SHS COMMITTEE MEETING No.81
At 33 CROFTS END
24th April, 2007
Present: Mark Vale, Kay Turrell, Pearl Teasdale, Caroline Leslie and Sheila Quinn.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
School Notelets: : It has been calculated that the new notelets designed by Caroline cost 35p per packet to produce. The calculation is based on using generic inks and obtaining free packaging from Kay’s brother! It was decided to charge £3 for a pack of 5, 50p of which will be donated to the village school when sold at the May Day celebration and the School Fete on the 30th June. Packs sold in the shop will be subject to a 25% commission payable to Pam and Alan Simms. 24 packs have been produced; Kay will print some more and Pearl has offered to fold and pack them at home.
Mark has made an appointment to see Mrs Bourne (school headmistress) at 4pm on the 25th April and will advise her of the 50p donation. He will also return the school Log Books and the Punishment book and suggest that they are sent to Aylesbury for safe keeping. They will remain the property of the school and will be accessible to interested parties.
MKHA: Mark reported that he has been advised by MKHA that DEFRA are supporting a “Local Hedgerow Survey”. Kay is to forward the relevant email to Wendy Austin for the attention of the Parish Council.
Newsletter: Mark has produced a new format for the newsletter. SAQ will continue to produce it but said that she will need some “lessons” to be able to reproduce Mark’s new and highly superior format!! The next newsletter will be accompanied by a copy of the new agenda and a 2007 program. It was suggested that the newsletter should be produced bi-monthly or quarterly. This was thought to be a good idea.
MK Heritage Band: There has been some confusion regarding the booking and payment for the Heritage Band. Initially, SAQ agreed a fee of £50 as it was the maximum that the committee thought the Society could afford and Marion Hill (contact for the band) was happy with the amount. Subsequently Marion advised us that they had been unsuccessful in obtaining a grant and would have to charge on a more commercial basis. SHS took it that the £50 was not enough and therefore cancelled the booking. However, Marion Hill emailed MV regretting the cancellation and stating that, as the amount had been agreed, they were happy to keep the booking, especially as we are the sort of group they enjoy playing to. In the meantime Neil Louden had been booked for October to talk about the “Boat builders of Stony Stratford”. MV is to contact Marion Hill and Neil Louden in order to offer the October date to the band and, if convenient to NL, have the Boat builders in February. It was felt that tickets should be sold in advance of the event and, therefore, the October date would be more beneficial to us as we could sell tickets at the September Open Day. An entry fee of £2 was agreed and refreshments will be included (tea, coffee, biscuits and scones).
Waddesdon Manor :
KT has endeavoured to obtain the entry price for groups. Looking in the NT Handbook it looks as if the prices are as follows:
The complete package (house, gardens etc) £15 pp adults, £11 per child,
Groups - £13.60 pp and £10 per child
Gardens, aviary and woodland playground: £7 pp adults, ££3.50 per child
Needless to say, the above prices include entry to the shops and restaurants!
Dates were discussed and the Sunday, 15th July was decided upon.
Scarecrows: Philip Smith will hold a Scarecrow Class and Demo at 11am during the Plant Sale on the 2nd June in the Village Hall area. SHS will supply support for him and also the gazebo (in case of bad weather). MV will organise a PA system.
May Day 7th May, 2007. May Day on the Knoll is definitely taking place (there had been some worries that due to the younger age of the children at the School, the traditional Maypole dancing would not take place). We need a trestle table, the gazebo and two chairs. KT is to check that the length of the table is not too long for the gazebo. Items to be offered for sale are: notelets, thankyou notes and hopefully, framed photographs that KT has produced plus anything else that we have in stock!.
Welcome Pack: Entries are slowly arriving. MV is to chase up some organisations and SAQ has mentioned it in the May SCAN.
May Meeting: The theme of the May meeting will be Family History. Family trees will be shown. Gillian Nursaw-Smith will be at the meeting and will be pleased to advise those members interested in tracing their family trees. Kay will speak to Gail Wood, who has done a lot of family history research. It is also hoped that Jess Line will be at the meeting.
Treasurer’s Report: Pearl provided balance sheets for the committee showing a healthy amount credit balance of £2,083.74
PT reported that 4 membership payments are outstanding .
At the moment we have 21 members and 3 honorary members.
Emails: An email has been received from Dr. Paul Carter of the National Archives, Kew asking for notification from local history groups who would be interested in a project to catalogue a proportion of the 19th century English and Welsh Poor Law material held at the TNA. The email is to be shown to Gail Wood to see if she would be interested in being the SHS contact. If not, we will not take part.
Several other emails have been received. SAQ to acknowledge their receipt and we will ask members at the next meeting if anyone has information relating to them.
Mr. Raymond Salmons re the marriage of great grand parents x 4 Francis Salmons and Mary Riddy in 1800. He is trying to trace their parents.
SAQ to reply advising that he consult County Records in Aylesbury
Suzanne Lang regarding a family named Knight
Ruth Makai re parents of great great grandfather Thomas Elliot
An email has been received from Tony Webster of the Old Goal about events planned for May to celebrate the life of Flora Thompson, the Lark Rise to Candleford author, who died 60 years ago on the 21st May, 1947.
AOB
June Scan: SAQ has spoken to Betty Feasey who is happy for the cover of the June Scan to be a scarecrow picture. We will supply the photograph
Society Charity: The New Thursday Group had a speaker from Keech Cottage Children’s Hospice recently. SAQ suggested that SHS adopted Keech Cottage as a charity. She suggested that their collection box was put out at each meeting for members to put change into, if they wished. Generally, the Committee was in support of the idea but MV said that he would like to check the charity. It will also be mentioned at the next meeting to see the reaction of members
Insurance: KT expressed concern regarding insurance for the office at the Village Hall. She has been advised by Mark Symonds that the enamel Oldham’s sign is worth about £400. We cannot, obviously, obtain a receipt for it but it is necessary to photograph it in case of a claim.
Thanks are due to Pearl for her hospitality
STOP PRESS: A copy of a letter received from Caroline Ellis of Emberton is attached. (Note:not on web site)