Wigan Borough Environment & Heritage Network
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 30th October 2006 at the Wigan History Shop
Present:
Joe Taylor (Billinge History & Heritage Society), Peter Guy (Gin Pit Village), Emma Scott (Community Empowerment Programme), John O'Neill (Wigan MBC), Barbara Rhodes (Aspull & Heigh Historical Society), Max Finney (Over 50s Forum), John Wogan (Wigan Family History Society), Glenys McClellan (Leigh FHS/Wigan Registry Office), Ray Hutchinson (Wigan Parish Church)
Apologies:
Fred Holcroft (Winstanley), Tom Glover (Wigan Archaeological Society), Michael Walker, Philip Butler & John Hesketh (L&CT), Carol Littler (Local History Researcher) Tony Hilton (NW Catholic History Society, Friends of Wigan Boer War Memorial), Irene Nicholson (Gin Pit Village)
All the members of the Leisure & Culture Trust were otherwise engaged on in-house business and regrettably couldn't attend this meeting today.
Minutes of the last meeting:
Accepted as True and Accurate
Matters Arising:
None
Election of Chair:
It was agreed that, for the time being, Joe Taylor would continue to chair the Heritage Network and act as secretary
Constitution:
As it likely that, some time in the future, the Heritage Network will become a conduit for small grant funds to community organisations, it was agreed that Community Empowerment Network would produce a draft constitution and that this draft would be circulated to members for input and comment prior to it being presented for consideration at the next meeting
Heritage Network, Cultural Partnership and related matters:
John O'Neill gave a detailed explanation of the Local Strategic Partnership, it's Thematic Partnerships and the how the network of organisations throughout the Borough are linked into this framework. He explained how Council's Vision for the Future paper is running parallel to the Cultural Strategy being developed by L&CT and suggested possible discussion topics to be raised by members attending the Heritage Stakeholders meeting that evening at Robin Park.
Modus, the construction company developing the Grand Arcade, will incorporate a display of the Roman archaeology findings, uncovered during excavations, within the development. A great many shards of Roman pottery were discovered and those that are not required for further analysis should be available for distribution to schools (Emma to investigate what options were for this).
Max Finney and Peter Guy are members of Thematic Partnerships as representatives of the Over 50s and Borough Wide Community Network. Joe Taylor represents Heritage Network on the Cultural Partnership
Ray Hutchinson asked about the role of the Civic Trust relating to Heritage and suggested that they should be contacted and invited to join the Heritage Network (Joe and Emma to action)
Reports:
Joe, Emma and Peter attended a Joint Heritage Networks meeting held as St Helens Town Hall recently and reported on that event.
Max and Joe reported on the last Cultural Partnership meeting at Robin Park
Max Finney spoke about the Over 50s Legacy Project
John Wogan received an old unidentified photograph that he forwarded to Fast Forward. John is working with together with Glenys, transcribing church registers
Glenys McClellan has managed to recover the Memorial Trophy for Ashton Arts Festival, which has been missing for 20 years
Peter Guy would like to contact anyone who ever worked at the Gin Pit Village workshops
Barbara Rhodes reported that Aspull and Leigh HS have had two meetings since the last Heritage Network meeting.
Ray Hutchinson reported that the Parish Church now has a website at www.wiganparishchurch.org/ and asked about links for that website. The Parish Church has a great deal of old manuscripts in its possession and Ray would like to source people able to evaluate artefacts of this nature
Other Business:
A website for the Heritage Network is being developed by CVS and should be operational in the near future. Members will be notified when the website is online
The premier showing of the Wigan Dialect DVD will be held at Robin Park arena 5.30 - 7.30 Friday 10th November and all members of the Heritage Network and their guests are invited.
The DVD will be available at the History Shop and the Tourist Information Centre as of Saturday 11th.
It will be made available to community groups at cost so that they can use it for fund raising, if required
Next Meeting: Monday 18th December at the History Shop at 11 am.