Friends@Belmont
Minutes of the seventh meeting – Wednesday 11 November 2015
Present: Sarah Jones, Jan Tee, Cristina Hogg, Jane Burris
1. Introduction and discussion of the future of F@B
It was great to see the usual suspects at the meeting, but a bit disappointing that we haven’t
attracted any new members as yet. The group has been advertised in the school newsletter and
now has its own section on the school website; and a flyer about the meeting was sent out in
all pupils’ school bags, so we’re not sure what else we can do to promote ourselves.
However, the current members are all keen to keep the group going and feel that we can do so
with the small number of regulars we have, along with the support of extra volunteers as and
when we need them. And, hopefully, if we carry on arranging events and making our
presence known, we might attract some more members. We have also discussed the
possibility of joining forces with the Betteridge friends group (more on this later).
2. Reassignment of roles
Following Sue’s departure, we no longer have an official chairperson, but we have decided
that we don’t really need one. As there are so few of us at the meetings (and we are all very
well behaved!) we don’t need anyone to officially take charge. However, I will take on the
role of arranging the meetings and sending out flyers as part of my role as secretary. Cristina
will carry on as treasurer and other tasks will be assigned as we go along.
3. Possible pre-Christmas events
Belbucks
Following the success of our summer ‘Belbucks’ event, we would like to do something
similar this term, but with a Christmassy theme. Jan’s milkshakes proved particularly popular
at the previous event, so we would definitely want to do those again (but make sure we buy
more milk) and we could also do some non-alcoholic punch and not-too-hot hot chocolate, as
well as mince-pies and Christmas themed cakes and biscuits.
As before, we would charge 50p per item, so pupils (and teachers) could get a drink and
something to eat for £1.00.
We need initially to check with the school if this is feasible and if we can perhaps fit it around
a school event that is already happening, as we did in the summer.
Jane raised concerns about asking pupils to bring money in for this, when there is a lot of
money flying out of peoples’ pockets at this time of year - which is a good point. So we also
need to check with the school if they would be able to subsidise the pupils’ costs as they did
previously.
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We might be hard pressed to put this event on with just the four of us (especially as Jane is
only available from about 1pm because of work commitments), but hopefully we can rope in
some extra volunteers. Sue Saunders has already said she may be able to help out, depending
on the date.
Christmas fayre
We would also like to have a stall at the Christmas fayre, as we did last year.
Jan has spotted that WH Smith have their ‘W’ and ‘H’ bears on sale again this year, so we
could repeat ‘the name the bear game’ that we did previously and also have ‘guess the
number of sweets in a jar’, ‘guess the weight of the cake’ (if I can persuade Mr D to make
one), a lucky dip and a raffle.
Cristina and I both mentioned that we have some second hand toys, books etc. which we
could sell at the fayre to help raise extra funds for F@B, but we would need an extra table for
this.
Firstly, we need to check with the school if there is a Christmas fayre this year (there doesn’t
seem to be anything on the events calendar on the website) and if there is, if we can have
some tables - I think three should be enough.
We will need extra volunteers for this too.
4. Collaboration with Betteridge
At our last F@B meeting, we discussed the possibility of getting together with the Betteridge
friends group to arrange joint events; and it seems they have had the same idea, as they have
contacted us via Mr Day to ask if we would be interested in doing a joint summer fayre in the
summer term. We have said ‘yes please!’ We are waiting to hear back from them on this, but
when we do, hopefully we can get together for a chat and put forward the possibility of
hosting other joint events as well – a school disco for example.
5. Fund raising
We currently have £300 in the kitty, which we can use for supplies for ‘Belbucks’ and the
Christmas fayre. We also hope to cadge some donations for raffle prizes from local
businesses, and will ask for cake donations from parents/carers for Belbucks. So, hopefully,
we can make a bit of money from these events to replenish the coffers.
Ragtex collections are on-going, though I’ve no idea how much is in the bin at the moment. I
have three bin-bags to put in myself, so I’ll have a look. The Rag-Tex bin has been mentioned
in the newsletter, but I suspect there are still a lot of people unaware of its existence because
so few parent/carers come in for drop off/pick-up. We discussed whether we should put
another flyer in school bags – but I don’t think we made a definite decision on this.
Yellow Moon catalogue.
Jan brought this in to show us. It’s a really nice little catalogue selling toys, stationery and
craft materials, which many schools distribute to parents/carers via pupils. Parents’ can order
from the catalogue themselves and the items are delivered directly to them, but if they include
the schools code on the order form then the school gets 10% of the order amount.
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Jan is going to talk to the office to see if this is something we could do through the school to
raise money for F@B.
Action points
Sarah to ask Kevin about ‘Belbucks’ and Christmas fayre and report back to the group.
Jan to talk to the school office about Yellow Moon.
Next meeting
We will need to arrange another meeting very soon to make arrangements for pre-Christmas
events - if we get the go-ahead from school. Date and time to be notified.
If you have any items for the agenda of the next meeting, or any queries regarding these
minutes please contact me at sarahandtilly@hotmail.co.uk or 0744 3412116.
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