Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Bonnyrigg & Lasswade Local History Society held in the Pitcairn Centre, High Street, Bonnyrigg on Wednesday 19th April 2000 at 7.30pm. 1. Chairman's Remarks. Mr Stewart opened the meeting and welcomed those present. He explained that the programme for the evening would consist of two parts. There would be a formal part, the business meeting and an informal part, which would be a buffet. Mr Stewart advised the meeting of the following notices: (a) The summer outing on Sunday 7th May would be to Kellie Castle near Pittenweem. Details were given of the proposed transport arrangements, travel costs and the itinerary for the day. Sheena Johnson would confirm the catering arrangements to the 24 members who had already signed up for the trip. (b) Midlothian Libraries Local History Week 25th-30th April. Leaflets advertising the programme of events were made available to members. 2. Apologies. These were recorded on behalf of Agnes Anderson, Sheena Johnson, Mary Gardiner, Dr Mary Noble, Catherine Renwick, Bella Sobik and Betty Fulton. 3. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting. These were formally adopted by the meeting, proposed by Mrs Dorothy Anderson and seconded by Mrs Jan Brown. 4. Treasurer's Report. Mr Stewart invited Mrs Margaret Reid to give a brief report on our annual accounts. Mrs Reid said that our accounts were little bit healthier than last year and that our membership numbers were approximately the same. The increased membership fees and the tea fund had helped. She also said that Mr Stewart had done a good job with the renewal of the public liability insurance, by obtaining a premium of approximately half of the cost of last year's insurance. The cash in the bank at 31st March and the cash in hand amounted to approximately £277, however £101of that figure had been paid in advance for the Summer Outing, so a truer figure was £176. Our balance was therefore approximately double the amount from last year. Mrs Reid then invited questions from the meeting on the accounts. As there were no questions, the accounts were formally adopted by the meeting, proposed by Mr George Campbell and seconded by Mrs Janice Borthwick. 5. Chairman's Report. In his last report as Chairman, Mr Stewart thanked the committee for the excellent programme presented to the Society, this season. He could not remember a season when we had such an interesting and varied programme. He said that we had started with an outing on 12th September last year, visiting Lennoxlove House near Haddington and also Nunraw Abbey, near Garvald. The weather was fine and we enjoyed a pleasant trip to these sites. We were also given a very informative tour of Lennoxlove and a rare glimpse of what life is like as a Cistercian monk at Nunraw Abbey. Our first evening meeting was on 20th October and Mr Stewart had given a talk on "William McTaggart RSA", together with an opportunity for members to view all of the archive material that we had received from the McTaggart Family. Mr Stewart hoped that the members had enjoyed the talk and that they had been able to examine the wealth of information that we now had on this remarkable family. On 17th November, Fran Morton, a volunteer museum guide, treated us to an excellent presentation on the new Museum of Scotland. Members would recall that we also followed this up with an evening visit to the museum. On 19th January, Iain Fullarton gave us a fascinating audio-visual presentation on the "Islands of the Forth". This very professional display had been well received and Mr Stewart remarked that we had all been amazed at the quality of the photography, together with all of the sophisticated equipment that Mr Fullarton used on the night. On 16th February, Ian MacDougall stepped in at very short notice to replace our advertised speaker Alastair Anderson. Ian gave us an interesting talk on the "Early Years of the Mid & East Lothian Mineworkers' Union". We were given a wealth information on the formation of several union branches together with some vivid descriptions of their leaders and activities. Last month, George Paton gave us an entertaining account of the "Life of David Livingstone". He also told us about the David Livingstone Centre at Blantyre and it is hoped that we can make a visit there some time in the future. Mr Stewart said that he was looking forward to our outing on 7th May to Kellie Castle, near Pittenweem and hoped that everyone would enjoy the day. He had continued to give talks during the season, having received invitations from Bonnyrigg Parish Church Men's Club, telling them about "The Origins of Bonnyrigg Street Names" and also the Phoenix Ladies Club at Longniddry, on "The McTaggart Family". 6. Election of Office Bearers and Committee. Mr Stewart reminded the members of the names of the retiring committee and then handed over to Mr Alex Waugh to oversee the business of the remaining part of the meeting. Mr Waugh said that he too would be retiring at tonight's meeting due to other commitments. He asked for nominations first of all for the post of Chairman and then for the post of Vice Chairman, but there were no nominations received from the meeting for either post. A lengthy discussion then followed to try to resolve the situation and eventually Mr Herbert Dryden volunteered to become Chairman on the understanding that it would only be for an interim period to be agreed at the first meeting of the new committee. This was accepted and unanimously approved by the meeting and Mr Waugh also offered his thanks to Mr Dryden. Mrs Margaret Waugh volunteered to become Vice Chairperson, also for an interim period and this was accepted and unanimously approved by the meeting. Mrs Sheena Johnson had already intimated prior to the meeting that she as prepared to continue as Secretary and this also was unanimously endorsed by the meeting. Mrs Ena Tait, Mrs Helen Hope and Mrs Margaret Hamilton were all prepared to continue as committee members and again this was fully endorsed by the meeting. A further vacancy existed and it was decided to try to co-opt someone to join the committee during the year. The new committee was confirmed as Mr Herbert Dryden, Mrs Margaret Waugh, Mrs Margaret Reid, Mrs Sheena Johnson, Mrs Ena Tait, Mrs Helen Hope and Mrs Margaret Hamilton. 7. Any Other Business. Mr Jim Dempsey offered a vote of thanks to Mr Stewart for his service to the Society over some fourteen years in the posts of Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary. He proposed that Mr Stewart and also Dr Mary Noble be made life members of the Society, in recognition of their services. He then asked the meeting to approve this proposal. The meeting unanimously approved the proposal. Mr Dempsey said the awarding of some sort of scroll or certificate might be appropriate. Mr George Campbell made the following suggestions for next season's programme: (a) Professor Ian Campbell to be invited to give a talk to the Society on Sir Walter Scott. He said that perhaps the talk could make reference to the time that Sir Walter's spent in Lasswade. (b) As the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh would be moving to new premises in Little France, perhaps their archivist might be invited to give us a talk on the history of the Infirmary on its present site. Mr Campbell also suggested that the new committee might consider a fresh approach to the local schools to offer assistance to the students with their studies in local history. As there was no further business, Mr Waugh closed the meeting. A buffet for the members followed.