Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Williamson, Julia Devonshire, Kaavous Clayton and Paul Davis.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2018 were confirmed.

(i) Gorleston Manuscript

It was reported that the Chair would be meeting with Howard Marshall who has current possession of the Manuscript and he would be meeting him at Gorleston Library to discuss if he would agree to this being on display at the library in a display case.  It was suggested that the Friends of Gorleston Library could fund raise for a cabinet to display this in.  

It was reported that the Gorleston Salter is held at Great Yarmouth Library and that this could be held at Gorleston in the future.

The Chairman summarised the main points from the last Culture Board meeting.  Julia Devonshire was looking into the possibilities of setting up a creative work place. It was reported that Kate Watts had held a meeting several months ago to discuss the vision for Cultural Heritage in the Borough and how to get there.  It was agreed that it should involve tourism and be inclusive of businesses and everyone living in the Borough.  It needed to encompass the whole year, the night time economy needed to be enhanced and branding was important.  The report would be published by 19 March and it was intended that there would be discussion on the interim report before then.

It was reported that Great Yarmouth needs a brand which would include heritage and that this needed to involve all residents and businesses .  It was agreed that the night time offer needed to be enhanced.  Council officers recently visited Hastings and Margate who both have good branding and place a big emphasis on their heritage.

Marion Catlin had experience in helping to brand Norwich and would be willing to speak to Kate Watts on this subject and it was agreed that the Chairman would being this to the attention of Kate Watts.

The Council's conservation officer reported that the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust was working on the rows and has installed 90 plaques, dealt with pest control and were now looking at building a property in the area backing onto the King Street Car Park which would be built by people learning skills who would then live in the properties.

It was reported that the Vauxhall Bridge has graffiti on it which needs to be cleaned off. The Chairman stated that he would speak to Councillor Smith who is the Chairman at the Council's Environment Committee when the members of the Civic Society meet him on 20 November 2018 at 6pm along with the issue of rubbish. It was suggested that a volunteer day could be held to clean the bridge.  The Chairman asked that the Council's conservation officer obtain the paint code for the bridge.

Marion spoke of her Art in Norwich and Music in Norwich guides which she distributes approximately 10,000 copies of and produces two editions a year.  Businesses and Organisations pay between £90 and £150 to be in the booklets and it was suggested that Great Yarmouth could have one booklet that includes Culture, Art, Music and Heritage and it was agreed that the Chairman would carry out some market testing for this to see if any other groups would be in support of it.

The Chairman said that there had been three previous conferences in November run by the Partnership.  At the last meeting it had been suggested that next year's should be on the activities of "Great Places".  If there were no other suggestions he would take this up with Great Places.

The Chairman spoke of the Young at Arts event in conjunction with MAP for 11-19 year olds on Wednesday 24 October 2018 from 11am till 10pm.

This item was deferred in Kaavous's absence.

It was reported that Aileen Mobbs had stepped down from the Maritime Festival Committee and they were now looking for more people to organise this event.

The Out there festival this year had been very successful and was going from strength to strength each year.

The Chairman reported that he was carrying out an arts audit with the Council's conservation officer.

The planting in conjunction with in-bloom outside St Georges has resulted in one of the planters being stolen and one being damaged and cracked.

It was hoped that trees would be re-installed on the Quayside and that discussion was being had with GYBS and relevant horticultural experts about the most appropriate trees to be installed in this area.

Litter picking is still taking place each fortnight. 

The society is still keen to light up the bridges and trees along with the town wall.

The Council's Conservation officer reported that the council gives £30,000 each year to Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust for the maintenance of the Town Wall in addition they have now been given £97,000 funding and also have received £50,000 from Coastal Environment Funding.

It was reported that the Creative People and Places scheme gives funding to places that have less than 33% of residents involved in Creative Arts and Culture and is giving £1m-£2m over 4 years. Groups are working together to make an application.

Circulate is a meeting for anyone interested in Arts and Culture.

Many of the recent events had been mentioned earlier but there had been Wheels, Harmonics and Seachange Arts puts on many other community activities.  There would be a Winter Festival in the Market Place in the weekends leading up to Christmas.

It was agreed that the next meeting would be held on Tuesday 26 February 2019 at 10.00am.

Paul Patterson spoke of the Great Yarmouth Town Centre Master Plan and his suggested ideas with wonderful illustrations he showed how it would be possible to open up the Market Place to the Town Wall on the East Side of the Market Place.  This would involve removing some of the buildings there.  There could be a park and a place for re-enacting which would remove the need to displace the 6 day market northwards. He suggested building a row of medieval style buildings which could be shops, tourist centre etc.  In addition he spoke of the advantages of rebuilding Market Gate and New Gate.  These changes could be major attractions to being people back into the town and help the growth of shops and businesses in the town centre.  There was general enthusiasm for his plans and the Chairman agreed to arrange another meeting with Sheila Oxtoby and Kate Watts.

Miriam Kikis on behalf of the Vauxhall Links group handed a cheque of £1793.85 to Darren Barker for the full refurbishment of Vauxhall Bridge.