Title: RAMBLERS ASSOCIATION - CARDIFF GROUP
Author: User
Last saved by: Diane

RAMBLERS CYMRU CARDIFF GROUP 
Minutes of meeting held Tuesday 8^th July 2014 at Wales Office

Present: Diane Davies (DD), Gwyn Lewis (GL), Jane Willock (JW), Dave Willock (DW), Nigel Clifton (NC), Rob Wilkinson (RWi), Kathryn Bennett (KB), Gillian Masters (GM), Roma Whiteley (RWh).
Apologies:  Jeff Hobden (JH), Mike Kohnstamm (MK), John Newton (JN).

1.  Minutes of meeting held Thursday 3^rd April 2014 were accepted as accurate and approved.  

2.  Matters arising: 
Item 4: DD confirmed that the URC had been booked for Tuesday 11^th November for the AGM. 

3.  Cardiff Group Accounts and Budget 2014/15
The written reports of JN for the meeting were considered.  Regarding the accounts, the following decisions were made in the light of JN’s recommendations:
(i)  The request for committee members to submit their expenses was noted.
(ii)  The need to confirm costs of printing the various materials for the September mail-out was noted and DD is to e-mail MK on the matter; KB had not yet decided on whether she would need to buy more envelopes.
(iii)  It was agreed to renew the YHA subscription; RWh to investigate.
(iv)  It was agreed that £250 grant to VIP walks should be provided in view of Richard Garman’s request.  It was agreed also that it should come out of this year’s expenditure and should be a one-off payment; this did not preclude a further grant in further years should it prove necessary and we had sufficient funds. 
(v)  Further expenditure on walk-related activities was discussed and it was decided to increase the subsidy to £30 to people wanting to go on first-aid courses or to walk leaders (or potential walk leaders) who wanted to go on navigation courses.  GM to announce this in WalkTalk.
(vi)  It was agreed that any unspent money from this years’ grant should be returned to the Area at the end of the financial year.
In regard to the budget request for the next financial year, it was agreed that the estimate of income from Walking Partnership should not be considered as part of income for core expenditure and therefore should not be included in calculating the budget request.  In the light of this it was expected that the minimum requested would be £2000.

4. Delegate selection for Welsh Council 
The paper, outlining the problems with the present system of selecting Area and Group delegates to Welsh Council and the options for change, was discussed.  After the discussion each individual present was asked to give their opinion: six were in favour of Option 1 (Scottish model) (particularly because of its simplicity) and one in favour Option 3 (Combination model).  GL and DD, as WCEC members, abstained.  MK wrote in favour of Option 1 and JN wrote in favour of Option 1 or 2.  DD would report an overwhelming decision in favour of Option 1.

5.  Committee posts in 2014/15
The resignations of JN, DW and JW from the committee were confirmed.  In regard to the position of Treasurer it was agreed that Elaine Shellard should be made aware of the situation and asked if she would consider taking on the role of Treasurer (DD to e-mail her); DD reported that JH was prepared to take over the position for a year as a very last resort in order to give more time to find a successor, should no one be found by the time of the AGM.  Jan Hill-Tout was mentioned as a potential committee member.  It was noted that the Sunday walks’ organiser would need to be someone who walked regularly on a Sunday so there was a need to sound out people on such walks.

6.  Cyclists in Bute Park and on the Taff trail
Both matters were discussed in the light of e-mails sent by members on the two topics.  It was generally felt that it was unclear how the Cardiff Group could take either matter forward, particularly as it was noted that Cardiff Council is in the throes of preparing a good conduct guide for cyclists.

7.  August meeting: It was agreed that there was no need for an August meeting.  A timetable for actions needed for the September mail-out was agreed as follows:
(i) 8^th August: deadline for items for WalkTalk; GM stress the need for further material.
(ii) 15^th August: finalised walks programmes to MK for him to prepare everything for the printers.
(iii) MK and KB to liaise on when the material was required to be ready for the mail-out.

8. Officers’ Reports
(a) Footpaths: GL reported that it was very quiet with alleygating requests having dried up for the moment.
(b) Publicity:  RWi gave details of places which had been provided with short-walks leaflets. 
(c) Membership: current number is 659
(d) Family walks:  KB reported these are going well.

9. AOB:  RWi is willing to take over from RWh as the contact person for the Troupelade exchange visits.