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

Held on Tuesday 22nd September 2009 At Annie and Les’s House in Votsi. 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 19:05 Apologies and Chairperson address. There were no apologies. Julia thanked Annie and Les for hosting the meeting and everyone for attending the meeting. Julia also thanked Annie for running the Charity Stall, the coffee morning and the Grand Draw. She said it was a sterling effort, details of which will be included in the Newsletter which she hopes to be able to liaise with Lyn and publish it shortly. Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday 4thAugust, 2009 The committee had read the minutes and were proposed by Les as a true record, seconded by Nik and passed by the committee. The Minute Book was then signed by the Chairperson and the Secretary. It was agreed that the new shorter version of the minutes, which could be distributed quickly and posted on the website, was a good idea. There were not matters arising from the previous minutes. Secretary’s Report Annie said that although the stall had been opened every day and sometimes in the evening (except for when the weather was too windy or wet), the main bulk of the manning of it still fell to her and Anni Bason. She apologised that the stall was closed early but said that she had just simply had enough and that if it is to run next year, and presumably by her, then she must have some sort of guaranteed help. She said that the evening sessions, which Jan and Gerry kindly ran, were quite successful. Annie checked with Les and, after a quick calculation, he confirmed that the stall ran at a loss, although we did get quite a few new memberships and a lot of donations from the stall. Annie said that, because it seems to be German, Italian and Greeks in the early part of the summer, perhaps we should only open say every other day and then every day until the English tourists arrive and we could probably stay open into perhaps October. Julia suggested that maybe we could put a notice out to all members so that if they are coming for a holiday, they may like to help. Annie said that we also need more stock, people are asking for calendars (Alonnisos cats and dogs rescued by ASAP members) to be the theme as we did once before, also, pens and bookmarks. Craig said he would certainly look into the cost of pens and bookmarks. At this point Les said that there is a person in the village who has already said that he would be willing to help if we need it; he has shown interest and has bought t-shirts from the stall which he will wear on his Greek TV programme. He said he would put a link to ASAP on his Website. Annie will email him to see what else he can do for ASAP. Annie said that the Electrical Shop has a desk light which may be suitable for when the Vet visits. She has all the details of it and will ask Guy to check it out before we purchase it. She asked the committee to approve her asking the Fund Raising Group if this can be considered an item on our “wish list”. The committee agreed. Treasurer’s Report Les had prepared a statement to date and this was passed to the committee. There would seem to be a fairly healthy balance but he warned that because the Tavernas are closing the people owning houses or those on long stays are leaving, the cats are returning to the feeding stations and this means that necessarily more food will be needed. However, as we should be feeding all but kittens on dry food, hopefully these costs will drop considerably. WORKING GROUPS Venterinary group Julia reported that George Michael will be visiting Alonnisos on 10/11th October, 2009 and Lyn confirmed that her house will be available for both the surgery and accommodation of the Vet. Julia has prepared a notice to place around the Island regarding the visit. She was going to get everyone to take copies and said that perhaps it was not cost-effective to laminate them. Les said that the couple who bought Felicity’s house have several laser printers and have said they do not mind if ASAP needs to use them. There was no decision made as to whether we would approach them about this. The ASAP mobile phone was handed over by Les and Annie to Julia, who said it would be sensible for her to have it until after George Michael has been because of appointments, but that she will give it to someone else after that. Julia said it would be useful if we could pass the word around about the visit and say that George would do surgery on Saturday afternoon and consultations on Sunday morning. She said that could we also try to determine exactly where and how many female cats need neutering so that hopefully they can be more easily found Julia said that she had made 23 house calls since the last meeting and Guy and Jane also had house calls which they attended. There was some discussion regarding a dog which is permanently chained up at the Plessas Yard and which Julia has become concerned about. She will monitor it and discuss it again at the next meeting. Feeding Group Dinah suggested that we need to do an animal shelter clean out after Monday 12th October 2009. She asked for a list of the shelters and exactly where they are situated. The clean up will involve taking water, disinfectant, brushes etc to the sites and then installing new bedding for the winter. Volunteers would be most welcome. There was a great deal of discussion regarding the amount we should be feeding the cats. Craig said that we should look to reduce the food bills by 50%. He suggested that one way would be to feed them every other day and maybe we could achieve this if we had some more of the feeders that Mike manufactured. Mike said they were quite easy to make, they were made from olive barrels and paint trays with a bit of modification. Nothing was decided but Julia said that the need is definitely there to do something about reducing the amount spent on food. Les said he was concerned because someone had put biscuits in the road and he is sure that at least one animal has died because of it. One was the Votsi bins (near the Electricity place) and the other at the Leftos Yialos bins. I.T. Mike said that he had updated the website considerably; he had added the Minutes, Events, description and Fund Raising updates. Mike said that he would like to receive some ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs of rescue cats. He is currently waiting for the Bank details and the Charity Number is required. Julia said she would provide this and some information on common ailments and their treatment. P.R. Lyn said that because she has been so busy during the summer there is not a lot to report. She will get together with Julia shortly to produce the newsletter. Also she and Julia will liaise to see if they can work out a plan before next summer to have notices, newsletters etc in the pipeline ready to send out easily. Lyn said that Lily Rink who writes in the Athens News may be willing to do an article on ASAP. Dianne said she would approach Lily about this. Membership Craig said we have a lot of new members this year. He is to give Julia a complete copy of the membership. Fund Raising Group Dianne said that she handed out a “begging letter” with contact numbers and the web address to Veterinary Surgeries for their notice boards while she was in the UK. She said that nothing may come of it but it was worth a try. Julia thanked her for that. Julia said she would email the letter to all the committee members so that they send it on to anyone they can think of in the UK. The committee then discussed the possibility of holding a few fund raising events before everyone got too busy in the summer. The proposed events are as follows: Saturday November 28th 2009– Pub style food and games event to be held at Villa Annalese. Votsi. The event will commence at 14:00. Friday January 1st 2010- New Year’s Day Barbeque (after the intrepid swimmers have braved the sea) – venue to be arranged. Sunday February 14th 2010- Valentines Day Ball – venue to be arranged. Saturday April 10th 2010An Easter Celebration (content and venue to be arranged, but possibly a treasure hunt). Any Other Business There being no other business the meeting closed at 21:00 The next meeting will be on Tuesday 17th November 2009 will be hosted by Dianne at Clive Ponting’s house. The meeting will start at 19:00.