Pies and ££s

On the evening of the 29th March, neighbours gathered to eat pie and make some decisions together at the Wellfield Hotel. Julie, the landlady, cooked the pie while we decided how to spend the pounds.

We had three different pots of cash – community ideas, business ideas, and street pitches for dog poo bag dispensers with a year’s supply of bags.

Lisa pitched a business idea. She wanted almost £250 to set up a face painting business.

Marcus pitched for a community idea, wanting funds to help with community stalls and his famous Keep Wigan Safe posters.

Ideas that had grown from the last event in November, which we’d called Cash and Chips, returned, some with an update; some asking for views and opinions, and, one pitching for some cash. We also had a last-minute pitch for a dog poo dispenser.

Phil and Sandra returned to talk about how they had spent the cash they successfully bid for in November.

All voters were provided with voting cards with four voting options – I do not support the idea; I support the idea, but it’s not ready for funding; I support the idea and would like to give it ‘some’ funding; I support the idea and would like to fund it.

First up was Lisa, who shared her business idea and itemised how she would spend the money. She was looking for an investment of £246.33. She shared some photographs that showed off her skills and answered questions from the floor really well.

The majority voted to fund the business idea when the votes were counted.

It was raised that a DBS might be useful, especially when working with children, and the audience agreed to top up the cash offer to fund this too.

Marcus was up next and discussed developing his community stall closer to home. He’s been running them successfully in other areas. He had agreed a venue for his three tables outside of the Premier on Gidlow Lane but hadn’t yet sorted a date. He was looking for support with transport costs. He also wanted support for his new Keep Wigan Safe poster – printing costs and blue tac. He had an idea that he might like around £250- £300. We discussed costs to try and get a little bit more specific.

Votes were counted, and the majority vote was to offer Marcus ‘some’ funding. £50 or £80 was suggested. A second vote took place to decide whether to offer Marcus £50 or £80. Most voters went for £80, and Marcus was offered £80 towards the Keep Safe poster printing for Wigan West.

There was an update about the benches that had been pitched as an idea in November. A group had been meeting to plan it. They’d decided on three benches initially. Two on private land, one which would be decorated by the Make it Mine group in baby loss colours for the St Annes community garden memorial space and the second that would go outside of Coop Funeral Care. The third was more contentious, as the space that had been voted most popular was also receiving opposition from those who lived near the piece of common land. The local councillor was also in favour of this position. We took a vote to decide whether we should continue negotiating for a bench on the common land or look for an alternative space. Continue negotiating was the majority vote. No cash was required just yet.

Next up was the memorial garden space at St Anne’s Garden. Again, no money was required as sufficient cash was raised via the Coop for the sheltered seating. Gill provided the update and said that wooden memory hearts could be hung within the seating area. Victoria had managed to source a cherry blossom tree for free as part of the memorial space with memory blossom. The group had been exploring different options for sheltered seating, and the voters were asked to vote on the options presented. The majority voted for the pergola style.

Next up was the community defibrillator. A group had been meeting and planning for three across the area. The first one they wanted to place in the middle of the community outside Coop Funeral Care. Mervyn offered to act as warden if required. There was a discussion about ongoing costs for batteries and pads, and it was agreed that the community could raise funds for these. The group pitched for £1080. The total cost is £1830, and £750 was already raised through Phyll Cullen’s Brighter Borough support. This would fund the defibrillator, the cage that an outside one needs to be kept in and fitting. A majority vote agreed upon this.

There was a discussion about the dog poo dispensers. Funds to support two had been set aside at the last event, particularly for Beech Hill, as there were already 5 in Springfield. It needed someone to pitch for one, though. Someone had messaged the group to say they’d be happy to fill the bags if required, but we weren’t sure where that might be sited or if there was a problem with dog poo in the area.

Then, Elise stood up and shared her idea of placing one near the park. She provided a persuasive argument about why it should be sited there and offered to refill the container every week. We gave out the voting cards and the idea was agreed upon by a majority vote. This leaves one container still to allocate in Beech Hill.

Next up was Phil talking about the community bikes with strict instructions to keep it brief from his daughter Gill, and that he did! People in the room were impressed with the records and the money raised from donations for the recycled bikes. This was definitely on the way to sustaining itself. You can read more about Phil and the community bikes in the first edition of Ey Up – Wigan West Community News.

Sandra shared the highlights and learning from the Elf Christmas Cracker Family Film afternoons. There were people in the room who had attended the film afternoons, they shared feedback and talked about how cared for they had felt by the organisers.

All in all, we distributed £1410 to community ideas and brought in another £750 contribution through Brighter Boroughs.

Watch out for the next one in the summer.