Chair: for this meeting Harriet J
Minutes: Harriet J
Present: Harriet J, Jane K, Chris M, Lynda S
MINUTES
| 1. Agenda item I Welcome and apologies Harriet |
Harriet welcomed everyone to the meeting, with a special welcome to Sam, attending for the first time today. Apologies were received from Jim S, Tila R, Naseem H, Paul B, Neil W.
| 2. Agenda item II a) Minutes of the last meeting, 07/07/26 b) Matters arising from the last meeting, 07/07/26 Harriet |
No comments were received on the minutes of the last meeting.
Chris has reviewed the BCAG policies and has drafted proposed updates where necessary. The drafts have been circulated to core members for comment. The meeting agreed that, going forward, 5 years was a suitable review period unless BCAG activities were to change substantially in the meantime.
All other matters were covered in the agenda items below.
| 3. Agenda item III BCAG admin Harriet |
Total hours spent on BCAG business and projects since the July 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) |
The total for central funds stands at £4,127.
| 5. Agenda item V Social media, Newsletter, publicity Harriet |
An appeal for a new newsletter editor has been included in last month’s mailings.
Tila has continued to prepare photographs and content for the BCAG website update and Joe has finalised the text for the pieces he has written.
| 6. Agenda item VI Bridge Street Community Garden BSCG (Tila) |
Tila’s report thanks all the volunteers who have been helping water the Garden during the continuing hot dry spell, with special thanks to Jack, Michael, Julie and Alex for their regular visits.
Thanks also to Jim for his daily check of the Garden.
A highlight of the July calendar was the very popular capoeira circle with Mestre Fernando Sereno and members of the capoeira community from Banbury and Oxford. This was organised in collaboration with Sunrise Multicultural Project. Mohamed from Fantastic Falafel provided delicious food for the event and the day was a celebration of Oxfordshire’s multicultural communities. Thank you to Naseem for bringing a nature-themed arts and crafts table. The event was covered by the Banbury Guardian.
The two large willow sculptures in the Garden were completed. The sculptures, assembled with the help of Garden volunteers, are designed to resemble large stained-glass windows. Smaller woven pieces decorate the main frame, this having been created during two workshops held for local community groups, led by willow artist Charlotte Holmes. The willow for the sculptures was all grown by the Willow Coppice project. The project was also covered by the Banbury Guardian and was featured by CAG Oxfordshire in their newsletter.
As outreach, Tila took the Garden to Playday at People’s Park, joining with Harriet (see Nature agenda item below) and with People’s Theatre Collective and Banbury Woodcraft Folk, for a day of nature-themed crafting. Thank you to all the team who transported the kit including gazebos and tables, set up and tidied away, and helped through the event. Tila and Sophie helped the children make stick people and dragonflies using natural materials; the Woodcraft Folk (coordinated by Jack and Will) offered friendship bracelet making.
Also in July, Tamzin and Lynne welcomed young families from Home Start to the Garden and led creative activities inspired by nature.
Sunrise Multicultural Project continued to hold Tai Chi Chih sessions in the Garden with Adam Lacey (note: these sessions have now finished for the summer).
Sunrise also ran gardening sessions at the Garden with Naseem and Tila.
Tamzin and Milly continued to support the food-growing group.
Children from Little Sparrows Nursery visited, Tila leading a session combining nature exploration with creative activities.
Milly continued to work with Karey from Banbury Museum and Gallery, running sessions linked to the museum Renaissance theme.
Hayley, Elly, Katy, Naseem and Tila led a very well attended open community event featuring singing, dance and clay activities. This was organised in collaboration with the International Tree Foundation and Sunrise Multicultural Project.
Sophie and Tila led a Nature Collective session, held in collaboration with People’s Theatre Collective.
Milly ran an outreach session at Britannia Road.
| 7. Agenda item VII Browning Road Orchard BRO Harriet |
Thank you to Jane for writing and circulating to core members a draft for the flyer to be distributed round the roads local to the Orchard. The flyer asks for volunteers to take the lead, with BCAG support, in organising community events in the Orchard. These might include 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) |
There was not BATS update this month.
| 10. Agenda item X Nature Harriet |
Harriet was part of the BCAG presence at the CDC-led Playday in People’s Park, 22/07. The event was exceptionally well attended, and it was an excellent day with lots of Banbury-based groups offering free activities aimed at entertaining and engaging young families.
BCAG Nature took a fish-themed craft activity which proved highly popular, the children showing delightful creativity and imagination in creating woven hazel and wool fish. Thank you particularly to the Wild Banbury volunteers who helped through such a busy day, particularly Sue L, Margaret H and Laura.
We have learnt the disappointing news that the Catchment Partnership funding for the citizen science water quality testing has come to an end. The Partnership stress how useful the data collected is, and has been, for monitoring the environment. They warmly thank all those who have contributed to the project.
The Banbury Water vols were set up as an independent group in 2023 and have been regularly testing water quality in the Banbury area since then. After the initial grant from FreshWater Watch, funding for the testing kits has come through the Catchment Partnership. Harriet and Sue will meet to decide next steps.
| 11. Agenda item XI Climate Action Lynda, Chris |
October 26th was proposed as a possible date for a ‘Give and Take’ / Repair Café. Lynda will check with The Haven to see if the venue would be available to us for this, and will also consult with the electrical repairs team.
| 11. Agenda item XI Banbury Litter Pickers Jane |
July saw 99 recorded bags of litter collected despite the extreme heat.
Congratulations to the group for continuing to carry out such amazing work.
Steve has joined Keep Britain Tidy as a ‘litter ambassador’ which will provide the group with access to a wide range of information. This includes resources for litter prevention campaigns and BLP has in mind moving forward from picking to prevention.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Jane asked if anyone has connections with the school uniform event in Castle Quay. Lynda offered to see if she could find out more about this.
A discussion of arrangements for the Canal Festival needs to be on the agenda for our next meeting.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next monthly meeting will be held online, 1st September, 7.30pm