Meeting Minutes
BOLDMERE INFANT AND JUNIOR SCHOOLS PTA
Meeting – Tuesday 3rd October 2017
Present - Melanie Holloway, Tina Bart, Joanne Kenyon, Sarah Faulkner, Alison Morris, Susan Emmerton, Jane Cooper, Nikki Silverwood, Steve Creswell, Maxine Degenetais.
Apologies – Matt Burton, Liz Southgate, Chantel Boustead, Kazuko Kato.
Mel welcomed the roomA big thank you to Jayne Kelsey and the Harvester for providing the location and refreshments for the meeting. / Actions
1. / Any Other Business
· Melanie Holloway introduced Tina Bart. Matt Burton has stepped down as treasurer and this is the first meeting that Tina Bart is attending as the new treasurer.
· Cash at events was discussed. Our insurance documents outline what the charity can and can’t do. The commitee members clarified how we would deal with money for future events.
· Melanie Holloway had a meeting with Carl Glasgow, Nicky Silverwood and Sam Kenny. They discussed safeguarding. Four members of the PTA have to be DBS checked. This needs to be a specific school check. These four people would act as supervisors looking after any other volunteers that are coming into the school. Sue Emmerton has been rechecked this week. Alison Morris has been working with the school and maybe checked already.
· Tina Bart brought up the issue of signatures and the mandate for the bank account. Currently the bank still has Gill Beveridge, Matt Burton, Lesley Ellis and Fiona Lang on the mandate. It was decided that we would change it to have Tina Bart, Melanie Holloway, Joanne Kenyon and Sarah Faulkner on the mandate. Tina also mentioned how she would set the rules for limitations of cheques etc and to find out about Internet banking and credit cards. We also need to discuss whether prepaid cards may be a better route for purchases.
· Comedy night was discussed, after a confusion with dates, the 27 January was proposed. The Degentais’ are waiting to hear from Mark the caretaker to see if this date is suitable. Other ways of opening the school were discussed. It was questioned whether anybody else was able to open the school except Mark the caretaker.
· Melanie Holloway announced how Jayne Kelsey would be out of action for a while as a catering manager. However she would still be involved and would still be available to deal with certain things. It was also mentioned that Jayne Kelsey has very generously offered another breakfast / dinner as a prize for the kids. We would still be doing that Silver Smarties at Easter time but we discussed how we could make this work and possibly give prizes for the most pre-sale raffle tickets at Christmas.
· The Christmas fair was discussed. This is normally the first Saturday in December. Melanie Holloway has to leave early on 2 December. We need to look at which date is best for everybody. This needs to be decided.
· Christmas card orders are coming in thick and fast and looks like this might be quite a good moneymaker. / To do -
Cash counter to be purchased
Melanie Holloway to talk to Mrs Dale about getting members DBS checked. Sue Emmerton, Melanie Holloway, Joanne Kenyon, Sarah Faulkner and Alison Morris to be checked.
Tina Bart to start the process of changing the mandate
Tina Bart to find out about Internet banking/credit cards or prepaid cards.
Nicky Silverwood to look into opening up the schools ourselves. Is this possible?
Decide what date is best for the Christmas fair.
2. / Bonfire night
Tickets – it was decided that we would pre-sell the tickets. Insurance says we can have up to 3000 people but it was decided that last year’s numbers felt nice and not over crowded. Decided to put 1500 tickets for sale pre event. Melanie Holloway explained she would, over the next few days, get ticket sales set up and sales for tickets will start next week.
Ticket price – Following a huge discussion - decided to price tickets at £4 - buying online before the event. £5 - buy on the night at the gate. Preschool children free of charge.
Wristbands – it was decided that instead of sending out tickets each person would receive a wristband. Decided this would be an easy way to identify presale ticket purchasers.
Timings - Decided to open the gates at 5:30pm to serve food and then fireworks would commence at 7pm.
Jubilee fireworks – Matt Burton has confirmed with Jubilee Fireworks the date and the booking. Melanie Holloway to sort out a site visit to discuss logistics.
Location - New cycle track on the field - concern whether we could have a bonfire or not. Melanie Holloway has discussed this with the heads and Carl Glasgow has ordered fireproof slabs and sand so we can put the fire anywhere on the field.
First aid – Matt Burton has confirmed first aid has been organized.
Floats – Tina Bart to organise all floats. She has this all in hand.
Health and safety – Melanie Holloway has been reading the health and safety documents. We must note that every marshal should be issued with a torch.
Marshals – this was discussed and we think that we need 1 Marshall for every 100 people. This needs to be checked. We need at least 15 marshals.
Publicity – Joanne Kenyon to notify all schools re bonfire in newsletters and Maria O’Driscoll to make sure that the poster is put on Facebook (once it has been designed.)
Photography – Richard Harris offered to take photographs last year but unfortunately got called away. Perhaps contact him to see if available this year but also tell everybody that’s working to take lots of photographs on the night.
Barriers – We need to look at the orange meshing. This could possibly need replacing. We need to make a decision on where the fire and the fireworks will be and then see whether we need any more barriers.
Lights and generator – Louise Martin has spoken to Hirelink who have kindly agreed to provide the lights and the generator. All at the meeting agreed this made the evening so much easier than using the electricity from the school.
Oil Lighting – the oil lamps that have been used for the last number of years were discussed. We need to look into other options as they seem to be near the end of their lives. All committee needs to look into an alternative lighting system or new lights.
Area lighting – need to discuss lights in more detail. Need to be more lights around the sales stands and the walkways. There was talk of fairy lights and different ways to light up the area. Ideas to be looked at.
Pumpkins – it was decided that the line of pumpkins cannot be seen when the crowd starts gathering. This year we decided to change the pumpkins to become a pumpkin field that will sit around the fire.
Volunteers – Melanie Holloway explained she would be using the PTA events page on Facebook to get volunteers and hopefully delegate the tasks out to other people in this way.
Bonfire and helpers – Anthony Martin has said that he can get the pallets again to build a bonfire and he will get these delivered. Steve Creswell is available on the event day to help. Jon Lucas has offered to be available for set up. Also Keith Stroud has said that he is allowed a day off work for charity purposes so has said that he is happy to help on the day.
Food – Jayne Kelsey has organised Harvester staff to do the food. We discussed what food we should have and the final list included burgers, hotdogs, samosas, hot pork baps and soup. Needs to be discussed with Jane Kelsey to see if achievable and to talk quantities and suppliers. We had discussions around tables whether to have a vegetarian table (Samosas and soup?) that is separate to the meat options. Steve Creswell made the suggestion to get a candy floss machine. This is to be discussed.
Sales – Sally Burton has ordered lots of glowing/flashing/fun items for the kids to buy. / To do -
Melanie Holloway to sort out site visit with Jubilee fireworks.
Melanie Holloway to speak to Jubilee fireworks regarding a longer display.
Melanie Holloway to look into PayPal ticket sales/online ticket sales and get set up.
Look into purchasing wristbands.
Need to contact the police and emergency services to notify them of the date.
Need to send letters to all residents.
Melanie Holloway to contact Kate Curry to organise the bonfire night posters.
Check shed for banners /signs/posters.
Joanne Kenyon to put all notifications in newsletters.
Maria O’Driscoll to put all info on Facebook.
Check the rules about ratio of marshals to punters.
Ask Richard Harris about photography?
Look into buying torches.
See how many high visibility jackets we have and look into purchasing more.
Louise Martin to confirm lights and generator and organise delivery/drop off.
All committee to try and find new lights / candles / oil burners.
Anthony Martin to obtain pallets and deliver to school.
Discuss food with Jayne Kelsey and decide quantities and logistics.
Steve Creswell to research candy floss machines.
Call out for parents to donate cakes to sell on the evening.
Discuss drinks and food tables.
Discuss lights on the playground and the walkways.
9. / Next PTA meeting
PTA meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday 17th October 2017. 8pm Location TBC.