Many of you will have seen or heard chatter, both before and after the recent AGM. You’ve got to love that bush telegraph.
But before we get to the AGM, it’s worth asking the question, ‘why do we hold an AGM?’
Well, to answer that, firstly we need to understand that GALE is member owned. Often GALE is referred to as a community owned organisation; that’s because GALE’s ordinary members need to live within the area that GALE serves. This generally means Loch Ewe area, Gairloch and as far as Kinlochewe. As we will see, this is a bit vague.
As GALE is member owned it means that our members have the responsibility and privilege to deliver on our aim of making our area a better place to live, work and thrive.
To achieve this GALE is shepherded by the Board of Directors, who are elected from our members. Our members, come from our community.
Members and Board deliver projects for the benefit of the community; so the community benefits from a member owned organisation.
Now back to where we started, ‘what’s the point of the AGM?’ It’s the chance for the Board to inform members (the owners of GALE) on what has happened in the preceding year, to give a review of the financials and to give an overview of what is being developed within the overall GALE strategy.
At this year’s AGM there was also a proposal to changes to the Articles of Association (how the organisation is run). The AGM is where members have the opportunity to discuss and vote on whether they want or don’t want the proposed changes. (So not just a member owned organisation but a member led one too!)
We had some suggested changes in the agenda for this year’s AGM. The key ones included:
- Employees to become members
- Just one Membership Type
- Minimum Members Number
- Area of Benefit
The proposed change, which created the greatest discussion, was GALE’s Area of Benefit. Currently this is defined as ‘Wester Loch Ewe, Aultbea and Gairloch Community Council areas and those neighbouring area as the Board of Directors sees fit’.
Most of us consider Inverness our neighbour but would not wish to consider it part of our Area of Benefit. GALE has in the past been involved in Highland wide projects and joint projects with other development trusts in Wester Ross.
So the Board proposed that we tighten the definition and indeed the potential geographic area covered, by defining it as ‘IV21 and IV22’. It has been suggested that GALE was looking to expand its Area of Benefit. Nothing could be further from the truth – an attempt was made to define the area more accurately and reduce the potential Area of Benefit.
Members suggested they were happy that the Area of Benefit should have a better definition, however, it turns out, our suggested definition of ‘IV21 and IV22’ was not acceptable to members. As such, it was decided not to put any of the proposed changes to the vote. So, GALE is sticking with its existing Articles of Association.
So what now? Instead the Board will work towards a new definition of our Area of Benefit that is acceptable to our members. You’ll have an opportunity to review these at a future date.
Now onto the fun stuff – the highlights of the year.
GALE in the twelve months to November 2022 has been responsible for over £340K being put into the local economy. We have a direct impact on the lives of over 100 people and countless more indirectly. The Board would like to thank all the staff, volunteers, community bakers and local producers, suppliers, charities and community groups for helping make 2022 such a huge success. Mostly we would like too thank our members for their continued support. Without you, we would cease to exist.
