Minutes of the meeting of Visit New Mills held on 9th October 2015
1) Present:
Barry Bate, Northe Slack, Beth Atkins, Sean Whewell
2) Apologies:
Mike Daniels
3) Minutes of the meeting of 29/06/2015:
Were accepted as a true and correct record.
4) Matters Arising:
From 3) – Request from Scott Buckler. After a short discussion it was agreed that there was now no need to pursue this matter. Sean will discuss any outstanding issues with Scott.
From 4) – Review. All information is now on the website and the Facebook page.
From 6) – Derbyshire Foundation Evaluation System. This was item was postponed until a later date.
From 8) – Railway 150. It was agreed that this had been a successful event – especially the train journey to Cumbria and the return of the Model Railway Exhibition to the town.
From 9) – Action Plan update. It was agreed to ask Mike for an update. Beth reported on recent progress seeking the £40k grant for signs and signage work in Hayfield, talked about grants.net and other sources of funding and the benefits of working with Derbyshire Foundation. She was concerned that there appeared to be no more Town Maps left to distribute and hoped that someone would take their replenishment on as a specific piece of work.
5) Correspondence
No correspondence had been received or sent.
- Membership of VNM
Following some discussion it was agreed that the group needed to define and strengthen more clearly some of its’ ‘core roles’. These might include: fundraising, grant evaluation, grant finding, content writing for social media, project management (for specific events). It was noted that still only about 20% of local businesses are actively using social media. It was also noted that VNM had significantly larger social media footprint than Buxton and Glossop. It was agreed to write up brief role tasks and to seek volunteers to become involved with these through a variety of social media outlets. Barry will write up brief job descriptions and share with other members before they are put on the website.
It was also agreed to ask organisations such as Walkers are Welcome, the Allotment Society and Derbyshire Rangers for more information for ‘articles’ – several images and about 100 words would be requested.
7) Finance Update
Sean reported that the current account was £1710.81 in credit. VNM is currently owed £907 (mainly for the Xmas Lights Switch-on). Since March the weekly quiz has raised £4171.47 for a wide range of local good causes.
8) Web Site Update
The item began with a discussion about the possibility of using the application Instagram. No specific decision was made.
Sean reported that there were now 4368 Users and in the last 90 days there had been 9273 unique views. There were 63 entries in the Business Directory.
9) Action Plan Update
The Action Plan was not discussed.
8) Any Other Business
Beth reported on a range of local ‘issues’ – dementia support meeting in Buxton, disabled access issues and Mousley Bottom. She will ascertain what the current situation is with regard to Mousley Bottom and report at the next meeting.
Sean raised issues around the Carnival and the suggestion that VNM might take over the running and financing of the Carnival. He also reported on the suggestion of donating £500 to work alongside New Mills Juniors in order to revamp the changing rooms on the Rec.. It was agreed, in principle, that VNM was happy to help with this project.
Northe reported on the proposed Bonfire Night train – but also said that there would not be a Xmas Lights train this year.
9) Date of Next Meeting
11.00 on Friday 13th November.