Sumac Admin Meeting 4/6/12
Previous Minutes
Fire Safety to check upstairs break glass > K to call them
Cinema event > L to look up Temp. Events Notice
AFed Sam> AFed is arranging meeting to make a decision on the situation, Sumac will act in solidarity with AFed; till then ban continues.
Feedback from Collectives:
Bar:
> Beer festival idea might be postponed to leave the opportunity for Sumac of participating in Pride (see below, Events)
> Bar is sound-proofing the Beech avenue end of Sumac: Thick curtain will be placed on the door whenever live music is on
> Reminded that there is a ‘No live/amplified music’ policy on Sundays (see below at Green Festival); who puts on events has to attend bar meeting at least 2 weeks in advance
> Bar to distribute Events&contacts list to neighbours.
> Stuff on the stage will be re-moved (Windows to Ned’s)
Cafe:
> PK is going well but needs more volunteers. Last meetings organised are poorly attended
> Volunteers to participate at Pride (28-29 July)?
Residents:
> G has moved out, T has moved in.
Maintenance:
> J & K met with the surveyor. Checked over the roof and the render. Have a list of things which need doing in relation to this.
> K sent out the minutes on the maintenance mailing list: very few answers
> Main things which will need money are roof, render and painting (scaffold will be needed), possible new boiler, remaining new windows
> K is leaving soon – Anyone interested in taking over the coordination of Maintenance?
> Possible Work-Weekend in September
Veggies:
> Trailer will be going out more regularly now so need access to it, please don’t block it in
> Shipping store started leaking, but in process of fixing it.
Radical Routes:
> D to draft email about Sumac capacity issue re work commitment for now, and re expression of interest in participation, ie. Kid’s working group.
> AM. to speak to P about becoming core member of Kids Group.
>D to contact gathering working group re help for organising entertainment (and general help) for summer gathering.
>At last gathering Social Centre workshop proposed to repristinate Social Centres Network, and the writing of an Introduction to Social Centres Zine. To include; vital stats, legal, experiences and to have a national gathering for radical social centres: contributions from ALL are welcome.
>Report from Spring Gathering see email to admin list (4th June 2012)
Website:
>Meetings had poor attendance, nevertheless what needed fixing has been fixed, Where to go next?Thinking of using ‘extremelab.net’ as it’s 36£/year and they seem a like-minded group.
Garden:
>Trying to work out how to structure the Garden collective and opportunities for volunteering.
>More and more plants!
> Hanging baskets with flowers were popular in the community – D to mention to Moby – T mentioned to garden collective
Library:
> A doing good job of keeping things tidy: proposed to make Tuesdays ‘Resource Centre open day’
> K to design and quote for shelving and send to list. Any comments welcome
> Volunteers to participate at Pride (28-29 July)?
Finance:
> D is nearly up to date with Accounts. They are looking healthy.
> AGM between 2nd and 16th of July, D will organise it.
> Would be great if someone else wanted to look at finances so it wasn’t only Dom who knew how to do them. Contact D if so and he can go through stuff with you!
Events:
> 6th June: Film – L
> Punk Picnic – keep an eye on noise levels – T to make a sign for the gate asking people to leave quietly; T to make a sign for neighbours on Beech Ave. + Tell them about music weekend and Telephone Number
> Green Festival After-party – happening despite last year’s decision (PRINT July 2011 Green Festival discussion) and what results from July 2010 meeting’s minutes: ‘No music on Sundays’ (due to neighbours complaints) -> change ‘live music’ to ‘amplified music’ in policy docs; PAT to contact Walt: keep noise level down, music will be off at 10pm, people will be out at 10.30pm; Stewards needed to guarantee the smooth running of the event
> Food Bank meeting
> 12th June: Film – T & M
>13th June: Community Circle – they have mentioned that they would like a confidential space and don’t want people walking through. Pat has suggested they put a sign on the door deterring people from entering. – COMMUNITY CIRCLE to knock on door’s residents to remind to keep quiet
>13th June: Sounds on the Downs
>14th June: NAR
>23 June: Hunt Sabs benefit – Martin the Livewire
>DogShelf gigs: T to talk to them about fundraiser (benefits for relevant groups/campaigns) & sound system (always better to use in-house PA to attenuate noise pollution)
>27-29 July: Pride – they welcomed the idea of having a Pre-Pride on Friday 27th at Sumac, and also offered the possibility to have People’s Kitchen at Pride + a Stall in the Community Groups area + Sumac Library in the Reading tent: WHO is interested in getting involved in this?
Outbuilding:
> Uncle is interested in using outbuilding for a bike project. He would like the space for working on and storing bikes. He would be happy to work with others on a bike project, particularly if people wanted to use it during the week and how tools were stored etc.: after the discussion they had it seems that other people interested in a bike project (A/T/A etc) do not actually have the capacity to do it.
> Space would need to be partitioned and also secured, both from the front and at the internal partition. Uncle suggested he was happy to arrange this. He later suggested to control the site with CCTV cameras, which is contrary to Sumac’s ethics.
>Meeting to be arranged asap.
>A to get back to Abdul with proposal and expressing concerns for CCTV
> Out building clearance is ongoing: T and B, plus AR (jumble sale)
Food Bank: Proposal from new Food Bank project to use the Sumac (Thursdays of Fridays 9am-5pm) as place for distribution of food parcels and meals. Two disclaimers come together with this proposal:
1.Cleanliness: we all should be more aware of different cultural habits, and due to the hygiene requirements of the project, the people involved have offered to do some deep cleaning of the centre before it starts.
2.Food parcels containing meat: they would be distributed at the Sumac, but not for consumption on the spot, and the food will be stored somewhere else from the Sumac.
Nota Bene: Sumac’s policy about food consumption is ‘vegan cooking’ and ‘vegetarian take-in’
It is been noted that the event will correspond to a ‘private hiring’ of the centre, therefore the origin of the food will be clear and not related to the Sumac centre.
Due to the nature of the project, this will not be publicised on the list, still will appear as ‘private hiring’ on the diary.
After 6 weeks there will be a review of the project.
B’s Resignation: we express sadness for this big loss and we also hope to deal with the issues raised by B.
We really appreciate B’s valuable work and long commitment to the Sumac and we welcome him to come to the centre as we’d also be happy to have him around.
Process: a ‘process meeting’ will be planned on the list.
Filing System: it has been proposed to create a better filing system, in order to easily find past decisions (ie: see JM’s ban -to be discussed at next meeting; Green Festival afterparty), and other relevant information.
Secretary is needed.
Meeting closed.