2 of the consultation process, Cramond Association urges everyone to respond. Cramond Association’s agreed response would be to request the airport to:
  • Bank planes more northerly on eastward departures
  • Consider an offset arrival flight path
  • Install a permanent monitor(s) on the arrival flight path
  • Consider a cap on night flights
  • Lower the noise thresholds for fining (94 db day,87 night)
  • Support two Cramond reps on Noise Management Board
  1. Any other business- The President reported on the long standing efforts to get the owner of the collapsed wall on the River Almond foreshore to undertake repairs. At long last the owner, Mr Richard Neville Towle has agreed to meet with the Cramond Association to discuss the way forward.

Cramond HeritageTrust AGM

Kathleen Dods, Convenor, indicated that the annual report of the Cramond Heritage Trust (CHT) had been circulated within the Association’s annual report. The Convenor called upon Ian Rodgers, the Treasurer, to give an update on the changes to its charity status. Ian advised that the CHT had also been successful in changing its charity status to that of a SCIO. As a result of this their constitution has been changed to enable the trust to adopt a single level of management. In future it will be independent of the Cramond Association, although the committee will continue to have representation from the Cramond Association and Cramond Church on its committee. These new changes were agreed by the meeting.

No other business was raised.

Subsequent to the meeting Professor Alan Alexander give a very informative talk on “The work of the Royal Society of Edinburgh”