Woodgate Valley Urban Farm

We have a stall at Woodgate Valley Urban Farm Open Day on Sunday 8 June from 11 - 4. You should be able to spot us in our blue, yellow and red BCS T-shirts blowing up balloons and looking cheery. If you are there it would be great to chat to you, so pop over.

It will be the first outing for our new banner/business cards, as we move towards a more professional approach to volunteering. Looking forward to seeing you there - the weather will be good so pack your suntan lotion...

Minutes of the Trustees' Meeting of 10 May, 2008

Apologies for the late upload of these minutes... You just can't get the volunteers you know...

Mike, Richard, Ali and Jamie attended, although Ali had to leave early, and Pol/Russ gave their apologies.

Matters arising

In terms of matters arising from previous meetings we have contacted those great businesses who supported us last Christmas: Aubrey Allen; and Merrychef. Mike has also contacted the local Mosque to thank them.

Richard needs to transfer and sort the website, domain details, databases etc..

Jamie has brought the excellent Christmas card hand-painting to St George’s. We will be producing Christmas Cards based on this design and will house it at St George's as a celebration of time and support.

All our Charity Commission documentation is completed, registered & stored on our Google archives.

Woodgate Valley Urban Farm Open Day

Mike has contacted Woodgate Valley Urban Farm about our stall on Sunday 8 June. We are really pleased to have this opportunity to work with Woodgate at their open day. Ali has ordered some balloons and helium, and Richard has ordered some advertising materials. Mike is pretty effusive about the lie-of-the-land and what the Farm has to offer us.

Security

Jamie and Ali will be speaking to recruitment agencies, and investigating a possibility or two that Ali has found.

Trustees

Russell England resigned with immediate effect. Pol has forwarded a thank you letter to Russ on behalf of the Trustee and charity.

Ali has been formally welcomed to the board.

Strapline

For the time being we have decided to use the strapline, "Where will you spend Christmas?"

Fundraising

Linda G has forwarded bullet points for an e-mail letter about our proposed “Walk a mile for the homeless” in July. Pol will formulate and distribute to all active Vol’s by e-mail or post.

There is a Street collection in Birmingham city centre on Sat 13^th Sept 08. Our application has been received by council, and we are awaiting outcome. Sticker flags maybe used, and each donor will be given a business card. We thank that up to 50 volunteers may be needed on 2 shifts. We will be operating from 10am – 5pm. Active volunteers will be contacted by e-mail letter or post. If you are interested let us know.

Lynn M suggested that her daughter could advise the Fundraising committee as she has experience with similar organisations and fundraising. We are happy to accept these kind offers of support, so let us know what other skills you have.

We are considering BCS charity tins to be placed in local shops/businesses which sponsor and support BCS. We are also considering which local businesses to promote and advertise on our website

Potential Area Supervisors

All potential new Area Supervisors have been contacted, and we are really pleased with the quality and commitment of our new supervisors.

It was agreed on receiving 2 satisfactory references new A/S would be contacted by phone, informed their application had been successful but they still have the option of a 121 interview with a trustee.

Next meetings

There will be a joint Trustee and Area Supervisors Meeting Sat 5th July 08

The next Trustee’s Meeting is on Sat 7^th June 08

Fundraising: Part 2

There was a second meeting of the Fundraising Committee, held in Moseley, on Wednesday evening.

In Attendance were Jamie, Ali and Lynda, with apologies from me, Mike, Sandra, Karen and Lynn.

Action Points and whether or not they are Implemented (I) or On-going (O/g) are noted below. There are a lot of possibilities and a lot of activity.

Richard:
1. Facebook Group and Blog set-up: I
2. Tag registered on YouTube, BCS: I
3. Group e-mail link for Fundraising Committee: O/g
4. Poster, Printing, setting & business cards: Trustees will discuss this on Saturday.
5. Youtube videos: o/g
6. Contact to be made with local football club supporters' trusts: o/g

Jamie:
1. Street collection application and confirmation received from City council: o/g
2. Circular, letter, leaflet for BCS promotion to local organisations: o/g
3. Local charity Patrons to be contacted: O/g

Mike:
2. Woodgate valley: Not prudent to give gifts, suggest balloons, approx 200 visitors. Action: Balloons, helium, business cards and £10-£25 winning voucher to be purchased.

Lynda:
1. 1 mile sponsored walk: e-mail circular to active volunteers: o/g
2. Contact small local business, restaurant, hairdresser etc to advertise on BCS web site: o/g
3. Disco Lads: arranging meet O/g

New Trustee

Jamie, Mike and Richard met Ali R on Saturday over orange juice and toast, to discuss her becoming a new Trustee for BCS. The damage that Jamie and Mike are doing to their respective arteries is shown below.

However, the big news is that having taken up references and gone though a preliminary and final interview Ali is now a Trustee. We are really pleased about this because it is the diversity and unity of the Trustees that help give the Charity its vision and momentum, as well as its structure. Moreover, we need to spread the workload in a sustainable manner.

Again, much of our discussion covered fundraising, security during Christmas week and enhancing our overall impact and effectiveness. On the first of these points the fund-raising committee meets tomorrow night.

p.s. don't forget to join the Facebook group.

Our glorious leader:

Mike concentrates: