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)
+The members of the working group gave brief self-introductions
+Alastair Cameron, on behalf of Area Meeting gave us +some background:
+Don Stubbings, who was +instrumental in raising some of the questions we will be considering:
+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.
+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.
+At the same time, the awareness of many Quaker users of the premises does +not extend beyond Meeting for Worship on a Sunday.
+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.
+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.
+Trustees have initiated their own review, and put a hold on all capital +expenditure until this group has reported.
+Some of these issues interact with aspects of the role of the paid +meetinghouse staff.
+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.
+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
+Henry Thompson summarised that we have to both get clear what the actual +numbers are, and then decide how we are going to treat 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 Read suggested that a cash flow +forecast would be a tool to help in this regard.
+Henry Thompson and others attempted to recall the reasons we sold Stafford +Street and bought 7 Victoria Terrace:
+Our next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 13th January at 7 +Victoria Terrace.
+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)
+The members of the working group gave brief self-introductions
+Alastair Cameron, on behalf of Area Meeting gave us +some background:
+Don Stubbings, who was +instrumental in raising some of the questions we will be considering:
+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.
+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.
+At the same time, the awareness of many Quaker users of the premises does +not extend beyond Meeting for Worship on a Sunday.
+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.
+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.
+Trustees have initiated their own review, and put a hold on all capital +expenditure until this group has reported.
+Some of these issues interact with aspects of the role of the paid +meetinghouse staff.
+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.
+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
+Henry Thompson summarised that we have to both get clear what the actual
+numbers are, and then decide how we are going to
Henry Thompson and others attempted to recall the reasons we sold Stafford +Street and bought 7 Victoria Terrace:
+Our next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 13th January at 7 +Victoria Terrace.
+