Autism Argyll
Minute of committee meeting held on Tuesday 24th April 2013, 40 Union Street, Lochgilphead.
Present: Alison Leask, Sheila Campbell, Lorna Davidson, Alison Hay, Alison McQuade & Maureen Mackintosh.
Apologies: Fiona El Taweel, Gina Stewart, Anna Hendrick, Tony McManus.
Absent:Fiona Johnston & Jim Curnyn
Alison welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Treasurer’sreport: The current bank balance is £21 764.63. Lorna reported that we’d had donations from Ardrishaig Parish Church Craft Club and the Craigard Hotel.
Coordinator’s report: Maureen presented her report for February, March and April.
During Alison’s trip to New Zealand, Maureen had been in contact with committee members keeping them informed of events.
Achievement Bute Project: Maureen attended the event at Mount Stuart on the 15th February and the project meeting on the 7th March. The work being done has been vey beneficial for the young men involved but it’s a pity there are only two of them.
ACTION POINT: Maureen to attend the next project meeting in June.
Adult Event: The Adult event had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers and potential problems with Debi attending.
Argyll & Bute Autism Strategy Group: Maureen had attended the last meeting on 21st Feb. Some progress had been made towards the strategy by the Diagnosis and Intervention subgroup. However, there had been no progress with the other subgroups.
Mention was made of some development in adult diagnosis with a Dr Barclay having been given time to do this, however it was at an early stage.
Alison informed the meeting that, at the request of Councillor Ann Horne, she’d given a presentation to the MAKI councillors and Pat Trehan had given a similar presentation to the Helensburgh councillors. Mid Argyll Councillor Dougie Philand had been particularly interested and, subsequently, Alison had written to him to ask if he’d be happy to champion the Autism Strategy, which he agreed to do.
A meeting planned for 4th April was cancelled as it was felt it would be poorly attended due to Easter holidays and given the lack of progress, there probably wouldn’t have been much to discuss.
ACTION POINT: Alison and Maureen to attend the next Strategy Group meeting on 17th May.
Scottish Autism Knowledge Share Events: Three events are to take place at the Argyll and Bute Hospital between June and next March. Autism Argyll will reimburse parents the cost of the fees. This money will come from the Big Lottery underspend (see below).
Big Lottery: Maureen had spoken to Alice Cassells from the Big Lottery about the remaining £1 950 from their grant. Alice agreed that the money could be spent on equipment, towards supporting parents to attend events and/or research into our proposed new project. Maureen informed the meeting that she’d spent money on a new waste toner and drum unit for the printer (£161.52) and this money would come from the underspend.
Locality Forum: Maureen had attended the Locality Forum at the Lochgilphead Resource centre. On 13th April. Topics for discussion had been the PIP which is to replace the DLA and possible uses of the centre.
Website & Newsletter: The website had been updated for February, March and April. A newsletter will be produced for June.
General duties: mail, e-mail, writing up of minutes/reports, maintaining records and dealing with enquiries. There have been 11 enquiries to the Autism Argyll office since the last committee meeting.
Development of Post Diagnostic Advisor: Charlene Tait had presented our proposal to SA’s Senior Management Team who were happy in principle but wanted more detail. Alison and Maureen met again with Charlene Tait from Scottish Autism on 30th April to discuss our proposal in more depth. Charlene had suggested contacting The Alliance ( to ask about funding. Our options were for Autism Argyll to apply for funding and pay a management fee to Scottish Autism or for Autism Argyll and Scottish Autism to make a joint application with Scottish Autism being the lead partner and having control over the budget.
Alison spoke to someone form The Alliance who said they preferred the second option.
It was agreed that Autism Argyll do not have the management structure in place to deal with such a large grant and the employment issues that would go along with creating a new post and that we should ask Scottish Autism if they were happy to accept the second option. Alison and Maureen are going to Alloa on Tuesday 30th to discuss this with Charlene and other Scottish Autism staff.
There was a discussion on what we would do if Scottish Autism didn’t accept this idea. It was agreed that we’d apply for funding for the existing post with additional funding for some other events such as a family day, a reprint of the information booklet or some post diagnostic events. It is possible we could use some of the Big Lottery underspend for this.
Annual General Meeting: There was a discussion about the AGM. Earlier this year we had been discussing changes that needed to be made to the constitution which will need to be agreed before the AGM so that they can be adopted at the meeting. One suggestion is the creation of the post of Vice Chair to try and ensure a smooth transition when Alison steps down as chair.
ACTION POINT: Maureen to send out existing notes regarding changes to the constitution to committee members for discussion.
AOCB:
Alison Hay was looking for information on resources to help children when their parent goes into prison.
Given that Tony is now living and working in Elgin, he is unable to be part of our committee at present. Alison Hay proposed asking Janet Jardine, a Speech and Language Therapist who has recently moved to the area and is looking to become involved in local activities. It was agreed that Alison H asks Janet if she would like to become a committee member.
Date of next meeting:
Committee Meeting – TBC but possibly Tuesday 11th June, 11 a.m. 40 Union Street, Lochgilphead