BEESTON &DISTRICT  CIVIC SOCIETY

45th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY 12th OCTOBER 2018

At The Pearson Centre Nuart Road Beeston NG9 2NH

at 7.30pm

A G E N D A

• CHAIR’S  OPENING  REMARKS
• APOLOGIES
• MINUTES of AGM held on 13th OCTOBER 2017.
• THE TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENT
• ELECTION OF OFFICERS:-
• CHAIRMAN
• VICE-CHAIRMAN
• TREASURER
• SECRETARY
• ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
• NOMINATION OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER
• ANY OTHER BUSINESS
• DATE OF NEXT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.

This is our 45^th year and we will rightly be having a celebration of Fizz and Cake!

There will be background photos during the evening.

Civic Society President Elected at AGM

Foundations of the Civic Society

Introducing the topic Mervyn Brown quoted from the 40th Anniversary celebrations of civic society – at which Marion Wallwork commented:

“In 1973, I asked three or four people if they would be

Interested in starting a society when I decided that Beeston could do

with a bit of brightening up. We met in my living room and, since then,

I would like to think we have raised the public consciousness of good

Design in Beeston.”

As we all know the Society no longer meets in Marion’s living room – she does however remain a keen supporter – unfortunately she was not able to be with us on the evening of the AGM.

Enduring sound principals

Amongst several initiatives from earlier years in 1997 Marion Wallwork organised the first garden trail – so many of the efforts of Marion and our founders have survived to the benefit of our lives today and wellbeing of the local community. They have endured because they are based on the same sound principals that we adhere to today – the betterment and enrichment of our communities.

Sadly it would appear that our local council have come to omit their tag-line ‘Building Better Communities’– however that’s for another time.

Community commitment

So, just briefly, some other activities that Mrs Wallwork has been engaged in – together with being a Founder member of the Beeston and District Civic Society:

• Founder member of the Preschool Playgroups Association, then County Organizer.
• Magistrate on Adult, Youth and Family Panels on Nottingham Bench
• For many years member of National Trust East Midlands Regional Committee. A member of the Council of the NT. Chairman of the Trust’s Nottingham Centre and then President. As well as being a voluntary speaker for the NT.

Recognition

In 2014 Marion was awarded The British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for Voluntary Service to Heritage in the National Trust in the East Midlands and service to the Beeston and District Civic Society.

Mervyn Brown went on to comment:

“I noticed, in our constitution, there is an honorary office of President of the Society – that office is vacant. My understanding is that there are a number of members who would like to have this past filled.

I can think of no better candidate than Marion Wallwork.”

Marion Wallwork was proposed and seconded as Honorary President of the Society – the motion was passed unanimously by members present.

When approached about the appointment Marion’s reaction was a combination of surprise and elation – she said; “I’m thrilled and honoured to accept this prestigious appointment to become president of such a worthwhile campaigning organisation”.

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT OCTOBER 2018

We have had yet another busy year and quite a lot of new members thanks to our much higher profile in social media and by having stalls in the Square throughout the year, this is courtesy of the Market organisers and at no cost to us. Regarding the membership and subscriptions, we have installed a new system, membermojo, which has had a very few hiccups, Members need to be aware they must log in and tick the box which says standing order, this hasn’t happened and as a consequence 88 people this morning are being told their membership has expired. I apologise for this, I should have perhaps made it clearer to those who do pay by standing order that they need to do this, you need a password ready for when you log on. This is the chance to also signify if you are eligible for Gift Aid by ticking the box and it is done automatically without any need for forms. Other members have logged in and ticked either cash or cheque or paypal and this has worked extremely well. I am sorry for any upset but I am hopeful that once we have got over the initial problems it will work very smoothly in the future

This report is about looking back over the last year, so this is what we have been doing.

• Walks. There has been some very successful walks led by Professor John Beckett and we thank him for this.
• Inspire Festival. Peter Robinson and Alan Dance led a Heritage Walk in September as part of the Heritage Hack weekend based at the Library.
• Talks. We had some extremely interesting speakers and an exciting programme for this season.
• HMO’s. (Houses of multiple occupation) We continue to press the Council to write a policy regarding HMO’s in our town.
• Pearson Centre. We have moved back now to the Pearson Centre and can be more relaxed with times and are still able to provide drinks before the meeting.
• Heritage Open Day’s Once again this was very successful. However the money was not forthcoming in time to produce a glossy booklet as before. We were not able to print thousands for the Nottingham Tourist Office as we usually do. There needs to be rethink for next year, certainly about funding, we are still awaiting money from some councillors and indeed next year we may cut down the amount of venues involved. People need to come onto that specific committee if they want to see it happen in 2019.
• The trip I hoped to organise to Hockerton did not happen as there was no agreement about the date despite me setting up a website for people to let me know their preferred dates. What some of us have decided is to go in the Spring on a normal visitor day (Saturday) that does not have to have a minimum of 16 and go in our own cars and have lunch or tea at the farm shop cafe opposite.
• Once again we had a very successful stall at the carnival in July, it was extremely hot and a very good Community day.
• Our last edition was excellent, plenty of good articles and photos. We have now changed the name of the editions to Spring Summer Autumn Winter, this means we are not tied to a month as before, it also means I can tie in distribution to our coffee morning on the third Saturday of the month, I did this last time and it was good that many people came to collect their own delivery pile and save me driving round Beeston Chilwell and Attenborough to deliver to our distributors. If you have any ideas for articles please let us know.
• Town Hall Project. As you all know we have been very busy all year trying to save our Town Hall for Community use, we held a public meeting on Tuesday which I am sorry to say was not well attended, there were 19 people apart from us, I hope the turnout will far exceed this at next week’s Full Council meeting when the fate of the Town Hall will be decided, its either the Redeemer Church or our new Charity, The Town Hall Community Trust. We have stood on a stall many times on Beeston Square talking to people and giving out paperwork. We would encourage you to write to the council and make your views known, when its gone its gone. Don’t let it be lost to our community please.
• Wall Art. This has been very very successful and is still ongoing. Not everyone likes all of it, indeed you could not expect to like all of it, but some of it is incredible, Robin Hood for one. Zabou is currently painting the walls on Station Road, it features Edwin Starr, a long term resident of Chilwell, Richard Beckinsale and Paul Smith. Kate Beckinsale, Daughter of Richard and a film star who is based in Los Angeles has already messaged about her Dad being honoured, this is amazing publicity for our town.
• Many thanks are due to Caroline Penn for her work in studying and commenting on plans and indeed for the many other things she is involved with. Caroline commented on behalf of the CS on the Rail Franchise consultation and continues to monitor all planning applications and comment or object where necessary. Concerns still about the number of applications for HMOs and developers seeking sites for student halls of residence in residential areas. There is a lack of policy on Heritage Assets,  reference the Town Hall, Billiard Hall, so what next of the few left? Failure to get Town Hall listed despite support from  the C20 Society, and refusal of Broxtowe Legal department to declare it an asset of community value
• Coffee Mornings. These continue to be successful and gives a chance for people to meet, talk and discuss things of interest, it is a good first place for new people to come and meet us informally.

This is not about the future but what has happened this year, but I look forward to another good season of talks and speakers and welcoming you tomorrow night to celebrate our 45^th Anniversary with Cake and Fizz – other drinks will be available! I am very sorry to hear that due to a prior engagement Marion is unable to attend but we can celebrate again at Christmas with more cake and drinks! Please let me know if you are unable to attend. Thank you.

A final thank you to all our committee and a welcome to Jeanie O’Shea and Jim Donaghie and for all the amazing work they have put in with the Wall Art this week and last  and also the Wall Art Festival weekend in June and to Rob Murphy for running our finances so well in this a very busy year. Thanks also to Jean Cameron for hosting our committee meetings.

Judy Sleath

Chair. Beeston and District Civic Society