Minutes Tuesday 30th January 2018 Blue Door Estate Agents
1) Welcome Present: Ally Hayes, Fiona Barnes, Wendy Stokes, Pete Shawyer, Ken Lymer
Apologies: Barbro Fitzjohn
2) Minutes of Meeting Held 6th February 2017
Hidden Treasures Exhibition was very successful, although ultimately unable to borrow Bridell art from Art Gallery.
We were unable to get a contact for Lucy Box refurbishment, although the Earl mural was completed and the Guided Walk Up the Avenue took place.
Email list still needs to be set up, will have a contact sheet available for our library coffee morning.
Art in Storage still needs tracking down. Ally will email Maria Newbury again. SEE Southampton have arranged a visit, so we should be able to.
We interviewed Pete Shawyer and continue to collect school photos of Bevois Town pupils
We are now members of Southampton Heritage Federation and took part in the event in September 2017.
3) Accounts
Annual Accounts 1st January 2017 -31st December 2017
Balance at 1/1/17, (Halifax Bank)
618.57
Income
cash/cheque donation 1455.00
calendar sales 1179.00
socials 60.00
exhibitions 465.00 other 1313.03
Total income £4472.03
Expenditure
Artists 1350.00
Works 700.00
Materials 48.57
Printing 1055.03
Admin 99.60
Other 1160.00
Total Expenditure £4413.20
Net Income 58.83
Balance at 31st December 2017, (Halifax Bank):
£677.40
Calendar Update:
Bitterne Local History have sold six.
They are now reduced to £3
We need to check: Fish and Chip Shop, Dentist on the Avenue, October Books, Bitter Virtue
The 3AC centre in Cranbury Terrace could be a useful contact for future sales.
4) Plans for the Future – Blue Plaques and Titanic commemorations
Our scheme for putting up Blue Plaques to notable Bevois Mount residents was mentioned at the OARA AGM and the Southampton City Councillors present did not object.
Slam has been asked to get a quote for the fabrication of the Blue Plaques, and Ally will remind him Suggested People:
Tommy Lewis (Alma Road)
Will need to contact Smart Homes to find out who owns the house in order to get permission to put up the plaque. Also will ask for support from the local Labour Party and Tommy Lewis’s Trade Union in their present form (Ally to find out what union it is)
Could also ask City of Southampton Society if they will make a monetary contribution.
Mr Halestrap (25 Cedar Road)
One of the last tommies standing. Was on the Titanic but got off before it sailed. Survived WW1 and WW2. Need to check the physical state of the house
John Arlott (114 Lodge Road)
Southampton policeman for ten years, poet and world-famous cricket commentator
Sir James Lemon (11 the Avenue – Stockwell Lodge)
Introduced sewerage system, Mayor and MP for Southampton)
Charlotte Marsh (95 Livingstone Road)
Leading Suffragette, member of WSPU, imprisoned and force fed. Later chauffeuse to Lloyd George
So the Blue Plaque Plan is:
Get Costing
Get Permission from House Owners
Check with Southampton City Council in the form of Andy Russel
Titanic Commemoration
Southampton City Council are planning to put blue plaques on the original houses of Titanic victims. Fiona has a list of the houses in our area and will contact the council to check they are going to put plaques on the correct houses. 5) Walks, Talks and Coffee Mornings
Fiona was interviewed by Radio Solent as a result of her excellent article on Women’s Suffrage on Bevois Mount History Website and following on from this we are doing a number of suffrage events:
Coffee Morning in Portswood Library Tuesday 6th February to commemorate the centenary of some women being given the vote.
Will repeat the presentation one evening in the library so working people can attend.
Suffragette presentation to primary pupils Thursday 8th February.
Further suffrage presentations as and when requested. We have applied, through the good offices of OARA, for a few hundred pounds from the Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme. This could enable us to put on other suffrage activities – eg Suffragette plays.
We are extremely grateful to OARA committee members for being so supportive and helpful with the Grant Application. It would have been impossible without them.
We are doing another Walk Up the Avenue on 19th April at the request of Ave St Andrews Social Club, and we will do it again on a Sunday in June.
Pub walk in August, and hopefully John will give us his talk on history of beer at the Bookshop Alehouse.
Ally is giving a talk to the City of Southampton Society on 23rd April and Bitterne Local History in October. Her topic will be the Earl of Peterborough, his descendants, and other notable Bevois Mount residents.
Other talks that we can put on:
Frederick Lee Bridell – Ally
John Arlott – Wendy
6) Fundraising for Bevois Mount Signage
We propose putting up a sign that shows the Stag Gates with a tram coming through. Tentative costings are £2000 for the actual sign, and further costs entailed in erecting the sign. Proprietor of Stag Gates garage may well be willing to have the sign put up on his forecourt which would negate the need for planning permission. However, it is still a lot of money and probably too much for us to raise on our own.
Ideas for fundraising included: Asking OARA for a possible contribution, and raising the matter at the Lodge Road improvement meeting on 5th March at Bevois Town School. OARA had an Art Exhibition 2 years ago where the silent auction was to raise money for improvements to Lodge Road – so maybe we could ask for some of that.
Applying for a grant from Community Chest.
Ask Businesses in Lodge Road to contribute
Ask Waitrose to put us as one of their green token causes
Craft Fair – now booked for the 2nd/3rd June at the Blue Door. Thankyou Fiona.
Pub Quiz
Ticketed Music Event (Ken)
Poetry Evening
7) Murals for 2018
Alexander Pope is already in situ in the window of 22 Lodge Road
We have permission to do a mural of the Bedford Brewery on Small Fries Fish and Chip Shop. There is a problem in that there is a large unsightly bin that takes up a lot of space.
We would like to do Anastasia Robinson on the wall of JoJo’s Gym. Need to contact the owner Dorian Holloway.
These are relatively small murals and we have the funds to go ahead.
8) AOB
Pete suggested that during the Heritage Weekend the vintage buses could have a drop-off point in Lodge Road so that people could see the murals, and possibly visit an exhibition in the Blue Door.
Ken suggested we should put a list of our events on the website and Facebook page.