Notes from Milford on Sea Community Event Organisers Meeting

Meeting: Thursday 24th June 2010

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The ‘Community Event Organisers Meeting’ was an informal gathering of people involved in running community events across the village. The purpose was to have a discussion on ways we may be able to share resources & help each other to make life a bit easier! Over 30 ‘organisers’ attended & although the meeting had no formal agenda, the floor were soon discussing a number of ideas that could benefit all of the individual organisers & the village community as a whole.

It is not planned to make this ‘another organisation’, it is purely an occasional forum to share ideas & resources to support each other. Indeed the ongoing independence of each individual event is paramount. As we all know there are a lot of excellent community events run across the village & we all applaud the expert way in which they are each organised. They are a major reason our village is so special. It was stressed by the chair that any plans made must not damage the unique ‘village character & atmosphere’ we all enjoy so much. The ideas discussed are noted below, as are the initial plans to move the ideas forward.

Thank you to David & Christine at Westover Hall Hotel for kindly hosting the meeting.

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1. Community Directory. Featuring: Community Event Organisers, Village Club Leaders & Community Support Service Contacts. It was felt that it would be very useful to have a central directory of ‘who’s who’ in community activities. Often it would be handy to chat with someone to utilise their experience & expertise. A ‘Milford on Sea Directory’ is already available from the Parish Council Office & this contains lots of this information.

Community Directory Plan: The plan is to enhance the information available in the Parish Council ‘Milford on Sea Directory’ & to make it available to everybody online. This will be done by adding further organisations, club, village classes etc. together with e-mail contact information. To do so we will identify the key contacts in all event organisations, clubs, classes & village support services. The list will then be provide online for everyone to view, & also offered to the Parish Council to add any additional information to their directory. Gathering the information may take some time, but with support from everybody this could become another valuable source of information.

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2. Village Equipment Directory: Many event organisers & clubs have equipment they use for their own events which may also be useful for other to loan. It was agreed that we would see how this could best be achieved.

Village Equipment Directory Plan: Events & clubs will be invited to add a list of the equipment they are prepared to loan to other groups. This list will then be available online with a ‘suitable & fair loan system’. Milford on Sea Food Week are planning to purchase an ‘A Board’ to use on the green & ‘Raffle Ticket/Programme Seller Stand’ which will be available to all. It is planned to gather all of the relevant information over the coming months.

Thought would also be given to ideas to improve signage in the village for promoting events that are happening. We were all in agreement that any signage must be totally sympathetic to the village character & atmosphere.

Village Equipment Store: The Community Centre kindly offered to try & find some space to store ‘community available equipment’, or alternatively people can advise where the equipment can be collected from. Storage space is at a premium in the Community Centre, but the team was confident they would find a suitable solution.

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3. Village Volunteer Register: It was evident that every event could do with an extra hand or two. The support required is often only for a couple of hours or so, but people are unsure how to get involved. New members would also be welcome on most organising committees. It was also felt worthwhile to identify people who have particular expertise, knowledge or skills that can be utilised for practical support or advice. (Such as: Food Hygiene Certificate Holders, First Aiders, Risk Assessment Experts, Raffle Ticket Sellers, etc.)

Village Volunteer Register Plan: The plan is to build a ‘Volunteers Register’ where local people can put their names, together with the volunteering time & skills they are happy to make available. This will eventually be available online.

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4. Online Village Calendar: From a technical & practical point of view this is a big task. The village is already very well served with valuable information from Gwen’s, milfordonsea.com, milfordonsea.org, the Community Centre’s website, the ‘Village Voice’, Ruth Bufton’s Village Diary, the Church Office & the Parish Council Office. It is important that each keep their own activities going for their own audiences. The idea is to also have a central ‘Online Village Calendar’ where each organisation & club can display all of their own activities. If this could be achieved then it would keep more people in the village aware of what is happening & boost participation.

Online Village Calendar Plan: The plan is to identify a suitable online calendar tool & then to discuss with potential contributors (village events, clubs, classes & organisations) as to whether they would be willing to enter their own information on a regular basis. We are conscious that not everyone in the village use online services, but we would hope that we could design a printable version which could be easily downloaded & used or displayed by anyone. Ideally the current village business & community websites could also link to this community ‘Village Calendar’, giving everyone full information on everything that is happening.

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5. New Village Events: The following potential future events were also discussed:

Milford on Sea Garden Festival: June 2011 (This will be a larger Bi-Annual Event based on the recent ‘Milford on Sea Garden Open Day’)

Anyone willing to help in the organisation of this new event please contact Jenny Spenser at jspenser@talktalk.net

Tel: 01590 644489

Village Community Committee Golden Jubilee Celebration: Plans are being made by the Village Community Committee for a Golden Jubilee Celebration in 2012. Once again anyone who would like to help or contribute to the events are invited to get in touch. Please contact: david@milfordonsea.org & I will pass your offer of help on.

Newcomers Supper: Ruth Bufton asked for all club & event organisers to provide her with what you do, together with an A4 Advert for forthcoming Newcomers Supper.

Ruth can be contacted at: ruth.bufton@tiscali.co.uk

Tel: 01590 641875

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6. Help & Volunteers: If anyone would like to offer help in any of the activities above, or would like to add their names to the ‘Volunteer Register’ please let me know at david@milfordonsea.org

So there you have it, lots to do! The process will take quite some time to gather all of the data & too then make it available online for everyone. The information gathering process will commence shortly & we hope to have support from everyone that is able to provide information or help. We will then identify the best way to make the information readily available to all. As previously mentioned, none of this will happen overnight, but we hope that in the coming months we can have everything in place.

If you have a list of people involved in: organising events, club leaders, organisers of village classes, or community support services, please send us your list of contacts now. Ideally we would like: Name - Organisation - Tel No. & E-Mail Addresses. (Please check people are happy to have their e-mails made available to other people before sending.) Please send your list to: david@milfordonsea.org

It is planned to hold further occasional Milford on Sea Community Event Organisers Meetings as & when people feel they may be of benefit.

Thanks again to all that contributed to the meeting & as we move forward with the plans we will be in touch again soon.