A meeting of the steering group was held on Thursday 22^nd January 2009 in the Marriage Room, Mountfield and lasted for two hours.   Twenty two people came and it opened with each person stating their name and particular interest in the project.

Following a discussion on the information circulated to members prior to the meeting about the options for the legal framework of the group, it was unanimously agreed that Transition Town Bridport should form a ‘charitable company’.

A meeting of the website sub-group has been held and the minutes circulated to the steering group.   A domain name has been purchased and the website has been set up with the address www.transitiontownbridport.co.uk.   Additional volunteers came forward to act as moderators and a training workshop for them will be arranged.   The intention is that each moderator takes responsibility for the website a week at a time in rotation.

The publicity officers, having held a meeting, reported on contacts made with local media.   A street survey was suggested as a means of gauging current knowledge of transition towns amongst the population of Bridport so the group could work out the best way to successfully raise awareness.   A draft will be circulated for discussion at the next meeting and volunteers came forward to help carry out the survey.

There was discussion about the best way of monitoring the website and a request was made for a protocol to cover the operation of the site.

Discussion of the logo competition was postponed until the next meeting as the organisers were unable to attend.

It was agreed that a simple description of what a transition town is will be needed.   The press officers will prepare a draft for discussion at the next meeting.

It was agreed that the monthly green drink will be held at The Tiger on the third Thursday of each month from 7.00pm, with the first on 19^th February.

BLAP have asked for a five minute presentation at their AGM on 26^th March.   A volunteer came forward to prepare a display for this and ideas for visuals were discussed.

It was agreed that the main focus for ‘the great unleashing’ would be the week-long series of events starting with the Food Fair (last weekend in June) and ending with the Charter Fair (first weekend in July).   Lots of volunteers will be needed for this.   The possibility of a film screening during the week was discussed.

A musical event and a cycling event, to raise funds and awareness, were both agreed to be good ideas and volunteers came forward to arrange them.

There was a brief presentation on the Bridport Co-housing project.

The steering group plan to meet again on 26^th February 2009.