38th AGM on Thursday 8th May 2025

We held our AGM tonight by zoom starting at 7:30pm.

Eight members attended:
Adrian Potts, Ally Hardy, Daniel Black, Denise Clark, Emma Summerhayes, Hazel Pryor, Jenny Pitcock and Sue Bonner.

Apologies for absence were received from:

Andy Hill, Christine Hill, Andy Screen, Charlie Spiller, Jean MacDonald, Neil Bonner and Karin Frood

The following matters were covered:

Minutes of 2024 AGM

Chairman's Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

Treasurer's Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

Election of the committee for 2025-26

AOB

After the AGM we had an interesting talk for an hour (including Q&A) from Issy Bovaird, ex-MNTV and now Lead Ranger, Alderley Edge.

Issy joined Alderley Edge from Lyme Park one year ago and has been getting to grips with what’s happening and what’s not quite right.  It’s been a difficult first year impacted by funding cuts post-covid (recruitment freezes, spending freezes) and to mitigate enforced cost increases (National Minimum Wage, employer National Insurance).  Alderley Edge has had to make cutbacks, for example plans to give visitors a better welcome (car park project) have been paused.

 

She talked about current and future projects at Alderley Edge in the context of the Trust’s recently announced new strategy for the next decade and beyond:

 

To restore nature – not just on National Trust land, but everywhere

To end unequal access to nature, beauty and history

To inspire millions more people to care and take action

 

To restore nature:

Examples at Alderley include insect surveys (to get a baseline for the insects Alderley has today) and “veteranising” trees (deliberately damaging their bark) to make them more hospitable to bugs.

Nine volunteers have been trained in baiting and trapping badgers so the badgers can be vaccinated against TB.

New groups are volunteering at Alderley: five schools have made bug hotels and some companies have done footpath work.

 

To end unequal access

Alderley have removed some gates and widened others.  They are doing lots of footpath work so that people can get around the woods.  The new Holy Well bridge went in to today.

 

To inspire people:

Trust staff are getting older and it is very important to get young people involved with the Trust and its work.  Alderley have an apprentice ranger for another year (who can work with us on Sundays) and Hare Hill is getting its own apprentice ranger.  Meanwhile, Tim Ryan (also ex-MNTV) continues to work two days per week.

See above re other volunteer groups getting involved at Alderley.

  

Bosley Cloud is a property covered by Issy and her team.  We talked about the access difficulties (uphill slog with tools to worksites) that we know deter members from going and wondered if anyone in MNTV has a 4x4 to drive tools up Gosberryhole Lane to the boundary with the open land.  The Congleton Harriers no longer do workdays there with Tim.

 

All in all, Issy’s first year at Alderley has been busy and next year is likely to be busier still with the requirement to do more for less.  We have several Alderley workdays in the programme and look forward to helping her out.

Daniel Black
MNTV Chairman

37th AGM on Thursday 2nd May 2024

We held our AGM tonight by zoom.

Nine members attended: Adrian, Ally, Andy S, Daniel, Denise, Gaynor, Jenny, Karin, Sue B.

Apologies were received from Anne Yates, Christine and Andy Hill, Jean, Neil and Tricia.

The meeting started at 7:30pm and ended at 8:50 and covered the following matters:

Apologies for absence

Approval of minutes of 2023 AGM

Matters arising from those minutes (none)

Chairman's report for the year ending 31st March 2024

Treasurer's report for the year ending 31st March 2024

Election of committee for 2024-25 (Adrian, Ally, Chris, Daniel, Denise and Jenny)

AOB

After the AGM, Chris Hunter (Formby Ranger) gave us a very interesting and informative talk about the projects that the Formby team are currently focused on.  The two big projects are centred on Victoria Road and Lifeboat Road.  The carpark on Victoria Road is now in a moving dune system, the result of years' of dune erosion in some places and accretion in others, and the plan is to move the carpark to another area.  The planning application for the new carpark was rejected but was appealed by the NT and is being reassessed.  The outcome should be known soon and if successful work is scheduled to begin in September.  The Lifeboat Road project would see the creation of a visitor centre.

Chris was heavily involved with volunteers last year.  Three new volunteer groups were established and and their efforts were focused on footpath and woodland work.  There is plenty for MNTV to help with, especially footpath work and the barrowing of stones to site and breaking stones on site.

Thanks for Chris for giving up his evening to talk to us.  We all enjoy working at Formby because the rangers make us very welcome, give us varied tasks to do and are very appreciative of our efforts ... plus it's a beautiful site.  The prospect of pizza from their newly built pizza oven (see workday on 28th April) is an added inducement!

36th AGM on Thursday 4th May 2023

We held our AGM tonight by zoom.

Attendees: Adrian, Ally, Andy S, Chris, Daniel, Denise, Hazel, Jean, Jenny, Neil, Phil, Sue B, Tricia and Victor.

The meeting began at 7:30pm and ended at 9 and covered the following business:

    Apologies for absence

    Minutes of the 2022 AGM (by zoom) and matters arising

    Chairman's report for the year ended 31st March 2023

    Treasurer's report for the year ended 31st March 2023

    Election of the committee for 2023/24 (Adrian, Ally, Chris, Daniel, Denise and Jenny)

    AOB

Daniel had not been able to book a speaker for after the meeting.  For one reason or another all the rangers at Styal, Dunham, Lyme Park and Formby were unavailable.  In place of the talk he read out to the group the emails that Natalie Pownall (Ranger, Dunham) and Chris Hunter (Ranger, Formby) had emailed him in which they summarised work undertaken in the past year and to come in 2023 that MNTV and others will help with.

35th AGM on Thursday 5th May 2022

13 members of MNTV (Adrian, Ally, Charlie, Chris, Daniel, Denise, Hazel, Jean, Jenny, Neil, Sue B, Sue D and Tricia) attended this year's AGM.  It was conducted over Zoom - a first for MNTV.  The meeting began at 8pm and ended at 9:10pm and covered the usual business:

- Apologies for absence

- Minutes of the 2021 eAGM and matters arising

- Chairman's Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

- Treasurer's Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

- Election of the 2022/23 Committee (Adrian, Ally, Daniel, Denise, Sue and Tricia)

- AOB

AOB was mainly a discussion about whether the group wanted any weekends away in 2023 given numbers for weekend trips have been low in recent years and the cost might well increase because the NT  is charging for more and more basecamps.

After the AGM, Claire Disley (Area Ranger & Volunteer Manager, Lyme Park) gave us a very informative talk about the ranger team at Lyme, the work (often seasonal) they do and the big projects that are in the pipeline:

- There is a new General Manager at Lyme (Kellie Scott)

- The Ranger team is settling after the upheaval of covid and the NT Reset programme and comprises Chris, Claire, Alex, Flo and Izzy plus two evening rangers

- The regular seasonal jobs the ranger team undertake include deer feeding, woodland management, rhodybashing, moth/butterfly/bat surveys, drystone walling, fencing and constructing "leaky" dams

- This year Lyme are introducing "spring changes" that include the requirement that dogs are kept on leads on 80% of the land.  Loose dogs can kill lambs and ground nesting birds.  So far this year no lambs have been lost to dog attacks

- Certain rangers run certain projects, e.g. Alex Bond (ex-MNTV) is overseeing the felling of parts of a pine plantation and replanting with mixed broad-leaved species

- Big projects in the pipeline are car park overhaul/relocation and flooding mitigation

Clearly there's a lot of work for MNTV to help with and Claire is happy for us to ask to do particular jobs.  We are next at Lyme on 5 May then 4 September.

Daniel Black

MNTV Chairman

33rd AGM on Thursday 25th April 2019

We held our AGM tonight in the Council Room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.  11 members attended plus Iain Thistlethwaite (Ranger, High Peak Estate).

Daniel delivered his Chairman's Report for the year ended 31 March and the Treasurer's Report for the same period.

Room set up

17 members achieved 50-hour Volunteer Cards in the year.  Seven were collected at the AGM and Daniel will post out the rest.

Volunteer Cards & car stickers ready for collection

Adrian, Ally, Daniel, Denise, Sue and Tricia were elected to the Committee for 2019-20.

After the AGM and refreshments, Iain gave us an excellent talk about the 'MoorLIFE 2020' project.  He described the work that the Trust and partners are doing on Kinder Scout and across the South Pennines to:

• stabilise and revegetate bare peat
• install mini dams in drainage channels to rewet the blanket bog
• plant sphagnum moss, a major component of blanket bog

MNTV has had workdays on the Kinder plateau planting cotton grass and will be able to help with this project in future.  Fingers crossed that the work is not destroyed by wildfires such as the recent ones on Marsden and Ilkley Moors.

Daniel Black
MNTV Chairman

32nd AGM on Thursday 26th April 2018

This evening we held our AGM in the meeting room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.  15 of 41 members attended plus Chris Dunkerley (Lead Ranger at Lyme Park).

The AGM lasted 45 mins and covered:

-          Apologies for absence

-          Approval of the minutes of last year’s AGM

-          Chairman’s Report for the year ended 31 March 2018

-          Treasurer’s Report and approval of accounts for year ended 31 March 2018

-          Election of committee for 2018/19

-          AOB

13 of the 24 members who earned Volunteer cards for the year (awarded for volunteering for 50 hours or more) were present and collected their cards.

Four Long Service Awards were earned in the year:

15 years – Daniel Black

10 years – Mick Sykes

10 years – Pip Fisher

5 years – Lyn Land

… and Chris Dunkerley presented Daniel with his 15 Years’ Service award:

After drinks and refreshments, Chris Dunkerley gave us an excellent slideshow about recent/current ‘land improvement’ projects undertaken at Lyme Park and work he has earmarked for MNTV to help with in future.  ‘Land improvement’ is currently an NT focus area, exemplified at Lyme by the recent restoration of two ponds (silted up after a century’s neglect) and clearance of 2 hectares of dense rhody in Coalpit Clough by contractors using a remote-controlled mulcher and excavator with grabber.  The area of cleared rhody will need spraying annually for 3 years+ to keep on top of regen.  Later this year, the area will be enclosed with deer fencing to allow native trees to grow.  MNTV can help with this fencing and constructing tree guards around existing trees.

Chris said we could ask him for particular jobs to do (to give our workdays added interest and for us to learn new skills) rather than him deciding.  If we wish to rhodybash every time then that’s fine but (in summer say) we could help with surveys of bats, butterflies, fungi and wildflowers (all markers of good biodiversity that vouch the improvement in land quality) or do drystone walling (with supervision from Lyme’s walling team).

31st AGM on Thursday 27th April 2017

We held our AGM tonight in the meeting room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.  14 members attended plus Jen Birch (Volunteer & Community Involvement Manager, Quarry Bank) and Styal Estate ranger Vicky.

The AGM matters were completed in 45 minutes:

- Apologies for absence (Ally Hardy, Anne Yates, Charlie Spiller, Denise Clark)
- Approval of the minutes of the 2016 AGM
- Chairman's Report (Daniel Black)
- Treasurer's Report (Daniel Black)
- Election of committee for 2017-18 (Adrian Potts, Ally Hardy, Daniel Black, Denise Clark, Matt Smethurst, Sue Bonner, Tim O'Donnell and Tricia Taylor)
- AOB

Long Service Awards
Five members earned long service awards in 2016-17:

Hazel Pryor (30 years)
Adrian Potts (25 years)
Gordon Irons (15 years)
Denise Clark (10 years)
Neil Bonner (5 years)

Certificates/gifts will be presented to Hazel, Adrian and Gordon when received from NT HQ.

After the meeting the Chairman presented Neil with his 5-year pin:

50-hour cards
At the end of the evening Matt handed out 50-hour cards to some of the 18 members who had earned them in 2016-17.  Seven of us had worked more than 100 hours!

Adrian Potts (215 hours)
Andy Hill (131 hours)
Christine Hill (159 hours)
Matt Smethurst (114 hours)
Neil Bonner (143 hours)
Sue Bonner (122 hours)
Tim O'Donnell (152 hours)

After a break for tea, coffee and cake/biscuits we had two presentations:

Jen Birch spoke about the major developments in progress at Quarry Bank to turn it into a holistic cohesive whole.  The focus of QB will shift from just the mill and Apprentice House to in addition Hannah Greg's house, Styal village, the Upper Garden and woods.  Jen illustrated her talk with PowerPoint slides shown using a laptop/projector/screen combo.  That worked fantastically!
Vicky then spoke about all the work the rangers plus volunteer groups have done around the estate in the past year including work at Bank House Farm.

The evening ended with a showing of Matt's superb 'Manchester National Trust Volunteers, 1986-2016' slideshow that first aired at our 30th birthday party last June.  Bravo!

30th AGM on Tuesday 26th April 2016

We held our AGM this evening in the meeting room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.  14 members attended plus Ashley Deane (Styal Academy Ranger).

The AGM matters were completed in an hour:

- Apologies for absence (Neil Bonner, Karin Frood, Ally Hardy, Anne Yates)

- Approval of the minutes of the 2015 AGM

- Chairman’s Report (Daniel Black)

- Treasurer’s Report (Daniel Black pp Denise Clark)

- Election of committee for 2016-17

- AOB

The existing eight committee members were all re-elected to the committee for the coming year: Adrian Potts, Ally Hardy, Daniel Black, Denise Clark, Matt Smethurst, Sue Bonner, Tim O’Donnell and Tricia Taylor.

After a break for tea/coffee/homebaked cookies/buttered teacakes Ashley gave us an excellent presentation about ‘Future plans for Styal’ and covered the following topics:

- £9.4m Heritage Lottery Fund

- Northern Woods development

- Site expansion (car park extension, development of upper garden & village, lift installation in mill)

- Woodland Management Plan

- Bank House Farm

- Continued estate management

The Trust’s aim is to increase the annual number of visitors from 180,000 to 300,000 by shifting the attraction of the property from just the mill to also the village, upper garden and woods.  The first piece of work to begin is extension of the car park which will commence in 2017.  Clearly there will be a lot of work in years to come that the Styal rangers need help with and lots to keep us busy!

29th AGM on Monday 27th April 2015

We held our AGM last night in the meeting room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.  13 members attended plus Styal ranger Simon Hiley.

The formal business was completed in an hour:

Approval of the minutes of the 2014 AGM
Chairman’s Report for 2014/15
Treasurer’s Report for 2014/15
Election of committee for 2015/16 (Adrian, Ally, Daniel, Denise, Matt, Sue, Tim)
AOB

Denise Clark, Kate Bass and Sarah Bujac received their 5-year badges from Simon (long overdue - they have each done 7 or 8 years!)

After refreshments of tea/coffee and homebaked chocolate cake and banana & choc chip muffins we had an excellent and fascinating talk by Alex Dawson (a founding father) about MNTV's foundation and early years.

Alex had travelled all the way from Kirkby Lonsdale in the Lake District to be with us.  He told us the group had its inaugural meeting on 21 April 1986 in Altrincham library.  35 people joined that night! (and we have 35 members now!)  There are many similarities between the group’s activities then and now, notably the worktasks, some worksites, the enjoyment we get from our work and of course all the fun!  Workdays then (9am to 4pm) were a little longer than today, there were fewer of them (two every three weeks) but to a lot more worksites (including ones we don't visit today like Erddig and the Long Mynd), there were more weekends away (six a year) and MNTV organised an annual multi-group Megabash (with on one occasion 500-600 volunteers!!)  In the early years the newsletters were written on a typewriter.  Alex brought along copies of issues 1-18 for the group to keep.  Daniel will digitise some and email them to members.  At the end of the evening Alex took home an MNTV mug as a memento of his visit!

28th AGM on Tuesday 6th May 2014

We held our AGM tonight in the meeting room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.  Ten members attended plus Shane Bates (High Peak ranger).

The AGM covered the usual matters:
Apologies for absence
Approval of minutes of 2013 AGM
Chairman's Report (Daniel Black)
Treasurer's Report (Denise Clark)
Election of committee for 2014/15 (Adrian, Ally, Daniel, Denise, Matt, Sue)
AOB

Daniel covered the following topics in his Chairman's Report: membership, publicity, work hours, work days, work tasks and socials, and finished by thanking all the people who have made the year another successful one for the group.

Ten members earned long service awards during the year:
20 years  Anne Yates
15 years  Sue Bonner
10 years  Daniel Black, Tim O'Donnell
5 years    Matt Smethurst, Mick Sykes, Pip Fisher, Philippa Greaves, Karin Frood

Matt, Tim, Daniel and Sue were present at the meeting to receive their awards in person from Shane.

After refreshments Shane gave us an interesting talk about the work the NT has been doing on Kinder Scout over the last five years to stabilise the peat bogs on the plateau.  Plants are now growing there that have not been recorded for 200 years!

27th AGM on Tuesday 30th April 2013

We held this year’s AGM at Norcliffe Chapel in Styal.  13 of our 27 members attended plus Rangers Simon Hiley (Styal) and Shane Bates (High Peak).

The meeting ran from 19:35 to 20:10 and covered:

- Apologies for absence

- Review and approval of the minutes of the 2012 AGM

- Chairman’s Report (Daniel Black)

- Treasurer’s Report (Denise Clark)

- Committee 2013/14

- AOB

The Chairman reviewed membership numbers and enquiries, work hours for 2012/13, workdays/worktasks, socials and thanked the many people (Committee, members, Rangers) for their in help in making the past year a successful one.  Members were told about the group's Twitter account (@Manchester_NTV), the new PO box address (no longer Sale but c/o NT at 61 Oxford Street, Manchester) and the mntv.worksiteleaders@gmail.com email address.

Nine people were elected to the Committee for 2013/14: Daniel Black, Sue Bonner, Denise Clark, Philippa Greaves, Ally Hardy, Gordon Irons, Tim O'Donnell, Adrian Potts and Matt Smethurst.

After an interval for tea, coffee, cake and biscuits we had a very interesting talk from Simon about the development plans for the Styal Estate and Quarry Bank Mill.  The project, titled "Revolution & Revelation", will cost £6m (£3m from a hopefully third-time-lucky Heritage Lottery Fund bid and £3m raised locally).  The whole idea is to change the flow of visitors through the property so that areas seldom visited (eg Styal Village, Northern Woods, Upper Garden) get a lot more visits and people don't just visit the mill.  The aim is to increase visitor numbers to 300,000 per year!  As the project develops there will be a lot of work that MNTV can get involved with such as fencing and landscaping.

26th AGM on Tuesday 1st May 2012

a few words from our Chair...
We held our AGM last night in the meeting room at Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.

Sixteen members attended plus Simon Hiley (Styal Estate Manager). Daniel reported on the 2011/12 year (membership, work hours/days/tasks, socials) and thanked the committee, members and wardens for all their work in making the year a success.

Denise presented the accounts for the year to 31 March 2012 and we elected the 2012/13 committee (Daniel, Sue, Denise, Ian, Philippa, Alison, Gordon, Adrian, Charlie).

AOB topics included whether to distribute future newsletters by email, our appetite for weekend trips given the Trust are now charging for accommodation, and a possible Diamond Jubilee BBQ on 5 June.

After an interval for homemade refreshments Simon gave us a very interesting and entertaining talk. He described the roles of Rangers (formerly Wardens) in the Trust, the development plans for the Styal estate and initiatives to engage with innercity Manchester schoolchildren (Youth Rangers). Hopefully Styal will succeed with their application for Heritage Lottery Fund funding as a first step in realising their ambitions.

24th AGM on Monday 26th April 2010

We held our annual agm,

Dealt with the election of committee members, accounts etc

Ate a selection of quiches, scones, cakes and biscuits baked & supplied by our voluteers

and received a short talk on interacting with visitors and enhacing their experience of National Trust properties.