Mull and Iona Chamber of Commerce

Minutes of Meeting held at Craignure 7^th June 2004  

Present : Sandy Brunton, John Cable, Tom Bettely, Michael Ackerly, Derek Crook

Apologies for Absence : Olive Brown, Georgia O’Neill, Alan Parker

Minutes of the Last Meeting :   Proposed  acceptance as a true record by Michael, seconded by Tom. Approved  nem. con.    

Matters Arising from the Minutes :

Constitution :  held over to the next meeting

Publicity for the Chamber: held over to the next meeting.

Island Forum: No update received from Pat Logan. Matter held over till her brief is available.

Ferry Committee

Michael had attended the last Ferry Committee which had only had time to discuss the proposal for a fast passenger service from Oban to Craignure.

Other matters had been left over until the next meeting on 9^th of June

Membership : Membership renewal activity was now due.

Green Tourism : John had prepared Publicity for the Mull Eco-Charter and this had appeared in Round and About.  After consultation with terry Hegerty of MESS the wording of the Charter had been finalised.  Sandy proposed that the wording be accepted; this was seconded by Derek and approved unanimously.  John reported about a dozen expressions of interest so far.  Holiday Mull had decided to promote the Charter and it was unanimously agreed that Georgia should promote the Charter by email to members and on the website.  The £10.00 administrative fee to chartists was agreed with a single renewal date on Midsummer Day each year.

Travel Show :  Sandy reported that he, Alan MacConnochie had attended on behalf of the Chamber with Alan Parker representing Holiday Mull and Abby Kirsop the Tourist Board.  The stand had been very busy and had attracted a lot of attention, so much so that The Tourist Office staff on return had spent two days satisfying the demand for information packs..  It was agreed that the Chamber should meet the request of the Tourist Office to pay 50% of the postage for these packs.  After negotiations with the show organisers the fee for the stand had been reduced to £577.00, half of which would be met by Holiday Mull.  The Board accepted with thanks the offer by Alan MacConochie, our now departed Secretary, to attend next year’s show in Aberdeen on the Chambers behalf and wished him well at his new post in Elgin.

Trade Advertisements in CoC emails. Agreed each advertisement should be charged at 2^nd class letter rate

Secretaryship  In the absence of any one able to take over completely the post of CoC Secretary, it was agreed that

1. Georgia O’Neill be asked to take on board the recording of minutes and the preparation of agendas and the electronic dissemination of these at the rate of two hours per month.
2. Other activities would be covered by board Members
3. The address for correspondence for the time being should remain that of Tobermory Distillery.

In appreciation of the work done so assiduously and skilfully by Alan MacConnochie as Secretary of the Chamber and also in appreciation of the contribution he made to the commercial life of Mull, it was resolved to mark his departure with an appropriate memento. John was asked to contact Georgia to ask her to set up an appeal to members by email that was separate from any other business.

Treasurer’s Report  Not available