THE DINGS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION LTD & NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
The Dings Annual General Meeting and Community Meeting – 10th May 2023 AGM
- Welcome to all
- Minutes of last meeting – all agreed
- Election of Officers. All Officers stood down. All officers appointed to, unopposed.
| Office | Name | Proposed | Seconded |
| Chair | Sal Caseley | Helen Leckie | Serrie Chapman |
| Vice Chair | Ali Hender | Helen Leckie | Serrie Chapman |
| Treasurer | Nola Hersey | Sal Caseley | Helen Leckie |
| Secretary | Helen Leckie | Nola Hersey | Sal Caseley |
| Directors | Serrie Chapman | Sal Caseley | Nola Hersey |
- Other roles: Distribution of newsletters
- Changing noticeboards
- This will be Sal’s last year as chair. Sal has detailed what her role entails (at end of page)
Chair’s Report
Sal Caseley: We have not held so many Dings community meetings, in the past year, but the Directors have all been busy, we have had numerous meetings with developers who all require our approval for planning of student accommodation.
Currently, they are:
- Gas lane
- Freestone land
- Chanson foods Avon street
- Calor gas site – Kingsland Road
- Albert Road
- Plot 3 – Temple Meads
- University
- Silverthorne Lane
- The Dings now has a new and updated website, www.thedings.co.uk – many thanks to Serrie. Our Facebook page has also grown in its popularity, we now have 536 members, anything from crime – news – events – lost & found items are posted each week.
- Due to Bristol City council cuts, we have lost our funding for the 11 and upwards age group youth club, so we have had to close our doors on a Thursday night.
- Thanks to funding from Wates, we started a youth club for age 8 to 11 years, this is run by Tania and Luis, each week there are about 25 young people in attendance, and it is very popular. Funding is due to run out soon, so we are actively seeking continuation funding.
- After-school clubs have been running during this past year, every Monday and Wednesday for Maths and English, we are hopeful this will continue. Many thanks to Nola. who has liaised with university hubs, to make this happen.
- At Christmas, the streets were lit up with residents displaying advent windows, Thanks to Helen for coordinating this.
- 15 Christmas parcels were delivered to longstanding residents, all well received.
- Approx. 24 recipe bags containing a recipe and ingredients are given out to the youth of the area, every couple of months.
- Community gardening is still carried out on the first Sunday of every month, planting new bulbs, pruning, and cutting back overgrown planters, also litter picking. Many thanks to all who come out, it does make a huge difference.
- Crime continues to be at an all-time low in the Dings.
- Many thanks to our resident cleaner of the container who has done a wonderful job throughout the year.
Treasurer’s report
Last year we received 2x one-off grants (from Wates and Community Fund) to enable us to run a Fun Day and start a youth club for the younger kids. Our regular income was from rent from CYN to use our youth club for older kids, this enabled us to pay for insurance, cleaning, internet, and rates – cost £1500 this year. This money also supported recipe bags, youth clubs, and Christmas bags for older residents. Next year we lose our regular income (rent on Safe ‘Ouse) so we will need to find a new stream of revenue to fund Dings initiatives next year.
Massive thanks for Sal for doing all this work.
Business Meeting
- 11+ Youth Club – Sadly the youth club that was run by CYN has had to close as CYN have lost their contract with the Council.
- 8-11 Youth Club – The youth club for 8-11s has been going really well. each session has about 15 kids attending. Trying to focus on getting ideas from children, doing a lot of cooking/food related activities. 2nd June visit to SS Great Britain (the attraction has given tickets, lunch, and transport). Activities in the youth club include Christmas and Eid parties, crafts e.g., tie dye. One more member of staff needed for the number of kids attending and using both outside and inside. Any volunteers?
- Communication – currently have a Facebook page and website, need Instagram and Twitter. Anyone up for taking on a social media role?
- Alternative funding – We have no regular income at the moment. We are looking to let out the Safe Ouse for longer-term rent, or donations from businesses to be able to continue to fund services like the Youth Club, community equipment eg gardening and tidying, recipe bags, and events.
- Fun Day – unfortunately the Coronation Fun Day did not happen. Invisible Circus contacted us interested in being involved in a Fun Day over the summer. 16th July decided as Fun Day for this year. Cakes sale, face painting, football tournament, BBQ
- Basketball and Football in the park– visitors have been intimidating kids away from playing in their park. Also parking their cars in the park, stopping children from playing safely. Talking about ways to help kids reclaim the park, will be discussed with youth leaders.
- Safe Ouse – needs to be refitted to be more attractive. Discussed the Big Build, community funding.
- Homework Club – has been meeting regularly but is currently on a break. Nola to get feedback from parents and schools about how useful this is.
- Crime – car windows smashed recently. Burglary on Kingsland Road. The site was broken into where old shops were being refitted into flats. The site is more secure now. Please be careful to make sure you lock your house and doors.
People were noted to be loitering under the bridge. - Disorder – Young people kicking footballs at doors and knocking and running.
- Bristol Cycling Campaign – vehicles often drive off Barton Vale (near Barley Mow) and under the Kingsland Road bridge and damaging the grass verge and being dangerous to cyclists. Nola to speak to the developer to block off the route.
- CIL money – the developers have to contribute to the local community. We have to put bids in. Propose bollards in the park to stop lots of cars parking, gym equipment, fixing play equipment in the park. Planters to mark out a safer route to school along Barton Road. CIL bid has been put in, but the council does not decide until Christmas, and the money given to projects in March 2024
- Calor Gas Development – there is a community space earmarked, what could it be used for? Community Liaison? Any idea’s welcome.
- Tree – a big truck has taken down some branches of an overhanging tree on Oxford Street – community gardening to see if they can tidy this.
- Library – Anton has kindly offered to take over running the library in the Safe Ouse. Opening dates to be announced.
- List of different activities and roles you can get involved in – small and large roles, all sorts of different skills and time commitments. Have a look and see what you can do! Thank-you to Alena and Anton for signing up for library and selling some equipment.
- Lost and found – a ring found in the Safe Ouse– if you have lost one contact Sal Caseley
- Sorting the Container – thanks to Sal for clearing out the Safe Ouse.
Get Involved
So many people have skills that can help make the Dings a great place to live!
We have lots of roles available ranging from specialist to general, for shorter or longer time commitments.
Please let us know if you can help! Contact Sal 0117 985 8179, sallycaseley@blueyonder.co.uk.
- Recipe bags – help needed to assemble bags, buy food, come up with ideas for recipes, help with delivery to families around the Dings
- Christmas Bags – Buy items for Christmas bags, drop off for longstanding residents
- Reviewing or writing policies – If you have expertise in policies e.g. Safeguarding, Health and Safety etc we could do with your eagle eye to make sure our policies fit our purpose.
- Community Gardening/Litter picking – we meet on the first Sunday of the month at 10:30 for a couple of hours to care for the Dings area – we weed planters, cut back bushes, pick up litter where the street cleaners can’t reach, and plant bulbs. We have some gloves and tools if you don’t have anything. All ages are welcome.
- Selling Dings Equipment we don’t use anymore – Research prices for items no longer used, take photos and advertise, arrange for collection of items sold, proceeds to be sent to Treasurer
- Development – commenting on new developments to the council, participating in community engagement, arranging for developers to visit the Dings to speak to residents
- Councillor Liaison – Maintain regular contact with councillors
- Raise Dings concerns and requests following discussions at Community meetings
- Police liaison – being a point of contact with local PCSO and Beat Officer and neighbourhood watch links, inviting Police to meetings and fun day, coordinate reporting of crimes.
- Dings Fun Day helpers Includes:
- BBQ
- Tea and coffee
- Sound system
- Litter picking
- First Aid
- MC – coordinate activities
- Sell raffle tickets
- Looks after stalls
- Dings Fun Day planning – Decide date, location, activities, funding options etc
- Apply for funds
- Use templates from previous years to contact various people to run different activities, advertise fun day, purchase food, set up gazebos etc on the day, and arrange fund raising activities e.g., raffle prizes, selling tickets, clear up
- Kids Tutoring coordination – Coordinate with the Bristol Hub, check in on tutoring if possible, arrange feedback sessions between The Dings and The Hub
- Youth Club – Liaise with Youth Club Leaders
- Metro Paper Delivery – Collect Metro paper from Temple meads each morning to deliver to local residents
- Delivery of meeting minutes and community leaflets – a few times a year
- Safe Ouse Champion – Arrange maintenance, hold spare keys
- Developing Links with Funders – getting contacts with businesses or charities who might be willing to fund activities in the Dings
- Writing funding bids – prepare and submit grant requests, funding bids, providing feedback to funders.
- First Aid:
- Attend Dings Fun Day
- Check and update Safe Ouse first aid kit
- Run First Aid classes for the Dings (optional)
- Website Administrator:
- Maintain site
- Produce monthly round up of Dings news & events
- Social Media:
- Facebook: admitting new members, monitoring content.
- Potentially setting up Instagram and Twitter accounts.
- Attending community meetings – Attend meetings 2 to 3 times a year
- Provide ideas for how to keep the community active and engaged
- Support with setting up new activities, groups etc where possible