Minutes of the committee meeting 18th February 2026

Present: Kevin Faulkner, Bev Redman, Sue Deane, Kevin Underwood, David Venner, Gail Bradley

Apologies: Chris Wells, Jeff Adams, Neil Parker

Minutes of the meeting on 21st January 2026: Agreed.

Matters arising:

Kevin U reported that Sally had indicated she was about to make a payment. He does not know how much. The last payment was make in March 2024, 23 months ago.

Crowdfunding: it was agreed to keep it going until after the May talk, when we could announce it and maybe get more from members of the audience.

The brush cutter has been purchased from Bakewell in Barnstaple with the card and the balance of £650 has come from the community fund. It has already  been paid into the account.

David reported he needed more than just the financial accounts to apply for the Councillors’ funds. They need evidence of the balance of the funding for the path which we haven’t got.

David reported there is a woodland competition, as yet unspecified, in the Devon Show. The booking opening is estimated to be 23rd February. He will watch out for the details.

David gave an update on the Tarka Trust grant. He has checked on dimensions of swales. The weather has been too wet to contact Roy yet. The Tarka Trust give a deadline of 12 months for spending the money, if there are reasons for not doing so in 6 months, the weather being an acceptable reason. David Roe from the Tarka Trust had indicated he would like to visit around March. It was thought we had enough with plans and the signage to keep him happy.

Jeff had indicated area D was the next for coppicing. This needs too be done by the end of March if we check nothing is nesting.

Kevin opted for paying the insurance monthly, at no extra cost. He has not yet heard from Sally what the CPT could offer, if anything.

Bev reminded us that the DCC Councillor indicated he may have some money left which could go towards a camera.

Maisie, “master squirrel hunter”, is back in action.

Members were disappointed with the latest Government guidance on squirrel management. It gave no specific guidance.

Action: Bev will check if he has the money and it was agreed it would be good to get have one for footage  of wild life.

Action: Gail will write to the Secretary to say we are not in a position to spend it yet because of the weather.

David will prepare draft signage to get a quote from Frank Stone.

Chair’s report:

Kevin said 19 ash trees were felled on Saturday and he is more confident about having enough wood for charcoal. There will be two retort loads.

We had a new volunteer, Mike King. His presence reminded us of the need to review our risk assessments and to cover ourselves by having everyone sign they have read them.

We agreed to invite families and groups to help with bulb planting.

Action: It was agreed that we need to ensure that all volunteers sign that they have read the risk assessments.

Gail will put risk assessments on the agenda for the next meeting.

When we plan a family day we shall alert David Halpin.

Treasurer’s report

Currently in the account we have £1,757.72 this takes into account the purchase of the brush cutter which was £1,050

We agreed the remaining £1000 to be ringfenced leaving £757+ to use for other essential tools.

It was agreed we would spend £300 on bulbs, which will be returned to us by DWT by the end of March. We still have at least £600 in VAT repayments to be added to the account. David Halpin did agree the £50 contribution should rise with inflation.

There is approx £24 in petty cash which Bev will continue to hold for additional small change required for floats.

It was agreed that it would be good to have the VAT situation sorted ASAP

Secretary Report

The comic magician event has been cancelled.

The blog will be updated next week.

Funding

We are still waiting to hear about the path funding from one application. The other has turned us down.

Action: David will pursue the golf club and NFW.

Swale report

There was a discussion about David’s paper and Kevin’s response. This included how we get rid of some of the brambles. One possibility was to widen the hedge. The ideal time for bramble clearing is the autumn. If we are clearing any before then it must be now.

Action: Kevin will “test” the new brushcutter on some bramble clearing as decided with David.

Shed and shipping Tools and equipment.

Kevin has started to organise the shipping container to leave plenty of floor space. Only items of value will be placed there. We need to sort out what we don’t need and think about what we do need. We discussed equipment we would like – lightweight loppers, wheelbarrow and sledge hammer, hay rakes, tripod ladder.

Kevin suggested the use of an app to do voting following email discussion on items to save time in meetings.

Action: We would use WhatsApp for voting as necessary, especially when meetings are less frequent.

Kevin will send out a request for ideas of equipment we want.

Woodland Management, including manpower:

Stakes. We discussed treated v untreated and costs/value for money. Kevin thought we should set aside a certain amount of money each year for replacement stakes.

Using willow was discussed, knowing it would grow. Could it be used as a framework, though it will need regular pruning. So was charring the bottom of hazel stakes. These ideas wood be put to Jeff.

The choice of bulbs was discussed.

We decided we need extra work parties,

Action; Jeff will be asked to put forward a proposal for a grant application for stakes, based on his decision about the type of dead hedging for which the stakes will be used.

The funding group will follow through with the application.

Kevin will order bulbs from DWT.

Working parties on 28 February and 14 March.

Charcoal

Sue suggested the older children may like to help with charcoal.

Kevin will liaise with Andy Bell to get the retort.

Bev, Sue and Kevin will have one more go with the oil drum and apple cuttings.

Events

Action: Gail will confirm the title of his talk on 9th May with Karl Ritz and see what help he can give with the poster. Timing was agreed for 7 pm, doors open at 6.30 pm.

Sue will prepare flyers and posters.

Any other business

The handrail by the steps has broken off and nails are exposed.

Date of next meeting: 10th March.

Date of next work party: 28th February and 14th March.