Llais y Goedwig Board Meeting – May 2016
Forestry Hub, Unit 6 A, Machynlleth, Tuesday 3rd May 2016
11am – 3.55pm
Present for duration: Fay Sharpley (FS), Ian Thomas (IT), JaneGronow (JG) and David Williams (DW)– Chair.
Staff present intermittently:Sarah Buttery (SB) Business Support Officer, Rosie Strang (RS) Network Coordinator, Maria Wilding (MW) Star Tree Coordinator/Communications and Development Officer, Sara Wynne-Pari (SWP) Capacity Building Officer and Sasha Ufnowska (SW) Capacity Building Officer.
Mentioned in minutes:Welsh Government Staff
Agenda Item / Report / Action- Apologies
- Minutes of previous meeting
- Matters arising
CWG packs for AM.SU still waiting to carry this forward, aim to complete by Autumn 2016.
Action RS to post minutes of previous meeting on the LlyG website (once signed off by the Directors) / SU
RS
- Treasurers Report
JG reviewed the separate funding pots from each organisation and the amounts left over that are required to be spent;
- WG Core – reviewed the underspend, confirmed completion 2015/16;
- MLWW – income has been accrued from FS attendance at conferences and to be used by LlyG;
- NRW – funds left over to be spent on the Gathering andRWS; and
- LlyG – funds leftover will be used to cover StarTree, this will address the temporary shortfall due to funding timetable (as previously agreed by the Board). To be repaid shortly.
- JG stated that a separate bank account has been opened and the LlyG non grant balances will be transferred to this account.
Reserves to be used for contingency purposes, including IT services and redundancy payments.
Finance Forecast 2016/17
- JG reviewed the forecast spread sheet on Drive and highlighted the importance of ensuring that the spending of funds is monitored so that no overspend is made. JG re affirmed the importance of complying with the terms of the grant when using Welsh Government funds.
FS and SB to apply for charity rate relief from Powys County Council.
All staff and Board to email/forward expenditure claims to SB to ensure that no overspend is made.
SB to update the finance spreadsheets and monitor on a monthly basis. / JG
JG
FS/SB
All
SB
- Network Update
Members -
- 3 new full members in last 2 months (South - Ogmore Valley Priide, Talgarth Community Woodland Group, North -Cymdeithas Eryri Snowdonia Society), and 8 new associates
- 70 full members to dateand242 associates
- 16 member enquiries email, phone email group. Topics included–
Advice and practical training on coppicing in the woodland
Advice for a CWG who needs a mentor that can be financed via the Village SOS scheme to write a woodland management plan
Invitation for LlyG to take part in a workshop organised by local authority
Request to attend meeting to develop Grown in Britain
Advice and guidance on managing a group that is both heritage and woodland management focused,
Request to book meeting room at the Forestry Hub
Request to put more of a group’s members on the newsletter list
Request for CBO contact details for help
Request for CWG contact details
Request to share information on an event a group is running
Request for information and support on recruiting volunteers
RSnoted –
That the enquiry log is on Drive for all to access.
That the log may need to be reviewed alongside the reporting procedures for the staff team – is it still a useful system? Will monitor and report back.
Communications –
Website May 2015 – May 2016:
Sessions % New sessions New users % Bounce Page/sesh
England 5037 64 3348 64 00.02.20
Wales 4800 58 2792 55 00.03.35
Scotland 317 76 243 61 00.01.36
Facebook:
May 2015: 227
May 2016: 383
Twitter:
March 2014: 157
May 2016: 415
Email group:
3 postings by groups other than LlyG staff/Directors
RS noted –
As per draft comms plan, facebook and email group functionality for members need to be reviewed and actions identified for improvement.
Google analytics could be set up to generate specific reports if required
Twitter analytics also needs to be set up.
RS to add these actions to plan.
Action:
Staff and Board to familiarise themselves with bodgers.co.uk and the ask and answer utility as an example. RS to monitor this.
Capacity Builder Update:
SU, South Wales, Summary:
- Notes that CBO’s report on Drive under Board Documents. SU highlighted some points;
- CWG’s, are plentiful and cover a wide area;
- There is a need in this area for an organisation to assist CWG’s in locating funding for start-up groups;
- There is a lack of networking between CWG’s in this area;
- Many CWG’s are created by other organisations, therefore no continuity between groups; and
- LlyG could help to promote closer working between these CWG’s through networking.
SUalso highlighted that there was a lack of information concerning funding that CWG’s could access, more specifically, newly created groups.
Actions:
SU to bring CWG’s together through networking.
SU to keep the information flowing between CWG’s and to communicate with groups to assess what support they would need.
SWP, North Wales, Summary
- Noted that report on Drive to review;
- Discussions with Local Authorities and confirmed re-structuring has taken place and assistance in this area is lacking from them at present;
- Identified 10-15 potential Community Woodland sites to register;
- Discussions with National Park(NP) taken place with a view to setting up agreement with them. Highlighted the Community Officers role from the NP is to engage with CWG’s;
- SWP identified common themes and problems across sites including, the task of keeping volunteers, access to funding, and the capacity to administer funding; and
- Many feel funding often passes to other Community Councils, rather than specific groups, (e.g. windfarm income).
Action: SWP meeting with the Community Officer at the National park on the 4/5/2016.
ALL agreed to consider further funding for extending CBO’s hours.
RS noted that there is also existing support CBO’s can signpost to such as RENEW Wales that they can link to.
SWP to speak to the Community Regeneration Department concerning supporting CWG’s. / RS
All/RS
SU
SWP
SWP
All
SWP
- Partnership updates
- JG discussed the ESD meeting that was held on the 14/4/2016 at the Forestry Hub (FH) with the Welsh Government. Discussions centred on the Forestry Hub and need for support to cover this
- JG stated that a report was submitted to the WG on the financial options and the sustainability of the FH. JG still waiting for feedback about this report from the WG, no reply to date;
- JG stated that there were no funds to allocate to the FH vision and that Richard Morgan suggested applying for a variation on the budget, circa £3-4k, this will be to fund the implementation of the vision;
- JGstated this could be achieved through hosting seminars and or exhibitions. No response to date from the WG.;
- JG noted thatunderspend work now complete; and
- JG highlighted that the publications, case studies and documents that were outsourcedto Gareth Ellis, Coed Lleol and Forest School Wales are now complete and available to review on Drive.
Board to finalise Delivery Plan.
IT to attend the ESD meeting in Cardiff held on the 24/05/2016. IT will request a response from the WG concerning feedback about the quarterly review meetings. IT to also request feedback from the quarterly reporting format and to inform the Board of their response.
JG to chase up Richard Morgan on scope for variance of the grant.
Board and staff to review the publications on Drive and to edit and feedback with the aim to complete before the National Gathering as follows;
- FS to review SU publication;
- MWto review documents provided by Gareth Ellis;and
- SU and DW to review activity sheets and guides provided by Coed Lleol.
Staff Update including Recruitment
Board confirmed that they were happy with the new staff members recruited in January 2016, and confirmed that all will now continue in employment post probationary period.Individual line managers to follow up through 1 to 1’s.
Woodland Trust
- JGoutlined discussion on the Charter Champion for Trees and confirmed her attendance at the steering group meeting in Nottingham on the 25/05/20116;
- JG requested the Board to read the briefing note sent by JG concerning the charter;
- JG discussed the subjects to be included in the Charter Champion;
- Proposals were made to the Woodlands Trust by JG for a back to the woods day which will be held on the 07/11/2016 yearly thereafter, this will be on the National Tree Day; and
- Discussions by the Board were held on the potential use of the WT funding towards additional hours for the CBO’s and Network Coordinator.
JG and DW to work together to draft a document for the proposal of the use of surplus funds for other expenses at LlyG, including staff and travel allowances.
NRW
- JGoutlined discussions concerning the meeting that was held in Abergavenny with NRW and the 20 recommendations of the WAY review supplied by LlyG to NRW;
- JGalso highlighted her concerns over the WG woodlands estate;
- NRW to provide a written response following the recommendations, which will include a review of recommendations as well as how to take it forward; and
- NRW to state their position of their involvement on the WG estate and to supply a statement of their position, Barbara and Helen to draft this.
JG to obtain a written statement from the NRW.
Helen from NRW to discuss collaborative working with CBO’s.
CBO’s to attend workshop group event on collaborating, in compliance with the workshop group contract. SU to attend on the 12th July South Wales workshop and SWP to attend the North Wales workshop on the 8th July.
JG to contact Barbara fromNRW to ensure dates are ok.
MLWW
FS reported back to the Board and stated that a draft report of previous meetingwas due to go out. FS to take this forward;and the Board noted possible use of funds from MLWW as a contribution towards the Gathering in May 2016.
Action:FS to report back to the board with thedraft report of previous meeting.
Star Tree
- MW confirmed that the 2 monthly Board report now on Drive;
- Report includes the update of ST over the past 2 months, as well as details of finalising research that is left for the 6-month period includingwork on institutions and supply chains;
- MW discussed the wild forest products fair held in May 2016;
- MW informed that the GAM of ST will be held 2 days prior to the fair and this will be held in Bangor, officers from Europe will be attending this AGM and will be looking intooutput and publications;
- MW discussed the knowledge exchange eventthat will now bean expanded event open to the general public and other stakeholder groups; and
- This event will include workshops on policies and regulations, as well as a question and answer section with forestry experts discussing topics of innovation and marketing.
Actions:MW to draft a list of outward facing publications and Case Studies for CWG’s over the next 6 months.
Other, e.g. RDP Event & Woodland Organisations update
RDP Event
- JG and the Board briefly recapped the RDP event meeting held at the Forestry Hub.
Board and staff to ask informally at the Gathering if those that attended the event have decided to apply for any of the RDP funding options that were presented to them by Bill McDonald.
Woodland Organisations Update
- Brief discussion held by the Board on this topic, follow ups being;
- On the 13/05/2016 Gareth Ellis is due to meet with the CBO’s at Tregynon to ensure that both staff are aware of what Coed Cymru are offering in terms of brokering; and
- Gareth D and the CBO’s will also look into whether Coed Cymru is an entry point for CWG’s on private land.
DIR
IT
JG
FS
MW
SU/DW
RS
JG/DW
JG
SU/SWP
JG
FS
MW
JG/All
All
SU/SWP
MW
- Upcoming Meetings and Events
Wood fest Wales 24-26th June – SWP interest
Llais y Goedwig NRW Workshops 21st & 30th June – JG linking with BA
RWS 18th – 21st July 2016 – discussion at next meeting
- Forward Planning
MWhighlighted an opportunity for LlyG to partner with RDP Ceredigion to support small woodland owners and community woodland groups with a program of events to help increase capacity. Identified potential for this to be another form of support for groups, and the possibility of then rolling out to other counties. RDP team can either run ideas past LlyG or LlyG can suggest/direct.
ALLagreed to proceed with scoping of this opportunity. Suggestion focus on building capacity around existing groups, and engage with groups in the region to help create the programme.
MWto arrange meeting to discuss next steps with RDP team and report back toDWas line manager.
Follow on from Domestic Firewood research - EOI for Sustainable Management Scheme.
MWhighlighted an opportunity for LlyG to be on the steering committee as part of an initial EOI to be submitted to Jenny Wong from Coetir Mynydd/Wild Resources to continue research following the domestic firewood report. This is due to be submitted onFriday 6th May.
ALLagreed to participate in the EOI at this stage.
Action: MWto circulate information regarding this application to the Board and respond to JW regarding Board decision.
ITto be the main point of contact regarding taking this partnership forward, in liaison with the Board. / MW/DW
MW
IT
- Next Board meeting
10. AOB / None.
1