Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Bonnyrigg & Lasswade Local History Society held in the Pitcairn Centre, High Street, Bonnyrigg on Wednesday 21st April 2004. 1. Introduction. Herbert Dryden opened the meeting and welcomed those present. He said that he reckoned that this was the 22nd AGM of the Society. He asked everyone to ensure that they had signed the members’ attendance book prior to the start of tonight’s meeting. 2. Apologies. Apologies were recorded on behalf of Jan Brown, Margaret Hamilton, Helen Stewart, Mary Renwick and Jean Cowie. 3. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting. These were formally approved by the meeting, proposed by Alex Waugh and seconded by Mary Gardiner. 4. Treasurer's Report. Margaret Reid advised the meeting that at the start of the season, the cash in hand was £29.58 and the current account was £689.85. Total membership fees for 73 members came to £245.00 and visitors’ fees were £21.00. Donations to the Society were £14.00, the grant from Midlothian Council was £134 and the sale of teas & coffees at the meetings raised £57.68. The St. Giles Outing raised £91.00, the St. Andrews Outing raised £225.00 and the Autumn Outing £429.00. Bank interest received was £3.34. Expenditure included £17.00 for subscriptions to magazines, the hall insurance was £119.44, Secretary’s expenses were £15.00, Chairman’s expenses £41.74, tea expenses were £20.55 and speakers’ expenses were £40.00. Rental payment made for the Pitcairn Centre was £60.00. Expenses for the St. Giles Outing were £91.00, St. Andrews Outing were £265.00 and the Autumn Outing £435.00. Donations amounted to £40.00 and stationery £59.38. This left the cash in hand at £45.71 and the current account at £689.63. Six new members had joined the Society during the year. The total membership was seventy-three. In summary, Mrs Reid said donations at the evening meetings throughout year had amounted to £35.00 and our tea fund had shown a profit of £37.00. She said that our insurance costs had increased by about £24.00 and that our speakers’ expenses were about the same as last year. The annual grant from Midlothian Council remained the same as last year. The difference between the opening and closing bank balances was approximately £16.00. The outings throughout the year were subsidised by £46.00. Mrs Reid then invited questions from the members. Mr Dryden thanked Mrs Reid for her report and as there were no questions raised, Mr Dryden asked that the accounts be approved and these were proposed by Howard Turner and seconded by Cathy Simpson. As Mrs Reid was retiring as Treasurer at this meeting, Mr Dryden offered his thanks for all her hard work over the last six years. Thanks were also recorded to Mrs Mary Muirhead for auditing the accounts. Mrs Muirhead was re-appointed as auditor for the following year, proposed by Jean Sharp and seconded by Dorothy Anderson. 5. Chairman's Report Mr Dryden said that during the year we had sadly lost from our membership people who had supported the Society in different capacities over the years. These people include Margaret Smith, wife of the late James Douglas Smith, one of the founder members of the Society and past Treasurer, Barbara Mackenzie, Doreen Blake, James Dempsey, James Robson, Jean Black and more recently Archie Renwick. Tributes had already been paid to these people but thanks were recorded again for their work and they would be sadly missed. More recently we had been concerned about the health of Mrs Gray and it was hoped that she would continue to improve. Mr Dryden recalled that in the summer of last year we had a very enjoyable outing to St Andrews and in September we visited Pollock House and the Burrell Collection. He looked forward to the outing in June of this year, which would be to Alnwick Castle and the neighbouring gardens. In October, Mr Dryden and Mrs Waugh had represented the Society at a very successful Local History Open Day which had been organised by Midlothian Libraries Local Studies and held in Dalkeith Arts Centre. Representatives from other local history societies had attended. Mr Dryden would be giving a talk to Fala & Soutra History Society at the end of this month. More recently Mr Dryden had given talks to Our Lady & St Matthew’s Ladies Group and also Bonnyrigg Parish Church Women’s’ Guild. Attendance at our meetings throughout the year had been good, indeed so good that we had to consider alternative venues. For a number of reasons we had decided to stay at the Pitcairn Centre where we have been extremely happy. It was noted however that larger audiences had to be comfortably seated and therefore the question could not be ignored in the future. Our speaker at the October 2003 meeting had been Leone Paterson, the Archives Librarian from the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. She told us about the work of the explorer and botanist George Forrest. Mr Dryden reminded members that there were a number of activities currently running at the Royal Botanic Garden marking the centenary of George Forrest’s first visit to South West China. In November, our Secretary Sheena Johnson and her son Alistair gave us interesting talks on Thomas DeQuincey and Sir Walter Scott. In January 2004 we welcomed the Rev Wendy Drake who gave us a talk on Lowland Canals. In February we welcomed another lady of the cloth, the Rev Lynne McMurchie who gave us a talk on Dr Douglas Strachan, the stained glass artist who lived at Pittendreich House and also his foreman Mr James Scullion. Due to the interest shown in this meeting we met in the Loudon Hall. In March we had a Members’ Evening where some items of memorabilia were displayed. Mr Dryden reported that the cataloguing of the Society’s Archive had been completed but noted that the proposed Walking Trails booklet would have to take a slightly different format. Probably this would now take the form of a collection of peoples’ memories. Due to other commitments this had been delayed but it was hoped to recommence this shortly. Mr Dryden expressed his own thanks and that of the Society to those who had assisted with both of these projects. Thanks were again extended to the Kirk Session of Bonnyrigg Parish Church for allowing us to meet in the Pitcairn Centre. Mr Dryden concluded his report by recording his personal thanks to committee members and ordinary members past and present for their continued support during the four years of his chairmanship. 6. Election of Office Bearers and Committee. Mr Dryden handed over to Neil Stewart to oversee the election of office bearers and committee. Mr Stewart then outlined the procedure for electing office bearers and committee in accordance with the Constitution. He noted that no nominations had been received prior to the meeting regarding membership of the committee. Howard Turner was elected to the committee, proposed by Margaret Waugh and seconded by Charlie Adams. Christine Elliot was elected to the committee, proposed by Moira Dryden and seconded by Sheena Johnson. In the absence of further nominations, Margaret Waugh, Sheena Johnson, Margaret Hamilton, Cathy Simpson and Mary Gardiner were re-elected to the committee, proposed by Charlie Adams and Nancy Donaldson. Herbert Dryden was re-elected to the committee, proposed by Alex Waugh and seconded by Helen Finlayson. Mr Dryden was then re-elected as Chairman, proposed by Sheena Johnson and seconded by Alison Ferguson. Sheena Johnson was re-elected as Secretary, proposed by Mary Gardiner and seconded by Margaret Reid. It was not possible to elect a Vice-Chairman or Treasurer, so it was agreed that as eight people had been elected, that these posts would be filled within the committee during the year. The retiring Treasurer, Margaret Reid would retain the signing authority until her successor could be confirmed. Mr Stewart then handed back to Mr Dryden for the remainder of the meeting. Mr Dryden stressed the need to appoint a new Treasurer as soon as possible. [Secretary’s note: Howard Turner volunteered to take on the post of Treasurer and this was approved by the committee.] 7. Any Other Competent Business. Mr Dryden mentioned that the Society’s associate membership of the Esk Valley Trust was due for renewal and he sought the membership’s approval to continue. This was unanimously approved. Mr Stewart raised three items of business, the first being progress on the possible publication of a book on William McTaggart by Professor Per Kvaerne from the University of Oslo (Norway). Mr Stewart had already gained agreement from the Society earlier in the year for Professor Kvaerne to use photographs from our archive in the proposed publication. A meeting was planned with him within the next two weeks to discuss matter further. Secondly Mr Stewart had completed the cataloguing of the McTaggart Archive and returned it to Midlothian Libraries storage facility. Finally Mr Stewart reminded the members that the Society had two pump-action flasks that had been purchased some years ago for use on outings. As these had not been used for some time he asked the committee for guidance as to whether they wish to keep them or dispose of them. Mr Dryden reminded the members of the forthcoming outing to Alnwick Castle and said that he hoped that it would be an enjoyable event. He also said that Mr Gordon Smith had agreed to be our speaker in October 2004 on the subject of Medals of the First World War. He said that Mr Smith hoped to be able to identify some medals associated with those whose names were listed on the Bonnyrigg War Memorial. As there was no further business Mr Dryden thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.