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Hi everyone,
Jim Anderson phoned me this morning to tell me of the death of Molly Forsyth from Urquhart. It was reported in the P&J. She died on Thursday. She was over 90 and had been in residential care. You will know that Molly had strong connections with the Moray Federation of Halls for many years. I don't know exactly when she was first involved but she was appointed vice-chairman in 1982 and then was chairman from 1983 to 1986. She was appointed a vice-president in 1987 and kept her post through many changes of office bearers till she stood down at the same time as Bill Reid at the AGM in 2008.
Molly was a great asset at meetings and had the wisdom of years of experience. Forever modest, she didn't want a farewell gift but we gave her an inscribed glass vase which she appreciated.

Her funeral will be next Thursday, 5 January 2012, at 11 am at Lhanbryde & Urquhart Parish Church. For those who may not be familiar with the area, the church is quite a distance from Lhanbryde.
If you are travelling from Elgin towards Lhanbryde on the A96, turn left at the B9103 road to Lossiemouth, pass Sheriffston and you will find the church on the left-hand side of the road, with plenty of parking before and after the church.
I shall be there.

Kind regards to all and all the best for 2012.

Pat Smith
31st December 2011

Applications to Awards for All have dropped recently and they’re keen to find out why and also to drum up some business if possible. Awards for All Scotland make awards of between £500 and £10,000.

For more info on this opportunity please see the December Newsletter from the Volunteer Centre Moray.

Click HERE to read the December Issue from VCM

The Heritage Lottery Fund has recently agreed an increased budget for new awards in 2012-13 of £375m which is £120m more than their 2011-2012 budget.

For more info on this opportunity please see the December Newsletter from the Volunteer Centre Moray.

Click HERE to read the December Issue from VCM

Applications for both under and over £2,000 in Scotland, England and Wales are now open. Click HERE to find out more.
Alternatively check out the details on the Funding page HERE

New regulations governing how charities must refer to themselves on certain documents take full effect from 1st April 2008. The Charities Reference in Documents (Scotland) Regulations 2007 as amended by the Charities References in Documents (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2008, specify those documents where charities must declare their registered name, their charitable status and charity number, and the wording that must be used.

The Regulations will allow the public to more easily recognise where an organisation has charitable status. For new charities entered in the Scottish Charity Register on or after 1st October 2007, the Regulations will come into effect six months after their entry in the Register. The Regulations apply to all charities entered in the Scottish Charity Register, including those charities that are also registered as charities in another country or territory.

From 1st April 2008, items such as business letters and emails, advertisements, invoices, fundraising leaflets, campaign material, must state the following:

The charity’s name as it appears in the Scottish Charity Register;
- Any other name by which the charity is known;
- The Scottish Charity Number of the charity.

In addition, a charity whose name does not contain the word ‘charity’ or ‘charitable’ must also state the fact that it is a charity. Only charities entered in the Scottish Charity Register which are established under the law of Scotland, or which are managed wholly or mainly from Scotland, are permitted to use the descriptions ‘Scottish charity’ or ‘registered Scottish charity’.

For more information on this — www.oscr.org.uk
or call OSCR on 01382 220446.
Email — info@oscr.org.uk

Many thanks to MVSO for kindly allowing us to re-produce this item.

Small charities, churches and voluntary organisations will be exempt from paying water charges for the next 6 years, the Scottish government has revealed.
The current exemption, which had been due to run out in 2010 will now be extended to 2014.
The move follows a campaign by charities and churches to fight the introduction of water charges.
Follow this link HERE for more information.

The three organisations, Voluntary Action Moray (VAM ), Volunteer Centre Moray (VCM) and Moray Social Enterprise Network (MSEN), have agreed to establish a single interface organisation to represent voluntary and community organisations, volunteers, and social enterprises in Moray.
Click HERE to read more....

Community Payback Workparties from both Aberdeenshire Council and Moray Council have carried out extensive indoor and outdoor painting work and landscaping for numerous community run village halls in the Aberdeenshire and Moray areas for many years.
They would like to inform those hall committee members who may have "slipped the net" and are unaware that they are a resource for them to call upon or those who may have lost their contact details and require further work done.

Click here to find out more... information courtesy of National Rural Network

Road Safety Scotland has been working with Baldy Bane Theatre Company in the development of a new road safety play which is set to tour the country for a ten-week period in spring 2012. Better Late than Dead on Time is suitable for all generations and it is hoped a wide variety of groups will take up the offer to host the play. The play is funded by Road Safety Scotland and is free to groups who wish to host it.

To find out more click here.information courtesy of National Rural Network

Click the link below to read the latest news from Rural Direct which includes:
News on Rural Direct Roadshows, SNH Community Action Grants,
Low Carbon Transport Loans and much more....

Click HERE for the eBulletin, opens in a new window.

This year's maintenance grant cheques have now been signed and posted out to all Halls and Associations, if you do not receive your cheque shortly please contact Tony Bowmer by Email with details. Thank You.

Amendments have recently been made to Sections 67 & 72 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA).
These changes took effect from 1 January 2011.
These changes effect not-for-profit organisations such as charities, community halls, churches, voluntary organisations and social enterprises, as well as uses by student unions and government and local authority buildings which are not already licensed.
Prior to 1 January 2011 not-for-profit organisations were exempt from paying public performance fees to PPL for various uses of recorded music under S67 of the CDPA providing that certain conditions were met. This exemption has now been removed.

The whole issue of music licences can be very complicated and you can find links below to both the Performing Rights Society and the Phonographic Performance Ltd web sites where you can find the information you need regarding the PRS Licence and the PPL Licence.

PRS
0845 309 3090
www.prsformusic.com
customerservice@prsformusic.com

PPL
020 7534 1000
www.ppluk.com
info@ppluk.com

The Moray Halls Handbook, Section 5,
covers the subject of licences required for halls in greater depth.

All Member Halls should have received an email containing a brief summary of the new web site and a request for information form.
Please fill the in form with as much information as you can supply and email it back to the Webmaster for inclusion in your Hall's listing in the Hall Hire section of the site. If you have photos you can upload them using the Contact Form at the top of the page.

If your Hall did NOT receive the email please click HERE for the request for information form and click HERE for the web site summary.