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Chairman's Report 2011 Season

This is my last AGM as Chairman. It’s been an honour to lead this fine organisation since its founder, Paul Turner, stepped down. The Group does much good work around the village, and the village would be poorer, both spiritually and financially, without it.
Tony is also leaving the committee. He has been a tower of strength on all aspects of the group and a great asset on Lower Common. He has also done a great deal of work in other areas such as the Green Lane bus shelter and the Lower Common storage area. Tony is a very able member of the committee and his characteristic kindness is one of his great virtues.
Voluntary work is unusual in that it has benefits for those it is “done to” and for those it is done by. Volunteers gain the satisfaction of having put in efforts for the benefit of the village, the village is well-kept and has a reduced Council Precept.
This year a total of 20 volunteers covered 53 sessions between them. So, the group is doing well and I am very confident that it will thrive in the coming years. Please encourage any new residents to join us, I’m sure they’ll get satisfaction from the work.
As well as the obvious benefits of keeping our public spaces in excellent condition, I see the community side of the group as a major benefit to the village, for example the group of volunteers that gathered last Saturday at the Gravel Pits to clear leaves is typical of the sort of activity that a group of this sort can do; I simply sent an email to a few people and most turned up to help. I would like to see many more volunteers to spread the spirit and to lighten the load. The Group also encourages community spirit, something that, sadly, is disappearing from village life.
Financially, our income exceeded expenditure by approximately £300 but we do need to make provision for greatly increased expenditure on maintenance and storage facilities. And so we need to allow our reserves to rise.
We save the village approaching £1,000 per annum. The Parish Clerk has estimated that without the work of the Volunteer Group, the Parish Precept would have to double.
Maintenance; as I said at our General Meeting earlier in the year, we have for a long time got away with very low maintenance costs. I feel we must now bite the bullet and get all our equipment serviced professionally and regularly. This will undoubtedly cost us a lot more, but we need to have well-maintained equipment that volunteers can rely on. We are planning to approach a garden machinery engineer with a view to a bulk-service of all the equipment.
Still on the subject of equipment, I must touch on the subject of storage. We store the equipment close to the sites, this is not just for convenience, it is also to reduce the burden on the committee members; without storage near the sites, equipment would have to be transported to site by committee members, placing an unreasonable burden on them and reducing our flexibility in when mowing is done. Our storage location at Lower Common is no longer available and so we need to find an alternative. We have looked at a number of options, some are rather more controversial that others;
- A container on the periphery of Lower Common (two possible locations)
- Rental of one of the Lower Common Garages (this could be shared with the Parish Council).
- A container on land adjacent to the Lower Common Garages
I must thank the rest of our very hard-working committee;
- Hannah, our excellent and highly efficient secretary who has done a superb job and is always very proactive, spotting things that need doing, and all this whilst doing a demanding job of her own plus other activities around the village.
- Zani, our Treasurer, has done a very thorough job with the accounts and controls the money very effectively.
- Seumas is a great all-rounder; his knowledge, experience and the advice that he gives on all environmental matters is invaluable.
- Steve is responsible for co-ordinating volunteers for the Burial Ground. He has wonderful powers of diplomacy which have been invaluable in progressing the Lower Common storage problem.
- As I said earlier, Tony is leaving the committee and I thank him sincerely for all his work. JUST TO EMBARRASS HIM, LET’S GIVE HIM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
For everything they have done over the last year, my thanks go to -

The generous people who allow us to store equipment near the sites, which is vital for us to reduce the amount of work required by the committee and so enable the group to function more easily.
o Mark Thomas who updates the village web site, for responding to requests to make changes in order to keep it up to date. We are currently reviewing the content to ensure it is relevant and accurate.
o To Julian & Margaret Evans and Jacqui & Tony Matthews for supplying the tea.
o But, to paraphrase from the Old Tyme Music Hall, Chiefly Yourselves, the volunteers.
So, keep up the good work and don’t forget to book some slots for next season (the schedule is accessed via this link to the Volunteer Group page).

Ted Dowson

Chairman