Committee Minutes
Annual General Meeting Tuesday 20th March 2007
Annual General Meeting Tuesday 18th March 2008
Committee Meeting Tuesday 15th January 2008
Committee Meeting Tuesday 20th February 2008
Committee Meeting 18th March 2008
Committee Meeting 15th April 2008
Committee Meeting 20th May 2008
Committee Meeting 24th June 2008
Annual General Meeting Tuesday 20th March 2007
Present: Hilary Percival, Keith Percival, Jim Parks, Angela Elliott, Philip Sandall,
Jan Rapetti
Apologies:
Ruth Borthwick, Dave Smith, Peter Chegwyn, Tim Houghton, Sam Voller, Alan Gibson, Phyllis Parks
The meeting opened at 1940 with the Chairperson welcoming all those present.
1. Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record
2. Annual Reports
a. Chairperson
b. Financial Statement
c. Secretary
See attached copies of individual reports for further detail.
3. Election of Officers and Committee
The Chairperson, Vice Chairperson Treasurer and Secretary and standing committee members corporately re-elected. Jan Rapetti elected to committee.
4. Guest Speaker
The Chairperson introduced Ian Jeffery who provided us with an interesting and informative talk on the background to his website Gosport.info.
5. AOB
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 20.35
Date of the next meeting: Tuesday 18th March 2008
Annex A - Chairperson’s Report
I think I can safely say that the outlook for Leesland Park is brighter thatn it was this time lasy year. Some of the concerns I expressed in my 2006 report have been addressed. A Crime Reduction (CREW) event was held, during which most areas of the park were tidied up, and the public had the opportunity to talk to the various agencies involved such as the police, GBCGBC and Youth Workers. Since then litter has been cleared regularly, grass kept trim, and several new dog bins installed. The park looks much tidier.
Some of the outstanding work has been completed or promised. The second picnic bench has been installed in the orchard, and we have been promised a new gate and fencing in Daisy Lane, to be put in by the end of this financial year. We are still awaiting completion of the sundial but have no definite date for that.
We held a very successful late summer event in September, with music from several local bands, closing with Gipsy Queen favourites ‘Slippery Jack’. Children were entertained with stories and music, and all had the opportunity to try willow weaving thanks to a grant from Hampshire County Council. Clive and Teresa ran the bar and we are once again grateful to them for their hard work and the money they raised for us. Without a loyal and hard working team of volunteers our events and workdays would not be possible and I would like to thank them for their support this year. I would also like to say thank you to all the committee members, particularly Philip our secretary, who works extremely hard on our behalf. Finally we are all grateful to Jim Parks of GBC for his hard work on the park.
Looking to the future, this year’s event is already well into the planning stage. We hop it will be bigger and better than any yet.
We are awaiting a decision from the ‘Breathing Spaces’ lottery fund for a grant to surface the paths with a re-cycled plastic matting. This would provide a more permanent surface which stays dry through the wettest winters, but still looks natural as the grass would grow over it.
We are now entering our tenth year as a group which means that most of the trees and shrubs we have planted are beginning to mature. There is probably no better time of year to visit the park, try our new benches and admire the daffodils and emerging blossom. There are more and more birds to be seen and it won’t be long before the butterflies are around. And if anyone is looking for some fresh air and exercise on the last Sunday of each month then do come and join the volunteers. Annex B - Extract of Financial Report Total Expenditure - £1086.84 Total Income - £455.00 Balance c/f - £2508.80 Annex C - Secretaries Report In the period since the last AGM, we have held 11 Committee meetings all of which have been minuted and copied to our website.
There have been 11 volunteer workdays and two special events, ‘ParkFest06’ festival in September and the Crime Reduction Environment Week in October.
The festival was part sponsored by Hampshire County Council Arts Fund who donated the sum of £200 and a donation from the Gipsy Queen PH. In addition to thanking our two funders I should also like to record a vote of thanks to James Waterfield for the design of a brilliant festival poster.
Events in the park attracted 8 press articles and covered a range of topics from park vandalism, the festival, and a skatepark survey. A letter from the chairperson was published by The News in September in response to an article about ‘teenage drinkers turning grassland into wasteland’.
The numbers attending workdays has not been all that we would desire with an average attendance of 7 adults on a monthly basis. The CREW event attracted some 207 local residents and 302 children over two days. A positive outcome of the event, the liaison with Samantha Voller, Gosport Borough Council.
I have continued to manage the website with contribution in particular from Keith and while this may not be at the leading edge of web technology has developed into a competent site which is updated on a monthly basis. Looking to the future we have made an application to Breathing Places for a grant to deal with park paths and have started to put our heads together with regard to ParkFest07