ACT MINUTES - 30th October 2007
ACKLINGTON COMMUNITY TEAM
MINUTES OF MEETING
HELD ON TUESDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2007

Present: Louise Hall(LH); Isobel Lillie(IL); John Davison(JoD); Sharon Thorpe (ST); Lorna Budge(LB); Violet Currie(VC); Barbara King(BK); David Currie(DC); Alison Sharpe (AS);

Apologies: June Davison (JuD); Bob Smailes (BS); - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The meeting was opened at 7.05pm by Louise Hall and the minutes of the last meeting held on Monday 3rd September 2007 were read and recorded as an accurate account. The following matters arose:-
• LH asked if JoD had been able to send the report he wrote for the Village Of The Year competition around to the other team members. JoD apologised and said he would make sure it was circulated.
• LH asked VC to confirm that she would move the tree at the Warkworth crossroads instead of her husband. VC confirmed this and said that the best time to move/plant trees was November.
• LH asked BK if she had managed to devise the Community Leaflet. BK said it was in hand.

HISTORY SOCIETY BK had received a request from David Charnock asking if he could be reimbursed £10 as annual payment to the History Society. All Agreed. Discussion then took place as to whether it would be viable to continue this. BK said she would contact David Charnock to find out exactly how the History Society could help us with talks in the future.

HISTORY TALK. VC confirmed that Vera Vaggs would give a talk about the 1945 River Guyzance Tragedy in the village hall on Tuesday 20th November at 7.30pm. VC said that Vera would not be commanding a fee for her talk but any donations should go to the Great North Ambulance Service. Publicity was in the Pelican and posters had been distributed. AS commented that the boiler was currently not working and she would ask the church if it was possible to borrow theirs. BK said that Ruth Charnock and herself would provide the shortbread and VC the tea/coffee/cold drink. JoD offered to sit on the door and he was also ‘volunteered’ to introduce Vera. Set up would be at 2pm the same day and it would be appreciated if all those available could help.

PANTOMIME. Confirmed for Saturday 8th December 2007 at 7.30pm. Setting up would be done by the Bruvvers who would start approximately ½ hr before hand. BK said that the current cost is £399.50 but could get this reduced once the lady who deals with finances returned from holiday (As we do not have to pay VAT then the VAT would be waived from the overall cost bringing it to £340 – all team members notified). BK has confirmed and informed team members that the pantomime will be ‘Robina Hood and the Babes in the Wood (a bit of a twist organised by the Bruvvers). VC said she would contact the school for posters (This has been done). It was also suggested that Charles Evans could be asked to judge the posters and the winner given something and that the winning poster be promulgated in The Pelican, JoD said he would try and arrange this. It was agreed that as many of these posters as possible should be displayed. Publicity had been promulgated in the November Pelican although it was pointed out that there would be no interval, as was advertised. Small gifts to give to the children was also discussed but it really depended upon ticket sales. LH offered the help of her Mother to wrap the presents! AS said she would provide the juice. ST volunteered to provide and look after the tuck shop. JoD said he would do the tickets and that both prices would be included and the irrelevant one crossed off on sale. Tickets would be on sale on the Friday sports club from 6pm to 8.30pm starting on 23 Nov. VC said she would ask the school if they would sell some. It was agreed that an ACT leaflet be made and JoD said he would do it. ST said it would be a good idea to include some of the publicity for the village hall. BK said that although we should all help each other out she felt that the Village Hall should organise their own publicity as we had already included their treasure hunt on the last leaflet. JoD agreed saying where would it end with other organisations in the village. BK also said that the cost and manpower would then fall to ACT. ST said that as she was on the village hall committee as well she would do the leaflets this time instead of JoD.

VILLAGE OF THE YEAR COMPETITION. JoD had made up a small newsletter to give to each member about what had happened since the last ACT meeting. He also gave a brief update saying that four members of ACT (John, Violet, Barbara and Sharon) had already had a meeting and that another meeting was scheduled for 5 Nov. There was a very complex entry form to be completed to reach the organisers by 30th November 2007 but he had managed to get some suggestions from Allendale (this years National Winners). A suggestion was that the village hall could be filled with people and presentations. A Mr Trevor Ledger has offered to provide a buffet lunch on the day the judges visit.

BULB PLANTING It was decided not to go ahead with bulb planting this year as a substantial number of bulbs had been planted last year and gave a really lovely show. It was suggested however that photographs be taken for the record.

TREASURER REPORT. The Ceilidh made a loss of £58. £400, being prize money from the Village of the Year competition, has been received. Totals now stand at £652.59 in the current account and £79.25 petty cash.

SPORTS CLUB. 22 juniors had registered and 24 older ones although attendances varied between 3 and 18. Tom Vickers had given coaching on Tag Rugby and Mark Shone on Golf. Amble swimming pool has been hired for 4th November, after the successful party last year, costing £1 per family. Junior Carpet Bowls will be represented at the Ashington Bowls Tournament on 17th November. Practice has already started and costs £1. Extra adult help would be helpful and this has been advertised. The programme so far is – Fireworks; Football with Katy; Children in Need; Cricket with Tom; Christmas Crafts; Christmas Party and swimming.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS
• LB suggested a litter pick just before the Village of the Year judging in April – agreed.
• JoD said that the Parish Council had been trying to get a website up and running for a couple of years but it was still not functional. JoD asked if ACT could take this on. Nobody in ACT has the expertise to set up a website and JoD said that maybe ACT could pay for a professional to set up a community web site. All agreed. JoD and LH both said they would make enquiries.
• JoD made mention about the focus of ACT and what is its role? It was agreed to put this on the agenda for the AGM.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be the Annual General Meeting on THURSDAY 17TH JANUARY 2008 at 7pm in the Village Hall. (Village Hall booked).
There being no further business Louise thanked every one for attending and closed the meeting