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Committee Meeting and General Meeting of the Hodgemoor Riding Association
Thursday 26th April 2001 In the Reading Room in Chalfont St Giles
Present: Judith Broadly, Heather Black, Susie and Marcus Bicknell, Audrey Holbrook, and Robin Richards
The Committee had been pleased by the attendance at the meeting, particularly by livery stables owners.
The constitution of the Association had been proposed and approved.
The appointment of Angela Stallard, a lawyer, had been approved as auditor.
Report on Attempts to find Funding Sources
Chiltern District Council
Susie Bicknell had on April 6th spoken at length
to Jan Longhurst, Grants Administrator at Chiltern District Council.
She was very sympathetic to our cause and was well-aware of the lack of
off-road riding facilities in our area. The Council might have funded
a small grant, but cannot as the Riding Association does not own Hodgemoor
Wood, and they cannot fund Bucks CC. The only help they could give
us would be to fund some piece of equipment or materials that we needed:
in thepast they had funded riding clubs for new jumps, for example.
Bucks County Council
Emma Munday at Forest Enterprise still had no firm
response to her funding help letter to Bucks CC of 12 February. Bucks
CC might consider extending the path of the recently-designated new bridlepath
along to east side of the Wood up to Bottrell’s Lane. But this seemed very
tentative as they say they have no funding available. It was
unlikely they would help fund the improvement of the permissive riding
trails. It was clear we should press on with trying to find other
sources for the riding trails so we can try to get the new bridlepath up
and running.
Groundwork Trust
Susie Bicknell had made several calls as Brenda
Wickham of the BHS had said they had been very helpful in the past with
advice at least. But so far, Susie had not even managed to speak
to anybody.
The Onyx Environmental Trust
Details the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme and the Onyx
Environmental Trust had kindly been passed on to the Riding Association
by the walkers’ association, the Friends of Hodgemoor. Our first letter
outlining the project had at least not been rejected out of hand, and the
Committee has been burning the midnight oil to get the grant application
in by April 30th, so that it can go before a May panel meeting.
The Trust has 5 categories of project that it funds, and we fall into “The Provision of public parks and Amenities” section. This section is actually the most heavily funded of the five. It looks as if they have funded wood trails once before, though it is not clear whether these were riding trails or not.
Susie Bicknell had spoken briefly to Doug Davies,
the general manager of the Trust, who advised making our project phased.
This presumably gives them the option of only funding some of phases.
We have, therefore, applied for funding to improve all the bad trails,
but have given priority to the missing link that would get the new bridle
path going.
British Horse Society Membership
The Association had joined the BHS for £25
a year. This would enable us to get advice and information
from their Access and Rights of Way Department, and receive their “Tracks”
newsletter 3 times a year.
Apart from trying to improve the riding trails in the Wood, the Association would also work with Bucks CC to improve the network (very small!) of local bridlepaths. It would soon provide a map of riding routes to all members.
BHS membership would also give the Association 3rd party Public Liability cover, which would cover us for any fund-raising events such as sponsored rides. This was good news, as previous quotes for this cover had been over £300.
Fund Raising Events
Audrey Holbrook said she could not make firm plans
for organising the sponsored ride for the children at her riding school
because of the foot and mouth restrictions. Hodgemoor Wood had been
partially reopened, but not enough to justify a ride. And the really
wet weather had made the trails worse than ever. It was a pity as this
could raise £1500 to £2000.
Membership Drive
Heather Black had now been round most of the livery
stables in the area. Her visits were confirming our estimate of the
number of horses and ponies in the area. After 8 stables, she calculated
around 150 horses. And there are more to visit, not to mention private
owners who are harder to locate.
Press Coverage
There had been 2 articles, one in the Bucks Free
Press, the other in Bucks Advertiser. It was hoped these would raise
the profile of the Association, not only among riders but all users of
the Wood. We want people to realise that we are making this effort
not just for ourselves but for ALL users of the Wood.
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The web site address is http://www.hodgemoor.org.uk Contact the webmaster on marcus@bicknell.com and the association on sbicknell@ndirect.co.uk |