Invitation to Friends of Railway Fields’ first AGM

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Permalink Reply by Julia Snell on October 10, 2010 at 13:25

Hi Faye and Abi,

I'm very interested in becoming a volunteer - is that the same as being a member?

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Permalink Reply by Friends of Railway Fields on October 10, 2010 at 13:38

Hi Julia!

You can become a general member and we will keep you informed of any future events, projects etc and you can certain volunteer to get involved as little or as much as you like. Its our first AGM on Saturday so we will be deciding as a group, our aims and objectives. From there we will start looking at arranging some projects. Were you in interested in being in anything in particular? ie. conservation projects, courses, educational activities?

Many thanks for your interest!

Faye

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Permalink Reply by Julia Snell on October 15, 2010 at 12:17

Hi Faye,

I was thinking primarily of helping out on conservation projects, but the courses and educational activities also sound interesting. Shall I just turn up tomorrow at 11am?

Cheers,

Julia

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Permalink Reply by Friends of Railway Fields on October 17, 2010 at 19:37

Hi Julia,

Sorry to have not got back to you before the meeting. Our next meeting will be on Saturday 30th October between 2pm and 4, it would be really great if you were able to make it.

Until then, please read through the minutes from Saturdays meetings, and if you have any thoughts feel free to email them to us.

Hope you had a great weekend.

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Permalink Reply by Friends of Railway Fields on October 17, 2010 at 19:39

MINUTES FROM THE FRIENDS OF RAILWAY FIELDS MEETING 16th OCTOBER 2010

The agenda of the meeting was discussed, which was to establish the frequency and times of future meetings, agree on a committee and have a run through of everyone’s ideas for what they would like to see happening at RF.

1. Better Signs and advertising.
Keith mentioned that many people still do not know where Railway Fields is, and that despite the gateway with a council board up people often dither by the gateway and don’t know whether to go in or not. Having a better sign perhaps on the gates was discussed and everyone thought it was a good idea. Gary suggested that we have a ‘Welcome to Railway Fields sign’. The importance of advertising was discussed, and we thought that it might be worth contacting Haringey People the local magazine. Jonathan is going to set up a Friends of Railway Fields website which we can then use for advertising and as another way of signing up members.

2. Attracting new members
David Morris said that at this stage of setting up a new Friends of Group it is very important that we build up a strong membership. He suggested that we contact all of BTCV’s contacts and tell them that they are a friend of Railway Fields unless they would like to opt out. He also suggested that we put a very obvious membership signup sheet in Railway Fields for anyone visiting to sign up to be a member. David Smith volunteered to go to some resident association meetings to hand out leaflets and bring attention to Friends of Railway Fields.

3. Friends of Group and BTCV
Faye made it very clear that BTCV did want the Friends of Group to be a separate entity to BTCV, although we would obviously have to work alongside them and the council, as they are the site management and owners respectively. David Morris suggested that Catherine from BTCV comes along to the next meeting to officially hand over the site to the Friends of Group. It was also discussed that we would have to ask BTCV about who is able to control keys to the site and about access to the hut for meetings. Also, any activities that are run by the Friends of Group will have to include either Faye or Abigail as they are covered by BTCV insurance, insurance for other members of the group will be looked into.

4. Committee
It was unanimously voted that Abigail is to be the secretary for the group and that Faye would be the Chair. Jonathan is going to be our IT guru!

5. Future events and activities
David Morris is very keen to run English classes for asylum seekers, perhaps in conjunction with practical volunteering, as this is something he has experience in. He is going to have the leaflet advertising our next meeting translated into a few different languages. David Smith would like us to have a practical conservation session after next week’s meeting perhaps with someone from BTCV to see what we have on site and what needs to be done in each area of the reserve. Keith would like to be more involved in leading conservation projects as he is a regular BTCV volunteer and wants to put his skills to good use. Abigail suggested that she would like to have some workshops, for example, teaching people to grow their own vegetables and Keith suggested getting in touch with the Back to Earth Project. Abigail also stated that she would like to build some large habitat towers and Keith was also keen to get involved with this. The group also thought that it would be a good idea to get some more interpretation boards around the site, for example, in front of the Wildlife meadow. Keith suggested it might be a really good idea to have a brainstorming session at a later date to go through all possible ideas of events and activities.

6. Meeting frequency
David Morris said that it is always a good idea to have meetings on the same day each month for consistency. It was decided that due to members not finishing work until 5 and the dark evenings, at the moment it will be best to have meetings over the weekend during daylight hours, however this will be reviewed once it gets light evenings again. David Smith suggested that in order to get things moving we should have the next meeting two weeks from now, so it was decided that the next meeting will be the 30th of October 2pm – 4pm.

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