Daviot Village Hall Project Committee Meeting Tuesday 20th September 2004

Apologies – Mary Cranfield, Mike Lloyd, Karen Duncan, Ken MacLennan

Present – Diane Scott, Les Anderson,  Yvonne Macdonald, Colin MacBain, Sandy Jamieson, John Penman, Ken Gordon, Duncan MacInnes

Minutes of the previous meeting were read an accepted as correct.

Matters Arising:-     John Penman pointed out that the map of the parish did not take account of changes made to the electoral ward.  The Chairman reported that  Patrick Sleigh may be interested in selling land adjacent to Kirkton Park.  Following discussion it was decided not to progress this as an option due the narrowness of the road and absence of a footpath.

Reports -  John Penman had an initial talk with W. Ritch ,(not G Ritch as previously reported), and it appears that we can progress this option as the landowner is prepared to sell.   Some discussion  ensued regarding the likely cost of land and John Penman agreed to obtain clarification by further discussion with Mr Ritch after which he would report back to the Commttee. Diane Scott reported progress and listed current  User Groups as follows .....Playgroup, Mother & Toddler, Daviot School, Badminton, Indoor Bowling, Womens’ Rural Institute, Youth Club, Karate Club, Band Practice.   The above are regular users and there is additional usage by the PTA, Aberdeenshire Council and regular  Hall Committee-sponsored events such as: Hogmany Dance, Senior Citizens’ Christmas lunch and Burns’ Supper.   All User Groups hold various fund-raising events during the year.

Diane spoke of putting out  a questionnaire to identify opinions, needs and wants.  Results would be made public followed by public vote and then fine tuned by a more  detailed questionnaire. The group is investigating ways of identifying new and potential user groups. One line of enquiry is contact with the local Federation of Village Halls.

Les Anderson reported progress with the Daviot.org website and his distribution of website banners to various groups and individuals. Les will work on a Bulletin Board as well as other refinements.

Duncan MacInnes reported that the Kirk session had opened discussion on the Glebe site. Due to the importance of the matter a decision was delayed until further guidance is forthcoming from the General Trustees. The Kirk Session is the first level of decision making, followed by Presbytery of Gordon and, finally, the General Trustees at Edinburgh. The above bodies meet monthly but not in that sequence and this may have a bearing on the time taken to reach a final decision.

The Chairman guided the group towards getting to grips with site costings and to this end the following members will progress matters as follows:

1.   Price of  W Ritch land – John Penman

2.   Price of Glebe land – Duncan MacInnes

3.   Obtain fresh building and extension/refurbishment  costs from professionals, Ian Duncan and Rab McHardy.  This task will be undertaken by Colin MacBain.

The date of the next meeting was set for Monday 4^th October 2004