The meeting was attended by 19 members and Dave Johnson from Bramcote Hills Comprehensive School.
Stapleford Carnival. This had been successful. Laurence reported that, taking account of the cost of making bird boxes, the net profit amounted to £58.82, but some of the boxes has been sold since. The financial position of the group would be shown in full at the forthcoming AGM. John Appleton added that the unsold seeds had been sent to a charity, ‘Thrive’, for distribution to groups for disabled people. The display board originally produced for the Millennium Exhibition at the Memorial Hall had been restored and Improved by Geoff Fewkes and brought to the meeting. All agreed that it was excellent and deserved to be shown at various local venues.
Grass Mowing. During the weekend of 23/24 September 25 members out of a total of 37 had worked hard to remove the grass from a bigger area and in damper conditions than last year. 4 children had helped keenly and been given honorary membership cards by Laurence. The ship hired by the council had also been used by neighbours, sometimes inappropriately. The contractor had been unable to remove the skip because of the wet ground, but would seek to do so soon. The unsightly ruts would need repair.
Path. Negotiations were continuing. A grant from BIFFA now seemed unlikely, but a smaller grant from the Countryside Agency seemed possible. Some voluntary work by the Friends might be necessary.
Meeting on 6 November. This would be in two parts: A talk by Tim Crawford, who is in charge of Broxtowe’s parks and open spaces and has been very supportive of the Friends, and the AGM, with reposts from officers, election of the Committee and the setting of the subscription for the year. Any motion should be submitted to the Secretary, Sheila Hardy by 16 October.
Work Programme. Geoff Fewkes had produced a newsletter, which would be circulated with this summary. The next working session would be on 22 October.
Dave Johnson spoke about the environmental group that had been formed at the school with students aged 12-13 (year 8), who were keen to undertake projects in and around the school area, such as growing a hay meadow. A pond had been excavated, but not yet developed. 2 other members of staff were involved: Stan Pyle and Phil Burman. The latter had recently met representatives of other campus schools to discuss how to reduce litter.
The Friends present expressed their willingness to share their expertise with the new group. Litter and the nuisance it caused to local residents was a problem, but supportive involvement with the school might help to change attitudes. A small group of members would meet with Dave Johnson on Friday 13 October at 2pm (Venue: the beginning of the perimeter path near Manor Farm).
Another suggestion was that the display board might be set up for a while in the School Library to publicise our activities.
Generally, it was felt that a useful start had been made in establishing links with the school.
Future plans. It was agreed that meeting on 2 December would be a social affair.
The committee would meet on Monday 16 October at 7:30 at the Rosegrower.
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