Autism Argyll
Minute of committee meeting held on Tuesday 11th June 2013, 40 Union Street, Lochgilphead.
Present: Alison Leask, Sheila Campbell, Lorna Davidson, Fiona El Taweel, Gina Stewart, Jim Curnyn & Maureen Mackintosh.
Apologies: Alison McQuade, Anna Hendrick, Tony McManus.
Absent: Alison Hay & Fiona Johnston.
Alison welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Treasurer’s report: The current bank balance is £20 489.68. Lorna reported that the accounts had been handed in to Eleanor Bell for auditing. She has created another heading of Lottery underspend to show where that money is going. The Big Lottery advised that we could spend it on funding parents to attend events, equipment and research into our proposed new project. Maureen said she has already spent money on a drum unit and belt unit for the printer and some has been used for parents attending the Scottish Autism events.
Coordinator’s report: Maureen presented her report for May and June.
Evaluation Scotland: As part of our grant award, Lloyds TSB had paid for us to attend workshops run by Evaluation Support Scotland. These are designed to help charities with grant applications and evaluations. Maureen had completed a workbook then attended two workshops in Glasgow. She found some of the content interesting but had concerns as to how some of the strategies suggested could be used with the type of project we hope to run. We have some hours left for one-to-one support if necessary and this could be used when we start applying for grants.
Annual General Meeting: The AGM has been arranged for Thursday 19th Sept. It will be held at the Lochfyne Hotel, Inveraray and the speaker will be David Simmons from Glasgow University who will give a presentation on sensory issues in ASDs. Alison informed the group that David’s wife is a lawyer who specialises in guardianship issues. It was suggested she might also be asked to give a presentation.
ACTION POINT: Maureen to continue with the organisation of the AGM and contact David to find out if his wife might be interested in giving a presentation too.
Achievement Bute Project: The meeting arranged for 6th June had been cancelled. In her e-mail, Dorothy said the project was continuing to go well and another meeting will be arranged for a later date.
Scottish Autism Seminars: The first of the three Lochgilphead seminars is taking place next Tuesday 18th June. Maureen had contacted Kerry-Ann from Scottish Autism who is organising the event who said that they had 27 delegates booked of which 5 were parents (including Alison and Maureen). It was thought it was a pity that not more parents were attending.
Website & Newsletter: The website had been updated for May and June and a newsletter was produced in June.
General duties: mail, e-mail, writing up of minutes/reports, maintaining records and dealing with enquiries. There have been 7 enquiries to the Autism Argyll office since the last committee meeting.
Chair’s Report: Alison presented her report for May and June.
Argyll & Bute Autism Strategy Group: Alison and Maureen had attended the meeting on 17th May. The strategy is coming together slowly. The diagnostic and intervention subgroup have submitted their work but the other two groups are still working on theirs. Dr Barclay, based at the Argyll & Bute hospital in Lochgilphead, is now available to carry out adult diagnoses. This was considered a positive development but there were concerns on how beneficial this would prove to be if only one person is carrying out the diagnosis and there is no support in administration or for the person following diagnosis.
Alison informed the meeting that Pat Trehan who is the Chair of the Strategy group has had to step down due to other work commitments. The new Chair will be John McMahon. The next meeting will take place on Thursday 20th June when Kathy Hunter will report back on the Mapping events which took place throughout Scotland this year.
ACTION POINT: Alison and Maureen will attend the next meeting and report back to the committee.
Scottish Autism Seminars: Alison and Maureen met Kerry-Ann to have a site visit of the proposed venue at Argyll and Bute Hospital. This venue had been offered to Scottish Autism by John Dreghorn (Project Manager for Mental Health Reorganisation). It was felt the Assembly Hall would be suitable despite the access.
Scottish Government ASD Group: The last meeting had been cancelled as there is a focus on the launch of the Government’s Learning Disability Strategy “The Keys of Life”.
Alison tabled various publications including information from the Scottish Transitions Forum. Maureen informed the group that a link to this on our website.
Development of Post Diagnostic Advisor: Alison and Maureen had met Charlene Tait in Alloa on 30th April to have further discussions about the proposed new post. It was agreed that a bid team would be created to work on the project and grant applications. Alison and Maureen will work on this but Alison said other committee members may be asked to be involved at some stages.
It was decided we wouldn’t approach The Alliance for funding as they seemed to be more keen on funding projects where the people affected by the disability themselves manage the project. It was felt that it might be better to approach the Big Lottery. During the conversation with the Alice Cassels for the Big Lottery about our underspend, Maureen had talked about our proposed new project and Alice Cassels suggested that we visit Tailor Ed in Edinburgh who provide support for families with children with autism. They had recently received a large grant from the Big Lottery and Alice felt it might be useful for us to meet them to discuss how their project is run. Alison and Maureen are going to visit Tailor Ed on Monday 17th June with Emma Queen from Scottish Autism.
ACTION POINT: Maureen and Alison to continue with the development of the new project.
Constitution Amendments: There was a discussion about proposed amendments to our constitution. It was decided that we wouldn’t change our objects (purposes) but changes to membership criteria and committee structure were agreed. Maureen has e-mailed OSCR to ask their advice.
ACTION POINT: Maureen to make changes, send to the rest of the committee for approval, then prepare for amendments to be approved at the AGM.
AOCB: Alison informed the meeting that the Autism Toolbox has been updated and is going to be made available online in September.
Date of next meeting:
Committee Meeting – TBC but possibly in August once the schools go back prior to the AGM.