Meeting House Management Committee Agenda 2026-03-02
Monday 2 March, 5.15 p.m., in 7 Victoria Terrace

* Attendance: JP Ascher, Rachael Fitzgerald, Emma Lawrence, Katrina
  McCrea, Laragh Quinney, Sammi Searle, Henry S. Thompson (HST),
  Andy Tucker, Duncan Wallace

  Prevented: Chris Jardine

* Matters Arising

  * YFGM
    *Action* on HST: Ask YFGM for feedback about other venues
    *Done*, no reply as yet.

* Managers' report

* Financial Report

  Slides attached as circulated

* Works to be undertaken: Bow Room

* Central Edinburgh Sunday fee

  AM Treasurer has asked if we plan to change this. It's currently
  £600.

* Staff escalation route if they need backup

  The Minutes on this item from 2025-10-20 say:

   Trustees asked us:

    "we need ... an assurance from [MHMC] that staff have an
   escalation route whenever they need backup. ... We are happy for
   trustees to be on a reserve backup list in case no-one from MHMC
   is available."

  All we have at the moment is an informal phone tree: MHM -MHMC via
  HST -Trustees via Martin Ward

  What SCALP gave us was more in the direction of how to behave
  towards the police in a less than full-cooperation way.  But was not
  really quite what we expected/hoped for for _building staff_.

  De-escalation training!  RF to let us know more about this.

* Policy/procedures for early booking arrivals

  
  What is the policy wrt Friends opening the front door when they are
  in the Foyer, there are no staff present and someone knocks or
  rings?

  This may arise if for example someone with a booking arrives more
  than 15 minutes early, a tourist wants to ask questions or look for
  Major Weir...

  This is clearly complicated, and begs the question of how a Friend
  or Friends may come to be in the Foyer without staff.

  This interacts with the "be a welcoming place for SESAM" goal.

* Sale of Alcohol

  It might be time to test this question with AM, against a background
  of a shift in attitude towards the consumption of alcohol in
  moderation, when the whole of 7VT is being let, and consumption is
  part of having a drink with a show.

* Convenor of MHMC

  HST leaves the Committee on 1 April...

* Date of next meeting

  We need to do a reset on what everyone's blackout days are...

* AOB

* Time without staff