AGM

Many thanks to everyone who gave up their time to make it to the AGM - it was well attended.

Here are the minutes from our Secretary, Brian Hollins:

The Friends of
Haymill Valley
Nature Reserve

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 15th March 2007, 7:00pm

at The Haymill Centre, Burnham Lane, Slough

Present: Andy Paton (Chairman)
Brian Hollins (Secretary)
Teresa Hillier (Treasurer)
Iain Hillier (Publicity Officer)
Fran Thompson (BBOWT Berkshire Community Wildlife Officer)
Joan Woodward
John Woodward
Karen Bintcliffe
Rian Van Spaandonk
Barry Bannister
Tony Short

1) The Minutes of the meeting of 18th January were approved subject to the correction of the date published therein of the AGM. The month was incorrectly shown as April. This should have been March. This was corrected in News Letter Number 01 which was circulated on 19th February 2007.

2) Chairman’s ReportAndy opened by saying it was sad that this was the last time Fran would be with us and thanked her on our behalf for the support she had given to The Group and wished her well for the future.He also thanked everyone for their good teamwork at the last work party.Andy felt that, following a recent visit to Wooley Firs by himself together with Theresa Vernie-Brookes, Haymill Valley looked poor in comparison with other reserves but that we had achieved much and could move forward on a positive note.Fran agreed with this and said we had done well in only one year and could only move on to better things.A meeting between Andy and Slough Borough Council has been arranged to discuss the repairs to fencing and the weir at the south end of the site. The work required on the weir is considered to be a major priority project.A small group of residents in Littlebrook Avenue were known to have approached a Councilor and requested that the gates in to the reserve should be kept locked. Andy has made our position clear on this and advised that we would not agree to this request. Andy has also spoken to The Council regarding the original Charter defining the operation of the Millie and assured us that there will be no locked gates.Andy closed by proposing a big vote of thanks to Fran for her successful work through BBOWT on our behalf during the last year. Fran replied to this by saying she has enjoyed working with us.

3) Secretary’s ReportBrian gave an update on the membership list and advised that all the people on the spreadsheet provided by Fran had been contacted by email or telephone to establish whether they are still interested. This resulted in a very positive response and the numbers now stand at 39 active or interested in becoming involved. A slightly revised spreadsheet has now been created with each person being given a status of Active, Interested or New. Active people have attended at least one work party or other organized event. Interested people have stated that they would like to attend in the future and asked to be kept informed of our activities. New People had expressed an interest at the Wildlife Homes Open Day on Sunday 18th February but had not yet taken part.Brian asked for suggestions on how to keep people informed if they did not have email, (the easiest and quickest method). The two alternative ways to distribute News Letters, Minutes etc was by hand to each address or by normal mail. Fortunately, some of the affected people live in fairly close proximity to the reserve, for example, a number are in Littlebrook Avenue, and only three have so far had to be mailed. Teresa advised that if stamps were obtained to facilitate mailings she could reimburse the money provided a receipt was obtained. Brian said that that should be satisfactory and that a record of all stamps used would be kept.Brian then outlined the current situation with regard to recording the bird population in the reserve. There was some information already provided by Karen and Iain advised that he had borrowed an extensive number of log sheets from Don Lindskog covering bird numbers sited over a period of a few years. He would pass copies to Brian to be used as a starting point for an ongoing log.Brian asked if Karen could provide a short written instruction on how to post new items on the Web log and she said this would be done. Karen asked that the minutes of the AGM be posted on the Web log and this was agreed. She advised that she would post them in this instance when she received her copy.Finally, Brian reported the successful return of some stolen property which had been dumped in the reserve. This was discovered during the Wildlife Homes day. A small briefcase and a large number of student course notes had been returned to the rightful owner. He was delighted to have his property returned and was given information on work party dates in case he wished to join us.

4) Treasurer’s ReportTeresa advised that the existing bank account has been revitalized with the new signatory’s names now in place, (as agreed at the meeting on 18th January 2007).There was a starting balance in the account of £39.34 and a donation to the Group of £250.00 by BAA, thanks to Barry, has increased this to the current amount of £289.34.Teresa advised that any expense claims against the petty cash account could only be reimbursed if accompanied by receipts. The Lottery officials require a copy of our annual accounts, which will be supplied to them to support our application for a donation under “Breathing Spaces”. Iain thanked everyone for their great effort on behalf of this application, which we hope will be successful.

5) Publicity Officer’s ReportIain said that after the successful press reports and photographs in the local papers regarding our Wildlife Homes day, the local press have asked to be kept informed of future planned events which would be publicised beforehand.Fran said that BBOWT had a fund which was used to support organized events such as Open Days, Guided Walks, Wildlife related talks etc. Suggestions as to what we might organise to publicise the reserve and increase awareness generally would be welcomed by Iain.A discussion regarding the Breathing Spaces application resulted in the agreement, in the event that our application is not successful, to approach BBOWT with a view to obtaining tools. Iain advised that we have a number of bird and bat boxes, supplied by Martin Woolner who attended the Wildlife Homes day, which could be installed at the reserve or could be sold to raise funds. This raised the issue of Working Party health and safety regarding working on ladders. Fran said she will look into this and provide BBOWT leaflets covering safe working methods and the correct use of tools.Iain then tabled the calendar of event dates for the remainder of 2007.Four amendments were made; The planned social event following the work party on Saturday 14th April will take place in The Squirrel pub at the junction of Burnham Lane and Haymill Road. The work party tasks will be the installation of the spare nestboxes.The work party planned for 11th November has been moved to 18th November as 11th is remembrance Sunday.The date for the Christmas Social should be shown as Thursday 13th December, not 14th.(The dates of all planned events so far for 2007 will be in the next newsletter.)The dates of our events for the period May to July will be included in the Wildlife Diary which is produced by BBOWT and sent out to all members.Iain has also contacted our local Round and About publishers and they are interested in including news of our activities and events. Iain is preparing a 200-word article for inclusion in the next edition.

6) Any Other BusinessFran officially finishes on 5th April and therefore Theresa Vernie-Brookes will be our BBOWT representative at the next work party. Fran will also try to be there to ensure a smooth handover.Fran promised to send Brian information and a CD of photographs relating to activities during her time with us at the Millie. Before she leaves, she will obtain for us a large thermos container to be used as a trial for tea making. If this is not successful, it will be exchanged for a gas operated burner kit.Fran advised that there is £500 in the BBOWT budget for the reserve which she can spend before the end of the current financial year. Since this is within the next few weeks, she will use it to procure a selection of useful materials and literature for us which she will bring to our next work party.Fran handed over a pack of Volunteer Registration Forms and Volunteer Emergency Contact Forms for our use together with two sets of Conservation Volunteering leaflets which provide information on many of the tasks we need to undertake at the reserve...Fran announced that there will be a BBOWT Open Day at Wooley Firs in Maidenhead on 20th May. She advised that, if we wished, we could have a small publicity stand at the event and to contact Theresa Vernie-Brookes if we wanted to do this. Iain pointed out that this was the same date that he and Caroline Harrington were booked on a first aid course, also at Wooley Firs. Fran said she would check whether this was known by BBOWT and confirm that the course was still on.(Note: Subsequent to the AGM Fran has confirmed by email that BBOWT are aware of the situation and that the First Aid course will still go ahead as planned.)It was agreed to cancel the work party planned for 20th May so that we can support the BBOWT Open Day. Also, an informal get together after the Open Day has been planned. Meet at The Noodle Bar in Maidenhead at 7:00 pm. (Details will be in next newsletter.)Fran advised that there could be BBOWT funding available for a site worker to look after children on work parties etc. We should speak to Theresa Vernie-Brookes regarding this. Theresa’s working days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.Finally, Fran said she had made a visit to The Priory School to inform the children about the reserve and that she had had a good reception. She recommended that we follow up this contact and possibly arrange a guided tour, (or tours), for the children.

The meeting closed at 9:20 pm.