agm of brierley hill civic society monday 18th february 2013 5.30pm

7/29/2019 AGM of Brierley Hill Civic Society Monday 18th February 2013 5.30pm

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The AGM of Brierley Hill Civic Society will take place on Monday 18th

February 2013 commencing at

5.30pm. It will be held at the usual venue of St Michaels Church, Bell Street South, Brierley Hill.

The agenda for the meeting is:

1. Apologies2. Minutes of previous AGM (see below)3. Minutes of previous meeting (see below)4. Officers reports

a. Chairb. Secretaryc. Treasurer

5. Election of officersa. Chairb. Vice Chairc. Secretaryd. Treasurer

6. Brierley Hill Community Forum7. Christmas 20138. Community First Brierley Hill Ward Action Plan9. Future programme10. Information Exchange11.Any other urgent business

I look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Kind regards,

Tim

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Brierley Hill Civic Society held on Monday 20th

February 2012 commencing at 5.30 pm at St Michaels Church Brierley Hill

Present

Geoff Attwood, Janet Attwood, Joy Cooper, Beryl Fisher, John James, Betsy Lafferty, Stephen

Masters, Maggie Norton, Jenny Sunter, Tim Sunter, Dennis Whittaker, Andrew Mann-Ray

Apologies


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Beryl Biggs, Shane Birch-Bastock, June Bowen, Rachel Harris, Kane Husbands, Rosemary

Tomkinson

Minutes of the meeting of 17th October 2011

The minutes of the meeting of 17th October 2011 were agreed as a correct record.

Matters Arising

All matters arising were covered elsewhere on the agenda.

Christmas Lights 2012

JS explained that the local authority was reducing its role in the 'switch on event' for the

Christmas lights. As such had met with the town centre manager Andrea Jones (who is

leaving on 29th February) to find out as much information about how the event could be

organised. The key points from the meeting were:

Christmas lights:

Where the electricity sources are

How the electricity is paid for

Who will co-ordinate on tree and lights for the Council?

Where does the tree come from?

Who do you talk to in the Moor Centre?

Who should I talk to about budget?

Who are the key voices in the traders?

First Aid/Health and Safety?

Staging?

A great deal of helpful information had been exchanged. It was hoped that the following

groups would be able to get involved in the event:

Churches and faith groups; Schools; College; Scouts; Guides; St John Ambulance; Police; Fire

Brigade and others.

The meeting discussed ideas on that could take place. These included stalls; a marquee; a

Santa race.

Stephen Masters indicated that the canoe club had a marquee and generator with

appropriate insurance which might be availalble for the event and Andrew Mann-Ray agreed

to liaise with local church groups.


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It was agreed that JS would facilitate a working group meeting to make further

arrangements.

Brierley Hill in Bloom

TS reported that SC had completed the feasibility report and he would make this availableon the blog. There had been some delays in the implementation of the scheme, but it may

be possible to pick up part way through the year. One of the key points in the report was

the advantage of starting small and growing.

Community First

An update on the Community First scheme was given. This provides match funding for

community projects and circa 67,000 had been made available for Brierley Hill ward, and

over 80,000 for Brockmoor and Pensnett. A meeting was scheduled for early March to look

at how this could be taken forward and funding applied for.

Brierley Hill Community Forum AGM

This has been scheduled for 13th March 2012. Members were encouraged to attend.

Future meetings

Because of a clash of dates it was agreed to move the April meeting of the Society to

23rd. Michael Taylor, local author, had been invited to attend the meeting and deliver a

talk. The Society agreed to meet his fee. It was also agreed to investigate whether

Community First match funding might be available to fund a future programme of speakers.

John Parry would attend the March meeting to talk about the Parry People Mover and its

potential to provide a rapid transport link between Brierley Hill and Stourbridge using

existing railway lines.

It was hoped that Pete Boland would be able to deliver his talk on the historic landscape of

Silverend in May and Stephen Masters had kindly agreed to conduct another local walk in

June.

There was interest in trying to arrange a speaker on the Pensnett railway for July. Ned

Williams was a very good speaker who might be able to do this. TS to ask.

The meeting concluded at 7pm

Minutes of the meeting of Brierley Hill Civic Society held on 17th September 2012 at St Michael's

Church Brierley Hill commencing at 5.30pm

Present

Geoff Attwood, Janet Attwood,Joy Cooper, Beryl Fisher, Kathy Garten, John James, Pat

McAlpin, Maggie Norton, John Rogers, Jenny Sunter, Tim Sunter, Dennis Whittaker

Apologies


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Peter Hobbs,Rachel Harris, Betsy Lafferty, Andrew Mann-Ray, Stephen Masters, Rosemary

Tomkinson

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a true record

Matters Arising

The chair reported that the Portas Bid submitted for Dudley Town Centre had been

unsuccessful. He was still hoping that a meeting would take place in the near future to look

at what could be done to support the revival of Brierley Hill High Street. The on-line

consultation form for the Clean Power proposal had been completed on behalf of the

Society, but to date there had been no feedback.

Future Programme

It was reported that Ned Williams had been booked to talk on "Looking at the Pensnett

Railway Line" for the meeting on 15th October and Geoff Tristram was booked for the 19th

November meeting to deliver his popular talk "Confessions of an Artist". The meeting agreed

to pay the relevant fees.

It was hoped that we could boost our audience for the two speakers and members were

asked to all that they could to bring friends, contacts, relatives along.

Looking forward it was felt that speakers were a successful part of the Society's work. It

would be possible to submit a grant to Community First and Brierley Hill Community Forum

to seed fund a programme of speakers for 2013. During the year the aim would be to

identify ways of self funding future speakers into the future.

Once a progamme had been determined it would be easier to advertise events in the local

paper (including the Black Country Bugle), through flyers, posters, social media etc.

Agreed that Dennis Whittaker, John James, Tim Sunter and Stephen Masters should talk

about topics for talks and who potential speakers might be. TS would draft a bid for

resources.

Christmas Lights Switch On

Jenny Sunter reported on the plans for the Christmas Lights Switch on and members

contributed their thoughts and ideas. The key points are:

Date Saturday - 24th November

Switch on time - 4.30pm

Lead up events from 2.30pm

Positive co-ordinating meeting had taken place at Himley Hall

Insight would provide facilities for stalls on the day


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Music to be provided at venues around the town. Schools were being engaged and a time-

table drawn up

Santa Run looking feasible. Running club contacted to organise. It was possible a temporary

road closure for a very short period of time would be needed.

Traders were being contacted re doing a display in each of their windows. This may be a

competition with the winner invited to switch on the lights

Pop Up Nativity scenes to be organised

Candel lit procession being tested for feasibility

Possibility of collecting donations towards next years revent/charity

Need to invite cadets, scouts etc.

This was the first year that the event was being organised through community engagement

and it was important to keep ambitions realistic and to accept that there will be lots of scope

for learning. The event will be a building block for future years.

The meeting expressed its thanks to Jenny Sunter for all her hard work.

Secret Cafe/Insight

It was noted that the Insight Centre/Secret Cafe was carrying out very strong work. It was

agreed to invite a representative to a future meeting give a presentation about the centre.

Community First

Tim Sunter gave a presentation on Community First and its approach to an action plan for

Brierley Hill Ward. Members were asked for their views on how to take matters forward.

Key points emerged:

1. Stage one should be an audit of existing plans and compiling a target list of community

organisations and stakeholders in Brierley hill.

2. During this time a review of demographics should take place to inform priorities

3. It would be important to have a framework for the questions so communities and groups

would know exactly what was being asked from them and be able to respond accordingly.

TS indicated that he would take the action plan to the community panel the following

evening and refer back to a future meeting on progress.

Any Other Business

Dennis Whittaker informed the meeting that an English Oak Tree was to be planted on a

date to be fixed in Marsh Park to celebrate the Jubilee.

agm of brierley hill civic society monday 18th february 2013 5.30pm

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