[Everybody is invited to the Heritage Board Unveiling on 1^st December. Just be at the entrance to Ecclesfield Park on “The Common” (opposite Morrisons) at 10:00 am. Mel Jones will say something about the history of the area, before we all retire for a free buffet in St. Mary’s Church]

[If these minutes are not readable, or for the current version, click on http://conservation.ecclesfieldgroups.com/google-cant-find-this.html]

Minutes of the Ecclesfield Conservation Group meeting of 2012-11-19 (Monday) at 19:30 in the Stocks

[This document was last amended on 2012-11-30, and is not yet approved or publically available. If there are any comments or corrections, please Email JP on . Numbers in square brackets refer to items in the corresponding Agenda]

[a] Welcome: John Ellis (JE) chaired the meeting, and welcomed everybody to it.

[b] Attendance: KM, PB, KF, RT, JE, ID, LQ, JP, SP, and Tegwen Roberts of EPIP attended. MM and KG sent their apologies. A total of 33 people currently receive emailed agendas and minutes.

Ongoing matters, or "things still to be done"

[z] Next meeting. There will be no December meeting, so the next meeting of the Ecclesfield Conservation Group will be on Monday January 21^st, at 19:30 in “The Stocks”. Also, ID has prepared a list of meeting dates for the next year. [Which now appears on www.ecclesfieldgroups.com]

[1] Heritage Boards: JE reported that everything had been ordered for the heritage boards and their unveiling on 1^st December. [Paul Tankard has replaced the old rather dilapidated “Ecclesfield Park” sign at the entrance on The Common, and the posts for our Heritage Boards are now in place, ready for mounting the boards on top]

ID said that the press releases had gone out. JP showed round copies of both the invitations that had gone out, and the Parish Magazine editorial, and the meeting chose the Parish Magazine as the basis for the editorial to be submitted to Look Local (but with larger, poster-type text). [This has now appeared, but minus the photograph]. Volunteers were asked to place the leaflet dispensers the week immediately preceding the unveiling. It was suggested that we should make sure that Paul Tankard and Melvyn Riley of Sheffield City Council Parks Department receive a specific invitation. [Invitations sent. Also the dispensers have now been placed, and a leaflet placed in most of them advertising the unveiling event - JP].

[2] Christmas tree: RT told us that Ecclesfield Parish Council had granted us £150 towards the tree, and JH said that it was in hand to have it installed and lit on 3^rd December, ready for the carol singing on 9th.

[3] New Projects: Tegwen said that there was a possibility of EPIP funding for a project to scan and archive the Ridge Ledgers. Mel Jones had already said that he could write something to put them in context, including the way in which they became known to us as a result of the family seeing the first Ecclesfield Industrial Heritage Board. The meeting approved the archiving, prior to our offering the ledgers to the Sheffield City Library.

JE also reminded us about the possibility of doing something about the lack of boundary markers, and ID agreed that this was still a possibility. PB also reminded us about our thoughts on designating a village green, but PB and ID mentioned that we might wait for new legislation [Perhaps the Growth & Infrastructure Bill http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/protected/greens/]

[x] Planning: The application to convert “The Griffin” into a dwelling was noted, and it was decided to send the letter which ID had already drafted for JE. This made certain observations and suggested some conditions. It was said however, not to be meant to be a letter of objection - only our expression of concern for what was described in the meeting as a fine building. [If any member wants to re-enforce this, or make other comments, then the link in the corresponding item in the emailed copy of the Agenda should take them straight to the Sheffield City Council Web site where they can register their email address and comments].

[y] Name: The last meeting suggested that we might want to change the name of the group – for example to include the words “local history”. ID and others spoke in favour of the move, but it was agreed that we should not act on this until the current grant aided projects had gone through. Some members pointed out that any move should ideally not involve a change in our bank details, since previous changes had caused - and were still causing - considerable difficulties.

Completed matters or "things we have now done"

[c] Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted for publication. [A copy of these can now be found at... http://conservation.ecclesfieldgroups.com/minutes/2012-09-24.minutes.html - JP]

[x] Planning: All new planning applications were examined.

It was also noted that the new Bradbury workshop was now under construction. Concern was expressed at the appearance of the building (hopefully because it was half complete), and possible encroachment on the brook.

[y] KF expressed concern about the lack of flood prevention measures, after a “tsunami” of water had come from the higher ground lying towards Grenoside, and inundated gardens.

[To unsubscribe from Conservation Group emails, just email  and type "unsubscribe" in the "subject:" box]