Category: Midlothian Voluntary Action

Virtual meeting best practice

"Zoom meeting" by chericbaker is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0

A poor internet connection, a frozen screen and Zoom fatigue are all problems that those of us taking part in video meetings have experienced during the pandemic.

For all the downsides, video meetings have allowed some organisations to keep working under lockdown, and they can also be easier to attend for those with mobility issues or busy schedules. The technology reduces the costs of holding meetings, and businesses are now less dependent on office space.

If your organisation wants to keep holding official meetings online or by phone (such as AGMs) after 30 March 2021, you may need to update your governing documents.

Over the next three weeks we’re going to publish a series of blog posts that outline how to work out if you need to update your governing documents to allow for continued online meetings. We’ll provide some sample lines to use, and share case studies on what other businesses have learnt from holding meetings online. Topics we’ll cover will include how to manage online voting, preparing for those potential technical hitches and avoiding disruptive ‘Zoombombing’.

Keep an eye on the news page over the coming weeks- follow us on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll let you know when the next post is live.

On 24 February we’re holding a free workshop for Midlothian third sector organisations that may need to change their governing document to allow virtual meetings.

Youth Arts Small Grants Fund now open for applications

Midlothian Voluntary Action are proud to be working in partnership with local social enterprise Made in Midlothian on a project that will support freelance artists to work with children and young people in Midlothian.

Funded by Creative Scotland’s Youth Arts Small Grants Scheme, the programme will provide small grants to artists to work with groups of children and young people in Midlothian who have been most adversely affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. Local MSP, Colin Beattie, has congratulated Made in Midlothian on their success, in a motion to the Scottish Parliament. 

The small grant fund is now open for applications and applications close on 1 March 2021.  See Made in Midlothian’s website for more information.


“This funding will support Made in Midlothian to empower freelance arts practitioners to deliver activity across the community, and bring meaningful creative experiences to children and young people, whose well-being has been so severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Colin Bradie, Interim Head of Creative Learning, Creative Scotland

Brexit’s not long away. Is your organisation prepared?

With all the discussions about Covid-19 in recent months, it is easy to forget that we will still be leaving the EU on 31 December 2020. There will be guaranteed changes from January 1st for businesses as we start our new relationship with the EU. There are many actions you can take today to prepare. Third sector organisations are being urged to: 

It is worth doing one or more of these things now, as Brexit (the real thing) will be upon us very soon!

Retirement of George Wilson, manager of MVA

We are sad (but happy for George!) to share the news that George Wilson, Manager of MVA, retired at the end of September.  George has worked in Midlothian since 1994. He initially managed Woodburn Action Group, which then merged with MVA in 1998.  He has been with us ever since. 

His calm and supportive manner has been appreciated by everyone in the sector, and we can’t put into words how much everyone at Midlothian TSI will miss him.  His leaving collection raised over £400, and we were able to buy him a very nice bottle of Islay Malt. We hope you enjoy it George – but definitely don’t drink it all at once!