In Attendance:             Parish Councillor Allen Pestell

1. Apologies

   Apologies were received from Mick Drewry.

2. Minutes of Meeting Held on 22^nd November 2007.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd November 2007 were approved with the following amendments:

1. Mary Horn was in attendance at the meeting;
2. Regarding the Youth Club item: the Youth Club, not the committee as intimated in the minutes, raised this matter;
3. Discussion took place on preparations for the Christmas Dance on 8^th December.

The minutes were by signed by the Chair and are to be returned to Mrs J Cook. The above noted amendments to be incorporated in due course.

1. Youth Club

   The matter of the Youth Club using the Centre walls for their posters/pictures was taken to the Parish Council meeting on 2^nd January 2008. The issue of the removal of the posters was raised and the DPCA Chair informed the Youth Club leader that, as none of the DPCA Committee have keys to the Youth Club store room, and the posters were found locked away, perhaps the issue is with the Youth Club members and not the DPCA. The DPCA Chair also pointed out to the Youth Club leader that the Centre was used by many different people and the Youth Club only had access one night per week. Other users may not appreciate the Youth Club pictures/posters. It was agreed at the Parish Council meeting that the Youth Club be provided with a board on which all pictures/posters will be placed and this board would be stored away at the end of each meeting. The Chair of the DPCA also suggested to the Youth Club leader that she attend a funding meeting to ask for funding for portable folding screens which would be easier to store.

   The Youth Club leader raised the issue of damp in their storage room and it was agreed by the Parish Council that a ventilation block be put in the door of the storage room.

2. Storage for DPCA

   The Chair reported that the possibility of using the upstairs area had been considered, but it was thought that access would be needed to the electrical fuse boxes at all times, therefore it could not be used for storage. Also, it was noted, access was difficult for large or heavy items. 

   Cllr Pestell, however, confirmed that the area could, and indeed should, be locked as users of the Centre should not have access to the electrics. He suggested that the room is locked and his name and telephone number be put on a clearly visible notice for emergency contact regarding any electrical fault.

3. High Utility Bills

   Doreen asked Cllr Pestell if copies of all utility bills could be supplied to the DPCA so that usage could be monitored against bookings. It was proposed that the DPCA could pay a contribution towards the utility bills based on a percentage of bookings taken. Cllr Pestell thanked the Chair for this offer but declined. Cllr Pestell advised that utility bills were included in the Parish Council agendas/minutes and said he would arrange for Doreen Rothery to be included on the list of people who received minutes of all meetings.

4. DPCA – Formal Response to A Pestell Proposal for Changes to Committee Structure

   The Chair advised that this had been discussed at the January Parish Council meeting and the proposal had been agreed subject to the number of members being reduced to 3 Parish Councillors and 3 residents.

   The Dunford Residents Association (DRA) is to be re-instated and letters are to be sent out to all members inviting them to the first meeting (date not yet set). It was noted that two members of the DPCA (Barbara Cockburn and Mary Smith) were also members of the DRA and Lindsey Cooke has commenced work in the name of the DRA, as secretary, and has asked for suggestions from the DPCA of its funding requirements.

   Lindsey was intending to attend the meeting to put forward a business plan, but it was agreed to issue the plan to members and ask for funding ideas, which would be forwarded to Lindsey, and she would then attend the next meeting, to discuss.

5. Insurance

Doreen advised that she had found the minutes of a meeting of the Parish Council for 7^th April 2005 which stated that insurance had been found which covered public liability, re-building up to £150k and contents up to £3k. Cllr Pestell said that this was not correct as insurance could not be obtained for rebuilding or contents because the centre is a wooden structure. His understanding is that the insurance is for public liability, injury and damage in use only. Darren Rothery agreed to check this with the insurers as the premium charged appeared excessive if this was the case.

 

It was also noted that both DPCA and the Parish Council each pay in the region of £800 p.a. insurance. Doreen Rothery asked for clarification as to exactly what the insurances related to, particularly as they had increased sharply in recent years. Cllr Pestell agreed that he would ask the Parish Council to confirm what is covered by these insurances.

 

Doreen also noted that, as the lease is in the name of the Parish Council, the DPCA needed a formal request from the Parish Council to pay the insurance on the building, on their behalf. Cllr Pestell agreed to arrange for this request.

4. Christmas Dance

Doreen advised that the Christmas dance held on Saturday 8^th December 2007 had been a great success and had raised £167.00. She thanked everyone who had been involved and special thanks went to Doreen’s sister and brother-in-law who had contributed a music centre to the Centre for future events. 

5. Funding Requests

The Chair advised that the following funding requests would be forwarded to Lindsey Cooke:

Improvements to car park (Objective 1)

Guttering repairs/replacement

Window repairs/replacement

Music/PA system

 

Full electrical survey and certification in line with current legislation.

 

Display boards.

 

In addition, the members were asked to notify the Chair of their ideas on any other projects which may attract funding. The Chair would then forward any such additional ideas to Lindsey Cooke in preparation for the next meeting.

6. License Application

Doreen advised that the barman had confirmed that the licence application would be submitted in January 2008.

 

Once the licence was approved, the barman would have total control of the bar area and cellar. He must then be given the option of providing a bar for all bookings in future (he may decline if the booking is small, e.g. 8 caravans for a weekend).

 

The booking form therefore would need to be updated. The Chair would review this with Barbara in due course.

 

The Chair noted that she planned to set up a meeting with the barman to agree terms of use.

7. Bookings

The following bookings were confirmed:

8. Possible Change of Night of Meetings

Doreen asked if consideration could be given to changing the night of the meetings as, for personal reasons, it is difficult for both Doreen and Darren to attend regular Thursday meetings.

 

All agreed that the night of the meetings be changed to a Tuesday, commencing at 7.00. 

9. Possible Change of Name of Centre

The Chair advised that she had raised the matter of possibly changing the name of the Centre to ‘The Parish Centre’ at the parish Council meeting in January. She felt that ‘Crow Edge Community Centre’ alienates members of the Parish who live outside of Crow Edge.

 

The DPCA members were in agreement to the principal of changing the name of the Centre however Cllr Pestell preferred to include the name of the Parish in the title i.e. ‘Dunford Paris Community Centre’. The members questioned whether this would have a similar affect as now i.e. associating the centre with Dunford Bridge. Darren Rothery suggested that, as the Centre should be used by an even wider populace given the DPCA constitution, why not simply name the Centre ‘The Community Centre’ thereby removing any village specific connotations.

 

Cllr Pestell advised that this matter would be discussed at the next Parish Council meeting. This will then be brought back to a later meeting of the DPCA once the Parish Council had reached a decision.

10. 2008 Diary of Events

    Darren Rothery noted that the attendance at the various functions held in the Centre was not representative of the community as a whole. In particular, functions were not well attended by people in the 20 – 40 age band. He therefore advised the meeting that he has been looking into the possibility of bringing people to the dances by bus to try and encourage a better, more representative attendance at the various functions. The meeting agreed with the idea in principal but asked Mr Rothery to investigate further into costs etc.

    The following dates were proposed for the annual events:

    Easter Dance Saturday 15^th March

    Gala Saturday 26^th July

    Gala Dance Saturday 2^nd August

    Halloween Dance Saturday 25^th October

    Christmas Dance Saturday 13^th December

    In addition consideration would be given to holding a number of theme nights. The members were asked to put forward any suggestions for such theme nights at the next meeting.

11. Any other Business

    Darren Rothery brought information on ‘Community Matters’ and it was agreed to join this organisation at a cost of £21.00 p.a. Barbara Cockburn asked if this was similar to information received by the Parish Council and Cllr Pestell said some of the information may be the same, but he thought it a good idea for the DPCA to join the organisation.

12. Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting was agreed to be held on Tuesday 19^th February at 7.00 p.m.

Thereafter, the meetings will be held on the last Tuesday of each month in line with Parish Council meetings.

The meeting ended at 9.15 p.m.