'We need two of you otherwise this ship will sink!'

An urgent plea from HighlandLIT’s interim chair, Marina Gertsen at Thursday’s Open Mic event at Roots Cafe (9th April)

Hi all, thank you for coming tonight. Some familiar faces - and some not so familiar to me as I haven't been here for a while. I used to come along more regularly but life got in the way. 

However when I found out that HighlandLIT was close to folding due to committee members needing to step down, after taking a turn to work so hard, I very hesitantly offered to be a very skeletal, interim Chair just to keep things going a few more months to try one last push to getting a committee on its feet. 

This group means a lot to me, I credit its support in helping me find the confidence to be able to stand here and talk to all of you. I remember the first time I read out a poem:  I was literally shaking with nerves! 

As well as helping us with our creativity, this group is incredible for helping us with our confidence, as well as forming friendships and offering peer support.

So it would be really sad to see this organisation having to come to an end. 

At the moment, we have Cathy and John doing the bulk of the work, but as volunteers, having already taken their turn as committee members.  

In terms of committee members, now that Paul is very understandably handing over the baton after an excellent shift, we only have myself, and Lillian  So we urgently need two more committee members to keep things afloat. 

We need a treasurer: 
Role:
- be in charge of the HighlandLIT bank account

- book and pay for the venue each month

- receive and record membership fees

- report on ingoings and outgoings each year

- pay for any authors or writers who run workshops
 
We need a Programme Co-ordinator:
Role:
- to organise what is happening each month.

- this can be as simple as just having an open mic night every month, or alternating open mic nights with group writing sessions

- or you can really get your teeth into this role and take it back to where we were, booking author readings and workshops. We have links with Moniack Mhor and it might be possible to return to the previous strategy of inviting authors who are leading courses there to also speak at HighlandLIT, giving a good chance to network and meet published authors from across the UK

- or, if you don't have much time, just doing the very bare minimum would be find for this role - a few hours a month - attending the monthly committee meeting online and keeping the Open Mic nights going

We are desperate for someone to volunteer for this so anything you can offer would be so much appreciated.

In addition to these roles, it would be great if someone could offer, either as a committee member or just as a volunteer, to help John out with creating some graphics and run an Instagram account to boost our visibility. 

We need these roles filled immediately -  by the end of the month, April 2026, ready to join the next committee meeting at the beginning of May. 

If we don't have at least two people step up to take on these roles then we will make a decision in a few weeks and let you all know at the next Open Mic night in May if HighlandLIT is to be put ‘on ice’ for the time being.

Were this to happen the June open mic session would be the last session for the foreseeable future. 

NB – we are so grateful to the people who have shown their support by joining HighlandLIT for 2026-27.  If it is to be put on ice, we will fully refund your subscription payments.

If HighlandLIT has to be put on ice, it would be really sad, particularly as HighlandLIT is actually in a very good place at present in many ways. We’ve found this great venue at Roots Café. There is over £2000 in the bank account -  plenty funds to pay for authors and workshops. We have, thanks to some fundraising from a few years back, the tech kit for hosting online sessions, which Cathy so magnificently manages

In addition, Moniack Mhor have offered in principle to gift a £300 annual bursary to a HighlandLIT member. We’re still ironing out the fine details of this but this is a fantastic opportunity, and part of Moniack’s outreach, establishing links with community groups like ours. . So we can run an annual competition or award to select one member who would receive £300 towards a course or retreat at Moniack. 

We have a fantastic website managed by John, which has space for us all to have an online profile in the Members Showcase which is so useful for anyone who is approaching agents or publishers.
 
Lots of really positive stuff

So please, if you can offer us a few hours of your time each month, please step up and join the committee, so we can keep this engine running. No experience needed! Just get in touch via the email address highlandlit.com@gmail.com if you have any questions

We need two of you otherwise this ship will sink!

Marina