Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Littleboy,  Swift, Wardle and Wyatt, Joanne Edley, Guy Kilminster, Jeremy Blundell and Roy Newman.

A welcome was extended to Councillor I. St. John in his capacity as Cabinet Member, Lifelong Learning, Culture and Leisure and as Chair of this meeting.

Introductions were made.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 22^nd February, 2006 were received as a correct record.

UlleyPark

Phil Rogers, Head of Culture & Leisure gave an update report on Ulley Park.

Staffing structures were now in place for Ulley and Thrybergh country parks and the future for Ulley was reported as being positive.  The process was progressing smoothly with a successful launch of the Friends of Ulley Park, with a total of 81 members.

Officers are working with the Friends Group to allay fears of a closure and in seeking a Green Flag Award for next year.

Walker Mausoleum

Steve Blackbourn, Principal Officer, Museums, Galleries & Heritage, gave an update report on the current situation with regard to Walker Mausoleum.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services had been instructed to instigate legal proceedings against the site owner to sign a new Legal Agreement in order to enable works of restoration and repair to the Mausoleum to proceed.  The site owner had written to the Council stating his willingness to do so but due to other delays on the part of the site owner this had not yet been signed.

As the restoration and reopening of the Mausoleum is a fundamental part of the Service Development Plan, this matter would continue to be pursued in order to allow the tender process to start for building work to begin as soon as possible.  Officers were working closely with Friends’ Groups and were in a position to move expediently once the legal proceedings had been resolved.

One member stressed the urgency of this matter and referred to the amount of public interest in the project.

Phil Rogers, Head of Culture & Leisure gave a presentation in respect of work prepared for the Cultural Services Inspection which had taken place during July, 2006.

The information included a DVD and a verbal report on service development and activities over the last six months in all aspects of Culture and Leisure delivery for all generations.

The information on the DVD drew particular attention to:-

-                       Catcliffe Glass Cone

-                       Allotments/Gardening

-                       Watersports

-                       Libraries

-                       Urban and Country Parks

-                       Rotherham Show

-                       Kashmere Project

-                       Park Ranger Service – RosehillPark

-                       Clifton ParkMuseum – Granary Café

The following figures were given:-

·              80,000 visitors to this year’s Rotherham Show

·              100,000 visitors to Clifton ParkMuseum since its re-opening – now recognised as one of the main tourist attractions in Yorkshire

Other issues reported were:-

-                       Recent death of Margaret Holland, Librarian for Inclusive Service.  Margaret had carried out a great deal of work with ethnic communities. 

-                       Burst water main at Herringthorpe Athletics Track – now restored by Yorkshire Water.  Thanks were extended to the Athletics Club for their involvement.

-                       All swimming pools awarded the National Standard Aquamark for quality of teaching and instruction.

-                       Park Rangers – Paul Spriggs had received a National award for the best park worker in Britain.  He was to travel to Central Park, New York in the Spring to work in partnership with the New York parks department.

-                       Recent significant article in The Times in recognition of Rotherham parks.

-                       E-Librarian of the Year – awarded to Askander Akram – who was last year’s winner.

-                       Swimming Pools – It was hoped to complete all building work on schedule by the Summer of 2008 (Aston, St. Ann’s and Wath), with the exception of the Second Phase of the Maltby Leisure Facilities.  The Maltby project will include a Family Health Centre and Contact Centre.

-                       Pantomime – Peter Pan scheduled for December 2006 – Box office records for last year’s pantomime had been broken for the fifth year in succession and the Pantomime had been extended for a further week. A further 3 year Pantomime Contract was presently being re-negotiated.

-                       Green Flag Awards - National Benchmark Award won for ThryberghCountry Park.  Further submissions for Ulley and RotherValley CountryParks to be made for this year.

-                       Excellent Summer activities co-ordination involving approximately 20-30 community groups.  Action groups had put together a package called “Mega-Active”.

-                       Clifton Park – a great deal of work was taking place on the Heritage Lottery Fund bid for Clifton Park.  A great deal of improvements would then take place if the bid succeeded, some of which included new buildings, re-opening of the walled garden, reinstatement of older features, children’s water play area, and toilets.  Work was to involve partnership with RCAT.  A National Funding Panel had visited the Park and a decision on the bid would be made on 22^nd September, 2006.

-                       Officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

David Rowley gave an update report on the present situation with regard to the work of the Rotherham Alive Partnership.

The Board had received a number of presentations on the following Strategies/Plans:-

-     NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence)

Body responsible for Health Strategy.  Work centred around recommending a Smoking Cessation Strategy and an increase in physical activities.

-     Public Health Strategy and Alive Team Action Plan

This work aligned with the Arts and Sports activities of this Consortium.

-           Older People’s Wellbeing Strategy (Adult Services)

-           Lottery Bid Presentation (included in a Yorkshire & Humberside bid).

Main themes were Healthy Eating coaches and assistance in Mental Health.

-           Lifestyle discussion on smoke-free Rotherham.  Some criticism of the hospital in not making RotherhamHospital smoke-free. 

      -     Update on the Local Area Agreement

Kath Atkinson, Rotherham PCT had felt the need to increase the number of meetings in order to monitor issues.

Agreed:-  That David Rowley be thanked for his report.

Bernadette Burbridge, Town Centre Management Team, gave a verbal report on the evaluation of the current pilot to assess the use of The Big Screen in Rotherham Town Centre.

This included a background report on the matter an outline of her work experience in the BBC on special projects, which had included the setting up of a number of partnerships similar to the one in Rotherham.

The pilot scheme was to end in December, 2006.

The information included a DVD presentation which involved members of the community.  This was shown as an example of what could be shown on the screen through learning space.  The DVD, which consisted of “real” stories, had been compiled with the help of students from RCAT who had recorded their experiences of adult learning and how this had enriched their lives.

The meeting was informed of the type of feedback received from audiences in respect of:-

-                       The World Cup coverage – on the whole, very successful - as many as 300 children and families in the square on one particular day

-                       Number of events planned in conjunction with the Royal Opera House – started to build an audience from the first event of the Royal Ballet show

-                       Big Dance Event – nation-wide event to get as many people dancing at the same time – 235 people signed up to the event

-                       Film for Life shown – had attracted a large crowd and had generated lots of fun

-                       RCAT – (a) Agreement for students to produce some material as part of the 1^st year NVQ Media Course.  If appropriate, this would be screened. (b) Offer of work placements for students to learn how to produce material for the screen, BBC guidelines and editorial policy.

-                       Schools and “Get Sorted” Project – screening events planned with them

-                       Images of Urban Wildlife – recently enjoyed by several people

The point was made that the screen was a new feature to the town and that, as such, would take time to build interest and attract audiences.

Discussion had taken place with a great deal of community groups.  Without exception, the response had been extremely positive.

Feedback from all events had been consistently strong and a mailing list was being compiled for future use.

Members of the Consortium felt the DVD was very good and suggestions for future work were made which included more stories from older people and children.

Questions were raised and responded to with regard to the permanency of the screen and costings.

It was clarified that the screen was jointly owned via a partnership with the Council, BBC and ADI (screen manufacturer).  A Contract existed with ADI who maintained the screen and provided IT support.

One issue which had consistently arisen was that the screen should not be sited in All Saints’ Square. 

In balancing that view, some members of the Consortium felt the siting of the screen should not overshadow the facility in terms of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

Marie Hayes, Commercial & Promotional Services Manager gave a verbal report on the recent Rotherham Show and Cultural Diversity Festival 2006.

Once again, Rotherham Show had been a huge success and the weather had been excellent.

Trevor Kippax had reported the best year ever of the Diversity Festival and that feedback from everyone had been good.

One e mail stating how much one particular family had enjoyed the event had already been received from someone in North Lincolnshire.

One member present who had worked on the Show agreed that a big proportion of visitors were from outside Rotherham.

Jackie Thornhill, Manager, Sports and Physical Activity, gave a verbal report on the Cultural Conference 2006 event.

The key aim of the event had been to bring Rotherham people together who shared an interest in developing sport and physical activity.

Approximately 80 people had attended the half day event.  Representation had consisted of RMBC, Parish Councils, Colleges, Schools, community partnerships, older people, sports and voluntary organisations, Health Authority, Disability Groups, Funding Groups and learning communities.

Councillor St. John had opened the event and a decision had been made to keep the event to a reasonable timescale in order to maintain interest.

Established groups, consisting of both young and old, had given practical demonstrations of the work of their group, inbetween topical workshops.

One young man in a placement on the EPUIP Project had been asked to say a few words about his experience.  This particular group supported young people from the Black and Minority Ethnic communities in order to get people into work and develop work.  This young man had spent almost a year with sports development and was now working for the Multi-Cultural Centre as a Sports Development Officer.

Other speakers had included Dave Gent from Sport England who had talked about what is happening regionally.

Rotherham Active Partnership was formed and launched in April to strategically look at the way sport and physical activities is co-ordinated across the Borough.  The initiative had produced significant involvement with sporting groups on ideas of good practice.  Facilitated by the Sports Development Team and neighbouring partners, the initiative looked at ways of developing funds and sports organisations, and worked with BME, which included working with older people.

Dave Gent had closed the Conference with an update on the 2012 Olympics by showing a video which it was felt was inspiring for everyone involved in physical activity.

The event had proved successful, had given people a good opportunity to share ideas, and it was planned to repeat the event on a biennial basis. Most of the people in attendance had felt it was excellent.

Issues which had arisen from the Conference, in particular diversionary programming and children being a nuisance, were being looked at through partnership working.

One member present suggested longer workshops at the next event.

Tony Preston, Project Development Manager, submitted a draft of the 3^rd edition of the Cultural Strategy Action Plan which consisted of the Detailed Action Plans of the Future Perfect: Planning our Cultural Futures document for consideration and comment.

The Strategy set out a comprehensive list of projects and initiatives achieved within Culture and Leisure over the past 6-9 months in delivering the objectives of the Strategy Action Plan, in addition to work being undertaken within the voluntary and private sectors.

A significant amount of refresh work had been carried out on the document since its publication last year and in identifying areas of progress within the service in meeting the priorities contained within the Cultural Strategy.

A number of key and successful features of the Strategy were highlighted and reported on as follows:-

-                     Colourscape Event - Clifton Park

-                     Pantomime – Last year’s Snow White recorded the highest number of sales

-                     Rotherham Arts Festival

-                     Museum Events Programming re-started after refurbishment

-                     Regeneration through increased investment and cultural activity

-                     Rosehill Park and the Award given to Paul Spriggs, Park Development Ranger

-                     Excellent partnership working – in particular with Rawmarsh and Parkgate Partnership

-                     Significant achievements made in public art

-                     Great deal of tourism achievement

-                     Magna Active Summer Programme

-                     Summer Reading Challenge in community libraries  – significant increase in takeup – over 1,000 children completed the challenge compared with around 300 last year

Members present were asked to circulate the Strategy within their individual organisations and feed back any additional information on ambitions and achievements within interest groups.

The Strategy would be disseminated more widely across cultural sector groups, including the “Help in Hand” database off the Council’s website, with a view to publication by next Spring.

The meeting raised a particular question on the future of Rotherham Rugby Club.

Phil Rogers, Head of Culture and Leisure reported that the Rugby Club had now stated they could not afford to go ahead at this stage. A report had been commissioned from Strategic Leisure into the future of Herringthorpe Leisure Centre, including the pavilion, and a report on this matter would be considered by the Cabinet Member, Education, Culture and Leisure with regard to sport development on that site. A variety of options were being considered, all of which involved sport and leisure on the site.

Agreed:  (1) That Lizzy Alageswaran, Principal Officer, Community Arts  be invited to attend the next meeting to highlight some of the ambitions with regard to the public arts work.

(2)         That Joanne Edley, Tourism Manager be invited to attend the next meeting to report on the current situation with regard to tourism activity.

Tony Preston, Project Development Manager, reported verbally on the need to seek representation from black and ethnic minority communities on the Cultural Consortium.

A discussion took place on this issue, it being recognised that whilst the BME communities represented some of the most creative and vibrant groups, there was a great number of diverse communities in Rotherham who could not be represented by a single person.

Suggestions from members of the Consortium included the need to involve younger members and members from outlying areas of Rotherham.

Agreed:-  (1)  That Trevor Kippax, Cultural Diversity Officer, be invited to attend the next meeting to aid a discussion on how to attract more membership on the Cultural Consortium from the Black and Ethnic Minority communities.

(2)  That Guy Kilminster, Manager, Libraries, Museums and Arts be asked to consider raising this at the next meeting of Rotherham Heritage Association.

Agreed:-  That the next meeting be held on Wednesday, 6^th December, 2006 at 2.00 p.m.