WAREHAM & DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT TRUST
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at the Parish Hall on
the Quay, Wareham
7.30pm Thursday 21st
November 2019
The doors opened to the public at 7pm and
between 7pm and 7.30pm they were invited to partake of the tea and
coffee, kindly donated by Wareham Coop, and cake on offer
beautifully baked and served by the good ladies of Stoborough WI,
and to purchase raffle tickets. Whilst this was happening and the
public were taking their seats the Wareham Town Band and U3A
Ukulele Band were setting up, they providing the entertainment for
the evening.
The proceedings began at 7.30pm
WELCOME
The Chair, Philip Daubeny (PD), being
ill, John Scott (JS) took charge of the proceedings and welcomed
all present, including Trustees and Members.
He also gave special thanks to the Stoborough
WI, Wareham Town Band, U3A Ukulele Band and Wareham Coop for their
support of the evening.
TRUSTEES PRESENT
Harold Forbes (Treasurer), Sue Elmes (Part), Maxine Humphries,
John Scott (Development Manager)
TRUSTEES APOLOGIES
Philip Daubeny (Chair), Martin Adams, Frances Butler, Shelley
Cranshaw, Mike Lovell, Lara Manningham-Buller, Debbie Weller,
Nicola Wiggins.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
JS explained that the Minutes of the previous AGM held on Monday
4th February 2019 has been approved by the Trustees in February,
and posted on the Trust website www.wddt.org.uk.
ANNUAL REPORT
JS informed the audience that copies of
the Annual Report were available on the evening and would also be
available and could be viewed on the WDDT web site www.wddt.org.uk
in the near future.
ACCOUNTS - TREASURERS REPORT
HF reported that currently we are in financial ‘good order’ having
at the end of March 2019 £4,596 in the bank with all invoices
paid. During the financial year 2018-2019 our income from
donations etc was £5,927, and our expenditure was £4,327, leaving
an excess of £1,600, which when added to the excess from the
previous year totals £4,596.
Admittedly it has been a quiet year regarding
the activities of the Trust but it is good to know that we are in
sound financial order.
2018-2019
Activities Update
JS gave a brief update on the year that the
Trust has had, and stressed that it had been a fairly quiet year
as far as activity was concerned.
Tree of Life & Laughter Community
Garden.
The garden, to the rear of Wareham Library, is
being well used not only by Library users, local groups and the
general public, and JS reminded everyone that it was available for
use by one and all, at no charge, and that anyone interested
should contact him or leave a message at the Library.
The mural created by local school children and
installed during the hot summer of 2018 had suffered ‘glue
failure’, probably due to the heat when being installed. The whole
mural has since been repaired by Dawn Newlove.
The ‘nearly new’ book trolley, installed
within the Library to raise funding for the upkeep of the garden,
has proved a great success, and since the autumn of 2018 has
raised in excess of £900.
Priory Community Meadow.
Lowther are contracted to cut the paths 6
times a year, and the whole meadow twice a year.
Sadly the
meadow and Recliffe Path have suffered vandalism earlier in the
year, with newly installed fencing being pushed over, information
boards badly bent, and rustic wooden bridges almost completely
destroyed. Thankfully the very kind ‘Men in Sheds’ came to our aid
and rebuilt the bridges and the information boards, but no sooner
had they done this the vandals struck again. Discussions are still
taking place as to how we can prevent such mindless destruction.
Having said that much more on-going work has to be done on the
meadow over the winter months.
Performance & Picnic Area
The old wooden seating has been taken out and
is currently being replaced with Purbeck stone benches in the same
style as the existing benches. Thus far one has been installed
thanks to the kind donations of a local family, with a further
four yet to be funded.
Wareham Town Pound
Members of the local community have offered to
undertake to management and maintenance of the Town Pound
JS then drew the AGM part of the evening to a close and passed
over the proceedings to Jonathon Neal, the leader of the Wareham
Town Band, who then entertained the audience with sterling brass
band music on a military theme for the next 40 minutes.
There was then a short 15 minute interval during which more tea,
coffee and cake was enjoyed and the raffle tickets drawn and
prizes selected by the lucky winners.
Following that the
U3A Ukulele Band then entertained the audience with a great
selection of musical fun enjoyed by one and all.
JS then
thanked all for attending.
The evening drew to a close at 9.15pm
John Scott
Development Manager
Wareham & District
Development Trust
Rempstone Estate Office, Cow Lane, Wareham
BH20 4RD
Tel: 01929 554236 E-mail: john@wddt.org.uk
www.wddt.org.uk www.thewarehambears.co.uk
MEMBERS NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2019
Tree of Life & Laughter Community Garden
It is now two years since the Tree of Life &
Laughter Community Garden was officially declared open on 19th
September 2017.
The beautiful walled garden contains the Tree
of Life & Laughter mural, flowers beds, Roman villa remains, a
beautiful sculpture and murals created by local school children
and the Purbeck Day Centre, tables, benches and bird tables, and ,
when weather permits, gazebos. The Trust, Stoborough WI, Ross
Cooper and Renaissance residents have planted, weeded and kept the
garden in good condition.
The Trust, in partnership with the Library,
installed a ‘Nearly New’ book trolley which has in its first
twelve months raised almost £900 further funds for the garden
upkeep.
As regards the Bucknowle Roman villa threshold
stones within the garden, they have been well visited and
appreciated. The information board alongside and a web site and
educational leaflet have been completed.
An update on other 2019 activities:
Wareham Walls Walk Booklet
The booklet, based on the Walls boards,
continues to sell well and retails for £2 per copy with at least
£1 from each sale going towards further community support
projects. 2,000 booklets were printed and are available through
Discover Purbeck so please pick up your copy today.
Redcliffe
Riverside Path
The path continues to prove a great success
with the many thousands of walkers, and for the fourth year was
awarded ‘Best Small Conservation Area, South & South East Britain
in Bloom 2018’, and it and Priory Meadow form part of the Wareham
in Bloom 2018 entry. Sadly the first information board. Walk on
the Wild Side’ suffered from vandalism but has since been
renovated by the Wareham Shedders, for which we thank them.
Priory Community Meadow
On-going management and maintenance is a
problem and we do need more volunteers to help with fence mending,
bridge painting, tree pruning, grass clearing, planting and
general tidying. During the summer of 2019 we replaced 50 fence
posts and carried out extensive bridge and information board
repairs. Again the vandals tore up many of the new fence posts and
did their best to destroy the bridges, and again the Shedders cam
e to our aid and helped us put as much right as we could.
Late Summer Cruise
The cruise didn’t take place this year as we
have decided to hold it only once every two years. The next cruise
will be in September 2020 so look out for the tickets being on
sale at Discover Purbeck within Wareham Library.
The Wareham Bears
The Bears continue to love their home at The
Blue Pool, and enjoy seeing the many thousands of visitors that
come to see them, and say ‘hello’, and to raising revenue of
£3,000 per year that goes towards further community projects.
Thank you Bears.
Volunteers
Dear Members, as you know we always have a lot
on our plate, but the one thing that we lack is volunteers.
We need volunteers to get there hands dirty
and be prepared to dig, plant, paint, anything and everything that
is needed.
We also need more Trustees. We already have a
Board on ten but could really use another three or four. We meet
once every two months for about two hours in the evening and
simply discuss ‘the dreams’ on the table at the time, and if all
are agreed we get on with the job and turn them into reality.
Could you be a Trustee, or indeed a
volunteer?
If so please get in touch.
John
Scott
Development Manager
Wareham & District
Development Trust
Rempstone Estate Office, Cow Lane, Wareham
BH20 4RD
Tel: 01929 554236 E-mail: john@wddt.org.uk
www.wddt.org.uk www.thewarehambears.co.uk
Minutes of the Annual General
Meeting held at the Horse & Groom, Wareham
7.00pm Monday 4th February 2019
WELCOME
The Chair, Philip Daubeny (PD) welcomed all present, including
Trustees and Members
He also gave special
thanks to the Horse & Groom for providing the superb selection of
sandwiches for the evening.
TRUSTEES PRESENT
Philip Daubeny (Chair), Harold Forbes (Treasurer), Sue Elmes, Mike
Lovell, Lara Manningham-Buller, Debbie Weller,
Shelley Cranshaw (Rep’ Arne Parish
Council), John Scott (Development Manager)
TRUSTEES APOLOGIES
Martin Adams, Frances Butler, Nicola Wiggins.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
PD explained that the Minutes of the previous AGM held on 27th
November 2017 has been approved by the Trustees in December 2017,
and circulated to all Members prior to this AGM.
ANNUAL REPORT
PD informed the audience that copies of the Annual Report were
available on the evening and would also be available to be viewed
on the WDDT web site www.wddt.org.uk in the near future. He then
briefly reminded everyone of the purpose of the Trust, its
geographical area of ‘benefit’, being most of Purbeck, although a
lot of what we do is centred in or around Wareham, but that we
need projects further afield.
ACCOUNTS - TREASURERS REPORT
HF reported that currently we are in financial ‘good order’ having
£3,800 in the bank with all bills paid.
The income for the financial year 2017-2018
was £8,139, and the expenditure £25,800, caused by fund-raising
for the Tree of Life & Laughter Community Garden accumulating in
previous years in advance of it being spent during 2017-2018. The
Wareham Bears remain our main asset and income from them, £3,000 a
year, and other activities brought us to the present bank balance
of £3,800. All accounts are up to date and have been presented to
the Charity Commission and Companies House.
PD would like it minuted that HF’s work as
Treasurer is very much appreciated by the Trust.
2017-2018 Activities Update
JS gave an update on the year that the Trust
has had:
Tree of Life & Laughter Community
Garden.
The work is now completed, being a mixture of
flower beds and patio area, to be used by the community, local
business, Library users and visitors as and when they want. Thus
far it has been used by SEALIFE Weymouth, twice, Purbeck Art
Weeks, WDDT Book & Craft Sale, and several times by the Library.
£500 has been donated by the Purbeck Rally for
the purchase of benches, tables and a bird table. £200 has been
donated by Wareham Rotary for the purchase of gazebos, and the new
‘Nearly New Book Trolley’, stocked with donated books, has thus
far raised £400, part of which has been used to purchase a large
outdoor storage box for the garden to keep the gazebos and tools
in.
The latest mural created by local school
children and installed during the hot summer of 2018 has suffered
‘glue failure’, probably due to the heat when being installed. The
whole mural has fallen from the wall and smashed, but efforts are
being made by Dawn Newlove and PAW to repair the damage and
re-install.
Bucknowle Roman villa threshold
remains.
Now completely re-presented with a trompe
l’oeil, information board, educational leaflet and web site. They
have since been entered into both Dorset Architectural Heritage
Week and Heritage Open Days, with visitors being able to also
collect a free copy of our Wareham Walls Walk booklet and
Bucknowle leaflet.
Priory Community Meadow.
Lowther are contracted to cut the paths 6
times a year, and the whole meadow twice a year.
£1,000 has been donated by Tesco Bags of Help programme which has
been used to purchase and install 50 new fence posts and a new
information board. The Meadow and Redcliffe Path also won Gold in
2017 and Silver Gilt in 2018 in the Small Community Conservation
Area, South & South East Britain in Bloom.
Much more on-going work has to be done on the
Meadow.
Performance & Picnic Area
The old wooden seating now needs replacing and
will be taken out and replaced with Purbeck stone ‘memorial’
benches in the same style as the existing benches. Any damaged
block paving is/will be replaced by Purbeck District Council.
Wareham Town Pound.
This should now be the responsibility of
Renaissance to be well maintained, but JS and PD need to discuss
further with the new Renaissance Manager.
Late Summer Cruise.
Took place on Sunday 2nd September and raised
£400 towards the Tree of Life garden. The next Late Summer Cruise
will be in September 2020, as we have decided to hold this
fund-raising event once very two years.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Tree of Life & Laughter Community
Garden
Can the garden be used day and evening and by
anybody? JS replied that was the case, it was intended for use by
the community and others, within reason, and that he should be
contacted to see if the use is OK and if the date/s required are
available.
Priory Community Meadow
Can anything be done to improve the floral
element within the meadow, currently very poor?
JS replied that a lot of time, effort, money and seeds have been
used to try and do just that, but sadly the very wet nature of the
area, the long shadows caste by the poplars, and the vigorous
grass and reed growth don’t help.
Nearly New Book Trolley
Can the wording on the ‘90% OFF’ poster be
re-worded to clarify that the books are donated and not from the
Library?
JS said that he would rectify that within a
week.
PD and JS
then thanked all for attending.
The evening drew to a close at 8.30pm
John Scott
Development Manager
Wareham & District
Development Trust
Rempstone Estate Office,
Cow Lane, Wareham BH20 4RD
Tel: 01929
554236 E-mail: john@wddt.org.uk
www.wddt.org.uk www.thewarehambears.co.uk
MEMBERS NEWSLETTER
AUTUMN 2018
Dear Members
It is now one year since the Tree of Life &
Laughter Community Garden was officially declared open on 19th
September 2017.
Since then, to add to the tree mural, flowers
beds, Roman villa remains and furniture already installed, Purbeck
Art Weeks have donated a beautiful sculpture and murals created by
local school children and the Purbeck Day Centre, the Purbeck
Rally have donated tables, benches and a bird table, the Rotary
have donated gazebos, and local individuals and businesses have
contributed other items and money to the overall maintenance
costs. The Trust, Stoborough WI and Renaissance residents have
planted, weeded and kept the garden in good condition.
Also
during the first year the garden and exhibition space has been
well used by the Library for their Summer Reading Challenge during
August, a visit by seven classes from Stoborough School during
July, Friends of the Library tea and cakes in July, and several
group and individual visits. The Trust has also made use of the
garden by inviting SEA LIFE Weymouth to demonstrate their rock
pools twice, resulting in over five hundred children and adults
attending. The Trust also held a ‘Nearly New Book & Craft Fayre’
which raised £170, and have since, in partnership with the
Library, installed a ‘Nearly New’ book trolley which is raising
further funds for the garden upkeep.
As regards the Bucknowle
Roman villa threshold stones within the garden, they have been
well visited and appreciated. The information board alongside and
a web site and educational leaflet have since been completed. As a
‘thank you’ to the community, and as part of a National Lottery
promotion, the Trust gave away a copy of their Wareham Walls Walk
booklet to anyone who presented a lottery ticket or scratch card
at the Discover Purbeck desk between 11-16 December 2017.
Meanwhile a quick update on what else we have
been up to:
Wareham Walls Walk Booklet
The booklet, based on the Walls boards, continues to sell well and
retails for £2 per copy with at least £1 from each sale going
towards further community support projects. 2,000 booklets were
printed and are available through Discover Purbeck and Horseys, so
please pick up your copy today.
Dorset Architectural Heritage Week
2018
The Trust entered the Saxon Walls, Town Pound
and Bucknowle Roman villa threshold stones into this year’s
events.
All visitors to the Bucknowle Roman villa
threshold stones were given a free Bucknowle leaflet.
Redcliffe Riverside Path
The path has proved a great success with the many thousands of
walkers, and for the third year was awarded ‘Best Small
Conservation Area, South & South East Britain in Bloom 2017’, and
it and Priory Meadow form part of the Wareham in Bloom 2018 entry.
Priory Community Meadow
On-going management and maintenance is a problem and we do need
more volunteers to help with fence mending, bridge painting, tree
pruning, grass clearing, planting and general tidying. During
September it is planned to replace fence posts and carry out
bridge and information board repairs, with more major improvement
work in 2019 if enough funding can be raised.
Late Summer Cruise
The
cruise took place on Sunday 2nd September, and was great success
raising a further £400 towards the garden upkeep. The weather was
ideal, sunny with a slight breeze, the crew were magnificent, we
even went out to sea and saw some of the Bournemouth Air Festival
. . . and the fish’n’chips went down a treat as well. Next cruise
in September 2020.
The Wareham Bears
The
Bears are loving their home at The Blue Pool, and enjoying seeing
the many thousands of visitors that come to see them, and say
‘hello’, and to raising revenue that goes towards further
community projects. Thank you Bears.
Volunteers
Dear Members,
as you know we always have a lot on our plate, but the one thing
that we lack is volunteers.
We need volunteers to get there hands dirty
and be prepared to dig, plant, paint, anything and everything that
is needed.
We also need more Trustees. We already have a
Board on ten but could really use another three or four. We meet
once every two months for about two hours in the evening and
simply discuss ‘the dreams’ on the table at the time, and if all
are agreed we get on with the job and turn them into reality.
Could you be a Trustee, or indeed a
volunteer?
If so please get in touch.
John Scott
Development Manager
Wareham &
District Development Trust
Rempstone Estate Office, Cow Lane,
Wareham BH20 4RD
Tel: 01929 554236 E-mail:
john@wddt.org.uk
www.wddt.org.uk
www.thewarehambears.co.uk