OSCR.

While labouring under the misappelusion that it was the AGM of the Friends of Roslin Glen (henceforth to be known as FoRG) this Wednesday; I hurriedly set about the task given to me at the last informal meeting. Everything we do is informal: we have an informal constitution which has stood us in good stead since we were formed ten years ago, we have a chairman who has yet to chair a meeting, all of our meetings take the form of the ranger telling us what we’ve done since the last meeting, what we’re to do before the next one, and we get on and do it. Remarkably, everybody is happy. We have a nominal annual subscription, due at the AGM; those who attend will throw their subs on the table at the end of the meeting – if they remember; nobody checks, the treasurer collects the money, counts it and enters it onto his sheet of paper which is submitted to the next AGM. And still, everybody is happy.
 
Somebody thought it was a good idea to become a registered charity; hence my panicking and downloading the application form from OSCR. The form is fairly simple; however, there are requirements. We have to: have a formal constitution, formalise our accounting system(?) and have the annual sheet of paper properly audited, nominate trustees, have a proper membership policy and enforce it, and run properly structured and regular committee meetings. If they want to go ahead with this, then I think I will have to take a lower profile; there will be a lot of work for very little gain, my head no longer copes well with bureaucracy and I am already a busy boy. Oh, and I’ve just realised that the meeting is not this week, but next.