Minutes of the Meeting of the Friends of Blairs on Sunday 9 March at St Bridget’s, Baillieston.
Those present: Peter Creron (Chair)
John Brown
Anne Caruana (Treasurer)
John O’Donnell
David McCann
Brian McGuire
Mgr John McIntyre
Mandy
Raymond Caruana (Minutes)
Apologies: James Cassidy (Secretary)
Peter Gorman
Page 1 – The reference to the Fr.O’ Mahony Memorial Trust should have read that a donation of £1000 had been received.
Page 2 – The reference to the film should read that it would be made “via Scottish Screen”.
The reference to the Museum Trust should read that this was merely a suggestion by Mandy Murray. Any invitation would have to come formally from the Trustees of the Museum.
Minutes were proposed by John O’ Donnell and seconded by Brian McGuire.
Annual Mass: The Archbishop has
replied that he will celebrate the
Ceilidh: Arrangements are now well in hand. The Chair set out these arrangements for the approval of the Committee.
The Band has been booked. In view of the cost, the Committee decided that at this stage it would not be appropriate to incur the extra cost of a fiddler.
The Chair asked Members to come forward with some raffle Prizes; he already has a couple but this is insufficient. Members will come forward with some. It is proposed to put books of raffle tickets on tables.
There will be an auction of a Limited Edition Bottle of Blair Athol Single Malt. More Auction ideas would be welcome.
Celtic FC has said that before they can consider our request made they would need a Registered Charity Number and the request made on letter headed paper. The Association is not a Registered Charity. Further enquiries will be made and a decision taken before the Ceilidh.
It is hoped to have a presentation
on the night on the work of Fr Colin in
There will be a Roll the Bottle. It is hoped to have a donation of a bottle from a distillery.
There will be comedy skits by Brian McGuire and others.
The Chair has put together a Poster advertising the event, copies of which were distributed to the Committee, to be put up in Parishes.
Dress optional although the wearing of kilts would be appreciated.
The Committee agreed that they would make a donation from Funds with the amount being decided at a later date.
Finally the Committee decided that,
in principle, they would hold another event later in the year for the
The Archbishop has replied that he will celebrate the Mass and attend the dinner. It is hoped that Mgr McIntyre will also be able to attend.
A report was given on the Muir Group Open Day held at the College on 1st March. Some Members had attended and conducted tours around the College.
An e-mail had been received by
the Secretary from the former Manager at the Museum (David Taylor) which read
“Just a note to say that the open day at Blairs was an unprecedented success. I
was tied up with other commitments and did not arrive until
Please record my personal thanks to FP’s Peter (Creron), Charlie (McLaughlin), Dave ( McCann) and Mgr McIntyre for giving up their time to take the folks on tours around the College and for giving support to Mandy. It would not have worked without their input. You should be proud of them. I certainly was”.
The Association learnt a great deal from the event as it was proposed to have something similar on the day of the AGM as this may be the last opportunity to see the College in its present form before the proposed development starts.
Members agreed that the AGM and Mass were the principal events of the day and these should not be overshadowed by or subordinate to the proposed tours. The event should be used to encourage greater membership.
It was eventually agreed that tours would start at 12.00 with the last one being at 15.00. The AGM would be at 16.00 and the Mass at 17.00.
The Group has not met since the last Meeting of the Committee. David McCann, however, continues with his cataloguing exercise.
There has been .little movement in the amount held since the last Meeting.
General Account: £1,598.68
Special Account: £2,060.31 of which £1,000 is a donation for the Ecuador Project. The amount available is £1,060.31.
The total funds available (excluding Ecuador Project) is £2,658.99.
The painting of the College that had been commissioned has been completed and copies of it were shown to the Committee. The actual painting is hanging in the corridor to the Museum. The full cost was £395.
For the Open Day, Mandy had arranged for period costumes to be made. These and other expenses for the day totalled some £635.
The Committee agreed that in accordance with a previous decision to support the cost of the painting it would make a payment of £395. This would represent a contribution to the whole costs incurred.
Mandy on behalf of the Museum thanked the Friends for their generosity. She will ensure that an appropriate acknowledgement of this would be made.
It was agreed that a copy of the print of the painting would be included in the next Newsletter.
The next meeting will be held on Sunday in May.
The Meeting closed with a short prayer led by Mgr McIntyre.