HALTON TOGETHER PANEL MEETING

MIND Centre, Widnes

11^th August 2004 - 2.00pm – 3.05pm

Present

Larraine Robinson – Parkinsons Support Group, Michael Fry – HAFS, Mike Shepherd – Murdishaw Community Forum, Nora Rimmer – Runcorn Residents Federation, Norman Lloyd – Halton Happy Hearts, Shelagh Kearney – Four Estates, Susan Ellison – Centre 8 Drama Group, Annie Holligan – the galligu, Andy Guile – Halton YMCA, Barbara Haley – OPEN, Greg Lamkin – St. Ambrose C.E. Church, Glenice Bagley – Halton Carers Umberella Group, Hitesh Patel – Halton CAB

In Attendance

Kath Parkes – HVA, Katie Robertson – HVA

Apologies

Louise Tanner, Michael Gelling, Pauline Ruth, Sharon Peterson, Wendy Price, John Maguire, Ann Turner Culverhouse, Anne Patchett, Beth Edwards, Bill Edwards, Fr Michael McCormack, Ian Rigby, John Parle

Minutes of Last Meeting

These were briefly read through to the meeting. Points raised:

w NRF has got the go ahead until 2008 – need to find out how the CEN will benefit from this.

w Aintree ‘Skillsrace’ event – Need volunteers to man a Halton Together stand. Members need to let Kath Parkes know if you are interested.

w ECDL – Forms have now been completed so HVA can be an ECDL centre. There is no scope for running courses in the evening at the moment, but there is potential in the future as YMCA may link up as a “satellite site” and run courses in the evening.

w IT courses which are due to start soon have had a very good response with all places being filled.

Concerns were expressed as to why money was being spent to run these courses at HVA, when they are free to attend at various locations throughout Runcorn and Widnes. It was explained that the network make requests and these are implemented through the delivery plan. These courses will be free of charge to all Halton Together members.

It was noted that the Website course run by Sauren Ghosh at HVA was very successful last year and could it be run again for Halton Together members? Kath is hoping to run this course again.

w Re. Community Chest – There are 4 opportunities per year to apply. This will stay the same for the time being, but may change in the future.

Treasurers Report

w Events – £1,500 spent. This includes promotional materials/marketing etc., for the Arts event at Norton Priory – the overspend here has been compensated by money being returned for accommodation not used on Charity Fair.

w Charity Fair – There is no overspend on this as some of the money spent was recouped.

w Premium and Liability Insurance – 30% of the overall costs of the building are covered by CEF

w Management Fees – 10% is stipulated by Government Office for management fees on this project. This covers finance and Chief Exec reporting on the project. £13k has been allocated for this.

w Employment Pensions – This is a percentage paid to pensions for staff involved in the project. This amount is lower than budgeted for as some staff have not taken the opportunity of the pension scheme.

Merger

w HVA Board and Halton Together Exec panel have had one meeting to discuss the possibility of joining together. The pro’s and con’s are to be weighed up and a report will be given to the panel.

Communications Sub-Group

w Currently working on the next ‘Question Time’ session. Meeting will cover, housing/environment/crime. This will be an open forum and any question relating to any of the above issues, can be raised. The meeting will take place on 18^th October at Halton Stadium, from 5.00pm.

w Work started on community strategy looking at who we want to target, how and when. A document will be presented within the next two months.

w Away Day – Representatives from GONW and the LSP are due to attend the Away Day. So far though, there have only been 12 responses from people who want to attend. A discussion ensued as to why this was so poorly received. It was concluded that the overnight stay is not suitable for everyone and weekends may not be ideal. Also it is the holiday period. Kath Parkes explained that it is not compulsory to stay over and people could just attend on Saturday. It was decided that it would be better to wait until November as it was quite successful when run at this time last year. From this discussion, it was suggested that the process of the restructure should start now. The sub-groups should be gathered together to discuss a way forward for the CEN. Kath will circulate listings and arrange meetings

Halton Charity Fair

This will be discussed at the next meeting as Bill Edwards is currently on holiday.

Northwest Charity Fair

Liverpool Volunteer Bureau is in charge of bookings for workshops for the ‘SkillsRace’ event. Kath Parkes urged all to book onto appropriate workshops as soon as possible. All places are free. Transport is available for anyone who wishes to attend. Volunteers are needed to arrange the display for Halton Together. Andy Guile volunteered. Anyone else who is interested in this is to let Kath Parkes know.

Any Other Business

w A reminder needs to be sent to all non attending panel members who do not send apologies.

w The letter may be sent to an organization rather than an individual so if somebody has left – another person can represent that organisation. It is imperative that members understand that they must be able to commit their time to the project if they ‘sign up’. It is hoped, that with the new restructure a lot of the problem will be solved. Larraine Robinson offered to take get in touch with these people to ask them if they still wish to be a panel member.

w Re. Agenda – The agenda items are unclear and people do not know what is to be discussed, therefore they cannot send comments to meetings if they are unable to attend. From now on, all agenda items will have information added underneath for clarity.

w Positive examples are needed from groups/individuals about how the CEN has helped them and their group.

Time and Date of Next Meeting

Separate meetings of subgroups are to be arranged.