Parish Council

The need for better Communication in all areas of activity.
The need to Encourage the many willing volunteers who wish to contribute to a wide rang of activities.
The need to Support those who feel that they are unable to get the services and quality of life they can reasonably expect.

The Role of the Parish Council to provide the leadership to improve the
Economic
Social and
Environmental well being of our Community

Approach:

Priorities have been agreed under the main headings of Economic, Social and Wellbeing. For the main topics under each of these a Parish Councillor has been appointed as the lead person to be supported by Parishioners with relevant expertise.The Lead Councillor will report on progress at each year end or when any significant help is required, achievement has been made or adjustment to the plan is needed.

Economic:

Website - Brian Massey, Anne Porter and Mike Linklater
Broadband - Malcolm Caisley/Andrew Nixon
Mobile Phones - David Trotter
Low Income Housing - Not yet allocated

Social:

Volunteers - Peter Trevelyan
Community - Hilary Kristensen, Anne Porter
Ceilidhs/Dances - Malcolm Caisley
Young People - Anne Porter
Transport - Brian Massey
Medical/Social Services - Brian Massey
Film Club - Malcolm Caisley

Environment:

Roads - Davy Short/Peter Trevelyan
Litter - Anne Porter
Boats - Davy Short

Posted in General News | 1 Comment »

Whitley Chapel Play Area

November 29th, 2009

An absence of play equipment for Shire children had been identified by the Parish Council and at the same time a potentially attractive Government ‘playbuilder’ grant-aid scheme was launched. After researching the ‘play’ needs of young folk Councillors Malcolm Caisley and Anne Porter supported by other parishioners made a formal approach to the grant-aiding body. As a result, it was agreed that a formal grant application should be submitted and David Southern produced a very professional presentation in support of the project.

Click thumbnail to enlarge Play Area Image, by Dave Southern

The result has been that the Parish Council has now formally signed an agreement in order to secure a Playbuilder grant of £56,000 for the provision of play facilities on the sports field at Whitley Chapel and to enable the design for the project and subsequent siting of the equipment to proceed.

Attatched is a PDF copy of the plan for the playground. Playground Plan PDF.

Posted in General News, Play Area | No Comments »

HEXHAMSHIRE Annual Reports 2008 / 2009

October 3rd, 2009

HEXHAMSHIRE Annual Reports 2008 / 2009

(Extracts from the reports given at the Annual General Meeting of Hexhamshire Parish on Thursday 8th May 2009)

Chairman’s Report for 2008/9

I am very pleased to report that during the course of the year we have seen the culmination of one and the start of another substantial capital project at Whitley Chapel.

Parish Hall

The Parish Hall has been substantially upgraded and now provides two very comfortable meeting rooms with excellent facilities. Our thanks are due to the Trustees, and in particular Malcolm Caisley, for all the time they have spent on consultations, design work and fundraising to ensure that the scheme was acceptable to all users and fully funded.

Play area

An absence of play equipment for ‘Shire children had been identified by the Parish Council and at the same time a potentially attractive Government ‘playbuilder’ grant-aid scheme was launched. After researching the ‘play’ needs of young folk Councillors Malcolm Caisley and Anne Porter supported by other parishioners made a formal approach to the grant-aiding body. As a result, it was agreed that a formal grant application should be submitted and David Southern produced a very professional presentation in support of the project.

The result has been that the Parish Council has now formally signed an agreement in order to secure a Playbuilder grant of £56,000 for the provision of play facilities on the sports field at Whitley Chapel and to enable the design for the project and subsequent siting of the equipment to proceed. It has to be said however that a complication has arisen over the fact that we have not yet been able to obtain from the Diocese a new lease with effect from 2014 on the land in question.

Wetlands

We are extremely fortunate in having the Quakers’ Hole Wetland, approximately 6 acres of land that is held by the Parish Council on a 99-year lease from the County Council. Further improvements to the Wetland have been undertaken during the year and local school children are encouraged to become involved. Planning and Highways

During the course of this last year, the Council has met every month when we have considered a number of planning applications and tried to exert pressure on the County Council to take remedial action in respect of the fast deteriorating state of the highways. This has included the attendance of a County Council highways surveyor at one of our meetings from which it was clear that the County Council budget for highway maintenance is totally inadequate.

Do please notify Northumberland Council’s Highways call centre on 0808 1008910 of any new potholes so that they can be recorded. It seems that only if they are recorded that any insurance claim for any related car damage will be entertained by the County’s insurance company.

Parish Plan

Your Councillors agreed that it would be helpful to prepare a Parish Plan and you should all have received a hand delivered questionnaire. We received a good response and all the completed forms have been collated. Many helpful comments were made and all of the ideas are being carefully analysed. The need to provide a play area has already borne fruit and a film Club may well be shortly introduced.

Parish Website

The Parish Council commissioned the setting up of a Parish website www.hexhamshire.info and this is now being used by some of the ‘Shire organizations. The Parish Council will be putting agendas, Minutes (once approved) and other relevant Council information and notices on to this website.

B.O.A.T.s

There continues to be widespread concern over the implications of the creation of B.O.A.T.S. The 4 Parishes BOAT Sub-committee comprising the parishes of Slaley, Blanchland and Healey carefully monitors matters within these four Parishes, learns from experiences in other parts of the country and exerts pressure on the County Council to create where appropriate Traffic Regulation Orders over byways which have been converted into B.O.A.T.S. Parishioners are urged to report to a Parish Councillor any incidents or irregularity over the use of our byways as these will be formally recorded by the Parish Council.

Review of Electoral Wards

At the present time, our Parish is represented by 10 councillors, five of whom will have been elected to represent the Hexhamshire and District (Hexhamshire) ward and five councillors who have been elected to the Hexhamshire and District (Low Quarter) ward. The breakdown of this Parish into two separate electoral wards is however now a historical arrangement. In practice, once elected the Councillors then represent the interests of the full Parish of Hexhamshire and together make all Council decisions for the whole Parish.

The Parish Councillors therefore decided that the interests of the electorate of Hexhamshire would best be served by Councillors being chosen by all the electors of our Parish with no sub-division into wards. If it were to prove more difficult in future to recruit members of the public to serve on Parish Councils this change is likely to assist in recruiting an adequate number of councillors, mitigating against the possibility of a situation where there could be a surplus of applicants in one ward and a shortfall in the other ward!

Our request for a review of, and change from, the present arrangement involving two separate electoral wards is now being actively considered by the Electoral Commission.

Speakers

All Parish Council meetings are open to the public. On occasions, representatives from outside organisations are invited to speak at the start of the meeting and recently ADAPT (Tel. 606156) provided the Councillors with an insight into the transport facilities that can be made available to Parishioners. Over the next few months it is hoped that our local Police Officer will talk on the ‘Farm Watch and Neighbourhood Watch Schemes’ and an advisor from One NorthEast will talk on ‘Broadband in rural areas’.

Finance

The Parish Council agreed for 2009/10 a standstill in the level of the precept at £7,344. We have received this year from Tynedale Council a one-off grant of £1,700. The Parish Councillors have agreed that this money should be used for capital expenditure items, currently being considered, including mole drainage of the sports field, construction of a hard standing on the sports field immediately adjoining the Hall and a War Memorial plaque.

During this last year, the Parish Council has made the following grant allocations:-

£ 15 Community Council of Northumberland

£ 100 (each) Air Ambulance, Tynedale Community Hospice, TynedaleCitizens Advice Bureau and Mencap

£ 500 Whitley Chapel Young Farmers

£ 500 The Friends of Hexhamshire Burial Ground

£1,000 Whitley Chapel Parish Hall – general fund

£3,000 Whitley Chapel Parish Hall – capital improvements

Brian Massey

(Chairman)

Hexhamshire Parish Council District Councillor’s report for 2008/9

The final year of Tynedale Council’s existence was effectively taken up with making best arrangements for the transfer of responsibilities and assets to the new unitary authority, Northumberland County Council.

The Unitary Authority

The dissolution of the District Councils in Northumberland, a decision imposed on us by Government and the creation of a Unitary Authority for the whole area came into effect on 1^st April 2009.

It has been a very difficult final year for Tynedale District Councillors whose decision making powers quickly decreased as the year progressed. Following the election of Councillors to the new Authority in May 2008 and their detailed investigation of the County’s accounts there was a clamp down on any expenditure not previously approved by the individual District Councils. It therefore became extremely difficult to instigate any new capital projects in Tynedale Council’s final year.

I personally have serious reservations as to whether the Unitary Authority will be more efficient or provide an adequate democratic form of local Government.

Capital Projects

During the year work was completed on the building of the new swimming pool at Wentworth. Funding had previously also been allocated for the provision of play areas, for the purchase of land for affordable housing, the building of football pitches at the Dukes House Wood Centre and a feasibility study on the projected scheme for the re-creation of the Cloisters and the building of a Museum / Information Centre at Hexham Abbey.

Council Tax

Your council tax which was previously collected by Tynedale Council is now made up of precepts levied by the Parish Council, Police Authority and County Council. The County Council’s precept for Tynedale residents in 2009/10 has increased by 4.1% and the Northumbria Police Authority precept has increased by 3.9%.

Community Forums

The plans for Unitary Government included a new level of activity originally known as Belonging Communities. This was included in the successful bid without adequate prior thought having been given to their make up, functions, support needs or financial status. As a result the new authority came into being without any firm decisions having been taken over the arrangements for belonging Communities now to be known as Community Forums. Informal initial discussions have however now taken place involving the adjoining rural parishes to ascertain the need or feasibility of creating a ‘Community Forum. I am disappointed that Community Forums are unlikely to provide us with a ready access to funding opportunities and may be little more than ‘talking shops’. Nevertheless, with the benefit of the experience of the ‘4 Parishes Boats committee’ there may be an advantage to be gained by creating a rural Community Forum, with a flexible constitution, so that we can discuss other specific relevant issues relevant to our Parishes as and when they occur.

B.O.A.T’s.

Serious problems continue to be experienced with ‘Byways open to all Traffic’ (B.O.A.T’s). The ‘4 Parishes’ BOAT’s sub-committee continues to monitor and represent the interests of the parishes in respect of the applications that have been lodged over a period of time. They also ’shadow’ the policies being adopted by Northumberland County Council in respect of Traffic Restriction Orders (T.R.O.s).

Roads

Whilst Tynedale Council had no responsibility in respect of the maintenance of our roads, opportunities have occurred however for me, as your District Councillor, to exerting some pressure on the highways dept. to secure some limited action for repairs and maintenance work within the Parish. The state of our roads remains however one of the biggest concerns of the Parishioners.

Planning

Local Development Framework (a new local plan for Tynedale) was formulated and Parish Councillors will wish to continue monitoring the progress of this projected plan following the transfer of responsibilities to Northumberland County Council.

Brian Massey

(District Councillor 2008/9)

Annual Report of Councillor Colin Horncastle, South Tynedale Division, April 2009

On 1 April this year the new Unitary Council for Northumberland took over the responsibility of delivering all Council Services for the 6 Districts, and the old County Council.

Many months of hard work by officers and staff leading up to April was undertaken, on top of their normal duties, to ensure a smooth transition. However, as we know, not everything worked out on day one, but services are coming back to normal. It’s easy to criticise, but bringing together 7 Councils and 16,000 employees was never going to be easy.

The structure of the County has now changed. The old district boundaries have gone, and have been replaced by 3 service delivery areas; North, South and West. The West area is an enlarged Tynedale, taking in Ponteland, Matfen and Stamfordham.

The 6 Area Committees are now 3, and will meet monthly instead of bi-monthly, with new responsibilities.

The West Area Committee will have working groups to carry out certain roles and will hopefully be able to liaise with Parish Councils and the public in a more transparent way. Two meetings a year will be for the sole purpose of meeting all the Parish Councils and listening to their views.

The ‘Belonging Communities’ format has gone, to be replaced by Community Forums, which do seem more user friendly and flexible. At the moment there is no funding for the Community Forums, but they will prove a useful local forum. The Community Forums will have a big say in how the £50,000 community chest money is divided up by the Area Committees. Members have also retained the £15,000 a year to spend on projects in their division. I will continue to be guided by the Parish Council on how I distribute mine so please inform me of any Parish projects. This year I have given money to Hexhamshire, Blanchland and Allendale areas for community projects. As you will all be aware the County Council had had to make savings, promised in the unitary bid. This has resulted in cuts of approximately £25m this year, and a possible £40m next year. Obviously this has meant major cuts in many budgets and unfortunately we in the rural areas will again see changes in many areas e.g. bus services; grants; library service; roads maintenance e.t.c. Add to this ever increasing council tax and it is very easy to see why people complain. However the Councillors in the west are determined to do their best to get a fair share of funding, and hopefully see improvements in their areas. After all, this is what was promised by the previous administration in their bid for a single unitary authority.

I am in regular discussions with Officers and have been promised improvements in some areas e.g. ditching and road repairs.

Councillors who represent large rural areas have a huge job to do and will certainly miss the help and local expertise of their former District Councillor colleagues. It is early days for the new Authority and we must make it work. Unfortunately the District Councils have gone, and will be greatly missed. I will do my utmost to represent the South Tynedale division to the best of my ability.

Councillor Colin Horncastle

South Tynedale Division

Northumberland County Council

Parish Hall Trustees Report 2009

People

Ruth Marlee resigned as the representative of the Assifa dance group. As reported last year Ruth had for several years been responsible for the Hall bookings as well as it’s general cleanliness. Both of these are difficult tasks and we are grateful for her contribution. We welcome Sue Gallagher as the new representative of Assifa.

Derek White has also resigned after many years as the Bowls Club representative we are grateful for Derek’s input and his management of the oil supply. We welcome Roy Walker as the new representative of the Bowls Club.

Rob Gardner has announced his intention to resign as a Trustee from March 2010. Francesca Leslie has agreed to take up the Treasure’s role from that time.

Hall

We have carried out a major upgrade of the Hall during the past year in line with the plan we outlined in last year’s report. The main features being, conversion of the two changing rooms and showers into a large high quality meeting room, which may be divided by means of folding doors. The room has a ceiling mounted computer projector and wall mounted screen. It has good quality tables and chairs and a high grade carpet.

Creation of two individual shower cubicles with instant hot water units in the redundant ‘Referees room’.

Building a high quality ‘ mini kitchen ‘ in the area adjacent to the North end of the Main Hall. This is intended to service the new meeting room and to be a bar for social events in the Main Hall.

Converting the Cleaners cupboard into a storage room for toys and building a new cleaners cupboard.

In addition the front a back entrances have been carpeted with heavy duty carpet.

Finally the whole of the interior of the Hall has been decorated.

We plan to hold an Open Day on Sunday June 7^th to present the Hall to everyone. Hall user groups have been invited to take part and present the facilities they offer.

Finance

The overall cost of the Hall upgrade has been approximately £50,000.00.

In addition to our own funds we have received support from the Women’s Institute, Leek Club, Parish Council, Tynedale Council, County Councillor, Awards for All and many other charitable organisations. We are extremely grateful for the level of this support.

The management of these large sums of money has required a large amount of time, effort and considerable skill by our Treasurer Rob Gardner. The outcome has been that our bank balance is back to where it was when we began to prepare for Hall upgrade. Our routine running costs did increase during the year and there was a slight fall of regular income, as a result we missed our goal of covering running costs with regular income from the use of the Hall by Clubs and social events. We have plans to correct this and we are keeping Hall charges under review. We hope to receive some income from the use of the new meeting room by local commercial organisations.

Legislation and Best Practice

We have been advised to amend our Trust Deed and have been working to that end. The result be that we will conform to the processes recommended by the Charities Commission and Action with Communities in Rural England ( ACRE). We are members of the West Northumberland Community Buildings Consortium and are receiving valuable input on reducing energy costs, insurance as well as legislation on Health and Safety matters applicable to the Hall.

Summary

We feel that this has been a year of significant progress, particularly with regard to the Hall itself and the upgrade appears to be have been well received. We are fortunate to receive so much support from the Shire community without which none of this would be possible and for which we are extremely grateful.

Malcolm Caisley

Chairman of the Trustees

St Helens Church

This has been a year of difficulties. For me, for Church officers and members of the P.C.C. there have been family illnesses and bereavements to live with.

Barbara Parker has had to labour as lone Churchwarden.

Children’s work has been limited by the lack of any regular help for Carole.

An ageing congregation needs to think of ways of involving younger families.

The closure of Whitehall Chapel ends an era in Hexhamshire and is a sadness for us all.

I am grateful for the hard work of those who, week in, week out, decorate and care for the Church, play the organ, and support its worship.

The Church has been a focus for the grief of three of our families who suffered the death of a mother, and of course the family of
Calum Stobbs.

Two examples illustrate the interest and support for the Church in this community:

In December, when the Church was covered in dust following the installation of a new window, a dozen people heard Barbara’s appeal for help at the WI Christmas party and spring cleaned everything in two hours.

Before our AGM I sent out 70 letters asking for views on the ministry of women priests, and received over 30 replies.

Once again, the Nativity service, the Good Friday programme for children, and Family Services have been enjoyable and most successful.

David Wilson is now serving as Churchwarden alongside Barbara Parker.

Frank Thompson continues as Treasurer, and Barbara Herring as Secretary.

Brian Massey has retired from the P.C.C. and Claire Pinches has returned.

Looking ahead:

Chris Porter’s initiative involves asking people to use their talents to raise funds for the Church.

Following conversations with parents, future family services will follow a simpler form and begin at 10.30 a.m.

We look forward to the completion of the project for the extension of the Churchyard.

Andrew Patterson

Vicar

Whitley Chapel Young Farmers

Over the last 12 months the young farmers have always been up to something. We have had regular meeting every 2 weeks at the village hall, as well as competitions and other activities in between. Whitley have had a very successfully year in county competitions results include, 1^st in the rounders & football, 1st&2^nd in the quiz,1^st & 2^nd in public speaking and 3^rdin the panto & 10 pin bowling.

The club has also raised money with sponsored walks, carol singing, race night, pub quiz, putting on the panto and helping at Slaley and Corbridge show.

After every fortnightly meeting the YFC do different activities, over the past 12 months these have included, uni hoc, volleyball, quizzes, games, badminton, paintball, ice skating and cricket.

Whitley Chapel have successfully recruited 6 new members, bring total membership to nearly 50. We have also won awards - winning most charitable club for 2008, the girls tug of war and ATV cups at the Rally and also best male and best female actors in the pantomime competition.

Lewis Short

Club Chairman

.

Hexhamshire WI

Our 39 members have enjoyed a very successful year with a varied and interesting programme.

We heard about the Dilston Physic Garden; Visited and were shown around Dilston Castle & Church; heard about the plight of the Red Squirrel; learnt about “The Armstrong’s of Cragside”. We learnt how to make bags, boxes and cards to impress friends when giving gifts with individual wrappings. Christmas saw us eating in with a delicious hot pork dinner, provided by the committee and we were then entertained by Shirley’s singers.

In January we had our local Mary Reed talking about Weight Watchers and basic sensible eating.

February - snow – Meeting Cancelled

March meeting was “Northumberland from the Air” - an excellent talk given by Stan Beckensall. For our April meeting Mike Tickell entertained us with historic and local songs and stories.

We have also been invited to Stocksfield, Corbridge and Slaley WI’s during the last 12 months. We have supported and attended our Group Meetings (Moorland) and made and met many new and old friends.

We have had a successful first attempt in the Reading Aloud Competition; Thanks to Barbara Parker, Catherine Wilson and Jane McKee.

We have had 4 members attend Denman College and have another 5 members awaiting this treat.

All in all we have had a busy year with varied activities and events, hopefully something to suit everybody’s taste.

We never know what the future will hold but I am sure Hexhamshire WI will continue to go from strength to strength.

Kate Clarkson

(President)

Whitley Chapel C of E First School

Since our report last year, our pupil numbers have stayed roughly the same at around 50, who are organised into three classes.

Su Adkinson is our Headteacher, supported by full and part-time teaching and support staff including Mrs. Bell, Mrs. Lowe and Mrs. Hughes. In September 2008, Ms Harrison took maternity leave and Faye Dodwell increased her hours to cover . In the early part of 2009 Catherine Adams has been appointed on a temporary contract.

The school is organised into three classes. Class 1 is Foundation Stage taught by Mrs Elaine Bell for the morning session with support from Catherine Adams. The foundation Stage Class includes Reception children and Nursery. Reception children are full time and join Class 2, Key Stage 1 pupils in the afternoons. Class 2 is taught by Mrs Justine Lowe on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and by Mrs Jackie Hughes on a Thursday and Friday morning, both with assistance from Faye Dodwell. Class 3 is taught by Mrs Hughes and by Ms Su Adkinson.

Music and performance is an important part of school life and thanks must go to Mrs. Trotter for providing recorder tuition for our older pupils and piano accompaniment for many of our concerts.

The most important landmark for the school this year came in January, when Su Adkinson announced her intention to retire at the end of the school year. She is an inspirational Headteacher and although the Governors have worked ceaselessly since January to advertise the post and interview candidates, a suitable replacement has not yet been appointed. In a meeting this week(12.05.08), Su agreed to remain in place for the foreseeable future to allow the Governors the necessary time to find the very special Headteacher who will be able to take her place within our Church school and our Community, and we are duly grateful.

Fundraising is always important to the School and thanks go to all the children, their parents, guardians and friends as well as the Staff.

Events have included the ever popular Christmas Fair raising over £1,000, the May Fair, School Harvest Festival(where £200 was raised for WaterAid and the produce donated to The Peoples Kitchen). In October the school raised £277 for the British Heart Foundation through a sponsored skip.

As usual we had many visits on the school calendar. For example, Class 3 visited the Theatre Royal for a performance of “Elephant”. We had a whole school visit to The Queens Hall to see Aesop’s Fables and Classes 1,2 and 3 visited Seven Stories in Newcastle.

Sport and exercise is of course important to all our young people and during the last year we completed the playground, where a kick / climb wall has been installed.

Performance too is very important and the Christmas Production of “Something Amazing’s Going on” was performed in the Parish Hall in December and was an overwhelming success.

Many parents and volunteers help in school, for which we give our sincere thanks. We always encourage and thank parents who take the time to put something into school life.

Visitors are very welcome to our school, including this year, a photographer from the Courant, the school nurse and PC Ian Robertson speaking on Road Safety.

In conclusion, we should like to report that the school is still moving forward and providing a good education in a very pleasant atmosphere for our youngsters.

Mike Linklater

Governor

The 4 Parishes BOATs Joint Committee

During the past year the 4 Parishes BOATs Joint Committee have played a waiting game. We have continued to wait for Natural England (NE) to reply to our paper entitled “Case for an assessment of the environmental and biodiversity impact of the use by recreational motorised vehicles of the Byways Open to All Traffic in Slaley Forest and its moorland environs” dated April 2007.

We have waited, since October 2007 for the distant archive to be presented as evidence for BOAT status on The Broad Way BOAT application. Sue Arrnot, Inspector for the Secretary of State decided not to wait any longer and declared The Broad Way a bridleway.

On March 14^th 2008 we sent a letter to NE of 12 points identified in the NE Protocol Policy, which was presented to us by Christine Pope during our March 3rd 2008 meeting. Acknowledgments were received 27/3/08; 23/4/08 and 22/5/08 and we sent a reminder on November 3^rd. The 4 Parishes have still not received a reply although AVAG and Allendale Parish Council has received an updated version of the Policy to which they are now writing with further comments and suggestions.

The Government decided not to continue with the ‘Discovering Lost Ways Project’. However, NE set up a ‘Stakeholder Working Group’, which has a timetable of meetings extending to late 2009 when it will be required to make its recommendations on “how unrecorded pre-1949 rights of way can be easily recorded on the definitive map”. This will undoubtedly give us further work.

Natural England surveyed The Broad Way 18/6/08 and offered a report to the JLAF by mid July 2008. The 4 Parishes Joint Committee asked for a copy after their November meeting and when it arrived it was dated October 2008!

We have waited until the TRO was removed from the Gingleshaugh BOAT to see if damage occurred. It has and we have contacted NCC reporting this damage. The BOAT currently has voluntary warning notices asking users not to ride the route when it is wet or after heavy rainfall. We wait to see if these notices produce any evidence of restraint by users.

We have helped with consultation on BOAT application for Byeway 44 (through Slaley Hall estate); Byway 40 & 15 (through Espershields Farm), both of these will be initially presented through the Magistrates Courts during April and May 2009. However, early indications are that an immediate termination cannot be expected, with this in mind a meeting has been organised for May 6^th. We have considered ‘The List of Streets’, often un-surfaced green lanes throughout our 4 parishes. Many of these routes in Hexhamshire parish are cul-de-sacs into farmyards and the Hexhamshire PC has enbackground information.

We have held two meetings; November 3^rd 2008 & February 23^rd 2009, sent copious e-mails and renewed our membership with GLEAM and YDGLA.

The committee would like to thank once again the AVAG working party and members of Allendale PC for sharing their BOATs correspondence with us, all our members who work on different aspects of problems and special thanks to Liz with her coffee pot and Pat with her recording skills.

David Short

Chairman

Hexhamshire Leek Club Report

The purpose of our club is to show 2 leeks every year and to enter a wide variety of other exhibits such as flowers, photographs, jams and preserves, home baking, paintings etc. But for our members, currently totalling a healthy 57, this is not the Club’s only interest.

Our concerted efforts bring what we hope is a strong sense of community to the Shire, encompassing all age groups from the primary school upwards. We work closely with Whitley Chapel School to involve the children in a variety of projects which are then displayed at our annual Show every September. Moreover we enjoy a varied social calendar which gives all members and their friends the chance to meet others and welcome other residents from around the Shire.

During the 2008/2009 year we arranged the following events:

September 08 Leek Club Show

October 08 Race Night

November 08 Annual General Meeting

February 09 60s/70s Dance

April 09 St George’s Evening

Forthcoming events this year will include a Sunday Family Barbecue, a Treasure Hunt, a Race Night (dates to be finalized) and, of course the culmination of our year, the Leek Club Show on Saturday September 19^th at Whitley Chapel Village Hall.

If you wish to know more about the Club or wish to attend any of the functions, please contact Maggie Bennett on 601598 or George Carr, Chairman, on 606693

Maggie Bennett

Club Secretary

Sports and Activities Club

Trevor Golightly gave the report for the Sports and Activities Club. He reported that Sports Day had once again been very successful.

Bonfire Night festivities had been very wet but was very well attended with an excellent display of fireworks. The fireworks will be back this year provided some more volunteers come forward to help.

Badminton had been held in the Village Hall on the 10 weeks before and 10 weeks after Christmas on Monday evening. Children’s badminton was held at 6.30 pm to 7.30 followed by the adult classes. All are very welcome to attend.

The Sports and Activities Club are keen to welcome new members and are actively seeking folk onto the committee and anyone interested should contact Trevor or Lorna Common.

Trevor Golightly

Posted in AGM | 1 Comment »

Agenda - Extra Meeting 29th June

April Minutes & June Agenda 2010

Agendas for Annual Parish and Parish Council AGM May 2010

April Agenda 2010

February Meeting Minutes 2010

Minutes of Parish Council Meeting January 2010

Parish Council Minutes: November & December 2009

Hexhamshire Parish Plan -2009 to 2011