Annual Parish Meetings

Present: Parish Cllrs P Ireland, N Rooke, J Stapleton Cllr Poulton, three members of the public and Mrs D Scott (Clerk)

1. Councillor Rooke, as Chairman of the Parish Council, welcomed all to the Annual Parish Meeting. Apologies had been received from District Cllrs S Ogden and S Tarry and County Councillor B Young.

2. The minutes of the last Annual Parish Meeting, held on 8th May 2018. It was proposed by Cllr Ireland, seconded by Cllr Stapleton and agreed unanimously, that the minutes were an accurate record and were duly signed.

3. Poor Gardens and Land Charities Report

Mrs Nickols presented the report on behalf of the Charities, she explained that she was taking over the role of Secretary/ Treasurer from Mrs Cox.

Poor Garden – Mrs Nickols explained that rental income of £3148.28 had been received and distributions had been made in May 2018, 21 pensioners receiving £25 each, 5 Sixth Formers/College Students £150 each, 4 additional Student grants of £75 each and HAVCS £50. Parva House had been paid £8 for the use of the room.

In December the distributions were 20 pensioners receiving £25 each, 5 widows/widowers receiving £200 towards fuel costs and 1 resident received £80 transport allowance.

The Land Rents’ income had been in two payments of £215.00 - £430.00 for the year, and book tokens had been given out to 4 Year 6 pupils (£15 each) and 1 year 11 students (£35). Donations of £75 each had been to Great Hale Parish Church for the Messy Church sessions, Little Hale Chapel and Parva House.  Mrs Nickols provided a copy of the report for the Parish Council’s records.

4. Great Hale and Little Hale Joint Burial Committee

Mr Needham, as a Trustee of the Burial Board, gave the report on behalf of the Trustees, and circulated copies of the accounts for 2017-18.

He commented that thanks were due to Mrs Scott, as Clerk to the Trustees, and particularly to Colin Crouch for his work with grass cutting. He reported that Colin had now retired following ill health and his recent move and the Board had arranged with Mr Pettit to take on the work. The Burial Board’s income continued to approximately cover the costs, but only taking into account the contributions from the Parish Councils, which were much appreciated

The Board was indebted to Little Hale Parish Council for its brilliant fund raising for the War Memorial restoration project, which it was hoped would come to fruition in 2019/20.

5. Parish Council Chairman’s Report.

Cllr Rooke thanked her colleagues on the Council, wishing former Councillor Cox all the best for the future and welcoming Amy Lennox who would be taking her seat as a Parish Council at the Annual Parish Council Meeting later that evening. She also thanked the District Councillors, welcoming Cllrs Tarry and Ogden back after the recent elections, and the Clerk for their work throughout the year, the Methodist Circuit for the use of the Chapel and the volunteer Defib reporting Group who continued to carry out regular checks on the Defib to ensure it stayed ready for action at all times. She pointed out that a new battery and pads had been purchased recently as they had reached their expiry dates, and new spare pads would be due later this year. A small number of planning applications had been consulted on during the year. Highways issues, including Potholes, had been the subject of a recent site meeting with Cllr Young. The event to mark the centenary of the end of WWI had been a great success raising around £700 to refurbish the War Memorial in the Cemetery. A Spring Clean initiative had seen a great turnout in April, with about 40 bags of rubbish collected from verges etc.

6. Matters Raised.

Mrs Lennox asked for further details about the Charities’ distribution events.

There were no other matters brought to the meeting

The meeting closed at 7.42 pm

Agreed at the Annual Parish Meeting 2022  and signed by Steve Poulton Chairman of the Parish Council 3rd May 2022