So on Tuesday the 28th June 2022, the Calder Vale Recreation Ground Charity held their AGM. With 15 members of the community in attendance, and five members of the committee, the Chair Guy Berwick thanks everyone for attending and opened the AGM. He advised everyone that there would be four parts to the meeting...
1. A presentation on the land title issue of the recreation ground, which includes the car park and pavilion land and right of access to Vale House.
2. An update from Rebecca on the plans to be submitted to Wyre Council to develop the recreation ground.
3. The two pronged fundraising aim for the charity and the collapsing lodge bank civil engineering report.
4. The election of the 2022/2023 committee
1. The presentation of the land title issue - The Chair, Guy Berwick, reminded everyone of the matter raised by the current owners of Vale House of the question of the land that was gifted to the parish of Calder Vale back in 1964 had not been registered with Land Registry, with specific challenge with regards to the car park land and pavilion, which has a right of access to the occupants of Vale House. In the capacity of the Chair and as a volunteer, the Chair clocked up many hours and carried out prolonged enquiries, with both Land Registry and the Charity Commission, to clarify the land title. Also an anonymous delivery was made to the Chairs home, of a copy of the 1964 Land Registry of Vale House circled in red, also showing the recreation ground as 2.84 acres and the car park/pavilion as 0.42 which equates to 3.26 acres & gifted to the village as a recreational facility. The Trustees in 1964 registered the land as a charity with the Charity Commission and they requested at the time that the Charity Commission become the Official Custodian of the Charity, so as & when Trustees change it was and is easier to transfer the title of the Charity and land owned by the charity.
The Charity Commission confirmed they had three documents; the original registration of the charity with the Charity Commission, the document that requested the Charity Commission become the Official Custodians to hold the land and the Conveyance with the Land Registry plan edging the Charity's land in green, again equalling the 3.26 acres.
So the Chair, Guy, confirmed that the land, which includes the recreation field and the questioned car park/pavilion land with right of access to Vale House, all belonging to Calder Vale Recreation Ground Charity.
The Chair confirmed that if re-elected that he would on behalf of the Charity, register the land with Land Registry for free-hold title. The attendees were asked if there were any questions and one participant thanked the Chair for carrying out all the work to confirm the whole of the 3.26 acres was owned by the Charity.
2. Then a presentation was given by Rebecca, who had put in a huge amount of work, as a volunteer, on the Design and Access plans, to submit to Wyre Council Planning. The plans are set out in three phases.
The first phase would include the development of a Dog exercise area where dogs can be off-lead and an additional dog-agility area, a storage area for grass cutting equipment, an orchard, natural play area, football pitch, picnic area and wildflower area.
The second phase would be a path around the field, a community garden, a natural trim trail and a natural play area.
The third phase would be a more substantial play area for young people with swings and climbing net.
With visits by Danielle and Rebecca to various other recreation fields, parks and play areas a collection of ideas for the materials for benches, paths, fencing, signs etc was collected and will be used to form part of the submission of the plans to Wyre Council.
A question was asked if the children's play area would be fenced off and it was confirmed that it would be as would the dog exercise and agility areas would be.
The Chair thanked Rebecca for her hard work and pointed out that any further questions or contributions to the plans would be most welcome and anyone interested would just need to speak with a committee member.
3. Then the Chair raised the issues of the current situation with the concerns of the eroding lodge bank at the start of the public footpath as you enter the woods, going towards St John's Church and School. He pointed out that not only the local community use the footpath but so many visitors from outside of the village, who come to see the bluebells in May, those who participate in Wyre Rambles and WI walks, the village Runs and more! There were grave concerns raised about the collapsing structure of the bank from the footpath down to the river bed and that if it were to breach it would be a catastrophic failure of a number of bodies for not acting upon information provided as to it's current state. The Chair pointed out that it was not a personal matter but more for all the bodies such as the Village Hall, the village Women's Institute, the Methodist Church, St John's Church and School, the Club and the Recreation Ground Charity and residents of the village but mostly the official bodies Lappet Manufacturing, who own the lodge, which provides the water for the sprinkler system in the mill, the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council, The Canals and Rivers Trust, United Utilities, Wyre Council and the local Member of Parliament . As a result there is a need to instruct experts to complete both a topographical survey and a structural engineering report, to show what the current situation is and what needs to be done, to present to the owners of the mill, so a catastrophic event can potentially be averted.
The Chair asked the attendees if they were in agreement for all the relevant bodies coming together to raise their concerns, to which one participant suggested that Lappet Mill should be taking on this matter, as it is their land and would impact immediately on their business. This was agreed and the Chair stated that with solid evidence presented to them from an expert and in collaboration with all the official bodies then the matter could be acted upon.
The Chair then suggested that as the assessments and surveys would cost financially he would be setting up a personal Go Fund Me page or Just Giving page with a target of £15,000 that would be split between the Recreation Ground and the costs to complete expert survey report and in the meantime he would start the conversation between all the interested parties.
4. Finally the formal part of the meeting was for the committee to stand down. Previous Chair Jayne Jenkinson had given formal notice that she was standing down as a Trustee and did not wish to be part of the elections. She was thanked, in her absence, for all her hard work over the previous years as Chair and Committee member and for the continued volunteering work, she has offered to do for the charity. All other trustees stood down and the Chair asked for a show of hands for all in favour of the past trustees being re-elected. It was a unanimous show of hands from all in attendance - 15 members of the public and 5 committee members.
Everyone was thanked for their attendance and the AGM was concluded.
After the first committee meeting for 2022/23 was held and a new Trustee was co-opted by the five Committee members, who were happy to have Helen Clarke join the group of Trustees. Helen lives in the village, is a regular user of the Recreation Ground and is keen to help progress the development of the recreational facilities on the field. It was agreed by the newly elected Chair, Guy, that he would write to the current owners of Vale House with the findings of the Land Titles and revisit their proposal to improve the car park. Rebecca was asked to progress the Design and Access Statement and Planning application. The matter regarding the catch-pit was raised and the layering of the hedge after August and Bill was going to progress that, as well as clearing the ditches. There was a need to tidy up the area around the pavilion and remove brambles and weeding from the ditches, which would be done as an appeal for volunteers on the Our Calder Vale Facebook Page. Finally it was agreed for a meeting every two months to ensure matters are progressing.
