th
Attenders and Apologies:
In attendance were John Allan, Tim Ambrose, Martin Ashdown, George Charles, Grant Cornwallis, Doris
Dietrich, Pete Ewing, James Fenton, Tim Fison, David Gordon, Keith Griffiths, Frank Johnstone, Tom
Leatherland, Beryl Leatherland, Susan Matthews, John Milne, Gordon McAndrew, Leonora McAndrew,S.
McCourt, Fiona McKenzie, Douglas Peacock, Scott Peddie and Hugh Tooby.
Apologies were received from Kate Ashbrook, Calum Brown, Ken Brown and Chrissie Valuri
Minutes of the 2013 AGM and matters arising
The minutes were a true record of the previous AGM; this was proposed by Beryl Leatherland and seconded by George Charles. There were no matters arising that were not already on the agenda.
Convenor’s Report – John Milne
John’s report had been circulated to the membership. In it he had described the main activities and achievements of SWLG during the year to 31 March 2014. These included the publication of Wind Farms
Gone Wild , its distribution and the response to it; responses made to Scottish Government and SNH consultations, our support for the SNH Wild Land Map, our participation in the Hilltracks Campaign, and our work with Scottish Environment LINK where we are represented on the Board and in four active Task
Forces, and contribute to other activities.
Treasurer’s Report and Accounts – Tim Ambrose
Tim presented the report and stressed that finance for the group was not a problem at the moment but that we were short of volunteer input. Dave Gordon proposed that the accounts should be accepted and this was seconded by Tom Leatherland. John thanked Tim for the report and his diligent work over the year.
Election of Steering Committee
The 2013 to 2014 committee was as follows:

John Milne - Convenor

Calum Brown - Editor of Wild Land News

Tim Ambrose - Treasurer

Beryl Leatherland - Secretary

Grant Cornwallis - Membership Secretary

George Charles

Ken Brown

Pete Ewing

Chrissie Valuri
Other nominations from the meeting were James Fenton and High Tooby, who both volunteered their services, and these were accepted. John emphasised further that the group is short of volunteers able to support the Steering Committee in their efforts. The current committee is run entirely by volunteers and had a 50/50 split between employed and retired people. We especially needed people able to contribute to consultations and consider development proposals who could help prepare draft

documents for us. In particular running the website and producing the magazine Wild Land News were together an enormous amount of work and these were done entirely by Calum Brown. Calum’s input to this vitally important work was very much appreciated and John thanked Calum for his efforts.
Any Other Competent Business
1.
Grant Cornwallis gave an update on the distribution of the group’s magazine. We printed far more copies of WLN than we had members. The magazine was sold widely in Scotland in shops and places such as Tiso’s, the Clachaig, Glenmore Lodge and so on. It is sold for a suggested £1 and usually this goes to the local mountain rescue team. There are some regular buyers who are not members and it was suggested that a loose membership leaflet should be inserted into those copies that are sold in outlets. Additionally copies are sent to planning departments and other “officials”. A question was asked regarding membership outside Scotland and Grant confirmed that at one stage
60% of the membership had been from outside Scotland and it was still high.
2. AGM notification: the details of the AGM had not been on the website [although they had been on facebook] and it was suggested that the AGM papers should be put on the website in advance of the meeting.
Discussion to set priorities for 2015: suggestions include, but not limited to:-
Land Reform – SG reforms
Rewilding – Special Magazine planned
Beauly- Denny powerline access tracks
Wind Farms Still Running Wild
Hill Tracks campaign – Will prior notification help?
John gave some background to each of the above. Most discussion focussed on the Land Reform consultations and the Stronelairg wind farm judicial review.
ILLUSTRATED TALK – “Everyday Life at Mar Lodge” George Charles
George gave an extremely interesting and informative account of his work and that of others at the Lodge, illustrated with excellent photographs – taken in all weathers! Of particular interest were his descriptions of the recent flood damage on the estate, and the costs of repair and the work involved.
On behalf of those present, John thanked George for his much enjoyed presentation.
The meeting closed at 4.30pm