The 2010 AGM took place at Widcombe C of E Junior School on 29th April. In his welcome speech Chairman Richard Wales thanked Paddy Doyle for his work on the Association Newsletter and expressed a great debt of gratitude to Sarah Lewis for her extraordinary efforts in organizing events – one of the great attractions of the Widcombe Association. Richard pointed out that in the absence of a Parish Council, the Association did its best to represent the views of Widcombe people to B&NES, and with our local councillors Ian Gilchrist and Brook Whelan, lobbied on issues that affect us, not least the Rossiter Road scheme where it seems after 30 years success might be in sight. He also talked about highways issues (handled for the Committee by Julian Williams) and planning, where we were fortunate to have Andrew Gordon-Duff to navigate us through this difficult minefield. The Two Tunnels scheme was another difficult area for the Association as the views of various sectors of the Widcombe community differed. The debate on the Two Tunnels continued.
Finally, Richard appealed to members to ensure that their subscriptions were up to date, and to sign a direct debit form to ease the ‘nightmare’ job of membership secretary Mayveen Blackwell. He concluded by asking for new volunteers to serve on the Committee – ‘even those who claim to detest committees’ he said ‘find our gatherings relatively painless’.
We then had a short presentation from Lorinda Coombes, Campaigns Manager for Waste Services in B&NES, on the new weekly food waste collection from October 4th this year.
Adrienne Baptiste then asked members to sign the Widcombe 20 on-line petition to lower the speed limit in Widcombe to 20mph. She is a mother of two young children who has become involved with Safe Routes to School. She asked people to sign the petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/widcombe20/
Sam Holliday, Editor of the Bath Chronicle, gave an informative and entertaining talk on the subject of newspapers in general and the Chronicle in particular, and the meeting concluded with wine, nibbles and conversation.
2010 AGM Minutes available here.
Statement of Accounts at 31 Dec 2009 here.