Lichfield CCE

Minutes of meeting, 15/10/03.

The meeting was preceded by the branch AGM.

Present Alan, Mike L, Martin, Ian, Mo, Mike K, Chris, Helen, Ken.

1. Apologies received from Fiona, Graham and Andy.

2. Minutes of the meeting held on the10/9/03 proposed as a true record by Alan and seconded by Martin.

It was suggested that minutes could in future be e-mailed to members and put on our website. Otherwise anyone wanting a copy could request one by post if they supplied a SAE. This would begin with the AGM and the last branch meeting. Details of members e-mail addresses will be added to the (re)joining form.

3. Matters arising from the minutes of the 10/9/03.

The Echoes of Erin tour had been cancelled for Britain in 2004 and discussions were underway regarding a possible change of format with fewer concerts for future tours, possibly done on a regional basis. The new theatre in Lichfield may be a potential venue for a Midland region concert.

Our expenses for the 2003 concert had not yet been received and this would be pursued further, otherwise the matter would be raised at the Midland region AGM if they were not forthcoming.

Set Dance workshop; Holy Cross hall had been booked for Saturday 29th November at cost of £80 for the day. The workshop would run from 1:00pm til 5:00pm and the ceili would begin at 7:30pm. Care was needed to gauge the advertising correctly as Holy Cross was limited on space. Martin had produced posters and flyers and had sent information to radio Shropshire and Derby. The band was currently sorting out the required repertoire and Martin agreed to check out the possibility of refreshments being provided for the break at about 3:00pm.

Branch website; Martin had been in touch with Liz Keyes and they had agreed that the best solution was to add it to Martin's webspace. She could then still add to it but so could others, as this was not possible whilst the site had been operated via Eirecom. In future any items such as photos, sales, wants, contacts etc should be sent to Martin.

Martin had sat on the branch flyer until it could be updated following the AGM as regards changes to officers etc.

Alan and Mike K stated that the C band were interested in taking up Vince's offer of help with setting up a Grupai Cheol and he would be contacted about this.

The raffle was raised by Mike L again as suggested in the previous minutes but there was no change to the members' decision that it should be run as and when the need arose. It was again hoped that non-musicians might be encouraged to help run the raffle during sessions.

On the question of the branch acuiring it's own PA system and display boards, members felt that more information, ie. a formal estimate of cost, was required before backing could be given to the idea. There were also implications such as storage, maintenance and transport to consider. Mike L agreed to ask his school caretaker, (also a prospective member), about the costs involved in making some display boards, while other enquiries would be made about the cost of PA equipment as against the alternative of hiring it when necessary. Mike K offered storage space should these items be aquired and also mentioned that grants were available from the council for local ' arts ' groups.

4. Mike L reported back on the most recent Midland Regional meeting which he had attended at which the major item was the All Britain Fleadh 2004. It will be the turn of the Midland Region to run this but as yet no single branch had come forward to base it in their area. At the meeting the urgent need to establish a venue was discussed, as well as getting sponsorship for the huge cost of the event. All branches within the Midland Region would need to assist in the running of the fleadh and do their best to seek out sponsorship from any Irish-run businesses in their area. A standard letter would be produced which could be used to explain the event and to request sponsorship. Mike L had already been in touch with Paul Keyes about the possibility of sponsorship from Kerry Foods, who have a factory in Burton, and Paul had agreed to make enquiries. Further developments would be reported at the next branch meeting.

5. Mike L reported that the cost of the annual insurance had now risen to £300. Once again members felt that this was grossly unfair for a branch of our size and that it should be based on the size of the branch membership. This could be proposed in another letter to Labhras O Murchu. Otherwise it constituted a serious disincentive to continue as a branch of Comhaltas. One idea was to raise the issue on our website and invite comments from other branches.

6. Under AOB Mike L gave information about the South Birmingham Branch's ceili on Friday14th November at Birmingham Irish club. This would include a buffet and music by the Liverpool Ceili Band as well as guest performers. Tickets were available from Vince at £8.00 for adults and £5.00 for children. It was hoped that a session would take place at the H&J on the following Saturday night with the guests from Ireland.

7. Mike also referred to the session in Leamington which Derek and Julia hoped some of us might attend. This takes place every month and the next one was on Thursday 30th October at St Patrick's Club. Mike and Chris had been on a previous occasion and the session had been very good. Mike also felt we should give this some support as Derek and Julia regularly travel the considerable distance to attend band practices and support our session. They also choose to belong to our branch despite having a local branch in Leamington.

8. Mo' mentioned that the list of signatories for our bank account needed to be amended now that Tony was no longer chairperson and Alan was. This would be organised forthwith.

9. Date of the next meeting; Wednesday 12th November, 8.00pm at the H&J.