Chair’s Annual Report 2022-2023
Another twelve months have elapsed, and the Board has again been very active.
The great disappointment of failing to secure funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund has been a challenge to come to terms with.
Without that funding little other resource is available other than that provided by Tees Valley Combined Authority for the Albert Memorial refurbishment.
After all the monies invested in management plans by the CIO it was unfortunate that the Council did not have a credible one in place to satisfy the scrutiny of the HLF panel.
We welcomed as full Board members this year Ross Weddell and Katie Sapphire Star and coopted David Sovell on to the Board. Ross has played a significant role in maintaining a professional Minutes service.
We temporarily lost Chris Mayes through maternity leave and subsequently totally as he moved on in Historic England.
Hybrid Board meetings continue as some members have a distance to travel and saving on time and giving consideration to the environment by reducing travel have been positive factors. Thanks to Ken Bladen for his technical support in continuing to facilitate these.
The Albert Memorial refurbishment has now been completed although there are snagging issues to be addressed. This relates to the main structure but works to infrastructure remain to be addressed, with access pathways not being made up yet, which is vital for appropriate access and for addressing anti-social behaviour.
A very successful event was held to inter a time capsule commemorating that stage of the refurbishment and we were pleased to welcome dignitaries form local authorities, representatives from companies associated with the refurbishment and pupils from Huntcliff School, who assisted with the interment.
The vistas being reopened by the Valley Garden Volunteers is a particular piece of valuable work being undertaken by the team members. Anyone can join the volunteers and there is an unlimited demand to be met in bringing the valleys back into anything approaching the high standard of maintenance that once was enjoyed.
It is an aspiration to have the Green Flag awarded again and discussions continue on this.
Board members have agreed to keep an eye on specific areas in the valleys; Mark Fishpool and Margaret Whitehead, Saltburn Gill; Robert Proctor Valley Gardens;
The new Board continues to work well together. We were pleased to welcome Mike Collins from Historic England, taking a holding position until a replacement for Chris has been secured. Mike came to Saltburn to meet Ian and myself and was very impressed with the work that Saltburn Valleys was setting out to achieve but was clearly concerned about the deterioration in maintenance of Valley Gardens which he described as being ‘on the cusp’.
Regular Newsletters are produced and I hope these are helpful for members. Thanks to Pam Bennett for their production.
The website is continually updated, thanks to Ian Sproxton, and the SV Facebook is maintained thanks to Robert Proctor.
Maintenance work on the War Memorial was further delayed as the Council prevaricated over providing insurance cover for volunteers. The maintenance has now been resolved by the Council allocating some of its War memorial funding to Saltburn. However, the work is yet to be started.
Membership stands at 327 is hardly changed from last year with a small movement in members. Thanks are due to Jane Burke who continues to provide strong membership support. Jane’s contribution reflects the work ethos of the CIO but brings with it the challenge of engagement and drawing upon the talent which clearly exists.
Support from Skelton and Brotton Parish Council and Saltburn, Marske and new Marske Parish Council has been much appreciated.
The web site continues to fly the flag for the CIO with continuing updating and improvement delivered by Ian.
Katie Sapphire-Star and Mark Fishpool are developing the promotion and consultation process for the Fitness Trail project, Robert proctor continues to look after our Facebook media, Tony Lynn provides, as ever an invaluable support when any historical input is required.
David Stovell has taken a lead in looking for funding and a particular project, a Sensory Garden, is one of these.
Stewart Ramsdale is working on a planning application for the proposed mural on the storage block at the Hazel Grove Lower Path Gardens
The accounts, which will be proposed separately, have again been well maintained with grateful thanks to Paul Spight for that work, which he has been carrying out for 6 years. We are sorry to be losing Paul and the CIO has greatly benefited from his detailed dedication.
The Valley garden Volunteers are proving a major contribution to the raising of standards but additional active volunteers are required and members are asked to consider what time they can provide to support this work.
We have benefited from the contributions made by Redcar and Cleveland Council representatives, Kevin Wilson, as full Board member and Jamie Reed and Tracee Hall-Young as supportive officers.
There is much left unaccounted for in a very busy year but the last comment, and indeed, of possibly greatest importance, is that Ian is standing down as Company secretary. He has been a great contributor to the success of the CIO in his three years of service in this role. He was instrumental in developing the Expression of Interest for the HLF bid and he has invested much time in developing the web site and he has been a most valuable servant to the CIO.
More work has been done during the year to engage with like minded groups in the town and this will continue in the coming months.
The challenges we saw in the establishment of the Saltburn Valleys Steering group in 2008 and the formally constituted Saltburn Valleys CIO in 2017 are still evident today. With the support of members, the Board will continue to aspire to deliver the Objects embedded in our Constitution.
Philip Thomson
Chair
– Saltburn Valleys C.I.O. Annual Accounts 01/04/22 31/03/23
| Carried forward/£ | Carried forward/£ | **Unrestricted/£ ** | **Restricted/£ ** | Bank Total/£ | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From 31/03/22 | 850.53 | 10,547.30 | 11,397.83 | ||
| Incoming Resources | |||||
SM&NM Parish Council |
1,500.00 | Website,Admin,Marketing | |||
| Skelton & Brotton PC. | 400.00 | Management Support | |||
| SM&NM Parish Council | 469.49 | Friends of the Lower Path | |||
| Saltburn Rotary | 50.00 | Friends of the Lower Path | |||
| RCBC Members | 420.75 | Friends of the Lower Path | |||
| Hazel Grove Residents | 250.00 | Friends of the Lower Path | |||
| Donation | 100.00 | Friends of the Lower Path | |||
| Total In | 2,750.53 | 11,837.54 | 14,588.07 |
| Expenditure | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower | Path Plants /Tools | 4.99 | 2,052.69 | Friends of the Lower Path | ||||
| Website Maintenance | 313.60 | Gbiz it + ICO Data Protection | ||||||
| Hall Hire | 129.00 | AGM/ Workshops/Meetings | ||||||
| Microsoft 365 | 59.99 | Renewal | ||||||
| Information Board | 750.00 | Albert Memorial | ||||||
| Volunteer Tools | 459.47 | Volunteers in the 3 Valleys | ||||||
| Total Out | 1,717.05 | 2,052.69 | 3,769.74 | |||||
| Balance 31/03/23 | 1,033.48 | 9,784.85 | 10,818.33 | |||||
| Restricted Funds | Balance/£ | |||||||
| War Memorial | 7230.74 | |||||||
| Hazel Grove | 2128.32 | |||||||
| Saltburn Gill | 100.00 | |||||||
| Cenotaph Planting | 97.02 | |||||||
| Lower Path | 228.77 | |||||||
| Restricted Total | 9784.85 |
Prepared by Paul Spight (Treasurer) email :- treasurer@saltburnvalleys.org.uk