Thursday 10th May 2007

Present: Margaret Ormonde, Paul Gallagher, Jill Verran, Diana Hartrup, Bill Harper, Ben Cosh, Tara Taylor, Kate Manton

1. Apologies Bob Cruickshank, Barry Prior, Vera Bodman

2. Minutes of the last meeting (Wednesday 4th April 2007) were approved.

3. Matters arising:

Woodland Carvings :
i. Post has been uprooted, Bryan Verran will replace it.
ii. It was suggested that there should be a seat near the dragon; Jill will pass on to Bryan (JV).
iii. Ben suggested that any more carvings by Andrew Noyes be done as a youth project.

Village Sign :
PG planning to do work in next few weeks (PG)

Coral Betting Office, Junction of Peppard Road/Kidmore End Road :
i. MO sent email to enforcement officer regarding the seat but accepted that nothing more can be done until the work starts on the site.
ii. PG is going to carry out maintenance on the seat while he is doing the village sign.

Post Office :
i. MO has had letter from Post Office Head Office to say that the new Emmer Green Post Office may open on 29th May. However, it is not clear that this date is realistic.
ii. Post Office is hoping to get post box moved but this is up to Royal Mail and could take some time.

Footpath 47 :
PG has had response from Open Spaces Society; it seems that 20-year rule should safeguard the path. PG has forward this to the Council legal officer from whom he understands that the matter has now been referred to the Secretary of State.

Grove Road Planters –(between St Barnabas and Surley Row) :
i. MO has emailed council to ask if new trees will be planted in the autumn where the 4 have been taken down. She is awaiting news
ii. The stump in St Barnabas Road is to be seen to.

The Queen’s birthday commemoration :
i. Several members of the committee met in the rain to discuss the site of the seat – agreed it should go opposite no 56.
ii. Agreed style of seat – Forest Saver
iii. Also agreed that we would get a plaque done by the same firm. Suggested wording from PG: “The nearby Turners Oak commemorates the Queen’s 80th Birthday in 2006. Donated by EGRA” (73 characters). Committee members are asked for comments/suggestions (maximum number of characters 75). (ALL)

Bench for bus stop :
i. It was decided that a bench is not feasible given the site.
ii. MO called Reading Buses today regarding the removal of the sign at the bus stop beside the White Horse car park, awaiting a response.

St Barnabas Church Garden Party :
Confirmed that TT and KM will attend in the afternoon and set up in the morning. Ben may also be able to assist.

Community Notice Board :
i. MO has had correspondence with councillors regarding what they can put on it; agreed that it was acceptable to promote monthly surgeries but not active campaigning. However, during election campaign posters did appear. In future we need to complain to the Returning Officer.
ii. MO to circulate email asking for volunteers to help clear up the notice board (MO)
iii. MO to circulate new wording for the notice regarding use of the notice board (MO)
iv. JV will continue to monitor.

Lyefield Court :
Parking restriction notices will be applied shortly, but only half way down, so there may still be an issue.


4. Treasurer’s Report
a. Bill noted that there had been a small increase in subscriptions and admin expenses. AGM expenses are still coming through. Protection of the tree – this is the work that PG did in protecting the planting with chicken wire.
b. JV informed the committee that there are 20 outstanding subscriptions and asked if we could each chase up some and let her know the outcome. She will email us names and addresses with a renewal and joining form (if new to the property, we should invite them to join). (JV, then ALL).


5. Feedback from Committees

North Reading Youth Project :
TT attended meeting yesterday. Generally good progress and an exciting plan for the coming year. They are short-staffed but trying to recruit. They want to get more people from the community onto their committee. Their AGM is 27th June. TT to approach Tina regarding giving a presentation on behalf of EGRA at St Barnabas Hall (TT)

Neighbourhood Policing Meeting :
MO attended. The talk covered similar topics to what we heard at EGRA AGM. 40-50 attended. Attendees were given the opportunity to vote on their top 3 concerns out of a list of 10 or so.


6. Planning
Whiteknights Laundry
PG reported that the appeal on the proposed development of the Whiteknights Laundry site was rejected by the inspector, who agreed with the objections of RBC Planning Authority, local Residents' Associations and local residents.

7. Any Other Business

Summer Newsletter :
i. MO wants to have it completed by end June so we can have copies available at the St Barnabas stall. MO will get copying done, checking with JV and BC beforehand with regard to numbers.
ii. After problems in the past, agreed that distribution procedures need to be tightened up.

On-going recruitment :
BC/JV working on this together. BC thinks we need to have slick answer to “what’s in it for me?” – he will work on this (BC)

Emails :
MO raised concern that too many were being sent. After discussion it was agreed to put a rider on the end of emails along the lines of: “If you do not wish to receive email from EGRA, please reply to this email and ask to be removed from the mail list. Note that you will still get an email once a year inviting you to the AGM”

New logo :
i. MO proposed new logo, all agreed to it.
ii. TT offered to set up MS Word template and distribute (TT)

Website :
BC has some ideas – will talk to Margaret and Clive (BC)

Annette Hendry :
Agreed that we would write to her to offer thanks and to her replacement to offer a welcome (MO)

Tradesmen list :
TT offered to assist with presentation of the information. PG offered to send format he has (PG)


8. Date of next meeting
Tuesday 21st August at 8pm at Diana’s house – 39 Kiln Road.