Littleham & Landcross Community Web Site Association

Meeting at Crealock Arms 1200 16th February 2009

Present: John Bromhead(JB), Pat Haddrell(PH) Chair, Sue Beer(SB), Ian Mitchell(IM), Andrew Tregoning(AT), David Hogan(DH) Minutes

Apologies: Messrs. Morris & Jacqui Poole(MP & JP), Neville Jackson(NJ)

Agenda:

1.   Constitution change:  'Aims' to read; 

          'Running and promoting a community web site for the benefit of residents of the Parish of Littleham & Landcross, (hereafter referred to as the Parish) and visitors, both physical and virtual. Encouraging and fostering the development of information in the parish.

2.   Report from Treasurer

3.   Sponsorship - New Sponsors and Extending sponsor's area in LLCWSA

4.   Grassroots Grant Application

5.   Reports from coordinators (those present and any others through the chair) 

6.   New role of News Coordinatior - Terms of reference

7.   Visitor Statistics

8.   Laser Printer management and use

Proceedings:

The chair opened the meeting.

agenda item 1.  Constitution change:  

The group agreed the change to the objective of the Littleham & Landcross Community Web Site Association  (LLCWSA hereafter) constitution with the amendment to read; 

'Running and promoting a community web site for the benefit of residents of the Parish of Littleham & Landcross,  (hereafter referred to as the Parish) and visitors, both physical and virtual. Encouraging and fostering the dissemination of information in the parish.”

DH was duly authorized to make the change to the constitution document held on the Littleham & Landcross Web Site (LLCWS hereafter).

Agenda item 2.  Treasurers report:

The treasurer distributed a paper listing the current state of finances of the LLCWSA and stated that thanks to increased sponsorship activity and the successful application for grant aid from the Bridge Trust, the current balance in hand was a healthy £566.38. This she stated was adequate to maintain the anticipated running costs of the association for the next 2 years.  She also confirmed that the Bridge Trust had indicated that they were prepared to consider favourably a further application for a grant to cover the costs of web site hosting and broadband rental for the next year.

The treasurer introduced the group to a company called Expaedia.com who offer opportunities for charitable groups to benefit financially from people buying goods through their channels. After discussion the group felt that the proposal offered little opportunity for increased income and that the group’s efforts would be best applied to increasing the number of sponsors.

The treasurer was thanked for her good management of the association’s financial affairs.
ACTION: SB to apply for Bridge Trust grant at the appropriate time

Agenda item 2. Sponsorship - New Sponsors and Extending sponsor's area in LLCWSA:

DH introduced the group to the enhanced sponsor graphic presentation on each web site page. He demonstrated how each graphic can be hyperlinked to a sponsors web site/web page. He identified a negative aspect to this development where sponsors may not have a web site/web page and suggested that the provision of such a page might be a service that the group could consider providing for additional sponsor donation. Discussion followed and it was generally agreed that for an additional £25.00 sponsorship donation a single standard format web page could be provided for sponsors who do not have  a web site.  DH agreed to approach Tony Brend & Mike Smale to see if they would be prepared to act as guinea pigs for this development. AT suggested that in the interim and for those sponsors who do not wish to avail themselves of the service there could be a link to a location map indicating where the sponsor’s premises are located.
SB advised the detail of the web site for Beer Electrical.
SB suggested a sponsor list accessible from a link in the sponsor column. It was agreed that this would be beneficial and should be implemented.
AT pointed out that it wasn’t intuitively obvious that a sponsor graphic was clickable.
SB suggested contacting Crosslet advertisers to request sponsorship. This was agreed and DH offered to provide the standard templates for sponsorship request that were employed last year.
SB asked if it might be possible to obtain sponsorship from the letting agents of our sponsors who let holiday accommodation. The group thought this was worth pursuing.

	ACTION: 	DH to contact Tony Brend & Mike Smale
			DH to construct sample standard web page for sponsors
DH to provide interim access to location map for sponsors without their own web page
DH to effect hyperlink to Beer Electrical web site
DH to introduce a sponsor list
DH to modify sponsor column text to include information about clickable sponsor graphics
DH to forward sponsorship request templates to sponsorship coordinator
JP to circulate sponsorship requests to Crosslet advertisers
JP to contact the letting agents connected with sponsors who let holiday accommodation to obtain their sponsorship.

Agenda item 4.  Grassroots Grant Application:
The acquisition of laptop computers for use in the village hall for training purposes was revisited and after discussion it was agreed that AT should apply to the Grass Roots organisation for grant aid for the provision of:

6 x laptop computers
1 x Video Projector
Printer management hardware
Security cabinet
Installation cost (relocating router in village hall)

SB suggested that Age Concern might be a further source of grant aid. After discussion and an on line investigation it was generally agreed that this might be worth pursuing.

The acquisition of a publicly accessible computer kiosk at the village hall was again debated and the group concluded that it would not be appropriate. It was felt that where such access was required, the existing donated computers could be used or if the Grass Roots grant was successful, the laptops thus acquired might be employed for this duty.

DH asked the group if the inclusion of a networkable web camera might be something the group would consider acquiring. He gave examples of its application, principally to contribute to a more dynamic web site. Concerns were expressed about intrusion into individual’s privacy and it was unanimously agreed that the use of such an item should be carefully restricted and monitored, Examples were put forward of application at Village events such as the fete and also for wild life observation. The group asked DH if he could set up an example for them to consider.

ACTION:
DH to advise AT of printer management hardware specification
AT to assemble bid for Grass Roots/Age Concern  grant aid and report back to next meeting.
DH to establish an example web cam application.

Agenda item 5.   Reports from coordinators (those present and any others through the chair):

PH reported that the facilities for updating the web site content were much improved and easy to use.
IM reported that he had re-arranged and updated his genealogy pages to meet the XHTML standard
IM also reported that he had altered the gallery configuration to enable full screen display of users pictures by clicking on an image. He advised users to pre-size their pictures so that the longest edge did not exceed 1000 pixels. He agreed that the file size limit would be maintained at 800k. IM requested that emphasis was required to confirm that Gallery Membership was required before users could upload pictures.
DH reported that space had been made available by the removal of the ‘Otters video” and the “Woodpecker” video. DH went on to suggest to the group that it should consider increasing the capacity of the hosting arrangement so that the restriction on user’s contribution is relieved.

ACTION: 
DH to consider ways of emphasising the need for Gallery membership.
THE GROUP to consider doubling up the capacity of the web site.

Agenda item 6.   New role of News Coordinatior - Terms of reference

PH confirmed her willingness to take on this role and requested the necessary training. The terms of reference were not discussed, being a new post it was felt that initially it should be “played by ear”.

ACTION: 
DH to provide training for news coordinator

Agenda item 7.   Visitor Statistics

DH reported on the failure of this service due to the unanticipated effect of the server relocation by the hosting organisation LCN in November. He demonstrated how the service had been reinstated and how the pre November 2008 statistics were accessed separately to the 2009.

	

Agenda item 8.   Laser Printer management and use

The chair brought a request to the group from the Parish Plan group who would like to use the printer for the production of the Parish Welcome Pack. It was unanimously agreed that this was an ideal use for the printer and debate followed about how it would be costed. PH asked if training could be provided in the use of the printer prior to the printing of the pack.

ACTION:
DH to agree date for training with PH
DH to specify print management equipment

Date of the next meeting

The next meeting will be held at the Crealock Arms on the 30th April at 1200-1400

Proceedings ended

The chair brought the meeting to a formal conclusion.