Thursday 18th July 2024 at 7.00pm
Meeting on The Bandstand, West Ham Park
Attendees
Charlotte Cook (Chair), Alan Cooper (Deputy Chair), Ricky O’Garro (Senior Ranger) Roger Jones, Nicky Brown, Ron Innell, Marion Innell, John Rands, Lucia Rios Steele, Eugene Czsauderna, Pearl Saunders, Jules Maurice-Williams, Denise King, Des Blake, Crispin Julian, Ian MacDonald and Lyndsay Jones.
Apologies
Uta Saatz
Introduction
Charlotte welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially Denise, attending for the first time.
Minutes of the last meeting
Minutes from the meeting on 9 May 2024 were agreed as a correct record.
Treasurer’s Report
The current balance, at 1st July, is £5808.83. This includes £5000 donation for hedge planting around the playground once soil conditions are suitable.
It was agreed that Lyndsay will no longer hold the second bank card. This will be transferred to Nicky.
Report from Senior Park Ranger:
Trees
The current maintenance contract has ended and the trees will now be surveyed and cared for within the North London Open Spaces team. Studies are under way to establish suitable replacement planting for trees diseased or dying from old age, taking account of the trend towards a warmer climate and drier conditions within the park.
London in Bloom and Green Flag judging
London in Bloom results are not announced until October, but Ricky thought the judge had been impressed with the park. The Green Flag has been retained, but the Green Heritage status has been lost as the Management Plan has not been updated since 2010. This project is now in hand.
Playground
A two week closure will be needed in the autumn to replace the failed mulch. The water system for the Splash Pad is broken. New pump handles have finally arrived but everything needs to be set and tested. It is hoped to have it working properly before the end of the school summer holiday.
Nursery Site Consultation
Charlotte has been asked for comments from FWHP and will circulate the consultation form to us all.
Hedge Planting
A further grant has been obtained from the Carbon Sequestration Team, and it is hoped to start planting all the planned hedges from October. A programme of community involvement events will be set up. Ricky thanked FWHP for all our work in obtaining these grants.
Publicity and Media
Nicky reported around 1000 interactions on Facebook and some interest on all platforms.
Newham Voices article rota:
Articles are needed by 15th of each month.
• August deadline will be about Black History Month and written by Des
• September deadline will be about Butterflies and written by Lucia
• October deadline will be about hedge planting, by Roger and Lyndsay
Charlotte will write a summer newsletter for general circulation.
Ian asked about promoting the “Chatty Bench” scheme. Charlotte will look into how this works as it is a national scheme.
Ongoing Activities
Work in the Vegetable Garden is continuing as usual, but more, and younger volunteers are needed. This will probably mean organising sessions at the weekend.
Health Walks continued led by Ron and Marion. 10-12 people usually attend.
Bird Surveys are ongoing. A new volunteer has been found and will hopefully start this month.
Wildlife Garden Maintenance. Lyndsay explained that the garden is only used by the Learning Team for pond dipping, and in her opinion would need more maintenance than FWHP can provide in order to make it usable. She felt that this effort would be wasted if no other activities are taking place. Ricky will talk to the Learning Team and see if any better use can be made of the area, or other help provided with maintenance.
Litter Picking continues, but more informally.
FWHP members are taking part in the new butterfly survey, whilst undertaking some litter picking at the same time. The survey has been led by Tim Harris. A moth survey has also been suggested. We will look into the possibility of this. Further grants for environmental work and encouraging pollinators are available. Roger will look into these, but the closing date is the end of September, and he is away for the month of September. Any ideas, please contact him asap.
2024 Programme and Activities
Links and Affiliations with other Environmental Groups
Liaison with LFGN continues. There will be an LFGN organised autumn webinar on native v non-native planting of new trees and bushes in open spaces. Alan reported no recent updates from Sustainable Newham.
Newham have published the latest draft of their revised Local Plan for consultation. Roger will develop a response from the Friends Group. This will include the proposed upgrading of the park’s SINC status to Borough Level.
Secondary Schools
We have had no success in engaging with any of the local secondaries, apart from the St Boniface school, who have pupils doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, and may do some community service in the park.
150th Anniversary Celebration 20/21st July
Our photo competition winning pictures are printed and ready to be displayed. Roger thanked Nicky for all her help in organising this event.
Our part of the Saturday music programme is all in hand. The Sunday family area and obstacle race is all planned and ready to set up.
We agreed on meeting times and staffing rota for the two days.
Planning for Future Events
Bat Walks
Friday 16th August led by Lyndsay, Friday 20th September led by Ron.
Newham’s Biggest Leaf Pile
Provisionally Sunday 17th November, to be finalised once the rate of leaf fall this autumn is known.
Park in the Dark
Friday 6th December. Lucia will check the availability of the Park Primary School choir.
Food Bank Collection
TBC
Future Meeting Dates in 2024
Thursday 12th September 2024
Thursday 14th November 2024
Thursday 9th January 2025
Thursday 13th March 2025
Thursday 8th May 2025
Thursday 10th July 2025 (meeting and AGM)
Save the July 2025, these will all be Zoom meetings.
AOB
There was no other business and this part of the meeting closed at 8.20
Annual General Meeting
Chair’s address
Many thanks indeed to all of you for coming along to our AGM, and welcome one and all – especially the travellers from the North, our new friends, and of course the old faces. It is super to see everybody here.
And especially so in the run up to the park’s anniversary year… 150 years old! It is such a shame that we are still fighting to keep our park safe for future generations, but we look forward to the fun of this weekend. A special thanks there to Roger and Lyndsay, to Nicky, and to all those who will be helping in advance and on the day.
To our review of the year, and super to see some new activities have commenced: our butterfly number counting is going strong, and the photography competition has been a success. We hope to continue and improve upon those things in the next year.
And of course some old favourites – Park in the Dark, the Leaf Pile, Eyes to the Skies, and the Bat Walk… even when nature has not really been pulling its weight and helping.
Once again, our green credentials continue, and even with a very wet Green Fair and the Park, it is super to see our involvement there. Particular thanks to Alan to that.
And of course the things that we really should not have to be doing, but circumstances require: food bank, and litter picking.
I am still keen for us to increase our reach and our membership, and its particularly great to see some new friends here today.
Hopefully we can get more people involved following the party, and I look forward to seeing all of you there, to rightly celebrate our park!
Elections
Chair
Charlotte Cook. Proposed by Jules, seconded by Marion
Deputy Chair
Alan Cooper. Proposed by Roger, seconded by Eugene.
Marion will continue as Treasurer, supported by everyone.
Jules will continue as Nursery Site Coordinator
Events and Education. Lucia Rios Steele. Proposed by Charlotte, seconded by Marion
Nicky will continue as Communications Manager.
Roger and Alan will continue as External Liaison and Green Links Coordinators
Lyndsay will continue as Meetings Secretary
Ron will continue as Membership Secretary
The minutes of the AGM held in 2023 were agreed as a correct record.
The annual report and accounts were agreed as correct
AOB
There was no other business and the meeting concluded at 8.30pm