Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the
Albrighton & District Civic Society
held at APC Office, 82B High St, Albrighton,
on Monday 5th August 2013 at 2pm

Present :
Rod Smith - Secretary
Mike Pitchford – Membership Secretary and Acting Treasurer
Sarah Baker
David Beechey
John Bulmer
Ron Kidson
Alan Wilmot

1. Apologies received from Peter Woodman, David Hughes, David Thomas, Peter Leigh. As PW was absent RS chaired the meeting.

2. Minutes of Meeting of 1st July 2013 were approved.

3. Main Issues

a) Treasurer’s Report.
MP passed out copies of the summary for expenses and revenue on Fayre Day which showed that there had been a total income on the day of £212. There had been renewals of 40 Individual and 26 Family memberships. 62 New Individual and 22 Family members were recruited. This meant a total of 150 subscriptions collected on Fayre day to add to the previously collected memberships.
Current bank balance was £2,953 but some of this is funding from the LJC which is ring fenced for work on the Villages Entrances Scheme.
ACTION: MP would speak to our webmaster Shaun Meredith-Jones to see if the email addresses on the excel Membership Register could easily be transferred to a mailing list for emailing members with news and updates etc

b) Station Heritage Centre.

i) Station Centre Task Group (SCTG) – the group dedicated to obtaining funds for the Centr.
RS reported that Mr Paul Morbey of the Traitor’s Gate Restaurant in Shrewsbury had called RS and PW to find out the name of the owner of the old Station Master’s Building as he wanted to turn it into a day and evening restaurant serving Arabic and Eastern food. He had been given our name by Network Rail. The owner of the building had asked PW not to publish or send out his name or contact details without his consent and so PW had provided Mr Morbey’s contact details to the owner for him to deal with the enquiry. RS said that the Society’s main aim concerning the building was to bring it back into use (of any kind) and to avoid further dilapidation and that the current campaign to turn it into a Heritage Centre was because funding for such use was available from HLF. Until we had success with HLF the Society would not stand in the way of any other potential uses but we would also respect the wishes of the owner regarding his privacy. RS read out the email dated 30 July 2013 from the owner to PW where he made clear his request for us not to divulge his name or contact details to anyone and reiterated his hope that the Society would be successful with HLF. We wish anyone well with any serious proposal which would have a good chance of bringing the building into use and to secure its future and we would pass on any such offers to the owner so that he could deal with them.
ii) Albrighton Arts & Heritage Forum (AAHF) – a separate and independent society which is a spin off from the Civic Society and is to mobilise the arts and crafts people who will run the Heritage Centre if we are successful in getting it going, and in the meantime will run Craft Fayres in Albrighton.
MP (Treasurer of AAHF) confirmed that a bank account at Lloyds has been opened and a chequebook received and he had informed Andrea McWilliams (SC). SB (Chairman of AAHF) said the next Craft Fayre would be at the Red House on Sat 25 October and would start publicity mid August. SB will organise a meeting at which a Committee will be formed.

c) Albrighton Station
Temporary Access Ramp to Platform 1
RS gave an update and said that all our attempts to get NR to arrange a meeting with us and Orange and London Midland had been rebutted with excuses. We had support from all quarters including Mark Pritchard our MP who had written to both Dave Rogers and the chief of NR. We were continuing to campaign and the press had been invited to review the matter and to provide publicity. A small action group of PW, RS, MP & RK were continuing to run the campaign. NR say they will demolish the ramp this Thursday 8th August.
ACTION: RS, PW, MP, RK

d) Planters.
MP reported that after their discussion at the Parish Council meeting (which went against the advice and proposal by MP) Alb PC had already written to the supplier Orbis and asked for a replacement for the one with the slight damage – ACTION: MP to get a copy of this correspondence from MW and then MP would deal with Orbis. Local advice had been received that the surface crack could be easily repaired and MP hoped that the Society could come to an arrangement with Orbis for us to retain this planter which we would then repair.
Many residents had made good comments about the Planters which had been well received and MP was thanked for his efforts and success with this project.

e) Village Entrance Scheme
JB reported that he and RK and MP had weeded the two areas at Patshull Lane/A464 junction. ACTION: PW to continue pressing Anne Breakwell at CSC to get their contractor to cut the grass here.
The area at the end of Patshull Rd/A464, which David Hughes cuts, was looking very good and should act as the model for other areas – members passed thanks to DH for this work.
ACTION: SB will discuss with Matt at the Ironmongers to see if his offer of help would extend to cutting the grass at Kingswood Rd/A41junction – JB suggested that the two triangular areas at each end could be cut. JB could go to show Matt his suggested plan.

f) Village Green Trees
DB confirmed that Alb PC had accepted the recommendations of Tree Survey Report which they had commissioned. DB passed out copies of the “Specification for tree management on the Village Green” dated 10/07/13

AOB
a) SB said that the Fayre Committee had decided not to move the date of the next Albrighton Fayre to avoid the clash with Newport Agricultural Show, as many had requested, and it would be on 2nd Saturday in July – next Albrighton Fayre to be Sat 12th July 2013. RS asked if all committee members could keep this date free to be able to help with our stall as the Fayre is our main fundraising day. ACTION All

b) Members reported that a Gas company had erected a very high steel fence, grey colour, on three sides of their equipment at the north side of the footpath of Kingwood Road just beyond the old Blacksmith’s forge building. Some thought this was too high and unsightly.
ACTION: ALL to look at it before the next meeting

c) Public WC in Crown Car Park. DB said that HealthMatic own the equipment and that HM had asked Alb PC a hire charge of £500 per month but Alb PC had refused and had asked HM to remove their equipment. Alb PC had decided to have two traditional toilets - mens and ladies - which would be cleaned manually by a locally employed person. Committee members were surprised that the Council had not chosen to have a single toilet cubicle which would be cheaper to run.

Next meeting: 2 p.m. Tuesday 3rd September 2013.

Following Meeting will be at 2pm on Monday 2nd September 2013


All Committee Meetings, unless otherwise noted, are on the first Monday of each month at
Alb PC Offices, 82B High Street, Albrighton WV7 3JA (T: 375455).

(All future AGMs are on the second Monday of October
– NOTE FOR YOUR DIARY:
next AGM is at 7.00pm on Monday 14th October 2013)

 

Copyright (c) 2013 ALBRIGHTON and DISTRICT CIVIC SOCIETY