SEEFoE Meeting, 7th March 2006
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 4 April 2006 at 7.30 p.m. at the Balmoral Community Centre, Salisbury Avenue, Southend
Agenda
- Minutes of last meeting
- Apologies for absence
- FOE Mailshot, replies, new members
- Press Release
- Bank account
- Big Ask Southend High Street event
- Materials available
- Finalise date etc.
- Future campaigns
- AOB
Minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2006 at the Balmoral Community Centre
Present: David Babbs (Guest from FoE), Kim (Coordinator), Alex, Tracy, Elisabeth, Denis, Keith, Maike, Michael Downer, Michael Woolcott, Peter.
- Minutes of previous meeting: were accepted.
- Apologies for absence: Jon, Sue, Irene Willis, Steve Jordan, Eileen, Lucinda Reed, Arthur, Molly, Dennis Garne
- FOE Mailshot, replies, new members: Kim welcomed new members and reported on mailshot.
- Press Release: The press release has been sent to the Yellow Advertiser, Echo, Leigh District, Southend Standard, Southend Times. So far only the Yellow Advertiser responded. There are issues of press standards with some of the papers. It was suggested to put meeting in the events section of the local papers and to BBC Essex and Essex FM.
- Bank account: Signatures of Committee members are needed for the bank account. Roger, Kim, Steve Jordan have already signed. The following members are willing to serve in the various capacities: Kim (Chairman), Roger (Treasurer), Peter (Vice-Chairman), Alex (Secretary), Keith, Denis, Tracy, Sue (all committee).
- Big Ask Southend High Street event : Main aim of the event will be to get people to sign the Big Ask postcards for their MPs. It turned out that it makes sense to pass them on via FoE in London as they are monitoring MP’s attitudes towards Big Ask. David informed on different MP’s stance and most MP’s in the area have signed up to early motion with the exceptions of James Duddridge and Mark Francois. Two constituents had written personal letters to their MPs to raise their concern about Climate Change and the letters had been rejected! David said that MP’s are required to respond to corespondence. Irene Willis has pointed out that there is no need to give the Concil notice of the event in the High Street as they let other environmental groups operate as well. David pointed out that it is down to local byelaws. David informed on different MPs' stances and most MPs in the area have signed up to early day motion with the exception of Mark Francois.
- Materials available: John Horvarth still has material like banners etc. from the old group. Kim handed out T-shirts. He has brochures on special topics. It was noted the publication ‘Change the World’ should now be sent to him and not John Horvarth. Kim is going to bring some posters ‘Join your local group’ to the next meeting. Kim will get energy light bulbs for demonstration purposes from Energy Centre. Tracy will provide tea and warm-up facilities. Another aim of the event will be to attract new members for our group.
- Finalise date: Saturday 25th (10 - 1 p.m.), 9.30 for setup . Location: Down the road from HMV to the section where Queen’s Road meets the High St by the Post Office.
- Future campaigns: Keith suggested to have a stall at the Fair at Waterside Farm on July 18th which was enthusiastically received by members. Keith to e-mail Kim with show-contact. Alex will build triangular information board for event with her Dad. Maike suggested to have the themes Sun, Water, Vegetation on it and how they affected people in the Southeast through Climate Change. Dicussion arose and it was suggested to put the content of the information board to e-mail discussion. David will start by feeding in a few bullet points.
- Any other business Option 10 has developed fast and is now at a point when it can be sent as an online-petition to 10 Downing Street. Peter filled in new members on main aims of the campaign: Wind Turbines, Saving Energy, Solar Power, Reducing CO2, Energy Efficiency. Priory Park Road is hopefully going to be thrown out because it is too costly.