MInutes of January 2010
CLOUGH HALL RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 19th JANUARY 2010 AT HOLLINWOOD SHELTERED HOUSING at 7.30pm
PRESENT :-
COMMITTEE: - G Sutton, J Gallacher, C Brough, T Dale, C Gallacher. C Brammer, B Collis.
GUEST SPEAKERS: - Mr Philip Leese.
COUNCILLORS- Cllr M Maxfield Cllr S Burgess, Cllr G Locke.
GUESTS - Mrs T Evans, Mr Rex Burns. Mr Mark Jones - NBC Warden.
RESIDENTS: - 20
TOTAL ATTENDANCE: - 34
APOLOGIES: - D Martin, M Martin, Paul & Sue Fisher, Sylvia Clough.
The Chairman opened the meeting, welcoming everyone present and wishing them a Happy New Year. He thanked Councillors Silvia Burgess and Mary Maxfield for attending, and also the guest speaker Mr Philip Leese who was giving up his own time to speak to residents, and whose presence was much appreciated. He then gave the agenda for the evening, and said that minutes from the previous meeting and other leaflets - including a new one from Beat the Cold - were available for residents to take.
The Chairman then spoke about the following items:
- Grit bins - at present there is only one in the area, at the bottom of Laburnum Close. Staffs County Council has been approached about the possibility of having more, and an assessment has been promised to see if the criteria for placing the bins are met. Cllr Silvia Burgess was thanked for her help in making an official request. Cllr Mary Maxfield said that she has lists of all bins in the Kidsgrove area; if extra bins are requested application forms have to be filled in and then an assessment is made. She suggested that she should be given a list of where the extra bins should be placed in the Clough Hall area and that she would process the application, but said that she understood that no assessments would be dealt with until the summer. Following questions about the gritting of roads and pavements, she said that A and B roads were the main priority, then bus routes - pavements were not included; grit bins have been filled for residents, but some have been emptied within an hour by people taking the grit for their own drives - this is theft. Cllr Maxfield thanked Cllrs Silvia Burgess and Denis Richards for helping the elderly during the icy conditions, and the Town Council for getting together a buddy scheme to help people in bad weather.
The Chairman explained that he had been promised an answer by the end of February and that no forms had been completed, but said that he would email the information to Cllr Maxfield the following day.
- Quiz Night - to take place on Wednesday March 17th at Kidsgrove Cricket Club, tickets £3 each including food.
- Clough Hall School - the school was commended for the effort put into events for the community in the run up to Christmas; residents who attended these events had very much enjoyed them. At the Community Involve Meeting on Monday January 25th the Chairman will thank the school on behalf of residents, and will also enquire about (i) another computer course this year - perhaps the European Driving Standard in Computing, and (ii) the possibility of Old Time Dancing classes. The Chairman commented that when CHRA was started 5 years ago the biggest issues concerning residents were those to do with the school and the Westmorland Unit. Thanks to the hard work of the head and staff of the school there has been an immense improvement, and residents were asked to support the school whenever possible. Forthcoming film shows at the school are Billy Elliot (January 20th), Educating Rita (February 24th) and Quantum of Solace (March 23rd). Residents were asked to ring the school to confirm if they planned to attend.
- No Cold Calling Zones - the police have offered to help with this, but there has to be 70% written support from residents. CHRA will cover any costs, and is eager for the zones to be put in place.
- Lottery Bonus Ball - residents were thanked for their continuing support; the money raised for CHRA funds (£600 per year) is enormously helpful.
- The next meeting will take place on Tuesday March 23rd, and Knights Solicitors will provide speakers for the evening; topics such as wills, deeds, trust funds and inheritance tax will be covered.
- Kidsgrove Police - several months ago the Chairman was asked to write a letter to PASS (Partners Assuring a Safer Staffs) to support Kidsgrove Police's grant request for more funding. This was successful and a grant for £3000 was received which will fund more crime prevention items for Butt Lane, Clough Hall, Talke and Talke Pits. The police have been very impressed with the support given by CHRA, and the association has also been mentioned by the Chief Constable.
The Chairman then handed over to Philip Leese, saying that there would be a break for refreshments during Philip's talk, which is summarised below.
Philip spoke on the subject of the Poor Law and the Workhouse. He explained that the first Poor Laws came into effect in 1597 and 1601, to ensure that people too poor to keep themselves were provided with food and money, and their children apprenticed. Church wardens became overseers of the poor, and property was taxed to provide a poor rate; the rich, concerned that they should not pay too much in tax, insisted that this should only go to the ‘deserving' poor, and small workhouses were established where the poor could work (eg in the garden or in the laundry) and be supervised. Parishes were responsible for their own poor, but since people moved around this created difficulties, and ‘vagrants' became a big problem.
Poor relief could be given in two ways - (i) indoor relief - this was the small workhouse where there were about 20 places, and (ii) outdoor relief - this was a small amount of money given for a short time to a people in their own homes, to enable them to manage during a difficult period.
During the 18th century as populations increased - because of the Industrial Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the agricultural poor moving from farms into towns - the parishes became unable to cope with the demands made on them, and in the 19th century Parliament passed the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 which created the large workhouses developed by Poor Law Unions. In this area Chell Workhouse and Newcastle Workhouse were established around this time.
These workhouses were intended to be a slightly worse option for the poor than the poverty of their own homes, and were a place of last resort. The poor were now called ‘paupers' and were dressed in workhouse clothing. Men, women and children were separated, living and working in different areas of the workhouse, and families could only meet at weekends. The work was deliberately boring and monotonous, eg breaking stones, or picking oakum which involved teasing out fibres from old hemp ropes; the resulting material was sold to the navy or to shipbuilders, mixed with tar and used to seal the lining of wooden ships.
Philip then gave a very expressive reading of the poem written by George Sims ‘Christmas Day in the Workhouse' and explained that later the rules were relaxed and husbands and wives were allowed more time together. Many people in the workhouse were there through no fault of their own, eg the old, the sick, the mentally ill, widows and children, and Philip read some examples of local applications which had been made for poor relief.
The workhouse system continued until 1929 when pensions were introduced and a Mental Health Act was passed, but Southwell Workhouse was still occupied by several families in the 1970s.
Philip concluded by saying that we have the same problems today, but different solutions, and he recommended a website http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ for those who were interested to learn more.
The Chairman thanked Philip for a most interesting, lively and entertaining talk and following the raffle the meeting was closed.
Signed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G Sutton (Chairman)