SCMG Minutes Archive 2004

Constitution

1 PRESENT: Angi, Seb, Nick, Karen, Amy, Andy, Rob, Matt, Darren, Rich. APOLOGIES: Adam, Heidi.

2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING: All agreed fine. In future minutes of meetings to be sent as an attached document in email.

3. FINANCES: Balance £2.00p, and £250.00p owed out for CD's. Bridgwater carnival club still owes SCMG £250.00p which Nick is going to chase up. Bands also owe SCMG £440.00p for CD's.

4. GIGS: 29th of January art centre gig needs to be snapped up ASAP, to aid this Angi to send matt a mailout for promoters only.
Rag day gig on Thursday 16th of December, Midnight Mango banner to go up here.
CD launch gig, all going to plan, Angi to do EDD mailout for this gig. Local paper representatives to be on guest list: Ben Pike, Dan Salls and Pete Lewis.

5. SCMG CD: finished, sounding good and artwork looking great. SCMG to ask bands to keep track of how many CD's they sell.
Cost: £750 (discount price). Pressed CD's offered at the same price but take longer to make and a license of registration has to be applied for; this to be investigated for next year.
440 CD's to bands, 60 for SCMG and 20 for promo. ( number of CD's to bands to be reconsidered for the future).
CD's to be given to shops for sale for a minimum price of £1 and maximum price of £5. CD's to be delivered to shops in Taunton and Bristol by Karen, Bridgwater by Angi and Weston-super-mare by Rob.

6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
Banner: Matt has purchased a new one for £40.00p.
Czech tour: any bands interested need to contact Brian by early January.
Somerfest Liason committee has agreed to change the date to Sunday 5th of June for 2005. Brett, Angi and Seb to join Matt on the committee for Somerfest, next meeting 14th January 3.30pm at the art centre.

7. DATE OF NEXT MEETING: 4/01/05 8pm at the labour club.

1. Present: Nick, Andy, Karen, Rich, Darren, Adam, Seb, Angi and Chris.

2. Apologies: Matt Bartlett, Adrian, Ben Crook and Amy.

3. Minutes of previous meeting on 5/10/04 all agreed fine.

4. Finances: £502.91, still no money from carnival club, Karen has emailed them.

5. Gigs: See Gig Guide

6. Forum: Nick recommends people post gig info on forum and ask for feedback

7. Compilation CD: today deadline for that, so far 15/16 acts submitted material. Closed for submissions now unless bands have already expressed an interest in which case they must submit their track in the next few days. 1 track per artist is to be put on CD. Tracks are not going to be mastered, nick is to choose running order. Finished article should be ready in 10 days. PMC to duplicate Cds.

8. Title and Art Work: title is 'Bring Your Daughter To Bridgwater'. Art work from Jake, Matt to edit the layout. Maybe minor tweaks on the font etc, Matt to sort. Standard black envelope around outside though. Angi to email plasma drip font to matt and nick.
500 CD's to be ordered, total cost approx £730 including booklet for CD. Each band buys 20 CD's for £20 and sells them at a price of their own choosing. SCMG to have 60 CD's for promotion purposes and 40 to sell at £5 each. Bands to pay for CD's before they receive them. Bands can collect CD's at the launch gig or email Nick with their address plus £5 for postage, cheques should be made out to SCMG.
Saturday December 11th is the CD launch gig at the art centre. Aim is to have as many acts as possible and use the gallery as well as the theatre. Nick, Karen, Angi and Seb to promote this gig. Bone idol have confirmed that they will play at this gig. Nick to email all bands that have a track on the CD and ask if they would like to play at the launch gig. Promotion sub-committee to meet on Tuesday 16th of November at the labour club at 8.00pm. All agreed Nick would do the posters for this gig and use the CD cover image on the poster.
Adverts for CD and CD launch gig to go to:-
Venue magazine, Suited and booted, Kerrang, BCR FM, Hobbits, Orchard FM, Local BBC radio (Somerset Sound), Mercury, Local labour candidate, The Independent, Daily Mirror (Friday supplement) and the forum (Andy to do). Also all contacts Matt B. has.
Funding: £100 to hire art centre at the moment. 2nd stage for the night should be free but Seb to check this with uncle Adrian. Seb also to do the lights for the night.

9. Czech Tour: dates are Fri 25th march 2005 to sat 2nd April. 10 people per band required. £210 per person. Bands play for 5 nights, one of these nights is at Prague. Football matches also arranged. Anyone interested to email Brian.
There is also a Czech band on tour in December. SCMG is also going to offer new Czech workers a discount of 50% off entry at the launch CD gig on 11.12.04.
Karen will let Brian know about the discount so he can inform the Czech workers. Anyone able to offer the Czech band a gig to contact Brian. Brian also still requesting quiet performers for his Czech evenings in the labour club on a Tuesday evening.

10. Somerfest 2005: looking for someone to liaise with the Somerfest Steering Group. Ideally should be a SCMG member. Anyone interested to contact Matt.B.

11. A.O.B: Amy has written an email about the fanzine for matt to email out to encourage contributors. Aim is to get fanzine out by the CD launch gig.
Banner is lost and needs replacing: if anyone has the banner or knows where it is please return it, no questions will be asked. If it is not returned by the next meeting then will look into getting a new one, Matt's sister may be able to make one for £35.

12. Next Meeting: Tuesday 7th November 8pm at the labour club.

Minutes of the meeting of the SCMG, 4th of October 2004.

1. Present: Nick, Karen, Adam, Darren, Matt, Andy, Amy, Brett and Angi.

2. Apologies: Seb, Adrian, Chris, Rich and John.

3. Minutes: the minutes of the last meeting were agreed as being accurate.

4. Finance: we have £562.91 and still waiting for the money from the crusaders.

5. Gigs: Nick's gig at Bridgwater art centre on Saturday 23rd of October promises to be something different for Bridgwater with Airfield and Sub:Diffusion playing. posters for this gig to be emailed to Purnell's and picked up by matt for distribution.

Forthcoming gigs: see What's on Guide
Also noted that the forum on midnight mango is a good place to promote gigs as many people from the southwest read it.

6. CD Launch: gig for this is sat 11th Dec at the art centre. Closing date for receipt of CD's is 2nd of November and we need to push this to get more CD's in ASAP as the closing date rapidly approaches. Poster to advertise for CD submissions approved ( with a couple of alteration suggestions) and to be printed and distributed from this week at gigs and any other appropriate place. Suggestions for naming the CD include 'bring your daughter to Bridgwater' and 'uncle Adrian's guide to Bridgwater' so far and these and further suggestions will be discussed and decided at the next SCMG meeting. It was noted that tracks for the CD will not be remastered.

7. A.O.B: Nick has received an email from Brian Smedley requesting that anyone (bands or otherwise) showing an interest in the Czech rock tour March/April 2005 email him at smedlo@globalnet.co.uk. The tour lasts for 10 days, there may be a flying option next year (instead of 24 hour coach journey) and is a fantastic experience.

Any bands wanting to play at the labour club for Brian's east European ex-pat group on a Tuesday evenings is also requested to email Brian at the above email address. It should be noted that a p.a. will not be provided.

Amy and Andy are hoping to revive the gig fanzine in Bridgwater. Anyone interested in going to local gigs, writing honest reviews of about 200 words or take photographs should email midnight mango at present until Andy has set up an email account for this.

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING: Tuesday 2nd November 8pm in the front bar of the labour club. If the door is shut please wait, as someone will be along to open it.

1. Present: Matt, Chris, Adrian, Seb, Angi, Amy, Andy, Karen, Nick.

2. Apologies: Brett, Richard Baker, Ben Ozmosis.

3. Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as being accurate.

4. New Chairperson: Adrian nominated Chris for the role and Karen nominated Nick. A secret ballot was held and Nick was voted in by 1 vote to 4 with 2 abstentions. Amy and Andy were not allowed to vote, as they have been members for less than 1 month.
Nick took the role of Chair for the rest of the meeting, Angi agreed to take the role of Secretary and take minutes from the next meeting.

5. Finance: We have £550.00 after paying the bill from Somerfest (approximately £400.00). We have yet to receive the bar take from the Crusaders.

6. Gigs and Venues: We are now affiliated with the Arts Centre. The problem anticipated with the availability of the PA didn't arise, as we were able to gain access to it.
Seb and Angi agreed to send some contacts for local acts to Nick, as he will be promoting the next Arts Centre gig.

7. Compilation CD: We have had two submissions so far, but expect more. Angi and Seb agreed to produce a poster to generate interest and will bring it to the next meeting. The deadline for entry is Tuesday, 2nd November 2004. The release date will be 11th December 2004.

8. A.O.B: The rugby club have received some complaints about noise from local residents, although the source of the noise could be the factory, which has held a number of techno nights recently.
Midnight Mango now has it's own forum on 'South West Music Forums'. There is a link to this from the MM website, or go to www.advance.biz/forums
Brian is looking for an act to play at the labour club, email Matt if interested.
Paul Dimond is looking for support for a gig at Café Mamba in Taunton.
Karen and Amy will liaise with Chris about the proposed fanzine.
Chris announced that his band 'Driaza' is back and gigging.

9. Date of Next Meeting: The next meeting will be Tuesday, 5th October 2004 in the front bar in the Labour Club at 8pm. If the door is shut, wait, as someone will be along to open it.

1. Present: Chris, Angi, Seb, Adrian, Karen, Nick, Matt, Darren, Adam, and Richard.

2. Apologies: Morns.

3. Finance: We have £882.91. We spent £378.59 on this year's Somerfest. However, we will get some money back from the bar.

We paid £25.00 to the Arts Centre to affiliate ourselves.

4. Somerfest: The general consensus was that the festival was a success. On the Friday night each band was paid £25.00, as approximately £200 was taken over the door. Two bands pulled out because they could not be contacted in time for the event.

On the Saturday it was felt that there were still some security issues with several people noticing that the security guards were letting people into the backstage area who did not have passes. It was decided that we should look into alternative companies or agencies for next year. The stage was felt to be very good but the group felt that the PA was could have been better. The monitoring and front of house sound was poor at points, and, again, we should look for alternatives. Nick suggested that we have a DJ to play in between sets and the Fridge Magnets roving performances went down well again. Karen proposed that we try to make the festival more 'green' by promoting recycling and having either more bins, or by placing them more strategically around the site. We should also arrange litter pickers in advance as the arrangement this year led to us overspending. Attendance was down this year and we will aim to increase this next year.

On Sunday the Chumbawamba gig suffered because it clashed with the Euro 2004 final, but was very good.

5. Future Events: There may be a problem with Adrian's availability in the forthcoming months, as the Arts Centre will be closed for building work in August and the beginning of September. This means that the PA will be unavailable. However the only parts of the PA that Adrian doesn't personally own are the front of house speakers and the amps, so we may still be able to put together a serviceable PA if Chris can get some speakers and amps from a friend of his. Adrian agreed to ask Charlie what the problem was with using the PA while the Centre was having the work done. Adrian informed the meeting that the AC would discuss their PA hire policy at their Policy and Finance meeting. Anyone who could supply a PA is invited to contact Adrian, Seb or Angi. If Adrian were to move his parts of the PA from the AC he would not have a place to store them.

Brett is taking care of the next Arts Centre gig but has not confirmed any acts yet.

6. SCMG CD: We are again inviting people to contribute music for this year's compilation CD. Nick has agreed to receive contributions and will also investigate someone to master the recording. The amount of money we will have to spend this year will be less than in previous years.

7. Chairperson: Matt stood down as chairman at this meeting, and the group discussed how to elect a replacement. It was decided that prospective candidates would approach a second person to nominate them at the next meeting. We would then hold a secret ballot. Members of the SCMG will be contacted by email to notify them that the ballot is taking place. A majority result will be acceptable.

8. Any Other Business: Angi and Seb proposed a gig at the town hall later in the year and wanted to check that it would not clash the SCMG Arts Centre gig in October.

9. Date of Next Meeting: Due to the summer recess and the AC being closed at the beginning of September, the next meeting will be at the Unity Club at 8pm on the 7th September 2004.

1. Present: Matt B, Karen R, Nick T, Richard, Adrian B, Justin M, Angi, Nick.

2. Apologies: Seb.

3. Minutes: The minutes were reviewed and accepted as being accurate.

4. Finance: We have £31.50, plus £25 from Angi and Seb's gig. We have been awarded a grant of £1250.00 from the SDC, which is the same amount we were given last year.

5. Gigs: Karen will write to the Arts Centre to affiliate the SCMG, at a cost of £25. Arts centre gigs will be allocated to Brett on the 24th July, and Nick T would like to promote something on the 23rd October.

6. Somerfest: Between 40 and 50 CDs were presented for consideration for Somerfest. A list of bands was presented for the Friday and Saturday gigs.

A fresh call was made for volunteers to steward on the Saturday. Karen said she would co-ordinate stewarding on the day.

It was agreed that the SCMG should pay for the PA for the Friday gig, a sum of £50.00. The somerfest committee has paid for flyers and these were given to those who could distribute them.

It was decided that bands should be paid £30.00 and that we would include £25.00 to pay to litter pickers.

The Crusaders will again provide stalls, and other stallholders are welcome subject to a nominal fee that was not agreed.

Matt will again provide a chalkboard to display the running order, and will bring the SCMG gazebos. Nick will provide the backstage passes. It was agreed that we would hold an extraordinary meeting before the festival if necessary.

7. Any other Business: Scissor Sisters tickets are going fast, and look likely to sell out. Wessex fayres are still looking for bands to play at their festival.

Chris Tully is cycling from Manchester to Bridgwater for charity from 19th to 24th September. He would like to put on a sponsorship gig and would welcome offers from bands, promoters etc. Angi suggested the rugby club as a venue. Contact Chris if interested.

Matt announced he would stand down as chairman after the summer recess. We would review the constitution then and vote for a new chairperson.

8. Next Meeting: The next meeting will be 6th July 2004 at the Arts Centre.

Minutes of the meeting of the SCMG 04/05/2004

1. Present: Matt, Nick, Karen, Rob, Seb, Angi, Adam, Darren, Chris.

2. Apologies: Adrian, Ben.

3. Minutes: The minutes were late arriving this month because of the Czech tour, but were signed off with no alterations.

4. Finance: We have £11.50. The grant application has been submitted, we should have the result by May 20th.

5. Bass Amp: The bass amp is available for SCMG associated gigs. Seb asked whether the amp would be available for band practices. It was suggested that it should be. This would be on a first come, first served basis with priority given to gigs. Matt will stress when agreeing to lend the amp that users are ultimately responsible for taking care of it.

6. Gigs and Venues: The Rock Gardens will now host gigs on a Friday and Saturday night. The Rugby club will do the same on Fridays. The meeting was told of the theft of two microphones from the Rock Gardens on the night of the Czech tour return gig. These were retrieved from a local gig goer later the same night, believed to be Adam Cox. The meeting agreed that he should be excluded from SCMG events for a period of four months. The meeting was reminded that they should be vigilant at such events. The SCMG is still looking for promoters. Anyone interested in putting on a night is encouraged to attend the meeting. Matt asked how we might encourage more hits on the Midnight Mango web site and get more people to these meetings. Suggestions included; a generic flyer, an idea suggested previously; stickers or badges; beer mats and a souvenir Somerfest shirt. Nick said that he would investigate a print shop in Bristol as well as other offers.

7. Somerfest: The sub committee to decide the line up at the festival would meet on Wednesday the 19th May at the Arts Centre. This would be the deadline for demos to be submitted. Rob Morris volunteered to be a steward at this year's event. The stage would not be provided by Grapevine and would instead arrive on a fire engine. Due to the stage being very high, a clause would be included in the contract stipulating that the SCMG would not be liable for damage or injury. Martin Milton would provide the PA this year. There would be five or six acts for the Friday event with the possibility of more if we adopt the dual-stage approach that was used last year. It was agreed that four pounds would be a fair price. Matt produced a provisional flyer for the gig. The Crusaders would run the stalls and we would take half the profits from the beer tent.

8. Czech Benefit: The Czech tour was a resounding success again. There was a gig to recoup some of the money Brian lost which raised £248.37. The group thanked Rob Morris for organising the event and hoped that we would be able to do it again.

9. Any other Business: Matt reminded the group that he was trying to get larger signed acts to play locally and provide support slots for local acts. Matt's gig at the Palace would take place on Sunday featuring the Burn and Proud Mary. There is a Green Party gig at the Town Hall featuring Propaganja. Wessex fayres are still interested in local acts. Nick mentioned that he had a PA to sell on behalf of someone he knows. Contact him for details: nick@midnightmango.co.uk. Seb's band will practice at the Rugby club and if this is successful there may be a possibility of using this as a practice venue.

10. Date of Next Meeting: The next meeting will be the 1st June 2004 at the Arts Centre.

1. Present: Matt, Karen, Chris, Nick, Adrian, Angi, Seb, Richard, Steve, Jon, Rich, Jamie, Adam, Rob.

2. Apologies: Ben, Brett.

3. Minutes: Last month's minutes were signed off.

4. Finance: We have £31.50. We spent £96.50 on the Midnight Mango banner. We also agreed to pay Julian Guy £20 for his services in designing the banner.

5. Bass Amp: We bought an Ashdown bass amp for £340.00 from Sound Control in Bristol. Seb has tested it and it sounds good.

6. SDC Grant Application: The completed application is available to view (ask Matt). We have applied for £2500.00, which is the maximum amount available. Bands interested in making their own applications can view 'samples', available from Matt.

7. Gigs and Venues: Members were reminded to check the website for upcoming events. The Arts Centre want to increase the charge they make for letting us use the venue from £75.00 to £150.00. This still represents a discount, as non-affiliated groups would pay £200.00. They propose an increase of £25.00 per quarter. A vote was held as to whether we should accept this proposal; For: 12, Against: 1, Abstain: 3. Another vote was held to decide if we should become an affiliated member; For: 13 Against: 1. The first gig at the Rugby club will take place on the 9th April. The Rock Gardens may now accept gigs on Fridays and Saturdays.

8. Somerfest: Friday night of the festival may take place at the Rugby Club. Matt suggested that demo tapes be submitted now, and that a small group should decide the acts for this year's event. As always, bands playing the Saturday daytime event would not be allowed to swear or be otherwise offensive during their performance. This condition would be included in their contract. People interested in forming the sub committee included; Seb, Angi, Chris, Matt, Karen and Adam. A certain number of roles would need to be filled for the event. The co-ordinator would be Matt; stage manager would be Chris, with Nick to assist. People who volunteered to act as stewards for part of the day included; Nick, Matt, Adam, Rich, Jon, Jamie, Darren, Steve, Seb and Angi. Angi and Seb would promote the Friday event, Adrian would take care of the PA. The Crusaders would supply and run the stalls on the Saturday.

9. AOB: Wessex fayres are inviting local bands to play I the summer, ask Matt. Matt's gig featuring The Burn and Proud Mary is still going ahead.

10. Next Meeting: 4th May 2004, Arts Centre.

Minutes of the meeting of the SCMG 02/03/04

1. Present: Simon, Nick, Adrian, Steve, Joel, Karen, Seb, Marcus, Justin, Angie, Matt B, Zack.

2. Apologies: Brett, Ben.

3. Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting were signed off with one correction, that we would allow a budget of £50 per month for advertising costs incurred by promoters (ongoing, bank balance allowing), and £30 per gig until April, providing we are given valid receipts.

4. Constitution: The proposed constitution has been available for viewing since last month. A vote confirmed the constitution: eight for, none against.

5. Compilation CD: Almost all of the promotional copies have been sent out. All money has now been collected. There were 20 CDs left over, which were believed to belong to Bikeshed.

6. Finance: We have £625.60. £10 was issued to Nick for postage of promotional CDs. £90 was paid to Angie for the hire of the PA for three gigs (3x £30). The purchase of the Bass amp was confirmed and Nick will buy one in Bristol on Saturday. It was agreed that we should buy one vinyl banner to be used at gigs after Nick reported that it would cost around £150. Nick will be in charge of designing and ordering it.

7. SDC Grant Application: Matt reported that there would not be any funding for advertising the Somerfest event from the council this year, a sum normally around £4000. This will leave around £6000 as the total fund for Somerfest. It is expected, therefore, that we will spend more of our own money on the event this year.

8. Gigs and Venues: The Rugby Club looks like a promising new venue with the possibility of fortnightly Saturdays there. Marcus Burns expressed an interest in staging this year's FrightFest in the Rugby Club or in the Arts Centre. The group welcomed the opportunity to be involved and offered assistance.

9. Czech Tour: Brian has reduced the price to £189.00 to generate more interest. There were extra places remaining, which need to be filled. The representative from Czeke Budejovice was very pleased to have received our cheque for £60, which was to cover damage caused in the accommodation in the town by members of the last tour. It was too late to arrange a date on this tour, but hopefully we will now be welcome there again.

10. AOB: There will be a gig on the 2nd April at the Engine Room featuring Badly Drawn Boy, Chris Jagger (Mick's Brother), Kid Carpet and local act Cog 5. The venue will have a late license, tickets are £12.50. Matt is promoting a gig at the Palace featuring northern bands Proud Mary, The Burn and one other band. Proud Mary are on Noel Gallaghers label. Tickets are £8.00.

11. Next Meeting: The next meeting will be the 6th April, 8pm, in the Arts Centre.

1. Present: Justin M, Adrian, Seb, Angi, Jon, Steve, Matt B, Nick T, Karen R, Lucy.

2. Apologies: Brett P, Ben Ozmosis, Simon H.

3. Constitution: A draft of the constitution was circulated for the perusal of the committee. Any thoughts are welcome to the next meeting, or can be emailed to the meeting. The constitution can be viewed online at www.midnightmango.co.uk/main menu/scmg/constitution.html

4. Compilation CD: Some reviews of the CD have been sent to Matt already, who will compile them and make them available shortly. Some artists have yet to pay. It was agreed that Matt would forward the list of these people to Nick, who would then contact them to encourage them to pay.

5. Financial Report: We have £585.60 plus another £120 owed by bands who have not paid their money for the compilation CD. There was a discussion as to how we could best use this money. Suggestions included PA hire for SCMG associate gigs; paying bands who perform at these gigs; hiring a practice room or a venue; subsidising recording for SCMG bands or buying some equipment for use by SCMG associated bands or promoters, eg: bass/guitar amps, drumkit. After discussion it was decided by a vote that we would use some money to buy a bass amp. We would spend no more than £300. Nick, Adrian and Karen will look for a suitable amp.

6. PA Budget: SCMG will pay £30 for Adrian's PA for SCMG gigs until April. (edit)

7. Gigs: A list of Adrian's availability was circulated.

8. Arts Centre: A presentation was made to the Sedgemoor District Council executive detailing the money required by the Arts Centre in order for it to comply with the Disability Discriminations Act. The figure quoted was around £23,000. The recent gigs have been very successful, with only a few complaints including bottles left outside and some concerns regarding under age drinking. The SCMG expects to receive a letter from the AC outlining some of their concerns.

9. Czech Tour: The 50% payment deadline had passed with only one person having sent Brian the required money. The SCMG agreed that it should pay £60 to the Czech Society to cover the cost of the damage caused on the last tour in Czeske Budejovice, and that the debt owed by Adam would be to the SCMG. Adam, and any projects directly involving Adam, would still be excluded from participating in SCMG events until the debt, believed to be around £15, was settled, or until the matter was resolved otherwise.

10. AOB: It was brought to the attention of the meeting that it would soon be time to apply for another grant. Bridgwater rugby club are looking for bands and promoters to perform. If interested contact Karen or Mike on 01278423900. Justin suggested that we use some of our money to pay for membership of the Musicians Union for SCMG members. It was suggested that this years FrightFest might be staged in the Arts Centre, and that we should revisit this in the autumn. Seb suggested operating a shuttle bus service for the surrounding villages to ferry people to and from gigs.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the SCMG, 6th January 2004

1. Present: Matt, Chris, Karen, Nick, all of Method Own, Adrian, Angie, Seb, Shaun, Lucy, Simon, Brett.

2. Apologies: John A, Ben Ozmosis.

3. Constitution: A draft of the constitution was circulated and the meeting decided to use it on a trial basis for a period of time. Chris suggested we include a minimum period of time before meetings to notify people that important issues will be discussed. No minimum period was agreed upon.
The register of those present at this meeting was taken to be the initial list of members to the group, with John and Ben included.

4. Officers: It was decided that there would be no change in the list of people performing the key roles within the group, but Nick would adopt the role of
Secretary officially. Matt B holds chair, vice chair is Chris T, and Karen R is
Treasurer. Nick T is Secretary; Promoters for the group are Brett P, Angie, Seb and John A.

5. Compilation CD: The group discussed who should be sent a complimentary CD. The list of people from previous years was amended and agreed upon. Anyone who can think of somewhere to send the CDs is invited to contact the group.

6. Financial report: We have £330.68 in the bank.

7. Ideas were heard as to what we could use the money for. They included promoting a big name band at the town hall, a party, guaranteeing against loss for gigs promoted by SCMG members, making and printing a flyer to promote the SCMG and having some new banners made, to put up at gigs. Nick will cost up the banners and present this to the next meeting. Chris will work on the flyer. It was decided by the group that we would allocate no more than £50 per month to help promoters with the costs of publicising and promoting their gigs. Receipts would be required.

8. Adrian's availability, Venues, Gigs: 17th January in the Rock Garden, promoted by Angie and Seb. Arts Centre: 31/1, 20/3, 29/5 and 24/7. The Rock Garden will continue to host gigs for the time being, although they have imposed certain conditions: there will be security guards present, there will be cameras installed, they will not allow contraband into the venue. The meeting agreed these were reasonable conditions. Brett has been to the Newmarket pub to talk to the landlord there. Chris volunteered to go with Brett next time, as he is a regular there.

9. Arts Centre: It has been decided that the Arts Centre will remain where it is for the time being, until a suitable alternative location is found in Bridgwater. It will not now be moved to Burnham. This is due to overwhelming popular demand and protest from the people of Bridgwater, of which we were a part.

10. Czech Business: The Czech tour will run from 10-18 April. There are a number of places for non-musicians on the bus. Contact Brian Smedley.

11. AOB: In the news recently: a plan to review the music license laws in England. It is hoped these new laws will make it easier for landlords to get licenses, and therefore make it easier to get gigs in pubs. As a result of the Arts Centre hosting gigs again, more local bands are interested in playing live. Some bands from the local schools are interested in playing at the AC. The group expressed a willingness to support new artists, as per our mandate, and would encourage them to attend the meetings in future.

12. Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday, 3rd Feb 2004. At the Arts Centre, Bridgwater