Annual General Meeting & Drug Service Development

MAV had their 11^th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday 13^th May 2011. Ian Swanston was re-elected as Chairperson, Julie Boyle as Secretary and Vida Swanston as Treasurer. Patsy Mckie and Rose Thompson were also re-elected as committee members. There were three new additions to the executive committee; James Gregory, Darren Conner and Stacy Rowe who were all elected. MAV Chairperson Elect said; “The team look forward to the coming year and hope to continue the positive work in the community regardless of the current financial restraints on so many services. Having faith and working hard will get us through”. A review of the year was given by the chairperson, who acknowledged the challenge of securing funding in 2010. The Chairperson also expressed the need to extend MAV services to meet the needs of those in the community who are dealing with issues of substance misuse. MAV feel established enough to extend its’ services to give the much needed support to the families most affected by such issues and are well aware of the strong links drug misuse has with gun and knife crime. Darren Conner and Julie Boyle who have a vast amount of knowledge in regards to supporting those who are impacted by substance misuse are currently developing this service. The aim is to have the service active before the end of 2011. During the next few months a full web page will be designated to the project on the MAV website. The MAV constitution will now include our commitment to those families who face issues in relation to drug misuse. We are confident that we have the capacity and skill base to support these growing issues amongst young people and their families. We are, as ever committed to using our current services such as mentoring, counselling, parenting support and campaigning to support this new service.