The Saga of the Minutes

"But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months."

"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything."

"But the plans were on display ..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a flashlight."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

I have heard that MFS Committee have decided that their minutes will not be made available to members apart from in a book in someone's house. It must be nice living in 1991. I must write them a letter some time, if I can find my quill pen and parchment. At a time when everyone else is using email and the web, I don't have time to drive to someone's house every month to see the minutes of our committee's meetings.

So, I can't verify this by having a look in the minutes, but I have seen a couple of references so I guess our committee has done it again. The minutes are not the committee's secret diary, they are part of their accountability to members.

Abysmal, but there is no volunteer ombudsman, so your only recourse is to elect a better committee next time. Maybe you should stand?