Att 29
Committee members present: Paul G, Alan S, Rob U, Paul I, Julia U, Alan D, Phil C, Andy K.
Apologies sent on behalf of Brian & Carol Kipps

The meeting was opened with invitations to take the role of chair. No-one volunteered to take on the role, so Rob said he would continue to act as chair on a meeting by meeting basis until another volunteer stepped forward. Rob indicated that he did not wish to take on the role of chair. Alan Scarisbrick advised that he may be interested if no-one else was and would discuss at a later date.

Finances – Phil advised that the balance of the accounts stood at £10,899.43 of which £1500 accounted for deposits on the book. Phil advised that the bank mandate needs changing upon the appointment of a new chair. Also as a club shareholder the trust has had a letter requesting to increasing the shareholding by £400.

Memberships – 266 current memberships and 408 different members in total. There are some corporate memberships due for renewal and the majority of the members are due for renewal in August.
The Book – there are 270+ subscribers and the book size has increased to 289 pages. The book is about to go to the printer, but requires proof reading. Dan Hayes is currently proof reading the book. The club have agreed to help arrange a launch day for the book.
Band Nights – Paul G advised that Silverchild were performing on Saturday. The last band were really good however there was virtually no-one in attendance, probably due to a lack of marketing. Saturday’s event has been better marketed. Alan D advised that on Sept 6, he was hoping to bring in a band called the Camerillas who have played at a couple of high profile events including a rugby game. However the group would require payment of around £100 and volunteers are required to promote the event to ensure the event at least breaks even. A further event is also scheduled for 19th Sept which will feature an African Reggae Band. The soul night raised money for the African project. The money has been handed over and photos have now been received. The U18 event are extremely popular and are very well attended, the over 18’s events are struggling.
Shoot Out – The shoot out event will take place on Sunday 29th June for Veteran’s Day and will be held at Princess Park between 11am and 7pm. Any volunteers are welcome to help out on the day and Steve W will arrange for the game to be delivered on site. Rob advised that we have had no contact regarding the carnival event which has moved location and due to the lack of grass would be an issue anyway.
Next Match Signs will continue to be provided by Steve Wignall and Peter O’Byrne is happy to continue to put up the signs around the town.
Coach Travel – Phil has agreed to contact a selection of local coach companies with reference to quotes for next season once the fixtures were released on July 4th. However it was noted that prices were likely to rise substantially due to the hike in fuel prices in recent months, but the trust would continue to run coaches at break even prices.

With reference to the re-location of the seats, further investigation is still being sought with a steel shed from Wilkinson’s a possibility. Measurements and further investigation would take place.

Peter O’Byrne advised that although the trust office was complete, he indicated that the problem with the washaway was not resolved and would need fixing by other parties. The trust formally thanked Peter for his work on the office. Peter advised that he was disappointed that although he was originally due to help out with the installation of the speakers, Steve W had proceeded to take on the task without advising him. Peter also issued concerns about the wiring and that the speakers in the Jack Carr should be boxed as they were much lower and could be damaged. Haydn advised that he did not think that this would be an issue and also advised that the club were involving an outside company to remove the pigeons.
It was also noted that the trust website was limited and lacking in information and needed to be addressed and this will be looked at by Dan and Andy Kelly.

A frank discussion was then had by those present at the meeting about Jon’s resignation, the press articles and the reasons for the problems. There was a sincere vote of thanks to Jon O’Byrne for his work in setting up and running the trust.
Rob advised that he was disappointed in the way in which Jon had resigned having not discussed any issues with the committee beforehand or brought any issues to previous meetings. Rob also confirmed that he had never had any rows with Jon and Andy D advised that Jon would agree with that statement. The issue of dual roles was never deemed as an issue at previous meetings and when Rob took on the editorial job for the programme, there were no objections from committee.
Haydn stated that the wish list had been requested by Steve W and Jon (although Andy stated that Jon had not asked for this) in order to help push forward the undertaking of new projects.
Jacqui Forster from Supporters Direct had also been in touch, having heard about Jon’s resignation, and advised that there had been little contact with Supporters Direct in recent months. She was disappointed in this aspect, however she advised that the trust was being run correctly, although she was surprised that there were no committee only meetings. This recommendation will be taken on by the current committee. In light of the newspaper articles, Dave Chalmers of the Southport Visiter has said that he is still supportive of the trust and would continue to promote and help promote the trust and will help us present an update of were we are up to.
Haydn advised that the club board were happy to have regular formalised meetings with the trust.
It was also suggested that a vice chairman be put in place to avoid any future problems of this nature.
It was extremely obvious that the major failing of the trust was communication both internally between committee and across to the membership. Rob looked to address these problems by planning to open a member’s forum on the TIY website for all members to express their views. Dan Hayes was currently working on this and it was hoped that this would be up and running shortly. Alan Drury said he would like to be a point of contact for the exiled supporters and Dan advised that the problems with the newsletters were mainly down to old and out of date e-mail addresses in the mailing system. Dan suggested that this be cleared out and re-inputted on a monthly basis. It was also suggested that the committee have more access to membership information.
The club advised that they were working on providing flyers in association with the Visiter to promote the Goalden Lottery. Keith Mitchell would provide the fliers for the club and the trust would be allowed to promote itself on the flyers for the cost of the flyer drops which was suggested at around £300.
Those present thought this was an excellent way to promote the trust and provide free advertising and the motion was put forward and passed unanimously.
A motion to purchase a further £400 worth of shares as per the letter from the club to all shareholders was also passed unanimously.
Martin Robinson asked about the make up of the committee and that he would like to stand for committee despite being an exile and having problems attending all meetings. Those present saw no issues with this and voted Martin onto committee.

The subject of catering was discussed with Haydn regarding new projects. Haydn advised that the club were aware of the issues with the catering and would like to improve the catering, but this was not possible without new infrastructure as there was a lack of facilities. Haydn advised that Caterforce’s sponsorship of the youth teams had no bearing on the catering contract. Richard Hughes had indicated previously to the club that he would like to improve the facilities and it was decided that the next stage would be to contact Richard Hughes and try and set up a meeting to see what was required to improve facilities. It was advised that Richard was away on business quite a lot as Caterforce had a lot of high profile events worldwide, but Rob offered to get some contact details and then the trust would try and set up a meeting.
Disabled facilities were also raised and Haydn advised that there was no funding available, although there is money benchmarked from the centenary committee for this.
Haydn suggested that we look at bringing in some of the ex- players such as Colin Alty or Terry McDonald to help promote the club.

An invitation was issued to anyone who wishes to become involved with TIY to step forward and talk to any existing Committee member.

Members will also be consulted about future projects and direction.

Next open meeting – provisionally Thursday 31st July, 7.30pm Grandstand Club.