ASCR Committee Meeting
Wednesday 24th September 2008, 4.00 p.m.
Housman Room Bar
Minutes
Present: Roland Rosner (Convenor), Richard Simons (Hon. Secretary), John Brodholt, Peter
Cadley, Ruth Dar, Ray Harding, Lars Fischer, Diana Manuel, Frank Penter (Treasurer), Brigitte
Picot, Jane Spender (Manager).
Apologies: Bob Barber, Talvinder Sihra
1. Toast to Roland. A card and a photograph of the ASCR’s present were given to Roland in
warm thanks for all his work over 9 years as convenor, and several bottles of champagne were
opened.
2. Welcome and apologies for absence. Everyone attending was welcomed, and apologies
for absence were as noted above.
3. Minutes of the last meeting. The Minutes of the meeting of 17th June 2008 were approved
as a true record.
4. Catering update
Beer. Scolarest had finally sorted out the contract with the micro-supplier and had supplied a list
of 10 real ales, and delivery of the first order, Owd Bill (Hydes of Manchester), had been taken.
Coffee machine income. The calculation of monies owed by Scolarest to the ASCR for the period
19th July 2006 – 30th July 2007 had been accepted by Beverley, who would raise a manual credit
note for £2,349.62 at the end of September. It was agreed that if there was any delay, Ray
would take it up with Beverley.
Bar hours. Beverley had been requested to provide a report of takings for the four weeks to 18th
July before the Committee could reach a decision on whether to allow an early closure of the bar
during August. In the event, she had decided to keep to normal hours.
Increased prices. Beverley had sent Jane a note of increased drink and food prices in the bar,
which were up by an average of 8% and which had already been implemented. Ray reported that
there appeared to be plausible reasons for the increases, but that this would be tested by an
external audit.
Nucleated glasses. It was suggested that Scolarest be asked to provide ‘nucleated’ glasses, i.e.,
glasses that have been etched at the bottom to aid and maintain the head retention of the pint. This
was agreed.
Action: Jane
Catering users’ committee. It was agreed that in the event that John, the ASCR representative
on the catering users’ committee, was unable to attend meetings Frank would deputise for him.
Coffee machine notices. It was agreed that new notices explaining how to use the coffee
machines would be prepared and framed and put up by the machines.
Action: Jane
5. ASCR questionnaire. It was agreed to include a request for members’ comments and
suggestions for refurbishment of the Housman Room, and to circulate the url to members in good
time before the AGM.
Action: Jane
6. Housman Room refurbishment
While Jane had been away, an email had been sent by Nicholas Burwell Architects informing her
that they had been asked to take some photographs of the Housman Room. On her return she
had written asking, for the committee’s information, the purpose of the photographs; as yet, she
had had no reply. Ray confirmed that refurbishment was on the Estates & Facilities agenda, and
that Richard Furter was now awaiting the architects’ suggestions; Burwells had been the
architects for the print room cafe, which the Committee generally felt had been a successful
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conversion. It was agreed that the exhaustive list of refurbishment needs prepared by Jane
should in due course be provided to Richard Furter, with a copy to Ray. Action: Richard, Jane
6. Membership checks. Jane would circulate a note of five random dates for checks to the
Committee requesting two volunteers for each session.
Action: Jane
7. ASCR website. The photographs of the Housman Room would be uploaded during the next
few weeks.
Action: Jane
8. Next Committee Chair
Steve Miller had agreed to become the next Chair on the basis that Bob would act as his deputy
for the six months that he was abroad. The Committee recorded its thanks to Bob for persuading
Steve to accept the role, and for undertaking to deputise.
9. Coat stand. This was still being looked into.
Action: Jane
10. Cover for Manager’s holidays. Jane thanked Ruth, Lars and Frank for covering for her
while she was away.
11. Financial report
Frank had provided the unaudited accounts for 1st August 2007 – 31st July 2008, and the
accounts for the first two months of the year to 31st July 2009, and made a number of points in
explanation of the figures:
 Historically the manager’s salary and subscriptions had been rolled into one, as they
appeared in the ASCR account as the same transaction from payroll. From 2007-8 this
practice had changed so that real figures of income and expenditure were available.
Procedural changes had meant that it had not been possible to clarify salary against
subscriptions since April; once this had been sorted out, the current figures would be
edited.
 Subscription income 2007–8 was up due to the increase in subscription fee and a change
in the accounting system regarding the manager's salary.
 Coffee Sales were up due to an historic bill being settled by the refectory management; a
further outstanding bill would be settled in 2008–9.
 Housman Room Hire was as expected, the previous year having been high due to the
settling of an historic account.
 Newspapers costs were up, and the figure would increase further on receipt of a large
outstanding invoice from the newspaper supplier.
 Machine Installations showed as zero as UCL appeared to have made a donation of these.
 Other Expenditure was up, as the result of the change in the accounting system regarding
the manager’s salary referred to above.
 Repayment of debt – the figure of £2,099.34 had been reached as the result of the return
of £200 by Finance division from the historic debt, the inclusion of £2,754.54 of historic
income which had finally had its source clarified and the inclusion of the historic debt of
£5,053.58 created by a coding error.
He proposed to reinstate the presentation of an annual budget to the AGM, a move which was
welcomed by the Committee.
12. AGM, Thursday 13th November
A request was made for a change of date; this was discussed but in the end it was agreed that no
change should be made. The musicians (piano and voice) had already been booked, and the
other arrangements would be made at the appropriate time. It was agreed that the tradition of a
curry buffet should be continued.
Action: Jane
13. 9th Haldane Event, and future suggestions
Negley Harte had agreed to give a talk on “The History of History at UCL” on 4th December.
However, this date had been found to clash with the inaugural lecture of the new head of the
History Department, and he had proposed moving his talk to Thursday 11th December, one day
before the end of term. This was agreed.
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The Committee agreed to the suggestion that a future Haldane Event should be devoted to
Bartolomeu dos Santos, who had recently died. And as it turned out that John Foreman now felt
he had been a bit hasty in turning down the request to give a Haldane talk, it was agreed to
approach him again in the future.
Action: Jane
14. Annual donation to UCL Collections. The Committee confirmed its wish to donate £250
to UCL Collections, in recognition of the benefit to the ASCR of the paintings hanging in the
Housman Room.
Action: Jane
15. Right to use the Housman Room
Fellows and Honorary Fellows. These were not honorary members of the ASCR, but had the right
under the constitution to occasional use of the Housman Room. Jane had been following up with
Gary Hawes of Academic Services the suggestion that, on election, Fs and HFs should be
informed of their right, and expected that this information would shortly be included in their
packs. Gary Hawes had requested that the same access right should be extended to UCL
honorary degree recipients, numbering between 4 and 7 per year, and this was agreed by the
Committee. He would provide a complete list of these groups annually, and whenever requested;
this would be used in conjunction with the membership list in membership checks, and to clarify
any confusions.
Action: Jane
People promoted to Grade 7. Jane had written twice to HR Consultancy and HR Operations
(involved in different groups of promotions) requesting that the current application form be
included with other documents sent to those who had been promoted. She was waiting to hear
from them.
Action: Jane
16. Votes of thanks
Votes of thanks were recorded to Roland, to Jane, and by Roland to the Committee, for all the
hard work undertaken. In particular, Roland expressed his great thanks to Richard, without
whom he believed the whole operation would have been ten times less effective. This was
enthusiastically supported by the Committee.
17. Date of next meeting: 2.00 p.m., Wednesday, 22nd October, Housman Room bar.
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