Present Jerzy Wieczorek, Adrian O’Connor, Angela Benham, Dave Jefferies, Gill Cox, Gill Platt.

Apologies Barrie Dobson, Arthur Howarth, Ian Muir, Jan Lancaster, Humphrey Southall, Charlie Fisher, Titch Kavanagh, Andy Bullivant, Janet Saunders

Agenda It was agreed that short items on the agenda would be addressed first.

1. Query re: income banding

A Red Rope member asked the National Secretaries to raise a query at the NC about the accuracy of people’s calculation of their income band.

After some discussion, which affirmed that the club could not introduce means testing, it was agreed that wherever income banding is referred to in publications MIS/BULLETIN/WEBSITE/INSERTS etc. a note should be included.

This note should state that when calculating income bands club members should include – ALL INCOME EARNED AND UNEARNED - for example: benefits, rental income etc.

Red Rope depends on people’s honesty and sense of fairness when calculating their income band.

Trip Treasurers can usually sort queries re: e.g. children on trips when parents in different bands.

THE OVER-RIDING PRINCIPLE IS RED ROPE RELIES ON INDIVIDUALS’ HONESTY AND SENSE OF FAIRNESS.

ACTION – A short article clarifying the above will appear in the next RR publication.

It is too expensive to have a members-only discussion list so the most practical action to take when inappropriate e-mails appear on the discussion list is to ignore and delete them and inform the IT Officer Dave Jefferies. Thus far, inappropriate e-mails are very rare.

• this would require extra maintenance,
• issues could be published on National Discussion list when appropriate
• individuals’ could be approached personally if it was felt they had a specific contribution to make to an issue
• things move on and must be allowed to take their course

The NC examined the new Trip Treasurer’s form, which several NC members had been working on.

A suggestion that all figures should be rounded to the nearest pound was withdrawn when the full implications were considered. It would make calculations more difficult and potentially confusing.

Jerzy Wieczorek would liaise with Charlie Fisher regarding the setting up of an excel spreadsheet that could be downloaded from the website. This would then be sent to the IT Officer to put on the website.

The NC then discussed the layout of the new form and suggestions were made to improve it.

• Number and name Tables for ease of reference
• Put instructions on first page in top left corner and number pages

ACTION - Having liaised, Charlie/Jerzy would send the form to the National Committee for ratification – allowing one week - and it would then be sent to the IT Officer to put on the website.

Jan Lancaster has been working hard contacting Country Walking magazine (available in all newsagents for £3.10) about publicity.

• She has sent a letter to Regional Co-ordinators telling them their walking group and contact details should be printed in the March or April issue of the magazine.
• She has asked Regional Co-ordinators to let her know if there are any enquiries etc.

The Publicity Drive where leaflets were due to be put in High Magazine has been postponed to April/May because the Contact Officer Titch Kavanagh will not be available in until May.

ACTION Mid March Angela will take leaflets to Adrian to be sent to Greenshires in April for insertion into High. Jan Lancaster needs to post her leaflets to Adrian by end of March..

The NC did not want to link with holiday/commercial companies but were keen to explore cross links with the BMC and Ramblers’ Association.

ACTION The National Secretaries agreed to investigate direct links/cross links with the BMC and RA because the current Officers are not able to at present. They would send a note to the IT Officer to report their findings.

Other links to be explored in due course – Weatherlink/Countryside Agency

Jeff Kessler has made enquiries about setting up a group in Stoke.

West Midlands and Manchester are nearby regions. Gill Cox W.Mids. Rep. said she would contact Jeff. If he is on his own he might prefer to join up with neighbouring groups.

No objections in principle to setting up a new region. Jeff would be asked to submit some written plans to the NC regarding the potential for a new group so the NC could consider them and a decision made about what help can be made available.

AXTION – Gill Cox to contact Jeff Kessler

Head Teacher of Edale Village School replied to enquiry about room to accommodate business meeting that her school was too small – did not have 50 chairs.

ACTION – Adrian and Angela to make further enquiries in the village in an attempt to find alternative accommodation for business meeting so children have access to village hall.

Arthur Howarth’s e-mail report and diary of National Trip dates was shared with the Committee.

Arthur wanted members to be made aware that Red Rope members are entitled to use the Alec MacIntyre hut on an individual basis as long as Red Rope is affiliated to the BMC.

ACTION – Gill Platt agreed to look for a suitable venue sleeping approx 40 people for a 4/5/6 night National New Year trip for 2005/6.

Neil Roberts has resigned as RR National Treasurer(Admin), compelling the National Secretaries to take it over again with their other duties. This extra workload will inevitably impinge on the development of future plans – for instance, the regional treasurers’ meeting at the July NC weekend.

The National Secretaries and the National Committee cannot emphasise enough that the smooth running of the club depends on club members being willing to stand for posts of responsibility on the National Committee.

At the AGM this September 2004 there will be nearly 40% National Committee posts vacant.

National Admin. Treasurer

Contact/Information Secretary

Bulletin Editor

BMC and MC of S Contacts

Archivist

Many thanks to Mark Wallis from Sheffield Region for accepting the post of MIS Editor.

If no volunteers come forward for these other posts the Club’s development will be affected because there will be no time to do anything except essential tasks.

The hut officers’ planned trip to view and investigate a possible hut building in Snowdonia had to be cancelled at the last minute due to family illness.

There followed more in-depth discussion of the following 2 items in the meeting.

A format needed to be agreed and adhered to. Two possible formats were discussed.

1. Date Order – all activities listed in strict chronological order
2. Separate activities by Regions and Activities

After thorough discussion it was decided that there would be a Trips Section that would be in date order.

TRIPS SECTION

TRIP DATE REGION DETAILS

The Trips Section would include National AGM and National Committee Meetings. This should help Regions to refer to the Trips section as a reference point when planning regional trips and so avoid date clashes. Also Regions and Hutbookers should be aware of the 3 year diary

It should be a matter of principle to avoid National AGM and Committee Meetings.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

After discussion the agreed layout for other activities would be by Region. This recognised that day walks, socials, planning meetings etc. tend to be more regional and fluid.

REGION DETAILS ACTIVITY (Right justified)

Regular monthly meetings etc. are listed on the Insert and need not be listed on the MIS/Dary.

ACTION Mark Wallis is the new MIS Editor and will liaise with Dave Jefferies regarding the finer details. Gill Platt will telephone Mark as part of the MIS handover procedure.

1. Proposed future automation of MIS/Diary

Dave Jefferies explained the aim to move towards the opportunity for members to opt for the MIS/Diary to be e-mailed to them. 70% of members are on e-mail. Aim for this option to be integrated into membership database in the future. Those wanting paper copy would receive theirs by mail by 15^th of the month.

Each region would have a diary contact who was responsible for entering information electronically with start/end dates, region, details - event types e.g. Trips/Day Walks/Day Climbs/Socials/Meetings etc. Once a month this person before given date this person would e-mail it to collator who saves file into a directory, over-writing previous files and processing and delivering a new MIS/Diary.

Gill Platt explained that most regions sent their diary up-dates by e-mail so it would not be too onerous typing in those submitted hand-written.

Regions would be responsible for accuracy and submission of information by deadline.

Walks/Activities for 3 months and all trips would be listed on 2 sided A4 sheet issued monthly in format described above. Advance information in excess of 3 months could be stored until the appropriate time. Rolling process. Regional diary contact would be responsible for submitting the diary information to the MIS/Diary Editor.

Target Deadline for Information - FIRST OF THE MONTH

Target distribution date - 15^th OF THE MONTH

The MIS/Diary would be published regularly with consistent format. It would include deadline for next diary in each issue.

ACTION Dave Jefferies will e-mail all with e-mail address asking if they would like to opt for receiving MIS/Diary by e-mail. Mark Wallis will have access to the database.

Query for Dave - Can he set up a trip organisers’ mail group – check out with others.

1. COLLATING, STORING,DISSEMINATING, SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION IN RED ROPE

There is information essential for running the club. Various information is owned by different people.

e.g. Membership database owned by Membership Secretary. Back-up deposited with IT Officer. Membership Secretary only disseminates – knowledge of dissemination required by owner.

There should always be 2 places information e.g. diary/contacts list/RR logo/trip booking forms/membership forms stored and maintained so they are consistent.

STARTING POINT - We begin to define and list the information we need to store, maintain etc.

This is an on-going process which ultimately will tidy and simplify processes and help the club.

The National Secretary/s maintain the definitive list e.g. Trip Form with Version Number/Date

ACTION NC members bring to July meeting a list of the essential information we need to collate, store, disseminate and safeguard – a central information tree linking who has what information could be maintained on the Red Rope website. Fill in details and start to establish our information tree/structure.

QUESTION Where should the reference document be deposited?

Paper copy – Nat. Secretary? Electronic copy – Website?

Trips Pack/Membership form/Equipment List/Contacts List – Relevant officers need to check and produce DEFINITIVE versions. Can it be publicly accessible? Who should be providing information? Contacts List Info. needs to be supplied at each AGM

Publicity Pack – Master Publicity Pack for when Publicity Officer not available

AIM – To make it less work for everyone

How can definitive versions be up-dated?

Dave Jefferies explained the use of passwords with back-up copy. If IT officer became overloaded it could require an IT assistant who has sufficient computer knowledge not to create problems when using passwords.

Up-dating web pages referred to National Secretary/s. IT Officer puts it into effect. Further clarification of job descriptions might in time be needed.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS