AGM Minutes (excluding committee): 27th May 2008

Decide future format of the group

Blog-site

Administrator responsibility for the blog would need to be re-allocated following Carol’s departure. Agreed that Heather would take responsibility for this, as well as Belinda (already an administrator) and Alan Gaskell. Alan suggested that we consider moving the site to a wordpress site which would be picked up in a Google search, whereas the current site isn’t. Agreed that the intention with the site is to use it as a promotional tool for the group and therefore it would be beneficial to make the site more publicly available. Alan is also looking into website development which would include a ‘private’ section of the site (for members only) allowing critique between members only, not on public display.

Monthly meetings

In order to encourage members to attend the meetings it was agreed that we would consider alternating the monthly meetings between a Tuesday and a Wednesday, and fixing it as the last Tuesday or Wednesday of the month to make it easier to remember. Heather will look into changing dates at CVS and will circulate a revised programme once complete. However, this may be dependent upon meeting the key keeping requirements. One to review.

Location

As noted above, there are difficulties with the current location due to problems with meeting the key keeping requirements. Need to circulate the members to determine if there is anyone able to collect/drop off the key. If not we will need to consider an alternative venue for the meeting. This has been previously discussed but dismissed due to the cost involved (current venue is free). If we are unable to find a key keeper then the next meeting may need to take place at another venue, with considerations to be made about how to cover the cost.

Belinda will contact Chris Bryan at Chorley Council to see if he can assist. Heather will ring the CVS to see if we can obtain a spare key.

Membership fee

The idea of introducing a membership fee was floated in the group. This would be in line with other organisations which include a fee, as well as assisting in covering the groups’ costs throughout the year. Suggested that a small fee of £10 for annual membership, with a concessionary fee of £5 (students/financially assisted members/pensioners) would be a reasonable cost. Need to make members aware of this, as well as considering how the fee would be collected.

Aware 4

It was agreed that to encourage quality submissions for Aware 4 (launch in November) we would agree on a theme and start collating submissions now. Agreed that the theme would be Flight. Please e-mail submissions to Dea at info@fictionfeedback.co.uk. Submissions may be poems, short stories (Dea to confirm length restrictions if any), articles, haiku, flash fiction, and anything else you can think of! Dea suggested perhaps following a slightly different format this year, possibly including a competition or ‘showcase’ element to the magazine. One for consideration, further details will follow.