Members General Meeting Minutes for December 2014

01. Roll Call.

Harry Mason, Chairman.
Chris Payne, Treasurer and Memberships Administrator.
Amanda Burt, Secretary.
Justin Macleod, Events Coordinator.
Catherine McManus, Executive Officer.
Mark Tyler, Assistant Web Master.
Andy Jinks, Ann Saunders, Christine Brown, Christine Mason, David Richards, Gary Price, Greg Hamilton, Jackie Glynn, Jaye Ayers, John Hosch, John Hinchliffe, John Pitts, John Wells, John Wilsher, Katie Myers, Keith Waters, Ken Scott, Leon Gilbert, Linda Tyler, Lisa Peck, Martin Foden, Mary Hassall, Maurice Pothecary, Michael Brown, Miriam Raymond, Monique
Lannott, Ned Benton, Peter Beasley, Peter Hallam, Roma Creech, Sal Pitts, Sharon Bowell, Stanley Saunders, Stephen Hassall,
Steve Hyde-Dryden, Steve Pallett, Sue Pallett, Teresa Payne.

02. Apologies.

Richard Wilkin, Web Master.
Carol Forrester, Executive Officer.
Andrew Payne, Billy Whitcombe, Caroline Tobias, Charlotte Payne, Elisabeth Standen, Ian White, Michael Payne, Shirley Grant.

03. Acceptance of November’s Minutes.

Proposed by: Monique Lannott. Seconded by: Michael Brown.

04. Matters Arising From Novembers Minutes.

Monique Lannott: Last month we talked about the Vice Chairperson. And neither in the Meeting or in the Minutes, is it
mentioned, that only UK Members can volunteer for that position. It was mentioned in an email that was later sent to the
list.
Chris Payne: His wife’s just looked at him rather blankly. She’s the one who does the Transcription. And she virtually
does word for word and it wasn’t on the recording. If it was there, it’s been added once the emails went out.
Leon Gilbert: (Note from Transcriber: It was very difficult to understand Leon, as his transmission was very quiet, and
when somebody came into the room, or went out, completely made it impossible to hear what was said.) (My understanding from
what I could hear, was that Leon was concerned both with the short time that Members had to read the Minutes, and their
Security.)
Harry Mason: He understands what Leon was saying, about the minutes being in an open part of the site, that is accessible
to people who maybe it shouldn’t be. He asked for help from someone technical.
Mark Tyler: The Minutes were only made available, on the 8th. Which he coded and put them up on the following day. We
have got a problem with the Minutes at the moment, which has been sorted out, regarding the Member’s area. But the
Minutes, yes they are viewable, without signing in, but they are not actually being published on the internet, so unless
you know the URL, nobody would actually see them. He has actually checked this out, on Google, and various other sites to
make sure of this, because, He’s the one who put the Minutes up.
Chris Payne: 2 things, Harry. First of all, with the matter of the Minutes being late arriving, we, as the Payne Family,
do apologise most sincerely. We had one or two issues towards the end of last month, and unfortunately, the Minutes went
clean out of our minds. It wasn’t until last weeks Exec Meeting, somebody happened to ask, have the Minutes come out yet?
Which reminded him they hadn’t been done. There is a slight amendment needs to be made to the Minutes, in the Financial
Report. Our Grand Total is x £s and 28p, not 82p, which is what its got there. It’s a typo, it was put in the wrong way
round.
Mark Tyler: No problems, Chris, He can change that immediately.
Teresa Payne: Apologised for the typo.
Harry Mason: Asked if there were any other matters arising and Amanda said no.

05. Chairman’s Report.

Harry Mason: He would like to say, how much he has enjoyed working on our behalf as Chairman for the last month. He’s
attended all the Meetings that he’s supposed to attend. He’s been to Exec One to One’s, and the Tuesday Chat, and he’s
enjoyed doing all that. It’s been a new experience for him, from all sorts of points of view. It’s a strange business,
Chairing a Meeting online. In all the Meetings that he’d Chaired before he came to the Chair at TAFN, were when everybody
was in the same room. And although that can have it’s difficulties, Chairing online is a different ball game altogether.
It’s something that you only learn over time, and you have to get used to. So he hopes that Members will bare with him,
for as long as he remains Chair, with the situation, because it is a difficult one. Moving on, He wants a brief word about
the Technical Survey, which was recently completed by the M.A.D. Committee. First of all, the Exec Committee would like to
thank the M.A.D., for the Survey, which it
carried out during the year. Lots of hard work has obviously gone into this, and it will give the next Exec, much food for
thought. With regard to the future technology needs within the Society. It is obvious from the findings, that a
reasonable proportion of those who took the trouble to complete the Survey, were very interested in using other means, such
as Mac PC’s, iPhones, tablets and the like, to access the Communicator. Now as he is sure Members are aware, some of these
ways of access, would require TAFN, to have its own Client. And this is something which needs to be looked at in the
future. For now, as Members know, we have Communicator 3. Which so far, is working very well for most people. He is,
however, aware that there are some issues, which need to be resolved over time. Turning to other matters, now, he would
like to remind Members, of 2 forthcoming Elections. The first of these, is for the new M.A.D. Committee. For which, an
email will be sent out, inviting people to put their names
forward, on or about the 26th of December this year. And the 2nd Election, will be for the new Executive Committee. And
more information on this one will be given early in the new year. Finally friends, as Members know, there has been a fair
amount of unrest, on the main email list, over the past few weeks. Now in saying that, he is not in anyway directing these
comments at any particular person. But he would just like to ask all Members, to please think before they type, so that we
can maintain a much friendlier atmosphere, in TAFN, as a whole. We are after all, The Accessible FRIENDS Network, and we
need to try and ensure that the Network stays like that, a FRIENDS Network. And very finally for him, in case he forgets
to do it at the end of the Meeting, on behalf of himself, Christine, his wife, who as he said earlier is sat with him, and
the whole of their family, would like to wish each and every one of you, gathered here and all the Members, A very Merry
Christmas, and a wonderful New Year.
He then asked if anybody wants to speak. No questions.

06. Treasurer’s and Memberships Report.

6a. Treasurer’s Report.

Opening Balance: £ 2,697.13
Paid in: £ 1,514.00 As Follows

• Bingo: £ 73.00
• Bonus Ball: £ 165.00
• Membership: £ 76.00
• Transfers: £ 1,200.00 From PayPal Account

Paid Out: £ 1,557.98 As Follows

• 1 and 1 Ltd: £ 71.99
• Bingo: £ 86.00
• Bonus Ball: £ 100.00
• Tech Support: £ 1,299.99

Closing Balance: £ 2,653.15

Savings Account Balance: £16,442.76
PayPal Account Credits: £ 19.57
Debits: £ 1,200.00
Balance: £ 204.96
Grand Total: £19,300.87

07. Memberships Administrator’s Report.

We approved 2 new Guests in November, and we welcomed 1 new Member. We have deleted 2 Guests, and 1 Member, and this was
due to illness, and they have withdrawn from the ABAPSTAS, which of course, that was their link with us.
Harry asked if there were any questions.
Leon Gilbert: He’d just like to ask, he knows Chris is aware there’s a scheme called Gift Aid. Under the Gift Aid Scheme,
Charities are able to claim back quite a lot of money in the £, from donations that are made in, as long as they have made
a Gift Aid Declaration. So he’s wondering if you have done Gift Aid in the past financial year? Because it’s worth quite
a bit of income.
Chris Payne: No, he will hold his hand up and say, he hasn’t done Gift Aid for this or last year. But he has had it on
good authority, that Charities of our size, can claim in blocks of 3 to 4 years at a time. Now last time he looked at
their site, it was quite inaccessible, even to his wife who didn’t know where we were going with it. But our church
treasurer has informed him, that it has been greatly improved, and he ought to give it another look. So this is something
that he will be dealing with in the near future.
Harry asked Leon if he was happy with that answer. Leon said yes, and good luck when you give it a try. He doesn’t really
think accessibility should be an obstacle. If it’s due to web site inaccessibility, you need to get help to get it done.
It’s going to make a big difference to the operations, when you think of all the money to be made from it. Anyway, best of
luck and thanks a lot for all your hard work on the Treasurer’s Report.
Justin Macleod: Just to clarify, you say you haven’t done Gift Aid for the last year or so. So do you ask each donor
whether they are eligible to Gift Aid their Donation and keep that in a file and batch job the applications?
Chris Payne: We only do Gift Aid of anything over, you can do Gift Aid if somebody gives you a penny. But the amount of
paperwork that’s involved, is horrendous. So we only deal with Gift Aid Claimants of £25 and above. And we do have a file
of people who are eligible to give Gift Aid back to us. Because obviously, they need to be, first and foremost, in full
time work, and paying taxes.
Justin Macleod: Fair enough. He just wanted to check, because every time he makes a Donation, they ask him right away if
he can pay Gift Aid on it, and if he want to pay Gift Aid on it. And he just wondered if we had a file on it.
Chris Payne: As he said, we’ve actually got to put in the claim, and they go away and look at it, check all the names,
that we submit. And they check it against the taxation list, and as long as it comes back ok, then obviously, we get the
money. If the names are not on the taxable list, then we get a little black mark against it, and we get a full report come
back to tell us what we’ve had and what we haven’t had.
No more questions.

08. Secretary’s Report.

Amanda Burt: This month, she’s done the usual List and Communicator Guidelines announcements and other announcements that
we’ve had to give. She’s also been taking emails for the contribute to change. These will be collated for the new Exec to
digest. She has also stated back on List Management on the new Mailman System. Thanks to Justin who helped her with this,
she still has some things to learn, but she can do the basics.
Harry asked if there were any questions. There were none.

09. Web Master’s Report (Read by the Assistant Web Master.)

Mark Tyler: This month, not really a lot to report on, due to the fact, Communicator 3 has kept everybody very busy, as
you must understand. But Actual Web Site work: Been working on the Memorial Pages, getting them all up, and that will
come live very soon. As he said earlier, we’ve been working on the Memberships, Member’s Area, with a plugin called
Memberships. The reason for this, is because due to a change in the SSL, on the Web Site, it actually broke the coding,
what Barry uses to secure the Members Area. So that is why as he said earlier, that is why the Minutes were put out, not
behind Members Area. But that has actually been sorted, just a case of watch this space.
Harry asked if there were any questions.
There were none.

10. Events Coordinator’s Report.

Justin Macleod: Not really a great deal to report this month. Various events have been subject to cancellation and
disruption. And a couple of events have come back, specifically, Tony’s events came back, following the conclusion of his
holiday. He dangled them in front of us, then snatched them away again, unfortunately, or at least one of them. On An
Island had to be cancelled, because of technical difficulties. Room For Your Beliefs and Ian’s other events have been
cancelled for December, he’s taking a Christmas Break. Mark has cancelled his Audio Quiz, for December. There will be no
Lee’s Variety Box, he believes, that’s kind of up in the air for December, but watch your emails about that one. In
January, we are looking forward to a new event, which is Greg’s brainchild. We’ve yet to determine precisely when that
will be. It will be a Multi-Disciplinary Quiz event, featuring, whatever Hosts of other existing events or indeed other
Members wish to submit. So you might have a round of Anagrams,
followed by a Chain, followed by a couple of Crosswords, followed by some of Mark’s Audio Stuff, or it might be in a
completely different order and it might feature different things from month to month. It’s quite a fluid event at the
moment, and it’s exact placement in the calendar has yet to be confirmed. But thanks to Greg for that innovative idea.
Freshening existing content and packaging it in a new way should be quite interesting. What the Events Team has
principally been occupied with of course, is the Christmas Preparations. Most particularly the Advent Calendar, which you
will all know by now, is not taking place this year, due to lack of Contributions to fill it. We were lacking 6
Contributions, to make it a full Advent Calendar, by the end of it. So there will be no Advent Calendar this year, but we
are going to use all the Contributions we can, in other Festive Events. So if you’ve submitted a Contribution, or if you
particularly enjoy the kind of things that feature in the Advent Calendar,
his advice to us would be to attend the entire Festive Programme, so you don’t miss anything that might be slipped in. The
Festive Programme, looks something like this: On the 14th of December, that’s this Sunday at 19.30, Tony and Katie will
hopefully be kicking off, subject to Katie’s computer difficulties, with an Aandray Reiu Christmas Music Event. They’ve
proven very popular in the past, and there’s so much material, that we could easily squeeze another event or two out of
Aandray Reiu’s work, so fans of his will enjoy that. On Monday, Tony and himself will be doing a Festive Chain Reaction,
with bells on. And on Tuesday we will have Chrissie’s Crosswords. We’re not aware of anything in particular that she’s
going to do for the Christmas Season, but Chrissie’s such a warm and Festive person, that she doesn’t really need to. On
Wednesday, will be Jackie’s Quiz, Thursday will be a very special event, something never attempted before on TAFN, to our
knowledge, Chrissie will be hosting a Carol Concert, he
supposes, and what you will do is, you will come into this event in droves, he hopes, and request live, without any prior
consultation, to challenge Chrissie to play whatever Carol that you would like her to play. And then with the new Stereo
Communicator 3 software, as her medium, she’ll play it for you. Without any preparation whatsoever. So come and Challenge
Chrissie, and hear your favourites as well, played in inimitable style. And then on Friday, Katie informs him that we will
have a Christmas Style version of Chris’s and Teresa’s Friday Night Quiz. And then we come to a bit of a fork in the road,
because currently, on Saturday the 20th of December, we are due to have the Christmas Party and Wishing Well.
Unfortunately, his family have asked if they can descend on him that day. And since he’s comparing it, it would be rather
inconvenient to chuck them out at 7 o’clock in the evening. Obviously, the Events Team has prepared a number of
entertainments for the Party, so what he is hoping, is that we can move it to the following Tuesday, that is the 23rd, that
puts it nearer to Christmas, which might be nicer and means that, he won’t be either distracted or have to throw his family
out too early. Because the Christmas Party is tied to the Wishing Well, he’s asked for Harry’s approval on this, which is
pending. There will be an announcement during the week as to when exactly the party will be. On Sunday the 21st of
December, there will definitely be a Christmas Juke Box Event. And this is where people have submitted to Tony, Their top 3
favourite Christmas tunes, be they Carols or Classic, and people will pick a number and Tony will play them, if there’s a
story attached to why the person likes them, then they will have the opportunity to tell us a bit about that as well. It’s
just an informal get-together to listen to some of your favourite tunes in the particular versions you like. There is
still quite a lot of space in Tony’s event for people to offer their favourite songs, their requests. So Justin does encourage
everybody who would like their song, their requests to be included. He thinks everyone’s got a favourite Christmas song,
even the most cynical and hardened of us. So chuck those to tony.bowers@blueyonder.co.uk , with the reason why you like it,
and the particular version you like, and they will be incorporated. Along side all this, Justin will also be doing The
Snowman, on Sunday the 21st. And throughout the Festive Period, he will be running The Chronicles Of Narnia. This is an
excellent idea, he can’t think why he didn’t think of it before. Proposed by Dave Beckett. So thanks very much to Dave,
for what he thinks is a thoroughly appropriate idea, 7 Chronicles Of Narnia, as dramatised by the BBC. He hasn’t quite
found what he hopes will be the most appropriate niches, in the schedule to put them. Obviously 7 Chronicles at 2 and a
half hours each, is quite an undertaking, but we’ll find where best to hang those, on the TAFN schedule, and announcements
about those will be forthcoming as well. Other than all this, he’s been List Moderating and List Managing, following the
resignation of most of the incumbent List Mods Team. So it only remains for him to thank his wonderful team, and anyone
else who contributes in any way, large or small to events. And to encourage you all to come along to the Festive Programme
we have for you. If you want to reschedule an existing event, please contact eventinfo@tafn.org.uk . And can he just
remind everybody, if you’ve made an error, in the scheduling of your event, or you want to make a last minute change,
please don’t send that to the Main List. Because all it means is, that Justin has to forward it to the Announce List, which
means that quite a lot of TAFN Members get 2 copies of it, but that is necessary to ensure that some people, not subscribed
to the Main List, get one. So please, if you have Announce List access, if you’re on the Exec, send it direct to the
Announce List, otherwise, please go through Amanda, at the Secretary address, or me, at the
eventinfo address. Then we can make sure everyone gets it in 1 email. If you want to suggest a new event, or to provide
feedback on an existing event, please contact events@tafn.org.uk .
Greg Hamilton: Just a quick one, to all fans of Brain Ache, there won’t be a Brain Ache in December. He has written this
out, but he’s pulling it, just because there’s so much going on with Christmas. So your next Brain Ache will be January.
Chris Payne: He has 2 very minor facts for Justin. First of all, with regard to the overall schedule, could you send us a
copy of it, because there are some words there that we wouldn’t have an inkling on how to spell, and we want to give the
minutes their justice. The other thing is with regard to the Christmas Party, have we checked with Elisabeth, that she
hasn’t already arranged for somebody to come to her on the 20th, but we know we will be missing, because with the
Christmas Party being booked for the Saturday, we booked a lift to do our Christmas Shopping on the Tuesday.
Justin Macleod: he doesn’t anticipate there being a problem with the Wishing Well, because the draw can always be
recorded. So he will speak to Elisabeth about that. It is an unfortunate clash, but these things happen. So he doesn’t
anticipate any problems in that regard, he had already considered that. And he will dash us off a quick copy of the
schedule once Harry has agreed or denied him.
Harry Mason: There will be a problem with the Chair and his family, sadly on the Tuesday night, Justin. Because we cannot
be around on the Tuesday night, due to a prior arrangement with our family here.
Justin Macleod: It’s a terribly busy time, the Christmas Period. It’s impossible to squeeze everybody in unfortunately.
Harry Mason: He could make this decision and say yes or no to this. But he would like to ask, can we all make it on the
Tuesday, or most of us anyway instead of the Saturday?
There then followed a number of people keying up and saying whether or not they could make it on the Tuesday. It was about
50/50.
Chris Payne: We seem to have as many yes’s as no’s Harry. Obviously it’s been traditional for the Christmas Party, it’s
always been on the Saturday until now. Is there not anybody in your team, Justin who could compare in your place?
Justin Macleod: The problem is compounded, not only by the fact that he is comparing, but also he is running aspects of
the Party himself. However, if it is the prevailing view of the people here, that it should take place on the Saturday as
normal, he shall of course, respect those wishes.
Greg Hamilton: He couldn’t get the key, but Tuesday would be better for him.
Christine Brown: She personally would prefer the Saturday. She could come on the Tuesday, but she thinks, like Chris
said, it is a tradition. And she thinks you will get more people in on the Saturday, but that’s just her opinion.
Monique Lannott: She’s not sure about the Tuesday. And she personally thinks the Saturday is normally better. She
understands that this is a difficult situation.
Stephen Hassall: If your to go on the variety thing, he definitely gets a bigger audience on the Saturday. And he would
like to cancel Armchair Theatre on the 21st and 28th, if he may. He will let Justin know, because it’s easily forgotten.
And also the Midweek Theatre on the 24th, being Christmas Eve. He has other things on.
Justin Macleod: It certainly is easily forgotten, he would very much appreciate that in writing. Later rather sooner, so
he doesn’t lose the email and forget even that. Very well, the 20th it is then.
David Richards: He was just going to say the Tuesday would be better for him, but never mind.
Amanda Burt: It’s always going to be a problem. You’re not going to please everybody, whatever you do.
Harry Mason: A lot of people haven’t spoken, but based on what has gone on, although, obviously he appreciates Justin’s
problems and families do have to take priority on occasions, and there’s not a lot you can do about it. But he thinks on
balance, he thinks we need to try and keep the Party where it is. He’ll certainly be there for quite a lot of it hopefully.
So if that’s ok with everybody else, it will stay at the 20th.
Justin Macleod: That’s fine. He would hate for the attendance of the Party to suffer. He has already made his family
aware that there might be a problem, so he can throw them out early.
Harry Mason: He wished Justin good luck with that one. He then asked Amanda if there were any other questions.
Monique Lannott: Just wanted to quickly comment that the Theme Night, on the 22nd of December, will also be Christmassy.
It’s the last Theme Night of 2014. After that it will take a short break, for which Chris has kindly offered to step in
with A Night With The Payne’s. And the last Theme on the 22nd will be a Christmas Music Theme Night.
John Hinchliffe: Just a quick request. Could we have the Christmas agenda out on an email, Before the day of events?
Personally he finds it very difficult to arrange to come to events, with less than 24 hours notice of them. He for one is
really missing the Weekly Events Email.
Justin Macleod: Now that the agenda has been confirmed, he can send that out tonight, that’s no problem.
Catherine McManus: The only thing she was thinking for the Party, as she couldn’t get the key before, would it make a
difference if you swapped it to the Sunday?
Justin Macleod: That wouldn’t really be possible, because that would mean swapping it for the music event, which the
Events Team is also running, and he would need to be there to support that. So it’s just a case of, it is what it is.
Greg Hamilton: Just a reminder to people, as we’re talking about events, about The Haven, The Mental Health Event that we
run on TAFN. You may have got a couple of strange emails from him, because he couldn’t tell what date was what. So Just to
confirm, anybody who wants to come to The Haven, the Pre-Christmas Meeting, is as the second email says, Wednesday the 17th
not the 18, the 17th of December, at 10am. Sorry about the confusion that he caused.
Jackie Glynn: As her Quiz is on the Wednesday, she is going to take off the 24th and 31st. Because there’ll be too much
preparation going on here. And she won’t have the time to do it. So she’s going to take a 2 week break.
Justin Macleod: Thanks for letting them know. Oh! 31st even. Might be able to slot something in there.
Amanda Burt: No more questions, Harry.

11. M. A. D. Update.

Steve Hyde-Dryden: The Members of the M.A.D. Committee are: Himself, John Hosch, Monique Lannott, Stephen Hassall and Ian
McNamara, and of course, we’ve got Carol Forrester as our Executive Representative. We’ve had no Official Reports this
month from anyone. So it’s been quiet, although we’ve all been quite busy, working on the Technology Survey, that has
already been mentioned. A few queries here and there, but it’s been very enjoyable today. It’s all been collated now and
sent off to the Executive Committee and of course, they can do what they need to do with it. If anyone wants to contact
us, please use the mad@tafn.org.uk email address. Or else go via the Web Site.
Harry asked if there were any questions.
There were none.

12. Discussion On Contribute To Change.

Harry Mason: You sent out the original email on this, Amanda. Do you want to speak on it?
Amanda Burt: Mentioned a number of Meetings the Exec have had on the Apathy of Members. An email was sent out to the
Membership, which was open-ended, to ask them what changes they would like to see. The outcome of responses to the
Secretary, and what couldn’t be changed immediately, would be passed on to the next Exec Committee. We are also looking
for new ideas of events that Members wish to have, which would be passed on to the Events Team.
Harry Mason: Thank you for that summary Amanda, and said that there was certainly a case for change. He then invited
Members to come forward verbally, with any ideas that would be noted, for this and the next Committee.
Monique Lannott: She did write to Amanda, but there’s definitely something that she wanted to say to everyone. It’s been
said by Harry before, we are The Accessible FRIENDS Network. And FRIENDS is very important in there. That what has her
worried. Especially when you see some of the stuff that’s going on to the Main List. And of course the Executive
Committee may be able to do things, but in the end, it’s us Members who have to make TAFN work, to make sure that TAFN is
the Trustful Fiends that work, by having good times together, and what we’ve always been doing. If we believe that we can
do it and have the positive energy, then TAFN has a real good future, she thinks.
Leon Gilbert: Talked for quite some time about the FRIENDSHIP of TAFN. But unfortunately, the quality of the recording
was so bad, it was impossible to hear what he was saying.
Christine Brown: Said Leon had given some good points and a lot to think about. She just wanted to say, she knows it’s
very difficult for the Events Team, but she personally, would like to see some events overlap. So that people had a
choice, to which they went into. She knows that some events might lose people, others may gain, but after all that is a
choice. And another thing, which she’s getting fed up of, and presumably some others are as well, is having to be a
captain all the time. She appreciates it’s difficult in a quiz, but it just gets a bit tedious sometimes to be captain.
And she just wondered what other people thought.
Justin Macleod: The easiest point to respond to, is Chrissie’s point regarding team captaincy. You are at liberty to say
No! Anybody is at liberty to say No, and he has heard people do that in quizzes. And he gave an example of this. So
there is no obligation, for anyone to captain a team and no one should feel any such obligation. A lot of people attend
quizzes, therefore, there are a lot of people from whom a captain could be chosen. Working backwards, about overlapping
events, the Events Team has expressed a willingness to overlap events that are dissimilar. So for example, a music event
at the same time as a quiz, in fact this already happens, with Ian’s Jazz Archive, you already have the overlapping of the
Archers event and The Midweek Quiz. We have expressed that willingness for quite some time. And even if Formal events
don’t overlap, there is nothing to prevent people from going into a Music Room or the Lounge or even the Audio Theatre and
running an impromptu play. Which brings me to answer
Leon’s points. In principle, he would like to say, he agrees whole-heartedly, with Leon. He thinks it would be fantastic
if there were more casual events. He thinks it would be fantastic if there was less structure to some aspects of the TAFN
calendar. And encourage all to do this. We’ve had many complaints from various Members, “Oh there isn’t the chat on here,
that there used to be”, people don’t just go in and open up a room any more, and we have repeatedly said, at Exec Open
Forums, and Events Open Forums, Lounge Chats, and informal conversations, if that is how you feel, you’re welcome to go in
and open a room, or send a message to the Main List, saying I’m doing such and such, at such and such a time, come and join
me. And Members aren’t biting. Members for whatever reason, don’t feel able to do that. And that’s certainly not through
any want of effort on the Events Team or Executive Committee’s part. The Advent Calendar is a case in point. The Advent
Calendar is an opportunity for Members to
contribute what they wish to contribute, in a manner in which they wish to contribute. We haven’t had the interest even to
run the Advent Calendar for this year. We have frequently said, the likes of Steve Pallett and Shirley G have done it in
the past. If you want to just roll up into the Audio Theatre, and put on a play, send out an announcement. The Open Mike
Sessions, which pretty much, unless Ian, Steve, Katie, Tony or himself chooses to fill them, stand empty. People aren’t
biting at The Open Mike Event. And The Open Mike Event is an opportunity for Members to do precisely what they like. You
talked about having more in the daytime, to interest older people, who might not be up for the events programme that we
have at the moment. We’ve tried very hard to get daytime events launched. We’ve tried very hard to get monopoly events and
so forth. Justin’s thinking of cancelling his Cooking Event, through lack of attendance. People don’t like showing up to
daytime events, it would appear. So
there isn’t the momentum there, and so they fold. So he does entirely agree with Leon in principle, but encourage Members,
if that’s what you want, if you want more impromptu events, if you want more chat events, if you want more just go in and
play a bit of this, a bit of that, then the onus is on you to create that dynamic. It’s certainly not something that the
Events Team has wished at any time has wished to exclude. If that’s the kind of TAFN you want, then that’s the kind of
TAFN it’s entirely up to you to create.
Mark Tyler: Just a few things. Starting with Chrissie, he Completely agrees with you, in that we run quizzes and stuff,
and it is the same people volunteering to be captains. because no one else can do it, or wants to do it, or can be
bothered to do it. So he does agree with her 100%. Going on to Leon’s comments, The way he looks at it, there doesn’t
have to be an event or anything, what is stopping anyone, coming on, like yourself, Leon, in an afternoon, in the Lounge,
or morning or anytime you’ve got free time. But people just, for whatever reason, don’t do it. They want someone else to
do all the work, and other people, just want to sit back. And going on to what you said about the Web Site, he takes a dim
view on, what the mess of what the Web Site is, he thinks was your quote. Because the Web Team, everybody on the Web Team,
have been working damn hard.
Leon Gilbert: Well you say there’s nothing to stop people from just coming on and having a chat, but you could try to
encourage it. And he thinks it would be a good idea to have rooms named with times on them. you could have a room called
The Lunch Time Chat, a room called Teatime Chat. It wouldn’t do any harm. Anybody looking on, might think, there’s nobody
on, but I’ll look in to Teatime Chat. And you could mention those on the daily schedule even. Lunch Time, Teatime Chat.
No host, just a little opportunity, a little window of time, that you can encourage people to drop into. He doesn’t think
it would do any harm at all. And re the Web Site, Mark, : Here Leon had a lot of breakup again. I’m sorry.
Amanda Burt: Passed on a text message from Katie Myers: If you don’t have Team Captains, it would be a free for all. And
if people don’t want events organised, then what do they want?
Monique Lannott: She’s heard a lot of things that basically she agrees with. And she will do her best from now on, to be
more active, and be more in the lounge or in other rooms, take more initiative, and if we all try that together, it can be
really great. And it doesn’t matter what the room is called, that it happens in. It starts with us all, including herself.
She knows she hasn’t been doing what she can do herself, so yeah, looking at herself too. And she thinks that, if we just
realise, it’s good that there’s structured events, they need to be there, we all enjoy them. But we also need more
spontaneous things happening. And the last thing she wants to say, She really appreciates, very,very much, if you now use
the login and configuration login to TAFN server, you come straight into the Lounge, no more a quiet room, where you can
only text, now you can talk straight away. She thinks that was a really good idea. Good choice.
Harry Mason: He’s just jumping in here a second. He’d just like to say, we can all play our part in this. Him too. He’s
not standing himself out as somebody who’s
perfecting these matters, Because he’s far from it. But he thinks we can all work together if you like, and just be more
spontaneous about some of the things we do, and that is not from the Chair, in any way, knocking what the Events Team is
trying to do. The Events Team is trying to do a good job on behalf of us all. And he thinks we need to recognise that.
But having recognised that, we can all too play our part, in making sure that we don’t just sit there, waiting to be
entertained, but we come along and help entertain each other. And that would be, definitely a step in the right
direction.
Peter Hallam: Just as he was typing his request to speak, Monique said more or less exactly what he was going to say.
He’d like to congratulate the Exec, or whoever it was that made the decision, to make The Lounge the default room for
people connecting through the login. It reminds him of how it used to be on the old Ventrilo Server, that we had
originally. When we had a default room, and we all went in there, and then we scattered to our various rooms. But he
thinks it is actually helping people to mingle more. Because this is what hasn’t been happening so much in the last couple
of years. People have not been mingling as much, and he thinks if this is encouraged, it can only bring about a more
friendly atmosphere. And also on the subject of the Web Site, and he actually mentioned this to Mark, last week, that we
know that the Web Team are doing a lot of work. The problem is, that most of that is still invisible. We can’t really
appreciate what the Web Team are doing, or have done, until we see
it and actually have access to the work. And he’s sure we will when we see it.
Justin Macleod: Unfortunately, after a few people saying that Justin had no audio, when we did hear him, it was echoing a
lot, which distorted the recording.
Chris Payne: He’d just like to make a vivid idea. People are saying about the Web Site. If you go down your local high
street, and there’s a high building being built, you can see the outside with all the scaffolding up, but when this
building finally becomes open to the public, and of course, us as Members, what you will get inside, will be absolutely
amazing. But if you go in now, it’s full of holes, rubble, and basically health and safety would have a dream day on us,
by saying, you shouldn’t have allowed them in. So just imagine that. That it’s a building going up in your high street,
it’s looking spectacular on the outside, but it’s going to look even better, once you can get inside.
Linda Tyler: Here, here.
Amanda Burt: She likes that an allergy. That is good. No more comments.
Harry Mason: Well, we’ve given this a good airing so far. He just wants to give another couple of seconds, in case
anybody has thought of something they might want to say. But he thinks it’s appropriate, if you haven’t replied, to
Amanda’s email, please think about it, and send her a reply. Because, certainly, when the next Executive is Elected, early
next year, they’re going to want to look at these things. And the more ideas you as Members, can put forward, to assist
the Exec, to help you as Members, the better. Because that’s what the Executive Committee is supposed to be about, it is
supposed to be working for the Membership. And he for one, wants that to be the case. And he knows that everybody else on
the Exec, feels the same. So, everybody wants to hear from you, as an individual, to put your point of view, reply to
Amanda’s email if you haven’t already done so, He feels fairly confident that if you’ve lost it, and you ask Amanda for a
copy, it’s quite likely she’ll be able to send you one.
But please think about it, and let’s have some more ideas and views, of you as a Member. You pay your subscription, just
the same as he does as Chair. And so therefore, you need to put your point of view forward, as forcibly as you like. And
people will listen, and take on board, what you have to say. He’s just going to give it 5 seconds, just to see if anybody
wants to say anything, and then we’re going to move swiftly on.
Chris Payne: Can he just re-iterate there, Harry, that we want everybody to come to us, no matter how great or small your
ideas are. Because, remember, big trees grow from little acorns. So if you’ve got an idea, and somebody else may be able
to then build upon that, and build upon that, so that eventually we will get another WOW event. And of course, as Harry
says, it’s here for everybody. It’s not here for the Exec, it’s not here for the Events Committee, it’s here for the Members.
And the Members are all of us.
Amanda Burt: Absolutely. And as she says, if anybody has lost the email, and wants it, she’ll be only too happy to resend
it to anybody who wants it.
Peter Hallam: He thinks we’ve only had the new Communicator for a couple of weeks, and we need to sort of build confidence
in it. Because, certainly, those of us who’ve changed up to Windows 7, and beyond, had real stability issues with Communicator
2. This could be part of the reason, why people haven’t really wanted to come forward, to take part in events, let alone
not host them. Certainly he wouldn’t have been in a position to host events. He certainly would be in a better position
now. So you may well find, now that we have the new Communicator, that people will begin to come forward, with ideas and
offers to host events and take part in them. So we need to give Communicator 3 a chance, he thinks.

13. Any Other Business.

Leon Gilbert: He sent an email to the Exec, and as far as he knows, he didn’t even get a reply. He was asking about the
last Annual Report. Because it was played using JAWS speech at high speed, Jaye and he weren’t at home, due to Family
Crisis going on. We got to here some of it at the time, and he just wondered whether the document had been made available.
And if so, could he please have a copy?
Justin Macleod: Said that Leon was sent a copy. So if he hasn’t received it, they can only apologise.
Leon Gilbert: He doesn’t know which email address it was sent to, but he is having quite a bit of trouble with his TAFN
email address, with spam, so it may be something down to that. He’ll have a look, and if not, he’ll get back in touch.
Harry Mason: Asked Leon to write to the Secretary at the usual address if he couldn’t find it. And tell her what address
he wants it sent to, and it can always be sent again.
Chris Payne: Asked if he could just let all Members know, within the next 14 days, most of you, should receive a package
through the post. Its not very big on the outside, but it’s quite huge inside. And there will be a message for all to
hear, from your Exec Team.
Harry Mason: Thanked Chris for that, and said we’ll all look forward to the post. He asked if there was anything else.
There was no reply. So Harry then wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Great New Year and closed the Meeting by letting
everyone know, the next Member’s Meeting would be on Thursday the 8th of January 2015, at 8pm.
Note from Transcriber: If any of this is wrong, I apologise. In some places, the recording was very bad and occasionally,
there was bad breakup from Leon and Amanda, but I hope I got the gist of what was being said correctly.