Wash-up meeting

The West Fife Villages Exhibition of Art and Photography

Wash-Up Meeting

Notes on a meeting held at the Saline Community Centre on Tuesday 29th April 2008.

Those in attendance:- Gareth Turner, Marylla Ferguson, Norman Chumley, Isobel Menzies, Jim Hensman, Karl Spaven, Irene Wardell, Martha & Tommy Thomson, Derek Fudge, Jess Glendinning, Dave Quinney, Marie & John Crane.
Apologies for absence: - Judith Chumley, Austen Clark, Muriel Phillips, Cathy Hall.

The purpose of the meeting was to review the “Exhibition of Art and Photography” and the “Exhibition of Arts and Craft” that had been held respectively in the Saline Community Centre and the Church Hall on Saturday and Sunday, the 19th and 20th of April.

Gareth took the chair and thanked everyone for working hard to produce a worthwhile and successful event.

John produced a proposed agenda that was accepted by the meeting.

1. Report on Finances. John reported that:-

a. Donations at the door had amounted to £419.
b. Picture sales had realised £24.50 in donations.
c. Grant from the WFVCPC of £100.
d. Hire of Community Centre £164.84.
e. Exhibition expenses £190.26.
f. Frame for presentation picture. £15.
g. Insurance £31.

Consequently, the income over expenditure amounted to £142.40. As the previous two exhibitions had also finished with surplus funds, John asked Gareth if he could ask Christine if she could provide a balance of money that related to the art & photography exhibitions.

2. Number of Exhibits. Norman had provided statistics as follows:-

a. The number of paintings exhibited was 181, an increase of 22% on last
Year.
b. The number of photographs exhibited was 125, an increase of 33%
c. 300 in number paintings exhibited by the six primary schools who
participated.
d. The value of work on sale was £11,500, a 10% increase over last year.

John said that he was very much aware that Jim Hensman had done a lot of work to encourage the West of Fife primary schools to participate in the exhibition and it was agreed that the 300 children’s exhibits were a major feature of the exhibition.

3. Arts & Craft Exhibition. Jim said this had gone well and everyone seemed satisfied. John said that it was time consuming attempting to contact possible exhibitors and if we do this again it needs to be better organised and resourced.

4. Press Coverage and Other Publicity. John thanked Liz Harvey for the design of a flyer and thanked Derek Fudge who had designed and printed over 500 extremely professional flyers. Both flyers were distributed to every house in the village, mostly by their insertion in the Extra. Press coverage had been reasonable. The Courier had printed a good article but the Dunfermline Press had not strained themselves. The Press had, however, printed a short article on the visit of disabled visitors to the event. There had been an entry in the spring edition of “Events in Fife” and articles had appeared in two West Fife web sites, namely Fife Direct (www.fifedirect.org.uk) and the West Fife Villages Community Planning Groups website. (www.westfifevillages.co.uk) Additionally, for a week prior to the event, verge-side boards had been displayed on the six roads leading into Saline. Various other ways of publicizing future events were discussed, i.e. Karl said that we should contact www.painters-online.co.uk. This website announces details of forthcoming exhibitions.

5. The Number of visitors and a Review of the Visitors Book. It was estimated that over 400 visitors had attending the event. This was similar to last year’s numbers. A review of the visitors book revealed that approximately 50% of the visitors had come from Saline village.

6. Photographs Provided by Andy Young and Bill Wilson. It was agreed that the photographs and maps displayed by Andy and Bill proved extremely popular attractions and contributed a great deal to the overall success of the Exhibition.

7. Catering. The ladies from the Guild and the WRI said that they were well satisfied with sales.

8. The Future of the Exhibition. Following a discussion, it was agreed that we should hold an Art & Photographic Exhibition and a concurrent Arts & Craft Exhibition during April of next year.

Gareth stated, however, that we would need to distribute the workload much wider as previously too few people undertook too much work.

9. Objectives. Norman said that he had spoken to Marylla about the purpose of the exhibition and he went on to propose that we should establish the main objectives in order to assist decision taking and management of the exhibition. One suggestion was:- “To stimulate and promote the art and photographic skills of the residents of West Fife”. Gareth agreed and said that this was a matter for consideration at the next meeting.

10. Date of Next Meeting. It was agreed that the meeting to discuss the arrangements for the 2009 exhibition should be held 0n 28th October 2008, at 7pm in the Saline Community Centre.

John Crane
Vice Chair, Saline & Steelend Community Council.
Vice President, Saline Horticultural & Industrial Society.