Agenda item

Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton

Stephen Green – Trustee

Haddenham Village Hall Repair Café

Pete Summerskill and Councillor Greg Smith

Haddenham Community Library

Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton

Stephen Green, Trustee at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, informed the Community Board of the steps the centre had taken to work more closely with the local community. Working with John Knox, Chairman of Quainton Parish Council, the railway centre had developed relationships with other organisations who could benefit from the site. As of this meeting, the café had longer opening times from Monday to Friday, to allow local residents to use the centre as a social meeting point and to reduce isolation. The car park had also been utilised to reduce congestion from a nearby building site, as the café provides food to the builders.

It was identified that the centre was aiming to diversify its usage, by working with the Community Board to develop schemes such as a lending library and repair café. Mr Green explained that their volunteers were highly skilled and had agreed to donate an extra day to help these projects. Moreover, the centre had developed a disused railway carriage with the intent of starting a pop-up hairdressers. It was also discussed that the centre was working with bus companies to allow buses to use the car park as a turning point.

Haddenham Village Hall Repair Café

Tim Shaw was in attendance to present an overview of the Haddenham Repair Café. The Community Board were informed of their aim to reduce and mitigate impact of climate change and environmental degradation through education and raising awareness in local community. It was explained that the Repair Café was part of a larger initiative, Zero-Carbon Haddenham, which runs other projects including ReLEAF, whose goal was to double the amount of tree cover in the parish over the next 10 years.

It was noted that the Repair Café had the purpose to keep broken items out of landfill, by encouraging repairing rather than replacing. This was to help reduce waste and unnecessary consumption. The café was started in January 2020 however, was shut due to COVID-19. They transferred operations to a virtual café and individuals were able to book repairs through their website. They returned to a physical café towards the end of 2021 and held monthly meetings on the first Saturday of the month. Members noted the aims of the café to increase advertisements, build the volunteer team, invest in a card payment machine for donations, and to become financially self-sustaining. The presentation slides referred to in this meeting would be appended to these minutes.

In the discussion that followed, it was suggested that this was an initiative that could be rolled out across the Community Board area, if partners were willing to get involved. Mr Shaw agreed that he would be willing to share the experiences and knowledge of setting up a repair café with other interested parties. Members were informed that the Community Board was working closely with the Waste Prevention Team to provide strategic oversight and to coordinate similar activities across the area. It was suggested that the Community Board help develop a system to repair items to be passed on. Facilities such as Haddenham.net and the Love Crendon Facebook Group were noted as being existing hub to pass on items. In regard to how the Community Board could help other than funding, it was mentioned that publicity and advertising of these projects would be useful.

Responding to a query on insurance, Mr Shaw informed the Board that specialist insurance companies that understand the concept of a repair café could offer an insurance package designed for such initiatives. It was mentioned that Andrew Jenkins, Waste Prevention Team Leader, was developing a group-buying scheme for insurance. It was explained that the repair café was in discussion with the insurance company to clarify whether they would have to undertake Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) regularly.

Haddenham Community Library

Robyn Cooke informed the Community Board of the Haddenham Community Library and the presentation referenced in the meeting would be appended to these minutes. It was noted that the library was located in the heart of Haddenham, serving local villages including Haddenham, Stone, Dinton, Cuddington, and Long Crendon. The Public Library Service was linked with the Buckinghamshire Council Library Services, providing a Council Access Point to support the community and help to access Council resources. It was explained that the library service was run by volunteers and had welcomed Duke of Edinburgh volunteers to provide an insight into what young people would like to see in a library service.

Following on from COVID-19, the library had been focusing on re-engaging with the growing community, providing fully accessible services, and lifelong learning through computers, books, and other resources. Emphasis had been placed on re-building the library’s visibility within the community and maintaining relevance, as refurbishment had been planned to make the library more inviting and modern. Members were informed that the library had been growing as a community hub for people to meet, connect, and overcome social isolation. It was noted that Councillor Greg Smith had been using the library as a venue to hold monthly meetings. Activities such as ‘Knit and Natter’ and knitting for junior schools had also been restarted.

The Community Board were informed that the library aimed to develop partnerships with other local initiatives and organisations. Local schools were already utilising the library’s facilities and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) were using the library as a venue to meet in a quieter and private environment. The Haddenham Library welcomed the Community Board to utilise the library as a community venue.

In response to a query into how the library sources its books, it was explained that the community library had an agreement with the county library service to supply the computer system and a majority of their books. The county system ensures that all community libraries share their books, allowing for a changing representative of books on the shelves. The Haddenham Library also had its own book budget, to allow it to buy it’s own copies of popular publications to better serve the local community. Stephen Green, Trustee at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, explained that the site had an excess of donated books and offered to contribute to the library.