1. Welcome
Communications Officer and Wildlife project group leader, Lynn, stepped up to chair this AGM in Sue’s absence, and welcomed attendees. There were 17 attendees. The outgoing chair, Sue, was not able to attend the meeting due to another commitment. The committee were very grateful for her service and advice, and had presented her with a thank you gift at the last committee meeting. TDEG now had 200 members who had signed up to receive our newsletter, and 500 or so followers on facebook.
2. Apologies
Apologies for absence were received from Sue, Helen, Deborah, Suzanne, Steve Daniels and Cllr Neil Buttle.
3. Approval of the Annual Report and Financial Accounts
The Annual Report 2024/25 and a summary of our financial accounts were approved unanimously by members present – see Annual Report 2024-25.
4. To adopt amendments to the Constitution
Lynn introduced amendments to the TDEG constitution to increase the size of the committee and include project group leaders as members of the committee – see TDEG Constitution. These were approved unanimously by members present.
5. To elect the members of the Committee
Nominations had been received for six members of the TDEG committee. There were no nominees for the roles of Chair, Climate Action project group leader or Recycling project group leader. All were elected and it as agreed that TDEG would be chaired by committee members on a rotating basis until a Chair could be found.
1. Chair – VACANT
2. Treasurer – Neill
3. Communications Officer – Lynn
4. Secretary – Fiona
5. Climate Action project group leader – VACANT
6. Cycling project group leader – Helen
7. Ethical project group leader – Jules
8. Recycling project group leader – VACANT
9. Rivers & Brooks project group leader – Jill
10. Wildlife project group leader – Lynn
Lynn welcomed new committee members, Neill and Jill. It was agreed that the next committee meeting would be held in early September.
6. Any Other Business
None
The AGM closed at 7.53pm.
7. A New Lease of Life - Stories from the Repair Cafe
Jules led the meeting through stories and images of the Repair Cafe. It was wonderful to hear their stories, and share in their enthusiasm and expertise. The first trial had been held in May 2022 and the Repair Cafe had gone from strength to strength, holding 32 events with the support of about 30 volunteers. It had prevented 1444 kg of waste going to landfill and saved 10,976 kg of carbon dioxide emissions. The TDEG Repair Cafe was part of a wider global movement around repair and reuse. Volunteers shared their experiences of meeting and greeting visitors to the cafe, helping them move through the process and repairing their items. Volunteers took great pleasure from being part of a team, helping people and enjoying the wonderful cakes!
A future Repair Cafe would include a stall by Marches Energy Agency who help people who may be on low incomes to find affordable home retrofitting.
Laurie and Philip from the emerging TDEG Library of Things project encouraged members to consider volunteering to help them find and loan items such as gardening equipment, DIY tools and musical instruments to Tideswell residents who wanted to borrow them for a nominal fee, rather than have the expense and burden of buying, maintaining and permanently storing their own item.
