Howwood Wildlife and Woodland Management Committee

HOWWOOD WILDLIFE AND WOODLAND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

(Registered Scottish Charity-Number SC 033831)

Monday, 31st March 2014

PRESENT: C. Crawford, A Crawford, R Scarsbrook, C. Scarsbrook, M. Leon, W. Shaw, B. Caldwell, B. Binks,R. Macdonald

APOLOGIES: B. David, N. David, M. Shaw

PREVIOUS MINUTES:Minutes of the 24th February 2014 were accepted. Proposed by Robert Scarsbrook & seconded by Will Shaw.

MATTERS ARISING

Map reprintdistribution – the new leaflets were distributed at the meeting, with members to place them in various locations, including doctors’ & dentists’ surgeries, vets & pet shops.

The Forestry Commission funding for the maps reprint has not, as yet, been received. Christine has sent Derek a copy of the leaflet.

Paths for All Training Day – Bill, Willie, Craig, Agnes & Christine all attended, and agreed it had been a worthwhile event. They split the workshops between them, so Agnes attended the one re. access for prams, buggies, disabled etc.; Craig attended path maintenance; Chris attended a talk on funding & use of social media.

Scotrail Adopters’ Lunch– Craig attended this event, which was a ‘thank-you’ from Scotrail and there was a talk on ‘Volunteering at Kew’.

TREASURERS REPORT AND FUND RAISING

Treasurers Report: As at 31/03/14 the bank balance is -£830.00 none of which is ring-fenced.

Bird Food –Sales are now slowing down, Christine gave Rosee £31.00 to be banked.

Grant availability – Robert will cost pieces of outdoor exercise equipment to be placed in the re-vamped Rhombus. This might be good for funding at the moment, with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer. Other grant applications are on hold until quotes received for the Rhombus.

Other fundraising - Any ideas are welcome.

BEAUTIFUL HOWWOOD

Village Planters & Station Troughs-The tulips are blooming in the planters, and the station is looking good.

GAP SITE PROJECTS:

RHOMBUS– Alan Tidd from Appletree Gardens was the only contractor interested in giving a quote. He did have concerns about water, electricity & storage, however Harry at the garage has kindly offered use the garage facilities. Alan had taken photos & has let Christine know that he is working on plans. Billy Caldwell is going to quote – he would project manage using jobbing gardeners. We will need 3 quotes, so Christine will contact Albar Landscapes.

The bug hotel – this will be held til May/June.

ISTHMUSTRIANGLE – The Isthmus foliage has been cut back, however a lot of the ground cover we planted has not flourished as well as it should have, so we will need to re-think planting here. Agnes is trying to recover the trodden beds in the Triangle.

WALKS– The first walk is on Monday, 26thMay, leaving the Triangle at 1pm with an approx. duration of 3 hours. Willie will lead this walk. Millar will lead the walk on 4th July.

HCC Update – The annual spring clean is this weekend – 5th & 6th April.

AOB – Christine has an inventory of the goods being kept in the container.

Rosee’s computer had crashed, & she needs all the e-mail addresses. Christine will deal with this.

Bill Binks suggested we hold a car boot sale, but Christine explained we’d tried it before & did not make much money. It is very difficult to find a venue that does not charge a lot of money to hire.

Freda Kennett had kindly offered us use of the castle grounds for a fund raising event, but after consideration, it was not deemed practical.

NEXT MEETING-Wednesday, 28th May 7.30pm upstairs in the Railway Inn.