7pm 22nd November at the British Legion.
Apologies: Jane Healey, Peter J, Charlie Z, Mel, Maxine, Sara N, Pat W, Rita.
Present: Sue, Carol, Deb, Jackie, Ethna, Jessica, Hilary, Aidan, Helen, Jason, Dave, Chris, Dan, Sue, Wendy, Peppy, Catherine, Dave, Jackie, Zac, Martin, Stephen, Carmel, Diane.
In the absence of Jane, the meeting was taken by Carol Steptoe. It was assumed that the officers of TtW would continue as previously: Jane Healey & Carol Steptoe as joint Secretaries, Deborah Pratt as Treasurer.
The Agenda items were taken out of order to allow some members to leave early.
- & 2. Secretary’s and Treasurer’s report: available on-line, the only query was that TtW seemed to have more money than usual. DJP pointed out that £1250 was due to be returned to the ESC as soon as we knew who to return it to, due to the withdrawal of the Connected Communities Project.
- & 5. Christmas at Whisstocks & Local Food Project: Sara Kenyon is the lead for the Regatta but unfortunately was not present. The Regatta will be held 11am to 4pm on Sunday 5th December. There will be a flotilla of boats bringing Father Christmas to his sleigh at Whisstocks, where there will also be stalls manned by various local groups. (FYI St Audrey’s Christmas Art Show is on the same afternoon).
TtW Local Food Project will have a stall. Dan who designed the Local Food Project leaflet suggested a raffle for three hampers with non-perishable food from local suppliers. Dan, Carol, Jane and Peppy are contacting suppliers and so far the response is excellent. The items on this stall will be for display, not for sale. There will be Food Project leaflets and promotional material from suppliers on the stall. Carol suggested volunteers check out the websites of the various food producers donating products so they have some knowledge of them. Ethna raised a query about possibly selling/advertising raffle tickets on-line, there was some discussion about the legality of this and Dan agreed to research what is allowed. Another 500 Local Food leaflets are being printed by Suffolk Digital.
TtW will also have a stall, there was some discussion over the display board, which was updated last month, and is being held by Jane. Peppy & DJP own A boards and offered them if needed. Hilary will loan her “quotable quotes” on laminated A3. This stall (separate from the Local Food one) will have information about TtW, including the new handout. Display boards will show some of the past projects. There will be items for sale, including quince cheese (DJP), Christmas gift bags (Jackie S), chutney (Hilary). There was discussion about the legality of selling/requesting a donation which needs to be cleared up.
Sara K had asked for help with decorations for the Longshed. Volunteers to help with the decoration were asked to contact Sara, Hilary & Sue Owen have done so but not yet had a reply.
Since the Regatta is open for five hours and there are two stalls to be covered, a large number of volunteers will be needed. A list of names has been collected and a rota will be sorted out shortly by Jane & Carol.
- Telephone Box: the red box on Market Hill, by the War Memorial, has been donated by WTC. Jason was present to explain his aim to make it “A Little Hub of Happiness” for sustainable community use.
A company, ReWorked, recycles PPE and other difficult plastics into 8×4 sheets, and one of these will be made into a full wall insert panel for the phone box. It will comprise a sealed notice board & various items useful to the community – see attached sheets. If this one is successful it may well be a template for use in other boxes.
Jason asked if TtW was willing to curate the seed bank, using “Happy envelopes” such as he used for sunflowers last year, and this was agreed. There will be a leaflet holder and TtW will supply leaflets for one of the pockets. Jason hopes to include a leaflet for a Wildlife Trail around Woodbridge, with seasonal notes and this will have input from TtW.
It may be possible to include a CCTV camera to discourage vandalism. Carol queried the state of repair of the box and Jason said Greg (WTC deputy town clerk) was considering maintenance of the electrics, repainting and glass repair.
Jason is building a team to help maintain the Hub and hopes it will all be in place before Christmas.
- Fruit trees and other planting:
DJP said that sacks of chippings were ready for the annual “Weed & Mulch” of the Scattered Orchard and local volunteers would be sought to do this, probably after the Regatta. TtW now has 70 fruit trees but some are over seven years old and growing away independently. A new member, Zac, was very interested in the fruit tree list he found on the website and since no map was available, he has made his own.
Projects on hand:
Jetty Lane has done some work to encourage wildlife and discourage footfall and more plants & seeds will be planted, probably after Christmas.
Admiral’s Walk: DJP explained that the removal of a broken mature tree and subsequent death of three replacement saplings left an opening for TtW to plant productive &/or wildlife friendly trees. Permission has been granted by Flagship. The leaflet for the neighbours has finally been printed and will be distributed next Friday by DJP & Zac, Ethna & Jackie S will help at the w/e if necessary. Once agreement on the type of plants has been reached, DJP will order them for spring planting.
- WTC Climate Emergency Committee: report by Martin.
A Climate Summit is being arranged for the first weekend in April, to be held over two days, in the Community Hall. The emphasis will be on community involvement and agriculture. The format will be with more workshops and less of lectures. Hilary asked if some items could be included for children.
Tree Warden report by Martin: about 250 saplings are about to be delivered via The Woodland Trust and the Suffolk Tree Council. They will be used to make a second layer to the hedge along the south-west border of Kingston Fields, to be planted commercially. He hopes to involve schools & the community in further planting in the area. Martin, Jane & Caroline Blois are members of a group called Tree Friends. Carmel queried the untidy remains of coppicing work, left along the railway path over a year ago. It was suggested she contact Network Rail.
- Wildlife Corridors: Jane hopes to re-start this project after Christmas, with emphasis on citizen science.
- AOB: nothing raised.
The meeting closed at 9pm.
Volunteers for the Whisstocks Regatta:
- Ethna
- Jackie S
- Peppy
- Stephen
- Carol & David
- Deb
- Sue O
- Hilary
- Dan (help with set up)
- Helen
- Chris