Present: Steven Mclaughlin- Chair, Suzie McCheyne- Development Officer, Diane Whateley- Secretary, Nigel Wunsch- Cambuslang Rotary, John Wilson- Scotrail, Rose Hewitt- teacher@ Newton, John Hewitt- Volunteer, Kirsty Gray- North Lanarkshire Council, Rob Mullholland artist
Apologies: Wendy Russell- Treasurer, Victoria Eccles- South Lanarkshire Council, Alison Plummer- St Mary’s for All, Eugenie Aroutcheff and Lynn Semple- Grow 73, Rosalie Dunn- Friends of Douglas Park
Action Point Updates
AP1: SMcC- to ascertain current Healthy& Happy rep at next Greening Camglen meeting.
AP2: SmcC- waiting to hear from Blantyre Soccer Academy recycle lockers at Blantyre
AP3: SMcL/SMcC to obtain a current Treasurer’s update from WR and thence forward, if WR cannot attend, an update.
AP4: SMcC to write a note of the projects delivered & distribute
AP5: DGW contacted Caroline @ Tesco to see if the community room is available for Rail 74 meetings- undergoing changes and will update in New Year.
Proceedings
- SmcC met with St Charles’ primary school re the local tailoring of the Rail Ambassador programme, which will then be rolled out to other schools along the line. This will enable more contact between the primary schools prior to secondary school. The school is also adopting the station at Newton & are going to also start wild flower planting in other areas, in consultation with Scotrail. AP6: JW to determine available land at Newton and feedback to SMcC.
- SMcC met with David Melville (teacher) from Trinity High School. The Eco committee wish to get involved with some kind of joint project with Rail 74, possibly with Cambuslang Rotary.
- SMcC told the group about the Beckford Lodge soup project, how the group grew the vegetables, got a recipe and handed out soup bags which were handed out to commuters at Hamilton West at tea time. AP7: SMcC to write a paragraph for JW
- Rob Mulholland- Artist. Rob handed out brochures about his body of work and talked through various projects he’d been involved in. The main emphasis throughout all of his work is engagement with the community within which the artwork is to be situated. This ensures a feeling of local ownership. The group explained their concerns around mental health, suicides on the train line and also trespassing on the line. An interactive sculpture of some sort at Hamilton Central was envisaged and RM agreed he would come back with 3 proposals with rough costings.
- West Coast Partnership- First Group are taking over the West Coast franchise in early December and are keen to get involved with local community groups and donate funds for projects. DGW and SMcC attended a launch event to hear about the franchise’s plans. First Group’s community engagement team were to contact DGW/SMcC to discuss how they could support Rail 74. NW pointed out that the local stations impacted by the high-speed line included Lockerbie and also Motherwell and after some discussion, the idea of extending Rail 74 to include Motherwell was mooted. KG was keen to get involved.
Future Meetings
January 21st 2020- Rutherglen- SMcC to find venue
February 21st 2020- Cambuslang- NW to find venue
March 24th March- Newton pub- SMcC to confirm
April 21st AGM- St Mary’s for All- SMcC to confirm