Minutes of letsbuzz Open Meeting, 26 September 2015 at Christine's house.
Present: Brian (70), Christine (137); Di (165), Jane (118), Jean (82), Mary (114), Sue (256),
Apologies: Annabelle (182), Barbara (208), Caroline (228), Sonja (121), William (252)
Matters arising
No matters arising: no-one had turned up for the meeting booked for June and there had only been 4 people at the previous meeting.
Officers’ Reports
Membership: Esmé (225) has now gone to university so has left letsbuzz.
Sterling Treasurer: Sonja reported a balance of £358.14 Dave (77) had audited the accounts in April (copy attached with these minutes)
Newsletter: William has now resigned as Newsletter editor.
Buzzard treasurer: no report
Facebook: Sue reported that two people had asked for information via the letsbuzz Facebook page.
Report of meeting with Hemplets
Jane reported that she had had a meeting with George from Hemplets, who had contacted her. Hemplets and letsbuzz both have 50 members but although all the Hemplets members are active, only 15 letsbuzz members had traded between June and September (a total of 40 trades). Jane circulated newsletters from Hemplets and MKlets who are both interested in having more links with letsbuzz. Hemplets have meetings every month, including 'bring a friend' events, and also make a point of contacting members who have posted 'wants' to encourage trading. We agreed these are all ideas that we could try - but that it's difficult to do much more when so few members are actively involved. Agreed that more social events could encourage more members to be involved (see 'Events' below).
ACTION: Jane agreed to update our publicity leaflet and that she will also forward a copy to Sue to share via Facebook.
Cyclos
Jane reported that the Offers & Wants part of Cyclos is not working at present - Sean is working to fix it. In the meantime if you have any offers or wants please send them to Jane and she'll circulate them to all members.
Events
1. Meal at the Indian Ocean, Wing rd, Linslade - Friday 11 November
places limited (it's a small restaurant!) contact Christine by 1 November to book a place. Partners welcome.
2. Talk and Trade - November (date tbc)
ACTION: Jean to contact Gill (49) to see if she could do a talk on recycling, composting, or a topic of her choice.
3. St Barnabas Tree Festival - 2-4 December - a letsbuzz tree will be on display
ACTION: Sue to contact the Festival organiser.
4. Wreath-making workshop - Sunday 4 December - at Jane's house.
5. Bring and share meal January (date tbc)
Organising events: Jane reminded us that any letsbuzz member can organise an event
Newsletter
We thanked William for the very good job he had done as newsletter editor. Having seen the Hemplets and MKlets print newsletters we agreed that our next newsletter should a print newsletter, the feeling being that more people would be likely to read it in this format, rather than email. We agreed to have a different editor for each issue. Caroline (228) has offered to help with the newsletter.
AOB
Brian asked members to publicise the newly formed local scheme aiming to provide transport to hospital for elderly/vulnerable people. The scheme will use volunteer drivers who will receive expenses and petrol costs. Jane agreed to include details in the newsletter and Sue will include details on the Leighton Buzzard society Facebook page.
ACTION: Jane and Sue to publicise as above.
Dates of next meetings (we agreed to meet monthly, to allow time to plan events etc)
Monday 31 October, 8.00pm - 9.30pm - to plan our tree for
St Barnabas festival
Address: Christine's house, 5 Church Ave, Leighton Buzzard LU7 1AD
Tel 01525 371952
Monday 28 November, 8.00pm - 9.30pm
Address: Caroline's house, Springside Hall, Springfield Rd, Leighton Buzzard LU7 2QS Tel 01525 850223
The meeting ended with trading - eggs, grapes, chillies, rosemary, bay DVDs and books!
