Chair: Jim S
Minutes: Harriet J
Present: Jim S, Harriet J, Yuxin, Steve K, Neil W, Lynda S, Chris M, James N, Kate S
MINUTES
| 1. Agenda item I Welcome and apologies Harriet |
Jim welcomed everyone to the meeting and especially Yuxin and Kate, attending for the first time, and James from the recycling team at CDC. Apologies were received from Tila R, Naseem H.
| 2. Agenda item II a) Minutes of the last meeting, 01/09/26 b) Matters arising from the last meeting, 01/09/26 Harriet |
No comments were received on the minutes of the last meeting.
The update on BCAG policies will be carried over to the next meeting. Agreed policies need uploading to the website with the footer “revised August 26; revision due 2031”.
Tila will be updating the Safeguarding policy.
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 September 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 continues to stand at £3,908.17.
| 5. Agenda item V Social media, Newsletter, publicity Harriet |
We are delighted to have Yuxin with us as the new BCAG Newsletter editor – a very warm welcome, Yuxin, and thank you for taking on this important role.
Tila’s work on updating the website continues. Thank you, Tila.
Stats for the Socials this month were:
Email lists
Newsletter 357 (218 voting members); BSCG 229; BATS 125; Litter Pickers 21; Dirty Water 81; Resilience 52
BCAG 1,452; BSCG 1,272; BATS 81; Litter Pickers 215 (885 in private group)
| 6. Agenda item VI Bridge Street Community Garden BSCG (Tila) |
Tila thanks all the volunteers who have been helping water the Garden during September including picking up litter, tidying the garden and doing seasonal jobs. Tila also thanks Jim for his daily check of the Garden. The rough sleepers have moved on for the time being and we hope they are getting the support they need. The CDC community wardens have recently visited to check in and had a useful conversation with Tila about the situation.
More thanks to Jim for cutting the grass helping make the garden look smart and welcoming for the Canal Festival. Over 100 visitors came to the garden for the event on the Saturday of the Festival (03/10) held in collaboration with Sunrise Multicultural Project. There was wreath-making, live music and refreshments.
The garden welcomed a group of refugee women and their babies for a multicultural tea party and English learning session. The event was in partnership with The Haven. Thank you to Lynne, Aida, Louise, Fiona and Milly for helping make this happen.
Students from Bloxham Grove Academy came to the garden on three dates. All have an EHCP with cognition and learning identified as a need. The students collected and sowed seeds, did some propagation, and learnt about some of the insects that live in the garden. The group went seed gathering in Spiceball Park, finding a good source in the hedge, planted only four years ago but now several metres high, by the Wild Banbury volunteers group supported by Banbury Town Council. For the third session, students learned how to process the seeds which are now in storage for use in the upcoming community tree nursery.
Lynda, Jack and Tila ran an outreach session at Castle Quay giving away trees and seeds, and decorating pots and making paper cranes.
In collaboration with The Hill Community Centre and the International Tree Foundation, a group from the garden went on a wellbeing walk to collect tree seeds. These will be planted in the garden as part of a community tree nursery.
Early in the month, the garden hosted a very popular grape juicing event using the BCAG fruit press. A local Grimsbury resident donated several buckets of homegrown grapes and Jim also donated grapes from his garden. There was live music from James Stevenson creating a great atmosphere. Thank you to Jim and Naseem for their support with the event, and to Jack, Zara, Michael, Cressida, Hanna, Sofia and all the other volunteers who helped on the day.
Tila continues to write grant reports and make funding applications, and to update the website, as well as handling all the other admin jobs involved in running the garden.
| 7. Agenda item VII Browning Road Orchard BRO Harriet |
While there have been people coming forward interested in volunteering at the Orchard, to date no one is willing to take the lead in organising volunteers, events and ongoing management.
| 8. Agenda item VIII Banbury Active Travel Supporters group (Paul / Neil) |
The Active Travel sub-group attended as part of the BCAG stand at the Canal Festival. Thank you to everyone who was a part of this.
| 10. Agenda item X Nature Harriet |
The Nature sub-group also attended as part of the BCAG stand at the Canal Festival. The group demonstrated the Riverfly scheme of which we are part, which checks the quality of water in streams and rivers through a study of the invertebrates living within it. The display proved extremely popular, particularly with the younger generation. Alongside the demonstration, we spoke to visitors about the deadly effect spot-on flea and tick pet treatments have if they enter our waterways, providing advice on other less damaging options, and good practice to limit damage to the environment if spot-ons are used. Many thanks to the volunteers who helped make this such a success, especially Melissa, and also Sue and Philippa.
| 11. Agenda item XI Climate Action Lynda, Chris |
The Repair Café in Castle Quay was light on items to repair but had a steady stream of interested parties calling by. Jim asked whether it would be worth holding such events on a more regular basis. The venue is one restricting factor in this decision as there needs to be an adequate power supply. Possibilities included a venue in Castle Quay sourced through Katie at Toolbox Marketing (they work to CDC as owners of CQ), or the reception space at the foot of the CDC offices within CQ (unlikely to be available at weekends). For past events, the Repair Café has run successfully as part of wider Give and Take events.
While not directly BCAG-led, we are pleased to note that two more showing of the People’s Emergency Briefing have been held in the town at the Quaker Meeting House – well done to Maria H for taking the lead on arranging these. There have also been showings in several of the local villages.
| 11. Agenda item XI Banbury Litter Pickers Jane |
The group continued to be active throughout September with 137 bags of litter collected along with a variety of fly-tipped items.
The group participated in World Clean-up Day with a litter pick in the Middleton Close area. This is the worst area in the town for litter because of its use as an informal lorry park. BLP are campaigning for a purpose-built lorry park which would both provide drivers with the facilities they need and solve the issue of the littering and worse, which is the inevitable outcome of the present situation where no facilities are offered.
Steve attended the national Keep Britain tidy Litter Pickers conference in Birmingham. It was interesting to learn how volunteer groups in different areas are organised and encouraging to be reminded how very good the working relationship is here in Banbury between the volunteers and the district council staff. The strong relationship enables the group to be fully effective, and thanks go to James and his colleagues especially Ben Dyche for their ongoing excellent support.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
James outlined the new CDC ‘recycling champions’ initiative. This will seek to engage targeted groups to encourage good recycling behaviours. For the trial phase CDC are looking for three champions, one each from The Hill Community Centre, Grimsbury Community Centre and hopefully from BCAG. The ambassadors will be given training and resources and will be invited to join the CDC recycling team roadshows and other events. James will provide an outline of the scheme for inclusion in the BCAG newsletter.
Kate Saffin told the meeting about the plans for celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the opening of the Oxford Canal to Banbury on 30th March 1778. Once the canal had reached Banbury there was a delay in extending it further southwards due to shortage of funds. As a result, Banbury was the terminus for a period, a circumstance that resulted in industries developing in and around the town and as a consequence, affecting the nature and growth of the town from then onwards.
Plans are underway for the celebrations, but these are at an early stage and ideas and involvement of anyone interested is most welcome. Kate herself lives on a canal boat and is currently moored in Banbury; she is a trustee of Tooleys boatyard.
The meeting welcomed the initiative and offered to support and be involved as appropriate.
BCAG insurance is due for renewal next month; Naseem will be taking the lead on this with guidance from Jim.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next monthly meeting will be held online, Tuesday 3rd November at 7.30pm