Present: Sandy Brunton, Michael Ackerley, Georgia O’Neill, Derek Crook.   An apology for absence was received from Barry Morley

The meeting was not quorate but for the purposes of securing a new management Committee for the new session following the AGM it was decided to accept nominations from those present and to make the meeting quorate in this matter by telephoning Barry Morley for his vote.  This was done and the following were elected:-

President: Sandy Brunton proposed by Michael Ackerley and seconded by Georgia O’Neill. No other nominations. Sandy accepted nomination and appointment.

Vice President: Derek Crook proposed by Michael Ackerley, seconded by Sandy Brunton. No other nominations. Derek accepted nomination and appointment.

Secretary: Georgia O’Neill proposed by Sandy Brunton and seconded by Derek Crook. No other nominations. Georgia accepted nomination and appointment.

Treasurer: Michael Ackerley proposed by Sandy Brunton and seconded by Derek Crook.  No other nominations. Michael accepted nomination and appointment

Derek Crook agreed to continue as Minutes Secretary.

In the following matters, the meeting not being quorate, the following items were discussed as noted and recommended for confirmation at the next meeting as was the minutes of the last meeting of the Board of Management.

1.      Travel Expo. John Cable had reported to Sandy Brunton that all arrangements had been made. He also indicated that he would not be available to make arrangements for any participation by the Chamber or Holiday Mull in any future Holiday Expo.  He expressed doubt about Holiday Mull’s commitment to any future Holiday Expo and it was agreed to recommend to the next meeting of the Board that it would be inappropriate for the Chamber to undertake any future Travel Expo on its own. Sandy was asked to speak to the Chair of holiday Mull to ascertain its attitude.

2.      Recruitment of new members. Reminders were due and should include a letter pointing out the valuable work that the Chamber had done in recent years. Michael agreed to draft such a letter for consideration at the next board meeting and it was felt a copy of this letter should be sent to all businesses on the islands after a database of such businesses had been created from sources such as the Red Telephone Book. We should draw attention the How To Drive on Single track roads programme on our website, offer the programme to Clamac – with attribution,  the keep the website up to date and make sure our attitude on controversial matters is disseminated via the island press. Sandy agreed to contact Hugh MacFee about the How To Drive programme.

3.      Sandy brought to the meeting’s attention that the closure of Glen Forsa airstrip on Health and Safety grounds was being disputed by the owners of the Glen Forsa hotel and that he had advised the owners about methods of pursuing the matter. Glen Forsa Hotel was now a member of the Chamber.

4.      It was agreed that if possible a hustings would be held to explain to the public the complexities of the voting systems used in the forthcoming local and Scottish Parliament elections.

Next Meeting: Monday 7th May 2007 at 8pm at Craignure Village Hall