OLD HAMLET OF LLANMARTIN RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
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MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
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Date: 27 September 2022 Venue: Llandevaud Village Hall
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Present: Janet, Sarah, Mark, Brenda Robotham, Richard, Susan, Carol Joynson, Eirlys Cawdery, David and Pam Price, Hilary Prest, Simon Wright, John Harper, Terry and Dorothy Blackman.
Apologies: Jacqui and Tony Ford, Martin Stone.
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1 Chairman’s Welcome: Mark opened the meeting by welcoming all those present and outlined the Agenda for the evening.
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2 Minutes of last meeting: Agreed for accuracy and signed off.
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3 Matters arising: There were no matters arising.
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4 Jean Morris, our visiting speaker for the evening addressed the meeting with a series of interesting and often amusing stories from her career as a Veterinary Surgeon in Newport.
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5 Chairman’s Report – Mark Robotham
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This last year has been a relatively busy year after two years of limited activity. After the AGM last year, the association held our usual events which included Bonfire Night, Carols under the Christmas Tree and Carols in the Barn.
Bonfire night was our most successful with an increase in people attending. The fireworks display and catering (burgers, hot dogs etc) were excellent. The bonfire itself was a disappointment because we couldn’t get it going. We had had a period of wet weather which meant the bonfire was very damp. We hope for better things from the fire this year.
The Carols under the Tree and Lighting of the tree was a rather damp affair, but we managed a few carols and a glass of something warming. The vicar, Hilary Prest, led us in the carol singing.
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The Carols in the Barn remains a favourite and as always, we are grateful to David and Pam Price for welcoming us to use the barn.
The main difference to our activities this year has been our involvement with Langstone Community Council arranging events to celebrate our late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in the Llanmartin and Llandevaud areas. We hosted the Beacon Lighting ceremony at Pencoed Castle with kind permission of the castle owner, Simon Wright. We had about 200 guests at the event which was a great
success despite the Beacon itself being less than enthusiastic. There was a full report in the last Hamlet newsletter.
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As an association we were involved with the planning of the Jubilee weekend. Much time was put in by many of us to participate in this process and a great deal of effort by our whole association went into making the Beacon event a success.
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On the Sunday following this we held a tea party in the patch attended by about 20 people. We used our new marquee to good effect over the whole weekend with the team putting it up and taking it down three times in four days.
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We did not enter Wales in Bloom in the last two years but are resolved to do so with fresh enthusiasm next year. After Wyneira and Paul Archer moved to Australia, the association have not had the momentum to do an entry credit.
Richard will discuss future events planned for the coming year in his secretary’s report.
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The Hamlet Newsletter, together with flyers and emails enables us to keep our community up to date with news and activities. The newsletter continues to be produced by Jan Myers with support from her daughter, Sarah. Our thanks go to Janet once more for all she does for the Old Hamlet.
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Thanks also go to our secretary, Richard Rayment, for all his hard work. He is at the centre of most of what goes on in our association. He also keeps the grass mown on the green at the bottom of Pencoed Lane. Thanks also to our Treasurer, Jacqui, who continues to drive the association forward. Without these two the association would struggle. Finally, my thanks to the other members of the committee, Janet, Susan, Carol and Carol. We have had some excellent help this year from some newer members of the association so hopefully the committee with be strengthened with this fresh input.
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6 Secretary’s Report – Richard Rayment
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Litter Picking – Jacqui continues picking along Magor Road from the Crematorium to the Village Hall entrance and Susan and I cover the stretch from the village hall entrance to the motorway bridge. Occasionally, we also do the stretch from the brewery to the Wilcrick turning; this section is really out of our area but it gets really badly littered and it is safe as there is a footpath here. We would welcome help for John Harper who looks after Pencoed Lane.
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Future Events
Firework night will be held on Saturday 5 November and we are hoping that we can get the fire going well this year – last year it was a little damp to say the least!! Just a small reminder – please can everybody place their garden waste ON the pile and not NEAR the pile and please don’t leave other items in the Patch.
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Proressive Supper is to be held on Saturday 22 October. The event will be ticket only (limited numbers) and will include three courses (Starters, Mains, Desserts) served at three different addresses in the lane, at a cost of £20 per head.
Christmas tree illumination. We are awaiting confirmation from Langstone Community Council that they will be supplying a tree this year and, if so, we will probably turn the lights on in the first week of December.
Carols in the Barn. Thanks to David Price who has confirmed that his barn will be available in the period leading up to Christmas for some carols. The details are yet to be finalized.
Wales in Bloom. We didn’t enter in either of the last two Covid years but the decision has been taken to enter in 2023. A sub-committee will be formed. Anyone interested is very welcome to join.
7 Treasurer’s Report – Jacqui Ford
He main elements of the financial report for the year were outlined, a copy of which can be viewed on the Hamlet Website when the Minutes of the AGM are posted, or in the Hamlet Newsletter.
The annual accounts have not yet been audited but will be audited in the near future.
(a) The cash book currently stands at £1,180.22 which is an increase of £0.61 on the previous year and well in line with the figure required by the Committee (£1,000 balance) to allow for contingency plans.
(b) The main source of income remains membership fees with £360 collected. Subscriptions for this year (which remain at £20) are now payable and forms have been distributed to every household in the Hamlet.
(d) We all benefit from income received – which covers the excellent Hamlet Newsletter, our Hamlet website and maintenance of the green and cemetery which enhance the Hamlet and, of course, the social occasions.
(e) Other sources of income include Grants from Langstone Community Council for maintenance of the Green and Churchyard. The grant for 2021-22 was considerably lower than in previous years, reduced from £750 to £250. LCC has introduced a new system where a grant application has to be completed. The Chair and will be completing the application shortly, although there is no guarantee that the grant will be awarded.
(f) Expenditure throughout the year consisted mainly of maintenance of the green spaces, which include the planters and Bethel cemetery.
(g) We have Public Liability Insurance with Zurich.
(h) Costs incurred with our Newsletter and Website.
(i) We are starting our events calendar on 5 November with our Bonfire Night which always consists of a raffle, games and, of course, burgers and hotdogs. Any income generated from events are either used to increase our Bank Balance (if necessary) or as Charitable donations.
8 Election of Officers:
a) As no interest had been shown or nominations reeived, the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary all agreed to continue in their roles.
b) The proposal for nominations received to fill vacant places on the committee were put to the meeting and seconded for the following people:
Andrew/Sarah Thomas, Richard/Christy Thomas, Mike Gracia and Sharon Keiller.
9 Any other business:
a) John Harper reported that previous residents (Paul and Wyneira Archer) wished to pass on their regards to all members of the Association.
b) Hilary Prest announced that the Harvest Service would be held at Llanmartin Church on Sunday 11 October at 11 am. Everyone is welcome and any foods collected on the day will be donated to the Salvation Army kitchens.
10 Pencoed Castle Devlopment
Simon Wright described the progress of the work, which has been delayed considerably due to the presence of bats in some of the buildings. This will require additional work to be carried out to ensure future safety of the bats.
11 The meeting closed at 9 pm. Date of next general meeting: To be determine