Meeting Minutes September AGM 2026
Green Wedmore
Meeting Minutes – Wednesday 9th September 2026
Venue: Function Room, The George Hotel, Wedmore
Present: Lisa, Steve, Gail, Vanessa, Simon, Tina, Anthony, Mike (Sunlit), Russell and Kate
Apologies: Emily, Liz, Geoff, Ben, Mike, Sue and Will
AGM
The last year was as busy as ever;
- Green Wedmore was awarded the Kings Award for Volunteer Service which was a huge honour
- 2 Freecycle events, 2 Repair Cafes, 2 Big Tidy Up’s
- Water Butt project with Wedmore in Bloom
- Solar 1000 scheme continues apace with Sunlit Solar – Summary Report Below
- Solar St Mary’s scheme is progressing
- Swift boxes have been constructed ready for instal
- Maintenance on Terrys Wood and Orchard
- Vanessa’s SERP eel project continues to go from strength to strength
GW Officers
Huge thanks to Liz for all her amazing work and support as Secretary for many years. She is stepping back from this role for a well deserved break.
Gail is continuing as Treasurer, many thanks Gail. Steve and Vanessa would like to step back but there were no offers for their roles. They offered to stay in post for one final year. Tina has kindly offered to help with minute taking.
1. Matters Arising / Project Updates
New volunteers — Willow and Kaye will be contacted about their ideas for Green Wedmore projects.
Parish Council Nature and Environmental committee — Steve attended the last meeting. Progress being made regarding a management plan for Worthington Woods, a new hedgerow in the Cemetery, assessing the retrofit potential of the parish rooms and an Act to Adapt adaptation plan for Wedmore.
October meeting guest speaker — Helen Gavin has agreed to give a presentation at the October meeting on the Cheddar Reservoir 2 plan.
Swift boxes — The swift boxes have been made and will be put up ready for next year’s birds. Photos to follow. Thanks to Geoff for organising.
2. Finance
Figures reported as follows:
Overview of financial year
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
Opening Balance | £4,620.82 | £7,186.64 | £9,099.04 | £4,107.22 |
Closing Balance | £7,186.64 | £9,099.04 | £4,107.22 | £3,787.12 |
Income | £4,209.31 | £14,923.70 | £2,916.90 | £2,816.05 |
Expenditure | £1,643.49 | £12,938.10 | £7,908.72 | £3,136.15 |
Income/Expenditure | £2,565.82 | £1,912.40 | £4,991.82 | £320.10 |
Summary report for 2025
2025 Summary | Income | Expenditure | Balance |
Bank Charges |
| £13.20 | £13.20 |
Professional fees |
| £1,275.99 | £1,275.99 |
Woodland/maintenance |
| £948.00 | £948.00 |
Fund Raising | £615.92 | £100 | £515.92 |
Donations | £2,000.13 |
|
|
Total | £2,816.05 | £3136.15 | £320.10 |
Opening Balance |
|
| £4,107.22 |
Closing Balance |
|
| £3,787.12 |
Net Income |
|
| £320.10 |
Current Balance as of 9 September 2026
| 29 Aug 2023 | 24 Sept 2024 | 11 Sept 25 | 9 Sept 26 |
Unallocated | £4,321.50 | £4,185.53 | £2,887.39 | £1,974.29 |
Allocated * | £11,572.86 | £360.00 | £117.40 | £1,075.40 |
Total | £15,894.00 | £4,545.53 | £3,004.79 | £3,049.69 |
Allocations
Butterfly Corridor £75.40
St Mary’s Solar £1,000.00
Unallocated £1,974.29
Total £3,049.69
Category Break down
| Income | Expenditure | Balance |
|
|
|
|
Bank |
|
| £13.20 |
Bank Charges |
| £13.20 |
|
|
|
|
|
Professional Fees |
|
| £1,275.99 |
Insurance |
| £606.86 |
|
Promotion |
| £192.10 |
|
Website |
| £1,275.99 |
|
|
|
|
|
Woodland/Maintenance |
|
| £948.00 |
Hedge laying stakes |
| £150.00 |
|
Terry’s community woods |
| £528.00 |
|
Worthington Woods |
| £270.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
Fundraising |
|
| £515.92 |
April Repair Cafe | £343.05 | £50.00 | £293.05 |
September Repair Cafe | £272.87 | £50.00 | £222.87 |
|
|
|
|
Donations |
|
| £2,000.13 |
Sunlit Solar | £550.00 |
|
|
Somerset Stove Company | £160.00 |
|
|
WRAF (water butts) | £750.00 |
|
|
Aluminium cans | £86.70 |
|
|
Membership | £393.43 |
|
|
Warm in Wedmore | £100.00 |
|
|
Cook Books | £27.00 |
|
|
Private Donation | £120.00 |
|
|
Wedmore by lamplight | £13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total | £2,816.05 | £3136.15 | £320.10 |
Opening Balance |
|
| £4,107.22 |
Closing Balance |
|
| £3,787.12 |
Net Income |
|
| £320.10 |
Website
3 year domain host £518.40, Art work for website £700, Web hosting £57.59
3. Church Solar Project
Work continues to develop this project. More detailed updates should be available for October’s meeting.
4. Freecycle
The last Freecycle event took place on Sunday 13th September at Wedmore Car Park. A spring date will be picked in future meetings.
5. Repair Café
Mike Rippon will pick a date for the new year. Sunlit Solar have kindly offered to sponsor the event by covering the hall fees. They will display a banner and have solar information available for visitors.
6. Big Tidy Up
Venetia is holding the next Big Tidy Up for Sunday 1st November at 10am in the Borough House yard.
7. Any Other Business
‘Grow Wedmore’ (name tbc) (VB-H) — Still looking to find someone to run a Raised-Bed project within the village of Wedmore, would suit a local person with good growing experience and skills in horticulture, including composting and water collecting experience too. The projects aims would be to help people construct and prepare a raised bed for growing food and flowers in their own gardens. Also helping supply seedlings or plants to grow – in a ready to go bundle/kit. Tina is approaching a local contact and will report back at the next meeting.
Act to Adapt report for Wedmore (Steve) — Steve outlined the Act to Adapt process https://www.somersetwildlife.org/act-to-adapt , which can run over 6–9 months and operates in three stages: an initial workshop covering “our situation” and possible solutions, with community-led brainstorming of ideas; drafting of a plan, followed by engagement with the community at events and via an online survey to gather views and data; Creation and launch of the final scheme. The resulting climate adaptation plan would be community-owned. Steve approached the Parish Council’s environmental group to ask if they would like to be part of the process and adopt the final report and they were supportive. N.b this would not commit the parish council to any action, it simply provides a community based programme of potential actions that can help Wedmore be better adapted to the weather we are already receiving and future climate change.
Action Points
Action | Who |
Contact Willow and Kaye about their ideas for Green Wedmore | Vanessa |
Put up swift boxes ready for next year’s birds; photos to follow | Geoff |
Start planning Act to Adapt process | Steve |
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Date of next meeting: Wednesday October 14th when we will hear from Helen Gavin ref the Cheddar 2 Reservoir
Sunlit Solar Annual Update 2026 for Green Wedmore
Firstly, our apologies for not attending more Green Wedmore meetings this year. Wednesday evenings continue to clash with other commitments for us, making regular attendance difficult.
Although we haven't been present as often as we would like, we remain fully committed to supporting Green Wedmore. We are always happy to assist with projects, events and initiatives, whether through sponsorship, technical advice, prizes, publicity or other practical support. If there are opportunities where Sunlit Solar can support a community initiative in return for some promotion or banner space, we would be very happy to discuss them.
Solar Challenge 1000
The Solar Challenge 1000 has now been running for over five years, having started in May 2021. We remain proud to support the initiative through discounted installations and donations to Green Wedmore for every installation completed through the scheme.
As at the end of August 2026, the project figures were:
285 enquiries received
121 installations completed
• 821.71 kW of solar capacity installed
• 851.89 kW either installed or committed for installation
4 installations currently in progress
To put this into context, the 821.71 kW of solar installed through Solar Challenge 1000 is now approaching the output of the 1 MW Wedmore Community Power Co-operative solar farm. The parish has effectively added the equivalent of another solar farm's worth of renewable generation but spread across 121 individual homes rather than concentrated on a single site.
Since last year’s AGM Sunlit Solar has completed 20 installations that have generated £1,000 in donations to Green Wedmore through our £50-per-install contribution.
Solar Adoption in BS28
Earlier this year, data obtained from MCS indicated that there are approximately 375 solar PV installations within the BS28 postcode area, with at least 1.768 MW of installed capacity recorded. These figures highlight the continuing growth of solar energy locally and demonstrate the significant contribution that residents are making towards reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy resilience.
St Mary's Church
We have continued to support the proposed St Mary's Church solar project through technical advice, consultation work and assistance with planning documentation.
Progress has been slower than everyone would have liked due to the complexities of installing solar on a historic listed building, particularly around potential installation options for the church roof. However, it is encouraging to see renewed momentum in the project, led by David Eccles, and we remain committed to lending our support wherever we can.
Wider Community Energy Work
In addition to our work with Green Wedmore and St Mary's, Mike has also been working with the Wedmore Power Co-operative, sharing his technical expertise with Dave Whitmarsh, Chris Jonas and the wider team as they explore opportunities for the future.
Looking Ahead
We are looking forward to continuing our support for community energy and sustainability initiatives across the parish.
We also look forward to continuing our support for local clubs, organisations and community groups through sponsorship, donations and by sharing our technical expertise wherever it may be helpful.
We would like to thank everyone involved with Green Wedmore for their continued commitment and enthusiasm. We remain proud to be part of the Solar Challenge 1000 journey and look forward to continuing our support through installations, donations, sponsorship and technical expertise as the project continues towards its goal of 1,000 solar roofs by 2030.
Emily Mulliner
Operations Director
Rogers Restorations Ltd. T/A Sunlit Solar 9/9/26