SCTA News Summer 2012

Transcription

1 SCTA News Summer 2012 Welcome to the fifth newsletter from SCTA July 2012 AN OLYMPIC ATHLETE IN OUR MIDST!! Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 27 th June at Cluny Clays, Kirkcaldy After a very successful visit to Quaker Oats at their Uthrogle Mill, Cupar, members and directors met at Cluny Clays, Kirkcaldy for the AGM. The group extended their thanks to Mark Allen the Mill Manager for his time and enthusiasm in showing members round tht very impressive facility. 1. ATTENDING: Andrew Mackay, Keith Golesworthy, Billy Davidson, Allan Macaulay, Alex Kellett, Allan Bain, Gordon Smith, James Lowe, Nigel Cook, Drew Cochran. 2. APOLOGIES Finlay Calder, David Cater, Toby Parker, Richard Beattie, Blane Paterson, Andrew Lindsay. 3. MINUTES OF AGM HELD ON WEDNESDAY 29 TH JUNE The minutes of the 2011 AGM had been previously circulated to all Directors and as there were no matters arising the minutes were approved by Alex Kellett, seconded by Andrew Mackay. Congratulations to Jim Brown on being an Olympic Torch Bearer on part of its journey down the East Coast of Scotland. The Editor would welcome captions from members for the above photograph which will be published in the next edition of the newsletter. Allegedly the story is that Jim tried to get into the GB Olympic fencing team and was disappointed when his tackety boots, pinch and mell did not meet the rules regarding statutory equipment. Captions to the Editor at info@scotcorn.co.uk 4. CALENDAR OF EVENTS 9 th September 2012: Charity Bike Ride Glasgow to Edinburgh bike ride in aid of SCTA Benevolent Fund which is being organised by Paul Mooney from Cefetra. Paul to provide information to be sent out to all members and article for the website. 4 th / 5 th October 2012: European Commodity Exchange The secretary gave an update from GAFTA on the bookings to date Exchange: 685, Exchange lunch: 165 Gala Dinner: 146, Hopetoun House Tour: 2, Golf day: 18, Edinburgh City Tour: 15, Whisky Experience Tour: 17

2 Minutes of the AGM held on 27 th June 2012 All the stands for the Exchange Day had been sold and GAFTA were looking at trying to accommodate a few more in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The meeting expressed their pleasure in the interest to date and hoped that there would be more support from Scottish Companies for the Gala Dinner. Finlay Calder, Alex Kellett and Drew Cochran had met with GAFTA in Edinburgh in April and were in contact with them on a regular basis with the offer of advice and support. January 2013 Burns Supper Friday 1 st February was provisionally booked with the Burns Museum in Alloway but the meeting was informed that the date clashed with the Locus Dinner in Liverpool. The secretary was asked to look at alternative dates and also consider Edradour Distillery for future events. 9 th May 2013 Annual Dinner Following the outstanding success of the 2012 Dinner the meeting agreed that the George Hotel offered the best venue given the numbers attending. It was then agreed that the secretary would confirm the provisional booking with the George Hotel for Thursday 9 th May 2013 and negotiate the cost of the meal. The only adverse comments regarding the George were their inability to take credit cards in the function bar, the secretary to discuss with hotel. It was agreed that the ticket price would rise from to Suitable guest speakers were discussed with a short list of Willie Allan, Andrew Cotter and Alan Reid (Golf Pro) to be considered. May 2013 Trade Awareness Course It was agreed to continue the Trade Awareness Course with the possibility of venues in the North East of Scotland where companies in feed manufacture, malting and distilling could be approached. Andrew Mackay would like to see the course available to members of the Hull and Bristol Corn Trades where they have no whisky related companies. June 2013 Annual General Meeting The poor turnout from members was discussed even with a very interesting trade visit and some afternoon entertainment organised for this year. The provisional date for the next AGM was set for Wednesday 26 th June 2013 with various venues discussed including the Glenturner Distillery at Bathgate. 5. MEMBERSHIP Membership was continuing to grow with a 20% rise in membership from the previous year. Companies in the fish feed and distilling sectors were to be targeted for future membership. 6. BENEVOLENT FUND The benevolent Fund is sitting with a balance of 2,927 which is 1,000 more than 2010 with no money being paid out. The President felt that some funds should be paid out on an annual basis to show the membership that various causes were being supported from their donations. There will be a further 2,000 paid into the Benevolent Fund this year from the Burns Supper and Annual Dinner with the proceeds from the Bike Ride also to be added. The meeting agreed that a sum of 1,000 / 1,500 should be paid out annually to an agricultural related charity or a charity nominated by the President. 7. ACCOUNTS The accounts to December 2011 showed a significant improvement on the previous year with Turnover more than doubled to 17,130 and a profit of 1,014 against a loss of 1,030 in Capital and Reserves have increased by 1,100 from the previous year to 22,523. With a further increase in membership and the annual dinner making a profit in 2012 it was agreed that the secretary s time and expenses be paid from funds and no longer be subsidised by Cefetra Ltd. As the meeting now takes place in June it was agreed that Management Accounts to the end of May should be produced which will encompass the revenues from The Burns Supper and Annual Dinner. 8. DIRECTORS The secretary had received a letter from Finlay Calder tendering his resignation from the Board on 31 st October The Board wished the contribution that Finlay had made in reviving the SCTA to be recognised in the minutes of the meeting and thanked him for his efforts in recruiting new members. New Directors Allan Bain from Harbro Ltd. was proposed by Andrew Mackay and seconded by Keith Golesworthy.

3 Minutes of the AGM (cont d) May Trade Awareness Course Gordon Smith from United Molasses was proposed by Andrew Mackay and seconded by Billy Davidson. Both were duly elected unanimously by the Board. Following the very successful course last year the second Trade Awareness Course was built on the best of the 2011 inputs with a few changes. Retiring Directors Andrew Lindsay and Blane Paterson were due to retire at the AGM and were duly re elected in their absence. 9. AOCB Andrew Mackay thought it would be constructive to explore how the SCTA and AIC might work more closely together to the mutual benefit of both organisations. It was agreed that ongoing informal discussions would take place over the next 12 months. The meeting closed with a thanks to the Chair at Annual Dinner Thursday 9 th May, George Hotel, Edinburgh Based in the Westerwood Hotel the group set off after registration to Cefetra Ltd. at KGV Docks in Glasgow where they were given an introduction to the commodity market before heading out to see the products. This is an early notice to all members that the Annual Dinner will take place on 9 th May 2013 in the George Hotel, Edinburgh. We are delighted to inform you that we have secured the services of Willie Allan as our after dinner speaker. The group were taken to the berth where the large ships are discharged and pictured beside one of the two huge cranes which grab the cargo from the holds. Willie has been on the after dinner speaker circuit since 1992 and has performed at a variety of venues and top hotels throughout the UK. The Herald described him as probably the best after dinner speaker in Scotland. The Scotsman described his contribution as a virtuoso performance and the Times stated that he was a very funny man. W been on the after dinner sp

4 Trade Awareness Course mixed The next stop was off to Davidson Bros. feed mill at Shotts where the group learned about rations and how the raw materials were processed into animal feed. Our thanks to Billy and william Davidson for providing lunch for the group after a very interesting tour of the mill. Following the feed chain it was then off to Langhill, the Edinburgh University dairy farm south of the city where the group were shown round by Wim Bosna, the farm manager. Wim finished off the tour by showing the group the silage and draff pits where they stored grass and whole crop wheat silage. He is interested in growing maize for silage and looking to see if suitable varieties can be found to grow in his part of the world. Wim was presented with a bottle of Malt Whisky before the group headed back to the Westerwood Hotel for dinner and a talk on the grain trade by Andrew Lindsay. Day 2 The first stop was at ED & F Man in Grangemouth where the group were given a very instructive talk on the sources of molasses and its use in animal feeds. Hard hats and high viz vests were issued before they were then taken round the terminal where the intake and blending operations were explained as well as the use of distillery pot ale syrup in some of the blends. Quality control on the mixes was very important and the group were shown how the products were tested before dispatch. Wim explained their breeding policy and how important nutrition was in fertility as well as production. He showed the group the calves and young stock before heading for the dairy where the cows were being milked in the parlour. There was a little incident near tha parlour as one of the girls in the group took fright as a large black and white cow came round the corner. She jumped behind Drew Cochran, the cow was startled and slipped, covering Drew in slurry from the waist down!

5 Trade Awareness Course The next port of call was North British Distillery in Edinburgh where the group were taken to the board room for a short introduction on the history of the distillery before a tour round the whole grain distilling process. stored before heading down one of the modern bottling lines. North British consume approx 250,000 tonnes of maize producing over 60m litres of grain spirit per annum. With by-product recovery being the bottle neck in the process, North British are installing an anaerobic digestion system for about 50% of their by products. The group had a buffet lunch in the distillery before heading back along the M8 to Strathclyde Business Park to visit the head office and bottling facilities of William Grant. Whisky, Gin, Rum and Tequila are all bottled in the facility with distribution to all corners of the world. The group were shown the spirit bulk intake, blending and storage facilities before moving through to the dry goods store where all the packaging material is On leaving the group were each presented with a goodie bag containing several miniatures of the products bottled at the plant. The group completed a feed-back form before they headed home after a fairly hectic and intense two days.

6 European Commodities Exchange Charity Bike Ride It has been described as the Olympics of the grain trade and it will be on our door step in Scotland. This is the one opportunity that many of you will get to visit the European Commodity Exchange or Bourse as it is better known. GAFTA have organised the event with the support of the SCTA and are now looking for your support. Please come along and show the world that we in Scotland have vibrant businesses operating in the various fields of agriculture. On 9th September, a group of SCTA members will participate in the annual Glasgow to Edinburgh charity cycle - AND WE WANT YOU TO JOIN US! It is a well-organised fun day out, and open to cyclists of all abilities. It is open to cyclists in all age groups, and in previous years we have had an age range of 5-75 years of age participating. If you would like to find out more about the cycle, you can look up the official website at or call Paul Mooney of Cefetra on Anyone with interests in grain from producers, malsters, millers, processors, compounders, traders, service providers, superintendents, analysts, lawyers and banks should take the opportunity to visit Edinburgh this year and attend this prestigious industry event. With an anticipated audience of over 2000 trade members from all over the world, the 2012 Commodities Exchange will be an invaluable platform from where you will be able to promote your products and services and an excellent opportunity for you to raise your profile. Programme Thursday 4th October Golf at Luffness Thursday 4th October Gala Dinner in the National Museum Edinburgh with Cabaret starring the Red Hot Chilli Pipers Friday 5th October Exchange Day in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre For more information and registration: The SCTA has been represented at this event by various member companies in the past, and we urge all members to send at least one employee along. All monies raised will go towards the SCTA benevolent fund, which will redistribute funds to appropriate charities on an annual basis. Diary of Events 9 th September 2012: Charity Bike Ride 4/5 October 2012: European Commodity Exchange in Edinburgh. January 2013 TBA: Burns Supper 9 th May 2013: Annual Dinner, George Hotel, Edinburgh May 2013 TBA: Trade Awareness Course June 2013 TBA: Annual General Meeting This Newsletter was produced by The COCHRAN Partnership