February 2021 Minutes
NOTES FROM FILLINGHAM PARISH MEETING
Monday, 1st February 2021
Held via Zoom – COVID restrictions.
1. In Attendance: Margaret O’Grady (Chair), Peter O’Grady (Vice-chair), Glenn Cargill (RFO), Dawn Greetham (Clerk) and three parishioners.
2. Apologies for absence: Vicky Cargill, PCSO Julie McFaul.
3. Notices of Interest: None
4. Minutes of the last meeting (7th December 2020): The minutes were approved unanimously and signed.
5. Matters arising from the minutes not covered elsewhere in the meeting: A final quote from Eastfields for £23,578 to replace various windows and the kitchen door has been received. Margaret proposed to instruct the contractors to commence work and this was seconded by Martin. Quotes will be sought to paint the windows after their installation.
6. Reports:
I. Police: There was one incident reported which is not of public interest.
II. Finance: Glenn reported that a further COVID-19 grant of £8,907.21 has been received for the village hall. Various closing invoices for utility bills have been settled.
III. In relation to the discussion on the use and accountability of grants and other funding re-ceived, Judith provided advice from her experience of charity fundraising. The require-ments placed upon voluntary not for profit organisations can be found in the Code of Fund-raising Practice, published by the Fundraising Regulator. To summarise, non-charitable voluntary organisations have similar duties to those set out in relations to charities whereby they must make sure that assets and resources are used only for the purposes for which they are given, and all funds raised for a particular cause must be used for that cause. They must also keep a record of donations that are given for a specific purpose and make sure that they keep to the conditions of that donation.
IV. Village Hall report: The hall remains closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The PAT test has been carried out. The Firestop test has also been completed. Following repairs to the boiler and the expiry of maintenance cover, the Parish should plan to replace the boiler (including funding). A COVID-19 risk assessment is being developed by West Lindsay District Council ahead of planned elections on 6th May. Playground checks are carried out regularly and there is no damage to report. There is no update on legal/charity status.
7. Correspondence: Mr Rose has been thanked for the donation of the Christmas tree. Invoices as stated above have been settled.
8. Parish/District/county matters:
I. Defibrillator: Despite the defibrillator showing a dead battery, a replacement battery did not resolve the issue and the defibrillator will need to be replaced. The ambulance service has been informed that this unit it out of commission. It was agreed to expedite replacement ahead of the next meeting, through either rental or purchase of a new unit – which would be in the order of £1000. The meeting gave permission to proceed. Margaret to enquire.
II. Parish Trust update: The Parish is awaiting a reply from the solicitors regarding the change of trustees following a delay owing to a change of personnel at the solicitors.
III. Broadband update: The parish is still awaiting a quote from Openreach regarding updating the village to fibre broadband. There was a request for information to be presented by the Broadband project group to provide background information to the Parish Meeting ahead of any decision or financial commitment.
IV. Village Green: The meeting has been assured that all damage to the village green as a re-sult of the current excavation works on the High Street will be made good on completion.
9. Any other business: The evening with comedian Ian McMillan is now delayed to Friday, 25th June 2021. The new village website is now up and running and thanks were expressed to vol-unteer Peter Langford. It was agreed unanimously to offer a donation to a Mr Langford’s chosen charity of £50 as thanks for his contribution.
10. Date of next meeting: 1st March 2021.