Minutes of Meeting, September 2018

FRIENDS OF MARYON AND MARYON WILSON PARKS
Minutes of Meeting, September 27th 2018

Venue: Kinveachy Gardens
Date: Thursday September 27th 2018
Present (9): Christine (chair), Steve  (secretary), Gulle  (treasurer), Catherine, Mickey, Anastasia, Alan, Lesley, Peet.

1. Welcome and Apologies: Christine welcomed the above group. Apologies received from John, Hazel, Ronnie, Nigel, Rod, Jason, Evelyn, Natalie, Raj.

2. Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising: Accepted. In item 2, a new tree inspector, Jack Partridge, was appointed at the end of July.

3. Parks and Council News:
(a): Constitution. Committee members have worked on a new constitution, which will be circulated to all members before ratification at the AGM in November. It expands on a number of issues like quorum and frequency of meetings, complaints procedure and finance.
(b): Maryon Park playground. Following our pressure there has been some smartening up of the existing playground. Our steering committee has put forward proposals for re-siting and improvements via funding being offered by Lovells, the developers of the Morris Walk estate.
(c): Wish list for Animal Centre. Peet has worked hard on investigating the Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund, offering grants of between £5,000-£100,000, which the Friends will apply for with the backing of Cllr Gary Dillon before the October 28th deadline. Richard the stockman has suggested a number of areas that could be improved to increase footfall.
(d): Drainage in Maryon Wilson Park. The Council’s Owen Davies, who met a group of us earlier in the summer to explore ways of preventing the worst flooding, is now bidding for funding from the Mayor of London’s Greener City Fund, with a letter of support from us. The stated intention is “to daylight a culverted section of the stream in Maryon Wilson Park, this project would also create an offline storage area and introduction of Natural Flood Management measures upstream to alleviate flooding in the park which also affects the Deer enclosure.” We could be involved in minor construction work and occasional maintenance as at present.
(e): Bulbs. We will receive 900 bulbs from the Council for planting as in previous years, some of which can go to the Community Garden.
(f): Successor to Chris Elliot. The Council’s new Events and Community Engagement Assistant is Claire Rand, one of whose main responsibilities is to engage with Friends groups.
(g): Walkabout, October 3rd. We are meeting Claire and other Council officers for one of our walkabouts throughout the parks to make suggested improvements and repairs.
(h): Nominations for the positions of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer would be most welcome before the AGM on Wednesday November 14th. Some new blood would also be welcome on the committee. Please email the secretary before that date.

4. Community Garden report: Attached separately as normal.

5. Treasurer’s report:
With takings from the two summer events banked, there is a balance of £690.96. Petty cash of £19.92.

6. Any other business:
(a): Thanks to all who took part in the Clear-Up on the first Saturday of September (11 people, two new members recruited). Do feel free to take a glove with you into the parks and place any stray litter in the bins. Mondays are always a good day to do so.
(b): We have agreed to press ahead with constructing a new website using WordPress, at an approximate annual cost of £60-£70.
(c): Metal detectors, not allowed in our parks, are causing damage on Cox’s Mount.
(d): Large amounts of rubbish are again being dumped behind the houses in Guild Road.
(e): A gap in the fence and an open gate are allowing access to the ridge on Gilbert’s Pit.
We will bring (c) and (d) to the Council’s attention at our October walkabout.

7. Date of next meeting and Clear-Ups:
The AGM will take place on Wednesday November 14th at the New Charlton Community Centre (corner of Maryon Road and Woodland Terrace). All welcome for a 7.30pm start. The next Clear-Ups are on Saturday October 6th and Saturday November 3rd. Join us at any time from 10am-midday, at the gazebo (north end of Kinveachy Gardens).

Steve, (Secretary)
FriendsofMaryonParks@gmail.com