2021/07/27 Board Meeting
Meeting to be held by Zoom. All Directors plus current advisor Elizabeth Sparkes and incoming Secretary Hazel Collins.
Agenda
Meeting to be held on Tuesday 27th July via Zoom at 7p.m.
- Apologies for absence.
- Appointment of Hazel Collins as Secretary, recombining roles of Company Secretary and Assistant Secretary.
- To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on April 27th 2021.
- Matters and Action Points arising from those Minutes.
- Health, Safety and Training including progress on Risk Assessments
- Report of the Company Secretary.
- Report of the Treasurer.
- Taking Card and Smartphone NFC Payments at Mill.
- Maintenance Report
- Report from the Membership Secretary.
- Future events/open days
- Volunteer drive
- Succession, including position of Maintenance Co-ordinator
- Any other business relevant to the Company.
- Village Pump "Do Not Drink" signage and information board.
- Planning Application for 1 Furze Road.
- South of England Prestige Awards 2021/22.
Minutes of Meeting held on April 27th 2021
Minutes of the meeting of the Trust Company held on 27th April 2021 at 1900 remotely by Zoom.
In attendance: Jeff Best (Chair), Hazel Marsden , Ian Fairclough, Paul Minter, Lucy Brooks, Richard Nowak, Mel Wickett, Tim Wickett, Samantha Goddard, Andy Campbell. Elizabeth Sparkes
Opening remarks from the Chair: Jeff Best opened the meeting to talk warmly in memory of Tony Potts who died suddenly and unexpectedly recently. Tony had stepped into the role of Company Secretary when his dad, Bob, stepped down after serving on the Board since its inception. Tony had also given a lifetime’s service to the Mill, having been present at the “topping out” ceremony in 1983. Bob has been a lifelong supporter of the Mill (as indeed has Betty, Tony’s mother) and Tony’s enthusiasm and desire to get things done properly was grounded in his strong desire to uphold his parents’ legacy and his own legacy will be very much felt in how we manage going forward based very much on his strongly principled approach to doing things properly and for the long term. The Board observed a minute’s silence in his memory.
Minutes of the meeting of 1st February 2021 were agreed, although it was noted that to close the issue about temporary siting of the village shop it had been the decision of the owners not to pursue the matter. The Instagram account has now been sorted out. Digitalisation of the Archives is proceeding more slowly than hoped and will now be linked to the development of our Wiki. Board members who have not forwarded “potted biographies” to Lucy should do so ASAP please. No bookings for June Open days have been received and it is clear that Members (and volunteers) are till reluctant to make commitments whilst there is still uncertainty over COVID.
The Secretary Reported that one report to the Charity Commissioner had, inadvertently, been filed 4 days late, although it is not believed that this will be an issue. Jeff also reported that whilst Richard Nowak has been registered formally as a Trustee, he has not yet been formally listed as a Director. Following a unanimous vote in favour AP 270421/1 Jeff will now action this. The Board agreed we will take ownership of the donation of the “Gruber” model windmills and also agreed that errors in actions are Board accountabilities not those of any individual.
The Treasurer’s report is attached and was agreed. The annual report was also agreed. Cllr. Sparkes reported that the Mill may be eligible for 3 classes of grant from the Council
- A lockdown payment
- A re-start grant (based on rateable value)
- An additional restriction grant
These will be particularly valuable in the light of our expectation to miss a substantial input of funds from the Summer Fete
Maintenance Report is attached with no matters arising. There has been some scheduled maintenance taking place including replacement sail cloths and extra lighting in the Roundhouse. A training session on ropes and knot tying is to be arranged
The Membership Secretary’s report advised that we have 212 members, made up of
Honorary 10; Life 127; annual 75. Paul reported that, sadly there has been an increase in deaths amongst members over the past months
Open Days/events: It was agreed to review the date of the AGM in light of ongoing COVID concerns and there having not yet been a formal announcement of a complete relaxation of restrictions. It is likely (now confirmed) that the Fete will be scaled back to become a “family fun day” as we have not been able to attract sufficient confirmed volunteers and there remains concern about possible visitor numbers. The Classic Car Day and Craft Fair will continue as normal.
Recruitment Drive; activity will continue largely to be held over until restrictions are eased. However it was agreed to make links with the Craft Fair and displaying heritage skills (possibly with the help of Men in Sheds) but scale will depend on levels of certainty prevailing. AP270421/02 Jeff to make a provisional hall booking for a more formal volunteers’ event in January 2022.
Succession: We still require a new Co. Secretary. Andy has spoken to Graham Carthew about his continuing lead on the Summer Fete and AP270421/03 Lucy to approach Angela Stevens ref replacing Roz Naylor Smith in organising private visits.
Health, Safety and Training – There has been a potentially very serious incident at the Mill during volunteer activity. Fortunately, whilst there was no serious injury there could have been with disastrous consequences for the individual concerned and for our ongoing stewardship of the Mill itself. The Chairman has written an immediate, thorough and detailed report which spells out the actions that require to be taken. The immediate actions are that AP 270421/03 PAUL will draft an initial Risk Assessment; AP270421/04 & 05 JEFF will consult with SPAB and Sussex Mills and contact the insurers AP 270421/06 TIM will contact other potential sources of advice and AP270421/07 Richard will contact Northbrook College to sound out potential help with Risk assessment & Management. It was agreed that there will be a moratorium on all activity involving non manual turning of the sails (i.e. milling and running “sails only” without grinding) until immediate actions are completed and a full Risk Assessment has been written and implemented. Paul will host a further meeting dedicated specifically to managing the follow up in 4-6 week’s time.
The Board recorded their grateful thanks to the Chair for his swift, appropriate and thorough actions.
AOB. (with thanks to Jeff) Elizabeth advised that a resident wanted her to pursue traffic calming measures in Furze Road and she was sounding us out as to whether we were for or against.
Ian raised the issue of the Brownie visit Roz asked us about. We agreed that we were happy to let it go ahead and for her to let us know if she needed volunteers. He also asked if any progress had been made finding a new source for grain. He is going to forward the Burton mill contact details to Hazel and she or I will follow up. I will be talking to Sussex Mills Group anyway so may as well raise the question of grain with them at the same time.
Tim raised the issue of the damson tree in the corner of the field. The work at No. 17 seems to have damaged it and it is now leaning badly. Tim is going to talk to Jon Potts to see if he can advise about rescuing it. If this draws a blank, Lucy will talk to Stanley Barker.
Appendix
Board Agreements this quarter:
The Board agreed we will take ownership of the donation of the “Gruber” model windmills
We agreed that errors in actions are Board accountabilities not those of any individual.
The draft Annual Report was agreed
In the light of volunteers not yet being willing to commit their time and lack of certainty over visitor numbers the Summer Fete will be scaled back. For similar reasons the date of the AGM will be out back.
We will continue to look at ways of increasing Membership and Volunteer numbers
A significant Board agenda has been set to learn lessons from and avoid any repetition of the recent potentially serious incident at the Mill
Company Secretary Report
Due diligence for Hazel Collins has been completed with the information she provided. Sight of passport and/or driving licence to confirm the given information used in due diligence is to be completed.
Secretary Report
Contacted several individual mills and multi-mill groups in relation to how they climb sails safely.
Received a letter from Alex Vince about warning against drinking the water and providing an information board.
Treasurer Report
Maintenance Report
Mill
The mill has been kept clean and tidy and some scheduled routine maintenance has been carried out. Regular sail and buck turning have also continued.
The sail cloths have been hung.
The Small Mills
Some scheduled routine maintenance has been carried out.
Vintage hand pump
The safety grill and protective cover have been completed and the pump is fully operational and has been used by our visitors. As a further safety measure a ‘NOT DRINKING WATER’ sign is to be installed.
Note that sterilising solution has been added to all pump water tanks.
Granary
The Granary was emptied for a thorough cleaning and chairs, tables and other open day equipment was cleaned ready for use when we reopened in June.
Peter C has made the window which is ready for fitting. It will then need to be glazed and painted.
Grounds maintenance
- Grass cutting, hedge trimming and other scheduled work has continued
- Fete trestles have been repaired where necessary
- All picket fences and benches have been painted
- A bench donated by a local resident has been renovated by one of our new volunteers.
Miscellaneous
- A new switch for the kitchen water heater has been fitted
- The annual fire extinguisher/blanket inspection has been carried out by Worthing Borough Council’s contractor.
Future (not covered elsewhere in the report).
- First aid packs to be checked for restocking
- Milling training to be arranged once the drafting of milling guides has been completed.
