Southill Community 

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Sept 2018
The summer has delayed further progress with the KidsRus building as the Borough council put a halt on our removing the fence and generally improving the appearance. Young people in July suggested a different approach when they were consulted and because of the state of the building it might be more sensible to demolish it completely and start again but clearly this is more difficult to fund. Watch out for a meeting this autumn so that we can discuss ideas with the community and council and try and identify funding. We are still fundraising for play area equipment and October 27th is the date for the lantern walk. If you live on the route please feel free to add to the lanterns /decorations.
June 2018
SPARK has been negotiating with the Borough Council about taking over the old KidsRus building and have finally been given permission to gain ownership. Unfortunately this has taken so long that the state of the building has deteriorated considerably, not help by burst pipes during the Beast from the East. The council have agreed to provide some funds for renovation but this is not likely to be sufficient so negotiations are continuing. We shall be tidying up the site with Budmouith students on July 5th and some young people have come forward who are keen to help us get it established as a Youth Club.
There are also plans drawn up for starting work on improving the play facilities and a fund raising thermometer will soon be in place. The committee has agreed that we will try and develop the site by steady improvement whilst continuing to try for a bigger grant for the overall plan. One aspect of the development will be to try and improve the drainage and also have paths between the play centres. 
If anyone is interested in helping with any aspect of the work of SPARK, from handyman activity on the KidsRus building, to bidding for funds, to help with the IT or just volunteer to help during an event, we would be very pleased to hear from you.
SPARK held its annual general meeting in January and was able to show a healthy balance in each of its areas of activity. All households received a summary of this work with a newsletter delivered to every house in Southill which was well liked according to feedback. However all of the work is falling on a very small handful of people and so please let us know if you are willing to help in any small way, for instance delivering such a newsletter to your neighbourhood twice a year, or volunteering to audit the accounts, or helping if we want to freshen up the old KidsRus building which may come into our possesion in the next couple of months.
October 2017
SPARK has been negotiating with the Borough and County to try and get a new lease to cover the land that both the Youth Club and KidsRus buildings are on. There seems to be a desire to help us sort this out positively but with staff shortages this takes longer to happen than we would hope. If this is successful we would hope to use one building for Youth activity and the other to help us raise funds for Southill as we are still wanting to get some new equipment for the Play Park. We have reached agreement with the councils and are now waiting for this to be confirmed by the Borough Councillors. There is a lot of potential for Southill to flourish as a community. SPARK already supports the gardening group, the community bus programme, the Well-being centre and fundraising for the play area. Our AGM will be held in January when we hope to confirm some of these ideas so please watch out for details.
If you have ideas or want to help in anyway with developing SPARK please get in touch with Pete Barrow on 07741252302. We would like to see three or four members of the committee and have other volunteers who are willing to help occasionally and so have just given us their contact details.
May 2017
A successful Easter Egg hunt was held after Easter to coincide with a major tidy up of the KidsRus site which SPARK is negotiating to take over. If we can come to a sensible arrangement with WPBC over the leasing agreement we will be bidding for funds to repair and renovate where necessary so that this building can also be used by the community, preferably young people. You can find more details about SPARK on their own web page.
March 2017
A small number of children attended the meeting on 11th March to look at restarting a Youth Club in Southill. It was decided to have an action session in the Easter holiday to help prepare the old KidsRus building for possible use by Young people. We want young people to plan and design what they want for themselves, with SPARK helping it to happen. Watch out for FaceBook information on the SPARK and Southill facebook pages so that you can get involved.
January 2017
SPARK has been formally accepted as a charity by the charity commission with a wide ranging aim of supporting the youth and environment of Southill. It is going to initially focus on four strands of activity:
1.         Improving the facilities at the Health and Well Being Centre ensuring that it generates sufficient income to remain sustainable and hopefully support the work of the other three strands
2.        Meeting with the Young People of the neighbourhood and determining what Youth facilities they wish us to develop, possibly using the KidsRus building
3.         Fundraising to improve the play park equipment and possibly adding a MUGA to the present pen
4.        Supporting the environment team that maintains the flower bed in front of the shops and does the occasional project around the community trying to re-establish the idea that the estate was built as the Southill Garden Village.
We could always do with more volunteers, either to support ad hoc projects in any of the above strands, or else to help us as a committee to function as effectively as possible. Help in adding notes to the web site, managing the Facebook page, watching the fruit trees, taking notes at meetings, wielding a paint brush, acting as treasurer; you name it and we could probably find a place for you in helping Southill become a vibrant place to live.

SPARK Special General Meeting Agenda/Minutes

Date 10 July 2016 Time 11:00 Venue Southill Youth Centre

Present

Pete Barrow, David Harris, James Symonds, Sarah Polkinghorn, Helen Lainsbury

1 Apologies None

2 Minutes/Action Points from last meeting N/A

3 Action Plan

3.1 Business Case

General discussion on the Action Plan and mtg between PB

and Simon Thompson .PB reported that there had been no changes to the BC

since previous meeting

3.2     Incorporation

PB provided an update on the mtg between PB and Simon Thompson of DCA and the fact that the advice was that SPARK should become a CIO, a motion would go to the AGM recommending this and seeking approval from members

Action PB to word a suitable motion and include in AGM PP presentation

3.3      Building Works Specification

JS updated the group on the outcome of the meetings he had held with DCC and advised that he was very worried about the lack of feedback received. JS

was also very concerned about timescales for delivering the work and the effect any delay would have on our potential main user.

Action        DH to send the agreed email to DCC and seek a meeting, both to seek clarification on what financial support DCC are willing to provide and to see if some form of interim arrangement would be possible

3.4     Building Works Delivery

NA as not yet started

3.5 Budget (inc Cash flow)

General discussion on budget etc...

Action JS to send PB the latest estimate on hours PB to rework the budget/cash flow

3.6    Lease

General discussion on the lease and the fact that SPARK requires access to an insured legal adviser.

Action         PB to liaise with DCA to seek advice on sourcing legal advice

3.7     Public Support and Volunteer Capacity

PB updated group on the agenda for the Public Meetin

g and the AGM

Actions        PB to add slide ref the Skills we are looking for from our new volunteers       PB to send email reminder ref Public Meeting        PB to drop of leaflet at School and pre school       HL to send further Facebook reminder ref the Public Meeting

3.8      Fundraising

General discussion of fundraising ideas.

Action JS to investigate the Crowd funding opportunities

3.9     AOB

The group were advised that all documents were being stored on Dropbox and all had access if they wished to view any of them. Also agreement that all public documents would be stored on the Southill Community website.

Actions          PB to give SP and HL access to Dropbox         DH to add page to website