Agenda item

The Committee received presentations from the following:

 

·                Crystalites Majorettes

·                Wilbury Community Forum

·                Best Before Café

·                Groundwork

·                White Thorn Bowls Club.

Audio Recording – Start time of Item – 4 minutes and 1 second

 

CRYSTALITES MAJORETTES

 

Ann Marriage and The Crystalites Majorettes thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the committee regarding their grant application.

 

·                     £750 was originally requested for new uniform, dresses and pom-poms.  £300 was very kindly donated for the pom poms which allowed them to spend more money on the dresses;

·                     The girls were using black pom poms for competitions;

·                     The new pom poms and new uniforms made a huge impact on their dancing and it made them feel much better with improvements in their routines;

·                     They attended the BMSA 3 weeks’ ago and won the National Championship Title;

·                     Prototype for new dresses was sparkly;

·                     As there was more money than expected, each member was able to have two dresses, red and blue and also planned to buy turquoise dresses.

·                     Councillor Terry Hone was the Councillor who presented the £300 funds and was delighted to see them in good use.

 

The Chairman thanked The Crystalites Majorettes for their presentation.

 

 

Audio Recording – Start time of Item – 9 minutes and 0 seconds

 

WILBURY COMMUNITY FORUM

 

Sue from the Wilbury Community Forum sent her apologies as she was unwell.

 

 

Audio Recording – Start time of Item – 9 minutes 10 seconds

 

BEST BEFORE CAFÉ

 

Susie Holding, thanked Councillor Sam Bloxham and Terry Hone for giving the funding in June.  The update was:

 

·                     Food was collected from Lidl, Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsburys (and hopefully Iceland soon) three times per week. 

·                     Food was weighed and sorted as part of the Food Junk Project and all the data went onto a national food database;

·                     80-100 people attended each Wednesdays between 10am-2pm;

·                     Many food stuffs rescued, no wastage;

·                     Diverse range of people, including volunteers from all walks of life;

·                     3.6 tons of food rescued from September to November and £1,437 was donated.  Garden and allotment produce was donated in the summer;

·                     Majority of customers donated their time and their energy and spent time talking to one another;

·                     Generosity from community was amazing;

·                     Once expenses covered, any surplus cash donations over £70 and anything over that was donated to local charities;

·                     Supper club kept them sustainable as they did not want to ask for further grants;

·                     Collaboration with St Christopher’s School where the head and head chef cooked and the Garden City Brewery gave them the venue for free and £437 donated;

·                     Food safety rating of 5 for hot and cold food;

·                     North Herts College students did their 30 hour placement with the café.  This built their independent skills by travelling to and from the café and they were allocated a supporter.  Positive effect passed to customers.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Helen Oliver, Susie Holding advised that:

 

·                     They were not in need of any new equipment at present.

 

Counsellor Daniel Allen raised the following:

 

·                     There were numerous other groups who were using the Best Before Café as a meeting point and was therefore also helping other Charities.

 

The Chairman thanked Susie Holding for her presentation.               

 

 

Audio Recording – Start time of Item – 22 minutes and 12 seconds

 

GROUNDWORK

 

Caroline Mallett, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to thank the committee regarding the funding received in the summer and gave an update:

 

·                     Wellies in the Woods scheme provided courses for local families and took them into local green spaces, ideally woodland, and built up the confidence of both children and parents in outdoor play;

·                     Grant of £2,968 received and £1,000 received from Tesco through their ‘Bags of Help’ scheme;

·                     Funding enabled two courses which began in June and finished mid-July.  They worked with local children’s centres to promote the courses;

·                     1^st course aimed at those children most in need and 2^nd course was available to any families in the local area who accessed the local centres;

·                     Staff members supported the children aged 9 months to 8 years;

·                     100% of parents felt more confident in playing with their children outside and therefore they played with their children more often;

·                     Excellent feedback received;

·                     Due to the grant received, Wellies in the Woods had just secured funding for a further two years in Letchworth.  In Year 1, they would be running four more courses which would deliver specific staff training at the children’s centres and also to child minders and nursery groups.  In Year 2 they would deliver two more courses and the children’s centres would deliver two courses with further support.

 

The Chairman thanked Caroline Mallett for her attendance and presentation.

 

 

Audio Recording – Start time of Item – 34 minutes 0 Seconds

 

 

WHITE THORN BOWLS CLUB

 

 

Bill Choudhury, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee regarding their urgent grant application.

 

·                     White Thorn Bowls Club was based in Letchworth and was part of Letchworth Corner Sports Club where various sports were played;

·                     The Club was founded in 1994 however had existed prior to that under different ownership;

·                     One of the regulations for having a bowling green and for safety reasons it had to be surrounded by a ditch channel and ditch wall (37m²).

·                     The playing surface was maintained by the club and divided into 6 lanes;

·                     The ditch walls were beginning to collapse, part of which had already collapsed and until repairs had taken place, they would be unable to commence the bowling season in the summer; 

·                     Due to poor construction in the past, it would need to be completely redone;

·                     Costings and grants had been sought and together with funding received and money pledged from club members, £14,500 had been raised;

·                     Most of the labour would be done by members which would reduce the cost however builders’ expertise was needed to construct the ditch walls.  Total cost of works was approximately £17,800 therefore short of at least £3,500;

·                     59 weekend and weekday games during the summer season and each game involved 50 people between mid-April to mid-September;

·                     Weekday attendees were mainly pensioners which kept them mentally and physically active;

·                     County games and league games took place in the evenings and were made up of children and young working people, whose numbers were between 100-1000 players;

·                     Estimated 2,500 – 3,000 players and 1,000 spectators;

·                     If funding was not available, they could ask other sports clubs within the Letchworth Corner Sports Club or they could take a loan to complete the work;

·                     If the club were closed, all the games would need to be cancelled;

·                     Once work completed, the green keeper would carry out work to ensure the green was in good playing condition.

 

 

In response to questions from Councillor Allen:

 

·                     There were 38 members in 2018; 

·                     The same people were returning on a regular basis from the same clubs however there would also be different people attending; 

·                     There were 13 clubs from NHDC and surrounding area with 28-30 weekend friendlies and some of these clubs were larger than White Thorn Bowls Club.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Levett:

 

·                     There were 25 members from Letchworth;

·                     Membership fee £65/year some of which was paid to Letchworth Corner Sports Club as green rented from them; 

·                     Match fees were charged;

·                     Weekday friendlies £1.50 and the weekend friendlies were £4 and included a meal;

·                     Competitions county/district match fee £4; 

·                     No charge to visiting clubs and no fee paid when other clubs visited;

·                     Match fee paid but the club kept the money.  What was paid on a home game was recouped for an away game;

·                     Ground Rent was £1,680;

·                     Maintenance funded by The White Thorn Bowls Club;

·                     Grounds owned by Letchworth Heritage Foundation;

·                     Letchworth Corner Sports Club owned lease and it was thought they would rent from Heritage - £6000 per year was an approximate guess.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Needham:

 

·                     White Thorn Bowls Club was an asset to Letchworth Corner Sports Club with regard to generating income but an asset anyway. 

·                     Letchworth Corner Sports Club did not contribute to repairs. 

·                     If the club ceased to exist, the sports club would lose £1,680 in income plus the money the members spent in the bar on a weekly basis.

 

The Chairman thanked Mr Choudhury for his presentation.