Annual Parish Meetings

The Annual Parish Meeting was held on Wednesday 1st April 2026 at 7pm in The Old Schoolroom.

Meeting chaired by Cllr Cook

Present: Parish Clerk, Cllr C Christie, Cllr S Christie, Cllr Capuano, Cllr Calder, Cllr Holtby, Cllr Hawke and

members of the public.

Cllr Cook welcomed everybody to the Annual Parish Meeting 2026

1. Apologies

None- All present.

2. To agree the minutes of the previous Annual Parish Meeting held on 2nd April 2025 

It was AGREED and RESOLVED that the Annual Parish Meeting 2025 minutes be accepted as a true record and approved.

3. Reports from Local Organisations

At 7.02pm the Chairman read out two reports sent from local organisations of whom were absent.

Sturton & Stow Agricultural & Horticultural Association

The 137th Annual Show was a great success again despite the rather windy weather which caused us a few problems on the day but did not put people off from coming and enjoying the show. Entries were up again across all sections, and it was nice to see some new names on the entry forms. We had a good turnout of classic cars, motorbikes & tractors in the school playground. Also the alpacas made a return visit to the show. Our President Rebecca Andrews did a wonderful job of judging the winners for the children’s trophies and the classic car trophy along with presenting the prizes at the end of the show.

This year we have lost one of our biggest sponsors with the closing down of Bradshaws. They have been a big supporter of the show for many years by allowing us to store all our show equipment free of charge in their yard. We have generously been offered space at the Waudby family farm in Stow as a temporary measure until we can confirm plans to have it stored elsewhere in Sturton. This will entail us having to purchase either a container or prefabricated garage out of limited show funds. Bradshaws have also for many years paid for the judge’s lunches at the Cross Keys in Stow on show day as a thank you for giving their time and expertise. At this moment in time we do not know if we can continue to cover the cost of the judge’s lunches which have been a tradition of the show for many years.

Thanks as always go to the show committee who work very hard not just on show day but throughout the year to make this traditional village event a success. Also our thanks go to all our sponsors, the primary school, youth club and to all our volunteer helpers.

At 7.05pm Cllr Mullally joined the meeting.

Sturton & Stow History Society

We have once again had a full year of talks on some very varied topics from the history of stained glass in Lincoln Cathedral to Lawrence of Lincolnshire. We finished the year in December with a wonderful social evening on Christmas Customs an illustrated talk with music & song. In general, our talks are well attended but despite advertising the talk each month through posters and social media we are still struggling to attract new people.

We have also found that speakers have gradually been increasing their fees which as a small group means that some possibly interesting talks are beyond our budget. We are reluctant to increase our entry fee as we are not trying to make a profit but provide an interesting evening’s entertainment for everyone. 

At 7.06pm a representative of the Bowls Club shared his report.

The group meets on Monday evenings at Sturton by Stow Village Hall. We are grateful to have been awarded a grant for 2026/27, which will allow us to purchase a new set of bowls.

During the summer and autumn months, we usually have between 14 and 16 members attending on most Monday evenings, excluding bank holidays. When attendance reaches 16, we are able to use two mats.  With 18 members now in the group, we need to prepare for using three mats.

Attendance tends to drop during the winter period, particularly on dark evenings. However, the cost of hiring the Village Hall means that we will need to increase the subscription fee to help cover expenses.

Bowls evenings provide a valuable opportunity for members to meet socially, catch up, and enjoy time together as a group.

At 7.08pm a representative shared a report on behalf of the Youth Club.

The Youth Club offers a safe place for young people two nights a week. This has been a strong year for the Youth Club from a slow start. Before summer there had been some unacceptable behavioural issues which resulted in the Alton Towers trip not going ahead. However, these issues have been resolved and Go Karting and Alton Towers trips are being arranged for this year. Tough actions on the behaviour have resulted in changes for the good and members are more respectful than previously. We have new members on our committee, with another leader starting shortly, as well as new members to the Youth Club.

The highlights of the year have been Bonfire Night, which was a huge success where we sell Glo sticks to raise funding and the Agricultural Show, where we sell teas and cakes, again to raise funds. Bowling is always a great favourite where we go to Lincoln. We have also hired a bouncy castle and inflatable assault course and outsourced a football coach.

Our in-house activities give our members great evenings where they play various sports, including dodge ball, which is a favourite, football, netball, pool, we use the kitchen for making pizzas in our new pizza oven and use the air fryer for other cooking activities.  We have new computer stools which have replaced the very old and tatty ones 

Thank you to the Parish Council for making this all possible

At 7.10pm a two representatives from the Judo Club read out their reports.

I am Matt Williamson, Head Coach of Sturton Judo Club. I would like to start by thanking the Parish Council for their support of our club. We have lots of plans to keep the club growing including introducing a Judo Tots session for 3- to 4-year-olds and a Finding Your Feet programme. The Finding Your Feet programme is all about older members of society learning to land safely and will be greatly aided by the equipment we will be purchasing including some specifically designed safety mats. The additional equipment will also allow us to bring more events and competitions to Sturton helping further cement our standing within British Judo.

I have been at Sturton Judo Club since it was first formed and now 35 years later, I am proud to have taken over from my original instructor and founder Steve McConville. We have a strong team of coaches working together to develop the club more with the aim of one day having a homegrown Olympian. We already have the accolade to be able call Jack Hodgson (Paralympian) a former club member, who still regularly visits and supports us.

Since the November 2025 Sturton by Stow PC meeting Sturton Judo Club has continued to enjoy success and opportunities for the members.

These have included:

• Being granted entry to the British judo Association increasing the number of opportunities to compete and upskill
• Coach Terri being awarded her 1st Dan black belt
• Head Coach Matt Williamson being awarded his 3rd Dan black belt.
• Coach Joana took the bronze medal at the Portuguese National Championships and also the bronze medal at the British National Championships earlier this year
• Paralympian and 2025 European IBSA Judo Silver medallist Jack Hodgson gave another incredible masterclass
• The SJC coaches received a rare and highly sought after opportunity – they were invited to receive a masterclass from UK’s most decorated and successful judoka Neil Adams (2 x World Champion and 2 x Olympic Silver medallist)
• 3 of SJC’s primary / junior players were nominated by the National Squad coaches and have made it to the final shortlist of the primary / junior squad Player of the Year at the British Judo Council Annual Awards
• The club has some amazing support from the members too, for example: one of the mum’s – Leanne – has raised an incredible £279.15 by running the Retford Half marathon
• The Instagram pages continue to be a great success, raising the profile of this fantastic community club

The club is continuing to grow and welcomes everyone regardless of age or ability. The coaches continue to develop their skills and knowledge to pass on to members and help every one of them reach their full potential, and at the heart of it all the club is guided by the judo moral code and the belief that judo should be available to everyone.

Finally, I would like to finish off by saying thank you to you all once again for all your support, we couldn’t do it without you. We are very excited to see where the club goes over the next few years.

At 7.15pm a report was shared on behalf of the Sturton Swans W.I.

Over the last year we have taken part in a variety of activities.

Our meetings started off the year with a very interesting talk by Dr Nicola Crewe, who gave us some interesting facts about the food we eat before it reaches our plates!! We have delighted in eating and buying some delicious chocolate and heard all about the nefarious goings on in the bloody tower, at the Tower of London.  Our Garden party was again a rousing success with two husbands taking on Chef’s duties. We have played Bingo and looked at the art of Felting. We were joined by some of our husbands to listen to a fascinating talk about the Falklands war. Some members found one meeting a costly meet buying Handbags but also hearing a very interesting talk on the history of the handbag.  We have debated the five resolutions put to us by NFWI, voting for   Accessible public toilet facilities to promote dignity, health, and social inclusion

Meetings have also included craft evenings, music quizzes and games.

Our monthly attendance at the tabletop sale cooking bacon and serving tea and coffee has been successful with the village hall committee donating £150 to our funds.

Our Spring Extravaganza held last month was a success, we raised just over £500. We will be donating £400 to Bob’s Brainwaves a Dementia charity. We are holding a fashion show in September.

Our bi-monthly lunches out around the county are well attended and some members meet on the first Friday in the month for coffee and sometimes breakfast at the Cross Keys.

Members have been involved in Federation activities attending the jigsaw challenge, which our team won!! Show the love, Health and Well Being Day workshop, Ladies who lunch and coffee mornings. The federation events are open to all members and are currently offering a Days shooting, a trip to see the late queen’s extensive wardrobe and a visit to the theatre at Tolthorpe.

As part of the Trentside group several members attended the Trentside Carol concert and an evening with Queen Elizabeth the 1st

Some members attended the performances of the LAODS theatre group Christmas show.

It is the North Federations turn to be at the Lincolnshire show with their catering marque which includes the competitions and other stalls. Members are helping at this show as well as the Carrington Steam rally.

We continue to have 27 members registered this year but are always looking to recruit, the committee intend to work towards a recruitment campaign later in the year.

At 7.18pm a report from the Recreation Ground Committee was shared.

Unfortunately, this season we lost out football team, which means we have lost a big chunk of our income. We have informed the football league that we have a pitch available for hire, so hopefully we can find a team to regularly use the pitch.

We had a very successful bonfire nights, it was one of our best ones yet, this bought a profit of £13,111. Sadly, the Bradshaws have now got their lorry park up for sale so we could lose car parking for about 120 cars. We are keeping our options open at the moment, but we will need to find more parking or limit tickets. If this happens, we won’t get the food vans that pay to trade on the night, alongside this the cost of fireworks keeps going up. We are unsure at the moment what course of action to take.

I would like to thank the Parish Council for their grant with purchasing a defibrillator, this has been paid for and we are awaiting delivery. It will be installed as soon as possible.

We have not gone ahead with the purchase of the new play multi piece play equipment as we are worried about the vandalism on the recreation field that we have been experiencing lately. With the uncertainty of income, we would be unable to keep up with repairs for a larger unit if it was to be subjected to ASB.

We may have to look at getting something a bit smaller so that we can keep some funds as back up for repairs and maintenance.

The litter bin problem is in hand; it is due to be welded and repaired and hopefully won’t be long before the one near the skate park is replaced.

Thank you to the Parish Council for their continued support.

Cllr C Christie questioned when the new goal posts will be installed. The representative responded stating that they will be up September time for the next season.

Cllr C. Christie asked about the children who had been building ramps at the edge of the recreational field and whether this activity had been permitted. The representative explained that the children had approached her to request permission. An agreement had been reached that the ramps should not extend beyond the tree lines. She was satisfied that the children were keeping themselves occupied, behaving responsibly, and clearing up after themselves.

At 7.22pm the representative from the Youth Club stated that the Youth Club have regular conversations about ASB, vandalism and behaviour We are aware who is causing the damage and who isn’t. We urge parents to keep an eye on your children as fires have been lit and they can soon get out of control.

The group building bike ramps certainly are a completely different group of children. I have had the joy of speaking to them and hearing their plans for the area.

At 7.25pm the Chairman of the village hall shared her report.

It’s been a relatively quiet year due to the focus being on the kitchen refurbishment. After months of jumping through hoops, John and Ali successfully secured the grant from FCC. Along with the PC grant, a very impressive refit was completed. The formal opening on April 4th was a hit. Martin Cook and Lynda Mullally did the opening speech, and the WI provided their services in the kitchen, as they do on a monthly basis for which we are very grateful and thank them for.

The saga of the water leak continues; to date incoming pipework replaced and A-jet drains will complete their part by the end of the month. If it turns out we have no leak we will be requesting full reimbursement from Anglian Water for our costs.

We have appointed a new cleaner. Cindy is thrilled to be part of the team and proud to be doing her bit for the community.

Future projects- the hairdresser’s room is to be redecorated, new flooring and a new chair. Trying to make it a more inviting environment. Although the hairdresser is still unsure if she’s returning.

Regular groups continue to support us, with judo now 3x per week with an additional 6-week course starting this month called finding your feet, about breaking the cycle of the fear of falling by learning new techniques for a safe fall, improving balance and coordination through light exercises.

Line dancing continues to be very popular with 2 sessions per week.  

The monthly tabletop sale continues to generate a profit of around £900 p/a. It’s a large commitment for us but still consider it worthwhile.

Our team of helpers are very much appreciated for turning up at short notice to help set up and pack away tables. Huge thanks to them for their time.

Hire charges have been increased for the first time in two years as of 1st February, heating tokens remain the same.

No PC grants have been applied for this year as we were requesting funding from FCC.

At the parish council meeting we thanked them for the grant awarded to us 25/26 of £1,850 which helped towards the kitchen refurbishment, and we also thanked them for their continued support.

As for this committee, we lost three members but gained one, Claire Boatwright who has been an asset to the team. I would particularly like to thank John Leggott for his continued roll as our treasurer, Ali Dudley as secretary and Amanda Davey for our backup secretary. But equally, a huge thank you to all of the committee for their dedication and hard work. We make a good team!

At 7.27pm two representatives of the warm space group shared an update.

We are big users of the refurbished kitchen. The Community Café, supported by ACIS, the Parish Council and the Sturton by Stow Village Hall continue to run a by-weekly in summer and weekly in winter social café attracting local residents and surrounding communities. The group has also greatly benefited from the dedicated support of Cllr Lynda Mullally who volunteers at the cafe and has helped group attendants with sign-posting contacts.

Preceding the café a popular Well Being walk provides the opportunity for those who can join of making friends while stretching their legs. 

Attendance is increasing, around 10 people each time attend the walk and up to 20/25 join the café in the Village Hall.

This facility is really important, regular commers tell us how much they value the service and stories from those who say sometimes it is the only opportunity they get for social interaction are testament to how important it is to this community.

Acis are supporting the community café until the end of June, we will be meeting bi-weekly until then. Funding beyond June is uncertain.

The group appreciate the support of the Parish council and the Village Hall to ensure continuity. 

At 7.28pm the Chairman from FOSSA shared an update.

Following the kind grant donation from the parish council towards the promotion of wellbeing in school. FOSSA have been able to provide school with lots of new resources such as; books, a calm cat and lap buddy. A wellbeing area is due to be implemented in the playground, this will feature a new bench and planters, FOSSA will go into school to help the children with the planting. This space will allow children to sit and chat with friends, to promote wellbeing. School have a recognised group of student wellbeing champions; our resources have aided weekly sessions of wellbeing club which has proved very popular with the school children.

May saw our first ever Family Colour Dash event which was greatly received by children, parents and school staff. It was an excellent, fun way of raising funds for school. We are hoping to hold a similar event this year.

As we entered the summer months, we continued our fundraising efforts at the school sports days. We also held our summer fair in conjunction with the annual football tournament to increase footfall. We hosted our first car boot sale in the school carpark, it was great to see the village turn out for this, attendance was good and a real community event.

Autumn and winter traditionally host most of our fundraising events. Notoriously, the village bonfire night in November, where we have the honour of working closely with the Rec Committee to provide an affordable and successful family event for the local community.

FOSSA paid for the whole school to visit the theatre in December to see ‘Robin Hood’, again the response was fantastic, and the children had an exceptional day out. During December we also provided the ‘pick it and wrap’ experience for the children, sold refreshments at the nativity performances and earned a commission through the children’s festive artwork with Cauliflower Cards.

So far this year, we’ve held a wacky hair day in school, hosted a valentine’s disco, sold refreshments at the ‘Music Spectacular’ event in school and most recently, held our annual and extremely popular Family Easter Bingo, which raised in excess of £900 alone.

All in all, we’ve had a fantastic year of fundraising for our school thanks to the Parish Council funding. We could always benefit from more committee members, but we do currently have a great team. Our new Headteacher began her post in January and we’re looking forward to working with school to provide a better learning environment for all our children moving forward.

At 7.30pm the Community Speed watch Lead shared an update

The Sturton by Stow Community Speed Watch group currently has eleven members that put on five or six one-hour speed watch sessions each month in Sturton by Stow and Bransby

This is an important initiative that aims to reduce speeding and to improve driver behaviour in the villages.  It has the support of the Parish Council, Lincolnshire Police, and the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

In total forty-one sessions went ahead in 2025 with a further seventeen being cancelled by bad weather or lack of volunteers.  So far ten sessions have taken place in 2026 with a further fourteen planned running through to the end of June.

In 2025 on average 300 vehicles were recorded in each session with 4.5% travelling at 35 mph or more so speeding is still a problem.

Two new locations have been added recently.  One by the Old Garage on Saxilby Road and one on Stow Road where the speed limit changed last year from 40 mph to 30 mph.  In addition, the group continues to monitor vehicle speeds at three locations on Tillbridge Road, two locations on Marton Road and by School Lane and Queensway.

The CSW Team are excited to hear of the new speed indicator devices funded by the parish council to help reduce speed and look forward to seeing them up and running soon.

We have notice that some of the CSW 30mph have sadly been vandalised.

The clerk informed the CSW Lead that she was awaiting delivery on two replacement signs.

He volunteered to reposition the signs higher up the poles to help deter anti-social behaviour (ASB). He also agreed to turn the signs around so that they face approaching traffic, reposition any existing signs where necessary, and reset them to the correct height if they slip down the posts.

The Community Speed Watch team is always looking for more volunteers so if people are concerned about the speed of vehicles travelling through the village and have an hour or two to spare each month, they would be made most welcome (full training and equipment is provided).

At 7.34pm Cllr Holtby gave a report on behalf The Sturton and District Shed Club

Sturton and district shed club have had another successful year at Bransby Horses. At present we have over 30 members, some who are just supportive, but the majority are active members. As you know the aim of the club is to help with health and wellbeing and prevent isolation and is open to all. The members come from not just Sturton, but from other villages around the area.

This past year has seen the completion of installing a third cabin, putting a roof over the top of the cabins, and creating an outdoor undercover work area and paving out said area. We continue to take on various projects, such as hedgehog houses, a finial for the flagpole in Sturton, a Parish Council Office sign, Christmas and birthday boxes, bat boxes for the local community and other individuals to help raise funds and awareness of the club.

Last year, the new gardening section of the club took off and proved quite successful, and members are just starting to prepare for the forthcoming year.

We continue to make small improvements within the club and will shortly be focusing on improving the car parking area to the side of the cabins.

We wish to thank the Parish Council for their continued support for our club.

4. To receive a report from the Chairman of the Parish Council

The Chairman thanked the local organisations that attended and for their contributions to the Annual Parish Meeting.

Cllr Cook shared hard copies of the Chairmans report.

This has been an especially busy and challenging year for your volunteer Parish Council, starting as it did with relentless rain and severe flooding, which sadly made its’ way into several properties. We are still facing the aftermath, with some residents being flooded yet again, and your Parish Council continues to press for effective action from the various authorities concerned. Our open public meeting with Anglian Water does seem to have driven several areas of improvement, and ongoing Council meetings with Anglian Water, Highways and the Flood Prevention Forum are expected to give us further successes in reducing the impact on the village, and those who travel through it. Your Councillors have engaged in walkabouts of our whole parish, identifying any areas of concern; the Council has also installed more sandbag bins, so that in any future times of crisis, residents have the materials available to protect their homes. Any residents or landowners with ditches, dykes and culverts next to their properties are reminded of their riparian responsibilities to keep them clear, thus enabling surface water to find a way out of the village. Our meetings are very often complicated by the attention which needs to be given to planning applications, and any residents thinking of new buildings or alterations are implored to think of the land drainage implications, as well as the “look” of Sturton.

The Council has been saddened by the resignation of Cllr. Dennis Taylor, who has served us for so long- his massive historical and detailed knowledge of the local area and people has been of immense value to us. We wish him a happy “retirement”, since stalwarts such as Dennis never really retire! We were fortunate to welcome Anthony Capuano, a retired GP, onto the Council, who has brought fresh energy into our efforts to serve our community, and have also just co-opted Philipa Calder to add her expertise as another Councillor. We still need more volunteers to bring us up to full strength!

We are also in the process of inducting further specialist volunteers to undertake emergency plan and safety work on our behalf.

The West Lindsey precept which funds our works in the village is informed by a budget drawn up by the Council, and we have worked hard to keep our cost increases down for the coming year to no more than inflation. We continuously look for value for money in all of the contracts that we place on your behalf (grass cutting, tree management, playpark maintenance etc.), even reducing costs with two-year contracts where possible. This then enables us to better fund the village groups which apply to us for support grants 

You may not be aware that the litter-picking and small maintenance jobs quietly carried out throughout the year are performed by part-time employees of the Parish Council- our thanks to them as always; I would also like to express the appreciation of the PC towards Susan, our Old School Room cleaner, as well as the volunteers who open and close the playpark, distribute our village newsletter, (and Muriel who edits it!), and everybody who pitches in to the upkeep of Jubilee Wood.

Remember that the Old School Room is available for hire- ask Stacey for details.

As a Parish Council, we have been called upon to give our opinion on the Government-imposed reorganisation of local authorities into new unitary authorities. We tended to agree with the West Lindsey view that “no change” was the preferred option, but that was not one of the choices offered! We shall see how it plays out after the public consultation, and how- if at all- it increases the workload of town and parish councils in the County.

I would urge all residents to help us where you can, by using the Fix My Street app to report infrastructure issues around the village. This makes authorities such as Anglian Water, Highways, and West Lindsey aware; the more reports there are, the greater likelihood there is of early attention. This also applies to the sad occasions of antisocial behaviour we sometimes see. The more times this is reported to the police, the more chance there will be of something being done by their stretched resources.

The village Speed watch group does so much to try and prevent vehicles speeding through our village, stirling volunteer work! Do offer your services to help them if you can. Inconsiderate and unlawful parking is becoming of increasing concern: all motorists parking in the village are especially asked to park legally and wholly on the road, not on the pavement or verges- this may incidentally help to slow down traffic passing through, too.

Stacey Hoyland is our hard-working Parish Clerk, and our only full-time employee; especial thanks for her hard work on keeping on top of the detail in everything, particularly in the keeping of our financial records- governed by ever-increasing regulation!

We are working on a new development to encourage residents and visitors alike to use the footpaths in the countryside around the village, with leaflets and signposts to make them more of a feature. The launch of the scheme is aimed at later this Spring.

With thanks to all of my fellow Councillors for all of their time and effort over the last year.

5. Questions raised by the Parish Residents. An opportunity to discuss matters of interest to the community.

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

No members of the community wished to raise any questions.

The Chairman thanked all those who have attended and contributed to the meeting and also for the continuous support District Councillor Mullally. He mentioned that are vacancies on the parish council should anyone be interested to join see the clerk for further information.

The Chairman informed the public that the Parish Council will to continue to address flooding and speeding concerns to make our village roads safer.

The Annual Parish Meeting was closed at 7.40pm.

Signed……………………………………………………………..

Date…………………………………………………………………