## **Portstewart Community Association Annual General Meeting** ## **Monday 1st November 2021** ## **Covering Year 1[st] October 2020-30[th] October 2021** ## **Report on the Year’s Activities** ## **The P.C.A.’s Annual General Meeting 2020 took place on Monday 2nd November on Zoom, followed by a committee meeting where the Trustees elected the following** ## **Chair Sheila Jackson** **Secretary Nigel Handforth Treasurer Chris McCaw** Objectives: The main focus of our activities is normally the organising and implementation of the Portstewart Community Red Sails Festival. However, this year because of Covid-19 it did not take place. We are hopeful that the planning work already undertaken will be useful for 2022. ## **Achievements and Performance** Members of the Committee have continued to attend relevant training courses as they become available to us e.g. First Aid, Defibrillator and Health and Safety Courses. The Committee applied successfully from the following funding Sources: CCGBC “Good Relations Fund”, Cromie Institute, Radius Housing, CCGBC “Food and Essential Supplies Covid Fund”, CRUN, CCGBC “Connectivity Grant”, Pharmacy Partnership Program, Community Development Fund, Tesco, ## **Main Activities** We have had planned a packed programme of events for the year but had to adapt and amend as the year progressed: - **November** - We successfully applied for funding to run a “Threads of Culture” project. This was to encourage the Syrian women to practice their English whilst learning how to make a patchwork cushion. To facilitate this we bought an annual Zoom licence. - **December -** The **Community Christmas Party** had to be Covid friendly so it was decided to hold a drive in Cinema. The Committee were very grateful when Burnside Presbyterian Church kindly offered their car park, free of charge and Causeway Rural and Urban Network agreed to fund both showings. It was a very successful evening. - **January -** We successfully applied for CCGBC’s Covid Food and Essential Supplies Fund. We were granted £2,000 so 36 families associated with St Colm’s and Portstewart Primary were allocated Tesco vouchers. Warkes Deli provided cooked meals to 12 people for 6 weeks. The remainder of the money went to the Food Bank and St Vincent de Paul. - **Treasurer** - Due to ill health John Faulkner (Treasurer) resigned from his role. We were delighted when, at short notice, Mr Chris Mc Caw agreed to take up the reigns. The Committee would like to extend our thanks to Mrs P McGuigan who prepared an Independent Auditors report for the Trustees behalf as per instructions from the Charities Commission. - **Radius Housing** - we continue to attend meetings (mainly Zoom) with Radius, Housing Executive. We aim to promote the people of Portstewart, balanced Communities, infrastructure and fairness to families. - **February** - We successfully applied for a CCGBC Connectivity Grant. In conjunction with Dominican College we bought 5 laptops with the necessary filters for the C2k system. Dominican will lend them to families as the need arises. - **Anti-Social Behaviour** - Following concerns over Sunday “Cruises” through Portstewart, we have linked with Constable Ross Finlay (Community Policing Team). He will join the committee regularly to give updates throughout the year. - **Threads of Culture** - this group continues to go from strength to strength (21 participants) and has now secured more funding through Radius Housing for a Card making project. They will continue to meet weekly on Zoom and have covered topics as varied as Irish music and breast awareness training with evenings of card making and home decorations. - **March** - we learned of the Council decision to hand the **Town Hall** back to the Montagu Estate. It was decided that we should lobby the Councillors to request a deferment of this decision to allow public consultation. We decided to set up a sub-committee to focus on the issue of the Town Hall. This was ably chaired by Maura Hickey who along with her sub-group explored every possible avenue to “Stop the Steal” but to no avail. We are currently hoping to enter into a dialogue with the Montagu Estate in early December. - Nigel Handforth will run a **men’s walking group** - this will convene every Thursday starting and ending at Mens Shed. - **April** - First **clean-up** organised. We will hold one every third Saturday until November - **May - Website Launch -** the Committee wish to thank Harley Mullholland for developing, in his free time, our new website which can be found at www.portstewartca.org. - **June** - We received notification that we were successful regarding our Application to the **Pharmacy Partnership Program** . This success was largely due to the hard work of Michael Wilson and Elaine Breakey, from the PCA and Rachael Smith from Bradley’s Pharmacy. Our program is geared mainly around young Mums as we felt that this group have “missed out” during Covid. Starting September, Rachel will run the program as the lead Pharmacist along with Emily Lynas (PCA). - We received a **Certificate of Appreciation Award** from CCGBC for our work during the Pandemic - **July** - instead of our normal **Red Sails** week we held Covid Friendly events. Sean Graham masterminded some fabulous competitions all of these were completed online - Postcard Competition, Gardening Competition, Sandcastle competition and a photography competition. On July the 31st we organised a Teddy Bear Hunt. Teddies were hidden in the early morning around the town. We held a street Collection and **Gareth Compton** kindly allowed us to place a Collection bucket at the Panoramic Wheel. All the money donated will go towards RedSails 2022. - **September** - **The Pharmacy Scheme** has begun. They have teamed up with New Young Mums who meet at Agherton Parish Centre on a Thursday morning. They will start with baby sensory, baby massage, baby sign language, nutritionist, health visitor and a play therapist. - **October** - We have decided to create a **2022 Calendar** using the best 12 photos from the photography competition - proceeds to go towards RedSails 22. ## **Noted Areas for Future Improvement** We need to encourage some new active members to join us. We are looking for people who are passionate about Portstewart and have ideas to improve our wee town for ALL residents _The Committee would like to record with appreciation the help given to the Association by the officers of CCGBC, notably Lisa Harris and Clive Niblock. The committee continues to be very grateful for the guidance and support given by Ballymoney Community Resource Centre and CRUN._