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Minutes of the Ecclesfield Conservation Group meeting of 2013-01-21 (Monday) at 19:30 in the Stocks

[This document was last amended on 2013-02-17, 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.

[b] Attendance: KF, ID, JH, MM, JE, SP, JP signed in to the meeting, and Councillors Vic and John Bowden also attended. Mel & Joan Jones, Tegwen Roberts, KG, RT, KM, LQ, and PB sent apologies. Including these, a total of 33 people currently receive emailed agendas and minutes.

Ongoing matters, or "things still to be done"

[z] Next meeting. The next meeting of the Ecclesfield Conservation Group will be on Monday February 18^th, at 19:30 in “The Stocks”.

[1-2] Heritage Boards: JE reported on the unveiling of Heritage Boards 2 and 3, saying a big thank you to everybody who had contributed to the event, and the Councillors and other people who had attended. He especially thanked SH, and MB who had provided the teas and coffees, and he had already thanked in writing, Eric Eyre for providing the buffet. The reaction around the village was very positive with people stopping to look at the boards, and taking leaflets. JE pointed out that the leaflets seem to be valued, since none have appeared as litter, and this got general agreement. [Even those of us who pick up bottles and cans have not seen any discarded leaflets].

[Note that the official photos of the event taken by ID, and the video taken by EPIP should now be available at http://4conservation.ecclesfieldgroups.com/Board2-3/. Just click on a thumbnail, and then a white arrow to see a slide show presentation. If you want to zoom in, click on the white square, and then a part of the picture you are interested in.  I would be interested to hear member’s comments on these. Apart from the stills from the video they are all high resolution, and slow, (or in the case of the video very slow) to load -JP. ]

All 40 leaflet dispensers have been distributed. They were placed in 18 sites, including two schools, several pubs, the Ecclesfield Business School, Whitely Hall and Whitely Hall Cricket Club, Ecclesfield and Chapeltown Libraries, The Stocks, the new butchers, Morrisons, and two doctor’s surgeries. Since we have not been able to give a phone number for establishments to request further supplies, the sites have to be inspected every 1 to 2 months to see if the dispensers are empty. Both the sites and the remaining leaflets were therefore divided up to enable volunteers to keep dispensers in their areas topped up. Since there were only about 500 of each type of leaflet left, and January’s check showed that a number of dispensers were empty, more leaflets are likely to be needed, and it was decided to investigate any opportunities there may be for paying for funding the printing of more leaflets. [If anybody wants more leaflets, MM, ID, and KM may have some. However, EPIP say that funding for their Industrial Heritage Program has all been allocated, and the only chance of further funding from themselves is if somebody under-spends, their grant moneys- JP].

[4] JP reported that EPIP were proceeding to scan the Ridge Ledgers, and we hoped to receive the files shortly. Councillor Vic Bowden mentioned the Parish Archives and described the work that had been done to record archives in High Green. It was suggested that the Conservation Group attempt to record the history of Ecclesfield as it is made, and the role of the Central Library as final repository of some of these documents was mentioned. [We have now received Mel and Joan Jones’ description of the Ridge Ledgers, which can be seen here. A sample page can be seen at  http://conservation.ecclesfieldgroups.com/ledgers. Mel and Joan have also kindly provided a selection of Ecclesfield photographs from the Chapeltown and High Green Archive, which should be visible here.]

[5] The future of the group was discussed, including the change of name to “The Ecclesfield Conservation and Local History Group”. This had been held up pending the completion of our grant aided projects, however, these are now complete. ID brought up the matter of ratification, and the difficulties of changing the name on the bank account was again discussed. Since our bank would require a copy of minutes documenting the change, as agreed at this meeting, I confirm here that the decision of the December meeting to change the name of the group can now be implemented.

The drastic reduction to the Northern Assemblies funding, and the effect of this on future grant applications was discussed.  KF mentioned the different methods of applying for grants, and suggested that our aims and objectives document needed putting in order. VB suggested this should include adding something to say what happens in the case of dissolution.

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/2012-11-19.minutes.html - JP]

[3] The planned walkabout by Sheffield City Council, Northern Assembly on 14^th February, was described. At least one member was attending, and the general lack of facilities in Ecclesfield Park, and gritting of Church Street and Town End Road was mentioned as things which might be brought up during the walkabout.

[x] Planning: No objections were voiced concerning the new planning applications listed in the Agenda.

[y] The importance of Ecclesfield Library was discussed, and the threat to it by proposed funding cuts was discussed. VB mentioned a petition to keep the library open.

[y] The grant application by the Parks Group, to put a memorial plaque describing the planting of Lime Tree Avenue to commemorate those killed in the 11914-1918 war was discussed. [I did email KG, with details of EPIP as agreed, but could not find anything like as good a funding source as the Sheffield Community Covenant Partnership/MOD “Strengthening the Links…” scheme already identified. ]

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