WAYLAND PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TRUST
REPRESENTATIVES MEETING MINUTES FOR SEPTEMBER 27TH 2016
PRESENT: Karen Weir (Ovington), Roger Harrold (Saham Toney), Marcia Forsyth (Ashill),Iris Welford (Great Hockham), Beryl Bunning (Watton), Jean Williams, Jan Godfrey, Suzanne Rhind.
- WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Jan welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Claire Bowes (Breckland), Katharine Wolstenholme (Watton Tourism Assoc.) and Bronwen Tyler (Thompson).
- MINUTES OF THE JULY MEETING
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as being an accurate record.
- ROUND TABLE REPORTS FROM PARTNERS
Great Hockham: The Parish Council will be looking at the Local Plan at the next meeting and drawing together final conclusions. In October the Village Hall is hosting Mrs Thirkettle for an evening of 1940’s entertainment. They held a successful cheese and wine event at the Pub. Sadly Richard Wilson has passed away.
Ashill: The regular monthly coffee mornings at the Village Hall are now being well supported. The BBQ at the Rectory was a great success raising £600 for the Children’s Home. There is a Quiz night planned to raise funds at the Village Hall. The summer Fete was excellent, as was a night of singing and music by Rob Charles. Mervyn Stutter, comedian, will be performing at the Village Hall in November. Also in November, AVA is hosting a demonstration and talk on their work on WW1.
Ovington: Has been generally quiet in the village. Two planning applications have been received, of which 1 was rejected and 1 with additional clauses. Work on the new bus stop on Dereham Road will start soon. This is a 50/50 partnership scheme with Norfolk County Council.The Soprano singing at the Church has sold out. The Church HLF project is progressing well.
Saham Toney: The fete in July was successful raising £150 per organisation. The village has been confirmed as a rural settlement rather than a service centre in the Local Plan. Flooding is still affecting some householders who are waiting for work to be done. Following a storm a few weeks ago several people were affected by lightning strikes. The Local Plan has been circulated amongst councillors and there are a few things they are not happy with such as the extent of the flood plain which does not match up with the much larger area shown on the Environment Agency website. They have completed a village survey. Last Sunday they held a Car Treasure Hunt which was not as well supported as they had hoped but enjoyable nonetheless.
Thompson: (Report provided by Bronwen prior to the meeting.)Church – Now that we have been granted £40,000 as the first round sum from HLF we have to work up the full bid application for the whole £250,000. Lots of work to do and we know we will need much more than this to do all the necessary repairs to the whole building. The current application is for the nave roof only. Until the opening up can take place we still do not know the full extent of what the problems might be and we have to be prepared for more, even the possibility of wall paintings. The committee has been identifying other funders, large and small to apply to. The Church fundraising group has had a number of activities to raise money for the restoration. The most successful was Lavender’s Lunch on Sept 4th which saw a record number of people attend and they got very low on food. Richard had to make a couple of emergency dashes to Tesco. They raised £800 profit which is outstanding. Harvest Lunch was less well attended due to being only a week later but also made a profit. The planned Christmas Tree event has been cancelled due to lack of time to effectively organise and advertise it but plans are already underway for one for next year, where the hope is that a lot of local charities will have trees for their own funds and it can be a larger-scale event . More details next year but interest would be welcome. There is a storytelling event on Oct 22nd at 7pm. £5 entry with light refreshments. Bring a blanket etc to get comfortable. Dec 18th Handbell concert. This was a lovely event last year so do come along.
WI held a rounder’s match against Watton and won 10-4 which amazed us all! There was some concern due to the rather geriatric nature of some of our members but the less fit batted and had runners to run on their behalf. Very funny to watch. The less energetic game of boules is planned next. We also have teams in the annual darts and ten pin bowling competitions.
New Community Hall. We have planning permission and are working on background stuff such as finalising the lease of the land from the Parish Council, choosing bricks, render and roof colours etc. Although we have sufficient funds, estimated costs have escalated and we are conscious of the need to ensure we retain a buffer fund for initial running costs, unforeseen expenses etc. We have already had to use more of the money than we had hoped and there is, as we all know, financial uncertainty at present so we need to be prepared. Therefore, in order to be able to use our funds to make the build itself of the best quality we can, we are also looking into applying to businesses with charity pots and to other funders for some of the peripherals and equipment such as kitchen items, audio equipment and so on. We are waiting to hear if we need another newt survey but latest information suggests not. We hope to go out to tender shortly. We plan a soup and pud event for January to lighten the drab days after the Christmas fun. Details later.
WATTON: The Town Council have been undertaking investigations into the recent flooding. They have met with local authorities and What Watton Wants to put plans in place which are progressing but slowly. They are also working on an emergency plan so that they are prepared for any unforeseen events. A free community firework display will take place on the Wayland showground on 29th October. There will be the usual Festive Market on 27th November with Norwich Pipe Band in attendance. Jan mentioned that 3rd December is Small Business Saturday and that the Chamber are looking to promote this.
- COMMUNICATION
Communication has been raised in a number of different ways from a range of different partners so Jan opened this topic up for discussion. Broadband continues to be a problem for many people with poor or non-existent service to customers. Roger suggested looking at to register problems/concerns. Similarly mobile phone signals are very unreliable depending on which network you are with. Social media is increasingly used to market businesses and events. Do we need training provided locally to help people make the most of social media? We also have local radio, however Jean commented that they can be very difficult to get hold of. Jan reported that Carbrooke may be losing its parish magazine after Christmas as the editor no longer wishes to run it and that the Parish Council has asked for advice from the Partnership. It was felt that some people may prefer an e-newsletter but that most would still like to receive a paper copy. However, logistically this is becoming more difficult in Carbrooke now. It was suggested that copies could be put in a central place for people to collect if wanted. Karen suggested putting a plea out for people to help and that young people may be interested in this type of creative role. Jan said she can add information about events etc. in our Partnership newsletter which goes out monthly as long as she receives it in good time.
- ACTIVITY REPORT
HAPPY: Jean explained that the purpose of the HAPPY project is to reach isolated and lonely people in parts of Ashill and Watton and the whole of Great & Little Cressingham. Activities are now happening but we are finding that there is need across the whole area which is a challenge. Jean will be working with families, young people and older people. So far they have held 2 Teddy Bear’s picnics, started a regular family session in Gt Cressingham and a weekly board games session at Watton library. On 28th October the project is hosting a Pumpkin Festival. A social group for those who want to meet new friends to go out and about with is starting this Thursday at the Sports Centre. There are plans to start a Sunday afternoon tea party in Ashill.
GROWING TOGETHER: Suzanne reported that Pam is currently on leave in Canada. Pam used her first month in post to spread the word about the project and to try and find out what potential greenspace projects may be out there. On the back of this project a youth session has been created in partnership with TCV, Watton Sports Centre and the Town Council to offer structured holiday activities, starting in October with the clearing of land next to the Bridle Road play area.
MEN’S SHED: Suzanne reported that progress is being made with the Men’s Shed group. Following attendance at the Wayland Show and the Carnival interest is growing and they now have around 20 members. The group is now meeting at Wayland House, every Wednesday at 10am with the next committee meeting at St Mary’s Church in October. The quest to find premises is ongoing but St Mary’s Church have agreed in principle for part of their land to be used to host the Shed alongside additional activities that they want to run. John Kerr, who works for the Prison Service, is investigating the possibility of a prison providing a Shed through a prisoner rehabilitation scheme.
HERITAGE:(Report provided by Bronwen prior to the meeting.) With great excitement (and a great deal of relief) we launched the book and trails leaflets at a lovely afternoon tea at Broom Hall. Neil Storey gave a very entertaining talk. We had two write ups in the EDP, including a superb 2 page spread by historical writer Steve Snelling. The books are selling well. MP Keith Simpson, who is one of the Commissioners on the board of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, read Steve Snelling’s article and rang to enquire about obtaining a copy of the book, which he collected in person. Lots of very positive comments about the book are coming in. We also created DVD of the more factual material and of material which didn’t fit into the book, and this is available as a research tool. It does not contain the book itself.
Jan and I had a fairly stressful few days sorting out the reporting to HLF which includes sending in the accounts in detail, the number of hours spent on the project by the community in various categories etc. We had to make sure everything we claimed for in the £10,000 grant was backed up by invoices and receipts. Several phone calls to HLF for help were needed but we got there with a couple of days to spare to meet the 31st Aug deadline. They also have a copy of the book, trails and DVD. We have had a letter informing us that all is in order and the project is now closed.
Books are available in hard cover at £18 and soft cover at £12. Leaflets of trails around our memorials are available free in the TIC. There are three separate leaflets as we divided Wayland into the same three areas in the Word Journey trails. Copies of the book are being given to a number of target organisations such as each of the Wayland villages, Watton library (who were delighted and couldn’t stop stroking it), Thetford Library, Heritage Library in the Forum, Norfolk Record Office, Gressenhall, local MPS, Neil Storey for his help and advice, Steve Snelling so he could write the article, and others. It is a requirement of HLF funding that we give much of the funded outcomes away but we are also allowed to sell at a small profit so that we can provide sustainability. This means being able to reprint, but also that we can continue to fund the heritage group by paying for room hire and other costs so that we can continue to meet and work on local history. Although currently we are not planning a major Wayland-wide project there are a number of smaller projects suggested or being undertaken by the village groups which will need support. Some stem directly from the WWI project, such as publishing village books on the details of the men (which were not the remit of the main book, but whose stories still need to be told). Some also wish to look at Watton in WWI in a bit more detail or do more work on the Returned.
- FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Tourism Conference: We are hosting a tourism conference on 21st October at Broom Hall. The Tourism Association will be launching the new Visit Wayland website at the event. This has been produced by Debbie Harris who has also designed a new logo. If anyone is interested in attending please contact Jan.
EXHIBITIONS: Liz Reed is having a solo watercolour exhibition starting on 1st October. Following a suggestion from a volunteer a Remembrance exhibition has been added into the calendar. ‘All I Want for Christmas’ is the Christmas exhibition. Early warning for next year, we are planning a Book Festival in March called ‘Once Upon a Time’, another Jobs Fair also in March and another Health & Wellbeing marquee at the Wayland Show in August.
- ANY OTHER BUSINESS:None.
- CHAIR & DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will take place on Monday 28th November at 7pm at Broom Hall Hotel, Saham Toney. (Iris gave her apologies).