The Round Hill Society

RHS Minutes 2020-11-10 AGM

RHS 2020 Zoom Annual Meeting. The Round Hill Society's 2020 AGM was held on 10th November at 7.30 pm on Zoom. The meeting was very ably chaired by Kate Wolstenholme who gave clear instructions on how to use the features on Zoom e.g. for voting purposes, chat, etc. It lasted just over 90 minutes.

There were 25 participants including our local Councillor Pete West, plus 8 members of the committee.

Our Treasurer, Andrew Partington, described the financial activity during the year, the main items being £1000 in for the Green Spaces project from Chalk Hill Trust and £290 coming in from Reporter adverts; £315 spent on 4 issues of the Reporter, £250 spent on the new wooden planter at the Richmond/Mayo road junction; and Seasonal Singing raising £167 for the food charity FareShare. We ended the year with £6482 (£5685 last year) of which £1750 is earmarked for the Green Spaces Project and £530 for the Blue Plaque on 101 Round Hill Crescent.

Andrew also reported on the slow progress on planning and developing a simple to use website for the committee to use to publicise events and activities on Round Hill. A plea was made for any suitably tech-savvy folk to step up and help make it real. This site will run alongside the existing website, roundhill.org.uk.

Dominic Furlong reported on actions taken by Round Hill Green Spaces to install and maintain planters and to make progress with sites identified for greening, making pavement space safer and more pleasant for pedestrians.

There was also a presentation from reps of Brighton & Hove Mutual Aid (Channy and Emma) which is running initiatives across 34 neighbourhoods of our city, one being Round Hill and the Triangle (this being those roads between Upper Lewes and Lewes Roads). Mutual Aid operates as a non-hierarchical group of individuals helping each other during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can request and/or offer support.

Kate Rice gave a concise round up of Round Hill Society events and initiatives since the 2019 AGM, including 2019 Advent Windows, Seasonal Singing, ‘Clean It Up’ Dog Stencils and renewing the 20mph signs on the Upper Lewes Road tarmac. But she also noted that Covid19 has stopped many events this year, though Halloween windows happened and the Advent Windows event is happening. She also mentioned catering outlets which have been helpful during these difficult times including the Solitary Bee mobile coffee shop, the Creperie and Ice Cream vans as well as Anna's Bakery, Shakti Stores (supporting food banks and delivering groceries) and the Roundhill pub (providing take away food and drink).

Kate Wolstenholme mentioned the Nature 2020 spring equinox themed windows.

Rob Stephenson described the initiative involving the naming of pavement plants as well as the Round Hill Society Heritage Open Door history trail.

Rob also gained approval for The Round Hill Society to sponsor his membership of The Blue Plaque committee and renewed us as a group member of Brighton and Hove Heritage Commission.

Cllr Pete West appealed for volunteers to help with the School Streets Schemes involving Downs Infant and Junior Schools. These schemes temporarily restrict motor vehicle access to streets near school entrances during school opening and closing times. See the article on page 7 RHR for more details.

The Round Hill Society Committee for 2020-21 was voted in. Rosi & Max of the Roundhill pub have stepped down. Other existing members were reconfirmed in their posts and 3 new committee members were elected - Summer Dean, Gary Jenkins and Ingrid Mary Ramirez. Ingrid is The Round Hill Society's first student representative

Return to the list of RHS MINUTES on our Committee Page