Present: Stephen Langtree (Chairman), John Bedson, Peter Colley, Terry Edgar, Kathy Fishwick, Iain Gerrard, Brian Gilbert, Cynthia Radford, Gordon Sidery, Elaine Smith & Tom Webster.

Apologies for absence: Adrian Dunning (arriving late), Susan Spibey & Roger Frankland.

21.1     Minutes of the previous meeting: Previously circulated, these were taken as read. It was proposed by Gordon Sidery and seconded by Brian Gilbert and agreed unanimously that the minutes be accepted as a true record.

21.2    Matters Arising:Minute 19.3/18.6. The Chairman asked if anyone had looked at the Civic Societies Network since the last meeting. No one present had had a comprehensive look but Iain reminded the meeting that Adrian had promised to do so. The understanding was that, in his absence, he had let it be known that he felt it was of no benefit to the committee or the membership generally. It was difficult to access or understand. There was some confusion over which site was being discussed. Gordon Sidery said he had been unable to access the site even with his password. Iain reiterated his opinion that an open forum, the software for which was available on the web for free was the best option. He was asked to write to Sarah Horsfall at the Civic Trust with these comments.
Minute 20.9. Stephen said he felt that the Heritage White Paper, featured at the meeting of the North West Historic Environment Forum in June, was not going to make much difference to the Civic Trust movement although all aspects of conservation were being brought together in one Act.
Stephen asked if Iain had registered the North West Association of Civic Trust Societies with the English Historic Town Forum. Iain apologised saying he had not realised he was to do this.
Minute 20.10. Brian said that there would be no problem with the creation of a mock-up of the proposed folder but would be charged for if no order followed. The cost was of the order of £800 to £850 for 500 or £1 each for 1000. Stephen said he would provide the pantone number for the green colour used in the logo. Representative photographs for each of the five regions would be needed and a suggestion was made that some of those from English Heritage's 'Images of England' might be used. Brian said he would need all the text for the mock-up, including a list of all NW societies and a map of the region. Stephen cautioned against having a list of societies as this could quickly become out-of-date. Iain said he felt it would be worthwhile to ask for further costings for up to 2000 copies as they would become cheaper with increasing quantities.
Stephen asked that the mock-up should be produced at the September meeting.

21.3    Annual General Meeting The Chairman asked Iain to detail the position of the nominations for the Committee for that afternoon's meeting. Fourteen nominations had been received from existing members with two specifying interest in the Chairman's position. This would require a ballot from the committee members after the committee had been agreed.
Terry Edgar pointed out that his name had not been included in the list of attendees when he had been present.
Stephen said that societies were being included in the mailings which were not registered with the Civic Trust. While he welcomed any interest from such societies they could not be included in voting or nominations. He reiterated his request that the database be divided into two parts: registered societies and non-registered societies.
Peter suggested that snail mailings in future should be limited to A5 size wherever possible to save on postage costs.
Stephen enquired if either of the speakers had requested aids for their presentations that afternoon. Neither had asked for any. It was however decided that Kathy should make enquiries of the staff of County Hall on whether a projector and laptop could be set up.

21.4    Treasurer's ReportThe Chairman suggested that discussion on this should be delayed until the Annual General Meeting as time was limited and this was agreed. However Brian referred to the non-payment of the University of Central Lancashire bill for the Preston event in March 2007 which was presently in dispute over the additional charge for an extra room requested on the day.

21.5     Autumn Gathering 2007Terry & Cynthia reported that they had two confirmed speakers and that the venue had been booked. These were Colin Simpson the Director of all the museums in the Wirral and Elizabeth Davey an ex-history teacher who would speak on the history of the Wirral. Terry said he felt that obtaining further speakers on non-local subjects should be the responsibility of the committee as neither he nor Cynthia had sufficient knowledge to know who to invite. This was agreed. Stephen suggested that the Mayor of Wirral be invited to attend and welcome the delegates on the Saturday. Another suggestion of his was to invite John Hinchcliffe, the World Heritage Site Officer from Liverpool City Council. The main venue at the Wirral Museum would cost £15.75 per hour which came to approximately £225 for the two days.
(Adrian arrived at the meeting)
Stephen said that the cost worked out at approximately £5 per person per day plus the cost of meals: overall he felt this would come to approximately £12 per person per day.
Terry said he had been sent a list of recommended hotels by Susan and read out the details of some of them. It was agreed that delegates would arrange their own overnight accommodation. He added that the transport between Wirral and Liverpool was excellent. A sight-seeing trip on the Mersey Ferry would last about 40 minutes and cost £3/£4 per person.
It was agreed that all the information should be ready for mid-August. Terry handed Iain a picture of the Wirral Museum for the website.

21.6     Brief Report on External Liason:
North West Environment Link. Peter said that the Inspector's report on the Regional Spatial Strategy had indicated the need for a substantial revision.
Heritage Link. Stephen reminded the committee that joining this organisation would give 50 email addresses which could receive the fortnightly Update.

21.7    Any Other Business:Heritage Open Days: Tom reported that his society had sent details of their intentions to the Civic Trust but had had no acknowledgement. He said he wanted copies of the posters normally produced to advertise the events. The Chairman pointed out that a printed directory of events was no longer produced by the Trust as it now put this on its website. Appraisal forms and posters should be available. He showed the committee a simple template he had produced which anyone could use to advertise their local Heritage Open Days' programme. A discussion followed on how individual societies needed to be responsible for their own areas.

21.8     Date of the Next Meeting:Following a brief discussion over likely absentees for the 15th September it was decided to change the date to 11.00 am for 11.15 am on Saturday the 1st September although at the same venue, County Hall, Preston.