Fairfield Association Minutes: 20 October 2026

Present

Andrew Brennand (Chair), Dave Brookes, Hilary Short, Helen Sutton, Jane Parker, Phyllidia Singh, Sue Pope

LGGS and Local Nature Reserve status in the hands of our solicitor – since a request was sent to the Secretary of State in the summer there has been no further progress.

This includes the Burtonwood legacy of £54,760 received in 2023.

Lottery funding £10,996 (Lucy Brook)

LEF funding £9925 (Lucy Brook)

Total: £20,921

£ 140,520

£ 161,441

Significant income

Significant expenditure

Rushes need cutting in Big Meadow scheduled for spring.
Snipe survey has been completed.
Lucy Brook project is now complete. Dredging the ponds and renovating the bunds can be covered with the remaining funds.
Pony Wood noticeboard could be changed to an information board, but Lancaster bird watchers are keen for it to continue.
Health & Safety continues under Michael’s leadership.
Path renovation – £30K from LEF and a small grant from the university. Hanafin will remove the overgrowth from the edges of the paths and introduce passing spaces where possible. Volunteers will need to maintain the path width. Areas that puddle will be repaired. The gate at Aldcliffe Road will be made more accessible. The County Council has agreed to waive the charge for closing the paths during the repairs. Permissions are awaited from Lancaster City Council.

The new lease needs to be with the CIO.
Cycle Hub had an opening ceremony in September, Gina Dowding attended. Mike Stevens will prepare a press release.
Little Free Library is now up and running.
Plaques have been installed.
Benches have been realigned by LEF.
Goal post repair is in progress, the fences will be up for another four or five weeks.

Late summer fair on 5 September raised £667.
Two campers on the Triangle – Dave will follow up with the homeless unit.
The wall at the entrance from the towpath has been damaged. The repair will cost £340 – Dave to action.
Workshop roof and chimney need repairing – quote awaited.

All the details about how to get a copy of the new calendar are now on the website. (Sadly, direct online sales using Square were too buggy and problematic to implement.)
Chris Johnston continues to produce a weekly bird sightings report and has just written a really useful summary of all summer sightings. This is now online.
Loura Whitham has scanned all early copies of FA minutes that had not previously been digitised. These are now on the FA Google Drive. There were 100 files in total covering 1996 – 2008. If anyone needs access to the Drive, just contact Mark at and he will set them up.
E-bulletin is planned for the beginning of November. If anyone has any news they would like included, please email the exact text by Sunday evening, 25 October. Andrew to write something about carol singing and wassailing.

Emergency loos are provided by local residents.
Eleanor is doing a good job. Forthcoming events are 9 November – Morecambe Bay Y1, 16 November – Cathedral Y6 and 23 November – Cathedral Y2. Andrew will send a request for helpers with events during the year, always Monday in the orchard.
Dallas Road has been in touch with Tony and Eleanor has been in touch with Dallas Road. Eleanor will liase with Tony.
We can claim funding for educational visits from Natural England provided there are at least four visits during the year – about £500 p.a. plus £100 per visit – Dave to check details and send to Andrew.

30 years of the Fairfield Association – Adrienne and Andrew have completed interviews. Andrew is working with Katherine Woodfine’s husband Duncan on how to present the collated information.
Apple Day – 3 October was a lovely day and raised £228. Many thanks to Sue H, who did a fantastic job.
Green Fair – Saturday 21 November – a table is booked – volunteers will be requested 10:00 – 16:00
Carol singing – 24 December – Hilary will contact musicians and Andrew will lead on the evening from 17:00.
Wassailing – Andrew will organise for Saturday 16 January. Hilary will arrange the drink. Graham will be asked to make a fire. Andrew will investigate a Morris side. Donations will be taken on the day and we will sell the remaining calendars.

The AGM took place on Wednesday 23 September, the resolution to become a CIO was passed unanimously.
The venue and layout worked well.

Hum, Holler ‘n’ Sing – would like the Fairfield Assocaition to advertise their concert on Thursday 17 December at the Friends Meeting House. Hilary will ask for posters to put on the noticeboards. Andrew will mention on Facebook.

The next meeting will take place at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 17 November at the Tite & Locke.