BELPER TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 15th OCTOBER 2002
PRESENT: Councillor Ron Day (in the Chair)
Councillors: Tim Benson, Ron Buzzard, John Nelson and Randall Sanders.
- DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor John Nelson declared an interest in item 8a - Application for Grant for Belper Marlin Swimming Club.
- MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 9TH JULY 2002.
The minutes of the meeting held on 9th July 2002 were received and approved. There were no matters arising that were not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
- GRANT APPLICATIONS
- Belper Marlin Swimming Club
As the request was for £35 to sponsor a race at the forthcoming Open Meet Gala the Mayor suggested that it should be paid from his Fund and that representatives of the Club should be invited to the next meeting to discuss their plans for the future and possible ways in which the Council could support them.
- Nailers Folk Moot
It was agreed to make a payment of £196.98 to Belper Folk Club being the loss made on this year's Folk Moot which the Council had agreed to underwrite up to £1,000.
- Home Start Ripley and District
It was noted that a letter had been received from Home Start thanking the Council for their grant of £100.
- WORDS AND MUSIC - PROGRAMME 2003
The programme set out in the report was agreed as were the recommendations that the charges for lectures would be £2.50 (£2.00 concessions) and £5.50 (£4.00 concessions) for musical performances.
- WILL HAY FESTIVAL
The Town Clerk reported that artistically the Festival had been a success, but the numbers attending had been disappointing. This, he suggested, had been due in part to certain shortcomings in marketing the Festival. However these had been overcome by the final evening which was a "sell-out". The Committee requested that its appreciation should be passed on to Dr Andy Minion and those who had helped in organising the event.
- EAST MIDLANDS IN BLOOM
The fact that Belper had not been placed in this year's competition was regretted. It was considered that the main reasons for the poor performance could be laid at the doors of the County and Borough Councils who, following the de-trunking of the A6 and the termination of the Highways Agency agreement, were still deciding their respective roles. The Town Council's floral displays had been of a higher standard than in the recent past and many favourable comments had been received, especially about the two cascade planters at the bottom of King Street.
- STRUTT FAMILY MEMORIAL
The initiative by the Belper North Mill Volunteers Association to commemorate the bicentenary of the North Mill by erecting a memorial to the Strutt family in the River Gardens was welcomed. There was considerable discussion over the form the memorial should take and whether the River Gardens was the most appropriate venue. The view was expressed that a statue of Jedediah Strutt should be sited on the Triangle or somewhere else where it would encourage those passing through Belper to stop and spend sometime in the town. It was also suggested that with the refurbishment of the River Gardens there may be an embarrassment of riches there and a memorial to the Strutts should be sited elsewhere, possibly being the focal point of the proposed "Lost Garden".