SHRG (Glasgow Branch) AGM, Tues 27 Mar 1979. in NAS GD467/3/2/6 (1980-1982 SHRG: Glasgow branch: Club - Wednesday meetings)

Extract from Chairman's Report.:

External discos have continued, though the pattern of the year just ended has been that weekend bookings have gradually become almost impossible to find and that we have had to fall back on the less attractive nights in the early part of the week. Your Committee is, however, constantly making enquiries.

The Gay Centre has now been open for eighteen months, and the detail and principles involved in the running of it have inevitablly bulked large in all discussions. You have a number of Motions placed before you with regard to this. Difficulties with lack of space - proposal to look for larger premises.
It is up to you, as the general Branch membership, to decide what sort of a Centre you want. I am constantly hearing reports at second hand to the effect that the gay pubs are full of disgruntled members saying that if only the Centre were quite different from what it is, they would be regular visitors, but they way things are ... But vigorous grousing at  a great distance has never yet brought about changes in human affairs. If you think that the Centre has developed the wrong kind of Atmosphere, then now is you chance to stand up and state what the right atmosphere would be and how it can be obtained. Silence gives consent.

Some of the difficulties have arisen through a lack of space. The GGAS report of the past year gives just one instance of this. The Committee has therefore proposed a Motion that we look for larger premises, where various activities could go on side by side without interferingly with each other. It was the wise purchase of the existing premises two years ago that has made this proposed development possible. By going into the property market the Branch has gained considerable financial clout: the District Council may not love us, but we are on good terms with our Bank Manager!

David Jago

Tuesday Meeting Group

The regular Branch meeting has continued throughout the year under various guises, and for the first part of the period was guided expertly by Bill McConnachie who organised a wide-ranging series of talks and discussions, mainly on gay topics, but relieved from time to time by evenings on non-gay subjects. During the summertime we appeared in force at both the remaining operating bandstands in the South and West of the City, at Queens Park (where else?) and Kelvingrove.

After the Special General Meeting in October, Ian Strang joined Alan Dalzeil as co-organiser and they have continued the mixture very much as before, taking some Tuesdays themselves as topical subjects like the National AGM, holidays (Rangoon to Troon), etc. come alone. We also had a visit from the PIE chairman, and recently QUEST (for Catholic gays) and Gay Christians supplied speakers.

The role of the Tuesday meetings itself has come for some comment, as at one time it was the only event which brought the members together each week. Now, with the Centre well into its stride and open every night, this Tuesday forum, in some people's opinion, has outlived its usefulness. However, it is still seen by some as fulfilling a useful purpose, by providing a focal framework for the regular Policy Meetings, and an organised meeting each week for new people coming along to the Centre for the first time. On many occasions after the formal events ends, little groups of people, who may never have been in the Centre at the same time on other evenings, continue discussion of the subject, and in so doing create a convivial atmosphere in the "back room" quite like any other evening.