I am pleased to present this, the first ever BADJER annual report. I will be covering almost two full years and much as happened, so this will be a longer than normal report, however it is all positive.

During October to December 1999 the initial BADJER members met to discuss the idea of the group, what its aims should be and how it would operate. Discussions took place on a formal constitution, the first BADJER NEWS was published and the Christmas tree lighting ceremony promoted.

The first three months of 2000 saw more meetings, and eventually, with the help of "V.O.S.E." an official constitution was drawn up in line with the charity commission’s preferred format. This was to enable BADJER to become a registered charity if so desired in the future, if the need arose.

BADJER officers were elected from the initial members and with the help of Georgina Streets a Community Development Officer of Ashfield District Council, requests for funding were completed.

April, May and June saw the setting up of a bank account and the arrival of the first funds, BADJER soon learnt the value of "Matched Funding" and used this to full advantage for our two villages.  I.T. equipment was purchased to enable the newsletters to be produced,  Jacksdale in Bloom was organised,  Daffodil Planting took place and of course we had the Flower Beds at the Community Centre restored,  thanks mainly to Steve and Paula of Jacksdale Garden Centre.

The idea of a "Planning for Real" was born,  Kirdale Engineering approached BADJER and kindly offered to supply new railing for the War Memorial free of charge, twenty hanging baskets for the lamp posts were purchased, filled and hung, ideas flew thick and fast in a flurry of enthusiasm, Thrift Shops, Cyber Cafes, Bowling Greens etc were all examined as ideas.

July to August saw a lot of hard work, Jacksdale in Bloom took place, and the village was tidied up by A.D.C. The litter problem was put under scrutiny and a list of complaints and suggestions sent to the Chief Executive Officer of the District Council. These included the defamatory racist message that had been on the Pye Hill Road bridge for years.

The last four months of 2000 saw the fruition of this hard work and planning, the village was transformed with hanging baskets and flowers, the Community Centre railings were painted by BADJER members and the local Army cadets,  ¼ tonne of Daffodil bulbs were planted by local residents thanks to Ken Tetley’s organisational skills. The War Memorial base was fully restored and thanks to the generosity of local firms, 1000 Christmas Lights were lit up in December.

In between all this activity, the notion of a local "Heritage Society was born, "Planning for Real" was considered in depth but appeared a daunting task to undertake. The year finished with another good Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and the 1^st Birthday of BADJER NEWS which now had an almost village wide distribution network and the first Pilot meeting of the Heritage Group.

I look back on the year 2000 as the year of the ‘Firsts’ as it all stared to happen then, the seeds planted in that year have blossomed and are still growing to fruition.

I now want to cover January to April 2001, BADJER’s busiest period so far.  BADJER and the local school were a hive of activity preparing for the Planning for Real event, which took place so very successfully in April. The report has now been produced and a copy is available in the local library and community centre for perusal. I.T. equipment was purchased, comments made in the P4R were taken up, BADJER meetings had a stream of visitors, due to now being well known from the P4R event. The Heritage Society formed as a sub group of BADJER and funding was sought. Preparations for Jacksdale in Bloom 2001 put in place and the Garden Centre volunteered to plant the lamp post hanging baskets for free and also re-stock the community centre flower bed, which I am sure we all agree are a credit to them and our village.

To save time I am now going to cover the rest of the year in one, May 2001  to today.

Another very busy period, especially of late i.e. planning for today, in addition we have seen the Heritage Society flourish to the extent that a " Jacksdale Dot Com" web-site is under construction and we hope will be available in October. This has attracted great interest and already national organizations involved in war graves etc are asking to be linked up. More on the Heritage Society later this evening

BADJER busy in consultation with Groundwork Trust to improve the area around the Community Centre and members attend Notts R.C.C. Virtual Village Seminar. Village Litter Pick takes place and stolen goods found and reunited with owner. MCM begins selling books to raise money for additional Christmas Tree lights and BADJER welcomes our new Vicar the Rev Tim Mitchell. I decide to enter Jacksdale and Westwood as one village in the ‘Best Kept Village’ competition, mainly as a means of coercing the local council to make an extra effort to clean up the area.

Thanks to the efforts of you the residents, the CO-OP who promised to pay for two new litter bins and the District Council who have responded by increasing the cleaning, fitting other new bins, seats, bus shelters etc, we actually got one of only two certificates of commendation and also went through as one of only four finalists.

I can today proudly announce that we are actually 2^nd in the competition, narrowly beaten only by Burton Joyce. WOW! If we can do that this year, watch out next year. I have asked for and received feedback on the good and not so good points, and already steps have been taken to address the less good points. A new bus shelter will be put up near Deano’s Bar, in February/March so it is ‘vandal free’ for the next competition, a Map of Footpaths has been requested from S.P.C. and I hope you and all the other residents will pull together to make Jacksdale and Westwood the 2002 winners, its within our grasp.

I will close by saying that we are still full of new ideas and have plenty of tasks ahead of us, a BADJER membership card with discounts at local shops, more bulb planting, attractive displays at the village entrances etc and very encouragingly, residents are now starting to come forward with their own ideas and with the willingness to carry out the work, so at the close of this two year period I can only say that BADJER has, thanks to many, many people, greatly exceeded my wildest expectations.

Thankyou!