The second Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Birdcage Walk was held on 24th October 2023 in Clifton library.
Minutes of the meeting:
BIRDCAGE WALK AGM 24 OCTOBER 2023
Clifton Library, Princess Victoria Street, Clifton
Present; The Committee; Paula O’Rourke - Chair, Norman Charnley – Treasurer, Rosalind Olsen – Secretary, James Gibbs, Trevor Blythe, Lesley Woodward, Caroline Melvin, Kath Rogers, Bob Gwilym
And Members of the gardening group, Rosalind and Andrew MacDowall, Ed Radecki and Siân Charnley.
Welcome by Rosalind
Report from the Chair – Paula
Paula thanked the team for carrying on during what has been a very busy year for her. She thanked the gardening team for their dedication and reminded us of the situation just over two years ago when she would regularly ask BCC if they could possibly just strim the massively overgrown mass of undergrowth. It was almost impossible to walk into the graveyard. She was concerned that Birdcage Walk would suffer the same fate as other green spaces and be consumed by undergrowth. Now it is a pleasure to walk through and it has been particularly positive to watch the community of people grow around this very special place. Paula updated those present on the situation regarding the railings. The railings do contain lead and therefore we cannot prepare them for repainting. It is a specialist job. The ‘easiest’ solution is to take them away and repaint by specialist but that would cost close to £100,000 which in the current economic climate is not feasible. Possibly the best solution is to power wash the railings and lacquer them to protect from any further damage/erosion. Paula also reported on the missing lime trees; BCC have been up to the lime walk with a view to replanting. There is possibly a grant available.
Treasurer’s Report - Norman
Norman reported that there is still the majority of the funds donated by Clifton Garden Society available. There is an outstanding invoice and money also needs to be kept for planting two shrubs. We have a £250 donation organised by Kath from the University community fund.
Garden Report – Lesley
The Garden Report was delivered by Lesley. There is a Powerpoint presentation which has the outline of the report. Lesley went through the three aims of Friends of Birdcage Walk explaining how we maintain and conserve the churchyard and what we are doing to create a more diverse range of habitats.
- Our Aims Management and Maintenance Plan
- To maintain the churchyard and Birdcage Walk as an attractive, interesting and peaceful space for the local community
- To conserve the graves and monuments as an irreplaceable historical resource
- To create and manage diverse habitats to shelter a wide variety of wildlife
The Powerpoint is available on the website (below) as are the management plans and variety of links that Lesley spoke about in her presentation.
Birdcage Bash update – Kath Rogers
Kath updated us on Birdcage Bash – the event will take place on Saturday 18th May. BCC is extremely supportive and very keen to ensure this is a success. The Diocese are positive. Kath is working with a friend who has an excellent track record in running this type of event which has been a important support. An application for total funds (£7,500) needed has just been presented to BID. The total amount is not expected but Kath is confident about raising sponsorship and it open to anyone’s ideas for companies who could be approached. Paula asked about a cut-off date for pulling Birdcage Bash if the necessary sponsorship funds are not raised. Kath had not considered a date.
Election of Officers
All officers were unanimously re-elected for the coming year.
A Powerpoint presentation was shown, which is available below: