PRESENT:

Sandy Brunton, Michael Ackerley, Georgia O’Neill, Tom Bettley, John Cable, Derek Crook

APOLOGIES:

Alan Parker, Barry Morley

ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS 2006/07

President:

Vice President:

Treasurer:

Secretary:

Sandy was relected.  Proposed by John, Seconded by Tom.

Derek elected.  Proposed by Michael, seconded by John.

Tom re-elected.  Proposed by Sandy, seconded by Derek.

Georgia re-elected.  Proposed by Sandy, seconded by Michael.

MINUTES:

February’s minutes accepted.  March minutes amended to read” . . . Sandy attended meeting, he was the only one present to have also attended the Local Transport Strategy meeting . . .”.  Minutes then proposed by Tom, seconded by Michael. 

MATTERS ARISING:

Paperwork at the Distillery.  Georgia tried to collect it but Distillery was shut – will try again this week.

POSTWATCH:

Edited report published in Am Muileach – full report on the website.  Georgia commented that the price for the event had put people off.  A discussion took place about pricing.

AGM & ANNUAL DINNER:

Sandy received a follow up letter from guest speaker John Purvis MEP.  Everyone agreed that Mr Purvis had given us a good insight into how European legislation is interpreted more strictly in Britain than in other European Union countries.  <Sandy>  will write a piece about Mr Purvis’ visit for Chamber news/Am Muileach

TRAVEL EXPO:

John brought the (very posh) finished display panels for the Expo.  The panels are very professional – thank you to John for all the hard work.  The Chamber agreed to fund half of the costs for upgrading John’s (computer) memory so that he could complete the design work.  Some of the old display boards have been damaged but we can probably manage with just the undamaged ones for the Expo, having now got the two new panels.

The VisitScotland website – our entry on the website has initiated 8 meetings to be pre-booked by interested companies.

John has written some copy - using his nom-de-plume - to be included in a booklet that is distributed amongst the Expo visitors.  He has also prepared an ‘E-Postcard’ to send to buyers prior to the show.

MARINE PARK:

In a press release, George Lyon has requested more information about what being a Marine Park actually means.  There is still not enough information issued for anyone to make an informed decision – more discussion about this next month.

WINDSAVE

No further news about when the wind turbines will be available.

PRESIDENT:

Sandy received a letter requesting support from Fort William about the issue of the ‘temporary’ traffic lights that are now celebrating their 30^th Anniversary!

Membership renewals are due.  To promote new members, it was suggested that each board member print off a membership form from the website to give to prospective members.

Info received about Authorities Buying Consortium <Georgia>  will include it in the next Chamber news.

WEBSITE:

<Sandy>  will send scanned newspaper cuttings to be posted on the site.  Link to the transport page on the MICT website not working.

TREASURER:

Tom reported a balance of £3,569.02p

SECRETARY:

Letter received from Harbour Association asking for letter of support for the development of the harbour facilities.  <Sandy> will reply.

AOCB:

Michael reported that he had attended the Parliament Outreach event in Tobermory.