Draft AGM Minutes
DRAFT MINUTES PENDING APPROVAL
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
ISLANDS BOOK TRUST
held in person at COMMUNITY HUB, Balallan, Isle of Lewis
and online via the Zoom platform
on TUESDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER 2025 at 7.30 pm
Present: John Randall, Jan Gold, Fred Siver, Ben Sheppard, Karen Roach (in person) and Malcolm Burr, Iain Mackenzie, Martin Atherton, Norman MacLean, Dòmhnall Dòmhnallach, Richard Deveria, Allison Regan, Gavin Scott-Moncrieff, Annabelle Scott-Moncrieff, Susanne Barding (online).
Apologies: Kenneth Macleod, Alasdair MacEachen.
1 Welcome
John Randall, Chair, opened the meeting and welcomed Trustees, Members and staff to the AGM. He thanked Kinloch Historical Society for providing the venue.
2 Minute of Annual General Meeting of 19th November 2024
The Minute was approved, having been proposed by Iain Mackenzie and seconded by Norman MacLean.
3 Chair’s Report
John Randall presented the Chair’s report (attached). He highlighted the continued progress made in recovering from the previous period of low activity prior to 2023 in terms of publications, events and financial performance. This had however only been achieved through excessive voluntary effort by staff and Trustees which was unsustainable in the longer term. Following input from an independent consultant, IBT are now planning to take forward an updated 5-year business plan to 2030-31 led by staff members Ben Sheppard and our newest recruit Allison Regan who has a strong background in business planning , marketing and fundraising. John paid tribute to the publications work of Claudia Albrecht who left IBT at the end of July.
4 Secretary’s Report
Malcolm Burr thanked John, fellow Trustees, staff, and others involved for their work over the past year in taking the Trust forward. He had nothing to add of substance to the Chair’s report and had to leave the meeting at this point because of another commitment.
5 Treasurer’s Report
John Randall, acting Treasurer, referred to copies of the Draft Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 which were made available to those present. It had been a very successful year with a further welcome increase in the balance of income over expenditure - although he noted that this was partly due to the timing of grants received. He drew attention to an error in the categorisation of income from events (shown incorrectly as fundraising events) which would be corrected in the final version. This would not affect the overall increase in funds shown. He also noted that the valuation of book stocks has increased significantly over the figures estimated for previous years.
The Accounts were unanimously approved.
6 Amendments to the IBT Constitution
The following changes updating the Trust’s address and to taking account of technological developments in technology were agreed unanimously:
Clause 1 – Title: Amend address of Trust from ‘Laxay Hall, Laxay, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9PJ’ to ‘Community Hub, Balallan, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9PN’.
Clause 9 – Bank Account: omit ‘….,with cheques requiring countersigned, including by at least one Trustee’.
Insert new Clause 13 – ‘Definition of a Meeting’ to read: ‘A meeting is a gathering of members or Trustees, whether in person or through electronic means, which allows for real-time interaction and participation. Such participation at any meeting which members or Trustees are entitled to attend can be by remote means such as video conferencing or other electronic technology. Voting at meetings may be conducted by a show of hands, by a poll, or by electronic means as determined by the Chair.’
Former Clause 13 - number increases by +1 due to insertion of new clause 13.
7 Election of Trustees
The following Trustees needed to stand down on rotation but had all indicated their willingness to be re-nominated for a further 3 year term: Malcolm Burr, Kenneth Macleod, John Randall.
Their re-election was approved unanimously.
In addition, two new nominations for Trustee had been received: Susanne Barding in the Faroes, and Andrew Jennings in Shetland.
Their election was approved unanimously.
8 - Any Other Business
Fred Silver noted that his magazine Scottish Islands Explorer is looking for new leadership. John Randall said that there is considerable synergy with the work of IBT but it might be difficult for the Trust to take this on with our present very limited staff resources. It was agreed that any interested individual or organisation should contact Fred for further details.
Following the completion of the formal part of the meeting, the Chair introduced Allison Regan to those attending and asked her to say a few words about her background, experience, and ideas for strengthening IBT marketing and branding. Allison gave a short presentation, including possible new logos for IBT. Members present expressed their appreciation and general support for the new ideas which may form part of the Trust’s updated business plan and marketing strategy in due course.
The meeting closed at 8.40pm.