KWF Committee 9th November 2016

KEYNSHAM TOWN COUNCIL

Minutes of the Winter Festival Committee held on Wednesday 9th November 2016 at 4.00 p.m. in the Town Council Offices

PRESENT: Councillors J Cron (Chair), A Crouch, C Duckett, L O’Brien, P Sawyer (Churches Together) and R Davison (Keynsham Arts Consortium)

IN ATTENDANCE: Dawn Drury (Deputy Town Clerk)

45. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Councillor S. Waite

46. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were none.

47. NON DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS

There were none.

48. DISPENSATIONS

There were none.

49. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 11th October 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

50. BUDGET

i)  The Draft Budget 2016 was explained as follows:-

The following was reported:-

Income to date

£ 485.00 stall holder fees.

£2560.00 sponsorship monies received as per the sponsorship sheet.

The sponsorship payment spread sheet was reviewed and items in red discussed as follows:

Andy Hawkins £20.00 received. No receipt letter has been sent to date as there is no paperwork giving details of this sponsor’s contact details.

Brunsdon’s Private Car Hire was showing as a non payment of sponsorship. It was explained to the Deputy Town Clderk by Councillors O’Brien and Duckett that they had paid and that their payment was included in the £50.00 cheque received from the Wine Bar. In view of this, the receipt figure of £50.00 for the Wine Bar will be reduced to £25.00. A receipt letter for £25.00 will be sent to both these companies.

Davies and Way was showing as non payment of sponsorship in the sum of £250.00. Cllr O’Brien instructed the Deputy Town Clerk to send this company an email detailing the Town Council’s bank details so that they can pay by BACS.

L J Guyans sponsorship of £150.00 has not been received to date. Councillor O’Brien reported that this had already been paid by cheque. The Deputy Town Clerk said that she would check this.

Miniature Parts sponsorship of £25.00 has not been received to date. Councilliors O’Brien and Duckett reported that the cash had been collected for this and should have been banked. The Deputy Town Clerk said that she would check this.

St. Monica’s Trust sponsorship of £350.00 had not been paid to date despite BACS details having been sent to them by the Deputy Town Clerk.

Stock Solutions £20.00 sponsorship received. The Deputy Town Clerk reported that a receipt could not been sent as she had no paperwork on this company. Councillors informed the Deputy Town Clerk that this company is based on Lays Farm

£25.00 sponsorship was recorded as due to be received from 2 Lays Farm as per the documentation passed onto the Deputy Town Clerk. It was established that this entry refereed to donations by Andy Hawkins and Stock Solutions that were already listed. This entry will be removed from the spread sheet.

Councillor O’Brine thanked Councillor Duckett for seeking sponsorship and collecting from 48 companies.

Expenditure items discussed as follows:-

Committed expenditure £200.00 now requested by Avon Valley Farm for the donkeys

Committed expenditure £436.67 for the printing of 3000 Winter Festival programmes

Data input on the budget under KWF Workshop materials and Miscellaneous and refreshments was questioned. Councillors reported that minimal monies had been spent on the workshop and they were not sure where the figure of £28.25 had come from. Councillor Cron reported that she had only spent about £10.00 to date. Councillor Duckett reported that she only just handed in her expense claim for £8.00. The Deputy Town Clerk said that monies had been spent on the tea lights and that she would look into this and report back by email.

Programme update from Councillor O’Brien

The wording for the Christmas tree sponsorship has been agreed with both Taylor Wimpey and St. John’s Church. The sponsorship message has gone for printing and laminating. Once the tree is up the signage will be placed just under the tree.

The draft programme has been submitted to the printers and printing will be completed on Friday for collection by Councillor O’Brien. On receipt of the programme all sponsor companies will be given a bundle of programmes and a poster promoting the event to put up in their window. A few programmes will also go in Costa Coffee and the library. It is envisaged that a few hundred programmes will go out via sponsor companies.

The draft programme was then shown to the Committee. It was noted that Churches Together had not been acknowledged at all in the programme, even though they had given consistently in past years and supported the event in many ways. Councillor O’Brien stated that sponsorship and promotion by companies had been discussed at a meeting with the Deputy Town Clerk and Marie. Councillor O’Brien apologised to Pauline of Churches Together. It was suggested that the printers should be contacted urgently to try and get something included in the programme. Councillor O’Brien added that she would make an announcement from the stage regarding Churches Together’s support for the event.

Ric noticed that the timing of the two last performances on the programme were reversed. The Deputy Town Clerk was asked to make amendments to the draft programme on Marie’s machine in order that the same could be forwarded to the printer for final amendments before printing. It was agreed that she would do this first thing in the morning.

The Committee were advised by the Deputy Town Clerk that the staff had not been asked to proof read the programme and that it had not been signed off by the Town Clerk.

51. WINTER FESTIVAL 2016

i.  Report back from SAGE meeting

The minutes of the SAGE meeting were distributed and an introduction was given by the Deputy Town Clerk to explain the comments within the minutes. Councillor O’Brien asked the Deputy Town Clerk to elaborate on the discussions at the SAGE meeting. The Deputy Town Clerk reported to the Committee that she had sought advice and the opinion of Sara Dixon (B&NES) who had previous experience of an incident involving horses at a previous Keynsham Town Council Winter Festival. Sara’s comments including concerns were passed onto the SAGE Committee prior to its meeting. The Deputy Town Clerk reported that following the SAGE meeting she had contacted the insurance company for their views on whether the Town Council’s insurance policy would cover the shire horses at the event and read out their response as follows:-

‘If an incident was to occur, it would be almost impossible to defend the Council against claims they were negligent if they proceeded against advice to the contrary.

This could lead to a significant claim against the Council’s insurance with a resulting increase in premiums, not to mention the risk of injury to members of the public and the negative publicity that would follow.

I therefore regret that we would not be willing to provide cover for this activity if the safety group and Police have advised against it’.

Councillor O’Brien informed the Committee that following receipt of the excerpt of notes from the SAGE group and their recommendations in respect of the shire horses, she had contacted Mr Douglas of Avon Valley Farm to update him. Mr Douglas was reported as not being happy and that he had intimated not bringing the donkeys along to the event. Councillor O’Brien informed him that the programme with the map detailing the position of the donkeys had already gone to print and it would be a shame they were not in town on the night. Mr Douglas agreed that he would bring along the donkeys for a fee of £200.00. Councillor O’Brien reported that she had contacted the Town Clerk asking her to raise a purchase order and explaining the sum of £200 would be attributed to the Winter Festival.

Also, subsequent to receiving the report notes for the SAGE meeting Councillor O’Brien telephoned Geoff Dicker to find out more information and get a full understanding as to why the horses were considered a concern. In her opinion she felt matters had not been made clear at the meeting nor had any proposals been put to them in respect of:-

a)  The Town Council providing a safe escort for the horses from Avon Valley e.g. Councillors escorting in cars (with hards warning lights displayed)

b)  The route that the horse and cart would take

c)  Any safety measures that could be put in place to allow the horse and cart to travel safely along the High Street/ Temple street as part of the procession.

It was reported that it was to late to do anything to alter the EMP for this year but following discussions with Mr Dicker it was suggested that with one person at the bridle of the horses and 3 stewards carrying plastic barrier fencing to the front and both sides of the horses (a system that has been used in London, in the past) it may be possible to bring the horses to the 2017 event. Councillor O’Brien added that Mr Dicker had taken on board all that she had said (e.g. the provision of a moveable barrier carried by stewards creating a 10 metres barrier around the horses) and if planned sufficiently and early enough together with provision of full details in the EMP this might be considered by the SAGE Committee in 2017.

The Committee requested copies of the EMP for 2017 and Ric suggested that they attend the SAGE meeting next year.

ii)  Site layout, stage, road closure

It was reported that the road closure signage will be displayed on the lamp posts in town as off Thursday 10th November and that the closure had been on the Planning and Development Committee agenda. The yellow event signage is displayed on entrances to the town. The banners and event signage will be put up around town by the grounds staff on Monday.

In response to a question by Councillor O’Brien the Deputy Town Clerk informed the Committee of the stalls and activities occurring at the top of the High Street that would be close to the donkeys. These were reported as a few fun fair stalls (no rides), the Play Bus, Father Christmas near the Wine Bar, The Marshfield Band and few other small stalls (the sweet man).

iii)  Stalls

There are 25 stalls available on the High Street plus food concession pitches. To date 15 stalls have been booked by community groups.

There are 19 stalls available in the Fear Hall (14 in the main hall and 5 in the lounge) to date 16 stalls have been booked. It is hoped that all the stalls will be filled.

Procession

iv)  The Deputy Town Clerk reported that the procession was finalised as follows:-

The Town Crier, Father Christmas, the colouring competition winner, the 2368 Air Squadron matching band, the baton twirlers, the children carrying lanterns, the princesses with the Goddess of the River bringing up the rear.

Councillor O’Brien said that the procession was not finalised as the horse and cart were no longer going to be part of the procession so further discussion should be had regarding the order of the procession. Councillor Duckett reported that some Girl Guides would be making lanterns and that they had been invited to be part of the procession. It was not known whether they would be wearing their Guide uniforms in the procession.

Councillor Cron reported that there would probably be three princesses (Lara and two friends from Keyford Dancers) in the procession and that once they had taken part in the procession they would be performing in the Space. Ric pointed out that Keyford Dancers were performing 6.00 p.m. – 6.40 p.m. so they could not be in the procession at the same time. So there may not be any princesses in the procession.

The Deputy Town Clerk asked how many children were expected to take part in the procession and it was reported that 20 had made lanterns/light sabres on 8th November. A further workshop had been held today at Chandag Junior School and further workshops are to take place at St.Keyna Primary and St. John’s. So there could possibly be 60 children. The Deputy Town Clerk said that the children from the workshops in previous years had had their parents walk along side them. Councillor O’Brien said that this should be discouraged, this year, so that the children and their lanterns could be visible.

The Committee debated at some length changing the order of the procession including swopping the band and the Goddess of the River so that this would be nearer the front. The Deputy Town Clerk explained the band alerted people to the fact that the procession was on its way and also the baton twirlers would be twirling to the music of the band. A final decision was made that the procession would remain as originally agreed.

v)  Lantern workshop

Samples of the lanterns and the light sabres were shown to the Committee and Councillors Cron and Duckett were congratulated on the design

The dates for the St. John’s workshops need to be booked and Councillor Duckett requested help to run these. Councillor Cron said that she would not be available to help. Letters (giving instructions for collection of lantern/light sabre and joining the procession on the event night) have been produced for all children that make a lantern. Those leading the workshop have a supply of these letters to give out. Councillor Duckett said that she thought that the letter should have gone out to the parents before the workshop. The Deputy Town Clerk explained that in previous years all children that attended the pre-event workshop were aware that they would be part of the procession as flyers were sent out in October to all the schools asking them to sign up to the workshops. On signing for the workshops a record of each child’s name, age address and phone number was requested. This allowed for any lanterns to be retuned should any child be ill and not attend the procession. The letter giving details of the procedure on the night was always handed out at the workshops which took place the Saturday before the event.