ICDA 2023 AGM Minutes Page 1 of 6 ## ISLANDMAGEE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION ## ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2023 ## MINUTES MEETING DATE: 1900 on 15[th] June 2023 MEETING VENUE: Gobbins Community Centre ## PRESENT: |Paul Logue(PL)|Secretary|HilaryBailey (HB)|| |---|---|---|---| |Eric Bailey (EB)|Treasurer|GregMcKeen(GMcK)|DUP| |GaryCaldwell(GC)||RoyBeggs(RB)|UUP| |Luan Ingram(LI)||ICDA members|| |Corinne Meekin(CM)|Chair|Local residents|| |Jim Barr(JB)|Vice Chair||| |CathyMcCrudden(CMcC)|||| ## APOLOGIES: |SammyWilson|DUP| |---|---| |DannyDonnelly|Alliance| |Paul Reid|DUP| |Maureen Pimley (MP)|ICDA| |Gordon Lyons|DUP| |Maeve Donnelly|Alliance| |Robert Logan|Alliance| ||| |||AGENDA ITEM|ACTION| |---|---|---|---| |1.0 and
2.0||The meeting began at 1910
Present and Apologies
As above|| |3.0||Previous minutes not available due to the cancellation of
the 2022 AGM on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. A
report for the 2021-22year was emailed to members.|| |4.0||Chairperson’s Report
It has been a very successful year for ICDA.
Our popular**Community Fridge**continues to receive six
donations per week from Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury,
combatting waste and so providing a useful service for the|| ICDA 2023 AGM Minutes Page 2 of 6 planet and community. We have also started a book swap facility which is going well. Our **Events** were well attended, each by hundreds of locals. Easter was celebrated in the Community Garden with the Easter Bunny, an Easter Bonnet competition, an egg hunt, and colouring-in too. The Jubilee was very colourful, had great weather and saw hundreds of folks gather in the garden to celebrate and listen to the Ballyduff Silver band. Christmas saw Santa in the Summer House plus storytelling, and gets bigger each year we do it. Thrive followed up in January with free sessions of yoga, Reiki, head massage, sound baths and much more, all aimed at helping locals get through the dark winter. The **Community Garden** looks beautiful with great planting of flowers and veg. The various other planted areas around Ballystrudder also look great and help make the place look better, brightening up the days of Islandmagee folks and visitors. The cottage and associated planting at the end of Gobbins Road was last year’s main planting project and is now successfully installed and in bloom as a cottage garden. We won an award for the best community garden planting from **Mid and East Antrim in Bloom** and have installed a yellow coloured **Chatty Bench** opposite the Spar in Ballystrudder where folks can sit and have a chat if wished. We continue to provide and maintain six **defibrillators** on the Island with a new one coming soon at Ballyearl. Our popular **ICDA Community Newsletter** continued its run of four editions per year supporting and supported by local businesses; we can be contacted through our **Facebook/Meta page** where we pass on many pieces of info about our newsletter, events, community and local issues throughout the year. **This year past, ICDA have supported the following groups:** Community Garden Group; the Community Fridge; Island Drumming; the 60s+ Group; Playaway Group; Islandmagee Primary School trip; Thrive. ICDA 2023 AGM Minutes Page 3 of 6 |||CM finished her Chairperson’s report by thanking all the
committee, volunteers and our funders.|| |---|---|---|---| |5.0||Treasurer’s report
The Treasurer reported our audited accounts with a
yearly**opening balance of £6018.09**.
Monies into our account comprised £105 from book sales;
£3495.18 from grants; £61 from the Defib Fund; £690
from Newsletter advertising; £401 from events; and £150
from donations.
Monies out of our account comprised: Community Garden
£1435.87;
Defib
replacement/maintenance
£2077;
Mileage £472.28; playgroup Halloween event £100;
Community Hall hire £12; Events £2312.16; Newsletter
£34.74; and Community Fridge £23.58.
Treasurer reported a yearly**closing balance of £4552.64**.
Report Proposed by GC, Seconded by HB, agreed by
meeting.|| |6.0||All ICDA Committee posts declared vacant
Cllr. Greg McKeen (GMcK) was invited to chair the
meeting while the committee/trustees stood down and
new committee/trustees voted in.
GMcK thanked the outgoing committee and noted the
really positive contribution from the events we put on
that were always well attended by locals. He also noted
that the finances were in good health and that MEABC
look upon ICDA as a well-run group deserving of credit. It
was good to see the AGM back after the Covid years and
the passing of Queen Elizabeth last year. He then opened
the floor for nominations to committeeposts.|| |7.0||New trustees voted in
The following were then voted in by the floor:
Corinne Meekin - ICDA Chair
Jim Barr - ICDA Vice Chair
Paul Logue - ICDA Secretary
Eric Bailey - ICDA Treasurer
And as a block vote for ICDA Committee members: Gary
Caldwell; Maureen Pimley; Hilary Bailey; Luan Ingram; and
Cathy McCrudden.
GMcK then noted that the committee were voted back in
to continue the good work and he passed over to CM as
newly elected Chair of ICDA.|| ICDA 2023 AGM Minutes Page 4 of 6 ||8.0||Open Forum
CM thanked GMcK and opened the floor for discussion,
first
passing
to
PL
for
an
update
on
recent
correspondence about proposed battery storage plants at
the Ballylumford end of the Island. Both proposed
facilities will consist of battery energy storage areas,
switch and control rooms, lighting, CCTV columns, and
fencing, landscaping and planting. A general debate
followed where some locals felt it would be best to build
the sites on brownfield land, but it was generally
acknowledged that they may be good things as they can
store energy from wind turbines rather than seeing it
wasted. RB suggested that ICDA put something about the
issue on our Facebook site. GMcK advised that it would be
best to meet with the applicants and then offer the
gathered info out to folks through the Facebook site.
Other residents raised the issue of noise and that that end
of the Island was already noisy from the current
developments there. GMcK felt that appropriate planting
could help deal with noise and certainly with any visual
intrusion.
Residents also raised the difficulty in getting through on
the phone to Meadowbridge Surgery to arrange an
appointment. It was felt by some that there was a need
for another small surgery in the area. GMcK told the floor
that he had been trying to help locals arrange a meeting
with Meadowbridge but there had been a lack of
engagement from the surgery. One local man told us of
how he couldn’t even get an appointment for his
chronically ill child; the online system has been down for
over 3 weeks, which is just too long. RB asked about who
held Meadowbridge to account, and GMcK felt that it was
now appropriate to approach the Health Trust on the
matter.
Next the ruined toilet block at Browns Bay was raised, and
the fact that it has still not been repaired or rebuilt. GMcK
offered to raise the matter directly with the relevant
Director in MEABC.
The lack of an adequate number of guides for the Gobbins
Walk was discussed, in that advertised posts do not seem
to be getting filled. Allied to this locals asked when would
there be any consultation with residents about the
proposed expansion of the Walk? Local concerns about
road traffic and car parking came up, and that the present
case of all walks on the Gobbins being guided gave a good
degree of control that managed traffic and parking.
Openingthe Walk as a non-guided option raised concerns|Action - PL to contact battery
storage applicants
Action – GMcK| |---|---|---|---|---| ICDA 2023 AGM Minutes Page 5 of 6 |||about visitors jamming the place up for traffic and
emergency services by parking everywhere – it was
pointed out that this had already happened at Portmuck
(and on Port Road next to Port Lane), so concerns are
genuine. RB and GMcK said they would raise the matter
with MEABC and aim to arrange a public meeting.
Residents pointed out that the Gobbins Walk was a
source of local pride and that we didn’t wish to see that
ruined
through
badly
managed
future
access
arrangements.
One resident raised how the road surfacing around the
Gobbins were getting quite bad and could really do with
maintenance plus better signage to direct visitors.
Another resident asked that the Port lane vegetation be
cut by MEABC as promised – GMcK said he would raise
and have sorted. GMcK also said he would look into the
matter of the promised signs at Millbay where shellfish
pickers continue to take material from the beach there
which is an ASSI.
Parking during football matches was brought up and how
residents feel that cars parking along the road and in
Island Village make it very difficult to pull out safely. RB
suggested that short double lines at the junctions could
help and both he and GMcK said they would raise parking
with the Club again and see what could be done.
The matter of paying out £500 per year on mileage
expenses for the community fridge was discussed and the
committee were asked to consider/discuss viable
alternatives.
RB congratulated the committee on having 6 defibrillators
on the Island, a wonderful and literally lifesaving
achievement.
CM then thanked everyone present and closed the open
meeting at 2020.|Action – GMcK and RB
Action – GMcK
Action – GMcK
Action – RB and GMcK| |---|---|---|---| |9.0||Vote of Thanks
CM closed the meeting by thanking:
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council for their support.
All our Loughside Councillors.|| ICDA 2023 AGM Minutes Page 6 of 6 |||To Cllr. Greg McKeen for chairing tonight and helping
install the new committee.
Caldwell’s SPAR and Rinkha for their support
Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury for their donations
All our funders, donors and advertisers
ICDA Committee and all our great volunteers|| |---|---|---|---| |10.0||AGM Closed
The meeting concluded at 2025|| Proposed: __Cathy McCrudden___________ Seconded: _Hilary Bailey __________________