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Derek Peacock and I are signatories to the old Safety Forum's Bank Account. I am sure you will appreciate there was no lead in to the closure of the Forum which took members of the Committee, at that time, completely by surprise. Derek was not a member of the Safety Forum but responded to a request to assist Hugh and myself deal with the financial side of the Forum's closure and I remain indebted to him for his assistance in this regard. Hugh Barney Miller, the last standing Committee Member of the Forum, Derek and I have, in the intervening months since the Forum was closed at the Special General Meeting last February, endeavoured to safeguard funds held in this account. We have had meetings with Linda Beanlands and Rob Calcutt (recorded notes of those meetings were kept) to discuss how best to deal with the closure of the Forum particularly in relation to handling monies in the Bank Account, securing the STOP project grant money, paying bills etc.
The Safety Forum's Bank Account currently stands at £2,810.79. This comprises £2,729.52 grant money (STOP project) and £81.27 remaining monies in the account after all bills have been paid. We are keen to ensure that this fairly large sum of money is distributed appropriately to LGBT community groups rather than simply returned to the Council although this would be one option.

We are of the view that we need to form a 'short-life' working group comprising representatives of community groups, which Derek, Hugh and myself would attend, to agree how best to distribute this money for the benefit of our community. Suggestions could include

• reimbursing Spectrum and Friends the outstanding expenditure (£180) in relation to outstanding expenditure incurred in organising the LGBT Consultation Meeting which took place on 12/11/03.
• meeting or contributing towards the costs of organising future Consultation Meetings
• purchasing personal alarms which could be distributed to the community - how? by whom?
• any other initiatives, eg self defence classes, which community groups wish to organise

Please would you forward suggestions as to how the money should be spent, to me, at patxthomas@hotmail.com. Volunteers will be needed to form a small, 'short-life' working group to make the final decisions in regard to the appropriate distribution of these funds. If you are interested in being part of this group please let me know. Please can you email me your suggestions and names of volunteers by Wednesday 4th February. I hope this will give people ample time, given the Xmas period, to respond. Please circulate this message to other persons, groups or businesses you think appropriate in this matter.

Best wishes,

Pat Thomas