Annual Parish Meetings

The Annual Parish Meeting was held on Wednesday 3rd April 2024 at 7pm The Old Schoolroom.

Meeting chaired by Cllr Cook

Present: Parish Clerk, Cllr C Christie, Cllr S Christie, Cllr Hoyland, Cllr Taylor, Cllr Holtby and 

11 members of the public.

Cllr Cook welcomed everybody to the Annual Parish Meeting 2024

1) Apologies

Apologies received from the following local organisations with reports; Sturton & Stow Agricultural & Horticultural Association, Sturton and Stow History Society and The Recreational Ground Committee

2) Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting 2023

It was AGREED and RESOLVED that the Annual Parish Meeting 2023 minutes be approved.

3) Reports were given by the following organisations. 

At 7.03pm Cllr Cook shared hard copies of the Chairmans report and read out the reports sent from local organisations of whom were absent.

Sturton & Stow Agricultural & Horticultural Association

We had a very successful show last October that celebrated our 135th year. The weather was lovely and warm, and we had an excellent turnout from the public who continue to support this traditional village event. Entries were up overall apart from in fruit and preserves. The committee were determined this year to put agriculture at the forefront as there had been some concern that this aspect of the show was being overtaken. With this in mind we had the Young Farmers stand, a visit from some alpacas and a world championship plough displayed by the Waudby family. We also had our especially commissioned beer ‘Tipsy Turnip’ which sold very well. As always, we had a good turnout from the classic car owners. Thanks, as always go to the show committee who work very hard not just on show day but all year to make the event a success. We have been lucky to have gained three young farmers on the committee who will hopefully take the show forward in the years to come. We are always grateful to our show sponsors. This year we were one of the Co-op Community Champions and we also gained a grant from the Parish Council. All of this enables us to cover the costs of putting the show on and make improvements to our display equipment such as tables, photo boards etc.

 Sturton and Stow History Society 

The past year has seen well attended talks and we have just resumed in March after a break with our first talk of the year given by the society’s President Alan Stennett. We have a full programme of talks booked for the coming year covering many topics which hopefully will appeal to our members. We are about to start a project to sort out and catalogue our archives which are kept in the upstairs room in the village hall. The intention is to have the items we hold entered on spreadsheets on the society’s laptop so they can be easily accessed when any enquiries are received. We also hope to have a new website up and running this year.

 The Recreational Ground Committee

This year we have raised £3,433.21, this consists of football pitch hire and fireworks. Unfortunately, the wet weather has been against us. The pitch hasn’t been used as much because the rain has left the pitch waterlogged.

The fireworks, although it rained all day and evening went ahead, there were fewer people, so income was down considerably, probably nearly by 50%. Thanks must go to all the volunteers who spend months organising things and to all those that spent all day in the rain building the bonfire and setting everything up, also those on the night and those that are last to go home at 9pm after being therefrom 8am. Also, thanks go to FOSSA for their help. 

On a different note, we have had problems with vandalism on several occasions. The fence has been pulled down three times and we are now looking into putting metal poles with chains. They have also smashed a window and snapped the outside tap off the wall, they have several times tried forcing the doors of the container. There is still problems with dog fouling on the recreational field, this is a big health and safety worry with children playing on the field. I would like to thank the PC for their continued support and as a committee we will continue to maintain a safe playing area.

The meeting was opened to the attending local organisations.

The Men in Sheds Club

The club has been up and running since 2020 and is based at Bransby Horses. At present the club has 30 members including two ladies. Some of the members are just supportive but most are active members. The aim of the club is to help with health and wellbeing and prevent isolation and is open to all. The club is open 3 days a week and has the potential to open 5 days a week to accommodate members requirement. Members come from surrounding villages and pay an annual subscription fee which is supplemented with sales from items produced by members when attending events such as the Christmas fairs. The activities at the club range from wood working, wood turning, pyrography, assistance with I.T and the club is currently setting up a 3D printer. Members can bring their own projects to work on, come and socialise with a cup of tea or work on shed club projects. Recently the club has made several bird and hedgehog boxes, butterfly and insect houses, signage for around the memorial garden at Bransby Horses and a wooden sleigh as a role play prop for a mobile playgroup. There are plans to add an additional unit which has been agreed with Bransby Horses and are currently putting in funding applications to enable the club to proceed with this.

FOSSA

FOSSA organise various fundraisers such as discos, wacky hair days and bingo to help raise money towards funding trips of school for the children and inviting groups into school. Last year they were raising money through various events towards upgrading the children’s toilets and to revamp the library making it a more inviting space. The library at Sturton by Stow Primary School has always had a special place in the heart of our school community.  Children and staff enjoy using it, sharing and recommending books which entertain us, inform us and help us to learn.  As much as we loved the library however, it was in real need of refurbishment.  The furniture was tired, the walls needed a refresh, and the books were in a bit of a muddle. This meant that we weren’t making the most of the library’s potential. 

That is where the Parish Council came to the rescue.  Working closely with our Friends of the School Association (FOSSA), they provided funding which allowed us to make the changes we needed to enhance the space. We excitedly made a plan, talked about different themes for the library and set about making the changes needed.  The came across a large bean bag octopus and the idea went from there. The school community worked together to paint the space calming blue and began making changes using our theme of the sea.  The walls have been decorated with eye catching underwater scenes and the room has been filled with comfortable and inviting seats, rugs and bean bags.  We took out old and tired shelving and replaced it with new and bright furniture, and most importantly invested in new books. Different areas for reading for different age groups have been created and a mascot ‘Larry the Lobster’ has been introduced. After a few months of hard work, the library has been recently opened by an Author and featured in the village newsletter. Children and staff loved the changes and the excitement around school was wonderful. 

Our school community is incredibly grateful to the support that FOSSA and the Parish Council were able to give towards this project and the impact upon our children’s learning and reading for pleasure will be felt for many years to come. It is a much more inviting space where children can engage, interact, and learn. It has now become a hot spot and a multi-functional space with tables and chairs and a section with ‘books to look out for’.

WI

The WI has a new president and is an established organisation founded in 1915. The WI help at many events such as the Sturton by Stow Show, Tennyson Wharf, monthly markets, coffee morning and baking cakes. The WI meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Posters are displayed to advertise the meetings. The WI enjoy various talks from speakers and are soon to be learning about the history of the lawn and the history of fascinators. The WI are part of the North Federation of the WI and enjoy various activities and look forward to upcoming events such as zip lining, gliding, visits to a walled garden, line dancing, BBQ’s. murder in Waddingham, open air theatre in Stamford dairy farm and church tours They have raised money from a fashion show and various other events. The WI is on the look out to recruit new younger members. If you think you might be interested, please get in touch. 

A member of the public joined the meeting at 7.22pm

Warm Space

The warm space began in October 2022 Thank you to the PC for the original funds that help set up the warm space and thankyou to the Village Hall supplying free hire. At first it was just a warm space and coffee and now it offers soups and rolls. Donations from that year allowed the warm space to be carried on. The original winter warm space has ended. Grace a community connector from the NHS started a warm space on each alternative week. She has funding until June. What was the original warm space has now developed into a community café and become a bigger social gathering and enjoy wellbeing walks. There are 24 people that attend. It has defiantly filled a gap of providing company whilst staying warm since the Evergreens friendship group stopped during covid. 

Bowls Club

The Bowls Club meet on a Monday evening 7-9pm in the village hall with a break at half time for tea and biscuits. There is a concern that the club is not gaining any new members. Costs have increased for the hall hire however the cost of the heating tokens have been frozen. The Bowls club are a friendly group and have a get together for a lunch at Christmas and a great time is had by all. The Club have recently been the Co-op Community Champions. It was awarded jointly, and they are hoping to purchase a new bowls mat or set of bowls. The bowls club sends thanks to the PC for support in the past and future if needed and come and give bowls a try. 

The Village Hall Committee

The Village Hall continues to provide an excellent venue. The Committee personnel has had a shuffle around.  Thanks is given for the retiring members and welcomes the new members. The monthly markets contribute to the village hall and the committee is hoping that the markets pick up. Lots of improvements to the Village Hall have taken pace m the last year including new heaters, redecorating/painting, new induction hob, new chiller, loft insulation and a new handrail and improvements to the ladies and gents toilets. The village hall waivers charges to the warm space groups.

 In financial terms the Village Hall is in a healthy state, however the bank balance is little artificial due to grants received during covid. Looking at the accounts month to month there is only one month which incomings outweigh the outgoing costs. Costs have been increased by energy suppliers and therefore hire charges have had to be increased however heating tokens have remained the same. 

In January the Community Emergency Plan was actioned due to the flooding in nearby villages. The function room was opened as a monitoring station and occupied for 18 hours. The village hall is unhappy that costs of having the hall open have not been reimbursed and there seems to be no mechanism for recovering the costs. The Village Hall has also sadly injured several instances of vandalism. Measures are now in place to mitigate further damage.

Line Dancing.

Line Dancing currently have 30 members. Classes on a Sunday evening have been added as a step-up class so that new dancers can have extra training, and this increased the members to 42. Both classes have now merged. There are now over 40 regular members.

The Chairman thanked all those who have attended and contributed and closed the Annual Parish Meeting at 7.38pm

4. Any other issues parishioners want to raise/questions

At 7.39pm the meeting was opened to the public to raise any questions

Two members of the public wished to speak.

The first resident raised a concern about the water quality in the River Till and to whether the Parish Council were concerned. The resident highlighted that years ago children would play in the River Till building rafts and fishing and the anti-social behaviour the village is experiencing is due to the youths being bored.

The Chairman stated that there are available agencies that this issue could be reported to such as the environmental agency. Agencies responsible should be held to account to make sure they are doing what they should be.

The second resident highlighted a concern in regard to the committee hearing of the proposed puffin crossing. 

The Chairman informed the resident that if there are any further updates regarding the proposed puffin crossing it will be covered in the Parish Council meeting to follow at it is already an ongoing concern.

The meeting was closed at 7.43pm

Signed……………………………………………………………..

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