Friends of Quarry Park
| Summary of Meeting | By: – | Tony Wallace | ||||
| Location | ||||||
| Time | 19:00 | In attendance | Distribution | |||
| Date | 20th January 2025 | Erica Oulton (Chair) Sheelah Donovan Allan Druce Margaret Sheppard |
Robin Oulton Julie Strutton Tony Wallace |
Quarry Park Friends Ward councillors Our parks contract officer, Sarah Fowler |
||
| Action | ||
| 1 | Apologies for Absence | |
| Lesley Steers, Caroline and Mark Brewer | Note | |
| 2 | Minutes of Previous Meeting | |
| On 16th September 2024 were agreed. | Note | |
| 3 | Annual General Meeting | |
| (a) | Financial Update RO advised that the bank balance was £2838.13. Details for the year to January 2025 are attached. He commented that the donations to the annual tea party at £155 were good taking into account the poor weather and fewer people attending, £191 in 2023 with a fine day. RO had been chasing LBS parks dept for details to pay for the tree pruning, instructed by the Council. |
RO |
| (b) | Election of Chair Erica Oulton was thanked for her work as Chair and proposed by TW, seconded by MS and agreed. |
Note |
| (c) | Election of Secretary It had been agreed to transfer some of the duties carried out by Tony Wallace to others in a phased handover. Julie Strutton had agreed to prepare the agenda and minutes of meetings and would be minute secretary. RO had spoken also to Mark Brewer who has agreed to cover the annual tea party event permission and formalities (for which MB will be QPF Event Organiser), the public liability insurance and liaison with Jayson Webb for the website updating. TW had updated the list of Friends which he will share with JS and EO, in compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). TW will continue the formal role of Secretary and prepare the minutes of this meeting. He was thanked for his work from the start of the Friends in 2009. The hard back Friends’ attendance book started at the first meeting. |
Note |
| (d) | Election of Treasurer Robin Oulton was proposed by MS, seconded by TW and thanked for his work. |
Note |
| (e) | Representatives on Sutton Local Committee Erica Oulton with Margaret Sheppard and Mark Brewer as substitutes, as before. |
Note |
| 4 | Quarry Park Event – Planning for 2025 | |
| Agreed to set the date as Saturday 28th June 2025. Details at the next meeting in May. MS will inform the scouts, so they know early for planning. (Post meeting note – amended to 14th June 2025) | All | |
| 5 | Neighbourhood Fund Grant work | |
| Further to QPF last meeting TW had ordered the various plants and planted most of them, including some bought from Yourspace. Some plants were due for later delivery, salvia in March 2025 and dianthus, May 2025. TW had been reimbursed from the QPF account. Some bare root plants showed little above ground and TW had put in largish labels to identify location until they grew in the spring. MS thought some of the small lavender had disappeared. TW to check out, noting that the larger ones were more expensive but probably better value in future. TW was thanked for the work on the ordering and planting. He suggested that once we could see how all was growing spring/early summer more plants could be bought from QPF own funds, for instance more pony tails (stipa tenuissima). Although some of the initial planting of these had been pulled up, replanting and new plants with a deeper holes for the roots well covered had been successful. | Note | |
| 6 | Work in the Park | |
| TW had commenced a strong winter prune of the roses on the Cheam Road side. There was a need to complete this and for pruning of other smaller bushes to keep shape and under control. A gardening session was arranged for Thursday 30th March, 10am – 12noon, mainly for pruning. MS noted that some sweeping up was also needed. TW had planted the additional wildflower plugs offered by the Friends of Parks co-ordinator, Dawn Fielding, who had kindly brought them round to his house. He had done some more raking and sown more seeds. MS noted the need to remove dock and couch grass to stop them swamping out the flowers. Since last June it was now OK to dig the soil behind the wildflower area by the railings, being 4 years since the successful Japanese knotweed treatment arranged by parks dept. TW had planted some hibiscus there which take some time to establish before attractive flowers. |
All | |
| 7 | Sutton Local Committee | |
| EO had attended the last meeting on 7th November 2024. There was a presentation from Sutton African & Caribbean Cultural Organisation (SACCO). Three ladies spoke, the best being the youngest who was very natural. Crime was reported to have increased but covered more including domestic violence. MS thought this may also be because police records had been corrected for the whole borough area covered by the Metropolitan Police. The next meeting will be on 13th February. EO will not be able to attend so MS will attend. | Note | |
| 8 | 147 Cheam Road | |
| The clearance by the Council’s contractors took place as planned, beginning on 17th September, taking 3 days to clear waste from all round the house. The judge had ordered that the occupant pay the Council’s costs. AD noted that since then he had seen the occupant continue to collect and carry waste around in bags. MS noted that she is a vulnerable person. | Note | |
| 9 | No Dogs in the Park | |
| Since the nearby resident reported the car number to the police no dogs had been seen in the park. It was felt that such a visit after dark was quite deliberate and probably the warning from the police was sufficient. | All | |
| 10 | Next meeting | |
| 7:00pm, Monday 12th May 2025. | All |