A Meeting of the Committee Of
Minutes of a meeting of the Committee of
THE FRIENDS OF RALEIGHPARK
held on Thursday 6 October 2011 at 7.30 pm at 63 Yarnells Hill
Present: Stephen Parkinson (Chair), Jenny Barker (Deputy Chair), David Browning (Treasurer), Alan Blackmore (Secretary), and Carol Kramer (Membership Secretary)
1.APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Paul Hodges, Josie Webber, Caroline Chanides, and Michelle Legg.
2.REPORT FROM THEFORMATION MEETING
Draft minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2011werecirculated. The Committee agreed that they were an accurate record.
3.CO-OPTION OF ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS
It was agreed to invite Alan Eadle to be a co-opted member of the Committee.
Action: Chair
4.ROLE OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The Committee agreedto allocate roles and responsibilities to members of the Committee as follows:
i)Enquiries concerning membership would be directed to the Membership Secretary initially, who would update the membership list and transmit email addresses to the Secretary and subscriptions to the Treasurer.
ii)The City Council would be asked to send general correspondence and information to the Secretary, with correspondence concerning work and permits going to the Deputy Chair.
Action: Secretary
iii)The Deputy Chair would take responsibility for fundraising. The following were agreed as projects for which funds could be sought: re-introduction of cattle to graze the Park; provision of benches; fencing the Park boundary; reconstruction of the double gates leading into the Park; a noticeboard for the Friends.
iv)Website: The first Friends’ newsletter would seek a member with the expertise to create a website. The Deputy Chair agreed to ask MatthewArnoldSchool whether students would be willing to take this on as an IT project.
v)Flora and Fauna Surveys: Paul Hodges would be asked to co-ordinate surveys.
Action: Chair
vi)History of the Park: The Treasurer would take responsibility for this. The Deputy Chair agreed to contact Malcolm Graham on his behalf.
Action: Deputy Chair
vii)Publicity: The Deputy Chair circulated a draft article about the work of the Friends for publication in the Sprout. It was agreed that an updated version of this should be submitted. It was also agreed to post notices at the entrances to the Park publicising the formation of the Friends and to deliver information to houses in the area. The Oxford Mail would be contacted when there was completed work for a story.
5.BANK ACCOUNT
Further to the agreement of the meeting on 21 September to authorise the Treasurer to open a bank account, the following were appointed by the Committee to be authorised signatories:
David Browning (Treasurer)
Stephen Parkinson (Chair)
Alan Blackmore (Secretary)
The Committee agreed that two signatories would be required for each transaction.
6.PLANS FOR CONSERVATION WORK
The Treasurer reported that work on clearing the stream from the existing pond was nearly complete. He had investigated the area of the other stream and found that the ground was saturated. It would be possible to create a pond there if desired.
The Committee agreed that following completion of work on the watercourses the next project should be to make more of the Park accessible by clearing brambles etc. Invasive Himalayan balsam and ragwort should be prevented from seeding.
Once the pond had been dredged, a programme of planting around it would be needed, but would depend on when the dredging took place.
7.PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
i)It was agreed to hold a Boxing Day walk in the Park.
ii)It was agreed to ask Paul Hodges whether he would be able to suggest an expert who could lead a dawn chorus walk. The offer of assistance with a dawn chorus walk from Dilys Parkinson was noted with thanks.
Action: Chair, Secretary
iii)Members had proposed holding an event to mark the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Dianne Cockburn and Dilys Parkinson would undertake initial organisation.
Action: Secretary
iv)It was noted that the City Council would provide insurance for three events for £20.00.
8.FUTURE MEETINGS
The Committee agreed to meet every two months unless urgent business required additional meetings. It was agreed to hold the next meeting on Thursday 8 December.
9.ANY OTHER BUSINESS
i)It was noted that the first calls on the Friends’ funds would be: £20.00 for the hire of the Scout Hut on two occasions; £20.00 to the City Council for insurance for three events in the Park.
Action: Secretary
ii)The City Council had requested data on the number of volunteers working in the Park and it was noted that there had been between five and eight on each occasion.
iii)It was noted that permission was required from the subjects before photos of members working in the Park could be published.
Signed …………………………………………………………………., Chair
Date:…………………………………………………..