|
3
|
1 <?xml version='1.0'?>
|
|
|
2 <?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='../../lib/xml/doc.xsl'?>
|
|
|
3 <!DOCTYPE doc SYSTEM "../../lib/xml/doc.dtd" [
|
|
|
4 <!ENTITY pound '£'>
|
|
|
5 ]>
|
|
|
6 <doc>
|
|
|
7 <head>
|
|
|
8 <title>Future of 7 VT working group: First meeting</title>
|
|
|
9 <author>This informal summary by Henry S. Thompson, Convenor</author>
|
|
|
10 <date>Held at 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh on 5 January 2009, 7:30 p.m.</date>
|
|
|
11 </head>
|
|
|
12 <body>
|
|
|
13 <div>
|
|
|
14 <title>Attendance</title>
|
|
|
15 <p>Present: Alison Burnley, Alastair Cameron, Madeleine Harding, Phil Lucas, Brian Mayes, Laurie Naumann, Rufus Reade,
|
|
|
16 Eileen Schott, Don Stubbings, Henry Thompson (in the clerk's chair)</p>
|
|
|
17 </div>
|
|
|
18 <div>
|
|
|
19 <title>Introductions</title>
|
|
|
20 <p>The members of the working group gave brief self-introductions</p>
|
|
|
21 </div>
|
|
|
22 <div>
|
|
|
23 <title>Background</title>
|
|
|
24 <p>Alastair Cameron, on behalf of Area Meeting gave us
|
|
|
25 some background:</p>
|
|
|
26 <list>
|
|
|
27 <item>What is our vision for what Quakers need as a physical presence in Edinburgh?</item>
|
|
|
28 <item>This includes the possibility of not having a large central building
|
|
|
29 of any kind. It's assumed that this would lead to a reduction in expenditure
|
|
|
30 and effort.</item>
|
|
|
31 <item>AM looking for renewal of its sense of what its presence in Edinburgh
|
|
|
32 should be</item>
|
|
|
33 <item>We are on the cusp of a number of substantial items of expenditure,
|
|
|
34 which are perhaps a bit difficult to motivate without a clear underlying vision.</item>
|
|
|
35 </list>
|
|
|
36 <p>Don Stubbings, who was
|
|
|
37 instrumental in raising some of the questions we will be considering:</p>
|
|
|
38 <list>
|
|
|
39 <item>Don has served for many years on Fabric and Maintenance</item>
|
|
|
40 <item>Costs coming:
|
|
|
41 <list>
|
|
|
42 <item>Toilets need renewed</item>
|
|
|
43 <item>Heating is a problem</item>
|
|
|
44 <item>The flats are an ongoing financial drain</item>
|
|
|
45 <item>The kitchen is scheduled for a refit</item>
|
|
|
46 <item>The roof is being refurbished, and is involving more and costing
|
|
|
47 more than expected, taking up most of our cash reserves</item>
|
|
|
48 <item>Children's space restructuring? Interacts with the kitchen refit.</item>
|
|
|
49 </list>
|
|
|
50 </item>
|
|
|
51 </list>
|
|
|
52 <p>The above might add up to 200K GBP over the next few years. The expense
|
|
|
53 of the roof repairs stimulated a consideration of whether we should be
|
|
|
54 more-or-less uncritically committing to maintaining an old building which will
|
|
|
55 likely continue to require substantial investment. This eventually led to a
|
|
|
56 presentation to AM in August. In the twenty years since we purchased 7VT, no
|
|
|
57 overall review of our use of the premises has been undertaken.</p>
|
|
|
58 <p>Our circumstances have changed in many ways over that time, including
|
|
|
59 changes in external regulation: Child Protection, Health and Safety, Food
|
|
|
60 Sanitation. The rental of our premises has also evolved, alongside an increase
|
|
|
61 in the number of other churches etc. who make premises available. The issue of
|
|
|
62 balance between income generated and operating costs, given our commitment to
|
|
|
63 charging very low rents for Quaker groups/other groups with certain specified qualities.</p>
|
|
|
64 <p>At the same time, the awareness of many Quaker users of the premises does
|
|
|
65 not extend beyond Meeting for Worship on a Sunday.</p>
|
|
|
66 <p>One view of the balance sheet is that we are running at a 20K/annum
|
|
|
67 deficit. Some members clearly see this as an acceptable cost, others think at
|
|
|
68 the very least the AM needs to explicitly acknowledge this.</p>
|
|
|
69 <p>The possibility of moving towards 7VT as the Scottish equivalent of
|
|
|
70 Friends House has been raised, and deserves to be re-considered, without losing
|
|
|
71 sight of the history of our previous, failed, attempt to do so.</p>
|
|
|
72 <p>Trustees have initiated their own review, and put a hold on all capital
|
|
|
73 expenditure until this group has reported.</p>
|
|
|
74 <p>Some of these issues interact with aspects of the role of the paid
|
|
|
75 meetinghouse staff.</p>
|
|
|
76 <p>One way of looking at the financial side is to see the deficit as the
|
|
|
77 rent that AM pays for the use we get from the building.</p>
|
|
|
78 <p>Phil Lucas recalled that on his and Pat's arrival as Wardens in 1994, the
|
|
|
79 building was running at a loss, but they were given the explicit goal of making
|
|
|
80 the building pay for itself. He believes that the revenue account balanced
|
|
|
81 from around 1997. It's the capital expenditures which provoke the deficit</p>
|
|
|
82 <p>Henry Thompson summarised that we have to both get clear what the actual
|
|
|
83 numbers are, and then decide how we are going to <emph>treat</emph> those
|
|
|
84 numbers, and that we have a lot of choices in how we arrive at a summary to
|
|
5
|
85 underpin our search for a vision. Rufus Reade suggested that a cash flow
|
|
3
|
86 forecast would be a tool to help in this regard.</p>
|
|
|
87 <p>Henry Thompson and others attempted to recall the reasons we sold Stafford
|
|
|
88 Street and bought 7 Victoria Terrace:</p>
|
|
|
89 <list>
|
|
|
90 <item>Meeting room itself was an awkward L-shaped space, on first floor,
|
|
|
91 up a narrow staircase—some elderly/infirm friends had stopped attending;</item>
|
|
|
92 <item>Need for larger/better children and teenagers space;</item>
|
|
|
93 <item>Desire
|
|
|
94 to share facilities with other groups</item>
|
|
|
95 <item>We explored non-central locations, came
|
|
|
96 to view a central location as not only an equal tax on everyone in terms of
|
|
|
97 transport, but also a value in itself as an opportunity for witness.</item>
|
|
|
98 </list>
|
|
|
99 </div>
|
|
|
100 <div>
|
|
|
101 <title>Topics for next meeting</title>
|
|
|
102 <list>
|
|
|
103 <item>Questions we might ask;</item>
|
|
|
104 <item>Whom we might ask, and who will take responsibility for getting
|
|
|
105 answers from them;</item>
|
|
|
106 <item>What examples might we look at;</item>
|
|
|
107 <item>Getting a cashflow forecast and a cashflow history</item>
|
|
|
108 </list>
|
|
|
109 </div>
|
|
|
110 <div>
|
|
|
111 <title>Next Meeting</title>
|
|
|
112 <p>Our next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 13th January at 7
|
|
|
113 Victoria Terrace.</p>
|
|
|
114 </div>
|
|
|
115 </body>
|
|
|
116 </doc>
|
