Minutes of the Bairn’s Trust Meeting held 20/9/04
Steven Jackson

Present
Stephen Bird, Fergus Caldwell Murray McIntyre, Jack Gardiner,Betty Johnston, Bill Anderson, Douglas Hill, Stewart Wilson, Euen McIntyre, W Sommerfield, J Dick, Steven Adam, Steven Jackson.

1. Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Apologies:Wayne Toft, Kirstie Adam, Jane Toft, Davie Robertson, Michael White.

3. Previous Minutes. These were unavailable and will be ratified at next meeting.

4. Matters arising from previous meeting. The Chair agreed to take the following points:

Shire Trust meeting: Several Bairns Trust members attended the recent meeting. The Shire fans appreciated the support and hope they will have a successful scheme.

5 a side football: It was agreed to authorise Murray McIntyre to proceed with the organisation of the tournament and to arrange prizes up to £250.00

5.Reports:

Secretary: Nothing to report.

Treasurer: The Treasurer provided a full and accurate report on the Trust’s finances. Several members were coming up to the period when they will be entitled to purchase shares and money will be made available for this. Money is coming in for sale of videos. More information available latter. The T shirts for Westfield coming home currently stands at a loss of £350 but it was hoped that money raised from the Christmas dance would cover this. The Trust has paid the money to the club to sponsor Andy Thompson’s home shirt.
The Yearly Tax return has been issued to the Inland Revenue resulting in a cheque from the Inland Revenue for £0.40 pence. The year end accounts will be due at the end of September.
Currently there are around 100 members of the Trust.

6. Board Report:

Bill Anderson reported from the previous meeting which was some time ago the following points:
The Team are now fitted out with suites and shoes.
The club did approach Clyde again with an increased offer for Ian Harty but this was rejected.
The manager received additional funding allowing him to sign Hendry, James and McBreen.
Advertising around the ground is picking up.
Match sponsorship has covered 12 of the 15 games for the season
The sale of commemorative bricks has now raised £43,000.
The problem with the printing of match tickets has now been resolved.
The work on the North Stand is due to commence very soon.
Concerns were raised over the pricing for the Dundee game. The club made only a slight profit over the 21 pre season friendlies due to the expenses paid and feel they have justified the pricing for the Dundee game.
All season ticket holders who wanted a ticket for the Celtic game had received one.Concerns were raised over the allocation of tickets in particular concessions not being allocated with full price tickets. Bill will raise this at the next board meeting which is on Thursday23rd September.

7. Election of new Board Representative.

It was proposed and agreed to start the selection/nomination process to elect a representative to the board. As this was to fill a position vacated it was agreed that the person elected could stand again for a full term in the AGM 2005. The Secretary will issue the correspondence as per the constitution. Ballot to end 15th October
The Secretary wished to point out that the timescales was very tight.

8. Fundraisers report:

Brian Guthrie reported that the Dance had been booked for 17th December at Grangemouth Town Hall. Tickets will be priced £20.00 this will cover meal disco and Band. It is hoped to sell 240 tickets and there should be a profit of £1 to £2 per ticket. Brian is organising some raffle prizes it was also thought that we could approach Supporters buses and the club for donations.
The video sales are going well and Brian would like to start discussions on a video for the current season Agreed that Brian will take this forward.
It was agreed to purchase a TV to show the video prior to homes games in the hope this would increase sales. Brian is also looking at further options of raising money and will report back when further details are available.
Discussions are also taking place regarding the possibility of some sort of bar facilities within the stadium.

9. Racism

The Lets Kick Racism out of Football week is 14th to 26th October. It was agreed to order leaflets for distribution at a home game as well as purchasing 500 badges and 15 T shirts for promotion of event by Team.

10. Perth Stewarding.

Serious concerns were raised over the Policing and Stewards at the recent game against St Johnstone . Agreed Secretary to contact Tayside Police and Rock Steady re our concerns

11. Membership and Recruitment of Trust members

Concerns were raised over the falling membership of the Trust. Those present were split into groups and after a discussion and feed back several ideas were agreed on and will be taken forward by the Trust Board.

12. Any Other Business:

Stewart advised he had contacted Sarah Scott and reported she has a cheque for £130 for the Junior Bairns. It was agreed Fergus Stewart and Stephen Bird will take this issue forward and report back.

The Chair read out a letter from the Supporters Liaison Officer regarding a meeting at Little Kerse on 30th September. The Trust will send a representative to the meeting.

Brian raised concerns over the price of the catering at the stadium following a debate it was agreed Bill would raise this issue at the next Board meeting.

200 Club winners: Concerns were raised that there did not seem to be any winners announced recently. Agreed Bill would take this up at Board meeting.

Supporters Direct Nomination.
It had been brought to the attention of the Chair that a member of Bairns Trust had been nominated for the Supporters Direct National Committee and that the nomination has not gone through the proper process for nomination. Following a discussion on this it was agreed that the Secretary contact the Supporters Direct Secretary to advise him that the nomination was incorrectly completed and was null and void

13. Date of Next Meeting

Monday 25th October Graeme Hotel.

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