Welcome to Port William

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held Wednesday 31st May 2023
7.30 p.m. Maxwell Hall, Port William
PRESENT:- Community Councillors – Mr R Sheppard, Mr D Ballantyne, Mr L Gray (Minutes
Secretary), Mr J McMaster, Ms R Davison, Dr J Crowther, Mr R McElrea, Mrs B Mellor, Mrs L
McNaught
Elected members – Cllr K Hagmann
Members of the Public – Mrs J Gray, Mr T Cottam, Mr S Mellor, Mr G McAlpine
Apologies – Ms J Edgar, Mr P Corrigan
1. Election of Office Bearers – Mr J McMaster took the seat as Chair for the AGM. He thanked the
community councillors and the office bearers for their work over the past year. Mr L Gray acted
as minutes secretary for the election. Mr J McMaster started election, the outcome is as follows:
a. Chairman – Mrs B Mellor proposed Mr R Sheppard for Chair, Mr R McElrea seconded
this proposal. With no further nominations or objections, Mr R Sheppard is to continue
as Chair until May 2024.
b. Treasurer – Mrs B Mellor proposed Mr D Ballantyne for Treasurer, Dr J Crowther
seconded this proposal. With no further nominations or objections, Mr D Ballantyne is to
continue as Treasurer until May 2024.
c. Secretary – Ms R Davison proposed Mr L Gray for Secretary, Mr D Ballantyne seconded
this proposal. With no further nominations or objections, Mr L Gray is to continue as
Secretary until May 2024.
2. Minutes of AGM held on May 2022
a. Proposer – Mr D Ballantyne
b. Seconder – Mr R McElrea
3. Matters arising from the minutes – None
4. Chairman’s Report – Mr R Sheppard read his Chairman’s report for the year from May 2022 to
the Community Council as follows:
1.0 Meetings
I am happy to report that during the year since the last AGM our full complement of 10 meetings
have been held at the Maxwell Hall. We have had some attendance from the elected members,
who have always been helpful in their contributions. We have had occasional attendance of the
local police officers, but we have received reports from them electronically for each meeting.
2.0 Office bearers
I would like to give my thanks to the Treasurer for his efforts with the handling of our financial
affairs, and the Secretary, who like myself, is new to the post, and has been diligent with the
preparation of minutes and distribution of emails received relating to the local area. Thanks go
to R McElrea for his efforts in dealing with wind farm applications, and to P Carrigan for
monitoring Planning Applications.In addition,
I would like to thank the remaining Community Council members for their support
throughout the year, with a special nod to J Edgar, who will be leaving our ranks to take up the
role of Chair at the Maxwell Hall. She will be a sad loss to the CC, but Maxwell Hall needs her
time, and we fully appreciate that.
3.0 Financials
I will leave our esteemed Treasurer to go into detail, but we have received two parcels of wind
farm money during the year, and we have been pleased to receive applications from local
groups for assistance, and we have distributed the funds received in what I believe to be a fair
manner.
4.0 Ward 2 Federation of Community Councils
During the year I attended the inaugural meeting of the proposed re-formed Federation of CCs,
which has been instigated by D&G Council. Further meetings are planned.
5.0 Place Planning
Mainly due to the enthusiasm for the subject by our CC Dr J Crowther, myself and R Davison
joined her for a meeting with 4 members of the Council staff to discuss what we need to do and
what support will be available.
Although unlike (say) Whithorn, there is no “golden egg” at the end of the process, it is still very
important for local groups that might apply for funding in the future. This is especially so for the
Maxwell Hall and their plans in the future. I’m sure that the members of the CC look forward to
assisting Jaqueline in her efforts.
6.0 Liaison with the Harbour Master
Again, mainly due the efforts of Dr Crowther, some progress has been made with tidying up
and maintaining the harbour.
7.0 Review panels
The Chair represented the CC on two review panels during the year, and the experience gained
from these has been helpful to further understand how other CCs operate and a better
understanding of the actions related to these review processes.
8.0 Notice boards
Admittedly much later than I had hoped, but the new notice boards are now installed in The
Square, and the keys will be held in the Spar as has been the custom. The old signage above
the sign boards has also been removed.
5. Financial Statement and Treasurer’s Report – Mr D Ballantyne read his report for the year from
May 2022 to the Community Council as follows:
The year commenced with an overall balance in the account of £2,414.10. At the end of this
financial year we had £4,740.15 in the bank account.This was made up of Administration Fund
of £1,136.41, Village Improvements Fund-£950.47, Carscreugh Wind Farm Community Fund —
£453.27 and Kilgallioch Community Benefit Fund—£2,200. An overall surplus of £2,326.05 was
recorded.

We were once again delighted to receive strong financial support from Carscreugh Wind Farm
Community Fund of £3,003.27 and paid out £2,550.00 to local organisations as listed in the
accounts. In addition we received £2,000.00 from Kilgallioch Community Benefit Fund which will
be paid out in the next financial year .From the previous year’s funds we paid out £800 to local
organisations.
Outstanding items still to be paid from the Community Benefit Funds are : £200 from Kilgallioch
towards the notice board and £453.27 from Carscreugh for payment of a picnic table.
We were once again pleased to receive £843.60 from D&G Council which enabled us to pay for
xmas lights in Mochrum and pass over to Port William Community Association a contribution
towards Xmas trees in the villages.
The wishing well continues to contribute to the Village Improvements fund —£93.40.
Many thanks to D&G Council for their continued Discretionary Grant of £493.30 which assists
greatly to cover administration , hall hire , insurance etc.
Once again , I would record my thanks to Mrs Audrey Kevan for examining the accounts.
Mr D Ballantyne requested a proposer and seconder for the annual report – Mr J McMaster
proposed; Mr R McElrea seconded.
6. Nominations for other positions
a. Press Secretary- currently Leom Gray
i. Mr L Gray is happy to continue in this role. No further nominations or objections
were raised, Mr L Gray to continue as Press Secretary until May 2024
b. Planning Application monitoring- currently Paul Corrigan
i. Mr P Corrigan had confirmed prior to the AGM that he had no objections
continuing as Planning Application monitor. No further nominations or objections
were raised, Mr P Corrigan to continue in this position until May 2024.
c. Wind Farm administration- currently Richard McElrea
i. Mr R McElrea is happy to continue in this role. No further nominations or
objections were raised, Mr R McElrea to continue as Wind Farm administrator
until May 2024.
d. Website liaison with Andy Lund- currently Leom Gray
i. Mr L Gray is happy to continue in this role. No further nominations or objections
were raised, Mr L Gray to continue as Website Liaison until May 2024.
7. Meeting plan for the coming year
19:30 hours on the last Wednesday of each month, excluding August and December when no
meeting will be held. Planned to be in the Maxwell Hall
8. Any other business – None
There being no further business the meeting closed at 7:45pm
Date and Time of the Next Meeting – Wednesday 29th May 2024, 7:30pm, Maxwell Hall, Port William.