Academi Heddwch SG Minutes 21 Feb.2013

Academi Heddwch Cymru Steering Group Meeting
Thursday, 21st February, 2013
Friends Meeting House, Cardiff
Present: Robin Gwyndaf, George Crabb, Kay Holder, Anne Greasgby, Max Wallis, Marie Walsh, Mustafa Megrahi, Tony Young, John Cox, Jon Plumpton, Jane Harries
Prevented: Diana Marquand, Jill Gough, Peter Polish
Kay Holder had fixed to take over the chair and Jane Harries to take Minutes, in place of Marie and Anne.  Kay refused to take the Minutes from 6th Feb. meeting on the Agenda and ruled out-of-order a letter from Jill Gough proposing those Minutes be scrapped (neither these Minutes or those of 6 Feb. are confirmed).  Kay allowed John Cox and Jon Plumpton to speak and vote, despite not being members of the Steering Group.
1.         Report back from Llanelwedd:
Marie gave a verbal report on the day event in Llanelwedd regarding the commemoration of WWI.  She reported that she was heartened by the message that the Welsh Assembly Government wished the commemoration in Wales to be ‘balanced and proportionate’.  There are opportunities to bid for funding in March, 2013.  Organisations or partnerships wishing to bid for money would have to be able to prove that they were financially viable, and able to prioritise.
Robin reported back from the Llandudno Junction meeting, where he felt that peace groups were not so well represented.  £400m have been allocated by the Westminster Government for the commemoration (around £50m for Wales).  Deian Hopkin expressed support for the Academi Heddwch project, but Robin stressed that any bid would need to be professional. 
There are 3 funding streams:
  • Your heritage (£3,000 - £100,000)
  • Young Roots – Cymdeithas y Cymod hope to make a bid for this pot, but a joint bid could be a possibility. (£3,000 - £50,000)
  • Heritage Grants – (£100,000 or over)
John expressed an opinion that we will need to show that we can employ at least 3 – 4 people, and make a substantial bid.  We could also enhance the credibility of our bid if we linked it to the Flanders Peace Institute, given the number of Welsh soldiers who died there.  John has also talked to Martin Pollard, who is willing to consider a future Academi Heddwch being hosted by the Welsh Centre for International Affairs.
At this point we took a vote as to whether John should continue to talk to us on this issue.  A vote was taken: 7 for, 2 against, 2 abstentions.
The opinion was expressed that we need to set up a small group to draft a business plan and a feasibility study for the establishment of a Peace Institute in order to apply for funding.  Mustafa felt that we should have a short-term and long-term plan, to include the conference in the first instance, and actions to set up an Academi in the longer term.  He also raised the question as to whether we had the expertise within our group, or whether we should consider engaging someone from an outside body.
Marie suggested that a paper be drafted for the conference outlining the relevance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, and what a bid for funding might look like.  We took a vote on this suggestion: this was passed unanimously. 
ACTION: We agreed that John Cox should draft this paper, in consultation with others on the steering group, and the Flemish Peace Institute (as a potential funder of a feasibility study). 
Mustafa asked whether we shouldn’t be considering other sources of funding, such as European funding.  We agree that a mention of this should be included in papers.
Robin made an appeal for us to concentrate on the organisation of the conference in the time remaining to us.
2.         Papers:
Mustafa reminded us that papers produced form the basis of our Business Plan, and are therefore important.  Individuals who have drafted the papers should be named on the documents.  We should also aim to be eco-friendly by circulating the documents electronically where possible.  Kay suggested that we should have some copies of the papers available at the conference for people to read.
Jon agreed that he would approach the person who translates for CND Cymru to see whether she would be willing to translate the papers.  This may entail a cost.
a.    Summary and analysis of petition submissions:  We have received papers from Tony (2), Marie (1) and John (1).   We agreed that Tony’s 1st paper should go out to all delegates, as a manageable summary (8 for). 
b.    Key considerations / questions for 1st workshop:  &
c.    Questions for 2nd workshop: strategy – funding, partners, audience:
We discussed whether the papers received relating to these workshops should be considered together.   We also discussed whether the issues and questions raised in papers should be open or more prescriptive.  Robin drew our attention to the A3 broadsheet that is already in existence, describing existing peace institutes and the potential role of a Welsh Academi as a useful paper. 
Kay asked whether the group agreed that Jane and Marie’s background papers should be sent out with the workshop questions.  Marie felt that it may be useful to send out just the workshop questions to people, and tell them that they could access further background papers on the website if they wished. 
Kay asked for the group to agree the workshop questions.  These were agreed by majority vote.  Robin proposed that the group to be elected at the conference should be called a Steering Group.  This was agreed by majority vote.
d.    Remit for steering committee:
We have received 2 papers, one on the Terms of Reference of a steering committee (Tony), and one on Organising Principles (Max).   We agreed that the second paper should not be sent out, as this is outside the scope of the aim of the conference, which is to progress the campaign for an Academi Heddwch in Wales.  We agree to the circulation of Tony’s paper, with some amendments, including the deletion of paragraph 9, and the addition of a statement regarding equality and diversity.  This was agreed unanimously.
ACTION: Tony to amend this paper.
3. Title of the Conference:
Robin proposed that the title of the conference should be as on his programme – i.e. Academi Heddwch Cymru/ Wales Peace Institute.  This was passed by majority vote.
4.   Workshops:
We discussed the format of the workshops, considering the constraints of the space that we have at Y Morlan.   Robin proposed that everyone at the conference should have the opportunity to discuss all the questions, which would be available to the facilitators of the workshops.  This was agreed by majority vote. 
5.         Publicity:
      i.        Website: Jon proposed that the present Academi Heddwch web-site, blogspots and Facebook page should be taken down until the material is adapted in accordance to the decisions made today.  This was agreed by majority vote: 7/2.  We agree that we need to have a vibrant web-site and social media tools (e.g. Facebook and Twitter).  Jon will explore this. 
     ii.        Press release: Jon said that a press release could go out through CND Cymru’s membership. John is also sending material out to his e-mail list.  Jane proposed to draft a press release, and this was agreed.  We agreed that all communications with the press should be bilingual.
ACTION: Jane to draft press release.
    iii.        Programme: Robin proposed that only the original version of the programme should be used in publicity. This was agreed by majority vote (8 for and 2 against).   Jon can send further copies of the programme or poster to anyone who needs further copies.   It was agreed to spend £125 having just over a 1000 copies of the revised programme printed to go out with the forthcoming CND Cymru membership mailing.
Anne and Max left the meeting at this point, the agreed ending time being passed.
6.         Conference logistics:
      i.        Food: We agree that we could ask the Tree House to provide some catering at lunch time.   Jon will add this into any future publicity. 
     ii.        Roles of volunteers on the day:  Some people need to be in Aberystwyth the evening before to set up the room.   We also need volunteers by the entrance to organise other tasks such as welcoming, name labels, keeping a list of attendees, and collecting registration fees.  Kay and Mustafa are willing to do this.  
    iii.        Arrangements for the workshops:  We agree to ask Marie and Jane to facilitate the workshops.  This was agreed by a unanimous vote. 
   iv.        Filming of the conference: Robin again raised this as a possibility.  We agree that this is not practical, given time constraints.
Mustafa mentioned a number of other organisations that we should invite.  He will pass on their contact details to Marie.
ACTION:  Mustafa to pass on details to Marie for circulation.
7.         Thanks:
We thank the Chair for her excellent chairing of this meeting.
8.         AOB:
  • Exhibitions: Carol has told us that there is room for these in the Green Room, but they could also be in the Hall.   A number of groups who would like to have exhibitions were mentioned, and people will liaise with Marie regarding this, and give her an idea of the amount of space that will be needed. We may need to restrict the amount of space which is available to each group. 
  • Translation: Robin stated his opinion that we don’t need formal translators, as speakers, chair-people, and facilitators can facilitate activities bilingually.
  • Accessibility: We need to talk to Carol as to whether there is a loop system.  Marie to do this.

No comments:

Post a Comment