I am writing to invite you to the next meeting of Brierley Hill Civic Society which will take place on Monday, 16th June 2014 at St Michael’s Church, Bell Street South, Brierley Hill commencing at 5.30pm.
Our main speaker this meeting is Jayne Pilkington who will be talking on:
“Conserving the Heritage Assets of the Borough: a Conservation Officer’s Perspective”.
Jayne is the remaining member of the Conservation team in Dudley and I am sure that she will have lots of interesting things to say.
The agenda for the meeting will therefore be:
- Apologies
- Minutes of the previous meeting (see below)
- Matters Arising
- Treasurer’s report
- Brierley Hill in Bloom
- Clean Power
- Regeneration issues
- Intu
- Car parking
- Other
- Christmas festival
- English Heritage
- Brierley Hill Community Forum
- Information exchange
- Any other urgent business
- Date of next meeting:
- 19th July 2014 – “Brierley Hill’s Great War” – Tim Sunter
Minutes of the meeting of Brierley Hill Civic Society held on 19 May 2014 commencing at 5:30 PM at St Michael’s Church, Brierley Hill
Present
David Baker, Shane Bastock, Susan Bastock, Ruth Childs, Joy Cooper, Beryl Fisher, Kathy Garten, Ray Gibbs, Sue Gibbs, Peter Hobbs, John James, Betsy Lafferty, Tim Lee, Doris Merrick, Lorna Morrison, Maggie Norton, Emma Shelton, Jenny Sunter, Tim Sunter, Dennis Whittaker
Also in attendance: Michelle Birch, Simon Bradley, Anna Fusco, Gerardino Nardiello from Brierley Hill Neighbourhood Learning Centre
Apologies
Beryl Biggs, Judy Foster, Rachel Harris, Brad Jones, John Martin, Rosemary Tomkinson
Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated and were agreed as a true record.
Matters arising
TS explained that as part of the Community First grant it had been agreed to by a pull up for the civic society. This has been ordered based on a design reflecting the past, present and future of Brierley Hill. DW and JS had been consulted on the design. It was important that this was purchased before the grant expired otherwise there was a risk of losing the money. The design was shown to members. The purchase was noted.
Bloom
TS reported that the planters were now secured on the railings radiating from the Five Ways in the High Street. The plants had been grown and were awaiting planting (a picture of the flora taken at the weekend was shown to the Society) which would take place on 12th June – the earliest date when transport would be available to carry them to the town.
Adopters, including the Civic Society, were being asked to water the plants, and TS indicated that he would be asking members to take part in a rote. LM asked whether a water supply was being provided. SBB responded that a water butt was being installed. It was agreed that this was an important question and TS agreed to clarify as soon as he had any information.
Groundwork had expressed an interest in working with Brockmoor Primary School to develop an allotment, help with Brockmoor’s growing club and to take the school children on a visit to a farm. A meeting was to be arranged to follow up on this asap.
Brad Jones and Mike Lambert had both expressed a view that more needed to be done to enable local youngsters to learn about their culture and heritage. English Heritage had been working with schools to develop materials and TS had written to them to see if they could offer help in this respect.
Christmas Festival
JS reported on the Christmas Festival. The council was committed to continuing to support the event. It had been feared that in the current economic climate it might have had to withdraw.
Insight House car park was now going to be closed for the day to enable steam trains, donkeys and a nativity stable to be installed. This would be in addition to the fairground ride which had been provided last year.
It was hoped to evolve the craft fair into a making and doing event and JS asked that members get in touch with her if anyone had any ideas or contacts who could help.
Crossways Project
TS reported the sad news that this project, aimed at providing a new faith facility in central Brierley Hill, had now been discontinued. Unfortunately those involved felt that the concept had drifted too far from its original aims and therefore it would only fair to funders not to pursue further.
Community Forum
The Community Forum had held its AGM that afternoon. There was a good turn out of members who had discussed its future role. The need for a strong and challenging voice for residents in Brierley Hill, underpinned by effective community engagement, was required and that the Forum could be that voice
A number of participants had volunteered to take on directors’ roles for a trial period and it was now hoped to follow up quickly with a directors meeting to develop ideas formulated at the meeting.
Clean Power
TL reported the good news that Clean Power had withdrawn their appeal against the local authority’s refusal to grant planning permission. There was still the chance that a new application would be submitted though, and the SNOW campaign would continue to monitor the situation closely.
The meeting thanks TL and his team for the fantastic and effective effort they had put into the campaign against the proposal – which would have meant building a waste site within a few hundred yards of people’s homes
Celebrate Brierley Hill
The team from the Neighbourhood Learning Centre facilitated a session based on memories of Brierley Hill. This involved the creation of memory boxes and sharing of thoughts on the history of the area.
Members participated in the activities with great enthusiasm and our thanks go to the NLC for their help in organising the event.
Date of next meeting
The date of the next meeting will be Monday 16th June 2014 when the speaker will be Jayne Pilkington, conservation officer at DMBC.