Friends of Darwen Cemetery
Dated 1 September 2014
Minutes for Management Meeting on 27 August 2014 at 6.00 pm
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Present: John East (Chair), Tony Foster, Paul Dargan, Peter van Dijk (minutes), Colin Briggs,
Kath Walsh, Jill Marr.
1. Apologies: .Steve Davies, Diane Davies, Diane Walsh, Mick Walsh. (Mick was attending
a Your Call meeting on behalf of FODC.)
2. Minutes of the last Meeting: accepted.
3. Matters Arising: A repeat of the Barn Dance to take place next year should be pursued. Jill
4. General comments from the Chairman – John: none.
5. Treasurer’s report – Diane was away so no report. John said he’d signed the cheque for
the work on D1 by Brent Stevenson.
6. Grounds Strategy report – Mick had sent in a report, which is attached to these
minutes. The Your Call wagon had removed three loads of waste including lots of
rhododendron clippings from Section D1. Lots of work had been done on Section D1
(see below).
Work has started on the path to the war graves in Section F. Diane D thinks we may be
able to recover the costs of making this path, by claiming back from BwD some of the
£5 CWGC pay each year for each of their war graves. John is still to ask BwD what they
do with the £5 payments. We may be able to get the £5 paid to FODC directly. Diane is
pursuing this.
John
Diane D
Discussion on the knotweed situation continued. John has sent a note to Adrian
Harper, and will continue to press for BwD to face up to its responsibilities to cordon
off affected areas and put up warning notices.. It was agreed that Peter should send an John
official letter pointing out BwD’s statutory obligation under the Wild Life Act to warn
the public and to deal with knotweed in any of their property to which there is public
access. (John subsequently asked Peter to delay this until he had had further words
with Adrian. )
7. Education and Interpretation report – Diane and Tony. Now Diane has relinquished her
responsibilities for Education (due to pressures on her time and her commitment to
the War Graves), we need someone to take this on. Tony will take it on for the interim,
but we need someone with experience of education, e.g. a retired teacher.
Suggestions please.
All
8. Publicity and Media report – John and Paul. A recent article in the Telegraph had been
disappointing.
9. Special Projects
9.1. WW1 HLF Project – Jill has sent round a note (attached to these minutes) on the
meeting of Steve, Jill, John and Karimah with Rebecca from the Heritage Lottery
Fund. We need to focus on their Outcomes Measures which they use to evaluate
applications. We have to deliver against at least 2, which shouldn’t be a problem –
e.g. Heritage and People. Heritage needs to focus on the historical context, the
role of the cemetery within the community and the position of Darwen in WW1.
Everything in the bid must be new – HLF won’t pay for anything we’ve already
done. Suggestions include improving visitor experience by putting QR codes on
each CWGC grave, bringing school children by the Darwen double decker bus, and
hiring uniforms and employing two actors to take on the roles of WW1 soldiers.
We need plans of how many schools and children will be visiting over, say, the
next four years, and what they will learn.
Tony will provide a mock-up of the Roll of Honour. The work will be done under
the FODC umbrella and not for the Library Friends, as had been erroneously
suggested. Tony will also produce a questionnaire to measure public support at
the Heritage Open Day.
We need costings for everything.
The HLF bid has to be in by mid-March ready for a July 2015 decision.
9.2. Heritage Open Day on 13 September – John will notify the Telegraph and Radio
Lancashire. We will all come in on Thursday 11 September at 6pm to get the room
ready. The hut is booked from Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon.
Refreshments will be considered on Thursday. On the Saturday, we will need to be
there by noon, when we will put up the gazebo and the banner.
9.3. Section D1 – Work is progressing well. Brent Stevenson’s firm had repaired and reerected the large headstones over two days. The Friends had installed stabilising
ground collars and levelled the kerb set on the Coyle grave. The original plan to
control and regrow the rhododendron hedge at the back of the old rose garden
proved impossible because of distortion and misalignment. It was decided to
remove the stumps and plant a new hedge at a future date. Much work is
ongoing, including the restoration of individual graves and cutting back the north
boundary hedge. Eventually we will be able to level off the surface and grass it
over. Further progress will be included in the normal working party reports.
10. Charity Commission Annual Return – Peter has now completed the annual return online.
11. AOB.
11.1.
Whitehall in Bloom – We’ve been invited to send representatives to the
Whitehall Country Club on September 17 at 7pm to hear the results.
11.2.
Grave Maintenance Scheme – There will be a special meeting of the
Trustees on 3 September to make decisions about the future of this scheme.
11.3.
Redearth Road War Memorial. Tony declared an interest and said the
Family History Society would like to publish the booklet on CD at a price of £4.50
per copy, from which FODC will receive £1.50. We will get 12 free copies and then
future copies to us will be £3.00. It costs £2.00 to them to produce the copies.
Agreed.
11.4.
There is not yet a plaque on the tree by the lodge planted by FODC to
commemorate the Royal Wedding of William and Kate. Colin is to pursue this with
Brent.
11.5.
Grass cutting offer. Mr Harrison of Ground Care Engineering in Altham has
read about the complaints about grass cutting in the Cemetery. His company has
cut the grass in his local churchyard, and he has offered a day’s work free to clear
the long grass with his heavy machinery, with a view to getting future work. But
Brent has a scheme that he placed before BwD council two years ago and he still
hasn’t had a decision. John and Karimah are seeing MP Jake Berry tomorrow and
will raise it there.
12. Date of Next Meeting – Wednesday 24 September 2014
All
Colin
John