Agenda item

·       Winslow and District Fishing Club - Alan Knowles

·       North Marston History Club – John Spargo

·       Greener Padbury – Felicity Mallam

Representatives from three projects that had received funding from the community board were invited to give a brief presentation to highlight the impact of their respective projects on their local areas.

Winslow and District Fishing Club - Alan Knowles

The club had been running for 40 years on a lake in Mursely with around 100 current members and was open to all with a small membership fee. Requirement to manage the lake (particularly weed control) had caused difficulties for the more elderly membership. The club identified that the process of clearing the weeds would be made easier with different equipment (water testing instruments and larger weed rakes) but this would require about £1000. An application for grant funding was completed, submitted to the community board, and Sophia Comer visited the site before funding was approved. The necessary equipment was purchased which reduced the work time by weeks. The club was very grateful for the assistance provided by the community board and found the process to be simple and easy to understand.

North Marston History Club – John Spargo

Following a parish survey which resulted in a request for a printed history of the North Marston village, the club was established in 2010. A book (‘Memories Shared’) was compiled from interviews conducted with elderly residents to fulfil this request. The club continued to operate with a focus on the social and architectural history of the village and had since undertaken several projects including the publication of ‘North Marston History’, a renovation of the Wesleyan church as a heritage centre and organising a commemorative event for six R.A.F servicemen who were killed in an aeroplane crash near the village during the Second World War. As of the meeting, the club had around 140 members. A grant had been received from the community board which would be used to digitise and preserve old deeds to properties in North Marston, as many were on old, delicate parchment and vellum, with some being 400-500 years old. The group was very grateful to the community board for the grant funding which enabled them to undertake this work. There was an upcoming club event discussing the history of the Titanic which anyone interested in joining the club was welcome to attend.

Greener Padbury – Felicity Mallam and Robert Manasse

The project was developed during the coronavirus lockdown and focused on encouraging Padbury residents to be more environmentally conscious. Accompanying slides to Felicity and Robert’s presentation would be appended to the Minutes of the meeting. A key aspect of the project involved efforts to improve biodiversity within and engagement with the Padbury Millennium Wood, which stood in the middle of the village and was just under 15 acres large. They had been successful in getting a grant from the community board and undertook consultations to develop a woodland management plan. The grant would utilise the plan to support holiday and weekend activities in the woods alongside school engagement (including a forest school). Recent activities that had taken place in the woodland included bat walks, litter picks, talks and presentations. The group had ambitions to develop more ways to engage young residents and involve different age groups in the woodland. Unhealthy Ash trees were being identified and removed due to ash dieback. It was hoped that local people could be trained to monitor the biodiversity. Councillor Chilver hoped that the community board’s Environment sub-group would be able to make a future visit to the wood.

Attendees thanked Alan, John, Felicity and Robert for their time and presentations.