Minutes of Meeting 07 July 2022
16:00 Albyns Depot
1. Attendance/Apologies
Present: Jeff Stafford (JS), Raymond Randall (RR), Sheila Clarke (SC), Brian Breeze (BB), Liz Hawthorn (LH), Stephanie Nunn (SN), Richard Cottam (RC) LBH Parks
Apologies for absence: None
2. Minutes of previous meeting - Minutes of the previous meeting (26 May 2022) agreed
3. Matters Arising
Nature Booklet – JS has yet to arrange a meeting to discuss this with Johnathon Tahir.
Bank details supplied to enable LBH to reimburse insurance money – SC supplied details but no payment yet received. RC will chase this up.
Invoice sent to EWT for supply of 100 History Leaflets – Payment for January’s invoice has been received but there is another outstanding. RR to send copy of invoice to SC.
4. Chair/Vice Chairs reports
Chair – JS, RR and LH attended London in Bloom inspection on Friday 1 July.
Vice Chair - Joe, the 15 year old boy, who was litter picking along the pathway by the River and Hacton Parkway as part of the Duke of Edinburgh scheme has now completed his chosen task. He collected 23 bags of rubbish and said he would like to join the Friends Group when he is old enough. RR will contact Joe’s mother for permission to include something on the website.
5. Secretary’s Report - Nothing to report
6. Finance Report
Balance held £2,920.01
£1,321.88 is reserved under Capital grants.
Balance of unrestricted funds £ 1,598.13
7. Park Officer’s Report
Inspections for London in Bloom and Green Flag Wards have been completed. Should hear soon but are hopeful for good results again.
Awaiting news on funding to put in another 2 interpretation boards – the sunken pillbox and the battleship gun.
The footpath from the bus stop has been tarmacked and the footpath from the ambulance station has been given an all-weather surface.
Parks are looking to put in signage from the Squadrons Approach end of the park indicating the route to the Covid Memorial Woodland.
RC will check the contract with EWT to see what it says, if anything, about maintaining the wildflower garden around the Roundel
It is hoped that that Friends Groups meetings will be yearly and that Official Friends Groups status may be reinstated.
8. Nature Booklet – see matters arising.
9. Events
LH was concerned that the forms for events in Havering Parks were very extensive, stated that the deadline for applications for events in 2022 was 1 April 2022 and that there was a fee payable to LBH, which would make small events unviable.
RC said that the forms were designed to cover all types of event and that we should only complete what was relevant. He did not expect that 1 April deadline would be adhered to for a small event or that a Friends Group would be charged. Everything must go through Fiona O’Connor at LBH who has responsibility for events in Parks but she is on leave at present.
It was felt that there wasn’t enough time to organise an event for 18 September 2022 and it was suggested that we should aim for May 2023 instead.
There was discussion as to whether it may be possible to arrange a small event at Halloween involving spooky stories and a ghost walk. Bretons Paranormal Group may be able to assist.
10. Cycling – Dr Bike events have been fairly quiet so far, there are another 3 to go this year.
11. Work Parties - RR to chase Thames 21 regarding their preferred Risk Assessment format.
12. Website and Communication Report www.ingrebournevalleyfriends.org
13. Other Business – None
Date of Next Meeting – 04 August 2022 16:00 at Albyns Depot