The following people attended:

Don Bonter, Paul Boyd, Dave Dingle, Sarah Roberts, Lambert Veltman, Diane Lyndon, PEC Councillor Roy Pennel, Peter Lockyer

(Jim Alyea, Lynn Mitchell, Erin Alexander and John Colasante sent regrets due to other commitments.)

– In mid December, Dave and Don met with Mayor Jim Harrison and Deputy Mayor Jim Alyea of QW and PEC. In mid December, Dave and Don also had a meeting with Mayor Robert Quaiff of PEC. We presented our new branding and logo as the Historic Murray Canal District (HMCD) and our emphasis on elevating the heritage status of the Murray Canal as a means of attracting media attention to the Canal and as a strategy to attract a greater share of Parks Canada funding. At both meetings we received enthusiastic support and encouragement.  Deputy Mayor Alyea has agreed to act as a QW Council liaison for us. Councillor Roy Pennell has agreed to act as liaison to PEC for us.

– We have cc’d Mayor Walas and Mary Tadman on our communications over the past few months, but have not met with them yet. Councillor Tadman has agreed to act as a Brighton Council liaison for us.

– Via Don Bonter and the Macdonald Project of Prince Edward County, over 30 people from QW, Brighton and PEC attended the Sir John A. Macondald 150th Anniversary  dinner in Toronto.  Among the attendees, were Hastings/PEC MP Daryl Kramp, Mayor Harrison of QW, Mayor Quaiff of PEC, Peter Lockyer and David Warrick, both of the Macdonald Project of PEC. Each of these individuals  have provided great support and encouragement to our group. Sir John A. Macdonald’s connection to Murray Canal heritage is a key element of our effort to elevate the Canal’s heritage status. 

Bridge Status
– Positive rumours continue to swirl. Nothing has been announced.  Tony Clement is in Belleville on March 13th, 2015

Finances
– Please see the attached spreadsheet for details.

– Our financial partnership with the TPHS organization is in place and appears to be working well. We have established a TD bank account for the HMCD and have been issuing payment for the 125th event expenses from their. Some cash has been paid or retained as petty cash held by Dave. This is listed in the spreadsheet.

– We have obtained some significant donations over the past 8 weeks and are continuing to approach business owners and individuals for support. The funds collected so far are highlighted in the spreadsheet. The donations we have obtained are being used to pay for the last event and to position us for the next one.

– Dave presented our expenses and outlined the outstanding amounts that are owed to vendors for the 125th Anniversary event (within this week all will have been paid). Donors and individuals who have loaned funds to our organization are also presented, including the amounts provided and any repayment that has taken place.

– More formal accounting to follow.

– Don stated that it would be great if more members of our group could extend financial support in the form of donations or loans

– The spreadsheet also lists earlier financial contributions and expenses the organization has incurred from its inception as well.

– Please contact Dave with any questions or suggestions regarding our finances to date.

Fundraising
– Our Fundraising Committee: Don Chairing, Lambert Veltman, Dave Dingle. We need more help on this. Anyone receiving this email your participation or suggestions on new individuals to approach for this committee would be great.

HMCD to sponsor a “Friends of Sir John A. Macdonald Dinner” event on May 9th, 2015

– Don presented the idea of holding a Friends of Sir John A. Macdonald dinner event as fundraiser. We have secured a commitment from Brian and Renee Porter to appear as Sir Joh and Lady Agnes for the evening. David Warrick will also be speaking about Sir John. The group liked the idea and we are going ahead with a date of May 9th, 2015 established for the event $100. The dinner will be held at the Travelodge in Belleville on the waterfront. We have received the event contract. It looks to have a minimum of risk associated with only a $500 deposit required.

All attendees were asked to help sell tickets. Dave will approach everyone to get tickets to them. We can sell up to 175 tickets.

Dave print and distribute tickets and a program of presentations for the evening; engage with TPHS; prepare public announcements and get on the radio and in the press.

Paul Boyd offered to connect us with the Morton family at CJBQ for publicity.

Roy Pennell suggested connecting with the new County Radio station for support as well.

Raffle

– We discussed the idea of a raffle and Gord Penziwal’s suggestions. We decided to focus on the dinner for now and consider a raffle of some type as a future initiative.

A Theatrical Presentation

– We discussed an idea proposed by Peter Lockyer to mount a theatrical presentation this fall as a fundraiser.  The group liked the idea and wanted to investigate further to see if this could be done with sufficient financial benefit to the HMCD

Action: Phil Spencer to discuss with Dan Buchanan the idea of theatrical  presentation of the story of Dr. King poisoning his wife in 1850. The story has resonance across the three municipalities, with key parts of the story taking place in Brighton, Trenton and Carrying Place.

Perter Lockyer reiterated his offer to help with strategic and event planning as an in-kind contribution. Peter offered advice on fundraising ideas with a focus on high quality, unique and branded items to sell. Dave and Don will follow up to discuss further.

Business and other organization donors to be approached
– Quinte Tourism – TBD
– Municipal asks – TBD

Feedback from attendees on actions to date and future plans was solicited. The group approved of the fundraising plans as outlined above and we will continue as discussed above.

Event Committee: Diane Lyndon, John Colasante, Sarah Roberts, Phil Spencer, Don Bonter, Dave Dingle – more participants very welcome

August 22, 23rd Bay of Quinte Heritage Celebration 
– in the spirit of connecting across the three municipalities we propose to brand our summer event as a Bay of Quinte Heritage Celebration. Our funding level is likely to be modest. We are budgeting to spend $10-$15k but we won’t spend a dollar unless its a dollar we already have 🙂

Our event program so far consists of the following:

– a Macdonald bicentennial theatrical presentation featuring Brian and Renee Porter

– a single tall ship if we can afford it

– possibly a ghost ship as a theatrical prop

– Quinte Dragon boat committed to come on Saturday morning

– Brighton Dragon boat – possibly a race on Sat aft or Sunday

– Diane Lyndon has some musical acts tentatively lined up
– Quinte West Police – ask QW Municipality for help on this. 
Actions: Hold next event committee meeting.  John, Phil, Diane or Sarah any change one of you could you coordinate this for us, possibly with a goal for the meeting of hammering out a tentative program with followup actions building on what we have listed above? 

Membership
– The group at the meeting concurred with the plan to hold a membership drive and to formalize our executive through an election. We will then proceed to establish our formal charitable status. 
– The election and membership meeting will be held in April sometime.

Meeting adjourned.