August 2017 – Review of meeting places and meeting dates

The Friends of Danesbury always meet on the Third Thursday each month throughout the year.

The remaining meetings for this year are as follows:

Whereas our normal start time is 10 a.m. until lunchtime, we have learned the benefit of offering an earlier start time for those who can, and want, to make it. In the Fernery this will be very much more achievable once we are able to store all our hand tools on site in our new steel cabinet (i.e ‘bike shed’) which is due to be installed in a week or so.

Whereas start points for work parties used to vary according to the location of the work, all our meetings this year have been held in the Fernery and as a result we have tended to neglect some of our normal maintenance tasks in the Park Field. However, a side-benefit of this has been to remove some ambiguity or uncertainty about meeting points when publishing details of our meetings.

Furthermore, in order to maintain the amazing progress we have made in the Fernery over the past 18 months, we detect a general feeling within the team that we should at least consider scheduling meetings in the Fernery more frequently than once a month. And we also need to think how we might accomodate a future Gardening sub-group.

In considering this proposition it is not intended to raise the intensity of working in the Fernery, or further neglect work in the Park Field, but to introduce an alternative date for volunteers who either cannot meet on Thursdays, or who do genuinely want to put an extra meeting in per month.

This might of course lead to the composition of smaller working teams, with an associated pressure on the need for qualified Team Leaders and First Aiders to be present. But conversely it does offer the possibility that we will gain new volunteers if, on a regular and scheduled basis, we are able to offer an alternative working week day, and week in the month.

Unless stated otherwise, all the remaining meetings this year will be in the Fernery, starting at 10 a.m. (or earlier for those who wish to) and working to lunchtime (e.g. 12.30 p.m.)

b) Week day – twice a month

It is proposed that from October 2017 and then indefinitely, we will meet twice a month throughout the year as follows:

• Third Thursday as now.
• (Second meeting date) 1st Monday / 1st Tuesday / 1st Wednesday / 1st Thursday/ 1st Friday / 1st Saturday – to be agreed with the Friends.

c) Meeting Start point

It will be the norm that the Start Point for ALL Meetings from October 2017 will be at the Fernery, where our hand tools will be stored, so that they can be distributed by the Team Leader as appropriate to the work in hand.

d) Work locations – subject to the availability of Team Leaders and First Aiders

Fernery – work parties will operate twice a month in the Fernery: on the Third Thursday, and on the agreed alternate week day/week of the month.

Park Field – depending on work plan priorities agreed with the WHBC,  and if numbers permit, work parties will operate once a month on the second alternate day of the week/week of the month.

Volunteers will in this way, have a choice of working solely in the Fernery should they wish and once or twice a month as it suits, or share their work between the Fernery and the Park Field once or twice a month as work demands, and as they so choose.

The FOD Committee need to hear your thoughts, comments and suggestions in regard to the above Proposals, and we would like you to tell us which would be your favoured second meeting day of the month. Please pass your response to Harry Ward our Secretary.

The issue for the FOD Committee will be to study your collective responses and then produce an agreed Final Proposal.

I would hope that we might set a deadline of the end of September for agreement, and with this mind I further propose that we discuss this as a team at the September Work Party in The Fernery on 21st September 2017 at an extended elevenses break.