Report to Trustees from Meeting House Management Committee

+ + Report to Trustees from Meeting House Management Committee + Henry S. Thompson + 19 Aug 2024 + + +

+ Works +

+ Lighting +

The replacement of all the incandescent lighting in the Meeting House was +accomplished smoothly in June. The company involved, Keith Gunn, are clearly +keen to establish themselves as our electrician of choice, and we intend to do so.

+Carpets +

We got two quotes for replacing the carpeting throughout, similar in +cost. We subsequently learned that 75% recycled carpet tiles were available, +and asked for new quotes. Only one firm replied, Peter Young, at less than 10% +additional cost, and they will forward the existing Meeting Room carpet tiles +for recycling. We request approval to contract with Peter Young Flooring +Ltd at a cost of £14,573.58 inc VAT to take this forward using recycled carpet tiles. We had a tentative booking for the week beginning 30 September with +them to go ahead—we will need to ask them to start on 1 October as we've +taken a high-value booking for 30 September.

+ Edinburgh Festival Fringe +

We're in the middle of this, with both flats and most of the Meeting +House in the hands of C Arts/C Venues, for a combined total fee of £18,600, of +which we have now received three-quarters, as agreed. The final payment is due +by 14 September.

Relations between their staff and ours have been good, although their +staff is over-loaded which has caused ours to have to help out in small ways +with some regularity.

Rachel Fitzgerald, Katrina McCrea and Henry Thompson have acted in turn to hold the +Manager's mobile and act as first point of contact for our staff in case of +anything arising that they are not sure how to handle themselves. That's been working well. + Henry and Rachel have had all-hands meetings to allow staff to share their +concerns, raise questions and discuss plans, and there will be one more of these.

+ Recruitment +

Trustees have seen the updated/rewritten material we have prepared for +the appointment of a new Meeting House Manager. It is now available online and we have begun advertising, with a closing date of 15 September. We hope to be able to interview in early October.

+ Business as usual from 1 October +

Staff have indicated their willingness to continue with the +current arrangements, and we will be discussing this with them shortly. This +would probably mean asking them to continue, at the existing increased rates, for a further three +months, on the assumption that the earliest a new manager might be in place +would be 1 January 2025.

A major item of work during this time will be the annual review of +letting rates, taking in to account the rise in Real Living Wage which we +expect will be +announced in October.

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