TTK MT meeting, Wednesday 12 August 6.30 – 7.30pm

142 Lower Ham Road

NOTES

Present:Nic (chairing), Marilyn (taking notes), Fiona + later John and Hilary

Apologies:Des (Toni had stood down from the MT for the present but wanted to be kept in the loop, so we agreed to copy her into meeting notes/minutes but not other email discussions, All /NF-L)

  1. Review of items and actions from previous meeting(s):

-Energy event – NF-L was optimistic about getting Sir David King to speak. A Thurs or Friday evening was suggested but depends on speaker’s availability. MM would help with finding a venue once date is fixed.

-Kingston Green debate: MM reported that despite an interesting programme and speakers (incl HG), support from RBK and various sponsors, glossy brochure etc, attendance had been very poor – half a dozen at most per session, no Koreans. Lessons for TTK: not on weekdays, not in August, choose topic and title carefully?

-Kingston Food Festival: FQ, HG and MM had represented TTK, sharing a table with K Beekeepers (a big draw, but really need their own table) and had some useful interactions with passers-by, though only a few sign-ups for FGU. So, useful for visibility, not so useful for expanding membership.

-Leader of Council:NF-L was arranging a meeting with Kevin Davis. Suggested issues/questions to discuss included: divestment from fossil fuels, moves towards One Planet Living; protection of allotments and green spaces; green jobs; nef consultants can help with evaluating CSR outputs [see also suggestions in July MT meeting notes].NF-L to circulate an ‘agenda’ to MT before meeting

-20:20 vision discussion – booking KEC not possible on 2nd or 4th Weds.
NF-L would try to book 1st Wed in October. NF-L’s wife might be willing to facilitate and this would be welcome as a useful neutral perspective.

-Local brewery supply of spent hops etc for composting – can TTK bring brewery and food growers together?NF-L investigating Elm Road allotments interest.

  1. Updates/requests from project groups as needed

-Abundance needs more helpers and an organiser. HG would discuss with TI exactly what was needed and draft an ad for the website and newsletter. MT was unsure about inviting individuals to harvest – not covered by TTK insurance, no training or vetting? NF-Loffered to help and would respond to enquirer with spare apples to harvest.

  1. Membership/volunteers

-No new Friends of TTKsince last update – MM would continue to include standard item in newsletter and publicise new members to encourage others. NF-L would invite local allotment/horticultural societies to join, starting with Elm Road, New Malden. Possibility of local food get-together sometime?

  1. Publicity/comms

-NF-L had sent round draft communications strategy, and All should read it, comment by email, be ready to discuss at next meeting as prep towards 20:20 vision discussion. JF and MM did not think that younger sector of population were particularly time rich [more likely to donate money than time? But Donate button on website still doesn’t work!]

-Publicity materials: MM and NF-L had had a brief pre-meeting discussion of materials and MM had given NF-L some samples of previous/current TTK and project fliers. No house-style, no consistent format or use of TTK logo, could be better…[See also previous discussion of requirements for printing on demand in July MT meeting notes]. FGU’s design with a band at the bottom for logos and acknowledgments could be a good one to adopt?NF-L would send round proposals for new designs. (NB, All to use new RBK logo as/when required.) Pull-up banner – it had been clear at K Food Festival that they can be too tall to be useful, fit under gazebo etc.

-Website: MM pointed out that there were now 478 comments n the admin section of the website, almost all spam (not visible to visitors but making genuine enquiries impossible to find and reply to). MM had unticked the comment box in all pages she was responsible for and would try to find and untick the box on other pages and substitute an email address where possible; she would also delete all existing comments indiscriminately. MM also thought there must be more representative photos for the top of the Home page - All to search for good pics and MM would try to change it on website.

-Internal communications: All should join the Google group and What’s App (and can edit/comment on draft comms strategy in Google).

  1. AOB

-TTK were now official members of The Climate Coalition

-Refugee crisis could be an opportunity for Transition-style sharing and re-using things we no longer need. MM recommended who sometimes take useful stuff (tents, sleeping bags, blankets, clothes…) to Calais and would recommend in next newsletter. If/when they collect again, we could perhaps participate.

  1. Date and time and place of next meeting(s): Wed9 September (on the agenda, comms strategy and planning for open meeting in October)

Then possible change to 1st Wed of the month to enable occasional use of Kingston Environment Centre (NF-L to investigate using KEC on 7 October)