Stoke Ferry Residents' Committee Minutes

Minutes of the April meeting of SFRA

STOKE FERRY RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION

Meeting held on 20 April 2007

1. Welcome: the Chairman (Joyce Hull) welcomed those present: Daphne Clements, Ray Thompson, Helaine Wyett (Secretary)

Apologies: None received. Joyce reported that Debroy and Val Summers had resigned by phone, though nothing had been received in writing. Debroy claimed that his resignation was a result of the letter from an anonymous writer published in the recent Village Pump, in which various criticisms were made of the Residents'Association.

2. Minutes of the previous meeting (9/3/07) agreed as a correct record.

3. Matters Arising

Festival signs: no action had been taken so far. Daphne would contact Steve Randall to say that the Association would like the signs he still had.

Events of 14th & 15th April: Joyce reported that a lack of support had meant that the events on the 14th and the market in the church on 15th had been cancelled. A Flea Market took place in the Village Hall on 15th but did not appear to have been advertised very widely. Joyce confirmed that many flyers were posted, as were notices distributed informing of the cancellations.

The falconry display had been cancelled but no reply had been received from Grampian regarding the initial support request.

Festival road closures - no details available re contact with the Highways Dept and Police. Daphne to contact Highways.

The U14s football team would be playing in the tournament on 20th May at the playing fields and had asked that the Chairman be present for a photo. Daphne would ask Lynn News to attend.

Invited guests. Responses had been received from Julian Clary and his mother stating that they would like to attend but could not make a firm commitment at present. A letter had also been received from the Mayor's office at Downham Market stating that the invitation would be passed to the incoming Mayor after the elections.

Murals. It had been suggested that Lindsey Hurrell, who had created the excellent mural in the Village Hall, might be interested in leading a group of young people to paint new murals for the Dukes Head. Grampian had asked if a small plaque giving the reason for the murals could be supplied. Helaine agreed to organise this, with the text as follows: 'These murals were the result of cooperation between the children and older residents of the village, and Cary Outis, for the Stoke Ferry Festival 2006.'

Minstrels It was agreed that they should be invited to perform and therefore should be included in the funding bid.

4. Finance report

£2610.97 in the bank, £258.52 in petty cash. In addition £30 had been received for Festival stall bookings.

5. Any Other Business

A brief reply had been prepared for insertion in the Village Pump in reply to the criticisms made by an anonymous writer in April's edition. In addition the following points were made:

- re. nothing for children: events for children were in the field by the Millers Arms or in the churchyard, not in the cafe area.

- re. use of surplus money for local groups: a statement of grants received and income and expenditure was made in the SFRA minutes of 4/10/06, showing only a small profit of which £1000 was ring-fenced for the following year's Festival.

- re. purchase of chairs: it was reiterated that these had been purchased for the use of Stoke Ferry residents, whenever and wherever and were not solely for use in the church.

It was reported that the Stoke Ferry Rovers (U14s) football team had reached a cup final to take place at Holt on 29th April. The organisers may ask the SFRA, as the team's sponsors, to make a donation. It was agreed £50 could be given.

Boughton GP Practice had asked if consideration could be given to providing medical support runs for those unable to get to the surgery, hospital or other medical appointments. The Committee agreed in principle to this request. Ray would ask for more details.

At a recent Liaison Committee meeting, Grampian had agreed to Festival parking on the field once again, but not to the Grain store area.

Ray had made contact with Richard Coates re. the possible reprint of his mother's book on Stoke Ferry. Peter Bodle attended the meeting for this item and reported that small quantity reprints could be done using modern scanning technology, without the original plates. He would investigate prices for various formats and could arrange for storage of stock. The Secretary agreed to contact Richard Coates stating the above and asking for his proposals regarding costs, marketing etc. She would also contact potentially interested parties at Boughton and Whittington in case they wanted to have reprints of the books published on those villages.

It was agreed that urgent contact be made with Debroy asking for updates on actions, especially the Pink Flawed concert he had arranged for 2nd June. Current Committee members felt unable to take on the organisation of this event.

Ray reported that the Police dept at Downham were keen to make contact with the SFRA on community policing activities.

He reported that Grampian was planning to lease the now-empty Millers Arms. Joyce had left messages enquiring if the field and toilets would still be available for use during the Festival.

It was agreed that the Residents' Association should write to the Parish Council expressing their dissatisfaction about the decision (reported in 28/3 Minutes) to site a bottle bank near the War memorial. It was hoped that an alternate site could be found.

6. Date and time of next meeting: Friday 8th June, 7.30pm, Andromeda Lodge.

Helaine Wyett