To elect a new Chairman and Vice Chairman for the next municipal year.

Karnail Pannu nominated himself to be Chairman, which was seconded by Jane Corry.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Karnail Pannu was elected Chairman of the One Borough Group for the 2021/22 municipal year.

Nicola Davidson nominated Paul Samuels to be Vice Chairman, which was seconded by Barbara Grossman.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Paul Samuels was elected as Vice Chairman of the One Borough Group for the 2021/22 municipal year.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Lin Ferguson, Councillor Price, Paul Samuels, Peter Haley, Danielle Lane, Viviana Salmon, Councillor Tisi, Tracy Muschamp, Belinda Dixon, Josephine Crabb, Anthony Lewis, Ila Gangotra, Mike Darrah and Honor Ryan.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th March 2021.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th March 2021 were approved a true record.

To discuss whether future meetings of the group should be streamed live on the RBWM YouTube channel.

Mark Beeley, Democratic Services Officer, introduced the item and explained that all RBWM council meetings had been recorded and streamed live on the RBWM YouTube channel since the start of virtual meetings in March 2020. This included One Borough meetings, but Mark Beeley explained that he had been informed that live streaming meetings of the group was potentially not beneficial to the groups aims. The group was an environment for organisations, community groups and individuals to come together and often discuss sensitive matters. Mark Beeley asked for comments from the members of the group on whether they would like to continue to have One Borough meetings made available on the RBWM YouTube channel.

Jane Corry felt that it was inappropriate to have the meetings on YouTube as the group was not open to all. She was fine with a recording, which could be shared with members of the group, but not with having the whole meeting available for anyone to watch. At Norden Farm, staff were careful about how the activities they offered were marketed. Jane Corry suggested that YouTube was not an appropriate platform for the group, particularly as it had originally been opt out rather than opt in with the consent for the meetings to be on YouTube.

Alison Bourne agreed with the comments made by Jane Corry. She said that having One Borough meetings in the public domain on YouTube allowed very public access to the work that the Dash Charity did, which was a concern as it involved domestic abuse.

Members of the group agreed that One Borough would not be live streamed on the RBWM YouTube channel going forward.

To hear from Nicola Davidson.

Nicola Davidson said that Our Community Enterprise provided free support for organisations and could also provide funding. The fundraising landscape had been particularly tough during the pandemic so it was important that groups and charities knew what was available. Nicola Davidson had four key tips for the group:

·         Ensure that the stewardship of past funders was excellent, they should be the first port of call and therefore a relationship should look to be developed.

·         Research where other organisations gained their funds from.

·         Visit the Chartered Institute of Fundraising website and explore some of the resources which could be relevant and useful.

·         Review the organisations strategy and see if revenue could be brought in through sales or community investment.

Nicola Davidson asked members of the group to contact her if they needed any support or further information, on nicola@oce.org.uk.

Councillor Rayner said that the council had worked with Our Community Enterprise over many years and they had raised over £25 million for groups and organisations. She recommended that interested organisations get in contact with Nicola.

To hear from Claire Kellow, on behalf of Jesal Dhokia.

Claire Kellow explained that the project had originally started in Clewer and Dedworth. An orchard had been created and plans were in place to create a biodiversity area. The project had now moved to Maidenhead, with five sub groups being involved with the project. These included:

·         Community empowerment

·         Community safety

·         Health and wellbeing

·         Physical environment

·         Employment and skills

The groups had started recently and moving forward it was hoped that they would undertake projects in the local community soon. If anyone was interested in getting involved, they could email Volunteering@RBWM.gov.uk. Claire Kellow showed the group the new engagement platform called RBWM Together.

Nicola Davidson said that she had not seen the RBWM Together platform before and asked how organisations could find and use this resource.

Claire Kellow said that they would be working with the RBWM Communications team to spread the word on social media and in newsletters. Anyone could engage with and use the website.

Jeff Pick suggested that if Claire Kellow was happy to liaise with him about the project, he would be able to include it as part of his email newsletters. He asked if PSPOs were part of the engagement platform. Claire Kellow said that they were.

Councillor Rayner said that some great work had been done in Windsor and was confident that the project would go from strength to strength as it looked to establish itself in Maidenhead too.

Barbara Grossman said that she would be interested in forwarding information about the project to members of Maidenhead Synagogue.

To receive an update from Elaine Keating.

Elaine Keating explained that she was involved with the running of the Girls Policy Forum and the Kickback scheme. An RBWM Youth Council was in the process of being created, with the first meeting planned to be in September. She asked if members of the group were happy to send out the application form and encourage young residents to apply and get involved. The Girls Policy Forum had been working closely with Parallel Windsor, with their virtual event taking place on Sunday 27^th June 2021. Elaine Keating shared a promotional video of the event that the Forum had created.

Andrew Douglass explained that he was the founder of Parallel Windsor. The event would be held virtually this year, but there plans to hold it in Windsor Great Park in 2022. He was proud of the Girls Policy Forum and they were passionate about inclusivity, they had been recently been raising funds for local community causes. Filming would be taking place in Windsor Great Park this week for the virtual event, as Andrew Douglass wanted to create a sense of space despite the event being held virtually. Around 50 minutes of virtual film would be produced, with event starting at 10am and also being available to watch on demand. Content included entertainment and music, along with a campaign from Sport England called ‘This Girl Can’. Andrew Douglass said that he was very pleased to be working with Elaine Keating and the Girls Policy Forum.

Councillor Rayner said that she had been involved with the project for a number of years and she was delighted that it would still be able to go ahead virtually this year.

To hear from Alison Bourne on the search for a venue for a children’s hub.

Alison Bourne explained that there were two main services the Dash Charity provided, community and refuge services. Dash had decided to give up its office space during the pandemic while all its staff were working from home, which freed up funding for additional staff members. Adult referrals had doubled while child referrals had tripled. The Dash Charity were looking for a smaller space which could be used as a children’s hub and would also likely include some hot desking for staff who needed a physical hub. Alison Bourne asked the group if they were aware of any space that was available and if so to get in contact with her to discuss options.

To receive updates from members of the group.

Jane Corry explained that Norden Farm was coming to the end of its cultural recovery fund money. Work had been done with a number of families, schools, Achieving for Children and concerts had been produced for care homes. Norden Farm wanted to continue to deliver services for residents but there was significant competition for funds. On 5^th September 2021 there would be a kite festival, with kite making packs available to buy online. Workshops would be available in July and August, while the Norden Farm market would be available on the first and the third Saturdays of the month.

Philip Reynolds said that the Rotary ‘service above self’ award had received six applications and ten nominations for individuals, he thanked those that had applied.

Jeff Pick asked the group to let him know if there was anything that they wanted him to send out in his email newsletter.

David Scott, Head of Communities at RBWM, gave a brief update on Covid. He said overall RBWM was in a good place but asked groups to remember to stay safe, particularly as restrictions were being relaxed. A note was being sent to community influencers about myth busting around the vaccine and the pandemic. The key Covid messages were:

·         Even if you had been vaccinated – you must still be COVID-19 safe.The vaccination programme continued to reach more and more of our adult population and although getting vaccinated was still one of the best ways to help beat COVID-19, it does not make people invincible. Even after having had both vaccination jabs, it is still possible to catch this virus and spread it. Vaccination improves the chances of not being so unwell and reduces the likelihood of spreading the virus to others, but please follow the basics of Hands, Face Space and Fresh Air, even though the country was now in Step 3 of the Government’s roadmap. Doing this would help reduce the risks for everyone.

·         The latest Delta Variant was now the dominant variant in the community. Being vaccinated would reduce the chances of catching this variant, which was more transmissible so it was even more essential everything was done to try and stop community transmission. If you had been offered the vaccination, please take it. If you were uncertain for any reason about going to have your vaccination please let the team know and they could talk you through any questions or doubts you might have. Getting both doses was also really important as the second increases the effectiveness of the vaccination significantly.

·         Testing was still a really powerful way to reduce the risk of spreading the virus without knowing. It was recommended that two tests were taken each week to check. Tests could be done at dedicated test centres, tests could be collected from community collect points, pharmacy collection points or even order home delivery kits.

Sabahat Hassan said that she was part of the Communications team at CCG and they were encouraging residents to get both  ...  view the full minutes text for item 206.

The dates of future meetings are as follows (both 11am):

·         Tuesday 14^th September 2021

·         Tuesday 7^th December 2021

Members of the group noted that the next meeting would take place on Tuesday 14^th September 2021, starting at 11am.