Findon Valley Residents' Association
Protecting the interests of our community and the countryside around us
Monday 9th August: Remote meeting via Zoom
In Attendance:
Lance Allen (LA), Neil Worsfold (NW), Terri Binstead (TB), Matthew Ward (MW) The meeting was quorate ( min. 4 members )
Apologies
Clive Sanders, Paula Barnes, Lorraine Taylor, Roger Oakley
Minutes of last meeting and Matters Arising
Minutes from 12th July were agreed and will now be published on our website and displayed on the notice board.MW attended a meeting of Lime Tree Surgeries PPG group to inform them about environmental issues within the valley and the opportunity to help with various projects
Chair
An email has been sent to residents of the FVRA requesting offers of help with vacancies on the committee but as yet no interest has been shownJacobs Steele have agreed to pay for banners for the FVRA but are unable to sponsor a gazebo.They will pay for the installation of a community notice board near them at Cissbury Avenue which we will look after.Insurance. Our employer liability insurance does include volunteers, fund raising events with up to 1000 attendees and trustee liability for events and activities that would be reasonably expected of small charities.LA has contacted the library to see when committee meetings will be able to restart there.
Vice Chair
( LT was unable to attend )
Farmers’ Market, We are awaiting feedback on when we will get the new banners.A preferred minimum of two people are needed to help at our stall during the event but especially with helping to set up and close down.
Community Garden, LA has sent the plan of the Library garden back to WSCC on 29th July and we will now wait for the legal agreement to be finalised. Maggie will contact WBC to see if we can get help with ground work.
Secretary
TB contacted Beth from Findon Valley pre school on behalf of the residents association to congratulate her on reaching the finals of the award for outstanding services.
Treasurer
Treasurer had sent apologies and a report was received during the meeting but will be carried over to the next meeting
Membership
We now have 506 members for 2021. NW questioned how payments are going to be monitored and he suggested that as direct debit payments come in at various times of the year he will be able to give 365 days from the payment date. This needs to be discussed further as cash option and street collection will still be available on a calendar year basis. Further discussion to be had on this.
Schools Liaison
No more information has been received about the defibrillator. The school have been made aware of our proposed donation.
Environment
A successful awareness event was held at Cissbury fields where Craig from the South Downs National Park and Graeme from Worthing Council explained the short term plans for the area.Some areas of grass will be cut this year and some fields left to monitor what happens with them.A meeting at the Gallops was held with MW, Graeme and a few residents where it was decided that a larger area of grass near the southern end would be mowed. This has now happened. The northern end, beyond the tarmac path will receive one cutting a year.MW has arranged a first meeting with his volunteer environment group for Saturday September 4th meeting at the top of Parham Close at 10am.The contractor doing the work at Kings Parade has pulled out and the council have no replacement yet so this has caused a delay with completing the work and putting in the new planters. Jacobs Steel will look after the new planter close to them and it is hoped to get sponsors for the other planters. It was suggested that maybe the PPG would like to manage one of them.
Highways
The sub committee of RO and CS will consider reviewing parking problems in the valley initially and will need to discuss any ideas with residents. RO has discussed parking with the WBC/ SDNPA rangers.FVRA have highlighted the proposed A24 cycle route and the public consultation in our recent news letter and support it in principle but preferably with separate cycle and pedestrian paths. LA will check the progress of this in mid September if there is no more information before then.
Communication
The notice boards have been improved and LA thanked Colin for taking on management of them.The deadline for Sussex Local news has been brought forward to the 1st of the previous monthThere are still some issues with mail chimp and emails being received by some residents. Only about 50% of emails sent seem to be opened and some residents do not have email access.
Events
The next Farmers’ Market is on Sunday 29th August from 10am – 2pm.The Christmas market will be on Sunday 19th December and FVRA will have a Christmas stall there. It is to be discussed at the next meeting whether to have a Christmas fete in the library as well.
AOB
There was no other businessDate of next meeting 13th September at 7.30pm probably via zoom.
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