Findon Valley Residents' Association
Protecting the interests of our community and the countryside around us
Monday 12th July: Remote meeting via Zoom
In Attendance:
Lance Allen (LA), Lorraine Taylor (LT), Clive Sanders (CS), Matthew Ward (MW), Neil Worsfold (NW), Terri Binstead (TB), Paula Barnes(PB), Roger Oakley (RO).
Apologies
None.
Minutes of last meeting and Matters Arising
Minutes from 14th June were agreed and will now be published on our website and displayed on the notice boards. Neil Worsfold is now the official membership secretary and Roger Oakley is the new highways officer. LA welcomed them to the committee.
Chair
Both NW and TB have agreed to stand as trustees joining the Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer who already hold the position. LA will inform the charities commission of the new officers.The committee still have vacancies for an events coordinator and a website communications person. It was suggested an email be sent to FVRA members to see if anybody would be interested in filling the positions.The arts and crafts group are still not meeting due to ongoing covid restrictions. LA will contact the organiser for an update in September.LA suggested asking Jacobs Steel who are keen to be more involved with us and the community if they would contribute funds for a new gazebo and banners for the monthly markets. RO said there are many funding bodies both local and nationally who are often willing to support charities and it would be good to find out more about organisations providing this with a view to using them in the future.Work is still ongoing in Kings’ Parade and there have been issues with people parking cars where the removed concrete planters were situated.The new planters will soon be in place and Pauline Freestone from Worthing Borough Council informed LA that all work in the parade should be completed by July 26th -27th.
Vice Chair
Farmers’ Market, The June farmers market was another success even with the incremental weather and the problem with debit/credit card readers now seems resolved with customers having no issues.The coffee van did not attend this time as the owner was concerned about his generator getting wet due to the weather. A new Indian food stall proved very popular this time and a cheese stall is coming along in July. There was a potential problem with space as the pharmacy vans were parked in the car park. LT will again ask for them to be moved on future market days. The markets own banner was trialled at the June market and it was agreed that our own banners need to be considerably larger. LT has provided a tool box with all the essentials needed for setting up our gazebo at the market and other uses.All Saints Church are celebrating 65 years in the valley on Saturday 7th August and have asked if we could give any help. They have offered us a stall at the event and we are providing them with the use of our gazebo.A follower of the next door social community site is borrowing our banqueting style table for a wedding and he has offered to donate £50 to the FVRA which we will forward to the defibrillator fund at Vale School
Community Garden, LA has received a plan showing which area of the library garden is our responsibility. He will send a copy of the plans to Maggie and LT. Once seen and agreed LA will push to get the legal agreement finalised. Contractors have finally cut the library grass which had got very long
Secretary
TB asked if any extra items for the agenda could be sent to her no later than 10 days before the next meeting.
Treasurer
The bank balance as of today is £6,640 almost £2000 better than same time last year mainly improved by the regular farmers markets.There are still some ongoing email issues informing residents about their direct debit membership subscriptions and the Treasurer and Membership Secretary will get together to finally sort itCS is finding it increasingly awkward to pay out large sums of money such as insurance as the daily limit for withdrawals in the HSBC account is currently set at £300. It was agreed to raise the limit to £500 and new bank signatures are required for this.
Membership Secretary
Current member numbers are 498. NW has been working on updating emails to members and has found several members have changed their emails or no longer have one. He has now been updating his membership list with the new contact details and will liaise with the treasurer to coordinate the CAF and membership lists.
Schools Liaison
Vale school have been informed that FVRA will donate £250 towards a new defibrillator outside the school gates. Findon Valley has three defibrillators at present in Tesco express, the Doctors Surgery and the Cemetery. It was noted that there is no defibrillator towards the north of the valley. Once the school has its defibrillator we will advertise where they all are situated within the area.
Environment
LA gave an update in the absence of the Environment Officer.There is a drop in session planned for Sunday 8th August at Storrington Rise car park organised by the Borough Council to enable people to give their views on how Cissbury Fields is organised and managed in the future.There is a lot of unease among people using the Gallops about the grass being left long and very little area of short grass for outdoor play. It was suggested that the Gallops are included in the session organised at Storrington Rise on 8th August.With input from both the SDNP and Worthing Borough Council surrounding the Gallops it may not be easy to alter any plans there but it was decided that it would be a good idea to get peoples views and discuss with Councillor Dan Humphreys after the meeting on the 8th AugustPosters are now out around the valley advertising for a volunteer group to help with litter picking, tree watering and other environmental issues. MW has already received some interest. There are other volunteer groups within the SDNP and it may be possible to link with these other groups for some projects.The SDNP is embarking on a 10 year project to re nature 30,000 hectares of land by planting new trees and rewilding areas across the whole area of the park.The chairman of the Lime Tree Patients Group has asked if a member of the FVRA can speak at their next meeting about the local environment as it will complement a presentation being given by one of the Doctors emphasising the health benefits of the great outdoors – the ‘ Green Impact for Health Project’ LA suggested maybe some PPG members would be interested in caring for the new planters along Kings Parade.
Highways
A meeting was held with LA, LT, CS and RO along with Councillor Elizabeth Sparkes and WSCC Highways Manager Mike Thomas. Traffic regulations generally and parking issues were discussed. RO said it is a long process trying to get traffic regulations altered and a small working group was set up to decide how to move forward with issues affecting Findon Valley. It was generally agreed that parking was one of the worst issues especially in Vale Avenue and Coombe Rise
Communication
LA will draft a new quarterly newsletter and discussed with the committee what should go into it. Among the many topics it was suggested that people could be offered the chance to give their opinion on the Gallops.TB was happy for her FVRA email to be used as a contact for thisFarmers markets are to be advertised in the Sussex Local magazineFacebook is beginning to be used more by FVRAColin Binstead is taking over monitoring the notice boards and will collect the keys from LT
Events
The next Farmers’ Market is on Sunday 25th July from 10am – 2pm.The Christmas market will be on Sunday 19th December and FVRA will have a Christmas stall there.
AOB
Findon Valley Free Church pre school have been short listed to receive an award for outstanding services.
All the bus shelters have been vandalised in the valley.
Next zoom meeting – 7.30pm Monday 9th August. We will revert to physical meetings at the library once covid restrictions have ceased.
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