Agenda item

To include presentations from partner organisations.

The Chair advised there would be a dementia café set up in Amersham. The Community Board provided funding for the Little Chalfont dementia café which had proved very successful.

• There had been several venues suggested for the café and it was hoped the model for the Little Chalfont café would be replicated.
• There was an appeal for volunteers to assist with various roles for the Amersham cafe including help with games, local choirs, presentations and providing refreshments. Members were requested to spread the word about the café to all in the community including carers. 
• Roger Funk from the Little Chalfont café highlighted the process had started to create a charity which would cover any dementia café set up across the Board area.
• Members were advised to contact Lizzie Wright with any venue suggestions or offers of help. It was anticipated the café would be launched in September 2022.

The Community Board Manager provided an update on the Grow to Give project. The following points were highlighted:

• The task and finish group had met with Linda, the main lead and were in the process of contacting allotment sites to recruit champion growers who would co-ordinate the collection of produce from allotment holders.
• Hannah Tomlin was the Community Support Lead Food Co-ordinator from Buckinghamshire Council who was researching premises to act as produce collection and distribution centres. Members were asked to get in contact if they wanted to volunteer or if they could recommend any sites suitable.
• A Member highlighted the importance of setting up a distribution hub as traditional food banks tended not to accept fresh produce.
• The Chair highlighted the challenges local families faced due to the cost of living crisis. Once the produce distribution centre had been set up it would act as a blueprint for other Community Boards to replicate the model. The aim was to reach as many families as possible and have regular produce collections from growers.

The Chair advised the Queen’s jubilee commemorative benches had been ordered and should be installed by mid-September. A metal bench would be installed at Amersham Hill by October, the delays were due to supply issues. The initial idea came from a little girl who requested more benches to sit on when walking with her grandmother.

A Member suggested fresh produce would be useful for the community cookery classes. It was highlighted any produce not distributed at the end of the day could go to the cookery project.

Oli O’Neill from Treehouse Project Amersham provided an update on defibrillators. The following points were highlighted:

• Funding from the Community Board would be used to install defibrillators in the area. Sessions would be run to educate young people from local schools and the community on how to use them.
•  The project was in the first stages of identifying locations for the equipment. Locations already earmarked included Amersham Free Church, Amersham Common and Village Hall and Westwood Park in Little Chalfont. An area in Coleshill was yet to be identified, members were requested to feedback suggestions of locations.
• The second phase of the project would be to inform residents of the locations of the defibrillators and add details to the British Heart Foundation database. The equipment would need to be available at all hours of the day.
• The third phase would include training residents to use the equipment. School pupils would develop lifesaving skills including cpr and mental health first aid training. It was hoped all final year primary school children would be trained so they can attend secondary school with these key skills.
• A Member queried if there was a plan for maintenance of the defibrillators. It was advised as part of the responsibility agreement with organisations they would fund the upkeep of the equipment. There would be first year servicing available, quarterly testing and batteries would be changed after five years.

Catherine Simons from Cue34 Theatre Company gave a presentation on the not for profit theatre company for Bucks residents.

• The current project was In-tune a tragic comedic play which was written during lockdown about navigating loneliness after grief. A previously successful project was the Beatrix Potter Tea Party which debuted at Amersham Festival of Arts in 2018.
• The group were seeking additional funding from the Board to host a Tea and Tales event aimed at over 60s in the community. The event would be a safe space for interaction consisting of community workshop crafts, musical performances and refreshments. The Chiltern Lifestyles Centre was highlighted as a potential venue and after further networking the event would be advertised in the upcoming weeks.
• The play In-tune would be developed at workshops with audiences providing feedback. It was hoped the play would be toured alongside local groups and in care homes. A local giving grant had been applied for. A condensed version of the Beatrix Potter Tea Party play was on at the Chiltern Open Air Museum with all proceeds going to the In-tune project.
• There was a request for a venue with ample space and a lighting rig to research and develop the project. The Chiltern Lifestyles Centre was unavailable.

There was a presentation from Briony Hudson, Museum Director at Amersham Museum. The slides were appended to these minutes.

• Briony introduced herself as the new Museum Director and provided details of a recent project run by the museum called Amersham before Plastic. The project worked in conjunction with Sustainable Amersham and researched how people shopped before plastic.
•  The project involved discussing memories with older residents, exploring the museum collections, taking visual records of shopping now, exhibitions in the museum and mobile museum, issuing challenge packs for residents, developing and delivering outreach programmes for primary school children and measuring the museums carbon footprint with a view to create more sustainable practices.
• The pandemic meant certain activities had to be called back however, a substantial amount of research was undertaken. Interviews with older people about shopping taken at Sycamore Road were available to watch on YouTube. Donations of old shopping items were taken at the museum and 620 photos of local shops today were taken to be archived. There were 280 people contacted for views and 73 people provided interviews at the mobile exhibition in Amersham. Change and pledge cards were issued to inspire local residents to reduce their carbon footprint. Over 300 school children from four local schools were educated about plastics.
• The museum was reviewing their practices in order to become more sustainable. The mobile museum was an ongoing project and funding was available for one more school session with a view to integrate this into primary schools permanently. The partnership with Sustainable Amersham had proved invaluable and had allowed the museum to assess its own sustainability.

The Chair provided the following update on highways projects.

• The Coleshill speed assessment was completed by Transport for Bucks. The limit was not reduced to 30mph as hoped by residents however, research was underway to see if further signage could be erected.
• St George’s Primary School in Amersham was in consultation with Transport for Bucks to implement bollards outside the school to deter parking.
• Dr Challoners had submitted a funding application to the Board to improve road safety. This was on hold whilst the application to HS2 for a road safety grant was processed.

Road safety on Roughwood Lane was being investigated by this Board and Denham, Gerrards Cross and The Chalfonts Community Board in conjunction with the relevant Parish Councils.