6.
DRAFT MINUTES OF THE AGM HELD ON 20 MAY 2024
Monday 20 May 2024
Cheltenham Bowling Club, GL50 2DX
6.30pm- 7.15pm
The Chair, Maurice Gran’s Welcome & Overview on SPJARA:
SPJARA Activities:
Membership Report:
Planned Social Events 2024:
1.Bath Road box painting £1,900
2.Planting £223
3.Distributed to charity £105
4.Support for Ukrainian families £2,250 (restricted funds)
5.Remainder Ukrainian funds £2,600 (restricted funds)
6. Xmas lights £105
7. Printing £192
8. Insurance £283 (2023: £263)
The Chair opened questions from the floor:
DRAFT MINUTES OF THE AGM HELD ON 20 MAY 2024
Monday 20 May 2024
Cheltenham Bowling Club, GL50 2DX
6.30pm- 7.15pm
The Chair, Maurice Gran’s Welcome & Overview on SPJARA:
- A brief history on how SPJARA started and he highlighted why it continues and the various activities the committee is engaged in, as detailed below.
- He welcomed the new street members as SPJARA has broadenend its boundaries and all members attending, who numbered around 50.
- The 2023 AGM Minutes were agreed
- The Chair put out a request for new committee members including younger residents highlighting some of the activities the committee do e.g. the re-planting at Norwood Triangle. He mentioned that the committee meets approximately 5 times a yearand that there were two Councillors currently part of the committee in ex-officio roles: Tim Harman and Jackie Chelin.
- He gave special thanks to the former Chair, Clair Chilvers and former Secretary, Cassandra Phillips who stepped down last year after many active and effective years in their roles.
SPJARA Activities:
- Members’ social events: In 2023 Coronation party at Norwood Triangle, Ceilidh at P&J’s, Javelin Park visit, Wine tasting, Christmas lights at Norwood Triangle
- Improvements to Bath Road, Norwood Triangle: Maintaining the utility boxes on Bath Road. 25 boxes have been painted and decorated two new ones last year whilst also removing graffiti from others.
- Maintaining the planters on Norwood Triangle and outside Co-op: With special thanks to Diana Pollock.
- Tree planting and care of trees: SPJARA has planted or encouraged the planting of over 50 trees in its area since its inception.
- Annual street cleaning: The only area in Cheltenham that has an annual street clean organised with the help of local residents and committee members
- Monitoring and commenting on planning and tree proposals: Helping residents with issues, utilising the expertise of committee members
- Lobbying for local interests: Parking consultation, 20mph, EV charging points, promoting local shopping
- Support for charities: Monies raised at events and donated to charities both locally and globally including £105 to the Cheltenham Food Bank from the wine-tasting raffle
- Managed a specific Ukrainian appeal: A number of residents contributed to help support Ukrainian refugees settle here. Distributed £2,250 to three Ukrainian families by last September The remaining money, (£2,600) was equally distributed amongst 7 charities - British Red Cross; Samaritans; Salvation Army; Medecins Sans Frontieres; Cheltenham Open Door; Cheltenham Food Bank; GARAS (Gloucester Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers).
- Communicating with members: Via WhatsApp, email, 2 Noticeboards (Norwood Triangle and Bath Road), website, Newsletters to all homes in the SPJARA area at least twice yearly.
Membership Report:
- The SPJARA area has increased now incorporating Great Norwood Street, St James Place and Casino Place
- Roy Arnold, Membership Secretary has worked very hard to recruit new members and to move payments to bank debit, rather than cash.
- Membership has increased from 148 (202/2022) to 179 (2022/2023) and today stands at 209.
- To date, only 25% of residents in the area are members. Whilst this is high in comparsion to other residents’ association membership, SPJARA is keen to increase this.
Planned Social Events 2024:
- Community re-planting of Norwood Triangle, removing the infested box hedge and re-planting with Pittosporum tenuifolium (varieties Gold Star and Golf Ball)
- “Everything’s Coming up Rosé” garden party – 9 June (97 Painswick Road)
- “Strudel & Schwing” Glevum Big Band – 22 June (Pip and Jims)
- Second visit to Javelin Park - September (tbc)
- Christmas lights party – December
- Currently the 2023-2024 Accounts are unaudited but SPJARA is still looking for someone who will give their voluntarily to do this. Our previous audits were done by local resident Chez Majowski who died late last year. Heidi gave appreciative thanks for all his help and support over the last few years.
- Whilst the current balance shows a £140.58 deficit SPJARA was awaiting a cheque for £130, so in reality the accounts will be showing only a £10.00 deficit.
- Over the last year SPJARA has invested in contributing to the local community and received grants from the local authority.
- Membership income has improved amounting to £743.00 vs £668.00 in 2023
- Profits from social events: Ceilidh £94.00, Wine Tasting £7.00
- SPJARA received grants amounting to £2,000.00
1.Bath Road box painting £1,900
2.Planting £223
3.Distributed to charity £105
4.Support for Ukrainian families £2,250 (restricted funds)
5.Remainder Ukrainian funds £2,600 (restricted funds)
6. Xmas lights £105
7. Printing £192
8. Insurance £283 (2023: £263)
- Heidi explained what were the restricted funds and why they were in place which included £626.00 set aside for the planters and Bath Road utility box painting
- Outstanding bank balance of £1102.77 yet to be paid, but this should be entirely offset by the grants SPJARA has applied for.
- Chair: Maurice Gran - Nominated by Adrian Phillips, Seconded by Vanessa Angelo-Thomson
- Honorary Secretary: Vanessa Angelo-Thomson (temporary role) – Nominated by Maurice Gran; Seconded by Adrian Phillips
- Honorary Treasurer: Heidi Awege-Thompson – Nominated by Maurice Gran; Seconded by Sara Dillon
- Membership Secretary: Roy Arnold – Nominated by Adrian Phillips, Seconded by Heidi Awege-Thompson
- All other committee members agreed by those attending the AGM: Hugh Arthur, Sara Dillon, Hugh Curran, Adrian Phillips and Diana Pollock, plus welcoming two new committee members Julian Hancock and Simon Smith. And, Ex-officio members: Cllr Tim Harman (GCC) and Cllr Jackie Chelin (CBC)
The Chair opened questions from the floor:
- Why no quiz night planned: The Chair explained that the last Quiz night had not been well attended. He was not sure why, could it be the location (Cheltenham Bowling Club and/or too many other quiz nights happening
- Is there a National Association of Residents’ Associations (yes, one called NORA). The audience member said he would do some research about this.
- Support for the 20 mph especially on the narrow roads in the SPJARA area
to see the draft AGM minutes for 2003 spjara_agm_minutes_2023.docx
SPJARA
Our report to members for the 18-month period May 2019 to November 2020
For reasons that do not need an explanation, SPJARA has been unable to hold a “normal” AGM this year. We hope to do so next year but meanwhile we have compiled this brief report on what we have been up to over the past 18 months.
Your committee has continued to meet throughout the period, working remotely since COVID-19 took hold. We have been actively working on behalf of local residents as the report below shows, but regrettably we have been unable to organise any social events for members since our charity dinner on 2 March 2020.
Number of members
Membership numbers have crept up over the period, from 112 to 120. A membership drive in 2019 and our active role during the pandemic has enabled us to reach some new audiences. But we will aim higher still once normal life returns. We are also exploring how to reach out to other local residents who are not (yet) members.
Social events before lockdown
We organised four successful events in the period:
This has cast a cloud over everything since March, but Jonathan Moffitt transformed SPJARA into a social service for several months, organising a band of fantastic volunteers to shop for others in the community who were forced to shield. We successfully applied to Cheltenham Borough Council for grants to cover publicity about the scheme and the purchase of yellow waistcoats for our volunteers. We hope that we will not need to reinstate this service, but if it becomes necessary, Jonathan will revive it.
Planning, trees and the local environment
We continue to review planning and tree applications, and have commented on a number of these. While we were disappointed that our objections to a large rear extension in Tryes Road were overruled, we were pleased by the outcome in other cases. Our comments to the council are placed on the web site. It helps that we have two borough Councillors attending committee meetings, Tim Harman and Dilys Barrell – though we understand their need to be neutral on issues that the council has yet to consider.
Most recently, our Chair has written to Alex Chalk MP to express our concern about the implications of the Government’s White Paper on planning.
Roads and traffic
On parking there is depressingly little to report, and no visible action has been yet been taken by Gloucestershire Highways to tackle the problems in our area. We continue to lobby them on this, and both them and Cheltenham Borough over our support for a 20 MPH limit in residential streets. However, we have had one success with the yellow lines that have appeared: these make several corners in our area safer and easier for drivers and pedestrians to navigate.
Our green spaces
We maintain the Norwood Triangle, weeding and cutting the box hedges. We hope very soon to erect our own SPJARA notice board there, having obtained a grant for this from the council.
We also look after the small triangle on the corner of Andover Walk and Andover Road, and have placed two small bay trees in Northwick Close (the new road off Ashford Road). We hope to work with the diocese on a planting plan along a narrow strip of land that they own in Grafton Road.
Finally, we lobbied vigorously with the Vice Chancellor when the University proposed to close the Park during the pandemic. Some people were reported to have behaved irresponsibly in violation of lockdown rules, but we felt that this marvellous local amenity should stay open for the benefit of the sensible majority. We were pleased that our efforts succeeded.
Communications
Our new notice board will give us greater outreach to the local community. Our web site is regularly updated, and we are looking at ways in which we can make greater use of social media, replacing the newsletter in time. All of these initiatives will enable us to reach beyond our current membership.
Closing thoughts
2020 has been like no other. Like everyone, we hope things will be better next year. But we can take one lesson from this past year’s experience: there is a strong community spirit in our area. We will continue to support and foster it as far as we can.
In the absence of our formal AGM, we would love to see new people come forward to join our committee. Please contact me if you are interested.
Clair Chilvers, Chair: 1st November 2020
Our report to members for the 18-month period May 2019 to November 2020
For reasons that do not need an explanation, SPJARA has been unable to hold a “normal” AGM this year. We hope to do so next year but meanwhile we have compiled this brief report on what we have been up to over the past 18 months.
Your committee has continued to meet throughout the period, working remotely since COVID-19 took hold. We have been actively working on behalf of local residents as the report below shows, but regrettably we have been unable to organise any social events for members since our charity dinner on 2 March 2020.
Number of members
Membership numbers have crept up over the period, from 112 to 120. A membership drive in 2019 and our active role during the pandemic has enabled us to reach some new audiences. But we will aim higher still once normal life returns. We are also exploring how to reach out to other local residents who are not (yet) members.
Social events before lockdown
We organised four successful events in the period:
- A very successful open gardens day on 16 June 2019, when 15 local residents opened their gardens. A hundred or more people visited them, and we raised over £1,000 for National Star College. A warm thanks to Diana Pollock for her brilliant organisation of this greatly enjoyable event.
- The summer garden party took place a week later, with thanks to John and Nickie Clarke. who opened their spacious and beautiful garden at 97 Painswick Road to some 50 guests. The rain held off and the band played. Thanks to the Clarkes, Maurice and Carol for help with food, drink and entertainment and to Marie Owen who lent us the giant gazebo that our dear, departed friend Roger Owen had made available to our summer parties in previous years.
- In mid-November, we held a quiz night at the Suffolk Square bowling club. There were 35 attendees who much enjoyed the evening. A profit of £120 was made for SPJARA and £100 from the raffle was donated to Pip and Jim’s development fund.
- On the eve of the lockdown, on 2 March of this year we held a charity dinner at the Spice Lodge. £800 was raised for two charities, the development of the outside community space at Pip and Jim’s church, and LEPRA (helping leprosy sufferers in poor countries).
This has cast a cloud over everything since March, but Jonathan Moffitt transformed SPJARA into a social service for several months, organising a band of fantastic volunteers to shop for others in the community who were forced to shield. We successfully applied to Cheltenham Borough Council for grants to cover publicity about the scheme and the purchase of yellow waistcoats for our volunteers. We hope that we will not need to reinstate this service, but if it becomes necessary, Jonathan will revive it.
Planning, trees and the local environment
We continue to review planning and tree applications, and have commented on a number of these. While we were disappointed that our objections to a large rear extension in Tryes Road were overruled, we were pleased by the outcome in other cases. Our comments to the council are placed on the web site. It helps that we have two borough Councillors attending committee meetings, Tim Harman and Dilys Barrell – though we understand their need to be neutral on issues that the council has yet to consider.
Most recently, our Chair has written to Alex Chalk MP to express our concern about the implications of the Government’s White Paper on planning.
Roads and traffic
On parking there is depressingly little to report, and no visible action has been yet been taken by Gloucestershire Highways to tackle the problems in our area. We continue to lobby them on this, and both them and Cheltenham Borough over our support for a 20 MPH limit in residential streets. However, we have had one success with the yellow lines that have appeared: these make several corners in our area safer and easier for drivers and pedestrians to navigate.
Our green spaces
We maintain the Norwood Triangle, weeding and cutting the box hedges. We hope very soon to erect our own SPJARA notice board there, having obtained a grant for this from the council.
We also look after the small triangle on the corner of Andover Walk and Andover Road, and have placed two small bay trees in Northwick Close (the new road off Ashford Road). We hope to work with the diocese on a planting plan along a narrow strip of land that they own in Grafton Road.
Finally, we lobbied vigorously with the Vice Chancellor when the University proposed to close the Park during the pandemic. Some people were reported to have behaved irresponsibly in violation of lockdown rules, but we felt that this marvellous local amenity should stay open for the benefit of the sensible majority. We were pleased that our efforts succeeded.
Communications
Our new notice board will give us greater outreach to the local community. Our web site is regularly updated, and we are looking at ways in which we can make greater use of social media, replacing the newsletter in time. All of these initiatives will enable us to reach beyond our current membership.
Closing thoughts
2020 has been like no other. Like everyone, we hope things will be better next year. But we can take one lesson from this past year’s experience: there is a strong community spirit in our area. We will continue to support and foster it as far as we can.
In the absence of our formal AGM, we would love to see new people come forward to join our committee. Please contact me if you are interested.
Clair Chilvers, Chair: 1st November 2020
And here are the accounts for 2019-2020
 Clair Chilvers and Cassandra Phillips presenting the Chairs' report
Our AGM in June 2019
We held our AGM on 6 June at the Beehive. Some 40 members attended. Here are the draft minutes and the accounts. |
Angela France reading her poems
Our guest speaker was Angela France (from Gloucestershire University) who presented her poems as part of a multi-media show, which included pictorial references as well as recordings giving voice to the local people who have worked and played on the hill. Thirty years before Kinder Scout, a quarry owner closed the hill to local people and this led to riots; the ringleaders were working men, clay-diggers and labourers, and the court case papers in the county archives provided source material which was recorded by a voice actor as part of the show.
|
|
Our AGM in June 2018
We held our AGM at Church House on 6 June. More than 30 people attended. Here are the approved minutes and the Treasurer's report. |
|
