LISVANE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION (LCA)

Minutes of the LCA AGM (Annual General Meeting) Held in the Memorial Hall on Sunday 21st October, 2018 at 7:00 pm

1 Welcome and Attendees: Chris Williams (Chair) thanked all attendees including Sashin Ahuja, Vic Chambers, Virginia Chambers, Tony Cousins, Colin George (Secretary), Barrie Husband, Debbie Lazell, Alan Prosper, Margaret Russell, Gwyn Thomas, Ian Wood. Apologies: Mick Archer (Treasurer), Hilary Ashton, Lee Finch, Steve Finch, Julie George, Barbara Gwatkin, Vernon Hanson, Pat Harding, Sue Johnson, Victoria Morgan, Jeff Toye, Ruth Toye.

2 Minutes of Previous AGM: These were accepted and signed as a true record.

3 Matters arising:  This is the 52nd LCA AGM, Chris completes his sixth year as Chair – just 19 more to equal Alan Prosper!  An update on the defibrillator project will be given later in the meeting.

4 Chairmans Report:  CW thanked those attending, then said that the LCA needs new blood to keep things fresh, and more people to get involved. He saluted the endeavours of the first LCA Chairman, John Champion, and original member and long-time Chairman, Alan Prosper. They helped to create the LCA during a period of great change when a small rural village started to become a suburb of Cardiff due to large-scale housebuilding. It was important to maintain good community relations then, and the same applies now as the various new developments (Taylor Wimpey, Churchlands, Lozelles, etc.) will create a much larger community in north-east Cardiff – we will need to work to bring together the existing community and new communities, ensuring that we do not lose the LCA function and community spirit. Chris had considered standing down from the role of Chairman, but he has now agreed to stand for one more year to help take things forward, and then handover to a new Chair next year.  Chris also wanted to record his thanks to Colin as Secretary, Mick as Treasurer, Gareth as Link Editor, and also to the Police for their ongoing support at LCA events, to the Lisvane Memorial Hall Trustees for supporting the Defibrillator project, and to those local organisations who had supported and funded that project.  Chris also noted that he was aware of only one person who had objected to the rise in subscriptions.

5 Treasurers Report:  The report from MA indicated that the accounts have been finalised and signed-off, and we are now able to complete the Charity Commission submission. Financially 2017/18 has been a good year – we produced a surplus of £3654, up from £865 in the previous year. This has been achieved by:  A surplus on Link production having reduced the print run to 1150 for a distribution of 1063 as at 31/08,  A £1684 Festival surplus thanks to generous sponsorships from Jeffrey Ross, Husband Bros, Insync Healthcare, Sunrise, JNP Legal, LCC and Lisvane Bridge Club totalling £1985 - many thanks to them,  A £902 surplus from Children’s Halloween Disco, LCA Craft Fair and Lighting the Christmas Tree,  No capital expenditure and no grant applications, although 6 individuals grants approved this year,  Subs same as last year at £7767, but Advertising income up from £11352 to £12655 - once again many thanks to Victoria for her ongoing commitment to the task!  Community Defibrillator now installed, and thanks for the generous contributions from the LOSCC Coffee Morning, Rotary Llanishen, Rotary Breakfast and Baptist Church totalling £1161,  Total bank balances £22104 - up from £18786,  Subs are now being submitted with no perceived adverse reaction to the £2 increase, Affiliation Fees have been invoiced and are being settled, and Advertisers will be invoiced in early November for 2019.

6 Affiliated Group Reports: Here are brief details from the Reports received so far:  Cricket Club (Clive Brown): The season began with a tour to Kenya and ended with considerable success across the Club's many sides. The adult second and third XIs won their divisions in the South East Wales Cricket League. The first and fourth XIs finished third in their divisions, falling just short of promotions, whilst the fifth XI finished in mid-table. The Club continues to thrive and remains the only one in the league to play five adult league sides. All adult sides featured players developed by the booming youth section and owed much of their success to the talent and enthusiasm of the youngsters. The Club's ten youth sides, representing all age groups, enjoyed similar success, highlighted by the U13s who were crowned as ECB Welsh and double league Champions and were Welsh Cup semi-finalists. Many of the Club's young players represented Wales and the Cardiff and Vale region. All Stars training for the Club's youngest players ran alongside the established and hugely popular U9 Saturday morning Rainbow League. A fledgling ladies' side was launched in 2018 and enjoyed two wins in a tournament of softball cricket at Sophia Gardens in August. The Club celebrated its 40th anniversary during 2018 with a Cricket Week of matches in August and an Anniversary Dinner in September, supported by many past players and supporters.  Bridge Club (Margaret Russell): This year has seen change in the club. Two members have completed a director training course with the Welsh Bridge Union. Our long standing Chairman Chris Moseley has become Treasurer, and in recognition of his contribution to the club we are running a Chris Moseley Challenge competition throughout October. The players with the best three scores and with handicap will receive an award at a social dinner evening to be held in November. Both Monday evening sessions and the more relaxed no fear sessions on Tuesday afternoons continue to thrive. Membership fees have been maintained at £10 a year with table money at £2 a session, including Welsh Bridge Union membership. Club information is available online, visiting players and new members of any ability are always welcome. The successful Bridge evening as part of the Lisvane festival raised almost £600 which enabled us to give equal donations to the LCA, Ty Hafan and the Club. We are grateful to InSync pharmacy for their support with raffle prizes.  Old School Development (David Jones): The development fund has passed the original target of £300K and now stands at £314K. Trustees now believe there is an element of uncertainty of when Redrow will provide its agreed part of the funding. To minimise any delay and to keep the development reasonably on track, the Trustees will now aim to raise a further £100K and will be looking at all options to achieve this. Fundraising continues, including the weekly Wednesday coffee morning sessions and events. A 'family film night' is planned for the 23rd November. Further details of this event will be publicised in the Link. Trustees are very grateful for all the support given to the fund raising activities.  Friends of Coed-y-Felin (David Jones): The sculptor Chris Wood was commissioned to create a carving of 'a dragon' on the footpath adjacent to the stream. This is now a much admired feature in the woodland. Unfortunately, the existing 'green man' carving was rotting and had to be taken down. The top structure of the main bridge over the Nant Fawr was also rotting and was given a major overhaul, something which was made possible by a generous donation from a resident. Coed-y-Felin was again presented with a Green Flag Community Award which recognises the high standard of woodland management achieved during the past 12 months. We have two problems which remain unresolved: polluted water coming into the woodland and the issue of dog waste bags being left in Coed-y-Felin. Both issues are subject to on-going scrutiny.  Lisvane 50+ Club (Tony Cousins): The Club formed in early 2010 and has grown from 20 members to over 55, averaging 30-35 people per meeting – next February we enter our 10th year. We were successful in obtaining our third grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, allowing us to fund our club activities including several trips and lunches, and picking entertaining speakers for our meetings. We will hold our Christmas Lunch in December at the ‘Old Cottage’ pub.  Friends of Parc Cefn Onn (Tony Cousins): The Friends membership is now over 100 households. The past year has seen several of our tasks completed, and 66 special trees from all over the world have been given labels which provide details of the tree and its origin. The Friends’ booklet on these special trees is at present being printed – it should be available soon and will be bilingual. The work to be funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has been delayed by the ill health of a key official – we have to meet with the Council and have been advised of the new recovery programme which should enable work to start shortly. Certain areas of the Parc will be closed to the public because of the large construction machines that will be working. The Upper Parc Summer House is over 1100 years old, and is at present being renovated, with walls and foundations being upgraded. When finished this will be a learning/interpretation centre. The Friends were in receipt of a large donation from a Lisvane resident to finance several of our own projects, these are at present in progress. We will shortly be planting several hundred spring flower bulbs. The Parc was awarded a new Green Flag during the summer of 2018.  Tennis Club (Caroline Jacobson): 2018 has been a successful year so far for the tennis club, we have a strong membership but would also be delighted to welcome new members. As a club we run several teams throughout the summer competing in various leagues; the Men's 1st and Ladies 2nd teams came top in their respective leagues and the Juniors also enjoyed success. We also have many sessions of social tennis & fun tournaments. We continue to play throughout the winter and have various teams in the winter leagues. There is also a junior coaching programme running all year round for all abilities. One of the highlights of the year is the club annual tournament This was scheduled for 22nd September but had to be postponed due to the bad weather. However the delay of a week seemed to make everyone more keen and there were some great matches. The standard improves year on year with many juniors taking the titles, luckily they can't enter the Vets tournaments. The biggest development to date is that we have secured funding from Cardiff Athletic Club to resurface the 3 oldest courts with artificial clay, the LTA's preferred playing surface, which will commence end of October. We also had the other two courts resurfaced earlier this year, so we will be a local club with 5 excellent courts to play on, with a great future ahead.  Treetops LCA Playgroup (Ian Wood): We have returned from the Summer break, with the new children settling in extremely well. As always the staff have a wide range of activities for the children to engage in, make new friends and have lots of fun, however with the Autumn season upon us, the sweeping brushes will be soon coming back out for lots of play in the fallen leaves. At the AGM held in September, the 2018/19 Treetops Committee was appointed and are currently planning the fundraising events for the year ahead.  Gardening Club (Barbara Gwatkin): I am pleased to report that the club has had another successful year, although it is sad to note the death of several members. Nevertheless it was very pleasant to welcome several new members to share in our meetings. Over the year we had a good range of speakers on a variety of garden- related topics and some speakers brought interesting plants with them which were available for the members to buy. The annual Plant Sale and Cafe proved to be a successful venture once again and members enjoyed several interesting outings including guided tours of Dyffryn Gardens and the Council Nurseries at Bute Park. Once again the Club was pleased to arrange two social events at the Manor Parc, the Afternoon Tea in the spring and the Harvest Lunch in the Autumn, both events well attended and very much enjoyed by everyone. Looking ahead to next year we have a full programme of speakers lined up for our entertainment and education and we are always ready to welcome new members, anyone is welcome to attend a meeting as a guest and hopefully then follow up with membership. The Club meets on the second Friday of the month at the Memorial Hall, starting at 7:30 pm, see you there!  Tomorrow’s Generation (Helen Grimes/Debbie Lazell): Tomorrow’s Generation Dyslexia Centre have enjoyed continued success over the last 5 months. We said goodbye to a number of pupils in the summer term who have now started high school and we hope that all the hard work they put in while with us will pay off now they are moving onto the next chapter of their education. We now have 26 pupils across the week and we anticipate these numbers will continue to grow. We have advertised in a number of publications aimed at families so we are sure this will enable us to reach capacity by the end of the year. We also have increased our staffing, employing 6 daytime staff across the week and three after school tutors. Our Circus themed Holiday school was a great success as always, embracing the spirit of ‘The Greatest Showman.’ Our next one is likely to be during the Easter holidays. We are working closely with Cardiff Metropolitan University, aiding them with research and providing workshops for their undergraduate students studying Special Educational Needs. Preparations for our annual rugby themed fundraising event are well under way, the venue is likely to be The Village Hotel (TBC) on Friday 25th January 2019 with celebrity guests including Shane Williams and singer James Williams from X Factor. More details will be available soon. Thank you to the Lisvane Community Council and Lisvane Community Association for your continued support, enabling us to grow and most importantly help children to develop their skills with confidence.  Lisvane Players (Ruth Toye): Our Autumn production 2017 was the much awaited performance of ‘Ladies Down Under’ by Amanda Whittington which was the sequel to ‘Ladies Day’ which we performed in the Spring of that year. They were both full of spectacle, fun and pathos - what a combination. Spring saw us in ‘Old Time Musical’ mode which the cast and the audience really enjoyed. We took parts of it ‘on tour’ to Velindre Hospital which proved very successful, and we have been requested to go back and entertain again. The village festival contribution was ‘In praise of women’, very topical at the moment and with the usual format of picnic and BYO created a very successful evening. This Autumn we celebrate Oscar Wilde by performing ‘The Importance of being Earnest’ which is shaping up to be an event not to be missed. Put November 29th, 30th and December 1st in your diaries.

7 Election of Officers: Officers were elected or re- elected as follows:-  Chair : Chris Williams  Secretary : Colin George  Treasurer : Mick Archer  Festival Organiser : Pat Harding  Link Advertising : Victoria Morgan  Link Distribution : Mick Archer  Membership Secretary : Lesley Williams

8 Election of Committee:  Committee members completing the first year of their two year term: Alka Ahuja, Sashin Ahuja, Virginia Chambers, Barrie Husband, Victoria Morgan, Jeff Toye, Ian Wood.

 Committee members elected or re-elected for a two year term: Pat Harding, Tony Cousins, Julie George, Lesley Williams.

9 Guest Speaker: Gwyn Thomas (DCWW), Llanishen & Lisvane Reservoirs – Presentation and Q&A. Gwyn Thomas of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) gave an informative overview of DCWW coverage and activities, and a presentation on the continuing work to refurbish the nearby reservoirs. Key points were:  DCWW has 8 million customers in Wales and Herefordshire, and a network which includes 27,000 Km of water mains, 30,000 Km of sewers, 800+ sewage treatment works and 63 water treatment works. DCWW is a not-for-profit company, which is why they can take on and fund the project at Llanishen and Lisvane.  Cardiff is fed by the Llwyn Onn and Pontsticill reservoirs above Merthyr, and Lisvane reservoir provides water to Celsa Steel in East Moors Road. Celsa also have an alternative supply if problems arise at Lisvane.  Jan 2016: DCWW took over ownership of Llanishen and Lisvane reservoirs from Celsa Steel, who themselves had previously taken over ownership from Western Power Distribution (WPD).  Summer 2016: DCWW began initial activities and investigation into the state of the site and reservoirs.  Jun 2017: DCWW started the slow process of draining-down Llanishen reservoir. This was progressed in conjunction with NRW (Natural Resources Wales) and Cardiff Council to address any environmental concerns, as the reservoirs are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and home to winter and summer birds.  Sep 2017: Fencing was erected to prevent public access, with health and safety being primary concerns.  Feb 2018: Llanishen reservoir empty, enabling clearance of unwanted growth and full site investigation by Lewis Contractors. When nearly empty, remaining fish and water-life were removed and relocated.  Ongoing work has included repairing the stone pitching (the site is CADW listed), removing and refurbishing the main valve chamber, removing an old pump house and small hut, clearing Lisvane reservoir of unwanted vegetation, and installing a new water main from the reservoirs down through the Nant Fawr woods.  DCWW maintain good communications with NRW, Cardiff Council, CADW, RAG (the Reservoir Action Group), Friends of Nant Fawr, and all local communities via quarterly newsletters and drop-in sessions.  Future activities at the site are still being considered, but DCWW welcome any expressions of interest for recreational facilities. These could include environmental and biodiversity projects, fishing, sailing and other water-based activities, access for walkers, joggers and cyclists, and a timber-built visitor centre similar to the one at Llandegfedd reservoir. Onsite parking will be limited, but local transport links are good due to several nearby bus routes, and Llanishen Railway Station which is only a few minutes walk away.

Gwyn then took several questions from the audience, with responses as follows:  When are the reservoirs scheduled to be open for public access? Llanishen reservoir will start to be refilled in early 2019, this could take 18-24 months, so access should be from early 2021.  Are Celsa coping OK with the water supply from Lisvane? Yes, but they do have an alternative supply.  Have all repairs been successful? Yes, no unnecessary risks are being taken, the Dam Engineers undertake investigations and provide lists of required work, and will not allow the refill if the work is not complete.  Will the reservoirs be re-stocked with fish? Yes, when the appropriate conditions have been achieved.  Gwyn could not answer all of the questions, but agreed to provide responses at a later date. These questions included: Overall cost? Capacity of the reservoirs? Total perimeter distance of the reservoirs?  Gwyn also confirmed that a Director of DCWW lives in Lisvane and “…we won’t mess this up!”.

10 Any Other Business & Date of Next Meeting:  Following the installation of the Lisvane Community Defibrillator at Lisvane Memorial Hall, almost 60 people have received Defib and CPR Training so far at LMH. 3 more sessions (morning, afternoon and evening) are now planned for Wed 21/11/18 - if you wish to attend, please contact Colin on [email protected].  InSync opened their Lisvane Pharmacy over two years ago, they have provided a good service and have been very supportive of local events and groups. However, Welsh Ministers have refused their application for an NHS Pharmacy, which means that they can only offer restricted opening hours for the foreseeable future.  CW informed the meeting that the Lozelles development appears to be underway even though full planning permission has not yet been granted, and heavy lorries have been arriving at the site outside of the agreed hours (9:30am – 14:30pm). This has caused parking problems at the Crown Precinct and hampered local traders. CW has also received a legal letter warning him not to trespass on the Lozelles site.  Upcoming events and activities are as follows:  Sun 04/11, 5:30pm - Scout Bonfire & Fireworks at Court Field, Llanishen  Sun 11/11, 10:45am - Remembrance Sunday at Cenotaph  Sat 17/11, 4:00-6:00pm – LCA Christmas Craft Fair in Lisvane Memorial Hall  Fri 23/11 @ 7:00pm – ‘The Greatest Showman’ – film at Lisvane Memorial Hall (Doors Open 6:30pm)  Thu 29/11- Sat 01/12, 7:30pm – ‘The Importance of Being earnest’ by Oscar Wilde, Lisvane Players in the Lisvane Memorial Hall  Mon 03/12 – Last day for Scout Post (TBC)  The 20/12 – ‘Sip & Sing’ Carols and Fun in the Lisvane Memorial Hall  The next LCA Committee Meeting will be on Sun 2nd Dec at 7:00pm in the Small Hall.

CW thanked everyone for attending the meeting, especially Gwyn Thomas for his excellent reservoir presentation, and then declared the meeting closed at 8:45pm.