Milton Abbas Trust for Community and Heritage

M.A.T.C.H

The Objectives of MATCH (extracted from the MATCH Constitution) are:

1) To promote the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Milton Abbas by associating together the said inhabitants and other organisations in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants;

2) Establish or secure the establishment of a community centre and to manage and maintain the same in furtherance of the objects;

3) To promote such other charitable purposes as may from time to time be determined; and

4) To establish and maintain, for the benefit of the public, places of scientific interest or natural beauty and otherwise promote the natural sciences.

Social Programme Calendar 2010/2011.

15th May : Moveable Feast; Always firm favourite, but more people could have been accommodated.

20th June : Village Fun Day ; MATCH gave active support to this event and ran a plant stall.

10th July : 'Help for Heroes' Dinner. Acclaimed as an outstanding success. Raised over £1000 for H4H. Very demanding on catering team.

16th October : Wine Tasting & Quiz. An instructive evening, being introduced to quality wines by a knowledgeable wine merchant.

27th November : Milton Abbas Memories ; By popular request, the third such evening. An aim is to create a written record of these voiced 'memories' to form 'The Milton Abbas Chronicles'.

14th January 2011 : Welcome to the Village Newcomers' Evening Sponsored by the Parish Council, the Community Fund and MATCH. A very successful new initiative. Agreed to repeat every two years.

22nd January : Burns' Night Dinner : The third such annual event, but voted the best yet.

During the past year, 2010/2011, the MATCH Trustees have been able, with active participation and support from the village, to pursue these Objectives via a comprehensive programme of activities. In addition to organizing individual 'Social' type events, a key aim has been to establish and maintain sub-groups, each of which will promote a topic of specific relevance to the village, affording both immediate and longer term benefit.

Permanent Sub-Groups.

Woodland Group (Jane's Wood) : Mostyn Phelps

Activities in Jane's Wood have gone very well this year, in no small part due to the strength of the Team; nine in all, with up to six volunteers turning up for each meeting. Unfortunately, the tensions with the local landowner, relating to our use of the access, remain unresolved. The the matter of vandalism of the access is adding another unwanted dimension.

Computer Café : Jennifer Harrisson

MACC has been running now since 2009. With the assistance of the Dorset Partnership for older persons project (POPP) we have been able to obtain more laptops for the café after receiving funding of £1,374. We have an attendance of between 10 – 16 people with an average number of 13 individuals so all the laptops are well used. The hardy walkers of Milton Abbas often stop by for a coffee and a piece of delicious home-made cake at the café. Local inhabitants can be found e-mailing family and friends abroad and nearer afield, getting recipes and buying items on line as well as surfing the net in the safety of the reading room with willing helpers available to help with the occasional mishap that might occur. This coming year we intend to take charge of the village web site and advertise local companies and all the events of the village and provide information such as the minutes of the parish council and have a link to the Milton Abbas Fair website.

Matchpatch – Community Garden Plots and Diamond Jubilee Orchard: Denis Lynch, Chairman of Matchpatch

Matchpatch was founded in 2011 to plan, set-up, fund and manage the Community Garden Plots at Catherines Well on land transferred from North Dorset Parish Council to Milton Abbas Parish Council at the end of December 2011.

This is an important long term community based project for all the Parishioners of Milton Abbas.

We are delighted to be able to report excellent progress on the project as follows:-

• Matchpatch have raised over £9000 from independent funding bodies to finance the project.

• All the preparation works have been completed involving clearing the field, ploughing, power harrowing, setting out the plots and access paths and turfing the paths.

• The boundaries have been secured with deer proof fencing and access gates, a metered water supply has been laid-on and a hard standing area for plotholders' vehicles has been provided.

Formal handover of the plots to the plotholders takes place on 01 April as originally planned. Of the 24 plots provided 22 are already occupied.

Additional funds are required to assist with the fit-out and towards this end Matchpatch now have a web page on www.localgiving.com/charity/matchpatch to set out the fit-out requirement and facilitate the acceptance of donations. Please visit our webpage, any donation will be very welcome.

In addition to the community Garden Plots, Matchpatch have also financed and completed the Diamond Jubilee Community Orchard just off the Millennium Green. This is a mixed orchard comprising 27 fruit trees with special emphasis on supporting 'Old Dorset Varieties'.

The orchard was officially dedicated by the Rev. Robin Hungerford on 19 February 2011, to mark our Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Again this is a very important asset for Milton Abbas and will benefit our community for several generations to come.

Community Lunch Club : Angela Roberts

The Lunch Club is still proving popular, with high quality meals being provided at low cost to the diners. This is only made possible by efforts of the dedicated team of caterers and having access to the refurbished Reading Room kitchen. For, primarily, reasons of the high cost of insurance, the Lunch Club Team requested that this activity come under the umbrella of MATCH.

Matchpatch Holders group

Other Activities.

Sponsorship of The Bulletin and What's On.

The Bulletin : During the past year, MATCH has sponsored two issues and submitted various articles for publication.

What's On : At the 2009/2010 AGM a resolution was passed agreeing that MATCH would sponsor three issues at the then current cost. However, a much more reasonably priced alternative printer was located and as a result MATCH was able sponsor six issues for the same financial commitment.

Oil Buying Group : Initiated by MATCH, a meeting took place on 25th March to explore the interest in the village of establishing an Oil Buying Group. This was well attend, with the outcome that a Group, co-ordinated by Louise Andrews has been established.

Parish Council Meetings, NDDC Surveys and DT11 Forum.

During the past year MATCH Trustees have, whenever possible, attended Parish Council meetings. We have also taken part in NDDC surveys/questionnaires (e.g. the New Plan for North Dorset) and joined the DT11 Forum.

MATCH Trustees 2010/2011.

Life President; Russell Randall,

Chairman; Brian Isherwood,

Treasurer; Edward Watts,

Joint Secretaries; Angela Roberts & Paula Kelsall,

Members; John Fifield, Emilie Griffin, Jennifer Harrisson, John Holden, Ian Maxwell,