Notes/Minutes for SSC meeting
12th January, 2013 held at
Victoria Pub Community Room, Lincoln
Present: Alice & David [Co-Chairing], Mike N , Sarah, Stephen, Richard, Mike W and
Vernon[Note-taker]. Apologies were received from Sandie and Zoraida.
A revised AGENDA was outlined as follows:
1.Minutes of previous Meetings
2.Website Issues
3.Membership
4.Informal Sessions[Tuesdays]
5.SS Imagination
6.Scope of Projects beyond SSI
7.Financial Updates
8.Re-Launch
9.AOB
N.B:Given the change of normal agenda/format I have not used the previous schedule for recording notes.
Vernon Goddard
1.Minutes of Previous Meetings:
 Minutes from a previous meeting held on 3rd October, 2012 had been circulated by Zoraida.

Minutes from the meeting held on 15th November had been circulated and were available on the SSC website.
 The meeting agreed that the minutes of both meetings were an accurate recording. There were no matters arising.
2.Website Issues:

Website : As previously reported at the November meeting a number of issues were now emerging as regards the SSC website. The initial work of Joss Winn has been instrumental in creating/designing a very good platform for the Centre and Alan Garbutt has managed the site to good effect.
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
Currently, however there is no one directly/actually managing the website. There is a lack of general expertise amongst members, some difficulties over access and the need to develop a more dynamic image reflecting and emphasizing our project work, news updates and course activity.
 It was agreed to take up Sarah’s suggestion of holding a Website Development meeting on Thursday 17th January at her house to further discuss redesigning the site and to implement the improvements. All interested members would be invited.
 The normal Sociological Imagination class - for 17th January - is cancelled and the programme of class activities will continue from 24th January.
Actions: Sarah to circulate details concerning the meeting, to include information on other successful sites and how they operate.
All interested members welcome to attend. Parking available opposite Sarah’s house and limited capacity on her drive.
3.Membership:
 There seems to be a lack of clarity over the actual current membership and the relative commitment of different categories of membership. [There are about 80
‘members’ on our lists].
 Ideas emerged about creating different categories of membership e.g
“Sleeping/Active” members.
 As regards the Constitution and voting rights, all members are entitled to attend the AGM and could vote accordingly.
 Richard raised the problem many members had of committing to meetings on a regular basis. He suggested the idea of a Bi-monthly meeting around a
Talk/Lecture which would be open to all members of the Centre and the general public.
 Members to consider putting information about themselves on the website.
 The point was made that some members,who were paying a monthly contribution but not attending classes etc, had received nothing in return.
Perhaps something could be produced to update these members or to inform them of developments.

The AGM: This is likely to be held in May, 2013. Preparations need to be in hand to ensure a good turn out of members and to introduce something
“substantial/exciting/cool” for the meeting.
Actions: Mike N to contact all members, update them about developments at SSC and
“tidy-up” the lists.
The idea of Bi-monthly meetings to be considered further - All involved.
The creation of member profiles to be linked to the Website Development meeting on the
17th January.
AGM: All members to contribute ideas to the next meeting. [Chair/Secretary to note]
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4.Informal Sessions[Tuesdays]:

Tuesday Evening Drop-in Sessions : Attendance at these sessions has been increasingly difficult for scholar/students. Whilst there has been an immense gain for those who have been able to attend, it was agreed that these sessions be suspended.
 The focus of attention will continue to be the Thursday evening Sociological
Imagination classes.
 There is a prospect of Bi-monthly events, spontaneous get-togethers etc to replace the Tuesday drop-in sessions and these would be open to all members whether currently attending a class or not.
Actions : All Scholar Teacher/Students to be informed of the changed circumstances and the cancellation of SSC sessions on a Tuesday - Vernon to Email active members. All members to consider how spontaneous gatherings might work e.g meals together etc.
5.SS Imagination:

Social Science Imagination Updates: Sarah was thanked for the extensive notes which she has produced and circulated concerning the work of the centre in
2012 and the outline of intentions for the 2013 Seasons. These were further discussed for the benefit of those not attending groups/classes. A number of exciting developments have occurred amongst them the shifting of
“ownership/accountability” from the Scholar teachers to all class members.There is a distinct joint/cooperative approach to learning which has emerged in the last few months.

There were a number of issues to consider e.g the need for a more diverse student membership, dealing with conflict as it may arise, increasing class membership, curtailing any move towards exclusivity, induction & merging of new members which may well be the case this September.
 There was some discussion around the Scholarly Literacies course which has never run.
Action: It was agreed that Mike N & Alice would write a piece for the website....An update.
6.
Scope of Projects beyond SSC:

Beyond SSC & SSI: A number of items were discussed about present/future initiatives which run in parallel with the work of SSC:

The Conference at Liverpool attended by Sarah & David - David to circulate paper as presented
 Davi d’s work with the County Council, City Council and Framework e.g An upcoming exhibition to be held at Southwell Minster.
 Existing work with service users at Pathways[Over 18s].
 New work with service users[aged 16 - 25].

Links with Sarah/Pathways Project - Empowerment & Action research i.e Work in Social Movement.
 “Interface” Project.
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
Links with Daniel Nettle [ Director of Centre of Behaviour & Evolution of
NeuroScience, Newcastle University ] - He has written to David expressing support & potential cooperation in the future.
 “Chaves” by Owen Jones. Some differences of opinion over his work but it was considered his thinking was relevant to aspects of our work.
 Mike Ward - On the 6th February Mike will be talking about his research work to the Social Policy Group - members will be welcome to attend - Mike to provide further details
 Seminars at the University - Sarah will provide a link to these.
 Readings of the Capital group [Marx] - Mike N to provide information.

Ian Sinclair - 25th February. Richard to provide information to Sarah.
 Mike N will be attending a meeting with the Co-operative College concerning setting up a “university” - More to follow after the meeting.

Cooperative Schools as an alternative HE. They want to develop these.
[Possibly a session with Peter Summerville on Education & the Coop movement.]
 Pathways centre will continue to be a venue used by SSC......but....see below......
 REVIVAL - For the month of February, we will be using this accommodation for our Thursday evening classes as a trial only. It is a drop-in-venue offering a wide range of courses. It is a very popular centre. The trial will begin on Thursday 7th
February. More details to follow.
 Revival: 15th January - A new group of singers will be gathering at the centre to form a group. Commencing 5.30 pm. More information from David if attending.
 “Introduction to Sustainability” - a free community course is being run at Lincoln
College on Wednesday 23rd January - at 6 until 8 pm.
 Please note in addition that the following meetings were held: DM met with
Jennie Chapman [City of Lincoln Council] on Tuesday 27th November to discuss the Council’s
Neighbourhood Working Project. DM & SA delivered a paper [20th
October] on Creative Pedagogies & Social Inclusion at the iJade research conference 2012 Creativity & Democracy.
DM met with the Neighbourhood
Working team to discuss Community First on Tuesday 11th December. DM will be meeting with John Summers to discuss extending the SSCs Our Place Our
Priorities project to include other Framework service users. And, for information there is ongoing liaison with Adam O’Meara, work re Ritual Significance and In response to Art Summer school. [More details from David if required]
Actions: David and others as mentioned above to circulate relevant information & papers to all members. N.B - The Calendar on the SCC site will need to be altered and updated given the changes to Tuesdays & the trial at Revival in February. Perhaps this could be completed at the Website meeting on Thursday 17th January.
7.
Financial Updates:
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Stephen reported on the current financial circumstances. [The full report will be on the
SCC site shortly.........].
Balance in Hand - £1294.80p
Outgoings - Current Monthly Commitment of - approx £36.00
We receive about £269.84p in contributions from members over 2 months.
Note that for the privilege of using Paypal, they take a % of each payment.
It was agreed that, if possible, members should avoid making paypal arrangements so that the Centre will receive full payments from membership.
Action: Stephen to to notify those members making contributions through Paypal and request they change to a DD arrangement.
8.Re-Launch:
There was discussion around holding a public meeting in March - Possibly Wednesday, the 20th March at the Collection.Evening meeting with venue/auditorium booked from 6-
9pm. The guest speaker would potentially be Owen Jones.
Actions: Richard to contact Owen Jones, David to seek information from Collection about availability & fees and Mike W to consider doing the Introduction of the Guest speaker.
9.AOB:
The next Organisational Meeting will be held in February and thereafter on a monthly basis. The favoured day for meeting was a Saturday. Provisional date for your diaries.......Saturday, 16th February meeting from Midday until 2pm.
Alice to Chair & Vernon to act as notetaker.
Sarah’s recent paper requires a full discussion - this will be arranged for a future meeting.
Thanks were extended to Alice in her role as Chairperson.
Vernon Goddard
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