CoTech Gathering Birmingham - 15-16th June 2022

As at attendee it seems very expensive to me, we paid for all of our drinks throughout the two days. I was under the impression the garden space wasn't an additional cost. £720.60 for refreshments we were unaware of and occasional garden use seems very excessive for perhaps 20 of us. It's nice to support the space however £2k for what was received sounds ridiculous. I have voted to abstain however personally I would of more than questioned that cost from Friends of the Earth Birmingham.

I agree that code-operative should be paid, however I'd say it's a little questionable and shady that warehouse hadn't informed of cost and just sent an invoice after the fact.

Sorry I missed the previous discussion around the additional cost meaning Code-Operative had to pay the invoice. Seems crazy that FoE and Warehouse Cafe weren't more open about the costing beforehand, but that can't be put on the team that did an amazing job organising the event. Agree we should reimburse Code-Operative

It was a shame not to have the info beforehand about the costs but we'll know next time. It's hard to juggle work with organising stuff. Despite this, John and Leo organised an event with a nice vibe, location, food - plus intro to coops in Birmingham and the People's Republic of Stirchley to inspire us. Count me in.

We shouldn't be in this situation but it would be unfair for Code-operative to carry the cost. For CBN.

I think this is the best we can do given the situation and we (GFR) certainly wouldn't want Code-Op to be out of pocket. On the positive side we learnt a lot from this experience and at the Glasgow gathering wrote up some best practices for how to make gatherings in the future more cost-neutral. I also updated the fund accounts to show that we can cover this shortfall without impacting our ability to fund things next year.

I did not attend but believe those responsible for the error should contribute at least part of the additional cost.

Good Praxis doesn't know much about the situation and we did not attend so best if we abstain

We agree to reimbursing Code-Operative and appreciate them fronting costs.

However, we might not support another proposal of this kind in the future. Hopefully, given the new guidance for organising gatherings, such a situation will not take place again.