Agenda and minutes

The Chair referred with sadness to the death of the wife of Gareth Borsden, Democratic Services Officer. Members expressed their condolences. The Chair indicated that he would write to Gareth on behalf of this Committee.  

Apologies for absence were received from T McNulty, A Dulley and Councillors K E Marsh, C Thomas and T M White.

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by both authorities, no interests were declared.

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee held on 12 December 2014.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee held on 12 December 2014, be agreed as a correct record.

K Collis presented the report of the Director of Place which gave details of the Joint Archive Service Revenue Budget for 2015/2016 and the reserves held by the Joint Archive Service, which was submitted for information only. The detailed budget was shown in Appendix A. It was noted that there were no additional savings for the Archive Service put forward for 2015/2016. The table in the report showed the estimated position of the Archive Reserves as at 31 March 2016. It was stated that the only expected use of the Training Reserve during  2015/2016 was in respect of the Archive Trainee post.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

K Collis presented a report which outlined the work of the Archive Service during the period December 2014 to February 2015.

Service Issue and Service Performance

The business plan for the Service during the period 2015 – 2017 was attached for information in  Appendix 1 . It was stated that it was not too late for members to submit comments on this action plan. The Chair suggested that any comments on the plan be submitted to the County Archivist by 31 March 2015.

The Committee were informed that discussions had taken place with the two major family history website companies regarding putting more digitised material from the archive collections online. This initiative had the potential to increase the existing income stream from the online parish registers. Questions were asked regarding the methodology to be used in deciding the successful bid.

Statistics for December 2014 to February 2015

Statistics for December 2014 to February 2015 were detailed in the report, which showed reductions across a number of performance indicators. The County Archivist detailed improved marketing of the schools education service had commenced. The Committee agreed that there was a need to be proactive and to emphasis the fact that there was no charge for the Archive Service to schools. It was queried how these figures compared to other local authority archive services in Wales and the Committee were assured that the number of visits to West Glamorgan Archives was the highest in Wales.

AGREED that a further report be submitted to the next meeting in June which would identify the initiatives that had been put in place to encourage greater usage.

Service Outreach

K Collis stated that the project outreach work of the Service in the last quarter had focused on 2 ongoing projects funding by external agencies, as detailed in the report. All Committee members were invited to a community event on Saturday 14 March 2015 at Sandfields Community Education Centre.

 A comprehensive list of archives received during the period December 2014 to February 2015 was attached as Appendix 2.Following a recent incident it  was stated that all schools in Neath Port Talbot had been contacted to be reminded that they should deposit their older records with the Archive Service and not allow them to pass out of local authority hands.  

The Committee were informed by Mrs J L Watkins that a German author was producing a book on gas trams and that one chapter had been dedicated to the Neath Tram. It was queried if anyone knew of the whereabouts of a Neath Tram model.

The Chair thanked Canon Stephen Ryan who was attending his last meeting. He was thanked for his valuable contribution made over the last 13 years. He will be replaced by Charlotte Hodgson honorary Llandaff Diocesan Archivist. 

It was stated that the date of the next meeting was likely to be the second Friday in June, and that members would be informed of dates for the forthcoming municipal year would be circulated to members once these have been finalised.

The meeting ended at 12.20p.m.