Minutes of meeting commenced at 19:30 in Henbury Village Hall

Present: Chris Carroll (Chair), Tim Parkinson (Secretary), Andrew Chugg ( Treasurer ) and 16 members.

Apologies: Joyce Steele, Dennis & Elf Harris, Morris & Juliet Venables, Wendy Roberts, Sandy & Jill Campbell

Welcome

 Chris Carroll opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and expressed her gratitude on behalf of the Society to Joyce Steele, Charles Claxton, Geoffrey Jones, Sue Parfitt and Tim Parkinson and all who came who had made the July Village walk such an enjoyable and interesting evening. Tim pointed out that Chris had done a lot of research about the centre of the village herself and should also be thanked.

 Concerns and Suggestions

Church Lane railings : Peter Bilby reported that the walls supporting the railings that needed painting were themselves in need of significant remedial work. He was not sure if the Church was up for this expenditure but would check.

Lamp at Blaise Gates: Charles Claxton said hewas concerned by the lamp that was flickering on and off all night.

.Disfigured Lamp: Ann Claxton stated that lampost immediately outside the Hall was disfigured with a number of direction signs, mainly for cyclists. Chris Carroll will follow up with appropriate representations

Refurbishing Finger Post: This post adjacent to the mini roundabout at the bottom of Church Lane where it meets Henbury Rd is steadily deteriorating. Tim Parkinson has the ‘Aust’ arm which fell off. Judy Dunn kindly offered to pursue the refurbishment.

Area next to Finger Post: Peter Bilby offered to organise by email a working party to clear the area of excess growth and rubbish. He said a skip would probably need to be hired for the clearance.

Daffodils along Henbury Road: Norma Jones asked whether the bank along the road opposite Woodstock grounds could be replanted. Kay Ridgewell said she would pursue this suggestion.

Dead chestnut tree on Wilderness: Kay Ridgewell asked whether this tree next the Henbury Road bus stop and which had been killed by excessive lopping could be removed. Tim Parkinson said he would write to the Parks Dept requesting that a replacement be planted and the dead tree trunk be laid down to decay slowly where it is.

Green Spaces

 Sue Parfitt, Chair of the Friends of Crow Lane Open Spaces, mentioned that there had been two public consultatioins since 2008 in which considerable opposition to any sell off of land for building had been expressed. She outlined the great characteristic of the area and went on to request approval from the Society for the planting of a number of fruit trees in the Wilderness area. This was approved by a considerable majority of those present.

The following members said they would support a society panel for Green Spaces: Judy Dunn, Andrew Chugg, Heather Jones and Eddie Harding.

Tim Parkinson offered to create an on line page in which members could record intereting wild life sightings in the local area.

 Traffic

Tim Parkinson stated that in his opinion the two priorities for our conservation area were a 20 mph limit through the Village and a mini roundabout by the Salutation. Given the strong opposition to any idea of making Hallen Way two way we had to face up to an ever increasing amount of traffic coming through the Village. Likely developments in S Glos would mean that the single N – NW – W route coming through Henbury would inevitably ratchet up the volume of traffic.

The signage at the top of Hallen way was inadequate according to Lissy Porter. She agrred to work with Tim as the embryo TrafficPanel.

 Hazel Brook

 Kay Ridgewell said that the survey of the brook by UWE had not yet happened.

Tim Parkinson said that Bristol City Council Environment Dept carried out monthly monitoring of the water quality in the brook at the ford next the Salutation

Aob

It was agreed that financial matters be deferred to the next AGM

The meeting closed at 9:00 pm

After the AGM the assembled members set off on a tour of some of the interesting houses in the village.

First stop was Telephone Cottage where Joyce Steel explained how the cottage was named thus. Next was 266 Henbury road with a quick tour or both sides of the house guided by Charles Claxton. Then next door to White Lodge with a scholarly exposition of the history of the house by Geoffrey Jones.

So to the centre of the village next to Blaise Inn so that Chris Carroll could give a summary of the history she had researched for the cluster of buildings around. Finally we walked across the churchyard to the Old Vicarage where Tim Parkinson pointed out the main features of the central and North end of the building and, after a walk through to and round the garden at the South end where Sue Parfitt showed the main features of interest.

It was generally agreed that this walk had been an excellent opportunity to discover houses for the first time.

Annual General Meeting – 7^th June 2011

Minutes of meeting commenced at 19:30 in Henbury Village Hall

Present: Chris Carroll (Chair), Tim Parkinson (Secretary) and 21 members.

Apologies: Andrew Chugg ( Treasurer ), Lisa Parkinson and Steve Condliffe.

Welcome and Chairman’s report

Chris Carroll opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. She then summarised her report which forms the appendix to these minutes. She highlighted a wish expressed earlier by Joyce Steel that the railings in Church Lane be refurbished with help from the Society. After discussion during which included a fulsome tribute to the work by Peter Bilby to direct the work of the Payback workforce and of his own account it was agreed that HCS would help with any modest expenditure on the railings or other project.

Election of Officers

There being no other nominations the existing officers Chris Carroll (Chair), Tim Parkinson (Secretary), Andrew Chugg ( Treasurer ) were elected without opposition to serve following a proposal from Fran Greenfield which was seconded by Elfrida Harris.

Report from Treasurer

A written table of recent financial totals was circulated in Andrew Chuggs unavoidable absence. This was: -

It was stated from the meeting that the ‘Trees’ account was probably initiated by the late Mrs Ann Hewer.

Tim Parkinson proposed that a small minimum annual subscription of £5 per household be requested from all members to ensure that are accumualted funds go directly to improving aspects of our conservation area rather than on room rent and admin. Sue Parfitt queried whether this was necessary but after discussion agreed and a proposal from Judy Dunn was seconded by Peter Gilbert and then accepted by all present.

There being no other advertised business Chris Carroll closed the AGM at 20:00 hrs

Appendix

Chairman’s Report

Discussion of controversial site allocation plans and building proposals on Conservation area boundaries, which are on hold for the present time. Marguerite Tonkin’s invaluable history books of Henbury were sent to the planning department. Traffic calming in the village. We have discussed a 20mph limit. We await details of plans to be released about the new airport which includes provisions for the re-direction of fuel transport, reducing tankers on Henbury roads.

1. We had a meeting with Mr. Michael, Head of Parks and Gardens and Martin Harris manager of Blaise, concerning the possibility of using the badly neglected Blaise Kitchen Garden(1795) as a Large Community Garden, which could develop into a major local project. Volunteers are invited to register an interest. No more action will be taken until Martin Harris receives the review on the Blaise Estate.

2. Members planted Daffodil and Narcissi bulbs around the ford area and this produced a magnificent display which lasted for some weeks. My thanks to all those who joined in with the planting.

3. The Society celebrated the Royal Wedding in the grounds of the Village Hall. My thanks to all those who brought cakes and drinks to make this a very enjoyable and sociable afternoon.

4. The Xmas social was well attended and I hope that we can have some musical and vocal contributions as well for this year. All offers appreciated!

5. My thanks to Tim, Lisa, Sue and Graham for their fascinating talk on the Old Rectory and for Tim Parkinson’s continual contribution to the Society including our new web pages. henburyconservation.co.uk

6. My thanks for an exceptionally interesting and enlightening and deeply researched history talk on St Mary’s Church by our Vicar, David Lloyd, the 51s^t vicar of this parish, we eagerly await the book!

7. At future meetings we hope to address some of the following outstanding local matters which we have identified: -

1. The effects on wildlife in the Conservation area due to possible building works planned along the river corridor on the Crow Lane Green Space.

2. Pollution in the Hazel Brook.

3. C) Signposting of the conservation area.

4. D) Speed limits in the area. E) Updates on future building plans in our area. Plus any other business people would like to discuss.