FVRA Trustee's Report 2024/5

Findon Valley Residents' Association

Protecting the interests of our community and the countryside around us

www.fvra.org.uk

Trustee's Report 2024/5

All voluntary organisations rely on the time, dedication and enthusiasm of their committee members and we are fortunate to have just such a group helping to maintain the Findon Valley Residents Association. As any volunteer will attest, it is not just their time and effort that is needed but also their family and friends! So we say a huge thank you to the husbands, wives, sons, daughters and friends of committee members who regularly turn out to help us, this is what makes our community strong.

The Findon Valley Residents Association serves a community of approximately 1780 households of which only 350 (19%) are members. The Covid Pandemic stopped our street collectors from their annual rounds and since then we have not had sufficient volunteers to reinstate these. We have had several discussions about the way forward but have decided to remain as we are for this coming year with memberships being paid by direct debit or donation to our Charities Aid Foundation CAF bank account via our website (75%), cash or cheque. Although donations can be gift-aided which adds additional funds, membership fees now make up only a small proportion of our annual income.

We host a monthly Artisan Market in the Limetree Surgery Car Park, regularly welcoming 300+ visitors. These markets are facilitated by Sharon Leppard at The Great Little Farmers Market CIC who generously donates half of the stallholder fees to the FVRA. We have provided themed activities for our younger residents and have welcomed local resident, Rene Hardman in her beautiful costumes to a number of events. We are grateful to the Limetree Surgery for allowing us to use their car park.

We are a busy Association with a very small, but dedicated, committee. The past year has seen us introduce additional community events to our calendar. The Findon Valley Fun Dog show on the Gallops, part of the South Downs National Park, facilitated in collaboration with Umbrella Events, enabling FVRA to host the event but not have all the associated planning and administration. This event raised a £200 donation for our local primary school, The Vale, and this money will be used to help fund their new Quiet Garden which has been planned in partnership with our Environment Officer, Matthew Ward. Thank you to Michael Jones estate agents and local businesses for sponsoring this event. This event will return again this year on Sunday 18th May.

We have also organised the inaugural Findon Valley 5K run and Mini-Mile which was well received and a great success. Our thanks are extended to Julia Griggs from the Foxy Ladies Running Club for all her help and support in the planning and safe delivery of this event. FVRA donated £1,000 to PCaSO, the Prostate Cancer Support Organisation, in honour of our retiring Chair Lance Allen, who is the secretary of this local charity. Our thanks to Jacobs Steel estate agents for sponsoring this event. This event will return again this year on Sunday 5th October when entrants can choose to run 5 or 10K.

In June of last year we started a monthly Local History Group with the idea of a three month trial period, as we were unsure how it would be received. We now regularly welcome 60-80+ attendees to this thriving group and by allocating a small annual budget, have been able to plan a calendar of quality speakers and purchase resources for use by our growing band of avid researchers. We hope to apply for funding to undertake an oral history project and have been offered practical assistance by Patrick Woodward who produces the Worthing Podcast. We are grateful to Historian Terry Field and Archivist Jim Booth for their hard work and enthusiasm.

The decision to stage our Christmas Extravaganza indoors in 2024 proved to be a good choice as the weather couldn't then spoil our fun! Working in collaboration with the Findon Valley Free Church we welcomed more than 30 stallholders to the event and Father Christmas was kept very busy. The event was made a truly festive community event by performances from The Vale School Choir, Singers Rechoired, All Saints Choir and Mark Bassey's Jazz Band. Hot food was served by vendors outside and was supplemented by a food hall within the church. We welcomed a huge crowd, too many to click in, and as a result we were able to share our profits by donating £352 to the Free Church. We are grateful to Richard and Allie Moore for their support and for the enthusiastic volunteers they provided on the day. This event will return this year on Thursday 11th December.

In August we hosted a Family Picnic on the Community Orchard which was well received and we hope to repeat this event. We thank Emily Ford our Adur and Worthing Ranger for her hard work. Then on a cold January afternoon we wassailed our Orchard! Matthew Ward our Environment Officer invited The Worthing Larks Morris Dancers and the Sussex Folk Orchestra to help us make a hullaballoo to really wake up our trees and encourage them to fruit plentifully this year. The 60+ crowd were warmed by mulled cider and the trees were dressed with cider soaked toast as tradition dictates. This event will return in January 2026.

We also facilitated information sessions on prostate cancer, defibrillator training, scam awareness and PCSO clinics. We supported Bioblitz and Butterfly Walks, helped the Vale School plant and tend a wildflower patch on the Gallops and enjoy the Community Garden, we litter-picked and tidied, cleared footpaths and painted bus shelters, on Cissbury we cleared sycamore, pulled ragwort and planted trees and hedging. We have more than doubled the textile recycling capacity in the Valley, although still bags are left piled up by the hoppers! We have taken over new areas of the library garden and established a new raised bed, soon to be planted with shrubs by Matthew and Maggie Winter, who continues to support us in the Community Garden. Thanks also to Jeff for mowing and more and.... THE PLANTERS HAVE BEEN MOVED FROM KINGS PARADE AT LAST! and look like they have always been in their new position as part of the Community Garden. We have approached Worthing Borough Council to offer a joint initiative to repair and repaint the public toilet block doors and the refurbish the noticeboards.

Alongside all these events the FVRA has continued to be part of community events and meetings throughout the year ensuring that we keep our residents updated on local developments. Our Team attended meetings with local Councillors, The South Downs National Park Authority, Adur and Worthing Council, West Sussex County Council, Community Works events and more. Thank you to everyone who gave their time for our Community.

As Chair of both the Association and the Trustees, I am proud to have played a part in the valuable community work the FVRA has done this last year and look forward to continuing with an expanded Team going forward. Our focus for the coming year will be on Highways and I am grateful to Steve Rhodes for stepping into this role. Ruth Rhodes will be our new Treasurer and Angela Atkinson will become Vice Chair, a vital role vacant for the past year. We also welcome Paul Stanley as a committee member and Richard Moore as a co-opted member who will support Sean in the webmaster role.

Denise Edwards our Secretary has reintroduced the quarterly newsletter and we are working on a welcome pack for new residents who move in to the Valley. The local estate agents are keen to be a part of this.

Treasurer's Report

The annual accounts have been independently examined and verified, a copy will be sent to the Charity Commission. The FVRA's regular income comes from Membership fees, a share of Market Stallholder Fees and the Local History Group and incidentally from other Events.

The accounts are in good health and income has outweighed expenditure this year.

Webmaster report: Sean Philip

New website launched June 11th 2024

Since then:

3,321 visitors to the website

1,450 (44%) from Google Search, 900 from Facebook (27%)

Sundays are the most popular days to visit the website (21% of visits)

69% of visitors are using their mobile phones

Most visited pages:

FV5K (22%)

Findon Valley Dog Show (10%)

Community pages (6%)

Contact FVRA (6%)

History Group updates/photos (5%)

Schools Liaison Report: Paula Barnes;

This past year we have continued to strengthen our links with The Vale School. We work alongside Emily, Park Ranger, to clear and then sow the wildflower patch on The Gallops. This area looks lovely during the Summer and creates a habitat for bees and butterflies. Small groups of children join Matthew and Friends of Findon Valley to look after the Community Garden by the library. They do a wonderful job, planting bulbs, weeding and litter picking. Several months ago children created plans and designs for a community allotment. Currently children are supporting Matthew planning a Quiet Garden in the school grounds. We look forward to this coming to fruition in the near future. The Vale Ventures, a school enterprise club, joined our Christmas extravaganza. It was lovely having them join the event. They raised money for St Barnabas and won the 'best dressed stall!' FVRA thanks The Vale for all their support and looks forward to many more joint projects.

Environment/Friends of Findon Valley Report 2024 / 5: Matthew Ward

Plenty of activity at our work parties with average attendance of 5 - 6

We have worked as a self led group and also alongside AWC Ranger Emily

Tasks in the valley such as footpath clearing, Ragwort pulling, planting hedgerows, weeding orchard trees, litter picking, treating the bus shelters and thinning Sycamore patch.

Good events: picnic in the orchard, visit to Plantation Garden, walk round the valley at Christmas and very successful Wassail with over 60 participants.

Regular Tuesday afternoons at the library garden often with children from Vale school attending. Beds and troughs looking good.

The FVRA has fulfilled and exceeded it's constitutional obligations this year and furthermore has made charitable donations totalling £1,372.00 (£1,000 PCaSO, £352 FV Free Church and £20 to Cancer Research UK in memory of Pam Pilbury) and through our events a further £325 has been donated to charitable causes.

Lorraine Taylor

Chair

Findon Valley Residents Association

March 21st 2025