A.S.A.P. Alonnisos Society for Animal Protection.

Held on 3rd November 2009 At Nik and Lyn Ivison’s House in Chora. Present: Chairperson - Julia Browne, Secretary - Annie Green, Treasurer - Les Green, Committee members - Craig Sinclair, Dinah Sinclair, Nik Ivison, Lyn Ivison, Mike Holmes Dianne Lewin The meeting commenced at 19:00 Apologies and Chairperson address. There were no apologies.Julia thanked Nik and Lyn for hosting the meeting at short notice and apologised to Dianne for having to change it from her venue. She also thanked all present for attending. Julia said that she would like to thank Jill Donnelly who distributed a “begging letter” with some response. She also thanked all who helped at the Vet’s visit and said she had a photograph of Dinah for the newsletter. Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday 22nd September 2009 The committee had read the minutes and these were proposed by Julia to be a true record, seconded by Dinah and passed by the committee. The Minute Book was then signed by the Chairperson and Secretary. Matters arising from the minutes Julia asked if the man from the Village, who had shown interest in ASAP in the summer, had been approached for further help and Annie said she had emailed him but so far had not had a reply. Julia then asked if anyone would take the ASAP mobile phone for a while and Mike agreed to do this. Annie asked if Julia had sent the “begging letter”, which was circulated to some veterinary practices in the UK by Dianne, to the committee, but Julia said that she had not done so at present. Dinah said she has it on her computer and would send it out to the committee. Annie asked Dianne if she had approached Lily Rink about putting an article in the newspaper that she represents, but Dianne said Lily was not well and she could not see her. However, Julia managed to speak to her and apparently Lily writes for the Sporades News which is in Greek. Secretary’s Report Annie said that she had sent several thank you letters to people donating money to ASAP. Among these are the Independent Fund Raising Group who gave ASAP €1,015 towards the recent Vet bill and €20 for the purchase of a light to assist the Vet in surgery. Also Jan and Jeff Moon who raised €500 from the sale of books at their house. Annie apologised to Craig and Dinah for not sending them a thank you for the €110 they raised from the sale of books outside their house. She said she would rectify the omission. There were only 12 collecting boxes this year, at least three had been stolen (we presume). However, the amount raised was €502.63, which added to the €500 and the €110 from the book sales, made a healthy sum of €1,112.63. Annie said that she had sent out a preliminary notice about the forthcoming Pub Style Event on 28th November 2009 and had asked people to pass the word around. The finer points would be discussed later. However, at this point she said that there was a need to decide who would be running the other proposed events in January, February and April. Treasurer’s Report Les passed round his Report and said that the only comment he would make was that the Expenditure was far too much. He said that serious changes had to be made and that it would be discussed further under Feeding Group. WORKING GROUPS Venterinary group Julia said that George Michael’s visit, though short was very successful. Attached is a report from Julia outlining what problems and successes he had for the short time he was here. Julia said that she had sent a form to the World Veterinary Service and they have sent a donation of Spot On Flea and Tick treatment and the value of it is £1517.50. Julia has already acknowledged receipt of it and sent a thank you letter. All the Service require is that we send photographs of cats being treated. SEE ALSO REPORT ON LAST VETS VISIT AT END OF MINUTES. Feeding Group Once again there was a great deal of discussion regarding number of cats now appearing at feeding stations and the cost of feeding them. Dinah said that with the cats she has been feeding while Les has not been available and including the cats at the Port, her total is about 80. However, in the last week or so this number has dropped to about 50 for some reason. These have disappeared from Votsi bins, Leftos Yialos bins and the Port area. Four cats have been found dead at the Votsi bins and one cat was run over by a motorbike, the cat was killed and the rider was injured. Julia said that this could be a problem for ASAP if accidents start to happen involving cats. Julia said she has 50 cats just at Kitty City, as well as the other feeding stations. Lyn said that Dave and Gerry have 15 now. Julia said she had spoken to Andrea and some Greek people in the Village are prepared to feed cats. Lyn also said that Dave and Gerry suggest that maybe we need another feeding station somewhere in the Old Village and that the Independent Fund Raising Group would pay for the purchase of a shelter etc. There was a lot of discussion as to where this could be safely placed but no decision was finally reached. Julia felt that we cannot cope with any more feeding stations, as it is taking too much time and fuel to get round to the ones we supply now. However, if a suitable place could be found, then something could be done and what we really need are volunteers to be responsible for each Station. Julia also said we need to try to identify stray tom cats so that they can be neutered in the near future. Dinah thanked Mike for making the feeders and said that she will try to place one discreetly in the Port Area. There was a very lengthy discussion on costs of feeding the cats. Les had prepared several budget suggestions, but the end result, again after much discussion was that we give the cats the cheap biscuits (€17 a bag) instead of the ones we are feeding them at the moment. Dinah said that she started feeding the cheaper ones when she took over the cat feeding from Les and although the cats did not like it for 2 or 3 days they began to eat it eventually. The opinion would seem to be that the cats are feral and do not need pampering so much. The decision was also to think about stopping the feeding of tin food at the moment as most of the kittens have grown sufficiently to eat biscuits. However, Julia said there are still a lot of small kittens at Kitty City she feels still needs the tin food. Mike said that the feeders he makes are large and take a great deal of food. Les said that a proper record needs to be kept as to how much and when the feeders are filled at each station. I.T. Mike said that there was not a lot to report apart from waiting for the Newsletter. He said that other aspects of the site are up and running and he just needs more information from people. P.R. Lyn said the Newsletter is finished now apart from some photographs and Julia asked, if she forwarded it to Les, would he insert the photographs and create the format as he did with the last Newsletter. Lyn said that we need to plan the fund raising events well in advance and asked for ideas for next year and said that we need more helpers. Membership Craig said that he had looked into the possibility of Calendars for the stall next year but the cost is too great. Pens work out at £2.99 each but that is also too expensive. The ASAP Membership cards are ok and we can go ahead with those. Craig had also given Julia a full membership list and Annie requested one which Craig said he would forward to her. Fund Raising Group Nothing has been done since the Marathon. Pub style Fund Raising Event There was a lot of discussion as to how this should be run, what to charge and what type of food etc. Eventually it was decided that the entry fee would be €5 including food. A glass could be purchased for 1 euro and everyone would be invited to put 1 euro in the collecting box for subsequent drinks. The drinks will include real ale kindly supplied by Beau and Bert Dendy. There will be pub games including Darts, Dominoes, Shove h’penny, Jenga and a couple of other games. There will be a raffle at €1 per strip of tickets. Some of the games will carry a prize for the winner. Any Other Business There is a slight change to the proposed 2010 events. The Valentine Dance cannot take place on the 14th February because that is the day of the Carnival. The proposed events are: 1st January 2010 - Barbeque on the Beach after watching the New Year Swimmers. (organised by Dinah and Craig) February 14th 2010 - ASAP Carnival Float (organised by the committee) Mid-March 2010 - Band Event (organised by Nik and Lyn) Mid-April 2010 -Treasure Hunt in the Old Village (organised by Phillipa and Nigel) The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 8th December 2009 and will be at Julia’s House, Vouno. The meeting will start at 19:00. The meeting closed at 21:20 VETERINARY VISIT OCTOBER 2009. On the weekend of October 10th and 11th ASAP sponsored a visit by our almost resident vet George Michail. Once again Hellenic Seaways conspired against us: Flying Cat 6 broke down (yet again) earlier in the week and poor George had to come on the ferry. Bad news for him, because the trip took 5 hours instead of 3, and bad news for us as it meant that his time here was more limited than usual and even more important that we work really hard to get as much done as possible. Scheduling consultations and surgery for pet owners is always difficult as emergencies crop up, some procedures take longer than usual and times are not always as strictly adhered to as one might wish. House calls have to be factored in and there is always the odd ‘surprise’. So, with only 24 hours on the island (and we graciously allowed George to use some of this to sleep) it was all systems go. I met George from the ferry and within 1 minute of being on Alonnisos his ‘phone was ringing – a cat seen during a previous visit required another consultation (according to the cat’s owner). We stopped off on the way to the surgery to collect the cat and, before getting to the village, fielded another 2 calls. Bearing in mind that George didn’t get his green pinny on until 14:30, he achieved a huge amount that afternoon. Before bad light stopped play (and there was still a house call to fit in after this) George had done 1 bitch spay and had neutered 8 female cats. In addition to the surgery he had extracted a whole load of grass seeds from the ears of a cocker spaniel, removed a growth from a dog’s face, removed a growth from a cat’s leg, checked out a poorly kitten, examined a dog suffering from convulsions and cleaned and stitched a horrific wound on a dog that had been attacked by a much larger animal. We finally let him off for the evening with instructions for an early night and an 08:30 start the following day. On Sunday morning there were 4 more cats for sterilisation (more feral cats were lined up but time just did not allow), 4 more animal consults, a blood sample taken from a dog and a micro-chipping. There was just time for a final doggy-related house call before getting George back to the port for another 5 hour journey back to Volos. A very full weekend, one which could not have been achieved without a great deal of time and effort on behalf of ASAP members. I would like to thank especially Lyn and Nik Ivison for providing surgery space and a bed for George for the night, Guy Routh for giving up his entire weekend to assist with the surgery and Dinah Sinclair for collecting cats and then delivering them back to their various homes. Hopefully George will come back to Alonnisos soon, but not until some time after the birth of his third child: our collective best wishes to George and his wife and a big thank-you for the invaluable work he does for ASAP.