7pm Tuesday 22 April 2025, Mitcham and Carshalton Rugby Club
AGM slide deck
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Agenda
- Welcome, minutes and look back – Friends of Poulter Park
- Voting for the committee
- Bees, honey, bee products and beekeeping with Dave Charnely
- AOB
Present: Babs Guthrie, Hayley White, Isobel Harris, Dawn Fielding (Sutton Council), Jeanette Tidy, Peter Harris, Megan Harris, Bobby Dean (MP), Gemma Munday (Councillor), Julian Davis, Ed Woods, Ted Edwards, Sandra Edwards, Dave Charnely
1. Welcome, minutes and lookback
Babs welcomed everyone to the meeting and summarised the agenda. All committee members were present, no apologies.
Isobel asked the group to accept the 2024 minutes. All voted to accept
Babs updated the group on our activities in 2024-2025 including:
- 212+ bags litter picked as well as sundry ponds, paint cans and bathroom suites
- 7 community partners
- 4 tonnes pennywort from Ravensbury Lake
- 600 hedgerow trees
- 6 public events with 40, 25, 250 +, 30+, 15 and 30 people
- 18 landscape artists in the park
- 85 species in our meadow
- 1 Sutton community award
Wandle diesel spill
Isobel shared an update on the Wandle diesel spill and what we’ve done in response:
- On 18 Feb 4,000 tonnes diesel entered the Wandle from Thornton Heath bus garage
- On 4 April another significant patch diesel reported at Poulter Park
- Over the past 3 months we’ve collated reports of over 200 wildlife deaths
- Diesel is still visible in the water throughout the Wandle
What are we doing?
- Mapping the reports centrally
- Sharing data with our MPs and other charities
- FOI request to the Environment Agency (EA) for environmental report on the first spill
- Keeping on reporting to the EA
Treasurer’s report
Hayley White (Treasurer) shared the projects funded this year:
Local funding
- Landscape Artist event, through Friends of Sutton Parks
- Hoot in the Park 2
Public realm fund
- Our container…. watch this space!
Wandle Fortnight
- Funding for art at landscape artist
Neighbourhood fund
- New fencing to protect the meadow in front of Bishopsford House
Donations
- Crowdfunding on Just Giving paid for our Wassail in the orchard
2025-2026 Funding plans
And shared topline plans for 2025-2026 projects:
- Wildlife interpretation panel for Revesby Wood
- Summer event and 2026 Wassail
- Arts festival to complement Landscape Artist
- Carols in the park
- Plug plants for the orchard
- River restoration on water voles backwater
- Bird and bat boxes
- Bird feeders
- Humans of the Wandle story project
- Gazebos, waders, litter equipment
- Mass bulb planting project
And our upcoming events:
- Litter pick this Saturday 26 April
- River Summit Tues 8 July
- Summer event Aug 2025 tbc
- Landscape Artist Competition and art day – Sat 13 September
- Bat walk, Sept 2025 tbc
- Plus litter picking, wildlife counts, bulb planting, seed sowing, woodland management and more
2. Voting
New committee nominee Frank was introduced.
The committee were unanimously elected by show of hands.
- Babs Guthrie (Chair
- Hayley White (Treasurer)
- Isobel Harris (Secretary)
- Frank Foreman (Committee member)
There were no resolutions.
3. Bees, honey, bee products and beekeeping with Dave Charnely
Bee keeper Dave Charnley gave a very interesting talk on bees and honey. And everyone was able to roll a candle, taste some honey and purchase honey and bee products. We all learnt a lot about bees, huge thanks to Dave!
4. AOB
Bobby Dean MP updated about the Wandle pollution situation and his activities in parliament to speak up for the Wandle and make sure the polluter pays.
The meeting ended at 8.45pm with cake and birthday celebrations. Thank you to everyone who came!
Friends of Poulter Park and Revesby Wood 