Minutes of the meeting of the Exceptional Need



Minutes of SCHP Meeting on Monday 14th March 2016

at 7.30pm at Balmoral Community Centre

Present: Chris Sternshine (Chair/Trustee/Jewish Care), Mazjoub Ali (Individual Member), Trish Carpenter (Secretary/Trustee/Citizens Advice Southend), Aline Clayson (Trustee/South East and Central Essex Mind), Ray Davy (Council of Christians and Jews), Steve Dewberry (Vice Chair/Trustee), Dawnette Fessey (Trustee), Mike Fraser (British Red Cross and Essex Search and Rescue), David Glover (Residents Association of Westborough 2012), Alan Grubb (Individual Member), Ahmad Khwaja (Patron), Ken Phillips (Treasurer/Trustee/Southend Reform Synagogue), Prafel Patel (Hindu Association of Southend & District), Jo-Ann Routh (Event Co-ordinator), Brenda Smith (Trustee/Residents Association of Westborough 2012)

1. Welcome: CS welcomed everyone to the meeting. CS introduced Jo-Ann Routh, who had been appointed as the Event Co-ordinator. All those present introduced themselves.

2. Apologies: Chand Sood, Dan Turpin, Sandra Wilkes. There were no declarations of interest.

3. Minutes of the Meeting on 14th December 2015: the Minutes were agreed and signed by CS.

4. Matters arising from the Minutes not elsewhere on the Agenda: As detailed in item 11.

5. Speaker: Owen Jones from Hope not Hate gave a presentation about the work of Hope not Hate both locally and nationally. OJ said that Hope not Hate was established 12 years ago and developed from the Searchlight magazine. The emergence of the far right lead to the establishment of Hope not Hate and its work has developed into prevention of all forms of extremism and tackling racism. Hope not Hate is funded by donations. Hope not Hate produced a study on attitudes to multiculturalism and this showed three main attitudes, those who are confident multiculturalists, those who are ambivalent and those who want the country to remain as it has always been, even if this state does not actually exist. Those who occupy the middle ground enjoy the cultural diversity that migration brings but are swayed by the economic arguments against it and are vulnerable to extremism. The study has recently been revisited and there has been a positive change in attitudes amongst younger people but the picture is less positive in older people. Stronger communities are more resilient to hate issues. In Southend Hope not Hate is working with CAST in relation to the reception of Syrian refugees, OJ had been a speaker at the event organised last year at Crowstone URC. OJ was helping CAST develop a similar programme to Colchester as the area had already welcomed Syrian refugees. ‘Myth busting’ sessions were being held in Colchester and surrounding areas in north Essex eg Tendring. These sessions allow people to ask questions and raise concerns in an environment where these would not be considered as being racist. OJ said that racist issues are often caused by anger about another issue. Community organising is the approach used to tackle extremism. Extremism is most prevalent amongst young men. OJ gave examples of successful Hope not Hate projects in other areas eg a mother’s group in Coventry which brought together newly arrived African mothers with local teenage mothers. OJ said that Hope not Hate had two full time members of staff covering Essex. OJ took questions. OJ asked for more information about the Big Event and this was given. OJ agreed to become a member of SCHP and Hope not Hate was invited to have a stand at the 2016 event. CS thanked OJ for being our speaker

6. The Big Event 2016: JR reported that Priory Park had been provisionally booked with SBC for 18th September, JR will now submit the formal application. JR said that she had received positive feedback from SBC about the event. JR said that it had been agreed to involve young people undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Award at the Big Event in survey completion as this activity would meet the service element. JR would also be seeking ‘good luck’ endorsements from celebrities connected with Southend, for example Helen Mirren and Jamie Oliver to use for publicity. JR added that if any celebrity also provided a signed object, this could be used for future fundraising. JR had received all the paperwork from DT and had met with CS and DT. JR would also bring her own contacts. JR explained that she had worked as a Social Worker and for the Probation Service. JR had taken redundancy from the Probation Service and was currently working as an independent Social Worker and in event management which is why this role appealed to her. JR said she was looking forward to working with the SCHP members to deliver such an important event for Southend. In answer to a question from AK, JR said that she had experience of organising events, both through her employment and her involvement with the Scouts Association. RD said that SUFC would contribute the use of the car park and he will engage the security and other services under the same terms and conditions for the same cost as last year other than RD requested that black bags are supplied this year. AG suggested contacting the new refuse collection provider, Veolia, about possible involvement and/or sponsorship. RD asked about the provision for PRS, CS said this was dealt with by John Watson.

7. Treasurer’s Report: KP circulated details of the activity since the AGM, the credit balance was £6217.31. KP said that our financial year ends on 31st March 2016. The insurance payment was for our Public Liability cover for the next 12 months. The stall holder donation for the 2015 event had just been received from Healthwatch Southend, the only item of expenditure outstanding for the 2015 event was for the hire of the park from SBC. KP reported that funding applications had been submitted to the Rosca Trust and Essex Community Foundation. If these two applications are successful there would be sufficient funds to put on this year’s event. The provisional budget for the event is £8,000.

8. Website/Marketing/Publicity: DF reported that the comments made on Facebook about the Chinese New Year and International Women’s Day had been well received. The smartboard at SAVS would be used at the quiz on 15th April to highlight our website and our presence on Twitter and Facebook. DF would be meeting with JR to review the publicity for the Big Event.

9. Fundraising: CS highlighted the quiz on 15th April, bookings had gone well and we were almost fully booked. Sir David Amess MP had indicated he would be attending, BS would seek clarification as to whether Sir David intended to stay for the whole evening. RD said that if we wished to be considered for a match day collection at SUFC a formal written application would be needed, also for raffle prizes for the quiz. CS would write to RD. The success of events held at Porters was discussed, it was noted that a charge was now made for the use of Porters but another event could be explored for later in the year. It was suggested that approaches be made to Rotary, the Round Table and the local Lions Clubs for support. The bus companies were another suggestion.

10. Membership Update: The updated number of members would be confirmed for the next meeting. Membership would be promoted at the quiz on 15th April.

11. Any Other Business:

i) AG said that scanning facilities were being withdrawn at the Civic Centre.

ii) AK asked about the email sent by Chand Sood, CS confirmed that this matter had been dealt with at the Trustees meeting earlier and a reply would be sent to CSo.

iii) MA highlighted the new service being offered at the Community Hub in the Victoria Shopping Centre from 3pm to 5pm on the first Friday of every month to support speakers of other languages. MA asked if anyone spoke another language and wished to volunteer for this service to let him know. AG suggested exploring possible funding opportunities through the current focus on English language teaching, particularly for Muslim women. JR said that she was not aware that the details of any funding opportunities had been released as yet

12. Date of Next Meeting: Monday 13th June 2016 at 7.30pm at Balmoral Community Centre, Huw Williams from Terence Higgins Trust will be the speaker

There being no other business the meeting closed at 8.30pm.

Actions: as described above.

Signed…………………………………………………….. Date…………………………….

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