Cloudesley Association - Minutes of Meeting
Date: Tuesday 21st May 2019, 6.30 - 8pm.
Venue: The Drapers Arms.
Chair: Amanda Gill
Secretary: Florence Salberter
Guests: Jenny Tatton and Rowena Champion
Amanda announced that she became a governor of the ILS, Bridge School along with Dirk which hopefully will help with communication. Amanda asked if anyone wanted to take on Chair or Secretary roles but no volunteer came forward. Amanda and Florence will continue in these roles.
1. Local history information on Cloudesley Association Website.
We had Jenny Tatton, who recently contributed a lot of information on the local history on the website, as guest speaker. Jenny was introduced and thanked for her good work.
Jenny has lived in the area for over 40 years. She met the Church project team and was introduced to Nick who manages the website for the Association. She said that she was very impressed by the design and content. Jenny has previously spent time researching family trees/history but said that she is now also interested in researching local history. She has looked into social history and old maps and found the full census data for Cloudesley Square. She has spent time researching at the local history library and will soon post new photos on the website. Famous past residents were identified. Some neighbours have agreed to be interviewed. Jenny explained that it is a real buzz when someone gets in touch with stories to tell about the area. The website is there for Cloudesley Estate residents and she warmly encourages people to read the information made available and to contribute to it.
The website reveals a diverse community. She gave us some insight into buildings that had previously been used as shops, workshops, factories etc. Jenny has started to get more feedback from locals and finds it very rewarding to get such feedback from local residents. She is particularly interested to see any old house deeds and to hear from neighbours with stories or old photographs. Jenny reminded us of the short term project funded by HLF to train local volunteers into carrying out research. This will lead to an exhibition. Volunteering is a day a week or a day a month. The project will end in September. She urged local residents to get involved: ‘Holy Trinity needs you’. You will meet new people and it is a very rewarding activity. Easier than ever to research the past with web resources and organisation such as Kew, family history group, Genealogy society that’s very close by.
The Key message from Jenny is:
Give it a go - join our community website, comment, share your expertise - contribute to it.
2. Rowena Champion, our local councillor, followed on by first of all thanking Jenny. People asked questions of Rowena about the following:
- The Church - it is a fantastic project.
- Victoria Line noise: Rowena was assured that work would be finished by the end of 2018. The information received by various parties has been inconsistent. It is therefore not clear if works have been undertaken or not. Noice seems to have got worse about two months ago. Her understanding is that vibration monitoring was meant to be done. A local resident that is affected indicated that London Underground monitors the pattern of calls as it helps them to collate data on hot spots. They also do come into houses to monitor noise level.
Actions:
- Rowena will go back again to make further queries on progress.
- All: Complain to London Undergound if you are affected by the rumbling noise or noticed it getting worse, as it allows them to get the data of hot spots: call 0343 222 1234 and ask to make a complain about noise.
- Crime update
Moped crime has dropped by 70% in Islington. Some concern about drug dealing. There are some hot spots. Police says they haven’t got the resources but it is becoming a concern. Groups of kids can be intimidating and it was asked if maybe CCTV should be considered but Rowena explained that CCTV doesn’t always provide sufficient info and evidence to prosecute. Gathering evidence is very time consuming but this is going up the radar. If residents can get moped and car numbers, pass them onto the Police although these vehicles might be rented and rental companies won’t give details unless there is evidence. Work being done targeting youth. Lots of focus work - Youth Gang team doing amazing work in the Caledonian Area for instance.
- Barnard Park - big issue for Rowena.
Rowena gave some background history: 2016 - 7 a side football pitch planning permission given. Because designated as sport pitch, Sports of England referred the case to SoS. The Council has recently compromised on a 9 a side football pitch. Originally, the project was meant to be delivered in several phases. Because of the new 9 a side proposal, the two phases have to be done together - i.e. more funding has to be found now. It has taken a lot of time to get there but now the Council is looking at how the pitch will be managed, engaging with local groups + a designer has been appointed to look at the building - then will go for planning permission. Hope to get financing in place. The Council tried to remain faithful to the original plan with large grass area and central hub + running track. The football pitch will be divided into 3 x 5 a side. Rowena confirmed that Sports of England is happy to support this compromise.
- Thornhill Rd Gardens ‘Friends Group’
This site was used as a nursery to grow plants. It is opposite the Albion. Rowena started a Friends Group to improve the garden, they meet on the last Sunday of every Month. Plants have been generously given by Barnard Park. Park Keeper hubs - looking at making it more useful and community space. Getting people to talk and meet. If people wishes to get in touch, just e-mail Rowena. Contact details can be obtained from the Association.
Anybody who is interested please join in: Last Sunday of every month 10 - 1pm.
3. The Church: Update from Nick.
The last big event was the meeting at St Andrews, but we never had a discussion together following that. Any progress since? Yes and No... No in that Kevin Rogers indicated that there had been no progress since the last meeting as the Diocese is still trying to get funding. But Yes because they got funding (£50k) from HLF for doing volunteering local research project. If successful, it will help the bigger (£6m) project. 3 of those present in the meeting have volunteered. There are in effect 2 projects: one called ‘the way we live’ that looks at the architecture of the church and the second one looking into the history of the 70 ‘residents’ of the crypt.
Church commissioners contacted people too (the letter was shared amongst residents and on the website). Nick sees it as positive although bureaucratic exercise and responded as well as e-mailed the commissioners. The reason Amanda and Florence didn’t respond on behalf of the Association is partially due to timescale and because this would have required them to collate a clear representation of supporters and objectors to the proposal to provide a clear picture.
The regeneration will be completed by 2022 according to some written information related to the history projects. A design brief went out for a design team, as required by such funding bodies. So things must be progressing. Guardians are still there.
Key question is: is the YMCA still on board as that is key to funding?
Action:
- Amanda: Suggested that the Association gets Kevin Rogers to come at the next meeting as he suggested in his e-mail to Nick.