Busy little meeting tonight and I would like to thank Nigel Crowe for standing in as Chairman at such short notice.
Please note that as I've not been given or asked for permission to say whats wrong with Ernie, I'll only say that he'll be missing from the meetings for the next few months and hope he gets better soon and further information will be contained in the Quarterly members journal.

All Officers of the committee stood for re-election and as there was no contested places, all committee members were successfully voted back in. It must be added that Pat Nicholson will be standing down from the post of Secretary next year and a list of responsibilities and tasks of whats required has been drawn up to assist any future candidate for the position. Those who are interested can contact Pat at the meeting or inform me at my email address at the end of this post.

The annual exhibition was brought up and further discussions of every other year and also other organizations to be involved was put forward for consideration. This was mainly put forward to reduce the cost of the hall/place with the additional pull of other similar attractions.

Unfortunately, the price of membership had to be voted in for a slight increase due to the additional costs for admin expenses that included postage, delivery, photocopying etc.
I may add that this was contested due to the issue of people who might not be in a position to afford it, especially for the elderly, but due to spiraling costs, it was deemed necessary and eventually after much discussion, voted in. (Note; this will still be less than other societies) The treasurer did state that if everyone paid in advance, then this would help assist future situations.

The library in Peel was brought up and mention was expressed over concern as to people who were disabled and might be unable to access the stairs and also the size of the premises. It is hoped that Peel Commissioner's who have always looked after the society in the past, can once again look at a larger premises, preferably downstairs. The old Police station near Pevril Hill was suggested and I must admit, it has some unique history and I'd prefer the society being there than seeing it be turned into a block of flats or apartments.

Now then, I know that there will be people reading with interest regards the following; Co-opted officer John Morrison having some heavy work and family commitments, has asked that Ian Radcliffe be given admin rights to the website.
Speaking to John earlier tonight, I learnt of a few issues that prevented him from spending time on the website and I think he's done remarkably well in what he's done, considering the pressure that he was under and appreciate the work that has been undertaken due to the circumstances involved. (I wish your family well John).

Ian will undertake the movement of wills to the IOMFHS site once he has been given admin rights and John will help out in other areas, as and when he can. (Appreciated John).

Ian, John and I will look at improving the website with David Le Prevost (isleofman.com director) and will review ways of providing the members with increased copyrighted information.

The passworded area requires addressing and it has been suggested that passwords to society members will be included in the members quarterly journal and looks likely to be implemented.

General chit chat and not official - After the meeting included conversations over the passworded members area in the future. Basically, members will have access to information not published before and consideration over a token scheme was quietly discussed, which will allow members to have more tokens than they actually require and non-members will pay well in excess of the joining membership. This will obviously be to encourage membership, but if people preferred to pay for what they see, then that would be an advantage to the society's bank balance.

Please note that I'm not perfect in my recollection of what was stated (wife agrees) and the minutes will be issued at the next meeting which is to be held on Friday 19th November

Please note that I have always tried to inform members and none members of current affairs within the society, as I believe that its important to keep researchers and Genealogist aware of present and future developments.

I wish you all well and if anyone has suggestions to improve the website, then I would strongly suggest, that you send it to my email address below for consideration and remember to replace the AT with @

paul_fhs_iomATmanx.net

Yours sincerely,
Paul Wade