Calne Town Council
Notes of the Britain In Bloom Working Group Meeting Monday 10th February 2020
PRESENT: Stann Anniss Cllr Declan Boore Rosemary Coomes Maggie Garratt Sue Wallace
OFFICERS: Trudy King Information Officer Stuart West Head of Operations
IN ATTENDANCE:
1 APOLOGIES/WELCOME
Rosemary welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies from Deputy Town Mayor Cllr Rich Jones, Mo Norrington, Jane Ross and Francis Bosworth.
2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None
3 NOTES FOR APPROVAL FROM MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 11TH NOVEMBER 2019
The notes from the last meeting on 11th November 2019 were approved.
4 ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING
Stuart West to liaise with Denis at Castlefields regarding supply of wood chippings. Completed
TM Cllr Robert Merrick will raise the ‘rubbish’ issues at the Climate working group meeting on 12th November. Carry forward to next meeting.
Stuart West to investigate ‘bee sculpture’ for our 2020 Calne in Bloom theme. The cost of this is £5000 so will now look at willow.
Trudy King to send a list of all garden owners to Town Mayor for ‘Pride in Calne’ invitations. Completed.
5 VERBAL UPDATE FROM STUART WEST - TO INCLUDE FEEDBACK
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FROM GROUND STAFF
The grounds team is now at full strength and all staff are enthusiastic. The Station Road planter has been rebuilt so is now ready to be planted. The Bug and Spider roundabout will undergo a refurbish like Chilvester Hill, two rings of grasses around a centerpiece. This will mean much less maintenance. A member of the public was concerned about the visibility onto the A4 while crossing the road at the Station Rd roundabout due to the height of the Pampus grass. This has now been cut back.
Wiltshire Council are disposing of the public toilets and land at the Pippin, they have served CTC with 3 months’ notice. The bed will be stripped in due course and all plants relocated, the sponsor at the site has agreed to move to the Chilvester Hill roundabout as Wilkins have decided to withdraw their sponsorship. The roundabout will be planted with two rings of grasses in due course. Sponsors on the waiting list will be approached to fill empty spaces.
6 VERBAL UPDATE FROM TRUDY KING
The Calne in Bloom application and fee have been forwarded to South West in Bloom. The RHS ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ applications have also been forwarded, Friends of Abberd Brook won’t be taking part this year.
Application forms have been forwarded to Castlefields Park and Calne Community Pocket Park for the ‘Pride in Park’ category.
The painting competition information has been sent to all schools, preschools and nurseries in Calne and surrounding villages, the title is ‘Bee sustainable in Calne’ the closing date is Friday 22nd May.
The Open Gardens date has been changed as it was Father’s Day so is now to be held on Sunday 12th July, 11am – 5pm. Posters asking people to open their gardens are being shared on social media, website and notice boards, all donations raised will benefit the Mayor’s Appeal and Calne in Bloom community projects.
Marden Vale Academy and Kingsbury Green Academy have both been awarded a grant from Calne Town Council for their new school projects. All plants and equipment are now ordered and will be arriving over the next few weeks. Marden Vale will be creating a ‘Peace Garden’ and Kingsbury Green ‘Sensory Garden and Allotment’.
Just a little reminder, please could all members of the working group send in photographs of their groups for the portfolio.
7 VERBAL UPDATES FROM COMMUNITY GROUPS
7.1 Update from Holy Trinity Churchyard
2 We have yet to take action on the 10 firs and 2 elders, referred to in (7) of MOM of 11/11/19. Some of the snowdrops are going to be transplanted to other areas of the Churchyard in the next week or so. We are awaiting contact from the Ministry of Justice regarding closure of HT churchyard. We anticipate that this will mean:
No new graves will be able to be dug. Family members will be able to be interred in existing family graves, if there is enough room. An L shaped area of about 1 acre, opened in 1896, will not be closed and maintenance will remain C & B PCC's responsibility in perpetuity. It will be a wild area and will be cut once a year. Wiltshire Council will become responsible for the maintenance of the remaining 2.5 acres.
Ashes will still be able to be buried in the churchyard. The existing area is almost full, so a new area will be formed in the NE corner of the churchyard with surrounding garden. The 6 allotments will remain, as they are on unconsecrated land.
7.2 Update from Marden House
The garden is looking lovely but the group are struggling to keep up with the maintenance as all the volunteers are getting older, will try to attract new volunteers.
7.3 Update from Colour for Calne
The beds at Town Gardens have been tidied up, unfortunately someone has snapped off the banana plant.
Please could Ben (Grounds Supervisor) give some attention to the V of concrete in between the benches at Town Gardens.
There followed a conversation about the plant supports and tools, Stuart will progress the grant money as agreed and ensure that the equipment is available shortly.
Group are still trying to attract new volunteers, we still have posters up and share information on social media.
Trudy to send Fynamore School details to see if the gardening club will be interested in growing sunflowers from seed for the gardens in the summer.
8 EMAILED UPDATES FROM COMMUNITY GROUPS
8.1 Update from Calne Pocket Park
The Pocket Park updated that they have several events taking
3 place over the next few months, there will be activities over the half term to make a wild flower bed and solitary bee posts. There are also plans for a Senior Citizen coffee morning (all welcome though), on Friday 20th March, 10:30 – 12:30 Chloe’s Mobile Farm will be attending.
9 ACTIONS AGREED
TM Cllr Robert Merrick will raise the ‘rubbish’ issues at the Climate working group meeting on 12th November. Carried over to next meeting.
Stuart West to investigate ‘bee sculpture’ for our 2020 Calne in Bloom theme in willow.
Trudy King to forward email address for Fynamore School garden club to Rosemary Coomes.
Rosemary Coomes to provide Stuart West with all information to progress the plant supports and other equipment.
10 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Calne Town Council have another new post advertised currently – Conservation and Sustainability Officer. The successful candidate will be involved in our climate change mandate, they will be environmentally and conservation minded and will be dealing with community groups to build connections, they will be involved in waste management and our waterways, they will be responsible for the River Marden project and involvement in the Nature Trail project, this will be a hands on position. Interviews will take place within the next few weeks.
Bristol and Avon Rivers Trust have entered into a memorandum of understanding with Calne Town Council, Calne without parish council will hopefully be working with us on this project.
Cllr Robert MacNaugton has a River Day Celebration on Saturday 16th May, Revd. Bob Kenway will bless the River Marden, there will be information stands in the town hall. As part of the river re-modelling a ‘meander’ to the river will be investigated to improve the flow to the section by the Town Hall.
A question was asked regarding the community survey about potential improvements to the Recreation Ground, Stuart West stated that he was not at liberty to discuss at the moment.
The group had a discussion about re-wilding areas of the town, currently there are areas in Castlefileds wild flower meadow, swathes of long grass at the dog walking area, 20 acres of wild area at Beversbrook Sports Facility. The old orchard at Castle Walk could become a community orchard.
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11 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
MONDAY 9th MARCH 2020, 11AM
Meeting Closed at: 12.10 pm
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