Minutes of meeting Monday October 13th 2014

Venue:Quantock Room,Crowcombe Village Hall

  1. Attending - Caroline Lee (CL), Katy Davis (KD), Daniel Davis (DD), Iain Saunders (IS), Louise Kennedy (LK) and David Freemantle
  1. Apologies – None
  1. Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising – agreed and signed by IS
  1. Summary of works completed on play area by CPCL and FOCPA

IS summarised the work completed on the play area (as attached)

  1. Finance – Treasurers Report
  • DD informed the group that the finances have been audited, agreed and signed by Jamie to whom he extended his thanks.
  • Jamie has also agreed to audit and finalise the finances prior to the transfer of remaining FOCPA to the Parish Council
  • A summary of both Bank Accounts was given and documentation was providedhighlighting areas where FOCPA saved money to enable completion of the project. Includingusing local support, working parties and other means.
  • It was agreed the remainingfunds of £320.59 in the accountare tobe forwarded to the Parish Council via 2 cheques
  • One for £200.00being allocated to the nature trail challenge sign and the sign thanking the local community for their supportbased on a quotation received.
  • One for the remaining £120.59 to contribute to the maintenance of the play area

Actions:

  • DD to complete audit of accounts with Jamie and raise cheques for the PC
  • CL to write to the PC regarding the use of the forwarded funds for the signs and maintenance
  • CL to write a letter to Jamie to thank him for completing the accounts audit for FOCPA
  • DD to close accounts
  1. Outstanding tasks for the play area

It had been discussed at the last FOCPA meeting that there would be some outstanding tasks to forward to the Parish Council for completion, including:

  • Poster for the SCC Health and wellbeing grant (KD has emailed a sample for this to Jill Loader)
  • Future ideas – if the PC wished to raise funds to add further equipment to the play area the zip wire that was originally intended to be installed but was out of reach financially would certainly be a popular addition.
  • Signs – at their last meeting FOCPA discussed having 2 signs made (as above) one for a nature trail game and one to thank the local community for their support. Aquote was obtained from Carl Woodley (who made the Mystery Park sign) who quoted approximately £200.00. We hope that the PC support the construction of these signs after our resignation
  • Maintenance - £3K was raised by FOCPA and forwarded to the PC in 2010. Concerns regarding the maintenance of the play area have been raised on a number of occasions with the PC and the use of the £3K over the last 4 years. The “new” play area will need some maintenance but one of the aims was for the area to be predominantly “wild” FOCPA have indicated the areas of the new area that will need maintenance.

FOCPA understand that the PC have appointed someone to maintain the existing and the new areas and hope that this will address the upkeep of the whole play area. It is understood that they have also considered planning to have working party days – from experience FOCPA have found that such days have varying success.

FOCPA will suggest to the PC that they will need to create a plan to raise further funds for the maintenance to ensure the ongoing upkeep of the grounds in the long term. KD suggested the use of a site called “giving machine” which can be used to gradually increase funds.

  • The “new” play area has yet to be opened – FOCPA would like there to be an official opening inviting the community who have provided significant financial support and time to the project.

Action:

  • CL to forward minutes to Jane Chipp and Jill Loader for their information
  1. Future of FOCPA/resignation of the committee

The committee had previously discussed with each other and advised the PC that they would be disbanding at their AGM. All the committee resigned resulting in the need to forward the remaining funds in the FOCPA account to the PC and close the FOCPA account as explained in point 5.

  1. Any other business:
  • David Freemantle (DF) attended the first 10 minutes of the meeting and raised the following points
  • Firstly he congratulated FOCPA on their achievement in completion of the play area and recognised the hard work and commitment that had been required over many years to get to this point
  • He was surprised that there were no members of the PC in attendance as he wished to raise his concerns regarding the maintenance of the play area. He was hoping to ascertain how the £3K raised by FOCPA had been used over the last 4 years by the PC. He was also interested in what the cost will be for maintaining the play area in the future and what plans the PC have to continue raising funds for maintenance in the long term.
  • DF’s concerns regarding maintenance were supported by the rest of the group
  • CL extended her thanks to the group for all their hard work and commitment to the project – this was reiterated by LK
  • The group agreed that a copy of these minutes and their attachments should be made public via the village website and forwarded to the PC

Actions:

  • CL to forward copy of minutes and attachments to Jill Loader and JaneChipp asking Jane to add the minutesto the village website for public access

Meeting close at: 21.22pm