INVITED: Adam, Bill, Fiona (Secretary), Helen, Josie, Jules, Kelda, Laura (Treasurer), Lynn, Rob, Sally, Sue (Chair), Suzanne
PRESENT: Fiona (Secretary), Jules, Laura (Treasurer), Lynn
1 – Welcome and introductions The new secretary was introduced to the committee and it was agreed that Lynn would chair the meeting in Sue’s absence, due to a recent hospital appointment.
2- Apologies were received from Bill, Helen, Rob, Sue (Chair), Sally and Suzanne. Adam, Kelda and Josie had not been able to attend committee meetings for sometime. Their expertise was greatly valued, but the committee didn’t want to burden them with committee meeting invitations they were not in a position to accept. Action: Contact Adam, Kelda and Josie to ask about their future availability for meetings (Fiona).
3 – Matters arising. Notes of the previous meeting had been agreed and published on the TDEG website. Bill had contacted the scouts about the litter pick on the 6 October, and they were not available.
4 – Hon officers’ reports
a – Chair’s report. The meeting thanked Lynn for hosting the meeting in Sue’s absence. CPRE had been contacted and were happy to defer participation in a Whole Group Meeting, to allow the emergent issue of water quality in Tideswell Brook to be taken in October.
b – Secretary’s report. There were 181 members and 457 facebook followers. The secretary was checking the TDEG inbox twice a week. The committee agreed that the secretary should have access to the website so that she could publish the meeting notes, after the chair had approved them, and update the events calendar and other pages.
Bill had offered to step down from the committee to make way for someone else. No one else had come forward at this time, and Bill’s recent contributions and knowledge especially on climate change were considered too important to the group to let go. The committee would prefer that he did not step down. Action: Inform Bill of the committee’s view (Fiona)
c – Treasurer’s report. The account balance was £3889.74. Most income was coming from the repair cafe. No significant items of expenditure were expected.
5 – Project progress and permissions
Project updates have been published in the newsletter. Jane has taken over litter picking and the next event will be on 6 October. A new leader for the Ethical Consumer group is still sought. The repair cafe has taken income of £780 and had expenses of £352. Buying for Good has 21 members. Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Wild Peak project has invited bids of £3k. Lynn has been approached by external individuals and groups asking for TDEG support for projects on habitat creation around the Nature Tots area, swift boxes in Cressbrook and more tree planting on land already benefiting from the Queen’s Jubilee trees. It was agreed that these projects were a good fit to TDEG. The Treasurer agreed that support might include holding their funds for them in our bank account.
Actions: Inform scouts of other litter-picking dates (Fiona to let Jane know). Report back to committee on Wild Peak bids (Lynn).
6 – Whole Group Meetings
It was agreed that the process for planning a Whole Group Meeting (WGM), with amendments suggested by Jules should be adopted for future meetings. The next WGM would be on Water Quality in our Local Rivers on 9 October at 7.30pm at the Fountain Square Church with presentations from Martyn Owens (Integrated Environmental Planning Specialist for the East Midlands, Environment Agency) Andrew McCloy (Chair,Campaign for National Parks) and Ben Carter (Campaign Manager, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust). Lynn was the lead organiser. Rob would bring a laptop for the presentations, Jules would bring refreshments and Fiona would bring a TDEG river group sign-up sheet. The meeting was open to all, and donations would be requested. East Midlands Today were filming Lynn and other volunteers at the Tideswell Dale in the afternoon. WGM attendees who were willing to be filmed or give comments to the media, could do so after the event.
The meeting discussed topics and dates for future WGMs. Two topics were shortlisted: renewable energy by Hope Valley Renewables and organic food by the Farmacy Coop and possibly others. The meetings would take place in February/March and May. It was important to align the timing of a talk by HVR with project progress. The committee would meet in the library about two weeks before the WGM. Actions: Investigate timing of the HVR project (Fiona). Investigate speaker availability and suitability from Farmacy Coop (Fiona). Propose committee meeting dates and WGM dates to committee eg by doodle poll (Fiona).
7 – Member communication software.
The meeting discussed the options for email management, as mailchimp was moving to two factor authentication, which would make it harder for more than one user to send emails to members or sub groups of them. Alternative suppliers with no charge imposed adverts from their choice of organisations which might not fit TDEG objectives. The meeting decided to accept the anonymous donation to fund an upgrade to Mailchimp Essentials (£119.64 pa) for three years which included three user accounts. It decided that TDEG should not upgrade its account until Mailchimp had actually implemented two-factor authentication. Action: secure the terms of the donation (Lynn).
8 – The ‘Wilding’ Film.
Subject to licensing restrictions, it may be possible to show the film about the rewilding of the Knepp Estate, Sussex at the Tideswell cinema. The meeting agreed to support the screening and make up to £100 available to facilitate it.
9 – Any Other Business.
None
