BRACKENBURY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the 2011 Annual General Meeting 11 July 2011 at the Grove Neighbourhood Centre

Attendees – Committee: Stuart Blake (Chairman), Alice McMillan (Treasurer), Julia Davidson, Claire Harris, Rosemary Pettit, Toni Raybould, Joanna Thomas, Richard Winterton.

Members/Associate Members/Members’ Guests: Stephen Bennett, Vicky Bennett, Anna Benson Gyles, Stephen Biddulph, David Broad, Jinty Broad, Angela Cholmondeley–Clarke, Henry Clark, Neville Collins, Isobel Coy, Ian Cranna, Ann Crighton, Charlie Cubbon, Lizzie Cubbon, C. Davis, Jill De Villiers, Sarah Fletcher, Paul Fox, Jim Friedlander, Ruth Fuller- Sessions, Rita Gilbert, Mary Gormley, Matthew Goslett, Albertina Graham, Annick Hardwick, Andy Hartland, Jane Hartland, Greg Harris, Susan Herbert, Fiona Holmes, Patricia Houlihan, Shirley Lucking, Henrietta Malet, Peter Martin, Diana Mather, Liz Mason, Juliet Melford, Peter Munns, Professor Mugiko Nishikawa, Annette O’Sullivan, Richard Owen, Rona Passmore, Catherine Pritchard, Susan Richards, Pamela Rosier, Peter Rosier, The Hon Alexandra Shackleton, Judi Shaw, Jemima Sohachevsky, Noah Sohachevsky, Alex Stephenson, Janet Strangeways, Martin Thirlaway, Murray Thomas, Caroline Trier, Jillie Virgin, Roger Warry, Lisbeth Winterton, Anne Wright, Michael Wright, Sonia Wright-Morris.

Guests: Cllr Stephen Cowan (Hammersmith Broadway Ward), Cllr Charlie Dewhirst (Ravenscourt Park Ward), Cllr Lucy Ivimy (Ravenscourt Park Ward), Cllr Harry Phibbs (Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, Ravenscourt Park Ward), Fiona Anderson (Ashchurch Residents Association), Sergeant Chris Jackson (Hammersmith Broadway Safer Neighbourhood Team), John Jones (Chairman, Ravenscourt Association), The Revd David Matthews (Holy Innocents Church), David Millar (Chairman of Hammersmith and Fulham Neighbourhood Watch Association), Gilia Slocock (Brook Green Association), Thomas Packer (Headmaster, West London Free School), Vicky Wood (Chairman, Grove Neighbourhood Centre), Toby Young (Journalist and Co-Founder of West London Free School).

Apologies: Andy Slaughter, MP, Cllr Michael Cartwright and Cllr P.J. Murphy (Hammersmith Broadway Ward), James Ball, Annabel Clarke (Cathnor Park Area Action Group), Angela Dixon (Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group), Sergeant Douglas Gold (Ravenscourt Park Safer Neighbourhood Team), Bunny Hoover, Margaret Hyde, Lesley Spires (BRA Committee Member) Sergeant Dennis Symeou (Hammersmith Broadway Safer Neighbourhood Team), Linda Tanner, Melanie Whitlock (Hammersmith Society), Elizabeth Wright.

1. Welcome Stuart Blake welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for coming. He read out the list of special guests who had accepted the invitation.

2. Minutes of 2010 AGM The Minutes were approved.

3. Chairman’s Report Stuart Blake said the Brackenbury Residents Association was now in its 12th year and going from strength to strength. It membership was climbing, its finances healthy and it continued to play an important part in the community. He thanked all Committee members for their support and all those involved with BRA for their continued willingness to make a much needed and much appreciated contribution.

During the past year, BRA’s tree project had continued to be a great success and there was much less graffiti, thanks mainly to its quick removal by Toni Raybould and her dedicated team. He asked members to let her know if they saw any graffiti.

BRA continued its involvement with Neighbourhood Watch (NW) and was represented on the Safer Neighbourhood Ward Panels, as well as liaising regularly with other residents’ associations and local amenity groups.

As always, we had had a challenging year on the planning front and special thanks were due to Richard Winterton and Rosemary Pettit for doing a thoroughly professional job of representing Brackenbury residents’ opinions about new developments in and around our area.

There had been a lot of speculation about the future of our local shops around Brackenbury Road. The shops had been renegotiating their leases with the new freeholder, Mrs Freiburg, and we had written to her emphasising the great value of the shops to the community and how concerned we would be if they were lost. To date, we had received no reply.

However Buchanans, at the heart of Brackenbury, had changed hands following the sad death of the much loved James Buchanan. From 18 July, Buchanans would be known as Brackenbury’s Delicatessen and we wished its new owners, Tim Roche and Sharon Isaac-Upton, every success. They were planning to have an opening party soon and he asked members to give them every support.

There had been two very successful events in Brackenbury in the last twelve months. In December we had held our third Christmas Carol event, led once again by the marvellous singing of Brackenbury and Godolphin and Latymer School choirs. We intended to run it again this year on a date yet to be fixed and would welcome anyone interested in helping with it.

On 29 April we had showed that Brackenbury knows how to throw a party. Aldensley, Marco and Perrers Roads all gave wonderful royal street parties. We would like to give special thanks to the Andover, all the party organisers and neighbours for their hard work, plus our local police and special constables for their attendance and for being such good sports. It was a truly memorable day.

Finally, congratulations were due to Claire Harris, NW Co-ordinator for Iffley Road, who had won the Douglas Hurd Cup, awarded annually to an outstanding NW volunteer. In the last year, Claire had doubled membership of her local group and supported police - the full citation on her contribution was on the H&F website. Her winning the cup kept it in Brackenbury for another year since Toni Raybould of Agate Road NW won it last year.

Achievements like this would continue to make Brackenbury such a strong community and living here so special.

4. Tree Report Presenting the Tree Report for the fourth time, Claire Harris reported that the project was going from strength to strength. She reminded members that this time last year she had reported that BRA was responsible for 91 new trees arriving in our streets since 2008. She was delighted to say that we had now hit the century mark. Last year, we had been unable to spend all the monies we were awarded for new plane trees in Goldhawk Road, as there weren’t enough suitable trees available when the grant was originally won. However, at the beginning of this year, the Council had planted a further ten trees in Goldhawk Road, taking our total to a glorious 101.

The Council had planted a further 21 new street trees at the start of the year (in addition to replacements, which they provided as a matter of course). This new planting was primarily funded by a further grant from the Mayor of London’s Fund; and amongst other things, led to six new trees (rowans) being planted in Overstone Road – a street which was difficult to plant because of under street cables and basements – and they hoped to plant more there.

The Council was planning to apply for another grant from this year’s Mayors Fund, and we had been invited to suggest planting sites. Members should feel free to add to our list of suggestions. At this stage, the Council did not know what monies would be available; and they would not even start to look at possible sites until much later in the year. Issues like cables, basements, pavement widths, and street furniture would dictate what was and was not possible. Nothing would happen soon but she would keep members informed.

A number of members had expressed an interest in sponsoring street trees – as we had done in the past. The Council was more than happy for residents to do this; the current cost was £250 (although we did not know if that would hold for 2012). If members would let her know if they would like to sponsor, and the sites they would like to see planted, she would share this with the Council.

She thanked everyone who had helped our newest trees by giving them some much needed water in the very hot spell in April (and beyond). The Council maintained that their tree contractors were watering new trees to the required and agreed level but, when it got very dry, the trees needed and welcomed our tlc. Two full buckets of water were needed – one down the tube and one on top of the earth round the tree.

On a sad note, we were still seeing tree vandalism - the latest victim was one of our new Goldhawk Road trees, which had been chopped in half (and promptly reported to Council and police). Toni Raybould had sent a picture to the Council and had asked for CCTV footage. We had also asked for more guard rails round trees.

On a happier note, we had heard that the trees in the grounds of Godolphin & Latymer School, which had been the subject of a planning order to remove and replace, had been given preservation orders and therefore saved.

Finally, just to keep members informed, the Council was about to embark on the annual round of removing the basal growth from our lime trees in Agate, Beauclerc, Coulter, Hebron, Iffley and Marco Roads.

Claire concluded by thanking members for continuing to support the greening of Brackenbury.

Explaining that he was asking virtually the same question as he had last year, Peter Munns said that he kept an eye on three trees in Nasmyth Street. Of the tubes for the three trees, one worked, one worked partially and the third did not work at all - he suspected that they were blocked due to neglect.

Claire said that the matter was raised with the Council last year as promised. She explained that the tubes really only served or the first two years after planting and were not so important in the second year.

5. Planning Report

6. Membership Report Rosemary Petit reported that membership had increased again that year. At the last AGM the Association had 454 paid-up members of which 338 paid by standing order (74%) and 27 were new members. We were in email contact with 388 members – 85% of the membership.

At this AGM the Association had 469 paid-up members, an increase of 15 – 29 were new members. We were in email contact with 404 members – 86% of the membership.

In a year of satisfactory membership increase standing orders had remained the same at around three-quarters of subscriptions paid. Members on email received a weekly email of news, events and other local items. All members received a paper newsletter three times a year. It helped us all to keep in touch with each other and with our community. If anyone was not in email contact with BRA, and would like to be, they could just give her their email address. We did not pass members’ addresses to any third parties.

Street representatives Street reps played an important part in the life of the Association. They distributed newsletters, kept an eye on their street and encouraged new membership. It was informal but very useful. At the moment we were looking for a street rep for Hammersmith Grove and for Richford Street, but other streets were also without representatives so, if anyone would like to help, they should contact her.

She asked any members with new neighbours or local friends to encourage them to engage with their community by joining our residents’ association. She was very happy to deliver membership leaflets to anyone interested.

If there were other ways they could think of to help, enhance or support our area, she asked members to contact her.

Finally, she thanked members, who are the lifeblood of the Association, for their interest in the area and the Association’s work. It made her job very worthwhile.

Having helped lately with the distribution of the Newsletter, Judi Shaw asked for consideration to be given to sending it by email. Rosemary explained that this was under review. The problem was those members who were not on email.

7. Community Safety Report As Lesley Spires was unable to attend the AGM, Rosemary Pettit read from Lesley’s report, reminding members that the area covered by BRA spanned two borough wards - Broadway and Ravenscourt Park - and that we had a community police presence in each ward in the form of a Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT).

We had built up a close relationship with our SNTs over the years but, despite reassurances from the MET and the Council that community policing would be protected in the inevitable budget cuts, residents remained concerned, especially when they saw the SNTs become gradually more depleted. This might be less of a problem for Broadway Ward, their SNT being an enhanced team with additional funding, although they had lost their NW liaison officer. The Ravenscourt Park team currently had half the number it had two years ago when there was a sergeant, two PCs and three PCSOs; it currently had a sergeant and two PCSOs.

Inevitably our SNTs could not be everywhere, especially with depleted numbers, but we could help them keep crime down by being more vigilant. Fortunately we already had a large number of active NW schemes in the BRA area.

On the Ravenscourt Park side we had NWs covering Atwood Road, Dalling Road, Furber Street, Nasmyth Street, Perrers Road, Redmore Road, and Wingate Road. In recent weeks Bradmore Park Road and Cardross Street had commenced plans for NW schemes in their streets.

On the Broadway side we had NWs covering Agate Road, Amor Road, Beauclerc Road, Benbow Road, Cambridge Grove, Coulter Road, Hammersmith Grove, Hebron Road, Iffley Road, Leamore Street, Marco Road, Richford Street and Tabor Road.

Last December six of the roads in the Ravenscourt Park side held a joint meeting for their members in the Thatched House and it proved to be a great opportunity to meet neighbours from nearby roads, listen to our SNT give a crime update for each street and respond to neighbours’ questions and comments, and for NW coordinators to give each other a little moral support.

She asked those living in roads without a scheme to please consider starting one. We had great support from our SNTs and also from the H&F NW Association. One of our guests tonight was David Millar from Ravenscourt Park Ward, an NW coordinator for his own road and also Chair of the H&F NW Association. If members had any questions for him after the close of the meeting she knew he would be happy to answer them.

8. Treasurer’s Report and 2010/11 Accounts Alice McMillan presented the 2010/11 Report and Accounts which showed income of £1,941 and expenditure of £1,850, compared with income of £1964 and expenditure of £1098 in 2009/10. The balance in the bank at 31 March 2011 was £4765. The figures had been reviewed and audited independently by Matthew Hough, who very kindly did it every year and she would like to express BRA’s thanks to him.

Under Income, she pointed out that the Ravenscourt Society had agreed to donate half a tree to BRA (cost £125) because it had been planted in their street.

Expenditure on Social Events was shown as £703 compared with nil expenditure in 2009/10. However this was just a timing issue; in fact the £703 covered expenditure in both 2009/10 and 2010/11.

The first payment of £2,267 to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) for trees out of the Thames Community Fund (TCF) £5,000 grant had been made in July 2010. A second payment of £2500 to LBHF was made in March 2011 and the unspent balance of £232.53 was returned to TCF.

The Accounts for 2010/11 were approved.

9. Election of Treasurer and Committee Members Alice McMillan was elected as Treasurer. Proposed by Claire Harris and seconded by Toni Raybould.

The following were elected to the Committee for 2011/12, having been proposed and seconded on their nomination papers: Stuart Blake, Julia Davidson, Claire Harris, Richard Owen, Rosemary Pettit, Lesley Spires, Joanna Thomas, Richard Winterton (Associate Member).

Stuart Blake reported that Joanna Thomas had been co-opted to the Committee as Events Manager since the last AGM.

Richard Owen was a new member who had moved into the area in October and whose help with streetscape issues had already proved invaluable.

William Fogarty, BRA’s legal adviser, had resigned from the Committee during the past year when he moved to Ireland. Jamil Dhanji had kindly agreed to replace him and would be co- opted to the Committee at its next meeting in August.

10. Appointment of Independent Examiner Stuart Blake said we much appreciated the time Matthew Hough of 30 Cardross Street spent on the BRA accounts. He was re-appointed as Independent Examiner of them. Proposed by Rosemary Pettit and seconded by Stuart Blake.

11. Questions from the Floor There were no further questions from the floor.

12. Guest Speaker, Toby Young, Journalist and Co-Founder of the West London Free School Stuart Blake introduced Toby Young, journalist, broadcaster, Associate Editor of the Spectator, and author of the best selling book, film and stage play How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. He was here in his capacity as co-founder of the UK’s first Free School, opening shortly in Brackenbury.

Toby Young thanked Rosemary Pettit and the Committee for inviting him to speak. He explained that, having unsuccessfully tried to find a school offering the type of education he and his wife hoped their four young children would receive, they had finally decided to set up a school themselves. There was a real shortage of primary and secondary school places in West London, and the population bulge would soon feed its way through into secondary level making the situation worse.

They wanted to start a school which was a little bit different. He had been educated at William Ellis School where he had failed most of his O levels and it was only in his last year at a grammar school that he had done well enough to get a place at Oxford. There were problems in finding a good school for those who can’t afford private education, aren’t in the right catchment area and haven’t the right faith. They wanted a school with an academically rigorous education regardless of income and faith.

The Governing Body of the West London Free School (WLFS) was a good professional team of people, including John McIntosh, former Head of the London Oratory School, Jonathan Katz, Lecturer in Classics at Oxford, and Sarah Gore, formerly a Councillor for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham among its members. Their proposal had been approved and they had signed a funding agreement with Michael Gove..

The School would have strong discipline, small class sizes, specialise in music and offer a classic liberal education with the study of Latin mandatory up to the age of 14. There would be plenty of art, music and sport.

The response from parents had been overwhelming; they had received over 500 applications. The first 120 children were due to start in the autumn and ?50% if them were local residents. The School had been welcomed and supported by the local Council and, having started off as a slightly inflammatory proposal, was now being welcomed by all three main political parties.

The temporary site was where Cambridge School was currently located. Cambridge School was relocating to a new site adjoining Phoenix School and, on 25 July, the WLFS would take possession of the site and, after some refurbishment of the building, would open on 19 September. They had secured Thomas Packer, a local Brackenbury resident and the ex-Head of Teeside High School, as Headmaster.

They planned to relocate to Palingswick House which currently served as a base for about 20 community groups. They had been portrayed as trying to evict the occupants of Palingswick House but the Council had marked the property for disposal and he was sure that, if the School had not planned to take the building over, it would have been sold to a local developer. The existing tenants had been offered alternative accommodation and a handsome relocation package and seemed reasonably content with their offer. A planning application would be submitted for the extension and refurbishment of Palingswick House – the contractors would be Apollo and HKS the architects. As there would be no drop-off policy and school hours would be staggered, he hoped the amount of traffic in the area would not increase. They had no plans to use Ravenscourt Park as a playing field. A local comprehensive would give them the use of two fields in the first year and they hoped later to lease some fields themselves.

They would allocate 10% of places to children with a particular aptitude for music, this aptitude to be measured in a way that would not give children from affluent backgrounds an advantage. ?45% of places would be allocated according to proximity to Palingswick House. They did not want parents to be able to buy a place – otherwise all schools become monopolised by middle class children.

Toby replied to the following questions from the floor:

Was he sure of being able to move to Palingswick House? It hinged on the success of their planning application but he was hopeful.

What was the difference between a Free School and an Academy? There was not much difference but the main one was supposed to be that free schools would be set up by teachers and parents whereas academies are set up by charities and local businesses. He thought that from now on new academies would be branded as free schools.

What sort of music would the school offer? He thought music would be one of the School’s great strengths. For two years he had visited a school a week and thought the most successful comprehensives were those that specialised in music which seemed to act as a battery or powerhouse, modelling the behaviour of a successful school and showing what can be achieved by dedication and commitment. They had appointed Ed Watkins (quoted by a master at Eton as one of the most inspiring of teachers) as Head of Music. He ran choirs and was a classical musician, having studied piano and viola, and been an organ scholar at Keble College, Oxford.

Would teachers have to be unionised? They hadn’t asked prospective teachers about this but he expected most would be. They had not designed the School’s pay and conditions to reflect any generally agreed pay and conditions framework. As the staff had seen their pay and conditions in advance and the School’s pay scales were quite high he did not think the staff would complain about them much.

How did Free Schools budget? They received a grant per head from Central Government and, by juggling it very carefully, could shuffle the money from one budget head to another. They were not able to charge top-up fees.

Were they going to stream? In general ‘no’, but there would be some additional streams, mainly in literacy and numeracy to accommodate children wanting something more challenging and those who were struggling. One of their founding principles was to supply the kind of curriculum available in a grammar school but to make it acceptable to children of all abilities. (Indeed this had been the aim of the first comprehensives.)

Were they asking for any financial contributions from parents? They were offering a rich after– school programme, including a Drama Club in conjunction with the Lyric Hammersmith, and would have to ask parents for voluntary donations towards this.

With the accent on academic education it was difficult to see the outcome being other than that of the old grammar schools. The difference was that they would not be discriminating against or discouraging children in the lower ability range. They wanted all children to do English Literature, English language, one Science (preferably three), Latin, or a foreign language, History and Maths.

Could he say a few words to justify the importance of Latin? There was a certain amount of research evidence that children who study Latin early do better in other subjects; it trains the mind. Children should be challenged to think about other worlds; they wanted to start by introducing them to the ancient civilisation on which ours rests.

Would local authorities with a free school in the borough receive a smaller total grant for educating children within the borough? No, because free schools are additional schools.

Did some existing schools in the borough fear the WLFS would cream off the best pupils? William Ellis School and the London Oratory School had been supportive. One of the reasons they had decided not to source locally (in Acton) was to avoid threatening local schools. There was such a demand for places that year that he did not think other schools would suffer. Acton High School had now introduced Latin for the first time, being afraid the WLFS would take their prospective pupils.

How much would they use new technology? They had decided not to teach ICT as a discrete subject but it would be embodied in other subjects. He did not think it was a key to unlocking children’s potential. It was much more important that they should read the classics of literature.

Toby concluded by saying that people could get in touch with him by going on to the website: www.wlfs.org and pressing on the button [email protected]

13. Resignation of Toni Raybould Stuart Blake reported that, after ten years of dedicated work for the Committee, Toni Raybould had decided to stand down. Her reputation in Brackenbury was legendary and she was a much loved and respected person. Her contribution at meetings would be sorely missed but the good news was that she would continue to be just as active in Brackenbury and would continue her involvement in both NW and graffiti removal, and with anything else that took her fancy. He thanked her for all she had done for the Association, for her neighbours and for Brackenbury as a whole. She was presented with a small gift in recognition of her contribution.

14. Thanks and a Glass of Wine Stuart Blake thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and Toby Young for his interesting and informative talk. The meeting ended with an invitation for everyone to have a glass of wine.