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<title>Future of 7 VT working group: First meeting</title>
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<h1>Future of 7 VT working group: First meeting</h1>
<div class="byline">This informal summary by Henry S. Thompson,
Convenor</div>
<div class="byline">Held at 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh on 5
January 2009, 7:30 p.m.</div>
</div>
<div>
<h2>1. Attendance</h2>
<p>Present: Alison Burnley, Alastair Cameron, Madeleine Harding,
Phil Lucas, Brian Mayes, Laurie Naumann, Rufus Reade, Eileen
Schott, Don Stubbings, Henry Thompson (in the clerk's chair)</p>
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<div>
<h2>2. Introductions</h2>
<p>The members of the working group gave brief
self-introductions</p>
</div>
<div>
<h2>3. Background</h2>
<p>Alastair Cameron, on behalf of Area Meeting gave us some
background:</p>
<ul>
<li>What is our vision for what Quakers need as a physical presence
in Edinburgh?</li>
<li>This includes the possibility of not having a large central
building of any kind. It's assumed that this would lead to a
reduction in expenditure and effort.</li>
<li>AM looking for renewal of its sense of what its presence in
Edinburgh should be</li>
<li>We are on the cusp of a number of substantial items of
expenditure, which are perhaps a bit difficult to motivate without
a clear underlying vision.</li>
</ul>
<p>Don Stubbings, who was instrumental in raising some of the
questions we will be considering:</p>
<ul>
<li>Don has served for many years on Fabric and Maintenance</li>
<li>Costs coming:
<ul>
<li>Toilets need renewed</li>
<li>Heating is a problem</li>
<li>The flats are an ongoing financial drain</li>
<li>The kitchen is scheduled for a refit</li>
<li>The roof is being refurbished, and is involving more and
costing more than expected, taking up most of our cash
reserves</li>
<li>Children's space restructuring? Interacts with the kitchen
refit.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>The above might add up to 200K GBP over the next few years. The
expense of the roof repairs stimulated a consideration of whether
we should be more-or-less uncritically committing to maintaining an
old building which will likely continue to require substantial
investment. This eventually led to a presentation to AM in August.
In the twenty years since we purchased 7VT, no overall review of
our use of the premises has been undertaken.</p>
<p>Our circumstances have changed in many ways over that time,
including changes in external regulation: Child Protection, Health
and Safety, Food Sanitation. The rental of our premises has also
evolved, alongside an increase in the number of other churches etc.
who make premises available. The issue of balance between income
generated and operating costs, given our commitment to charging
very low rents for Quaker groups/other groups with certain
specified qualities.</p>
<p>At the same time, the awareness of many Quaker users of the
premises does not extend beyond Meeting for Worship on a
Sunday.</p>
<p>One view of the balance sheet is that we are running at a
20K/annum deficit. Some members clearly see this as an acceptable
cost, others think at the very least the AM needs to explicitly
acknowledge this.</p>
<p>The possibility of moving towards 7VT as the Scottish equivalent
of Friends House has been raised, and deserves to be re-considered,
without losing sight of the history of our previous, failed,
attempt to do so.</p>
<p>Trustees have initiated their own review, and put a hold on all
capital expenditure until this group has reported.</p>
<p>Some of these issues interact with aspects of the role of the
paid meetinghouse staff.</p>
<p>One way of looking at the financial side is to see the deficit
as the rent that AM pays for the use we get from the building.</p>
<p>Phil Lucas recalled that on his and Pat's arrival as Wardens in
1994, the building was running at a loss, but they were given the
explicit goal of making the building pay for itself. He believes
that the revenue account balanced from around 1997. It's the
capital expenditures which provoke the deficit</p>
<p>Henry Thompson summarised that we have to both get clear what
the actual numbers are, and then decide how we are going to
<i>treat</i>those numbers, and that we have a lot of choices in how
we arrive at a summary to underpin our search for a vision. Rufus
Reade suggested that a cash flow forecast would be a tool to help
in this regard.</p>
<p>Henry Thompson and others attempted to recall the reasons we
sold Stafford Street and bought 7 Victoria Terrace:</p>
<ul>
<li>Meeting room itself was an awkward L-shaped space, on first
floor, up a narrow staircase—some elderly/infirm friends had
stopped attending;</li>
<li>Need for larger/better children and teenagers space;</li>
<li>Desire to share facilities with other groups</li>
<li>We explored non-central locations, came to view a central
location as not only an equal tax on everyone in terms of
transport, but also a value in itself as an opportunity for
witness.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<h2>4. Topics for next meeting</h2>
<ul>
<li>Questions we might ask;</li>
<li>Whom we might ask, and who will take responsibility for getting
answers from them;</li>
<li>What examples might we look at;</li>
<li>Getting a cashflow forecast and a cashflow history</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<h2>5. Next Meeting</h2>
<p>Our next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 13th January at
7 Victoria Terrace.</p>
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author	Henry S Thompson <ht@inf.ed.ac.uk>
date	Tue, 14 Jan 2025 15:02:12 +0000
parents	9d70132b8833
children