Owslebury and Morestead Community Association

OWSLEBURY AND MORESTEAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

D r a f t

MINUTES OF OMCA MEETING HELD AT VILLAGE HALL

ON TUESDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2017 AT 7.30 PM

Present:In Attendance:

David Greenslade, Acting ChairmanRoger Porteous

Carole Drew, Secretary

Alison Hodges, Treasurer

Liz Porteous

Jo Hartley. Primary School and Parish Hall

Paul Bowes. Parish Council, Village Hall and PCC Rep

Penny Bowes

Jill Chase

1.Apologies were received from Paul Phillips, John Hart, Jonathan Cooke, Janet Jones and belated apologies from Mark Egerton who had intended to attend the meeting but was unavoidably delayed.

2.The Minutes of the last meeting on 12 September 2017 had been circulated and were approved and agreed as a true record, proposed byJo Hartley and seconded byLiz Porteous. The Acting Chairman signed the Minutes.

3.Matters Arising

David Greensladeconfirmed that he had purchased the new glasses and these were used at the Race Night for the first time. He is still hoping to obtain suitable storage boxes for them.

4.Accounts These were presented and discussed at the earlier AGM, see those Minutes.

5,Race Night

Jo reported on the Race Night which she had organised and thanked all those volunteers who had helped on the night and by cooking. Although ticket sales were low (33 people) the evening was a success and enjoyed by everyone. A smaller number of guests made for a less crowded hall and those who attended were very generous with their support. A total of £933 was raised for the Parish Hall Kitchen Refurbishment, which included bar profits and £120 raised by sponsorship of races by local firms. Penny congratulated Jo on behalf of the Committee on a successful and well organised event, and thanked her for all her hard work.

Jo advised the Committee that a further fund-raising event for the kitchen, a Barn Dance, was planned for January 2018, but this would be organised by Paul and Robin Sharpe and not under the umbrella of OMCA.

6.Christmas Mulled Wine Arrangements

There was much discussion about the arrangements for the OMCA Mulled Wine/Mince Pies event which traditionally follows the St Andrew’s Carol Service, taking place this year on 17 December. Joe Fox has declined our request to hold the event at The Ship this year and it was agreed that the Parish Hall was not a suitable venue for reasons of cost of hall hire and the fact that poor weather would discourage many folk from crossing the road after the service.

It is therefore hoped to hold the event in the church after the service but there is concern that there would not be enough circulation space in the building, bearing in mind that the church can hold 100 people seated and that usually extra seating needs to be provided in the aisles as the service is often attended by up to 150 people. This would make moving around a problem unless managed very carefully. Barbara has suggested a gazebo/tent be erected outside the church as has been done in the past although this is not ideal if the weather is very cold or wet.

The Churchwardens will approach Nigel White to see if he will lend his marquee which could then be erected close to the church door. It was suggested that the Chancel could be used for people to mingle and enjoy their wine and pies. Possibly we could aid circulation of people by using the Vestry door to the outside, as part of a one way system. We could consider two separate dispensing areas – a ‘cocktail cabinet’ table and Nigel’s tent. Perhaps a ticket system could work.

For catering purposes we should allow for 100 people remaining after the service. David will look into the price of mulled wine. Jo will investigate cost of mince pies and she also suggested we use polystyrene cups to keep in the heat, which could be purchased online. Nigel may also have suggestions for economical sources of the wine and pies. Jo is able to provide an urn for heating the mulled wine.

Paul Bowes will co-ordinate the arrangements when the logistics have been worked out.

The meeting was suspended at 8.10 pm in order to conclude the business of the AGM as the Treasurer had arrived.

The meeting was reconvened at 8.23 pm.

7.Village Group/Club Reports

a)PARISH COUNCIL and VILLAGE HALL

Paul Bowes had no further update at this time from the Parish Council. Regarding the Parish Hall kitchen, Jo will be seeking quotes from at least 3 sources for the refurbishment with a planned budget of approximately £15,000 to include a ’10 minute dishwasher’. Alison has offered free of charge a large American-style fridge/freezer but this offer needs to be taken up soon. Is it possible to temporarily install it in the PH in the interim?

b)CHRISTMAS LIGHTS TEAM

David read out Andrew Hodges’ report as follows:

“After the fantastic fundraising earlier this year that netted £1,031 the Christmas Lights this year will have 2 key differences from last year

Ongoing replacement of existing (failing) LED bulbs with new (100% waterproof tested) LED ones
Extensions throughout Main Road (including new poles as well as you cable runs), that if achieved will result in near continuous lighting along Main Road from Owslebury Bottom to The Ship
It is possible (though not guaranteed) that some of those extensions might roll over into Christmas 2018 if we cannot achieve them all this year

Many thanks again for all of the support the Christmas Lights receive.”

Paul commended the team on their fantastic work and dedication to providing a beautiful display through the village.

c)SENIOR CLUB

Cathy Fox kindly provided an update on the Senior Club activities which David read to the Committee and this is attached to these Minutes. (Appendix 1)

d)MOVIOLA

David read out John Hart’s report and this is also attached. (Appendix 2)

e)SPORTS CLUB

Mark Egerton has sent belated apologies for not attending but he provided a report subsequent to the meeting and this is attached. (Appendix 3)

f)HANDBELLS

Jill Chase thanked the OMCA Committee on behalf of the Handbells team for the generous donation towards insurance for the bells, as discussed at the last meeting. She said that it was very much appreciated.

She advised that funds for the team are raised by termly subscriptions. However this year the team also received two grants from Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council which enabled it to buy two new bells and therefore extend the range. If the team is invited to perform outside the village it makes no charge but invites donations towards costs. There have been a few issues with the team recently but these have been largely resolved and the team is still enjoying playing for groups such as old people’s homes, when invited. Until recently there were only 2 members from the village and the rest from the surrounding area but 2 new local members have joined the team which now has 12 members and a regular team of 8 players.

g)OWSLEBURY SCHOOL

Jo advised that the School Christmas Fair would be held on Saturday, 2nd December, 11.00 till 14.00 and hoped people would support the event.

8.Any Other Business

It had been suggested that the OMCA Committee might consider reducing the number of meetings per year from 4 to 3, plus the AGM, bearing in mind that OMCA has not been as active in recent years and that it currently has fewer members. There was some discussion about this and it was pointed out that the Constitution requires a minimum of 3 meetings per year so this would be permissible. If necessary an Extraordinary Meeting could be called if there was an urgent matter to debate.

Paul Bowes proposed that the move to 3 meetings be accepted, Jo seconded the motion and it was unanimously agreed.

The dates for meetings in 2018 were therefore agreed as follows:

Tuesday, 27 February 2018, Tuesday 5 June 2018 and Tuesday 6 November for the AGM and final meeting of the year.

Jo and Alison and their husbands are members of two social groups who meet regularly in The Ship and they agreed to try and recruit new members for OMCA.

There being no further business the Acting Chairman closed the meeting at 8.53 pm.

CD/Nov. 2017

APPENDIX 1

Report Owslebury Senior Citizen Club 2017

For OMCA Committee Meeting 7 November 2017

It has been another successful year for the Owslebury Senior Citizen Club. We have three drivers and a new minibus that can seat 11 people. The monthly outings are every third Friday of the month and have been well attended. The minibus is not always full and there are sometimes places for new members on a ‘first come first served’ basis. The furthest trip was the summer outing to Bognor. Other trips include visits to the New Forest, garden centres, shopping trips, museums and gardens. The annual Christmas lunch is planned for 15th December at ‘The Ship.’ There is also a trip to the Otterbourne Pantomime in January. Trips usually cost £10.

The new minibus takes extra fuel and therefore the cost per trip has increased. The club had a fund-raising event in April with a coffee morning at ‘Merryways’ and raised £194.86. The club has also received a donation of £100 from the Parish Council.

The club is valued by the members to combat loneliness, to have a date on the calendar to look forward to, making friends and knowing there is neighbourly support when required.

Catherine Fox, secretary OSCC

APPENDIX 2

Report from John Hart, Moviola Rep. for OMCA meeting on 7 November 2017

The season got off to a slow start in September with a very good film, Their Finest, which was much enjoyed by the very small audience which clapped at the end, but abysmal ticket sales of £138. This was almost the lowest figure on record and only The Third Man and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes produced lower sales with £132 and £126.50 respectively.

However, in October we showed a "not-so-good" film, Viceroy's House where we sold £324 worth of tickets. The bar profit was the largest ever for Moviola at £75.87. (Well done,David, with your choice of drink and your team!)This was partly due to a merry contingent from Longwood who were brought by Locket. We cannot rely solely on an audience from Owslebury to keep us going and we do have a loyal following in Twyford. Colden Common is starting to add to our audience since we began to put posters in their Community Hall. If anyone has suggestions as to where we could put posters apart from the obvious places such as the Parish Hall and Twyford Stores we would like to hear from them. Also we would encourage you all to spread the word outside the village to encourage attendance. We do have people who come out from Winchester and Bishop's Waltham.

The last two films this year are The Levelling in November which should be of interest to country dwellers and Hidden Figures in December (but not too close to Christmas) which is about a group of black women in America who worked on the project to send men into space.

John Hart

APPENDIX 3

Update on the sports clubs in the village, November 2017

Football Club –

The season has started quite well and the team are in the top half of the league. The club is also in three cup competitions and have won the first round in each competition.

Cricket –

Outdoor league the first team came bottom of the 1st Division and they are awaiting a decision from the League to see whether or not they will be relegated.

There is a rule that no club can have two teams in the same league. Therefore as there are only two Divisions and we have two teams, we await the committee’s decision.

Crib –

The ship team is currently joint third in the Winchester 1st Division.

Dart –

The winter league has not started yet although the Ship have gained a darts team from the “Brushmakers” who play in the Bishops Waltham League.

Mark Egerton