mediation between St. George's Club's Member's Advisory Council and developer Alistair Woolf.

"During this time we narrowed the focus of the discussions to those issues which could be agreed by both parties, and to those issues which required resolution in the short term,'' Mr. Dodwell said in a press release issued after more than three-and-a-half hours of talks.

And following a separate meeting with three members of the MAC, Mr. Dodwell, together with representatives from the Department of Works and Engineering and the Ministry of Finance, will today meet with Mr. Woolf.

The east-end club has been struggling since 1991 under a burden of mounting operating losses, accumulating a projected deficit of $2.9 million. Meanwhile, the operations side of the timeshare is expected to lose over $820,000 this year.

Club President Mr. Woolf told timeshare owners in order to remediate the "cash-flow crisis'' they would have to ante-up on an extra "assessment'' fee this year to meet the current total operating deficit. He also proposed the members' annual maintenance fee would have to be hiked by around 55 percent.

The hikes, however, have caused controversy, one which erupted in the House of Assembly last Friday when Progressive Labour Party Shadow Minister of Tourism, David Allen, questioned the amount of notice club members had been given about the increases.

Some club members, on the other hand, have criticised the move.

On another front, Mr. Woolf is negotiating to sell his interest in the club to Great Vacation Resorts, a major timeshare developer in the US.

"The issues are complex,'' said Mr. Dodwell. "I intend nonetheless to allow the facilitation process to take its natural course, to ensure the resolutions which are agreed are fully supported by, and in the interests of the timesharing club members, the developer/owner, and ultimately Bermuda as a whole.''