Lady Bay Community Association Meetings

Minutes of each Lady Bay Community Association Public Meeting can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant links below:-

NOvember 2024 - the Autumn 2024 Newsletter can be downloaded by clicking here.  Minutes will be published in due course.

May 2024 - the Spring 2024 Newsletter can be downloaded by clicking here.  Minutes from the meeting can be downloeded by clicking here.  Subjects included Making our homes more energy-efficient and the History of Lady Bay volume 2.

November 2023 - The Autumn 2023 Newsletter can be downloaded by clicking here.  Minutes from the meeting can be downloaded by clicking here.  Subjects included policing, Plastic-free Lady Bay and the History of Lady Bay.

May 2023 - The May 2023 newsletter can be downloaded by clicking here and the minutes of the May Public Meeting can be downloaded here.  Subjects included Hedgehogs, a report from Friends of The Hook and parking problems by the take-aways.

November 2022 - Minutes - No presentation material available from the Grantham Canal Society.  The November 2022 newsletter can be downloaded by clicking here.

May 2022 - Minutes - Plus presentations on the Veolia Recycling Centre (see minutes plus our "what goes in the Blue Bin" page), Plastic-free Lady Bay & the Air-raid Shelter Project.

November 2021 - Minutes - plus presentations on Plastic-free Communities and Neighbourhood Plans - Notes and PowerPoint presentation.

No meetings were held between November 2019 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions and concerns

November 2019 - Minutes - includes presentation on Making Lady Bay a Dementia Friendly Community and reports on a Proposed Foot & Cycle Bridge Trent Basin to Lady Bay.

Minutes of earlier meetings  are recorded in the following:-

Public meeting and AGM

MINUTES OF AUTUMN AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 18th OCTOBER 2017 AT ALL HALLOWS’ CHURCH HALL

Present: 53 including County Councillor Liz Plant & RBC Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender

Apologies: Peter Hammond, Vice Chair, LBCA; Brenda Baxter, Lady Bay Arts Festival Coordinator, Susan Tiplady, Lady Bay Planters

 

Welcome: The Chair, Sian Trafford, welcomed all present.

Former LBCA Chair Lawrence Geary Memorial Tree Planting: On Monday 9th October members of Lawrence’s family, LBCA & FrOTH committees & people from the community planted a Nottingham Medlar tree on the Hook.

Toby Rodel Ghana Trip: Toby mentioned that there were colour leaflets distributed around the room with photos. Toby explained that he is a pupil at Nottingham Emmanuel School which is twinned with a school in Ghana. Toby’s trip began with a flight to Ghana from Birmingham Airport via Brussels. On arrival in Ghana the 1st day was spent driving to the village, followed by a night in a hotel with a rickety fan. Everywhere he went he was surrounded by crowds of children, who pinched his skin to watch it go red as they’d never seen a white person before. There was an official welcome with a dance. The sleeping arrangements were camp beds & mosquito nets under the stars. On the 1st night out in the open it rained & they had to move under shelters.

The group laid a new concrete floor for the canteen at the school; collecting sand & pebbles from the beach as ingredients for the concrete. The group took local children on 2 trips; to a National Park in the rain forest & to a “slave fortress”.

There were giant wasps in the toilet & every morning “Eddy Lizard” was waiting to greet everyone.

Questions & Comments

Have you changed due to the experience?

I feel “older”, my horizons have been broadened as previously I’d never been pout of Europe.

Does the school have links with Ghana?

Yes, there is a trip every year.

What have you changed in your life a s a result of the trip?

Ghana is better than a lot of other places in Africa but the conditions are not materially good, however, the people are all very happy. This has made me appreciate non-material things more.

 

PCSO Lee Sampson, Local Crime Concerns: Lee said that it was some people’s perception that there were a large number of burglaries in Lady Bay. This is not the case, crime in Lady Bay is very low, there have always been a few burglaries each year. A common crime in Lady Bay is theft of cycles from sheds & most crime is opportunistic due to poor security.

Lee has brought leaflets about security which people may take. She also has “No unwanted callers” stickers. Judith Browne of RBC has provided security items which Lee has with her, including garage & shed locks & alarms; timer switches; headless screws for sheds & garages; window alarms, which can be used on open & closed windows; solar powered sensor lights, particularly good for the rear of properties. Lee is happy to give these out to people this evening. They are particularly important for vulnerable people.

Lee advised that people sign up to Neighbourhood Alert & has brought some information about the scheme with her which people can take. https://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/alert

The Secretary asked that anyone interested in re-invigorating Lady Bay Neighbourhood Watch should contact her after the meeting.

PC Howard Shinn works in rural areas but can put anyone interested in touch with a very good Neighbourhood Watch group in Tollerton.

Questions & comments

Is Smartwater still available?

Yes, periodically RBC give it away but generally, it costs £18 & can be obtained from John Leonard of W. Bridgford Neighbourhood Watch. It helps identify stolen property & with signage, can deter thieves.

 

PC Howard Shinn, Community Road Safety Scheme (PowerPoint presentation): Some people may have heard of Community Speedwatch, where volunteers use mobile speed cameras to find speeding motorists & send the information to the police. This has been found to be ineffective as the offenders don’t receive a letter from the police informing them about their speeding until about a fortnight later. A Community Road Safety Scheme is much more effective at reducing speeds. Cotgrave has been using this scheme since 2015. The kit consists of 4 stand-alone interactive signs which show the speed of passing vehicles & a speed gun operated by a minimum of 2 volunteers. The scheme alerts people who are careless of their speed or who generally comply with speed limits but sometimes slip up. People who are constantly & deliberately speeding & don’t care won’t change.

Often people don’t know the speed limit & the speed limit & interactive signs work well together to reduce speeds in these cases.

The best location for the signs is in a place where there is poor driver compliance with speed limits, particularly in a vulnerable area e.g. near a school/community centre. Local knowledge is vital in finding the right place. The scheme can be set up as a result of a police request, community concerns or complaints. The scheme should be deployed at busy times.

People running the scheme have to be careful that the signs don’t block the pavement so there may be limited locations that can be used. Residents’ driveways can be used. The scheme can only run between the hours of 06:30 & 7pm & in areas where the speed limit is 20, 30 or 40 mph.

The kit is paid for from fees collected from people taking speed awareness courses. The kit is worth £8,000. The police take complete responsibility for the equipment, which is covered by the police’s insurance. There is no rental change.

Howard showed a slide indicating the set-up of the equipment. The scheme has an immediate impact on speeding drivers; however, it is not enforceable. Howard usually helps the community with their 1st use & set-up of the signs. Repeat offenders may receive a visit from the police. If a lot of people are found to be speeding a speed camera van may be used by the police. As well as speeding, the scheme also shows drivers using mobile ‘phones, which may also result in a police visit to offenders.

Volunteers receive 2 hours free training. The kit is used by several groups e.g. Compton Acres are using it tomorrow & have received the equipment this evening.

Questions & comments

Is the scheme practicable in Lady Bay as there is a lot of on-street parking?

It is better on a clear road. If there is interest I can come to make an assessment.

Is the equipment used over a number of days or just on 1 day?

Usually 2 days per week for a couple of hours per day or 1 day per week or over several days. If the latter the interactive signs can be charged through a mains socket.

How many sets of equipment are there?

There are 8 in the county. The police are keen to support the scheme. The local Chief Inspector for this area, Craig Berry, is very supportive.

Adbolton Lane has a lot of speeding; Greenacres residents are affected as there is a difference from Adbolton Lane in Lady Bay at 20mph & outside Lady Bay the limit is 60 mph, visibility is poor.

As well as the scheme it may be that there are other problems, such as visibility, I will feedback to the county council on this.

Holme Road has a 20 mph speed limit but Radcliffe Road 40 mph. Bigger speed limit signs are needed.

For significant changes to be made, fatal or severe injury accidents have to have occurred.

What about near-misses?

These don’t count

Should near-misses be reported?

Yes, keep a record & let Lee or PC Rob Archer know about the problem.

 

FrOTH Report: Please see article in newsletter. Jane Browne gave the report, explaining that the group look after the wildlife on the Hook and provide interpretation. The Woodland Trust are giving FrOTH 120 trees to create a woodland area. The saplings are arriving in Nov and the planting is taking place at the working party on Sun Dec 3rd, 2-4pm, meeting at the pond. Volunteers are needed, please bring spades.

Lady Bay Arts, Open Gardens & FrOTH are working together to run an open exhibition of nature photography of the Hook through the seasons. Photography workshops are to be run, probably in Apr 2018. The exhibition should be ready for the Lady Bay Arts Festival. Photographs are to be used on FrOTH’s Facebook page & website & to be made into postcards as a fund raiser for FrOTH.

http://www.friendsofthehook.org.uk/wp/

https://www.facebook.com/friendsofthehook

 

Lady Bay Open Gardens: Unfortunately, there wasn’t an article in the newsletter due to an oversight by the Secretary. Victoria & Tony gave a report. The group are hoping to build on Keith’s hard work. More gardens are needed & new members of the committee will be very welcome. This year the Open Gardens event was very successful with 4,555 adult visitors & £9,500 raised for the Lady Bay Community Fund & local charities. http://www.facebook.com/ladybayopengardens

 

Lady Bay Litter Pickers: Please see article in newsletter. Harriet Scott gave a report; there are lots of young litter pickers & their parents in the group currently. The Robin Hood Marathon was a problem in terms of litter. The County Council cleaned the roads of litter but when the roads were re-opened there was a lot of litter on the pavements. There is to be a community litter pick on Sat 4th Nov, meet at the Lady Bay pub at 10:00.

 

Switch & Save Presentation – Miranda Cumberbatch, Nottingham Energy Partnership (NEP). Miranda explained that NEP is a local charity which aims to tackle fuel poverty & reduce carbon emissions. NEP won a Queen’s Award for sustainable development in 2014. NEP helps people to stay warm, e.g. by giving grants for insulation, & also helps them with benefit claims & home safety.

NEP is involved with collective fuel switching. Miranda gave a PowerPoint presentation about collective switching, which helps people obtain lower tariffs. The scheme is a collaboration of people across the county with iChoosr. The Nottinghamshire campaign is part of a national one & it is endorsed by RBC.

Collective switching removes the hassle of shopping around for gas & electricity prices.

A deal is negotiated at an auction. There are different participant groups e.g. those on duel fuel tariffs, those on electricity only & those on pre-payment meters. The company with the lowest tariff in each category wins the contract.

To join Switch & Save

1. Register online/phone NEP
2. Auction held on 10th Oct 2017. People can still register; until 24th Nov offline & 28th Nov online. The more people who do means a lower price.
3. Personal quotes are given out & people decide whether they want to switch. Registering with the scheme doesn’t mean you have to switch.

In the auction SSE won the duel fuel & electricity categories; for the pre-paid meters, Boost (part of OVO Energy) got the contract.

In the next round the auction will be for green tariffs.

In 2002 the deregulation of the energy market opened the door to smaller energy companies. 7 out of 10 people don’t even check if they are on the lowest tariff with the company they are using now. Each year people pay £1.7 billion in overpayments. Switching is on an upward trend.

People save an average of £243. Some people choose not to switch because they don’t want to leave the energy company they have used for many years.

The scheme is free, simple & quick.

As well as the chance to fix your energy tariff for 1 year, (it is only worth switching annually, not more frequently) NEP run weekly free prize draws supporting local businesses, prizes have included an organic hamper & vouchers for “Doughnotts” If you refer a friend you could win £50 in shopping vouchers.

To join the scheme: bit.ly/notts-switchsavesmile call 0115 784 6696 or come into the NEP office Waterway House, Waterway Street, Nottingham NG2 3DY Tuesdays 10:00-12:00 or Thurs 2-4 pm or the Rushcliffe Community Contact Centre, Rectory Rd, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 6BN Mon-Fri 2-4pm or the DWP at Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG3 2NG. You will need to know the name of your current energy supplier, the tariff you are on & your annual energy use in KWh.

NEP & local councils are promoting the scheme to help people save money & reduce Carbon emissions

Some tariffs have a £30-£50 per fuel type fee for leaving. The scheme will not suggest that you change unless there is a worthwhile saving to be made

Miranda showed a case study with 2 sisters living in a Victorian semi. The central heating system was broken. The sisters had cardio-vascular disease, frequent respiratory illnesses & one was recovering from a stroke. NEP helped with reconnection as well as working with the Red Cross to provide emergency food & drink. The sisters had their boiler replaced, were placed on the emergency services register, given an NEP energy saving starter pack & offered fuel bill comparison. The total savings were £2,517.63; £260 for the replacement boiler, a £400 grant, £289 energy bill saving & a £1568.63 refund from their energy supplier.

Questions & comments.

Is the priority services register a national scheme?

Yes, there are leaflets available which you can have

What if you miss the Nov deadline?

There are other auctions in Feb & May 2018

Is there a connection between the different switching schemes as there are other national ones?

There are 53 local authorities & 2 charities with schemes across the country. In Nottinghamshire NEP would like to see 1,000 people registered. In Yorkshire’s E. Riding the scheme has 3,500 members & Dudley has 4,000

In the case study were the sisters overpaying?

Yes, the refund was quite quick, sometimes it takes longer. When meters are changed they are sometimes not re-calibrated; NEP will check for you.

Does NEP send out newsletters/emails?

Yes, contact NEP.

 

Miranda left leaflets for people to take.

 

Lady Bay Planters: Alan Tiplady suggested people see him after the meeting if they would like to adopt a planter, or want any information.

Contact: Susan Tiplady, 5, Fleeman Grove, [email protected] 07950 668297

 

Elections of Officers & Committee

Officers:

Treasurer: James Strawbridge

Secretary: Sue Mallender

Committee: Peter Hammond, Richard Mallender, Maureen Mitchell, Sarjit Singh, Alan Tiplady, Chris Trafford, Sian Trafford, Sylvia Wilkins

All elected unanimously.

 

Presentation of Accounts: James Strawbridge indicated that copies of the accounts were available on people’s chairs. The Community Fund is significantly increased this year, whilst LBCA’s funds are slightly down from last year.

 

Toilet Twinning: Sue & Richard presented the Toilet Twinning certificate, paid for by LBCA, to Maureen Mitchell for All Hallows’ Church Hall toilets. The certificates for Bread & Butterflies & Spoke & Co will be given out directly as representatives were unable to attend the meeting. Their certificates have been paid for by W. Bridgford Methodist Church.

Questions & comments

1. Bridgford is one of the 1st toilet twinning towns in the country. It costs £60 to twin an individual toilet in a home.

Lady Bay Primary School has twinned 6 toilets, an initiative from Alison, one of the teachers, & the pupils themselves, who raised the money to pay for the twinning.

It is a good idea for an Xmas present

 

AOB

Date for your Diary: Weds 1st Nov, 7.30pm at the Poppy & Pint; meet the LBCA committee! We’ll be wearing hats!

102, Mona Road Building Work: A resident brought people’s attention to the large basements being excavated on the site despite there being no planning permission & an enforcement notice being in place. Demolition of the original house on the site continued until 9pm & there were health & safety concerns. Several conditions of the original planning permission have not been followed. At the moment large tractors & trailers are carrying earth away from the site, resulting in debris on the road, people’s vehicles sustaining damage; there is inadequate signage for this activity.

Councillor Richard Mallender explained that he and Sue had put a motion to the last full council at Rushcliffe to place guidelines for demolition on their website so that ordinary people can see when demolition is being carried out inappropriately. All the opposition councillors voted for the motion but this was outvoted by the larger numbers of the ruling group voting it down so unfortunately it was lost.

There is clearly a problem, which we have seen before in Lady Bay, with the borough council being unable to take action against developers/builders that break the rules.

 

Framework Big Sleep Out: The Secretary brought people’s attention to this event on Sat18 Nov 7.30pm to 19 Nov 07:00 at Forest Sports Zone, Forest Recreation Ground, Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 6LB £10.00 to take part in a challenge to spend the night sleeping outside to raise money to support local homeless and vulnerable people, including those at Transitions South on Trent Boulevard.

 

Car Parking on Pavements: There is a problem with this on the even side of Trent Boulevard between Mona & Pierrepont Roads, the pavement is very narrow here & it is hard for people with mobility problems or with pushchairs to use the pavement.

 

Meeting closed at 10 pm.

Spring public meeting

MINUTES OF SPRING MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 10th MAY 2017 AT ALL HALLOWS’ CHURCH HALL

Present: 62 including RBC Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender

Apologies: Peter Hammond, Vice Chair, LBCA; Brenda Baxter, Lady Bay Arts Festival Coordinator; Susan Tiplady, Lady Bay Planters.

 

Welcome: The Chair, Sian Trafford, welcomed all present

 

FrOTH Report: Please see article in newsletter. Jeff Mackintosh gave the report, mentioning the success of the fundraising gig at the Poppy and Pint and the International Dawn Chorus Day 06:30 walk on the Hook. He also mentioned forthcoming working parties and events including the AGM on Wednesday 24th May at 8pm in All Hallows’ Church Hall. Jeff also explained the origin of the name Lady Bay. The next working party is on Sunday 14th June 2-4pm, meet at the pond. All welcome. This is not the usual first Sunday of the month due to International Dawn Chorus Day being on 7th May.

http://www.friendsofthehook.org.uk/wp/

https://www.facebook.com/friendsofthehook

 

Lady Bay Litter Pickers: Sian introduced Harriet Scott, who is the new coordinator for the group. Please see article in newsletter. Harriet explained how her daughter got her interested in litter picking and showed off her daughter’s green Blue Peter badge for her litter picking actions. The group is going on a litter pick with Lady Bay Brownies soon.

Comments: A resident of Adbolton Grove expressed thanks to Sian and Chris for regularly and promptly clearing litter from 10 Acre Field (Lady Bay Primary School Adbolton Lane Sports Field). He asked local people to ask their teenage children to refrain from using the field for night time activities. If the field is used then please encourage your children to stop partying at 11pm and to remove all litter. He also asked that people do not use the field for dog walking.

 

Lady Bay Open Gardens: Please see item in newsletter. Keith Wright explained that this year there are to be 25 gardens open and that there will be a new environmentally friendly plant stall. This year the event is sponsored by Winkworth Estate & Letting Agents who have paid for printing 2 new banners. The usual leaflets to be delivered door to door in Lady Bay have been changed to post cards with a sunflower design. The event is on 8th & 9th July 2-6 pm.

Contact Keith Wright, 30, Pierrepont Rd. [email protected]; http://www.facebook.com/ladybayopengardens

 

Lady Bay Planters: Please see article in newsletter. Alan Tiplady spoke on behalf of Susan who couldn’t be here this evening. He thanked everyone who has adopted a planter and reminded people that there is £20 from the community fund as a grant to adopters. VIA (Nottinghamshire County Council) has informed Susan that they are still maintaining the planters by cutting back vegetation etc. between October and February, for safety reasons.

Contact: Susan Tiplady, 5, Fleeman Grove, [email protected] 07950 668297

 

Lady Bay Bowling Club: As Borough Councillors for Lady Bay Ward Sue and Richard have received a letter from Tony Middleton of Lady Bay Bowling Club to let us know that the club will be closing on 5th November 2017 as they will have come to the end of the current 2 years’ extended lease of the Bowling Green. During the last year or so the club has realised that any short-term lease doesn’t attract new members as they want a long-term future with a club. Therefore the membership is reducing along with a resultant reduction in funds. The club has therefore decided not to make a further application to the Rutland Sports & Social Club (the landlord) for a new lease. They thanked the community and councillors for the help and support given over the years.

 

FIELDS Sue Mallender gave an update on the situation with the proposal in the Rushcliffe Local Plan that the land between Simkin’s Farm and 10 Acre Field is removed from the Green Belt and used for housing. See article in newsletter.

 

Scout Hall Update: Richard Mansfield gave an update: The new hall is very nearly open! Richard explained that he became involved with the scouts when his son, now aged 15; joined Beavers, he then progressed through Cubs and Scouts. Richard put on a scout hat. Scouts have been in Lady Bay for 90 years. £330,000 has been raised from the community café, car washes, hall hire, bag packing and other efforts. A saving of £66,000 was made as the group didn’t have to pay VAT on the build. Grants were awarded from Veolia, the Lady Bay Community Fund, Rushcliffe Borough Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, WREN and others. Demolition of the former scout hut began in June 2016. Richard put on a builder’s helmet. A 42 ton crane broke down on the day it arrived & had to be replaced by another. There was an £11,000 overspend due to unexpected drainage costs. Richard thanked Dale and the Annisons, who, as neighbours, had to put up with a lot. The keys to the new building were delivered on 13th April 2017. The new hall has a larger main space, a 2nd meeting room, a modern kitchen, accessible toilets, a new floor and air conditioning. Bookings can be made from 1st June 2017. There is an online calendar. Fees for bookings will pay for the running costs of the premises. The Scouts are looking forward to re-joining with community events. The fence and gates are still to be fitted and people can still donate to help cover the outstanding overspend. Beavers & Cubs are meeting in the new hall on Thurs 11th June. Richard thanked everyone in Lady Bay who has helped; especially the LBCA, & RBC Councillors Richard & Sue. Richard Mansfield shared cake with everyone.

 

Adventure on Kilimanjaro Dharminder Singh introduced himself. He is the pharmacist at Keyworth Pharmacy. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with Dalminder Singh from Lady Bay Pharmacy in January 2017. This is a whistle-stop tour:

Dharminder showed a trailer made by his daughter & son.

The group was made up of pharmacists, a dentist & a psychiatrist. The idea came about when a colleague of Dharminder’s wanted to make the journey. The climb raised money for the charity “When you wish upon a star” & the team was named team ROK. Terry, whose idea it was originally, was unable to come. Dharminder was the team leader. In Jul 2016 the trip was planned; a route & dates were chosen, flights & hotels booked, equipment, visas & vaccinations sorted.

Dharminder showed a video of the team training in Dovedale.

The base hotel was Karama Lodge, the team arrived after 24 hours travel & 5 hours sleep. They started at 07:00 with a 4 hour trek. The temperature varied from -20 – 35 degrees C & the terrain included jungle, heathland & alpine desert. There are at least 7 routes to the top & the team chose the least travelled route. The team started at Rongai, 2,500 m above sea level; Snowden is 1,000m high. You have to go slowly but not too slowly as you have to acclimatize to the low oxygen levels. The route was: Simba Camp to Kirkelewa Camp to Mawenzi Tarn to School Hut to Uhuru Peak to Marangu Gate. The plan was to travel 28 km on the last day.

Life on the mountain meant that you felt drunk all the time due to low oxygen levels; this was a new sensation to Dharminder as he doesn’t drink. Headaches & nausea are common. The fitter you are the more you suffer as your muscles are used to a lot of oxygen if you are fit. At night ice forms on the inside of your tent; you certainly don’t want to get up in the night to go for a wee! But the stars were amazing. The team carried as light loads as possible but had to each carry 4litres of water.

The team of porters were absolutely 1st class. They served excellent food, using tables & chairs & even managed to serve chicken & chips! They carried loads of 15 kg.

By days 3 & 4 2 of the team developed altitude sickness, which can be fatal. One of the team, Jordan, had to be sent back as he was so ill.

Day 5 started at 05:30 for a 9 hour walk to the summit & 3 hours down; 12 hours of non-stop walking. The team thought they were at the top but were 100 m away & had to carry on for another 2 hours.

Some members of the team had to have emergency steroids at the top. After this they managed a 100 m sprint, running down the mountain, & a celebration dance!

After the climb the team had a 3 day safari & met Tanzanian tribes such as the Maasai. Dharminder showed everyone a knock stick & a woollen cloak. The Maasai drink blood from their cattle. They also met the Hadzabe tribe who are hunter gatherers & speak a language of clicks, they showed the team how to hunt with bow & arrows & make fire. The team also saw elephants, lions, hippos & giraffes, though no leopards. They drove down into the Ngorongoro crater at 05:00.

What’s next? Everest Base Camp

The team raised £8,000 for charity

Questions & comments:

What is the treatment for altitude sickness?

A drug that has diuretic effects, which can be a problem on the mountain

How high was the summit & how long did you stay up there?

Kinlimanjaro is the world’s highest free-standing mountain at 17,000 feet.

40 minutes

How much did the trip cost?

£2,500

Have people signed up for the Everest trip?

A few

What was the weather like? Was there any snow?

No snow but there was ice; luckily it didn’t rain as it would have frozen.

Sarjit Singh mentioned that on Saturday 13th May there will be an event on Market Square for Guru Nanak’s mission which feeds homeless people 3 times a week. The event is from 11:00-5pm & includes a mass meditation at 12:00. There will be yoga & organic food & 70 stalls. It is hoped that 5,000 people will turn up.

 

Nottingham Women’s History Group Sian explained that the group does research into women’s history & promotes & celebrates women in the past. The group runs stalls & events, talks & walks. International Women’s History Day is a big event for the group. The group celebrates the lives of suffragettes, writers, artists, philanthropists, Chartists etc. The group has publications about suffrage & World War I & is working on one about women artists. ”No Surrender” is in its 2nd reprint. There is a Women’s History Walk on 13th July 2017 – Nurses, Nuns & Notables.

In 1801 the census was begun & has provided 101 years of public records. In 1911 the census was different from past ones as the government of the time wanted to collect data about health & welfare. Only men filled in the census forms & there was a movement of non-compliance. The government were concerned about how employment affected women’s fertility; the Women’s Freedom League was worried that women would not be allowed to work. On Sunday 2nd April 1911 the Women’s Social & Political Union joined the Women’s Freedom League. The slogan for the movement of non-compliance was that if Women Don’t Count then Don’t Count Women – if there is no vote for women then there will be no compliance with the census. It was an offence not to complete the census (it still is). In order to evade the census women took action such as travelling all night or attending social events in public places or private homes.

Women’s groups were divided:

The suffragists believed in peaceful demonstrations and petitions

The suffragettes were more militant & used methods such as civil disobedience & violence. Their motto was “Deeds not Words”

Actions were fairly commonplace in cities but in smaller communities it was more difficult to take action.

As a result of non-compliance 1,000s of women didn’t appear on the census.

Certain categories of women were granted the vote in 2018.

There were 60 suffragettes in Nottingham & on 19th May 2017 they burned down the boathouse. Individual women include - Helen Kirkpatrick-Watts, whose father was the vicar of Holy Trinity in Radford, she heard Cristabel Pankhurst speaking in Nottingham in 1907, & witnessed heckling, bawdy songs & the release of mice on to the stage from people wanting to disrupt the meeting. This appalling treatment inspired Helen to join the movement. In 1909 Helen was sentenced to 1 month in gaol and took part in a hunger strike. Helen was arrested later in 1909 in Leicester because she was trying to get into a building where Winston Churchill was speaking. Helen helped plant an orchard that sadly no longer exists, the orchard included juniper trees. A juniper tree was planted in Nottingham Arboretum by the Nottingham Women’s History Group in memory of Helen. During WWI Helen worked in Bath as a nurse, she went to Canada in the 1930s & returned to Britain in 1939.Helen died in Wells in Somerset in 1972, aged 91.

The Nottingham Women’s History Group are having a stall at the Lowdham Book Festival on 24th June 2017.

For more information see: http://www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk

 

AOB

Herbicide Spraying A resident brought attention to the field to the east of the Hook and west of the Sailing Club. This field is cut for hay and is sprayed annually in May with herbicide to remove ragwort and other herbaceous plants, leaving only grasses. The resident felt that biodiversity is reduced through this practice which affects bees, butterflies & other insects & consequently bird life. There used to be skylarks on the field in the summer, hares in spring & rabbits; sadly this is no longer the case. People have been alerted to the spraying as there has been a change in ownership of the land & this year signs were put up warning people about the spraying. Unfortunately, the owner is using a spray that is allowed for this purpose and is now complying with regulations by putting up the signs. The residents reminded people to take care with their dogs when using the riverside path near the field.

Noise Pollution Sally Griffiths mentioned the problem with noise pollution from Colwick Hall, especially the Detonate Festival in June, other premises on the city side of the river & the Water Sports Centre. She suggested using the Rushcliffe Borough Council Environmental Health Noise App, which records the level of noise. Sue reminded people that premises on the opposite river bank are within the boundaries of Nottingham City Council so complaints should be directed to Environmental Health in the city.

Forget Me Not Café Pat Grainger informed those present about the Forget Me Not café, which is being launched on Thursday 18th May & then on the second Thursday of the month, from 1.30-3.30pm at All Hallows’ Church. It is especially for people who may be feeling lonely &/or in need of support in the community. There are flyers available if you can take one to put up locally.

 

Meeting closed at 9.50 pm.

Public meeting and AGM

Lady Bay Community Association Minutes of Public Meeting & AGM

26th October 2016 8pm All Hallows’ Church Hall

No. present: 54, including county councillor Liz Plant & borough councillors Richard & Sue Mallender

Apologies: Peter Hammond, Vice-chair LBCA, Brenda Baxter, Lady Bay Arts

Welcome: The Chair, Sian Trafford, welcomed all present & mentioned that there is a collection tin at the back of the hall for Coram Fields, the charity that our late chairman, Lawrence Geary, supported & which was suggested for donations at his funeral.

Election of Officers: Secretary – Sue Mallender & treasurer - James Strawbridge were nominated by Sian & seconded by Maureen Mitchell & were elected unanimously

Election of Committee: Brenda Baxter (Lady Bay Arts), Joe Knowles (Lady Bay Sports Club Residents’ Group), Peter Hammond, Richard Mallender, Maureen Mitchell, Sarjit Singh, Alan Tiplady, Susan Tiplady (Lady Bay Planters), Chris Trafford (volunteered this evening) & Sian Trafford were nominated by James & seconded by Sue & were elected unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report: James presented the audited accounts & thanked the auditor Jenny Hempstead. The accounts were discussed, including the Community Fund. James mentioned that the latest insurance premium had been paid & the amount had gone up recently. James also explained that a new signatory is required.

Questions & Comments:

The interest rate is extremely low at the moment.

 

Reports from Local Groups

Lady Bay Scouts: Elaine Clarke, Cubs leader, gave the report explaining that as it is 1/2 term a lot of the committee are away. The groups are still running; meeting in different places with their equipment stored in boxes, bedrooms & lock-ups. Some new volunteer leaders have been recruited & the group is hoping that there will be leaders to run all 3 sections: scouts, cubs & beavers, in March 2017. The 50 year-old Scout Hut has been demolished, the excavation showed no surprises; concrete mixers have been brought in & the cement delivered. The site was a mile marker for the Robin Hood Marathon. Trenches have been dug & bricks laid for the floor. Huge cranes have been brought in. Lady Bay Arts are sponsoring the new logo & signage. More information is on the website: http://ladybayscouts.org.uk/

Lady Bay Planters: Susan Tiplady gave a report; she thanked everyone who had been in touch. Some planters are looking rather neglected. About 10-12 are in need of adopters. Please let Susan know if you are looking after a planter & also if you would like to adopt one.

Lady Bay Community Fund: Sian reminded people that applications need to be in by Monday 31st October. Application forms can be obtained from Trent Boulevard Post Office or Lady Bay Pharmacy or by applying by email to Maureen Mitchell.

Lady Bay Litter Pickers: Sian explained that about 12 people look after an area each. She has applied for some funds for more litter “grabbers”. If you would like to take on an area please contact Sian.

Lady Bay Open Gardens: Keith Wright thanked all the gardeners who had opened this year. There were more than 1,000 visitors this year & more than £3,000 raised for the Community Fund. If you would like to open your garden next year, please contact Keith.

Friends of the Hook (FrOTH): Jane Browne informed everyone that the pond is unfortunately now a marsh due to damage to the liner by the sharp roots of reed mace. The pond will need re-lining at a cost of £2,500. FrOTH has had a grant from the National Grid but needs to raise more. The group also wants to expand the orchard & improve the wild flower meadow. A working party is held on the 1st Sunday of the month from 2-4 pm meeting at the “pond”.

There were no questions or comments.

 

Sian introduced Megan McFarlane

Click Homeshare: This is an innovative new service now open to residents in Lady Bay, W. Bridgford & the surrounding area. Homesharing matches older people wanting practical support in the home & some companionship with a younger person looking for affordable accommodation. Homesharers are usually mature students or younger professionals who provide around 10 hours of practical support each week to the Householder in exchange for accommodation.

Homeshare offers a new, affordable option for older people who would like to stay living independently in their own home but just need a little extra support with the day-to-day tasks of running a home like the weekly shop or mowing the lawn. Homesharing also offers regular companionship & the sense of security of having a trusted person in the home overnight.

It is a model which works all over the world & is now available in Nottingham. The project is supported by the Big Lottery Fund & focuses on connecting people to help each other.

Click Nottingham carries out a thorough assessment process, including reference checks, so you can have confidence in a successful match. Householders & their ‘Sharers’ are very carefully matched on a personal & practical level in order to offer both individuals what they need. We support applicants throughout the application process & beyond. To find out if Homeshare might be right for you call Homeshare Coordinator, Megan McFarlane on 0115 978 97846. Alternatively, visit our website at www.clickhomeshare.com

There are leaflets about Homeshare available at the back of the room. Megan is happy to come to other events.

There were no questions or comments.

 

Sian thanked Megan & introduced Jon Leighton, staff member of Transitions South, Framework Hostel for young people

Transitions South Jon stated that the hostel had been open since August 2016. There have been some problems with things not going so well at the start. The staff at the hostel are working hard to put things right. Most of the residents are 16 year olds kicked out of their homes & with no extended family or other networks to support them. The young people’s family structures have broken down & most have lived through very difficult times. Framework wants to give the people in their care the opportunity to integrate into society, be independent & contribute to society. It has been difficult for the young people to change their behaviour to be acceptable in this community & there were some problems. Framework has been working in partnership with local neighbours to solve these problems. 1 problem was that young people were disturbing near neighbours by playing music with their windows wide open & generally making a noise. All windows have been fitted with closures to prevent them opening wide & Framework is investigating sound proofing. Staff members have a job to do to create a good culture amongst the young people; to manage their behaviour & to set clear boundaries. There have been regular meetings between local neighbours & Framework staff.

Jon asked those present to give Transitions South a chance: the young people are very pleased to be part of a community like Lady Bay & want to work with the community to make a positive change.

A photography project is taking place with Lady Bay Arts & some young people helped with All Hallows’ Church’s Halloween event.

If you do experience any problems please report them to Framework by calling: 0115 8504040.

Questions & comments

What were the problems experienced when the hostel 1st opened?

Noise from loud music, young people congregating outside the building; these problems have now stopped & Framework is working with the young people on the difference in standards of behaviour in Lady Bay in comparison to areas in which they have previously lived & the impact of their behaviour on neighbours.

Mark Lambert, manager of the hostel, stated that in the 1st 2 weeks there were problems with the young people keeping unsocial hours & playing loud music; the young people didn’t appreciated the effect their behaviour had on others. The behaviour has now altered. Window restrictors have been fitted as part of the problem was that the windows were wide open.

Jon thanked councillors Richard & Sue Mallender for helping to provide a connection with the community & the hostel & representing the residents of Lady Bay. He stated that when 14 residents moved into the hostel almost simultaneously there was a big impact on the area; in future there will be a gradual turn-over of residents so the impact will be much less.

Questions & comments

On the “Keep Lady Bay Local” Facebook site there were over 60 complaints listed; have these been resolved?

It is difficult to answer comments on Facebook. There is an online complaints & comments form which has been set up by local resident, Nick Shopland, All people who have commented using the official routes, either online or via Framework’s ‘phone line, have been contacted. Mark emphasised that people should always ring the Framework number if they had a complaint or comment.

Haven’t there been incidents such as drug-taking, outside the hostel?

Residents reported that 2 young people were seen sitting on a street bench smoking cannabis.

3 residents commented that drug taking went on with young people in Lady Bay before the hostel opened.

Have there been any positives?

Councillors Richard & Sue visited the hostel recently & met some of the young people who asked for help in finding apprenticeships, volunteering & litter picking.

Richard Mallender stated that there has been a community liaison meeting between Framework staff & local residents every 2 weeks for a while but now this will may return to 4 weekly meetings.

Susan Tiplady mentioned that Framework have asked to adopt a planter

The young people have said that Lady Bay is the nicest place they have ever lived. Peer group pressure on young people who misbehave is working. Both staff & young people already living in the hostel give an induction to new service users showing them that there is a positive culture with accepted rules in place.

2 residents mentioned the successful McMillan Coffee Morning held at the hostel – they both enjoyed the home-made cakes!

 

Sian thanked Jon & asked people present to comment on the new LBCA constitution & standing orders; found on the Lady Bay website or on paper from the secretary. There were no comments & the new constitution & standing orders were accepted unanimously.

 

Sian introduced John Heard

Toilet Twinning: John accompanied his talk with illustrative slides. Some people may have already heard about the scheme. Toilet twinning raises funds to enable people living in poor conditions to have clean water, a basic toilet & to learn about hygiene. We take these things for granted in this country. John spends a lot of time in the QMC where there is a great deal of emphasis on cleanliness. It is sometimes hard enough to keep clean in this country, such as when John’s grandchildren come to stay & they spread food around. John demonstrates the problem when he gives talks in schools with a bar of chocolate when he spreads the melted chocolate on his face. The toilet twinning scheme supports people for whom clean toilet facilities are a luxury. There are 2.4 billion people (40%) who have no basic toilet facilities. Having a toilet is also important for reasons of respect & privacy. These people have to use buckets or just go at the road side – it is completely unacceptable & unpleasant. Poor sanitation leads to water being contaminated with sewage, spreading water borne illnesses & causing high levels of child deaths. Having no toilets is a particular problem for women & girls as relieving themselves outside leads to a risk of attacks & menstruation is very difficult to deal with. When children are ill they don’t go to school. Priti Patel, Secretary of State for International Development, wants the effects of foreign aid to be measurable in terms of value for money & the best value is given by providing toilets to those people who don’t have access to them. Every £1 spent in this way is worth £8 to the local community through reduced health costs & increased productivity.

West Bridgford Methodist Church is raising money for toilet twinning with toilets in their own building, they have now raised enough to twin with 47 toilets. Some teachers at Lady Bay Primary School have suggested raising money for toilet twinning. The soft play centre in the Meadows has twinned their toilet. Perhaps the Framework hostel would be interested. It cost £60 to twin a toilet with a single household latrine in an impoverished community. For £240 a school or church hall can twin their toilets with a school block.

Leaflets about toilet twinning are available at the back of the room.

 

Sian thanked John & introduced Hugh McClintock from Pedals

Lawrence Geary & Pedals: Hugh had some photos of Lawrence as a Pedals activist to show. Lawrence was Pedals’ 1st treasurer but was best known for producing “The Pedal Pushers’ Guide” which ran to 3 editions from 1983 onwards; eventually there was sponsorship from Raleigh. Lawrence was in charge of the sales of the guides. He also publicised & led guided cycle rides & took an active role running stalls & events. The rural rides Lawrence led took families to interesting pubs & often involved a visit to a fish & chip shop. His anecdotes on the rides often showed his great local knowledge as well as his love of the cinema. This led to a season of cycling films at the Broadway Cinema while his fondness for real ale resulted in a local brewery creating “Wheel Ale”.

Lawrence was always full of innovative ideas, good advice & sound judgement. E.g. in 1987 he set up “pothole golf” to illustrate the problems with poor road surfacing for cyclists.

Lawrence represented Pedals on the Nottingham Green partnership & in 1992 he was in the city council delegation to Whitehall. He was instrumental in obtaining the 1st cycle lockers of their type outside the US in the old Trinity Square car park.

 

Sian thanked Hugh & introduced Sue Mallender

Lawrence & LBCA: 1st Sue read out a message from Simon Anthony, former FIELDS & LBCA committee member, who now lives in Australia: “I have several strong memories of Lawrence. I was a member of FIELDS from the day he invented the acronym. I’m sure he had been working on it for a long time before the meeting; it went down well & stuck at once despite being rather tortured. (Fight It, Especially Land Development Schemes)

He was a very calm man, cultured & gentle. It was oddly comforting to see him cycling in Lady Bay; things were alright with the world. It was impossible not to do the simple tasks he asked committee members because he always asked so nicely. I have been away from Lady Bay for almost 5 years now, most of the last 3 in Sydney – near a beach called Lady Bay – I have not been there; it’s nudists only. I don’t know what Lawrence would have thought of that but I expect he would at least have smiled gently.”

Sue Mallender: I first met Lawrence at a LBCA meeting when I decided to join the committee in 1987 when my oldest daughter was 1 year old & I was 27. (You don’t have to be the average age of the present committee – let’s have some young people!). We immediately established a really good working relationship and before we knew it he was Chairman and I was Secretary! In those days being able to have access to a word processor (I would hesitate to call it a computer!) was enough to give you the secretary’s role. But one of Lawrence’s life’s rules was not to engage with any technology – only a few people had his ‘phone number (Lisa – Lawrence’s daughter interjected that they didn’t have a ‘phone in 1987!) & he would pop round with a handwritten note (usually on the back of something else – which was a bit of an insight into the many interests in his life - & quite often with sections stapled on from other documents) for me to type up the many letters either from LBCA as an organisation, which I signed, or if they were very important, from him as chair – if I happened to be in we would sit down for coffee or tea and biscuits and then we would talk about many random things: cycling, films, travel. At the time Lawrence only seemed to drink ½ his tea & I suggested I could just make ½ a cup for him. “Oh no Sue, I only want the bottom ½!” At these informal meetings and at committee meetings Lawrence’s brilliant sense of humour always made them enjoyable.

We were both keen Broadway cinema members – I still am – and Lawrence would suggest films, often obscure British comedies; that turned out to be hilarious… or interesting, or thrilling. His recommendations were always reliable. He has sponsored a seat at the Broadway – but being Lawrence it isn’t named for himself or even a family member – but Alma Reville “Mrs Alfred Hitchcock”, a film maker in her own right as well as a working partner for Hitchcock, born in St Ann’s. Lawrence tried to have a blue plaque put up for her too but the building in which she was born no longer existed so he had it placed on St Ann’s library, where it was stolen. He solved this problem by having another put up inside the building. (Lisa showed everyone a picture of the event of the unveiling of the plaque from the Nottingham Post)

Fairly recently for instance, Lawrence recommended the film “Sightseers”. This is a British, very dark comedy about a pair of serial killers who take a caravan holiday around sites in Northern Britain. If you haven’t seen it – take a look – it’s very quirky & funny. Lawrence told me an amusing story as apparently a reviewer of the film in a caravanning magazine clearly hadn’t seen the film as he/she wrote that it would be a good film to see to give caravan owners a good idea as to sites to visit in this part of the country! It must have been a shock for their readers who went to watch the film expecting a travelogue!

Lawrence was a former pupil of Bluecoat School & another of his schemes was to get the original school clock (now on the Notts YMCA – the ICC on Mansfield Road) refurbished & working again. Of course he succeeded and there was an opening ceremony with him as honoured guest. I hope his memory will live on as he always said that if he was in CWBCA he would make sure the Bridgford Hall clock worked as it must be annoying to be married at 2pm and the clock says 7.30…We’ll keep on fighting Lawrence!

Lawrence was always good at thinking up slogans and headlines. The tee shirt I am wearing shows an eye-catching FIELDS slogan used in the campaign against the 4th Trent Crossing - Stop the R o T (Road over the Trent) A particularly good headline was “Selling the family silver to get the gold” when one of the plans for the land east of Lady Bay was to build a leisure park where, apparently, national athletes would train. He was the source of many an idea for fundraising too – hence the Lady Bay tea towel, (a framed example on the wall in the hall tonight!) and the wonderful barn dances at Simkin’s Farm – he would say “there’s one thing we’ve all learned from being in FIELDS, and that’s how to spell ceilidh.”

My daughters always admired him & when he had grandchildren thought he was a perfect granddad. I always liked how he said to his grandson “I like children- though I couldn’t eat 2 at once”. For children & adults alike he was brilliant at finding things to do - & he did this without the internet! As his sister described at his wonderful funeral, he had banks of leaflets to give you & suggestions to make wherever in the country you said you were going.

Lawrence was so kind to us all – our former treasurer Phyl, in her 90s & now living in Aslockton Nursing Home, after she left Lady Bay, was always given a lift by Lawrence from her former home in Carlyle Road to our committee meetings & later, just to the public meetings. He also looked after me & my daughter after I fell down the stairs answering the door & holding my 2 year old daughter, badly spraining my ankle & hitting her head on the door jamb; his wife Diana, a former Health Visitor, also helped on that evening. Lawrence also helped at a difficult time in my life finding a place for my estranged (now ex) husband to stay.

As Simon mentioned, & also Lawrence’s grandson at his funeral, Lawrence cut an interesting figure riding his bike, sometimes holding an umbrella & with an orange box on the back to hold his many papers...& of course no helmet!

At the back of the room the book by Geoffrey Oldfield “West Bridgford Past” has 2 pictures of Lawrence as a child – 1 at Lady Bay School & the other of him skating with friends on the frozen Grantham Canal. See if you can spot him.

I’m glad I managed to see Lawrence back in June – we sat in the garden & ate the strawberries I’d bought & he was still making me laugh with his anecdotes. Thank you, Lawrence’s family, for coming this evening & thank you for organising a wonderful funeral with the New Orleans style jazz band & everyone twirling their umbrellas.

We all miss you Lawrence – you are our local hero!

 

Sue asked Julie Palmer to say a few words:

Lawrence & FIELDS As with Sue, who did the word processing for Lawrence & LBCA, I did the same for Lawrence & FIELDS. At home I have 12 box files of paperwork from the FIELDS campaign, Lawrence must have had even more. The boxes are full of glossy brochures produced by developers, designs for the FIELDS logo, letters, submissions to public enquiries & consultations & a lot of meticulous research. It took about 10 years of work to remove the 4th Trent Crossing from all planning documents. Lawrence was very dedicated to the FIELDS cause. As Sue mentioned, Lawrence was not a fan of technology – he didn’t need a computer because he had a brain. People in Lady Bay have Lawrence to thank for Lady Bay being as if is now; with countryside to the east – not the 4th Trent Crossing, a business park, a leisure development, a football stadium or a golf course.

Lawrence & family Liam Francis, Lawrence’s 1st grandson spoke next, he had been unable to attend Lawrence’s funeral. Liam showed some newspaper cuttings of Lawrence. Liam feels very lucky to be Lawrence’s grandson. He would be able to find an obscure park, an unusual museum, a fascinating collection, an interesting event to take his grandchildren to, he knew London very well as well as being an expert on Lady Bay. Several people have mentioned Lawrence’s love of cycling & he passed that on to his grandchildren so that he taught me to ride a bike as soon as he could. Lawrence helped Liam make friends in both Nottingham & London as he himself did. Wherever he went, Lawrence always met people he knew as well as making new relationships. Thanks to Lawrence’s influence, Liam is a community activist in Lewisham as well as working for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade & for housing charities rather like Framework who spoke earlier in the meeting this evening.

Lisa, Lawrence’s daughter, introduced herself as Lawrence & Diana’s oldest child. She mentioned that her mother, Diana’s, family lived in a West Bridgford house that is now the Age Concern charity shop. With her brother Keith, the toilet inj the shop has been twinned, & the shop refurbished.

Whilst clearing up Lawrence’s house in Lady Bay Lisa found a folder that had her granddad’s handwriting on it; Lawrence had crossed this out and re-used the folder. Lisa showed us the folder – it had a lot more handwritten & crossed out words on it as it had been used over & over again. When Lisa & her brothers were young Lawrence made sure they used both sides of every piece of paper they used for writing & drawing. It was as Sue said that he used the back of letters for handwritten messages for people.

Bluecoat School has been mentioned & Lisa found a script for a play written by Lawrence in 1955; it was handwritten of course & in it most of the speaking was done by Lawrence’s character. Lisa also found a folder full of Lawrence Geary name badges; seemingly for every event Lawrence (& other members of the family) had ever been to!

Keith, Lawrence’s son, told us about Lawrence’s involvement with the Great Central Railway & the Grantham Canal. Lawrence was a regular volunteer at the Great Central Railway & on Quorn station there is a trunk that Lawrence used to own & which was used when Lawrence lived in Africa & travelled to & from England. If you look on Facebook there are lots of pictures.

Lawrence’s sister mentioned that she went on a hot air balloon trip for her birthday & the pictures she took over West Bridgford & Lady Bay were used by Lawrence for the FIELDS campaign. If you find them please could she have them back?

Sian said that she has the folder here that Lawrence gave her when she became chair last November. Simon’s comment about wanting to do things for Lawrence because he asked so nicely was very true – that is why she is chair of LBCA – because he asked her nicely.

 

The meeting closed at 9.50pm.

 

Addendum to Lady Bay Community Association Public Meeting Minutes 26th October 2016.

Message from Tom Huggon, lawyer who worked with the FIELDS campaign:

I am in London, not back until the afternoon of 27th October. Please tender my apologies to members of the LBCA.

As an overview of Lawrence`s achievement it is worth reminding ourselves from time to time that the whole of the green space along your side of the Trent waterfront from Lady Bay Bridge to Holme Pierrepont Country Park could now be a mixture of industrial, golf course and hotel, housing and a six lane motor bridge.

Few are left who remember the public inquiry into the proposal for the industrial estate east of Lady Bay Bridge. Then there was the Green Belt inquiry securing green belt protection: then several about the dreaded bridge; at least two reviews of the Structure Plan; three local plans; City, Gedling, Rushcliffe; and various specific projects such as housing on Simkin’s Farm and at Gamston roundabout

Without Lawrence`s persistence, skill and connections leading a determined team supported by a wide community any or all of these things would have happened.

Underpinning all this was his ability to focus on the important issues from a sideways glance. It was always a pleasure to work with him.

 

Addendum to Lady Bay Community Association Public Meeting Minutes

Message from Sally & David Griffiths of Adbolton Grove:

Apologies from Sally and myself that we cannot be at the meeting because we are in London.

If we were there we would:

Thank the Lady Bay litter pickers for their efforts and ask if these had been recognised by the governors of the school. 

Ask if the nettles and hedges between the 10 acre entrance and Skylarks could be cut back.

Tell people that a music festival, Detonate Halloween is to be held on the racecourse on Saturday 29th October. The last festival, held on the first weekend in June, raised many complaints due to its loud 'music'. Apart from the organisers, who should we complain to?

We would also support others' expressions of sadness at the loss of Lawrence Geary, who did so much for Lady Bay.

Spring public meeting

LADY BAY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF SPRING MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11th MAY 2016 AT ALL HALLOWS’ CHURCH HALL

 

Present: 52 including RBC Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender

Apologies: Peter Hammond, Vice Chair, LBCA; Angie Dickenson & Alan Tiplady, Committee members, LBCA; Brenda Baxter, Lady Bay Arts Festival Coordinator; Susan Tiplady, Lady Bay Planters; Tony Middleton, Lady Bay Bowling Club.

Welcome: Sian Trafford introduced herself as the chair and explained that our former Chair, Lawrence Geary, is still unwell; we all wish him a speedy recovery; she welcomed all present.

Sian drew people’s attention to the “Lady Bay Art Collection” – the painting of “The Old Bridge, Lady Bay”, painted in 1888 by F. Mayfield; on display on an easel near the entrance to the hall. The painting shows a bridge over the Grantham Canal. The bridge no longer exists. It was purchased by LBCA and Lady Bay Arts at an auction which took place in late November 2015 when some the Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) art collection was sold. A print of the painting has been given to The Grantham Canal Society. The painting will be on display at a community venue during the Arts Festival. Please let the chair or secretary know if you can think of a suitable permanent, or succession of temporary, home(s). [email protected] 07788 736468

Sian explained that as we have a meeting this evening which includes a workshop that will take at least an hour, reports from groups will be kept very short & any questions or comments should be directed to the reps of the various groups after the meeting or by contacting them directly.  

 

Sian introduced Claire Windebank, Operations Manager, Younger Persons’ Services, Framework Housing Association.

Framework Hostel, Trent Boulevard: Please see article in spring newsletter. Work is being carried out on the buildings. An asbestos survey has taken place and there is only a very small amount. The building company carrying out the work is Tanbury. There will be 14 bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen, 3 bathrooms, 2 toilets & 2 offices. At no. 69 there will be 3 young people, fewer than originally planned.

There were many conditions to the planning permission & one of these was to provide a smoking shelter. This will be at the rear of no. 69. Other conditions are an agreed management plan and that hard surfacing should be porous. The building works will begin at the end of May and should be finished by the end of June. Young people will be moving in at the beginning of July on a gradual basis.

Residents have asked whether the original brickwork of the buildings could be exposed so the buildings don’t stand out so much. Unfortunately, it is too expensive to remove the paint but a more subdued colour could be used to repaint the buildings.

There will be 6 parking spaces at the rear of no.67 with additional fencing to give privacy to neighbours. Framework are discussing the type, position & height of the fencing with the neighbours that are affected. There will be improvements to the front forecourts to make them more garden-like with raised beds. Framework are hoping to open this garden area at the Lady Bay open gardens event in July. There will be an open day before the young people move in.

A community liaison group has been set up & the 1st meeting held. The next meeting is on Wednesday 25th May.

Contact: [email protected]

 

Sian thanked Claire & introduced Sam Hudson, Chair of Friends of the Hook (FrOTH)

FrOTH Report: Please see article in newsletter. The pond has been filled from the dyke & Lady Bay Primary School brought 30 foundation stage children recently for a caterpillar hunt & pond dipping session; they found fish & many species of invertebrates.

FrOTH’s AGM is on Wednesday 18th May at 8 pm in the Duesbury Lounge, All Hallows’ Church Hall. All welcome.

The next working party is on Sunday 5th June 2-4pm, meet at the pond. All welcome.

http://www.friendsofthehook.org.uk/wp/

https://www.facebook.com/friendsofthehook

 

Sian thanked Sam & drew people’s attention to the Lady Bay Arts article in the newsletter The festival is on Saturday & Sunday 14th & 15th May 11:00 - 4pm at various venues in Lady Bay.

www.ladybayarts.org.uk; https://www.facebook.com/ladybayarts; https://twitter.com/lady_bay_arts

 

Sian introduced Julie Rosborough of Lady Bay Children’s Book Festival & presented her with a cheque from the Lady Bay Community Fund.

Lady Bay Children’s Book Festival: Saturday 8th October. There will be workshops including animation, drawing & poetry writing. Speakers will include an actor from “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. This year there is sponsorship from Sandicliffe Motors.

http://nottinghamtellingtales.org.uk/

 

Sian thanked Julie & gave a Lady Bay Litter Pickers report

Lady Bay Litter Pickers: Please see article in newsletter. Instead of group litter picks there are now volunteers cleaning an area of their choice in their own time. This year there are 2 group litter picks. Equipment is available to borrow if you would like to run a group litter pick. The Vicar of All Hallows’ Church, Rev. Mark Rodel, the student vicars & friends recently cleared the Hook. Sian is hoping to purchase more grabbers.

Contact: [email protected] 0115 981 0364

 

Sian introduced Keith Wright of Lady Bay Open Gardens:

Lady Bay Open Gardens: Please see item in newsletter. The event is on 2nd & 3rd July 2-6 pm. There are 20 gardens so far for the event’s 25th year. Leaflets are being printed next week.

Contact Keith Wright, 30, Pierrepont Rd. [email protected]; http://www.facebook.com/ladybayopengardens 

 

Sian thanked Keith & introduced Guy Ferguson from the Lady Bay Sports Ground Residents’ Group

Lady Bay Sports Ground Residents’ Group: Please see article in newsletter. The rugby club won their appeal against RBC’s refusal of planning permission for their marquee being in place for a period of 5 years.

The club have been operating within the management plan but they have been slow to extend dialogue with the residents’ group. The club have a number of other planning applications in the pipeline. It is an ongoing process, progressing slowly from the club’s point of view. There are about 1,000 people attending matches but the club is aiming for 1,500-2,000. There is still a problem with noise from loudspeakers.

See: Lady Bay Sports Ground Residents Group’s Facebook page.

 

Sian thanked Guy & introduced Councillor Richard Mallender

Neighbourhood Watch: Richard gave a short PowerPoint presentation. Early this year there was an increased number of shed break-ins in Lady Bay, mainly this resulted in bike thefts. The police have caught the perpetrators after a sustained operation in the area. At the time there was a lot of discussion about neighbourhood watch in Lady Bay. This used to be very active but has been moribund for some time.

The police recommend signing up to Nottinghamshire Alerts:  https://nottinghamshirealert.co.uk/  These are emails alerting people to things like scams; door-to-door or on the internet.

There is a W. Bridgford Neighbourhood Watch group which meets every couple of months. http://www.wbnwg.co.uk/ You can download how to set up a more local scheme from their website. A neighbourhood watch group usually has a number of people who look after a small area such as the road or part of the road they live on. There is liaison between the group, the police & RBC.

Information on crime prevention, crime statistics & crime alerts can also be gained from Rushcliffe Community website: http://www.rushcliffecommunity.co.uk/ Don’t be concerned about “rowdy behaviour” at the junction of Radcliffe Rd/Mabel Grove/Rutland Rd; it is the swans from the Grantham Canal stopping the traffic; the police have to record this & there isn’t a swan option!

Contact: [email protected] if you are interested in becoming a road or area coordinator for Lady Bay Neighbourhood Watch.

 

Sian thanked Richard & gave an update about Lady Bay planters:

Lady Bay Planters: Please see article in newsletter. The new coordinator is Susan Tiplady. People can apply to the group for a small grant of up to £20 for compost & plants for their planter.

Contact: Susan Tiplady, 5, Fleeman Grove, [email protected] 07950 668297

 

Sian introduced Lesley Taylor, Recycling & Education Officer, for Veolia at Mansfield Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)

Blue Bin Workshop: Veolia is a French company that started in the 19th century. In Nottinghamshire it is contracted to run recycling centres and the MRF. The MRF takes the contents of all the recycling bins (in Rushcliffe the blue bins) for the whole of Nottinghamshire. The recyclable products are separated by machines & workers. The recyclables are then sold to recyclers.

Lesley ran a quiz with items people might throw away and the choice of putting them in the blue or grey bin.

Plastic bottle tops & items like plastic coat hangers are not collected for recycling at the MRF as the plastic is too hard &/or too low grade. This type of plastic turns to a thick goo. Aerosol cans can be recycled; remove plastic lids but not the spray nozzle; this is dangerous as the cans are under pressure. Flimsy yoghurt pots of the type where 2,4 or 6 are joined together cannot be recycled. Food trays are also too low grade plastic. Aluminium food trays do not contain enough aluminium to be recycled & are also often contaminated with food. Paperback books can be recycled as can hard back if you remove the covers. Remember to remove the non-recyclable plastic lining from cereal boxes. Take away pizza boxes are too contaminated with food to be recycled but can be composted. Shredded paper cannot be recycled at the MRF as it clogs the lorries & the machinery. Shredded paper can of course be recycled at a recycling centre or composted. Some councils recommend putting shredded paper inside cereal boxes – do not do this! The machines soon separate the paper from the box.

The MRF produces 3 types of product: paper & card, plastic bottles & containers; steel & aluminium cans.

Some items that are not collected & sold by the MRF can be recycled, but the recyclers that buy the products from the MRF need them to be high quality with no contamination. The aim is to have 1% contamination or less. The recycler can reject contaminated loads. Common contaminants include food debris & carrier bags.

No company in the UK recycles carrier bags. Some supermarkets, e.g. Tesco, collect them & send them to be recycled in E. Europe.

To increase the level of recycling people can remove cardboard sleeves from large yoghurt pots & paper wrappers from cans to separate plastic & metal from card/paper. 

 

Questions & comments:

It is difficult to clean cans because of sharp edges

Just rinse them, a small amount of residue in an aluminium or steel can is not a problem. Mouldy food left inside is not acceptable.

 

Biscuit tins?

They are recyclable but too large for machines. Take to a recycling centre.

 

Councillor Richard Mallender mentioned that the county council’s new scheme for registering vehicles in order to go to the recycling centres was a problem for people without their own vehicles, relatives of deceased residents etc.

 

Cleaning spray bottles?

Remove spray nozzle, if the nozzle is moulded to the rest of the bottle don’t worry, place in the blue bin.

 

“Windows” on envelopes or cardboard boxes?

Fine but it is preferable to remove the film & put in the grey bin.

 

Ice cream containers?

No; plastic ones are low grade plastic &/or contaminated with food. Card ones are coated with plastic/wax &/or contaminated.

 

Take away plastic containers?

Probably OK if thoroughly washed. No lids. But may be low grade plastic.

 

What happens to plastic waste taken to recycling centres?

This is recycled but the same restrictions apply with regard to plastic film, polystyrene, low grade black plastic, hard plastic & lids.

 

Large recyclable items?

Wood & large metal items can be recycled at the recycling centres. Large plastic or metal items are too large for the machinery at the MRF.

 

Is there a problem with people who speak English as an additional language understanding the “rules”?

The main problem is that different county or unitary councils collect different items, some take glass or food waste from the doorstep. Even within the county the different districts have different colours & sizes of bins. This confuses new residents.

 

Why doesn’t Nottinghamshire County Council take glass in the blue bins?

The glass will break: contaminating the recyclable items with shards of glass & this is dangerous for the staff too. Thick glass is too hard to be put into the bring site glass banks.

 

Batteries?

Rushcliffe collects in a separate bag; this is not the case across the county.

 

What happens to the grey bin waste?

This used to go to landfill & caused leaching of contaminants to soil & water as well as greenhouse gas release of methane & CO2. Plastic is around for at least 800 years & the likelihood is that it will never break down. 10% of general waste in Nottinghamshire goes to landfill. The rest goes to energy recovery facilities in Sheffield or Staffordshire where it is burned at 800 degrees Centigrade, pipes filter the toxins out & steam is released to power turbines which provides electricity for 66,000 homes. Waste heat is used to heat local public buildings such as schools.

 

Lesley continued: in the UK only half plastic bottles are recycled. This is a great loss. 75% more energy is used to make new plastic products from raw materials than with recycling. Metals are infinitely recyclable; steel items from paper clips to bridges are made with 57% recycled steel. Aluminium from raw materials takes 95% more energy than from recycled cans.

Nottinghamshire recycles 43% of domestic waste. This puts the county about “mid-table” in the UK.

Collection lorries from Rushcliffe take blue bin waste to a transfer facility; the lorries don’t drive all the way to Mansfield. Larger, more efficient, lorries take the waste from the transfer facility to the MRF.

There is an “enviro grant” of up to £1,000 per year available to community groups, schools etc. for environmental schemes such as litter picking, planting, cleaning up an area. Requests can be made every quarter.

There are “goodie bags” for everyone with details about recycling (doorstep & at centres), grants, details of tours, a cookery book based on using up leftovers, etc.

 

Do you visit schools?

There is an educator who works at Nottinghamshire County Council who comes to schools to talk about recycling, but schools can visit the MRF & Veolia will pay for the cost of transport. Community or social groups can also come on tours, these are free.

 

What happens to the residual waste at the MRF?

This goes into the general waste stream but Veolia has to pay for these bales to be taken away. The cost is passed to the county council & therefore residents through council tax. It is therefore in everyone’s interest to recycle properly, both for the environment & financially. Mostly contamination is due to people being too keen and putting everything in. A common contaminant is used disposable nappies; why anyone would think these are recyclable is astonishing.

 

Lesley showed a short film about the process at the MRF.

www.veolia.co.uk/nottinghamshire/MRF-Tours [email protected] 0203 567 4391

 

Sian thanked Lesley & introduced Darren Howie:

Darren’s Story: Darren admitted that this is the 1st time he has been to a LBCA meeting as he has been studying hard since moving to Lady Bay. He has lived here for 2 years & will be leaving in June this year.

Darren told a true story that began in a council estate on the west coast of Scotland where there lived a little boy who received no love from his mother & had a father who was a vicious alcoholic. When the boy was older he was out on the streets, he used solvents, cannabis & harder drugs. At 12 he was expelled from school & was sent to an assessment centre. He lived in a children’s home for 4 years.

He met a woman & had a son with her. He struggled to be a good father as he had no role models. At a party he was offered heroin & became a user. He lost contact with his family, his partner & ended up homeless & on the streets. He was prescribed methadone & one day when it had been arranged for him to see his son, a needle fell out of his pocket. His partner got straight back on the bus & refused contact. When contact was resumed his son found him trying to hang himself.

He ended up in prison several times. He lost all self-respect. In prison one day a prison chaplain visited. The chaplain helped him with his drug addiction; telling him that he wouldn’t see him in prison again, he would be dead if he carried on; by then he had no accessible veins that could be used to inject drugs. After prison he attended a Christian drug rehabilitation centre & as a result forgave his parents for their treatment of him as they were also victims of the circumstances of their lives.

After rehabilitation he attended a Baptist church which was in a middle class area where many professional people lived. He became friends with a head teacher & his family. Previously he had had an “us & them” mentality & would never have thought he could even speak to people who weren’t from the same background as himself. He returned to the drug rehabilitation centre & volunteered for them for 4 months, giving drugs education in schools. He wanted to become a prison chaplain. He was dating a police officer but they broke up. He met his future wife when she brought a church youth group to visit the drug rehabilitation centre. Their 1st date was at a service station!

His wife offered to sell up her business & move to Scotland but instead they moved to Nottinghamshire; 1st to Stapleford then to Lady Bay.

The story is Darren’s own: He is studying for a degree & is part of the All Hallows’ ministry in Lady Bay. He loves building relationships with people & hearing their stories. He was told that people in W. Bridgford were “snobby” but has found Lady Bay very welcoming. He wants to listen to people’s views who are not members of the church. In Lady Bay people live busy lives & there a lot of families, particularly young families. There are lots of events in the area. What does Lady Bay need? How can the students engage with the community? How can they help families in Lady Bay experience connectivity?

Darren has been running a film matinee on Saturday afternoons for families with children. People have been sharing their stories at these events. As Darren & the other students are leaving in June it would be good for another group to take on the running the film afternoons. Perhaps the scouts/brownies?

Darren is moving to Derby to continue his training as a minister in the Church of England. He has loved his stay in the unique community of Lady Bay.

There was some local opposition to Framework’s hostel for young people coming to the area. Darren asked that people in Lady Bay invest in these young people living at the hostel. Darren’s life changed when he was welcomed by middle class people in the Baptist church he attended. Initially there was similar opposition in that area. One day he was speaking to a lady in the Baptist church who asked his last name, when he gave it she asked if he remembered her; she was a former primary school teacher & she apologised for letting him down; she had seen him as a problem; not as a little boy who needed help. 

 

Sian presented a cheque to Darren for the film club to purchase bean bags. The film club runs only in the winter months. Please contact Darren at All Hallows’ Church before 13th June.

Sylvia Wilkins, LBCA committee member & member of All Hallows’ Church thanked Darren & the other students for their input into the Lady Bay community over the last 2 years.

 

AOB

 

Scout Hall Update: David Rennie gave an update: The group have reached their £320,000 target. The new building will be a hub for all scouting activities as well as the whole community. It will be purpose-built & state-of-the-art, fit for the 21st century. Thanks to parents, the Lady Bay community, local councils & businesses. The final total was reached thanks to a donation of £49,000 from WREN Community Action Fund. Grants were also received from Veolia Environmental Trust, Nottinghamshire County Council Supporting Local Communities Fund & RBC. A generous donation was made by members of 6th W. Bridgford Scout Group on its merger with 1st Lady Bay Scouts.

Building work should start in early summer & be completed by early autumn 2016. Hopefully, the building will be open at Christmas.

Fundraising continues with the scouts providing a venue & refreshments at the Lady Bay Arts festival next weekend.

The future of scouting in Lady Bay is reliant on adult volunteers; please get in touch if you would like to be involved. See David at the end of the meeting.

Contact: Elaine Clarke, 1st Lady Bay Scout Group Leader, 0115 933 3001 [email protected] Richard Mansfield 1st lady Bay Scout Group Chairman, 0115 981 0672, [email protected] Regular updates on website: www.ladybayscouts.org

 

Sian presented a cheque from the Community Fund to David for 1st Lady Bay Scouts.

 

Sian read out the following from Tony Middleton, Secretary, The Lady Bay Bowling Club

Lady Bay Bowling Club: “I am sorry I cannot attend the meeting; Sian has kindly agreed to update you on the current state of play at the Lady Bay Bowling Club which is a mixed club made up equally of ladies and men, & as most will know is situated off Pierrepont Road behind the ‘Poppy & Pint’ pub.

At the beginning of 2015, our landlord, the Rutland Sports & Social Club, agreed to extend our lease of the bowling green for a further 5 years until 5thAugust 2020. By June 2015 they had changed their minds and advised us that our lease would end on 5th August 2015.

You can imagine the upset this caused our members.  Many are pensioners who live on their own and rely on the bowling club for their activity and social life. We had believed, rightly or wrongly, that when the Rutland Sports & Social Club emerged as the new landlord from what was left of the British Legion Club, they would carry on as before; in fact their declared business plan was to continue to provide a place for local people to have a drink & a meal (the Legion building became the ‘Poppy & Pint’ pub); provide a place to play tennis (Lady Bay Tennis Club); a place to play bowls (Lady Bay Bowling Club); all as previously provided by the British Legion.

As a result of their refusal to renew the lease we were faced with having to close down our club which had been in existence in the same location in Lady Bay for over 70 years. We wrote to various people explaining our situation who we thought might help us change the landlord’s decision, believing that if the landlord wanted us out it must be because they believed more rent was achievable from someone else (we pay a Peppercorn rent of £1 per annum). 2 of the organisations we wrote to were the brewery who lease the ‘Poppy & Pint’ pub and in fact also claim to sponsor the bowling club and the tennis club. It was disappointing that the tennis club sent an email in reply saying it was nothing to do with them & my letter to the MD of the brewery was not even acknowledged. Whether these letters & various discussions we had with others prompted any interested party to withdraw in the short term is unknown to us.

The outdoor bowling season runs from April through to late September therefore our first objective was to secure an extension to the lease in order for the club’s fixture programme to be completed, this was achieved and we were granted a 3 months’ extension.  The renewal of the long term lease was our next priority & this was in part achieved by the eventual granting of a 2 years’ lease until November 2017. We received the hand delivered letter from the landlord about 10 minutes before the start of our AGM, at which we had reluctantly expected to wind up the club. Since then the landlord has made it clear that they are looking for someone else to buy/lease the bowling green who will pay more than we can afford. We apparently will be given the opportunity to beat any offer they receive. We are not a wealthy club & to pay a rent of several hundred pounds a year is beyond the capability of our membership so come 5th November 2017 the Lady Bay Bowling club will very likely close after 70 years of providing a bowling facility, initially for military personnel returning from WW 2, up to the present day, for local people to enjoy. We need new members. Please come along if you are interested.”

 

10 Acre Field Lady Bay Primary School has asked the chair to remind residents not to exercise dogs on the field as it is used regularly by children from Lady Bay Primary School. Every day there are about 10 people walking their dogs on the field.

A resident from Adbolton Grove added that young people are beginning, once again, to use the field for parties. Please ask your teenage children to leave the field at 11 pm and take litter with them. There was a party last Saturday. Late night parties are a noise disturbance to local residents & last year damage was caused when a bottle was thrown into a garden onto a greenhouse. Litter is another major problem for the school as broken glass bottles & cans which are later turned into shredded shards of metal when the grass is mown, can cause injuries.

 

Meeting closed at 10.07 pm

Public meeting and AGM

Lady Bay Community Association Minutes of Public Meeting and AGM held on Wednesday 14th October 2015 at All Hallows' Church Hall at 8pm

 

Number Present: 61 including Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender

 

The Chairman welcomed all present. Lady Bay is an area that is full of talent and as well as our main speakers this evening we have present our local poet, Don Read. A poem by Don will be put on the Lady Bay notice board with a different one each month.

 

The Chairman introduced Wolfgang Buttress & Martin Bencsik.

The Plight of the Honeybee
Wolfgang lives on Trent Boulevard & has a studio on Rutland Road. He is influenced by his local environment such as the Hook. Wolfgang has worked in Australia & Chicago with Dr Daniel Bayliss, an astrophysicist, where he made respectively, a 4m diameter star map & the tallest building in the world to have an observatory. Wolfgang has constructed the UK Pavilion, BE-HIVE, at the World Expo in Milan though he is an artist not an architect. The theme for Expo is “Feeding the Planet”. The plot for the pavilion is a long, narrow shape. Wolfgang, inspired by the Hook, called his construction the “plight of the bumblebee”, as bees are a symbol of the planet’s health, affected by pesticides, monocultures & poor biodiversity. Honeycomb is a strong, efficient structure & Wolfgang’s construction works with nature. Wolfgang has worked with Dr Martin Bencsik of Nottingham Trent University, who has studied communication in bees.

Martin explained that he has placed sensors both inside & outside a British standard honeybee hive. These hives are usually made of wood & provide a dark cavity which the bees need for protection from predators & high temperatures. Martin also makes visual inspections of the frames. There are about 1,000 bees per frame & a visceral hum can be felt.

Honeybees have no ear drums so are more or less deaf, they are sensitive to smells & vibrations. Martin’s sensors pick up vibrations & he showed us a “vibration picture” of swarming bees. Newly emerged queen bees sound as if they are “quacking”.

In the pavilion the vibrations are conveyed into a colour changing sphere. Signals were sent for 6 months from a hive in Brackenhurst College, Nottinghamshire, to Milan. Wolfgang & Martin worked with some musicians; “Spiritualise” to create a soundscape with the bees in the key of D & a cello playing in a lower key. The musicians also used violin, piano, mellotron & voices to create sounds triggered by the bees.

A company in York helped to make BE-HIVE, the same company constructed the Serpentine Pavilion & the cauldron at the 2012 Olympics. There were 170,000 parts & 20 men worked for 3 months to create the building. The pavilion was ready on 1st May 2015. The pavilion has won 5 awards. Visitors walk through the “orchard” & the meadow before entering the hive. The meadow has vegetation at head height, sculptural elements & speakers broadcasting sounds from the British countryside e.g. crickets & birds. In the Hive speakers broadcast the noise from the real hive. Air rises up a natural chimney in the structure so that it is cooler than the external temperature. It is a multi-sensory experience with a very small amount of written explanation. The pavilion has had 2.8 million visitors, should be 3 million by 19th October.

A side project has been to place a swarm of bees inside a cello. The musicians have played at Langar Hall as part of this continuing project.

Questions & comments: How tall is the structure?

17m in height x 14 m x 14 m

What is the cost?

£6.5 million, cheap in comparison to other pavilions

What will happen to the pavilion afterwards?

It will be brought back to Britain. Only 2.5% of the visitors visiting the pavilion in Milan were British, the majority were from all over Europe & the rest of the world.

Where will it be in Britain?

Possibly London but it may come to Nottingham.

Will it be deconstructed to move it?

It will be taken apart like a giant Meccano set.

 

The Chairman thanked Wolfgang & Martin & introduced Mel & Guy Ferguson of Holme Road.

Rugby Club Developments Mel & Guy are members of a group that are concerned about developments at the rugby club. They emphasised that they are not against sport. The club was based in Beeston for about 120 years until ’06 when they moved to Lady Bay. The club have put up floodlights & relaid the pitch but played their first team home games at Notts County FC’s ground. In Dec 2014 a marquee, grandstands & floodlights were erected. The floodlights affected local residents as they were very bright & were brighter than they were meant to be according to the planning application. Now the club play first team games at Lady Bay & also hold other events; one of these was the “Varsity” games weekend which was a very noisy event. This summer the club applied for planning permission for a “temporary” marquee for 5 years. This was rejected. The club put up the marquee without permission as they said that there was a commercial need for it. Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) have placed an enforcement order on the club to remove the marquee. The club has appealed against the refusal & the enforcement order. The club has had discussions with local residents & have expressed their intention to build grandstands. At the moment 7-800 people are coming to matches but the club would like to have larger crowds. The club has applied to have 2 “temporary” grandstands for 5 years, they have already put these in place. The club has sent press releases to West Bridgford Wire & local newspapers & have sent a leaflet asking for support for their plans to houses in West Bridgford.

Local residents feel that the corner of Holme Road & Trent Boulevard is already heavily affected by cricket & football matches, the Robin Hood Marathon, outdoor events on the Hook & the Great Notts Bike Ride. The rugby club want permanent, larger stands to last for 20 years once the “temporary” stands have been in place for 5 years. The rugby club are not financially robust & are likely to be tempted to hire out both their stadium & marquee to make money.

Residents are concerned that the rugby club have not stuck to the rules with planning. At the moment there are 54 objections on the RBC planning website, 51(80%) from Lady Bay residents. There are also 317 supporting comments, 228 are from outside West Bridgford including London, Surrey & Hong Kong, 72% of the supporters live outside Lady Bay.

Mel & Guy circulated a sheet of paper on which people who wish to join the campaign could put email addresses. The group has a Facebook site - Lady Bay Residents’ Group. The group has regular meetings with the rugby club, the next one is at 6.30 pm on Weds 21st Oct at the Rugby Club Pavilion. The group wants to protect the open fields & the Hook; the land is in green belt.

 

Questions & comments:

If we want to support but haven’t an email address what should we do?

Put your telephone number instead.

Who owns the land?

A consortium including the rugby club & cricket club.

The chairman asked whether the people at the meeting felt that the rugby club is “a cuckoo in the nest”? A vote was taken with unanimous opposition to the rugby club’s developments.

 

The chairman thanked Mel & Guy & introduced Tony Middleton.

Lady Bay Bowling Club Tony was accompanied by Ann Aster, Jean Grover & Carol Stapleton from the Lady Bay bowling club. The club has been on the site for 70 years & was originally part of the West Bridgford Royal British Legion Club which owned the site. The bowls club members are mainly over 70 years old, up to 90 years of age. The West Bridgford Royal British Legion folded in 2010. Now the site is owned by the Rutland Sports & Social Club. This organisation has 6 directors some of whom were on the committee of the West Bridgford Royal British Legion. There are 230 shareholders some of whom are from the tennis club, bowls club & the former British Legion. The Lady Bay Lawn Tennis Club, also on the site, bought their lease. Castle Rock Brewery took out a 35 year lease on the main building to become the Poppy and Pint.

In 1946 there were 1,000 members of the West Bridgford Royal British Legion. In 2010 both the Bowling Club & the Tennis Club had about 75 members each. Rutland Sports & Social Club was supposed to preserve the Poppy & Pint, the bowling & tennis clubs. Rutland Sports & Social Club rented the bowls ground to the bowls club for a peppercorn rent of £1/year. Castle Rock Brewery sponsor the Bowls Club & have given them a small pavilion. It costs £5,000/year to run the club. Their biggest outlay recently was for £4,000.

The Bowls Club were told this summer that they have to leave but have been given no reason. It is not clear whether the Poppy & Pint or the Tennis Club want the land. The lease ends on 5th Nov 2015. Rutland Sports & Social Club is claiming that the bowls club is not keeping the terms of the lease. The present lease is supposed to be for 5 years from 31st October 2014. The Bowls Club is trying to find addresses for the shareholders so that they can be persuaded to extend the lease. They believe there should be protection of minority shareholders’ rights in company law. Several bowling greens have been lost in West Bridgford recently & this is a general trend identified by the National Bowling Association.

There were no questions or comments.

A vote was taken & it was agreed unanimously that LBCA should support the bowling club staying in Lady Bay.

 

The chairman thanked Tony & introduced Claire Windebank & Zoe Kilshaw from Framework Housing Association.

Proposed Development of 67-71, Trent Boulevard.
These properties used to be Abbey House Care Home for people with mental illnesses & learning difficulties, at present the 3 semi-detached houses are in multiple occupation for up to 24 people. Framework wish to purchase the 3 houses subject to planning permission for 69-71 as a supported housing service for up to 14 young people aged from 16-21. The building will have at least 2 members of staff on the premises 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Vehicle & cycle parking will be provided for staff at the rear. Residents would not have motorised vehicles. The young people will be referred from Broxtowe, Gedling & Rushcliffe. Most are leaving care including foster care. Some of the young people have had troubled backgrounds, some have left family homes because of relationship breakdowns, some have mental health problems. The young people are not substance misusers or offenders. Like all young people some may have used alcohol or cannabis to a minor extent. Some of the young people have poor life skills & need help with relationships, cooking, using washing machines & financial matters. The young people stay in the supported housing for about 6 months then will move to dispersal accommodation elsewhere. The accommodation is not secure as the young people will be developing proper routines. No. 67 will be used for dispersal accommodation for up to 5 young people – this does not require planning permission as the house is already an HMO. (House in Multiple Occupation).

 

Questions & comments Are the young people supported with set activities?

Most are at college, in apprenticeships or working. The young people will be assisted with life skills & encouraged to help with community activities e.g. Litter picking. There are likely to be”Nature in Mind” walks, bike rides, working on allotments. In Lincoln a similar set up has been working for a Neighbourhood in Bloom award.

Is there somewhere nearby that has a similar supported home?

Elizabeth House near the Vale Pub is similar. People objected at first but are now enthusiastic supporters. The young people have been helping to tidy up the area.

What if there are problems such as noise?

There will always be staff members on site to prevent noise etc. Neighbours will be given the telephone number to alert staff to any problems.

 

The chairman thanked Zoe & Claire.

 

Committee elections: Treasurer – James Strawbridge

Secretary – Sue Mallender

Committee members – Angie Dickinson, Lawrence Geary, Peter Hammond, Richard Mallender, Maureen Mitchell, Sarjit Singh, Sian Trafford, Alan Tiplady, Sylvia Wilkins

There is another space for a committee member but there were no volunteers this evening.

The committee was elected unanimously.

 

Treasurer’s Report
James presented the annual accounts. The financial situation for LBCA is quite healthy. We have more money than usual as we have £3,147 from this year’s Open Gardens. The accounts include the investment account belonging to FIELDS. The insurance premium has been paid.

The accounts were formally adopted unanimously.

 

The chairman introduced Sian Trafford.

Lady Bay Litter Pickers A new volunteer joined last week.. There are 10 volunteers covering the area; they choose to pick litter when they like. If you would like to volunteer please contact Sian; she will provide you with “Bag Os” & litter Pickers. Recently there has been litter on 10 Acre Field following teenage parties, a recent haul included washing up bowls and tents.

 

AOB

The Secretary mentioned the recent very successful Lady Bay Children’s Book Festival that took place on Saturday 10th October.

Councillor Richard Mallender give an update on the proposed foot & cycle bridge opposite Trent Lane; this is still only an idea. The developers on the Trent Basin site one side of Trent Lane are very supportive but those on the other side on the Park Yacht Club site do not want to lose any land for the supporting infrastructure. The estimated cost is about £2 million. Of the people who responded to a Lady Bay door to door survey earlier this year 60% were in favour. However, if the infrastructure is to be on this side of the river then this would mean people would be less keen.

 

The chairman introduced Robbie Robb.

Storytelling: Robbie is a storyteller with the Royal Storytellers based at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. Storytelling is enhanced with dancing & singing.

Storytelling has been going on since people began communications. There are stories from all over the world but all have similar themes such as sibling rivalry & creation stories. Each Native American tribe, for instance, has a different creation story. Traditional stories have a strong moral base so that the goodies win & the baddies come to a sticky end.

A storyteller is different from an actor as storytellers do not pretend to be someone else & there are no entrances & exits. Stories are “successive moments of truth”; the listeners have to believe each section even when there are magical elements.

The Royal Storytellers are at the Theatre Royal on 29th January 2016 from 1-2pm with stories from 6-8 storytellers based on the theme of “The Good, the Bad & the Ugly”. The event is free.

Robbie then told us the story “The Fortune Teller of Baghdad” starting with a trip on the magical number 11 bus to Baghdad!

 

Meeting closed at 10.10 pm.

Public meeting and AGM

Present: 54 including Councillors Steve Calvert & Richard & Sue Mallender

Apologies: Peter Hammond, Vice Chair, LBCA, Angie Dickenson & Sylvia Wilkins, Committee members, LBCA, Jane Browne of FrOTH.

The Chairman welcomed all present & informed everyone that the Lady Bay Community Fund is open for bids until Fri 31 Oct. Application forms are in Trent Boulevard Post Office & Lady Bay Pharmacy.

A couple of meetings ago a resident suggested LBCA have a page in the newsletter that people could pull out and put on their doors/windows asking for “No junk mail” Please let a committee member know if you have any ideas of wording for such an insert.

The Chairman introduced Mary Small.

Telling Tales – Nottingham Kids’ Festival of Imagination This Lady Bay based Children’s Book Festival is in its 2nd year. It took place on Sat 11 Oct. It featured storytelling, drama, animators, cartoonists & illustrators. Local businesses e.g. The Lady Bay Pub & The Poppy & Pint & community venues e.g. Lady Bay Primary School, All Hallows’ Church & Hall & the Scout Hut were used. The Scouts made £500 on refreshments. There were free, drop-in & charged-for events. Social media & other forms of marketing were used to publicise the event. More than 800 families came on the day. Tickets for the events were booked via the Theatre Royal. About 1,000 people from Lady Bay attended. The festival was for children from 3-13 though there weren’t many children over 10 in attendance. The group are planning to hold a 3rd festival on 1o Oct 2015.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman thanked Mary & introduced Hugh McClintock of the Nottingham Cycling Pressure Group, Pedals; John Rhodes, resident of River Crescent & Trustee of Nottingham Civic Society & Nick Ebbs, Lady Bay resident & CEO of “Blueprint” the company that is developing Trent Basin through a Public Private Partnership.

Pedestrian/Cycle Bridge This talk was illustrated with a Powerpoint presentation. Nick explained that Nottingham’s waterside area is empty & derelict & is to be regenerated. An original master plan was suggested 15 years ago for residential & business use including high rise blocks & a pedestrian & cycle bridge at the end of Trent Lane. The new proposals are for 3-storey houses inspired by Dutch canal houses & a pedestrian /cycle bridge from Trent Lane to the Hook. There is no funding for the proposed bridge as yet. Hugh explained that the reasons to have a bridge include encouraging people to walk & cycle more, providing a safe route over the Trent & making a major new landmark with a suspension-type bridge. Pedals supported the original plan for a bridge. Only River Crescent & some new river side footpaths were built from the original plans. At the moment there are only some basic sketch designs for the proposed bridge. Wheelchair access needs to be considered.

A long time ago there was a plan for a foot/cycle bridge from Colwick to the Water Sports Centre but the sailing club objected & Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) refused planning permission. The proposed new bridge will connect commuter & leisure routes, riverside paths, Colwick woods & park, Sneinton Greenway & “The Big Track” to Beeston Lock & further on to Attenborough. It will provide access to the Trent Valley Way walking route & Sustrans Route 15, country parks & the Grantham Canal. The idea has been inspired by the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the foot/cycle bridge over the river Foyle in Derry which links 2 polarised communities, the “Cycle Snake” in Copenhagen, York Millennium Bridge, Longhorse Bridge in Shardlow, Derbyshire, Wilford Toll Bridge & Nottingham Suspension Bridge.

The next steps are to find sources of funding; there will be a developer contribution & possible funding from Sustrans & other charities. There will be consultation with Sustrans, Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, RBC, Nottinghamshire Police, the Environment Agency, the Sailing Club, Friends of the Hook (FrOTH) & the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. John mentioned that the bridge would provide access to the new Aldi supermarket being built at the end of Trent Lane.

Questions & comments

Jeff Jenkins: how will the pathways leading to the bridge be managed? Will there be dual cyclist/pedestrian use? Will anglers be consulted as some fishing clubs have rights to the river bank?

Hugh: it is important to educate cyclists on careful use of shared paths. The paths will also need good maintenance.

Robert Parker of FrOTH expressed concern that there will be an increase in the number of cyclists.

Hugh: the problem at the moment is not the number of cyclists but that the present path is very narrow which leads to conflict between cyclists & pedestrians. The path needs to be widened & cyclists educated.

Councillor Calvert: has been involved in the preliminary discussions about the bridge & is supportive in principle. The links to the bridge may be a concern.

Supports the idea of a bridge but as the Hook is a very natural area so modern designs would look out of place.

John: planning conditions could be placed on the design; there would be no lights on it. It would have to be carefully managed.

Nick: the Hook is very attractive so possibly a timber bridge would be more in keeping.

John suggested a design competition.

3 residents supported the bridge: it needs to be cyclist & wheelchair friendly, it will bring benefits; we want safe cycling.

Nick: the aspiration is to have a pedestrian route along the entire River Trent in Nottingham; this is the start – Trent Bridge to River Crescent.

John: separate cyclists & pedestrians; a good idea would be a cable stay bridge with pedestrians on 1 side & cyclists on the other.

Hugh: a slightly rough surface would slow down cyclists.

Councillor Richard Mallender: supports safe cycling but doesn’t want urbanisation of the Hook. We need more ideas.

Tried to cycle to Netherfield Lagoons but very poor access to Colwick Park; what will the time frame be?

John: access to the lagoons will be improved.

Hugh: Nottingham City Council want a riverside path on the north side.

Can see the value for the people on the city side but advantages are limited for people on the Rushcliffe side. Lady Bay is very quiet & pleasant – this bridge will bring more people here.

How high will the bridge be?

Nick: as high as Lady Bay Bridge.

John Osborne: Like the idea of a modern steel structure. Developers must have some idea of what will fit in as they are planning buildings on the north side.

Nick: there will be a curved access to the bridge on the Hook side. The north side is still at the early planning stage. A design competition would be good. Alan Tiplady: LBCA have fought against a road bridge in the past, a cycle & pedestrian bridge may make a road bridge less likely.

Hazel Kerr: will the bridge be used by horse riders?

How will Lady Bay residents be kept informed?

There will be the formal planning process over 2 years. There will be a funding bid. We will come back to LBCA with regular updates.

What is the price of the proposed north side properties?

Nick: aspirational housing as Nottingham city already has a lot of affordable housing. Average: £2-300,000, some more, some less. There will be advantages for Lady Bay residents: safe cycling: access to Colwick . The project will be mutually beneficial for residents on both sides of the river. The bridges to the west of Trent Bridge; the suspension bridge & Wilford toll bridge have caused no problems. This whole scheme will be one of the biggest re-generation schemes in Europe.

Councillor Calvert: there will be consultation of both Nottingham City & Nottinghamshire County highways departments.

Hazel Kerr: people complained about the building of the skate park at the time as it could bring undesirable youths to Lady Bay from the city; the skate park is now an asset to Lady Bay not a problem.

The Chairman thanked Hugh, Nick & John. The Secretary reported that there is no verbal FrOTH report; please look at the article in the newsletter. The Chairman introduced Sian Trafford

Lady Bay Litter Pickers Sian informed the meeting that there are very low numbers of people turning up on the litter picking sessions. She suggested people “adopt” sections of the area to litter pick in their own time. Litter picker sticks & “Bag-Os” will be provided. Contact Sian if you are interested.

There were no questions or comments.

The Chairman thanked Sian & introduced Councillor Richard Mallender.

Neighbourhood Watch: To celebrate Neighbourhood Watch’s 50th birthday there are some new window stickers sponsored by Compare the Market.com insurance – they feature meerkats! Please collect from the back of the hall when you leave.

Lady Bay is a low crime area except for shed burglaries & associated bike thefts. Remember to lock bikes inside the shed as well as outside. If you would like to volunteer to be a street coordinator let Richard know. 07976 775619, [email protected]

Some years ago Don Read of Lady Bay designed a product; “Emergency Data Link” If emergency services need to access your house & you are unconscious you have a sticker on your window which lets the paramedics know you have an Emergency Data Link box with details of next of kin, medications, allergies etc. in the door of your fridge. Please help yourself to kits from the back of the room.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman thanked Richard & introduced John Osborne.

Dementia Friendly Lady Bay There have been previous successful meetings to make Lady Bay dementia friendly, there is a meeting on Weds 5th Nov at CORES at 2 pm. In Britain today there are 650,000 people living with dementia, there will be 2 million in the future.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman thanked John & introduced James Strawbridge.

Treasurer’s Report James directed people to look at the annual accounts, copies of which were distributed on seats. The insurance premium will be in the next set of accounts as it is paid in the 1st week of the new accounting year. The accounts were proposed by Lawrence Geary & seconded by Sue Mallender and were accepted unanimously. It was agreed unanimously that the signatories for the savings account should change from Richard Mallender, Sue Blount & Lawrence Geary to James Strawbridge, Sue Mallender & Lawrence Geary. 3 people signed as witnesses to this decision.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman thanked James.

Election of LBCA Committee Nominations for Secretary and Treasurer: Sue Mallender & James Strawbridge. Nominations for committee: Angie Dickinson, John Finney, Lawrence Geary, Peter Hammond, Richard Mallender, Maureen Mitchell, Sarjit Singh, Alan Tiplady, Sian Trafford, Sylvia Wilkins. These were all elected unanimously. Brenda Baxter, Fiona Boyd & Clare Kay are committee members representing Lady Bay Arts, Lady Bay Planters & FIELDS respectively.

Any Other Business Councillor Richard Mallender informed people that there was a new method of electoral registration where each person is responsible for registering rather than 1 person for the whole household. This is to prevent electoral fraud. Register to vote at: www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/elections/register tovote/ or call 0115 981 9911.Lady Bay Ward boundaries have changed so that the east side of Adbolton Grove, the last 3 houses at the Adbolton end of Trent Boulevard, Moore Close & Carlight Gardens are now in the ward. Greenacres is in the adjoining Gamston North. The no. of RBC councillors will be reduced from 50 to 44.

Jeff Jenkins mentioned that the 20 mph road markings are wearing away & need replacing.

Councillor Calvert stated that there will be 20mph zones around schools & in some areas of W. Bridgford.

Councillor Richard Mallender said that he would bring up the matter of the worn markings with the W. Bridgford Local Area Forum Traffic & transport group.

The Chairman introduced our last speaker; Rex Rowe.

The Original Master Baker Rex used to live on Lady Bay Road. He is now 81. His father was an actor & his grandfather a master baker. Rex’s father had wicker baskets full of props & costumes in the attic. They had a black leaded range where one winter a friendly house cricket lived. He attended Lady Bay School & had the cane for climbing over the bike shed into the playground. On Trent Boulevard there was a newsagent, a haberdashery shop, a butcher & a greengrocery shop, there were 2 shops next to Lady Bay School. In the house that became the Lady Bay Pub lived a man called Claude Rainer who had 2 bull dogs. The Rev. Watson was the vicar of Lady Bay church & also ran the Lady Bay scouts. As a child Rex would swing across the Dyke on the Hook to reach the river. A man with a wooden leg ran a ferry across the Trent from Lady Bay to the pleasure park on the north bank; the ferry took bikes. The W. Bridgford Royal British legion had a Manor branch where M & S is now on Albert Road. The family doctor was Dr McClenan on Albert Road. On Empire Day there were Cossacks in Bridgford Park.

Rex lived in Lady Bay during WWII; The Canadian air force was based at Langar. There were spitfires at Gamston Airfield that could be seen from Adbolton lane. The Home Guard trained in Bridgford Park. Children collected paper and were given “ranks” depending on how much they collected; from private to Field Marshal. Rex’s mother was in the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) & would stand by the bank on Trent Bridge collecting for them. Rex’s father’s costumes & props were given to the WVS to raise funds. Rex’s mother was also an evacuee officer. W. Bridgford was badly bombed due to the proximity of a gun factory on Meadow Lane. In an air raid the Co-op on the north side of Trent Boulevard was bombed & the houses next to the greengrocer’s. Children were evacuated here from London but returned home after these air raids. In WWII Rex’s brother was a Chief Petty Officer & once brought home an amazing gift - a pineapple. After the floods in 1947 everyone had to disinfect their cellar when the water receded with bright pink disinfectant.

Rex has worked for 22 small bakers in Nottingham including 6 in W. Bridgford. There were 102 small bakeries in Nottingham – now there are none. Rex’s 1st proper job was at May Hawksley’s, a small bakery in South Road, here he made the mistake of using 10 lb of baking powder instead of 10 ounces – the resulting cake looked like something from Quatermass! He also worked at Howard’s Bakery on Central Avenue & Watson’s Bakery. The latter supplied slab cakes for M & S but 1 year M & S said that the cakes were of poor quality & pulled the contract this was a disaster for the bakery, which went out of business. Rex also worked for Mason’s Bakery in the Meadows. Atkin’s Bakery on Trent Boulevard was on the corner of Gertrude Road; you can still see the “Hovis” sign on what is now the N & S Stores. At Clarke’s bakery there was a 230 year old oven which was used in rotation when it was very hot for bread then sweet dough, custards, pastries, macaroons & finally meringues.

Rex is now the only baker who still makes Harvest Festival loaves for his local church. A traditional harvest loaf always has 2 mice on it. “Rexipes” include ideas for Xmas leftovers; “Nelson Square” - a post war cake popular with children in the 1950s where stale bread & cakes are mixed with water, dried fruit, sugar & spices & baked in a pastry case; truffles made from left over cakes, marzipan cut out & cooked to make macaroons. Rex’s tip: use strong flour in all recipes; this stops cherries from sinking to the bottom in cherry cake.

Rex works for the Nottingham Cardiac Support Group charity & visits Lady Bay Open Gardens every year.

Questions & Comments.

Jeff Jenkins: What fuel was used in the very old oven?

Wood or coke then converted to electricity.

 

Meeting closed 22:05

Spring public meeting

MINUTES OF SPRING PUBLIC MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 7th MAY 2014 AT ALL HALLOWS’ CHURCH HALL

Present: 50 including Borough Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender 

Apologies: None

The Chairman welcomed all present & introduced Caitlin Ferguson

Trip to Borneo
Caitlin thanked the Lady Bay community for the donation from The Lady Bay Community Fund she has received. She gave a report with illustrative slides about her trip to Kota Kinabalu as part of a group of 20 people. She spent 5 days at Camp Tinagol helping to build a kindergarten. The people have no education or clean water but satellite dishes and cars! Caitlin then was 2 days at Stables camp building steps for a grandstand. She then went on a jungle trek for 5 days & saw the effects of deforestation & palm oil plantations. Caitlin then spent 7 days at Camp Bongkud building a community centre, a footpath & making repairs to a bridge, after this she worked for 2 days at Batu Puteh jungle camp on a reforestation programme, 1 day visiting Sepilok orang-utan sanctuary & finally 2 days rest at Kota Kinabalu.

There were no questions or comments

The Chairman thanked Caitlin & introduced the Shamser Singh and his son, both pharmacists from Lady Bay Pharmacy.

 

Lady Bay Pharmacy & Electronic Prescriptions
The pharmacy came to Lady Bay as a result of a campaign by LBCA and the residents of Lady Bay.

There are changes coming to the dispensing of prescriptions with robots collecting the medicines from a large warehouse which are given to patients by unqualified retail staff. Pharmacists will become redundant; this is a detrimental step as people will no longer be able to receive important advice about their conditions and prescriptions. For instance many people take Statins; these should be taken in the evening when the patient is relaxed. If a patient drinks grapefruit juice then Statins are not absorbed & build up causing problems; 90% of cough & cold remedies contain decongestants which can affect the action of tablets taken for high blood pressure.

The pharmacy offers various health promotions such as smoking cessation & encouraging healthy lifestyles by reducing fat & sugar intake & taking exercise such as walking. Advice is given on reducing salt intake as salt increases blood pressure; an adult should have no more than 2g of sodium/6g salt per day.

Lady Bay Pharmacy gives a personal service as the pharmacists know the families in the area & when contra-indications to certain medicines are present. Many older people in the area use the free delivery service for prescriptions & toiletries. The pharmacy collects prescriptions from all local surgeries & this will include the new “super surgery”.

The new electronic prescription service will require patients to nominate a pharmacy; the GP sends the prescription directly to the pharmacy to dispense to the patient. There will be a delivery service to house-bound patients.

The pharmacists at the Lady Bay Pharmacy are able to give advice on treatment so that a visit to the GP may not be necessary, for instance on the treatment of eye infections and water infections.

Questions & comments

When will electronic prescriptions be introduced?

Dr Ottey’s surgery at W. Bridgford Health Centre will be introducing the system next month. All local surgeries will be using the system within 1 year.

Patients can already arrange repeat prescriptions on line at Trent Bridge Medical Practice.

Will paper prescriptions be phased out entirely?

Yes, eventually

The Chairman thanked the Singhs & introduced John Vanhegan from the Lady Bay Farm & Community Group or “Greenies”.

Greenies
John explained that the group was formed 11 years ago at a LBCA public meeting. There were many founder members that provided “seed” money. 46 people signed up. The piece of land on which the Greenies grow crops used to be known as “awkward field”. The objectives of the group were/are to help the farm stay viable, raise the profile of FIELDS, provide a community supported agricultural project, reduce food miles & grow organically.

Last year the county council “discovered” that there were “unauthorised allotments” on their land, after a short campaign the Greenies are now official tenants of the county council at the “peppercorn” rent of £0!

The piece of land is behind Seymour Rd with an access path from Moore Close. The rest of the land is rented by Mr Croft and at the moment it is planted with winter wheat.

Funding for the Greenies has come from local councillors, the Community Fund, fund raising ceilidhs, Lorraine Kirkman (tenant of the adjoining land before Mr Croft), ice cream sales at Lady Bay Open Gardens & donations for surplus produce. The money has been used to purchase black plastic horticultural sheeting to control weeds, an industrial strimmer, an irrigation system & pump taking water from the dykes around the field, seeds for the allotment holders at a 40% discount, very large compost bins, tools (mainly donations), fuel for the strimmer & pump & payment for tractor work provided by Chris Scott.

On the land green manure is grown. There is an orchard with apples, pears, plums & damsons which are grown in a double row, the width of the field. There are also a number of different varieties of potatoes, including pink fir apple; onions, leeks, soft fruit, courgettes, squashes & pumpkins. In total the land has an area of 1 _ acres, which is about the same size as all the Holme Rd allotments. People grow their fruits & vegetables in 20’ long strips. Hooped cages & netting are used to prevent wood pigeons from taking the crops, though this does not help with caterpillars! A donated fruit cage protects the raspberries. Raised beds are filled from the manure heap for the courgettes, squashes & pumpkins. The irrigation system has a 1,000 litre tank that feeds 3 stand pipes. The pipes were donated from Adbolton nursery. This winter it has been very wet.

Greenies members have an annual BBQ at the time of the sweet corn harvest, cooking the corn cobs in their outer leaves. Members are contacted through a mailing list & can do as much or as little physical work as they wish or can.

The field has a lot of wildlife, in particular pheasants, foxes & kingfishers.

Guided tours are available; see John at the end of the meeting or email him on [email protected]

Questions & comments

Do the Greenies make a profit?

No, all the money is re-invested. The Greenies have had problems with bank accounts.

Is the produce sold?

No, the Greenies prefer to give it away & ask for donations.

The Chairman thanked John & introduced the Rev. Mark Rodel, Vicar of Lady Bay & St Edmunds.

Trainee Clergy in Lady Bay Area
Mark explained that he works _ time as a minister & _ as a teacher at St John’s college, Bramcote. Several trainees from the college have accepted places working in Lady Bay as part of their training. They & their families are; Darren & Jo with 2 year old Annabelle, Ed & Catherine with 4 year old Noah who are moving here from Chelmsford, Ivor & Gail who are moving from Birmingham & Andy & Briony with Jonah aged 1. All are moving to Lady Bay in Sept. They will each need a 3 or 4 bedroom house. These will be a guaranteed 22 month let. There are 2 more students who are both single. The diocese is planning to buy a 4 bedroom house for these 2 and more students who will join them in the future. All the students who have visited Lady Bay want to come here.

Mark has been the vicar of Lady Bay since Sept 2012 & moved into the vicarage with his family in Feb 2013. He is planning to run events for the community in the vicarage, there was a “farm” in the garden on Palm Sunday & this year there may be a summer garden party.

Questions or comments

John Osborne mentioned 2 events about dementia awareness taking place in Lady Bay. They are both taking place in All Hallows’ Church Hall; 18:30-19:30 Thu 22 May & 11:00-12:00 Fri 23 May. Please see John at the end of the meeting for more information.

James Strawbridge asked whether lodgings are needed for the single trainees?

Possibly, as the diocese may be unable to buy a house this year. The single trainees will be here for 2 or 3 years. Please let Mark know if you know of any available lodgings.

The chairman thanked Mark & introduced Jane Browne of FrOTH

FrOTH
The Hook was designated a nature reserve in ’09. FrOTH volunteers work with RBC & Notts Wildlife Trust to look after the land.

Some events such as triathlons have taken place without consulting FrOTH, the group have asked that the borough inform FrOTH in future.

FrOTH members have been working on “Josie’s Meadow”, the open ground near the river, though the fertility is still too high, the community orchard, with its heritage varieties of apple, pear & damson, & a new row of 18 native black poplars to commemorate the centenary of the end of WWI in 2018.

The clay liner in the 1st pond FrOTH had dug failed so that the pond did not hold water. The new pond was filled with water today. It has a fence to prevent access by dogs. There will be pond dipping events.

On Monday 5th May, International Dawn Chorus Day, there was an early morning bird watching walk at 06:30. We heard whitethroats & many other bird species.

On Sunday Jun 1st there will be a Bird Activity Day; this is for all ages; there will be a trail, guided walks, Arts & crafts & making bird boxes.

There will be a bat walk in Sept.

FrOTH’s AGM will be on 28 May at All Hallows’ Church Hall at 20:00.

Questions & comments

Alan Booth asked what the new pond cost?

It was paid for from a £3,000 environmental grant from RBC. The work was done by the Wildlife Trust.

Alan Booth said if there is money for a pond then why is there no money for notices to ask cyclists to give way to pedestrians & ring their bells?

Though there are no signs the path has been mended due to pressure from FrOTH.

Alan Tiplady commented that notices probably wouldn’t solve the problem. Could the path be widened near the entrance to the football training pitches?

FrOTH will look into this.

Alan Booth suggested that a safety barrier is needed near the dyke/river path

FrOTH will ask RBC if one can be provided

The Chairman thanked Jane & introduced Sian Trafford of Lady Bay Litter Pickers

Lady Bay Litter Pickers
The next 2 “picks” are on Sat 10 May; meet outside the Lady Bay Pub at 10:00 & 14 Jul. “Picks” always take place on Sat & are alternatively in the morning & the afternoon.

The Canal & River Trust would like a group in Lady Bay to register to keep the Grantham Canal litter-free. Please contact Sian after the meeting if you are interested.

There were no questions or comments

The chairman thanked Sian & introduced Keith Wright of Lady Bay Open Gardens

Lady Bay Open Gardens
Keith Wright informed us that posters, flyers & programmes are now ready for printing. There are 15 gardens open this year but please see Keith at the end of the meeting if you would like to open too as the group are happy to have more. The Lady Bay Open Gardens event is on Sat/Sun 21 & 22 Jun

 

Any Other Business

Rev Mark Rodel made an announcement about the Lady Bay Arts festival:

Lady Bay Arts Festival Sat/Sun 17/18 May 12:00-18:00, 62 artists & 20 venues, including a drawing workshop in All Hallows’ Church

A resident asked whether there will be a bus service to the new “super surgery”

Another resident answered that there will be a bus running a figure of 8 route which will include Lady Bay

Dr. Paige arrived to give an update on the “super surgery”

“Super Surgery”
The surgery will be in 2 parts: the Embankment Primary Health Surgery & the Castle Health Centre.

The staff members from the surgeries which are to amalgamate have been working on the idea for 10 years, more intently in the last 5. 5 local practices are involved. The new surgery will be within the NHS.

There has been pressure on GP surgeries to join together & change their ways of working to meet demands.

To provide more services greater numbers of staff members are required & more space is needed. There is a gap between demand & expenditure.

The site on Wilford Lane was selected despite it being in the flood plain. The raised design has been approved by the Environment Agency (EA). There will be 2 large practices. Castle will be an amalgamation of Trent Bridge, Southview & Ludlow Hill, Musters Rd Medical Practice will remain separate.

The surgery will be opening in Sept; the project is running on time. The building is designed to combine efficiency with a personal service to patients. The building will have 2 wings, larger on the left, car parking will be provided under & around it. There will be a lift to the under croft. Ambulances will be able to use the under croft. There will be a pharmacy, a physiotherapy unit & a patient waiting area. Castle will be on the left, Musters on the right. There will be consulting rooms & offices on the upper floors.

Public transport to the surgery will be in the form of an extension to the free Local Link 2 bus; the route will be changed to accommodate people within the regulations as the route has to be separate to service bus routes. It will cover Clifton, Silverdale, Lady Bay, Morrison’s store Gamston, Melton Rd, Central Av, Wilford Lane. The timetable will be adjusted so that the bus will not run at “school run” times & the service will be provided day time only Mon-Fri. The staff at the new surgery would like to encourage people to cycle to the surgery but the EA will not allow bridging of the flood defences to provide a cycle path from the riverside cycle path.

 

Questions & comments

If the site is a flood risk area then won’t the under croft be at risk of flooding/

The risk is 1:120 years. The under croft is designed to EA standards to allow flood water to pass through the building.

Alan Tiplady asked about the opening hours

08:00-20:00 Mon-Fri. Possible w/end opening The Castle Surgery will help to spread out workload because there will be more staff available. At the moment there are surges of emergency admissions to hospitals; the new way of working will help hospitals by spreading admissions throughout the day.

What other services are available?

At 1st there will be physiotherapy, a pharmacy & community services. The group are planning to provide more e.g. specialist care, 3rd sector organisations & out patient services from hospitals.

Will each practice retain its patients?

Already people can see which GP they like, at the new surgery it will be the same but there may be a GP available who has special expertise who may be more suitable.

More houses will be built; will the practice expand?

We have done as much as possible to “future proof” it; it isn’t just about nos. but shifting care to the community from hospitals. The population will increase & so will the complexity of the problems presented by patients.

Will “triage” be provided through being able to speak to a GP on the ‘phone?

Seeing a GP as the 1st line of contact is an imperfect science & there will be a different system. “Advanced access” looks at demand, e.g. practices are very busy Mon-Fri & being open only in the week is not enough. A new system; “Dr. First” ensures the most experienced physicians are upfront. A patient ‘phones, the GP calls back, the patient may need tests 1st so may be booked to see a nurse for e.g. blood tests, then sees the GP when the results of the tests are known. The GP may thus only need 5 minutes with the patient. Complex cases are booked for a 15 minute consultation. The system gives health care staff more information to be able structure consultations & provide appropriate routes of care.

A new resident said that a system similar to the 1 outlined by Dr Paige was in place at the practice he attended before moving here & it worked very well.

We have to keep changing systems to benefit patients

Will the electronic prescription system be in place?

At the moment lots of IT work is in progress, we are hoping to launch the hew system very soon.

Will patients be able to nominate Lady Bay pharmacy for prescriptions?

It is the patient’s choice; he/she may go to the pharmacy on site or use one near home.

 

Meeting closed 22:05

 

LBCA’s AGM is on Wednesday 22nd Oct, 20:00, All Hallows’ Church Hall

Public meeting and AGM

Lady Bay Community Association

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 17 October 2012 at All Hallows Church Hall

 

Present
46 including Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender

Apologies
Maureen Mitchell, committee member LBCA; Nick Ebbs & Julian Marsh, speakers

 

The Chairman welcomed all present & introduced David Lyneham-Brown & Tony Pitman from the Grantham Canal Society & Amanda Morgan Volunteer Leader from the Canal & River Trust (CRT).

 

Grantham Canal – Past, Present & Future
David gave a presentation with photographs & pictures. The Grantham Canal passes through three counties - Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire & Lincolnshire. It is 200 years old and 33 miles long. It runs from Grantham to the River Trent via the Vale of Belvoir. It was built in the 1790s to transport coal & agricultural products. Its depth at Woolsthorpe is about 5’3” but in some places it is only a few inches deep. The canal is “remaindered” & is owned by the CRT except for its two ends. The Grantham canal is one of the most bio-diverse canals in the UK. Near Cotgrave the canal has reeds and many water birds. More than 40 bridges over the canal have been demolished and other roads built over the canal with the water in a culvert beneath the roads; locks are derelict. Trees have fallen in and there are logs and excess vegetation in the water. Restoration has been taking place since 1990. Some sections are working and have boats on them including the society’s working boat. The society runs boat trips on their 12-person boat from Woolsthorpe to the A1. About eight miles have been restored to form the Grantham Canal Linear Leisure Park. Water flow will improve with increased navigation.

The society’s projects include:

• Restoration of the Grantham Basin, a 40-acre brown field site about half a mile from Grantham town centre along with regeneration of the region around the basin
• Trent Link between the canal & the river Trent near Holme Pierrepont with a “green link” to Cotgrave. A public/private partnership is to be set up to carry out this project which will create 28 linear miles of water-facing shoreline
• Restoration of old track-way from the canal to Belvoir Castle
• The restoration of Stenwith Locks
• Refurbishment of the Mudlark dredger and an auxiliary boat
• Planting meadowlands
• Clearing the dry section
• Refurbishment of Woolsthorpe depot
• Hoping to persuade English Heritage to take over lock 13 lock keeper’s cottage, built in 1794 and part of the Duke of Rutland’s estate

The Grantham Canal Rangers are a group of the society’s volunteers who look after the length of the canal & encourage local communities to be involved.

The society would like to see a diversity of uses with an upgraded towpath. No motorbikes or any vehicles using the canal surface when it is frozen however!

The silt from the canal is non-toxic so can be spread on adjoining fields.

A festival was held in 2007 at the Grantham end to raise the profile of the society & raise funds. The society has made a bid for a grant for training of volunteers and restoration of the canal. “The Romantic Canal” book & other items including a set of beer mats designed by a local artist are for sale to raise funds for the society & are available at the display near the entrance to the hall this evening. Please have a look at the display. The society’s website address is: www.granthamcanal.org

Questions & comments

The Chairman asked whether there was any interest and/or funding for the society’s work from Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) or the County Council.

There is interest but no money. A bid for £800,000 has been made to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The canal passes through three counties and six boroughs/districts.

A resident asked whether the Trent link or the restoration of the Grantham basin was the most important major project.

Probably the basin as that would increase the likelihood of the Trent link.

Amanda Morgan of the CRT stated that CRT used to be British Waterways. It is now a charity (www.canalrivertrust.org.uk). Amanda explained that there are many volunteering opportunities working with CRT & the Grantham Canal Society. If anyone is interested see Amanda, David or Tony or leave your name on the list at the display or with the LBCA Secretary.

Questions & comments

The Secretary asked about the section of the canal supposedly cared for by the Environment Agency near the Trent – it is in a very bad state.

David suggested that this section could be used as chevron moorings for boats. Unfortunately this section could never be used as part of the canal as back in 1998 reinstatement of the canal along its original line was estimated to cost £12,500,000.

The Chairman thanked David and Amanda and introduced Sam Hudson, chair of FrOTH.

 

FrOTH Report
Nothing to add to the report in the newsletter. Volunteers wanted at the monthly working parties on the 1st Sunday of the month from 2-4 pm meeting at the small car park near Holme Grove. See the website: www.friendsofthehook.org.uk

There were no questions or comments.

The Chairman thanked Sam and introduced Sian Trafford of Lady Bay Litter Pickers.

 

Lady Bay Litter Pickers
There is a report on p20 of the newsletter. The most recent “pick” was on the bunker area at the junction of Lady Bay Road and Rutland Road. The next is on Sunday 28 October at 10:00, meet outside the Lady Bay Pub. There may be a “pick” in November – look at the Litter Action website for information. litteraction.org.uk/lady-bay-litter-pickers

Questions & comments

A resident stated that she was unable to help at weekends. Would it be a good idea for people to keep sections of road & pavement or part of the Hook litter free when they are passing through?

Yes, this would be a good idea. Ideas could be suggested via the Lady Bay website as there is a Litter Pickers page www.ladybay.co.uk

The Chairman thanked Sian.

There was no FIELDS report.

The Chairman introduced Richard Mallender.

 

Neighbourhood Watch Report
Richard has just attended the Local Area Group (LAG) meeting earlier this evening – this is a meeting between local police and people, in this case for the Lady Bay and Abbey wards. All welcome. Please let Richard know if you would like to help with Neighbourhood Watch in a road or section of road. Lady Bay is a low crime area. Theft from cars is the most common crime and can be prevented by taking measures such as removing sat navs. There has been a spate of thefts of cars parked in the rugby club car park with 10 stolen.

There were no questions or comments.

 

Treasurer’s Report
Copies of the accounts were distributed. Please note that the Community Fund has a separate budget line. FIELDS and Lady Bay Arts Festival are to pay their share of the public liability insurance. FIELDS has £14,000 kept in case it is necessary to engage a lawyer etc to counter a threat to the land east of Lady Bay.

There were no questions or comments.

The accounts were proposed by Alan Bell, seconded by Sylvia Wilkins and accepted.

The chairman thanked Richard.

 

Committee Elections
There are two directly elected posts:

Secretary: Sue Mallender

Treasurer: Richard Mallender has been Treasurer for five years and would like to step down; James Strawbridge has volunteered to take on the role.

Representatives from affiliated groups:

FIELDS: Claire Kay
Lady Bay Arts Festival: Brenda Baxter/Jean Guest
Lady Bay Litter Pickers: Sian Trafford
Lady Bay Planters: Fiona Boyd/Rebecca Archibald

Committee members nominated in advance:

Angie Dickenson
John Finney
Lawrence Geary
Peter Hammond
Richard Mallender
Ike Malik
Maureen Mitchell
Sarjit Singh
Alan Tiplady
Sylvia Wilkins

All the above were elected unanimously.

Three more may be co-opted – please contact the Chairman or Secretary if you are interested.

The chairman introduced Reverend Mark Rodel, new vicar for All Hallows’ Church, Lady Bay with St. Edmund’s, Holme Pierrepont & Adbolton.

 

Reverend Mark Rodel
Mark has come from Portsmouth. He and his wife and three children are moving to Lady Bay vicarage on Holme Rd in early 2013 when building work on the house has been finished. The former incumbent, Robert Breckles, was a full-time Rector; Mark will spend half his time here and half teaching at St John’s College. He will be in Lady Bay on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays in the day & the evening. Mark’s licensing service took place on Thursday 13 Sept partly in the Lady Bay pub. Mark is also a Pioneer Minister who will focus on non-church goers. He is interested in art and is a graduate of Winchester School of Art.

There were no questions or comments.

The Chairman thanked Mark & introduced Richard Mallender.

 

Ward Boundary Changes RBC
The boundary commission has suggested new boundaries for West Bridgford. The proposal is to alter the boundary of Lady Bay ward by incorporating the Adbolton end of Trent Boulevard, the east side of Adbolton Grove and Moore Close in the ward. Greenacres and Adbolton Lane would be in Gamston North ward. If anyone wishes to comment or make suggestions these need to be sent to the Boundary Commission by Sunday 12 November 2012. www.lgbce.org.uk

 

Community Energy in Lady Bay
As Nick and Julian were unable to attend Richard gave the presentation they prepared. The Meadows Ozone Energy Services (MOZES) mozes.co.uk has been set up in the Meadows area to combat two problems:

• To reduce energy costs to residents as energy prices have been going up by 9-16% per year, an average rise of £160 per year in 2011.
• To reduce the amount of energy used and therefore help stop climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

MOZES is an Energy Services Company (ESCO). An ESCO is a long-term arrangement with an energy sector partner to supply low cost “green” energy as well as reducing waste and encouraging re-use and recycling. It also has an educational remit with the installation of smart metering helping people to control their energy consumption.

MOZES was set up in 2009 with the help of the Meadows Partnership Trust; it is a social enterprise with the Nottingham Energy Partnership (NEP). There is an energy advisor programme and interest-free green loans are available. Funding bids have been made to the Big Green Challenge Competition and to the Low Carbon Communities Challenge; the latter resulted in £615,000 for solar technology with the Meadows becoming one of 12 nationally recognised low carbon communities. 55 solar photo voltaic installations have been set up. The Feed in Tariff (FIT) creates community endowment as people are given solar panels and receive reduced energy bills as they can use the generated electricity in their homes. The FIT money goes to the community - £20,000 so far. The eco-houses on Green Street in the Meadows have regular open days – information is on the website www.ourgreenstreet.co.uk. The Meadows has an electric community car for which there is a charging point. There is no charge for Meadows residents to join MOZES. The Meadows partnership trust benefits as it earns a fee for the work done. Nottingham City Council and Nottingham City Homes have reps on the board of MOZES which has an elected board with co-opted members.

Lady Bay has a large carbon footprint as most of the houses are Victorian or Edwardian with solid walls. An ESCO could be set up here with co-operation with energy companies. Power companies are supposed to be installing smart meters but if you want to find out about your energy use smart meters can be borrowed from West Bridgford library. A working group could be set up to look at the feasibility of an ESCO for Lady Bay. Please see Richard if you are interested.

Questions & comments

Will there be help from NEP?

Yes.

Could the county council’s energy team help?

Yes, also Sheila Hood from Rushcliffe Borough Council.

The chairman thanked Richard.

 

Any Other Business
None.

Meeting closed 21:25.

Spring public meeting

Lady Bay Community Association

Minutes of Spring meeting held on Wednesday 9 May 2012 at All Hallows Church Hall

Present
54 including Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender.

Apologies
Peter Hammond, Vice Chair, LBCA;  Angie Dickenson and Sylvia Wilkins Committee members, LBCA; Brenda Baxter, Lady Bay Arts Festival; Fiona Boyd, Lady Bay Planters; Nick Ebbs.

 

The Chairman welcomed all present & introduced Joe Rosselli.

 

Voluntary Work in Uganda
Joe gave a PowerPoint presentation on his voluntary work in Uganda with the charity Smile International. Joe thanked Lady Bay for their generous donations to the fund. He is going to set up a pen pal scheme between children in Uganda & children at Lady Bay School. He also will send back videos.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman thanked Joe & introduced Phil Machin, manager of the National Water Sports Centre (NWSC) & Derek Keating, Service Director of Youth, Families & Culture at Nottinghamshire County Council.

 

The Water Sports Centre
The County Council wants to engage a private company to manage and invest in the NWSC. Key features such as canoeing, rafting and free public access to the country park are to be retained. There has been a lot of interest from potential partners. A shortlist of three will be made and the procurement process will take place over the next few weeks. At the moment it costs the County Council £1million/year to operate. The preferred bidder will be informed in early autumn. The decision will be ratified around Xmas 2012 and the company should take over in April 2013.

All bids must enhance the provision for water sports; keep free access to the country park & include investment in the centre. LBCA have sent in opinions from local people which are broadly in agreement with the wishes of the council with regard to the nature of the bid.

Questions & comments

Who owns the land & lakes opposite the NWSC?

The land is in private ownership.

Is there to be a “wave ride”?

Indoor surfing can be provided with a “wave ride”. Some of the bidders have suggested a wave ride or something similar. Regular meetings will be held with the bidders to ascertain what they propose.

The Nottingham City Transport (NCT) buses have stopped running to the NWSC so there is no public transport.

This is an issue for the bidders.

LBCA have asked for the regular route of the 11 bus to be extended.

Will the new rowing lake built for the London Olympics have an effect on the NWSC?

There is a risk but all bidders want to broaden the offer of the centre so it will not be so reliant on rowing events.

The centre needs better publicity.

Yes, this is an accepted issue. A private company will be better at marketing than the County Council.

Will there be a marina & a link to the Grantham Canal?

This would not be one of the major drivers but the council is happy to consider all proposals. This would probably be a longer term plan.

Alan Tiplady asked whether cycling & walking facilities will be considered.

The county have made it a requirement that free access is maintained. Cycle & walking routes in the NWSC & for access are to be increased. A new cycle track is to be set up on the former “Buggy Land” site.

Is the gym staying?

There is no guarantee but it seems likely that it will remain.

The catering is very poor at the moment – will it be improved?

This is why the County Council want a private business running the centre as much better catering & hospitality is needed.

Are there plans for the camp site?

All the bidders want to continue running the camp site as it gives a good regular income & provides accommodation for teams taking part in events.

Who will own the NWSC?

The County Council will own the centre; a private company will run it.

How long will the contract last & what is the expected level of investment?

It is difficult to say as yet. The county is in discussion with the companies as more investment will mean there will be a longer term contract. The contract could be 10-50+ years depending on the scope of investment. A £ multi-million investment would be expected over a long period of time.

Is the camp site open to the public?

Yes. The site is becoming more popular.

There is already a café.

Yes there is but it is poorly situated. There is also a small coffee shop in the “Peak Shop”.

The chairman stated that sometimes private contractors don’t maintain some sections of sites and this can lead to dereliction & eventual expense for the public.

The council will have to make sure that there are controls in place as part of the contract. The large building on the site is in poor condition & needs significant investment.

What events are coming up?

On Mon 4 June there is a beacon celebration for the Diamond Jubilee with a floating beacon, fireworks, live music & a craft fair; free entry and £5 parking fee.

On Thu 28 June the Olympic torch will be carried on a boat across the rowing lake.

There are dragon boat & power boat events coming up. On Sat/Sun 7 & 8 July for the Cultural Olympiad there is a free “big dance” event.

Is there a website? What about using the West Bridgford Local News to publicise events?

There is a website www.nwscnotts.com with links to and from other sites; there is an email list, a facebook site and twitter (@nwscnotts). A link with LBCA has been made via the Secretary.

There was a notice board about events on Regatta Way that has now been removed.

This was removed as a new sign was needed but it has been too expensive to replace.

Phil has made many improvements to the NWSC.

Thanks. Community Pay Back workers were used.

 

The Chairman thanked Phil & Derek & introduced Justine Drury, Channel swimmer.

 

Channel Swim
Justine gave a presentation about her swim which took place on 25 June 2011. It was a two person relay swim which is the most unusual method, with each swimmer swimming one hour at a time. This increases the risk of hyperthermia.

Justine and her partner, Kate Vines, started from Samphire House, between Dover and Folkestone. The Channel is 21 miles/34 km across. The water temperature is 15-18 degrees C whilst a swimming pool is 28 degrees C. The swim was estimated to take 10-20 hours; Matthew Webb first swam the Channel in 21 hours. Problems include jellyfish, sewage, shipping (400/day), debris & seasickness. Channel swimmers can only wear a swimming costume, a swimming hat, goggles, grease and earplugs. Usually front crawl is the chosen stroke.

Justine & Kate practised in the Trent and at the NWSC. There were a lot of biting invertebrates in the NWSC water.

They started the swim at 05:00 and the swim took them 9 hours 58 minutes.

On the French coast Justine and Kate were met by gendarmes as they scrambled on sharp rocks; the French authorities do not allow Channel swimming so all swims are from England to France with a boat to take the swimmers back.

Justine and Kate won awards from the Channel Swimming Association and Nottingham City Council and raised £15,000 for the Teenage Cancer Unit at the Queen’s Medical Centre.

Questions and comments

Justine was asked if she had suffered any ill-effects.

A wrist strain – but training very hard helped to reduce the possibility of injury.

 

The chairman thanked Justine and introduced Rev Robert Breckles.

 

Retirement
Robert mentioned that the River Trent used to be a popular swimming venue in the ‘40s &’50s and that he has performed a baptism in the river.

Robert is retiring after 28 years in Lady Bay. The new vicar will be the Reverend Mark Rodell who is moving from Portsmouth in Sept. Half his stipend from the diocese will be for working as a lecturer at St John’s College, Bramcote, so he will be part-time in Lady Bay.

There may be implications regarding the management of the All Hallows’ Church Halls. 25 organisations use the halls from 08:00-21:00 daily. The halls are a vital part of the community, especially for children and families & the elderly. They are also used for private parties. It is difficult to recruit people to help with the running of the halls.

On the Halls committee there are four reps from the church council and four reps of user groups; James Strawbridge represents LBCA on the committee. Richard Farr has been the lettings manager since 1983, with Alison Walker providing admin support from 1983, Maureen Mitchell is currently the site manager and general secretary. Recently energy saving measures have been installed such as solar panels on the church roof, double glazing & sensors on the electric lights. The panels provide £600/year for the halls through the feed-in tariff.

The committee needs volunteers. The committee meets 4-5 times per year. The AGM is in the Duesbury Lounge at 20:00 on Mon 28 May – all welcome.

When the halls were refurbished the £1/4 million from the National Lottery imposed an 80-year charge that the halls had to continue as a community facility.

The profits from the halls go into a development fund.

The halls were built in 1969 and were supposed to last 25 years. If there are not enough volunteers then a paid site manger may have to be employed.

 

There were no questions or comments.

 

The chairman thanked Robert for all his work in Lady Bay over the years and introduced Sam Hudson, Chair of Friends of The Hook (FrOTH).

FrOTH Report
Sam mentioned that there is a full report in the Spring LBCA newsletter.

A bench has been erected in memory of founder member Miche Broad. The dipping pond has been dug; dipping platform to be added later. The wildflower meadow has been seeded.

The next working party is on Sun 13 May. 14:00-16:00, meet at the “Fishermen’s” Car Park. The AGM is on Wed 23 May in the Duesbury Lounge at 20:00.

Questions & comments

Alan Booth asked whether Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) could cut the grass on the main part of the field in Jul before the school summer holidays rather than in Sept as suggested.

FrOTH will suggest this to RBC.

A resident mentioned that Canada geese like short grass so leaving long grass is a good deterrent.

A resident stated that wildflower meadows should only be cut annually.

The wildflower meadow area will be cut once, in September, as this is best for increasing wildflower diversity.

The Secretary mentioned that the county are going to put in the railings on the paths near the entrances to the Hook on Melbourne & Woodland Roads - at last.

Alan Booth mentioned the problem of cyclists on the riverside path not alerting pedestrians to their presence; he asked whether there was any progress on the signs asking cyclists to ring their bells.

The secretary said that Derek Hadyn from RBC has informed LBCA that the site is unsuitable for signs.

 

The chairman thanked Sam & introduced Sian Trafford of Lady Bay Litter Pickers.

 

Lady Bay Litter Pickers
The litter pickers group needs more volunteers. The latest technology is now available with “Bag O” to keep the bags open. The group also has dinosaur mini-grabbers for children. The next pick is on Sat 25 May.

There were no questions or comments.

 

The chairman thanked Sian and introduced Tony Pitman and David Lyneham-Brown from the Grantham Canal Society.

 

Grantham Canal
The Grantham Canal Society want to help the people of Lady Bay develop a programme of maintenance for the canal & to answer any questions people may have.

Wildflower meadows could be developed along the banks.

Please look at the website www.granthamcanal.org and tell the society what you want.

There were no questions or comments.

 

The chairman thanked Tony and David and introduced Rebecca Archibald.

 

Planters
Fiona Boyd and Rebecca oversee the adoption of the planters. A few are still not adopted – are there any volunteers? Rebecca has a map with her to show which ones need someone to look after them. Please let Rebecca know if you are looking after one that isn’t on her list.

There were no questions or comments.

 

The chairman thanked Rebecca & introduced Julian Marsh.

 

Development Plan – Community Energy
Julian works for Meadows Ozone Energy Services Limited (MOZES) which is a Community Owned Energy Company in The Meadows that runs with the help of the Meadows Partnership Trust. 70 homes in the Meadows have been fitted for free with photo-voltaic (PV) panels and the feed-in tariff from these goes to the energy company. “Green Loans” are available for insulation, bikes, PV panels, energy efficient white goods etc. The company have permission to build a wind turbine. There is an energy advisor who can advise people and education on energy is provided for local schools. The company is working with local landlords with a “green deal”. Loans of up to £10,000 are available for energy saving measures.

A similar scheme could be set up in Lady Bay either through share deals or a co-operative.

There were no questions or comments but it was decided that Julian could come to our autumn meeting to explain more about a community energy scheme.

 

Development Plan – Empty Properties
The Secretary explained that attempts have been made to engage with the owners of the buildings on Trent Boulevard that lie empty. Please contact the Secretary if you know contact details for any owners.

 

The chairman thanked Julian.

 

Any Other Business
A resident mentioned that a tree needs replacing on Seymour Road at its junction with Trent Boulevard. The Secretary will ask for a replacement.

A resident asked whether we could have doorstep glass collection.

Councillor Richard Mallender explained that RBC looked into this a few years ago and decided they couldn’t justify the costs. Small bring sites were given a trial in villages but were not successful. At the moment RBC is assessing footfall at existing bring sites.

The Secretary mentioned that a possible solution would be for the scouts to change their paper banks to bottle banks and this idea is to be discussed with them.

John Finney reminded people that the Lady Bay Summer Fair will be on Sat 23 June from 10:00-22:30 at the Lady Bay Pub followed by an all-denominational church service on Sun 24 June.

The Chairman asked whether anyone would like to help Sylvia Wilkins with the newsletter – Ike Malik volunteered.

 

Meeting closed 22:08.

Public meeting and AGM

Lady Bay Community Association

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 19 October 2011
at All Hallows Hall

 

Present
88 including Councillors Barrie Cooper and Richard & Sue Mallender.

 

Apologies
Peter Hammond, Vice Chair, LBCA, Sian Trafford, Committee member, LBCA.

 

The Chairman welcomed all present & introduced Dr Sean Ottey.

 

GP in Lady Bay

Dr Ottey introduced his partner, Dr Padmakumari Muthuswamy. He explained that they took over the W. Bridgford Medical Centre at the beginning of this year. Dr Ottey stated most strongly that he is not advertising or promoting his and his partner’s services as it is highly unprofessional to advertise in the medical market. Dr Ottey informed us that government spending on health has been frozen since ‘08. Lady Bay used to have a locally based GP. The Primary Care Trust (PCT) has produced a weighty document concerning Primary Care which states that a GP who wants to set up in an area will have to meet 19 points. There is no problem with 17 of these but the remaining two are a stumbling block. The first is geography- the nearest GP surgery is only 1-2 miles away. The second is that there are no suitable consulting rooms. There is also a ban on extra spending on buildings. However this year the Health Bill provides a possible way forward. “If a GP practises from premises provided locally and is seen to develop and offer a quality service, it would be difficult to see how the PCT would not provide support for its further development”.

Questions & comments

Alan Tiplady informed us that five GP practices in West Bridgford are likely to merge together. He asked whether the PCT had been consulted on the proposal to have a GP in Lady Bay.

Yes, the PCT has been consulted but will not support a GP in Lady Bay.

Where will the above mentioned merged practice be based? Wilford has been suggested.

The Chairman stated that there could be as many as eight GP practices moving into one health centre.

Councillor Richard Mallender asked whether a surgery could be run from a room or rooms in a residential property rather than a business.

Yes: there are strict requirements for the room but not the building. A practice could work from one or two rooms; Disability Discrimination Act compliance would be required & there would need to be a washbasin and room for a consulting couch.

Will nursing be provided?

Not initially but if more patients joined the practice then a nursing service could be provided.

The Bay Therapy Centre might be a good place to have a room as the company rents out rooms to health providers.

Robert Parker asked whether Dr Ottey would be leaving the practice he is with now.

No – prepared to offer a service to Lady Bay patients who have difficulty accessing surgeries in W. Bridgford e.g. the elderly, disabled people, parents/carers with young children & those without access to private transport. Initially this would be on one or two days a week then increase.

Will Dr Ottey will be part of the large practice mentioned earlier?

“No-one has approached me to join them. I’m not aware of any merger which currently is pure speculation”.

What sort of timescale are we looking at?

It is difficult to say. The PCT itself will be dismantled in 2013.

Sylvia Wilkins mentioned that there are many elderly residents in Lady Bay who can’t walk to the GP surgeries in West Bridgford.

If the large West Bridgford practice is to be in Wilford then there will be most Lady Bay residents and many residents from other parts of W. Bridgford coming to a practice in Lady Bay.

Alan Tiplady stated that there will be patient consultation before there is a move to one large multi-practice in West Bridgford.

A vote was taken and people were overwhelmingly in favour of a GP setting up a surgery in Lady Bay. LBCA will be working with a potential GP to find suitable premises.

The Chairman thanked Dr Ottey & introduced Sid & Eddie Coombes of Optima Care.

 

Optima Care

Eddie stated that Optima Care has recently bought the Skylarks site on Adbolton Lane. Optima Care is a health care provider that works with people with mental health problems & learning difficulties.  The company has properties in the north & south of England & wants to move into the midlands.  Optima Care has a contract to provide services through the procurement hub of the PCT.

Sid said that there were two areas of concern:

1. The types of client

The service users will be mental health patients returning to the community. The facility will be promoting independence & teaching life skills, providing hope & recovery.

1. What will become of the building?

The building will be totally refurbished; improving the inside & exterior. Some changes will be made to the internal layout. Originally the company wanted to open the facility in Nov 2011 but the opening has been delayed due to changes in health legislation.

Eddie emphasised that Optima Care want to be part of the community. The facility will provide employment opportunities & increase local trade. There will be 50-60 employees, for whom there will be a training & progression programme.

Questions & comments

Sharon Moore asked whether the facility would increase the caseloads of local health professionals in the area.

Optima Care has a contract with NHS Procurement; employees at the facility will be case holders though the company will be contacting local social care teams.

Will the patients be coming from high secure mental health units?

The patients will be coming through the East Midlands Procurement Hub. They will not be coming from secure accommodation. Simon Smith & David Gardener are the PCT reps with whom the company is negotiating.

What will be happening to the hydro pool which used to be used by parents/carers & babies/toddlers & local disability groups as well as Skylarks guests?

Eddie answered that no decision has been made as to the future of the pool.

Robert Parker asked how many patients there will be & whether the facility will be secure.

Sid stated that there will be 20-25 patients detained under the Mental Health Act, there will be open access for patients into the local community.

Will the patients will be coming from hospitals or prisons and will they be sectioned?

Eddie said that patients will be from hospitals, they will be sectioned but will be hoping to have orders removed.

What conditions might patients have?

Depression, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorders.

Is it appropriate to have the unit next to a nursery?

Sid replied that there was no reason why the facility should not be next door to a child care setting.

Will patients be accompanied when out in the community?

Sid answered that some will be accompanied and others not depending on their levels of independence. Some will be being taught new skills & will have someone with them.

Sharon Moore asked what assessment tools are to be used re the safety of patients in the community.

Sid replied that recovery staff models will be used as well as behavioural assessments. Eddie mentioned that the tools used are NHS approved.

Sharon Moore asked whether rehabilitated patents from all over the country will be moving into the community?

Sid said that the services will be for local people.

Councillor Richard Mallender asked whether any of the patients might be ex-offenders, whether any would pose a danger to the community & whether a high fence will be erected around the site.

The patients pose no danger – they are ready to move to independent life. Optima Care will provide a therapeutic community environment for those leaving hospitals. A 2 metre fence will be in place. This is for security as there have been several burglaries nearby & since acquiring the site lead has been stolen from the building.

Councillor Richard Mallender asked whether LBCA could have the names of community groups based in areas near similar existing Optima Care facilities.

Yes, this information will be passed to LBCA.

Will the patients come directly from high secure units?

No, from low secure hospitals.

John Finney wondered whether patients may come from prisons indirectly. 

Patients will not be directly from prisons though some could have been in prison, moved to secure accommodation & then come to the facility. If this is the case the crimes committed are more likely to be minor offences, not violent ones.

Robert Parker asked at what level patients would be on a scale from 1-10 if “normal” people are 1 & Rampton patients 10.

Sid replied that people in the community would be 1s, 2s & 3s & patients 4s, 5s & 6s.

James Strawbridge asked whether there were government guidelines as to what types of mental health patient can live near residential communities.

Yes, placements are the joint responsibility of the provider & the NHS within a framework agreement which takes account of a description of the local community.

Has either or both of you medical qualifications or are you purely businessmen?

Sid answered that he and Eddie own the business and employ medical professionals.

There are already facilities in Lady Bay for people with mental health problems; will this facility change the balance of the community?

Sid stated that it is difficult to determine whether the local demography will be affected.

Sylvia Wilkins pointed out that other facilities in Lady Bay are for people with learning difficulties. These people are in a state of stability whilst mental health patients may not be.

The facility will be for either mental health patients or people with learning difficulties – this hasn’t been decided as yet.

Will it be a mixed facility?

Yes, but wards will not be mixed. There will be on going risk assessments as to the viability of patients going in to the community. Patients are more likely to be a risk to themselves rather than others.

A former resident at Skylarks asked why this site has been chosen. She stated that Lady Bay was the most welcoming community she had ever visited. But the area may be too rural and not provide enough places for patients to find volunteering opportunities in local shops & businesses.

Sid stated that the company was looking for a site in West Bridgford as it is near the city with good public transport & opportunities in W. Bridgford itself.

Eddie said that patients will be from local hospitals. Optima Care wants to help people get back to normal living by supporting them on their way to recovery.

Will planning permission be required?

No: Sid stated that consent for the type of facility planned is already present whilst proposed building modifications are within the original footprint.

We all need to demystify the situation – people in this community are close-knit but should not be closed.

Sharon Moore stated that many people have both learning disabilities & mental illnesses so some patients may have complex needs.

Sid said there could be patients with both learning disabilities and mental illnesses at the facility.

What is the timescale?

Eddie explained that it depends on forthcoming changes in the structure of the NHS. The bid to the East Midlands Procurement Hub was made in 2009 & awarded in 2010. Optima Care has not been able to get a clear definition of the services the NHS needs at the facility.

How long will the company stay in the area?

The company is expecting to be here for 10+ years & will change with the times.

The manager of Holme Lodge stated that she was concerned about staff recruitment to the new unit as it may affect staff retention at Holme Lodge.

Shouldn’t be a problem; there will be employment opportunities at all levels in the new unit.

A new resident stated that she found Lady Bay very welcoming – we should make Optima Care and their new residents welcome too.

The chairman thanked Eddie & Sid and introduced County Councillor Barrie Cooper.

 

The Future of the Water Sports Centre

The centre is unique in the UK; providing water sports and a 270 acre country park. There is a 2000m lake, a canoe slalom & rafting course, a ski-tow, a camp site, meeting rooms & a conference centre, sports hall, fitness studio and young people’s adventure facility. The facility is owned by the County Council, which took on full responsibility in 2009. Previously the facility was leased to Sport England & managed by a private sector organisation giving £500,000/year to the county council which in turn provided a range of activities. In 2009 Sport England made a £2 million capital contribution to the Water Sports Centre. In financial year 2010/11 the Water Sports Centre made an operating loss of £300,000. The County Council is intending to retain ownership & approach interested parties to run the centre on behalf of the County Council. Capital works which are needed will be jointly financed by the council and its partner. There has been a bidders’ day where possible companies were given a briefing & the decision will be made as to the successful bidder on 12 August 2012. The bidding process will cost the council £200,000. The camp site is to be increased in size from 50-130 places with associated improvements to the toilet block etc. The conference facility is outdated & needs an upgrade.

Questions & comments 

The chairman summed up the situation by stating that, in a nutshell, no one knows what’s going to happen to the Water Sports Centre & there will be no opportunity for consulting the community.  

Will services running at the moment still continue to run?

Yes – the county wants to improve the services offered.

Malcolm Todd asked how a third party would make money from the centre if the county council retain ownership.

The intention is to increase use as the facility is underused at the moment.

Councillor Richard Mallender asked what would happen if no company comes forward: Will the county council continue to run the centre?

Yes, the county council will continue to run the centre if there are no successful bids.

Has the water sport centre ever made money?

Probably not.

The centre needs better publicity.

Yes, this is an accepted issue.

Why doesn’t the county run the centre instead of involving a third party?

There would have to be many new workers taken on which the county cannot do at the moment.

Will any new ownership affect access for dog walkers etc.?

There will be no change as to public rights of way.

The chairman mentioned that people have been prevented from walking on the public footpath during an event at the centre. He also asked how people can have some input into the decisions made.

Could there be several owners of different parts of the site?

No – one company would run the whole lot.

Robert Parker asked about the implications of traffic movements & noise if there is an increase in use.

The chairman stated that LBCA would be contacting the county council to voice our concern.

Increased use may result in more traffic on Trent Boulevard & Adbolton Lane; will there be any access changes?

Could be – don’t know as yet.

Have current users been informed?  Holme Pierrepont running club appear not to know anything about it.

Users should be informed.

The chairman voiced the concern that the water sports centre may go the same way as Rushcliffe’s leisure properties, managed by Parkwood Leisure, with a drop in service.

The chairman thanked Councillor Cooper & introduced Councillor Richard Mallender.

 

Neighbourhood Watch Report:

The Chairman mentioned that Alan Wain of W. Bridgford Neighbourhood Watch has “2 Steps Ahead” cards to be delivered in West Bridgford. Alan needs volunteers to help, please see the Chair at the end of the evening if you are able to help.

Richard recommended that people access the Neighbourhood Alert system via Nottinghamshire Police’s web site which gives information about crime trends & informs people about issues to look out for.

Questions & Comments

Angie Dickenson also recommended the Neighbourhood Alert system.

The chairman thanked Richard and introduced Malcolm Todd.

 

Lady Bay Litter Pickers

The most recent “pick” was on the Hook on Sat 15 October. The group has been running for three years. Malcolm would like someone to take over the group – if you are interested please speak to Malcolm at the end of the meeting or contact him via the Lady Bay Litter Pickers web site.

The chairman thanked Malcolm and introduced Sam Hudson, Chair of Friends of the Hook (FrOTH).

 

FrOTH Report

The site for the pond has been identified; it will be on the south side of the ditch.

A fundraising event is taking place on Sat 12 November at 20:00 at the Poppy & Pint – a performance by Tokyo Green, instrumental rock/jazz musicians – tickets £4 on the door.

FrOTH has secured funding for the wildflower meadow seeds which will be sown this winter.

Questions & comments

A resident from Adbolton Grove mentioned that Severn Trent is replacing sewerage pipes across the fields immediately to the east of Lady Bay.

Alan Booth mentioned the problem of cyclists on the riverside path not alerting pedestrians to their presence; he asked whether there was any progress on the signs asking cyclists to ring their bells.

The secretary said she would follow up the situation as RBC had suggested there may be funding for signs a few years ago but nothing seems to have happened.

The chairman thanked Sam and introduced Claire Kay, Chair of FIELDS.

 

FIELDS Report

Claire presented the FIELDS accounts. This year £2,889 was raised from the Open Gardens weekend. Next year’s Open Garden’s weekend will be on 7/8 July. If anyone is interested in opening his/her garden please see Claire at the end of the meeting or contact FIELDS via the web site.

FIELDS has donated money into the resurrected Community Fund for distribution to groups and individuals for projects in the community.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman thanked Claire.

 

Community Fund

The Chairman explained that the application forms for the Community Fund are available from Lady Bay Pharmacy & Trent Boulevard Post Office or by email from Maureen Mitchell at [email protected]  Applications need to be received by Mon 31 October.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman introduced John Finney.

 

Summer Fair

John explained that it is proposed to run a Lady Bay Summer Fair on 10 Acre Field next year. The last one was held in 2000. There will be fundraising events leading up to the fair. It will be on the weekend of 23/24 June, with an all-denominational church service on the field on the Sunday. There will be further information coming soon.

There were no questions or comments.

The chairman thanked John and introduced Richard Mallender, LBCA treasurer.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Copies of the accounts have been made available. This year interest is very low at £4.02; this is at the rate of 0.02%. LBCA is covering costs e.g. printing the newsletter & hall hire & has made a small profit of £124.61. The money for the Community Fund is in the LBCA account.

There were no questions or comments.

The accounts were proposed by Chris Trafford, seconded by Sylvia Wilkins & accepted.

The chairman thanked Richard.

 

Committee Elections

There are two directly elected posts:

Secretary: Sue Mallender
Treasurer: Richard Mallender 

 

Representatives from affiliated groups:

FIELDS: Claire Kay
Lady Bay Arts: Brenda Baxter/Jean Guest
Lady Bay Litter Pickers: Malcolm Todd
Lady Bay Planters: Rebecca Archibald
Neighbourhood Watch: vacant

Committee members nominated in advance:

John Finney
Lawrence Geary
Peter Hammond
Maureen Mitchell
James Strawbridge
Sian Trafford
Sylvia Wilkins

Committee members nominated at the meeting:

Ike Malik
Sarjit Singh
Alan Tiplady

All the above were elected unanimously.

The chairman introduced James Strawbridge.

 

Parliamentary Boundary Changes

James explained that the Boundary Commission has been asked to reduce the number of MPs by 50. In the E. Midlands this means that there will be a reduction of 2 seats. The commission has proposed that Rushcliffe constituency disappears; this doesn’t affect Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC).  New constituencies are to be formed from local council wards with no splitting of wards. Lady Bay ward is proposed to become part of Nottingham South. Those people who live on the East side of Adbolton Gr, Adbolton Lane, the last few houses on Trent Boulevard on the even side, Moore Close & Greenacres Park & who are in Gamston ward are to be part of a new Keyworh & Coalville constituency. This will include most of the rural area of Rushcliffe along with NW Leicestershire with the exception of Loughborough. In the Boundary Commission’s proposals Broxtowe constituency would take over Gotham despite there being the River Trent between & no crossing.

James has his own proposal which respects more natural & historical boundaries. Rushcliffe constituency will still be lost but Gamston would be part of Nottingham South whilst the rural rump of Rushcliffe would be combined with the Melton Mowbray area to give a Vale of Belvoir seat.

Questions & comments

The chairman stated that subject to discussion at the next committee meeting LBCA are likely to support James’s proposals & make representation to the Boundary Commission. Please see James after the meeting if you wish to discuss this issue further.

The chairman thanked James & introduced Councillor Richard Mallender.

 

Ward Boundary Changes RBC

Richard explained that due to changes in population RBC has a disparity between wards so that some councillors represent 25% more electors than the average & others 19% fewer. Lady Bay ward has 11% more electors per councillor than the average – anything under or over 10% needs to be changed. The council are likely to suggest changes in boundaries to rectify this situation. They have to take into account possible future changes such as the increase in population from developments such as Sharphill. This change is completely separate from the parliamentary constituency boundary proposals.

Questions & comments

Will parish council boundaries be affected?

No, although the council do like to take them into account which is why the areas at the East of Lady Bay are in Gamston ward not Lady Bay as they are part of Holme Pierrepont & Gamston Parish Council.

Malcolm Todd asked whether it is proposed to reduce the numbers of councillors

A reduction is likely to be part of the proposals suggested by the ruling group on the council.

The chairman thanked Richard.

 

Any Other Business

A resident mentioned that street cleaning remained a problem; he was asked to give details to the chairman after the meeting so that LBCA can report the problem. 

 

Meeting closed 22:10.

Spring public meeting

Lady Bay Community Association

Minutes of Spring public meeting held on Wednesday 18 May 2011 at All Hallows' Church Hall

 

Present
36 including Councillors Richard & Sue Mallender.

 

Apologies
County Councillor Barrie Cooper.

 

The Chairman welcomed all present and introduced Pat Grainger.

 

Jazz in June
Pat informed all present that on Friday 17 June there is to be a jazz conduct featuring ‘Midland Jazz Connection’. This is to raise funds for a bench to be placed on the Hook as a memorial to Miche Broad, a founder member of Friends of the Hook, who died of motor neurone disease (MND) last year. Any remaining profit will be given to a charity researching into MND. Tickets are £10 including strawberries & cream. Derbyshire Building Society is providing prizes for a raffle. Please see Sylvia Wilkins after the meeting if you would like tickets.

The chairman thanked Pat and introduced Neil Brown from the University of Nottingham.

 

Project for Research Student
Neil explained that he runs a scheme where a PhD or post-graduate student carries out research for a voluntary sector group. Possible projects could be looking at the problem of the many empty premises in Lady Bay or doing a feasibility study into the possibility of setting up a GP’s surgery or branch surgery in the area. Has anyone any ideas for other projects? Neil explained that the scheme costs £310. The Chairman informed the meeting that LBCA does have the funds to pay. Neil suggested that the final report could be presented to a body such as the borough or county council as evidence to obtain a service or change facilities for the better.

Questions & comments

The Chairman suggested looking at the provision of the L2 Local Link bus, subsidised by the County Council; at the moment the service is free but it is rumoured that a charge will be made in future.

Robbie Rob informed us that many people used the L2 bus to take bottles & jars to the bottle bank.

Angela Dickenson stated that many people go to & from GP surgeries in West Bridgford on the L2; she also informed us that there is likely to be a merger of five or more GP surgeries in W. Bridgford into a new-build health centre. The Secretary suggested that a branch/satellite surgery would be a more likely possibility than a surgery fully operating in Lady Bay.

A vote was taken and it was agreed that the LBCA Committee look into taking on a student.

The Chairman thanked Neil & introduced Sam Hudson, the new Chair of Friends of the Hook (FrOTH).

 

FrOTH Report
FrOTH is a voluntary group working with Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC), the owners of the site, and the Notts Wildlife Trust to care for the Hook Local Nature Reserve. FrOTH needs new committee members and new working party members. Please see Sam at the end of the meeting if you would like to join the committee. Everyone of any age is welcome on the working parties and members do not have to stay for the full two hours. Please just turn up to help. Over autumn and winter, four low shrub beds of hawthorn and blackthorn have been cleared as well as brambles which were choking trees and growing over footpaths. Patches of brambles, blackthorn and hawthorn have been left for blackberry and sloe picking, and nesting and feeding sites for birds. Near the river bank the group have removed about 40 self-set poplars on the advice of the Notts Wildlife Trust. The mature poplars are not under threat. Native black poplars have been planted between the mature poplars in the hope that they will replace them when the mature trees reach the end of their lives. Unfortunately the black poplars have not survived. We will keep trying. After consultation with residents in Lady Bay, the group have been removing Himalayan balsam by hand rather than spraying with weed killer as the management plan originally suggested. Himalayan balsam is a non-native, prolific, tall growing annual plant that shades out and prevents the growth of other plants, when it dies back in winter the soil is left bare which causes erosion of the river bank as the plant favours damp conditions.

Questions & comments

 Alan Booth asked why it was necessary to remove the self-set poplars from the river bank as some of these trees were 20-30 feet high.

 As laid out in the management plan the Environment Agency (EA) and RBC want all the poplars except for the mature ones to be removed. The FrOTH volunteers left the mature oaks and willow growing on the bank. The FrOTH volunteers will feedback people’s concerns to the EA and RBC.

 Alan also informed people that the angling club remove river bank trees for their annual charity fishing match.

James drew people’s attention to the fact that the FrOTH AGM took place last week on Wednesday 11 May, it isn’t next week on the 22 May as is stated in the LBCA newsletter.

The Chairman thanked Sam and introduced Fiona Boyd of the planters group.

 

Lady Bay Planters Group Report
It has been three years since the group was set up. Many of the adoptions have been very successful, some still need adopters. Please see Fiona at the end of the meeting if you would like to adopt a planter.

A few years ago money was given by the RBC councillors for compost to be given to the adopters. This will be distributed soon in the form of a list of adopters which will be given to Cookson’s and people can sign for their allocation when they collect it. Repairs are needed to the planters on the corner of Trent Boulevard and Mona Road and Gertrude Road. Fiona and the RBC councillors will contact County Councillor Barrie Cooper re this problem.

Questions & comments

A planters’ adoption group has now been set up in another part of West Bridgford.

Garden refuse has been dumped on a planter. This may become a more common problem in future with the charge for the green bins.

The Chairman said that there is a suggestion in the LBCA newsletter that residents join with two or three neighbours and share the cost of one or two (the second is £10/year) bins between them.

Many streets in Lady Bay have clearly not been cleaned for a very long time.

We will contact RBC’s “Streetwise”. They are now reactive rather than proactive.

Robert Parker asked that a copy of the rota for street cleaning be obtained by LBCA.

The chairman and secretary will ask RBC for this.

The Chairman thanked Fiona and introduced Ellie from FIELDS.

 

FIELDS Report
Ellie informed people that it is Lady Bay Open Gardens this weekend, 21/22 May, 12-6. This year the refreshments will be provided at the Scout Hut on Mona Road. The gardens trail starting point is 164, Trent Boulevard, though you can start at any garden. As FIELDS has sufficient funds at the moment, a Community Fund may be set up so that groups and individuals in Lady Bay may apply for money for projects in the area. Volunteers are needed to be on the committee that will decide which projects will benefit.

There were no questions or comments.

The Chairman thanked Ellie and gave a report on the former Skylarks holiday home for disabled people.

 

Skylarks
The owners, Vitalise, closed the premises down last year. Lorraine from the West Bridgford Equestrian Centre says that the site has been bought by Optima Care that provides rehabilitation for people with a variety of needs, eg mental health disorders, learning difficulties, former offenders aged over 50. Does anyone have any information? The Chairman has suggested to Lorraine that she has a look at other existing Optima Care homes.

Fiona has heard that Nottingham City Council’s Learning Disabilities Team may be moving to the building.

 

Travellers
There are some travellers currently on the land east of Lady Bay. The County Council own the land and are working with the police to move them on.

 

The Chairman introduced Malcolm Todd of Lady Bay Litter Pickers.

 

Lady Bay Litter Pickers
Litter picking has started again this year & the last ‘pick’ was on Sunday 8 May at 14:00; the next is on Saturday 4 June at 10:00 meeting at Lady Bay Primary School.

The Chairman thanked Malcolm and introduced Richard Mallender to give a report on Neighbourhood Watch.

 

Neighbourhood Watch Report
Richard explained that he does not run Neighbourhood Watch, he is a road co-ordinator for part of Trent Boulevard, and more road co-ordinators are needed. Richard informed people that there is a West Bridgford Neighbourhood Watch meeting on Wednesday 25 May at Rushcliffe Conservative Club on Rectory Road at 19:15, all welcome.

There are signs at the entrances to Lady Bay; “Police operation in progress” these refer to ‘Operation Concentric’ which has been put in place by the police as a result of an increase in burglary and vehicle crime in Lady Bay and Trent Bridge. Police have been increasing their patrols and placing officers on Lady Bay and Trent Bridges. The operation has been effective in preventing crime & catching perpetrators.

The next Lady Bay Local Area Group meeting is on Thursday 23 June at 19:30, venue TBC. All welcome to this meeting.

The Chairman thanked Richard and introduced Maureen Mitchell.

 

Lady Bay website
Simon Anthony, who used to run the Lady Bay website, has now moved to London. Dan Patterson has set up a new site and Maureen is administrating it. Volunteers are needed to update pages, we already have Will Murray to do a road safety page and Don Read to do pages on music as well as crime figures. A lost & found pets’ page is another idea that has been suggested. Any other ideas or volunteers please see Maureen at the end of the meeting.

 

Any Other Business
Alan Booth informed those present that the LBCA bid to the County Council’s Local Improvement Scheme to obtain funds to put up a handrail on the Hook from Melbourne Road has been successful and RBC and the county should be putting this up soon. He thanked LBCA for making the bid.

The Secretary mentioned that she had reported the dog dirt bin that she has been told will not open on the Hook, near the Holme Grove entrance, to RBC.

Hazel Kerr informed us that the lid does open with a lot of effort.

The Secretary asked whether Rutland Road has been cleaned as she reported it to Streetwise some time ago.

A resident reported that it was still very dirty with a lot of debris from trees and shrubs that has in places rotted down into soil.

The Chairman introduced Peter Hammond who gave an illustrated talk on the history of Adbolton with questions and answers afterwards. Peter also stated that he will be leading another guided walk around Adbolton on Friday 23 June, meeting at 19:00 at the No 11 bus turning circle.

 

Meeting closed at 21.45.

 

The LBCA AGM & Autumn meeting will be on Wednesday 19 October at 20:00 at All Hallows’ Church Hall.