Chair: Jim S
Minutes: Harriet J
Present: Jim S, Harriet J, Jane K, Neil W, Chris M, Lynda S
MINUTES
| 1. Agenda item I Welcome and apologies Jim |
Jim welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were received from Tila, Naseem, Paul.
| 2. Agenda item II a) Minutes of the last meeting, 02/06/26 b) Matters arising from the last meeting, 02/06/26 Jim |
No comments were received on the minutes of the last meeting.
The constitution has been updated in line with the vote held at the AGM on 02/06; the amended version is available on the website. CAGOx has been informed and sent the relevant link (via email from Harriet to Jo M); they have acknowledged receipt.
| 3. Agenda item III BCAG admin Jim |
Total hours spent on BCAG business and projects since the June meeting were recorded – thanks to everyone for putting in the time. Harriet to ask any core members not at the monthly meeting, for their hours.
| 4. Agenda item IV Treasurer’s report (Naseem) |
BCAG central funds have been boosted by the very welcome donation of £1,500 from Waitrose through their in-store ‘green token’ scheme. The total for central funds stands at £4,127.
| 5. Agenda item V Social media, Newsletter, publicity Jim |
BCAG Facebook 1430 followers; BSCG FB 1216; BATS FB 80 followers.
BCAG mailing list subscribers email 355; voting members 213. BSCG email 230. BATS email 128. Dirty Water 81. Resilience 45. Banbury Litter Pickers have 212 followers on their public page, 832 in the private group. (for info, Banbury shed FB 495).
All totals represent an increase on last month’s figures.
Thank you, Joe for the latest newsletter. Neil put forward some suggestions for changing the format of the newsletter such that the newsletter itself is kept shorter with links giving routes to more extended articles. There was agreement that Joe as editor should take the lead in choice of format, but that it is helpful to have Neil supporting through proof reading and feedback. Neil also suggested that the newsletter be posted on the website. This used to happen although there were formatting challenges. For the practice to be reinstated would merely require someone with the time and enthusiasm to do it – so open to offers!
Work on updating the BCAG website is progressing steadily and is on track to be completed before the end of the Thriving in Nature project. Thank you to Joe for work so far on writing the website text and to Tila for actually updating the website.
| 6. Agenda item VI Bridge Street Community Garden BSCG (Tila) |
Tila’s report thanks all the volunteers who have been helping water during the hot dry spell, and thanks Jim for his daily check of the Garden.
The Garden hosted an OCVA networking event attended by representatives from local community groups. Jim gave an overview of BCAG and its projects and Tila spoke about the work of the BSCG.
The Garden marked Great Big Green Week with a community event with music led by James Stevenson and a talk from Dan of Nothing But Footprints. Banbury Woodcraft Folk visited as part of GBGW.
Activities in June included Milly’s nature-inspired reminiscence sessions held in partnership with Banbury Museum; regular Tai Chi sessions held by Sunrise Multicultural Project (the group also visiting the Garden for other creative sessions during the month); and two willow-weaving workshops with artist Charlotte Holmes from Oxford. A group of year 5 and year 6 pupils from St Leonard’s School visited as did a group from Home-Start with Tamzin, Lynne and Louise.
The Food Growing group met several times during the month as did the Monday gardening group. Milly led the monthly Wild Wellbeing session, and Tamzin and Lynne held a Changemakers session.
Outreach included a creative session led by Milly at Britannia Road, led by the Sunrise Multicultural team.
Tila thanks Windmill Orchard for the generous donation of plants – some were planted in the Garden and others given away to benefit the community. She thanked Chris for the low maintenance perennial edible plants for the Garden that he had grown from seed.
| 7. Agenda item VII Browning Road Orchard BRO Harriet |
Jane kindly offered to draft, print and hand-deliver a note round the roads local to the Orchard asking if anyone would be willing to take the lead in organising community events in the Orchard such as the traditionally held autumn Apple Day and the Summer Picnic.
Local involvement in the ongoing management of the orchard would also be welcome to support (or replace!) that currently carried out by the Wild Banbury volunteers.
| 8. Agenda item VIII Banbury Active Travel Supporters group Paul / Neil |
Paul, Neil, Chris and Jim represented BATS at the Town Show.
OCC continue to show their appreciation of the knowledge held by BATS, and their opinion and ideas, by involving the group in site visits across Banbury where active travel and the LCWIP are relevant factors.
Both Neil and Jim have home traffic monitors as part of the County traffic monitoring pilot. The monitors are showing that vehicles are regularly doing over 30mph in the 20mph zones; this data would be valuable for a community-run speed-watch campaign.
BATS reps continue to attend and contribute to the Oxford Active Travel meetings. OCC has passed a motion to ban on-pavement parking; the next steps are likely to be slow as they depend on Central Government legislation, but hopefully this will come into effect in 2027.
| 10. Agenda item X Nature Harriet |
The OCC ‘Road Verge Nature Reserve’ training, run in conjunction with Wild Oxfordshire, and using a Banbury verge as the demonstration site, has been completed.
BCAG Nature attended the Bourtons Wildlife Day with an ever-popular pond dipping stand and a talk on the Riverfly scheme. Thank you to the organisers for the £100 donation.
BCAG Nature / Banbury Water vols attended the inaugural Oxford Nature Festival at the OUMNH. It was a great chance to network and meet the other participants. Thank you to event organisers Carly, Steven and Chris for such a warm welcome to the festival.
The BCAG Banbury Water Vols summer get together took the form of a tour of the Banbury Flood Alleviation Scheme. Thank you to site manager Neil for being such an informative and engaging guide, and to Matt from the EA for helping to arrange the trip. It was a useful opportunity for Kat, the new Catchment Partnership officer at Thames 21, to meet some of the volunteers.
Jim passed on the information that the Canal & Rivers Trust is soon to be starting water quality testing along the length of the Oxford Canal. The Banbury Water vols welcome this move and will make contact with the new group once it is up and running.
| 11. Agenda item XI Climate Action Jim, Lynda, Chris |
Jim is running additional People’s Emergency Sessions under the BCAG banner for the Oxford Humanists and the Electromagnetic Field (festival).
| 11. Agenda item XI Banbury Litter Pickers Jane |
86 bags of litter have been recorded as collected during June by those working as individuals and through the fortnightly group events making a total of 647 bags of litter collected in the first six months of this year. Jane thanked all those involved.
The Litter Pickers, represented by Jane and Steve, were part of the BCAG stand at the Town Show along with the BATS team.
Scrivens Opticians have awarded the Litter Pickers a prize of £100 to be spent on a treat for the regular volunteers. There will be a photo opp on 22/07 at the opticians, after the Wednesday litter pick.
Having been approached for a quote for the job, Banbury Workwear have generously donated to the group, high viz tabards sporting the Banbury LP logo. This gesture is much appreciated.
The Grimsbury Litter Picker group take on the area of Banbury on the east side of the railway and river. This group holds regular Saturday morning litter picks which gives an opportunity for those with availability only at weekends to join in with this worthwhile activity.
Jim attended the CDC Banbury oversight meeting and took the opportunity to promote the amazing work of the Litter Pickers; they were given a round of applause for the work they do across the town.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Lynda voiced concerns that, with Hello Fresh withdrawing its supply of surplus food to the various food projects, it will be more difficult for the groups to obtain the levels of supply they need to meet demand. She hopes that the situation does not lead to competition between the groups.
Neil let the meeting know that Sunrise Multicultural project is looking for volunteers to help with sessions tailored to helping refugees. This is the link: https://sunrisemulticultural.org.uk/refugee-and-asylum-support/
At the CDC Banbury oversight meeting, attended by Jim, there was mention of the Wayfinding Project which will be updating some signage around the town.
The Canal Festival 2028 will mark 250 years of the opening of the Banbury stretch of the Oxford canal, so preparations are already underway for the celebrations. Jim and Lynda will keep the group updated.
Neil spoke at Warriner school about Green careers.
Review of BCAG policies is due.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next monthly meeting will be held online, 4th August, 7.30pm