Residents Association Meeting, 17th April 2008
Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on Thursday 17th April 2008, in Broadstone Library.
PRESENT John Noyes (Chair), F. Wood, D. Hawker, R. Jefferies, J. Sayers, Sally Banford, D. Rogers, R.Godfrey, Bob Williams and two Road Wardens.
GUESTS Cllr Dan Martin, Cllr Les Burden
The Spring Newsletter was distributed to the Wardens. The meeting began at 7.30.
JN told the meeting that there was now no Secretary, and whilst DH would produce minutes for this evening, the Association was looking for a replacement who would be needed for the AGM. Les Burden suggested advertising in the Community Magazine, if we could be quick enough.
1 APOLOGIES
Cllr G Mason, Cllr Mike Brooke, Pat Talbot, Barry Smith, Rosemary Mitchell, Don Harris.
2. PREVIOUS MINUTES for 21st February 2008
accepted as a true record of the meeting, and signed by the Chairman.
ACTIONS and MATTERS ARISING
Numbers in brackets refer to the item in the previous minutes.
3) The Goods Yard is open and very acceptable to those that have sampled the hospitality.
7) RG said he was now the ‘only’ editor, and would be producing the Summer Magazine.
The Newsletter had been mainly done by John Milhofer.
8) Barry Smith had now passed the old advertising register to Roger Jefferies. See under item 6
8) AGM Speaker, and refreshments - see under item 9 AGM
9) The referral centre was intended for youths who had been excluded from all schools. There were about 20 youths involved in Broadstone, with 12 more elsewhere and 3 in hospital. Plans for a new centre for 2010, were very hopeful, but not financially backed. BW said there had not been any direct complaints to the Chamber of Trade. Perhaps DR could explore further.
10) Library hours have been cut, despite strong protests from Broadstone readers.
3 CHAIRMANS REMARKS
There were no remarks to report
4 TREASURER’S REPORT
The Treasurer circulated a Statement of Income & Expenditure covering the year to 31 March 2008 together with previous periods for comparison. Subject to anything which comes up today or from the audit these are the figures which will be presented to the Association’s AGM on 15th May.
Income
Subscriptions received amounted to £6192.25, 30% up over 2007 due to the increase in the subscription from £1.50 to £2.
Magazine advertising was £2,772.50, 5% down on last year due to some billings proving to be uncollectible.
Books: We have sold all the remaining copies of A New History of Broadstone bringing the total number sold to 1,002. . The 337 copies sold this year gave us a surplus of £595.50 which when added to the surplus for the 663 copied sold last year last year gives a total surplus for all the books of £1,842.50 – an excellent result for which we are indebted to David & Julia Wenham for producing such a worthy and saleable item and to John Milhofer for his superb job of organising the sales effort! For those interested in statistics, we sold 505 copies (i.e. just over half) at £6 each to the 3 retailers (Lines, Something Special and Gullivers); 430 at the members’ discounted price of £8; 29 at the full price of £10; 10 at special prices of £7 and £7.50 and 28 were gratis copies to the authors, libraries etc., making up the total of 1,002. The cost of the books was £4.99 each.
Interest is well up on last year at £491.12.
Total income was £10,051.37.
Expenditure
Magazine Printing. There was a small increase in the price of the spring newsletter while the cost of the two magazines was at the new price of £2,298 to include colour for the cover.
Other costs are as shown. The Gifts & Gratuities were those presented at last year’s AGM in respect of the book and John Milhofer’s retirement. We paid £248 to repair the Notice Board outside the Post Office and we gave a donation of £100 to the RNLI following last year’s AGM.
Total expenditure was £6,317.75 which when deducted from our income of £10,051.37 leaves us with a surplus for the year of £3,733.62 compared with £2,400 last year.
Balances at 31 March 2008
Adding the surplus for the year to the Accumulated Fund at the start of the year, £7,852.05 we arrive at the figure of £11,585.67 which is the net worth of the Association at the end of the year. This is made up of the HSBC Treasurer’s account £178.01, the Scottish Widows Tracker account of £11,006.65 and the Secretary’s float of £21.87. To this we must add amounts owing to the Association – for magazine advertising, the final few books, interest on our Scottish Widows account and prepayments, amounting to £432.91; and deduct the amount owing by the Association - £53.77 for an officer’s expenses, to arrive at the Accumulated Fund balance at the end of the year of £11,585.67.
That means that the Association is in a healthy position and RJ will report on the recommendations of the Grants Sub-Committee when we reach that item on the agenda.
The auditor had moved, and RJ had mislaid his new address. This would be wanted if we wished to propose him at the AGM. RJ
5 PLANNING
There had been 22 applications since the last report. Two main items of interest.
19 High Park Rd |
Demolish the existing house and erect 5 new dwellings, with access road A meeting with 22 local residents and two councillors asked to refuse the application. BRA sent a letter on 18th March to Design and Control Services. |
54 Lower Blandford Rd |
Application to build a bungalow in the rear garden. PAT attended the Inspectors enquiry at the Civic Centre, followed by an on-site inspection. Result still awaited. |
6 EDITOR
Magazine
The 70th Anniversary edition of the Summer Magazine is due to be published on the 14th August, deadline for copy, mid June.
Everyone has been very kind; RG has received tremendous support and already has enough articles to fill the summer magazine, and some very good ideas for the winter edition.
We want the cover of the anniversary edition to be a bit special. RG has discussed this with Don Rogers and we hope to arrange a competition for the art work with one of the schools. The result should be original and will involve children, teachers and parents; a genuine community effort.
Advertising
Advertising for the winter magazine was arranged by Barry Smith. It includes 9 new adverts, including 2 for the Conservative Party, which will also appear in the summer magazine free of charge, contrary to previous practice.
Barry has passed the old advertising register to the treasurer. He has written a computer program to handle billings and payments, and will pass these on to the new Advertising Manager, when appointed.
He has offered to print the invoices for the summer edition and to show RG how the system works.
RG intends to accept his kind offer for the summer edition. See under advertising, below.
RG will then start from scratch with the winter magazine.
After some discussion, the meeting agreed that the Nick King advert could not be allowed. RG to write back saying unacceptable, and see what the response would be: - a modified ad, ask for a refund, go to court?
DR commented the BS had sent round an e-mail, criticising the former form and style of our magazine, and a copy of this had gone to John Milhofer, who was not well pleased. Despite this, the meeting felt we should send a formal letter to Barry saying thanks for his efforts. JN
Who will be responsible for advertising overall? We really need an officer.
Items for debate
Prizes for the school cover competition. RJ said that Neighbourhood Watch had followed this route, and came up with £100 in Prizes, with £50 for the school
Improved quality of the magazine. RG had explored getting a 4 or 8 page coloured section to sit in the middle of the magazine. Costs £319 or £589.
Better Paper?
RJ said we are cheaper than Broadstone Link. Should we raise our advertisement prices to cover the cost?? Really a decision for whomever becomes advertising officer.
7. OTHER REPORTS
Chief Warden
JS had been checking on wardens’ ‘length of service’ and finds that FW’s list is not complete. He has sent out a letter to the wardens asking for further information. The Committee had discussed the subject of long service awards (02/08/07), but did not establish any clear policy on the subject.
Education
NUT on strike soon. They do not have a large membership in the Broadstone schools, so effects are likely to be minimal.
Chamber of Trade
CoT had set up a website Broadstone.biz, which was developing nicely. Through this they hoped to link education in schools to local opportunities.
Ex Secretary
Raised a consultation from BoP about how the development money should be prioritised and spent. This would cover charges on all forms of development, and the fund would be spent on virtually all types of Council expenditure. It was an important consultation, with a response wanted mid-May. RG said he would organise a response. RG
8 GRANTS
The response to the magazine ad. was very disappointing. Only 6 replies, and one of those is very suspect :-
People did not see/read advert. ? Don’t live in Broadstone. Did we sound too formal?
Not a good time of year for them to apply?
Requests from
- Broadstone in Bloom – grant of £250
- Junior Cricket Club – grant £200
- Scouts archery section – grant £300
- Broadstone Access group – grant £200
- Sea Cadets considered outside the Broadstone remit
- Age Concern to be investigated by PAT
Meeting agreed these monies, and RJ and DH will forward cheques.
Nothing from
- Chamber of Trade
- Football
- Churches
- Community Band
- Memorial Hall
- Local Choirs
- Community Centre
9 AGM
Officers
There was formal notification that Roy Godfrey will stand as Chairman for 2008/9
He will also take on the post of Editor
The following officers were prepared to stand for re-election for the coming year.
| Vice Chairman and Planning | Pat Talbot |
| Treasurer | Roger Jefferies |
| Chief Warden | John Sayers |
| Education | Don Rogers |
| Publicity | Rosemary Mitchell |
| Archivist | Jill Floyd |
This leaves us without a Secretary, or an Advertising Officer.
Speaker
The speaker will be from the Bournemouth Natural History Society, talking about Alfred Russell Wallace
Rules
A set of amendments to the rules had been published in the Newsletter, for approval at the AGM, and a full draft copy produced. There was to be an added change with regard to item 18 about winding up the Association, and this would be announced at the AGM.
Refreshments
The catering volunteers at the Methodist Church, had decided they could not manage the AGM, and so we would have to approach a commercial firm. The obvious first choice would be Molly’s (via Bob Williams) and it was hoped their change of premises would not conflict with our request. As far as likely numbers, it was generally agreed that 75 would be a sufficient number. Refreshments to be ‘nibbles’, wine and soft drinks – no tea or coffee. We would see what the price would be, but we did not wish to pay in excess of £250.
10 AOB
At the AGM of Broadstone in Bloom, the question of getting help from people doing Community Service was raised. They requested people who had experience or ideas to contact them. BRA had discussed this in the past, and the great problem with doing any street work was that the Service people had to be trained and fully equipped (Health and Safety), and after this their costs were very high and often their number of days had dwindled to nothing. Parks, enclosed gardens and buildings were possibilities.
Cllr Martin advised the meeting of a transport survey that would be carried out across the wider East Dorset area. It would be random pull-ins and last 3 months. If the driver ignored a police indication to ‘stop’ he could be charged. Good timing to coincide with the Canford Bridge closure.
The next meeting is the Annual General Meeting on May 15th in St. Johns Church Hall
2008/2009 programme
2008. 26th June; 14th August; Late October (open meeting); 20th November. 2009. 8th January;
| Archives: | 2008 - January, February, AGM, April, June |
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