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Minutes of Meetingon Wednesday 2nd December 2015 held in
Nether Currie Primary School
Present –Christopher Balfour - Jack Cairns- Jean Cairns - Barbara Chambers
Emily Deuchars –Anna Hazel - Mark Hutchison -Ann Ireland – Ian Ireland
Donald Kennedy -Rachel Nicolson – Peter Young.
Mark opened the Meeting by welcoming everyone present.
He gave a special welcome to Anna Hazel ,the new Headmistress of Nether Currie School, and hoped that she would have a long and enjoyable association with the Friends Group.
- Apologies – There were no apologies.
- Minutes of Meeting held on 2nd September 2015.
Minutes were approved by Mark Hutchison and seconded by Jack Cairns.
- Matters Arising from2nd September 2015Meeting.
- Ian had submitted our proposed layout for the Information board and also
finalised the Grant application which had also been submitted.
- There has been no response from myparkscotland regarding a fundraising
appeal to upgrade the Play Park equipment.
4. Treasurers Report
Ian distributed audited copies of the Balance Sheet and Income and Expenditure
Accounts. The Accounts were audited up to year ending 31 October 2015.
They showed a surplus for the year of £365.36 and this added to our Bank balance
of £1,017.94 meant we had funds of £1,383.30.
We were still holding the sum of £6,300.00 which was the balance of the money
due for the installation of the artificial football pitch. This money was due to CEC.
(City of Edinburgh Council).
5. Summer Events Report.
Jo gave a report on the events that had been held over the Summer.
There had been –:
2 over 50’s events
2 Bushcraft events and
4 Family events.
A total of 88 people had attended- compared to 150 last year. Bushcraft proved to be the most popular being over-subscribed again.
It was thought that future events could possibly be run on an informal basis, perhaps as part of another event eg Easter Egg Hunt.
It was agreed that a small group should meet in January to discuss the possibility of holding an Easter Egg Hunt in March. Easter Sunday is 27th March 2016.
6. Park Quality Assessment.
Ian handed out copies of a Green Flag Quality Assessment form that had been
carried out by Edinburgh Council earlier in the year. The overall marking was
“Excellent”. Most of the items that were highlighted as needing attention were
ones that we were already aware of and were dealing with. It was questioned as to
how much value can be put on a survey carried out by the Council on their own
property.
On 9th September 2015 a “Mystery Shopper” from the Green Flag Organisation
carried out a spot check on the Park. A number of items requiring attention were
highlighted but the overall impression was of a “welcoming park”. It was interesting
to see that they recommended self-closing gates for the play park – an item we have
been pursuing regularly. ROSPA also says that these should be fitted in play areas.
It will be worth while taking this up again with the Council. Mark also stated that it
was recommended that all gates into the play area were highlighted in a different
colour to aid the visually impaired.
7. AOCB.
Christopher reported that he had seen a teenager in the park trying to set fire to trees
on a number of occasions. When he challenged him he was threatened with physical
violence. He was advised to try and contact Jo if he saw him in the park again.
Anna reported that the school was heavily involved with Edinburgh University and
Jo as part of the Edinburgh Living Landscape . This involved planting vegetables and
some outdoor Art – it also included an interesting item called “Disco Soup”
There was also the possibility of holding a Community Event in the future.
There being no further Business the Meeting closed at 8pm.
8. Date of Next Meeting.
The next Meeting will be held in Nether Currie Primary School on
Wednesday 2nd March 2016 at 6.45pm.