Saints Alive: Stanhoe and Barwick Newsletter

September 2023

Parish Council Matters:–

• The draft minutes from the July parish council meeting are already available on Stanhoe.org, but I did want to update you on a few issues that have been bubbling up for a while and that we are now taking steps to resolve.
• First of all, we were very glad to welcome our new Parish Councillors, Wayne Leighton and Neil Shearer at the last meeting, and our new Parish Clerk, Nicola Smith. Many of you will know Wayne who has been the Parish Clerk for some years and knows the village and the role of the Parish Council exceedingly well. Neil has moved to the village fairly recently, but has already become an active member of the community with his involvement in Stanhoe Open Gardens event. Nicola is a Docking resident and has been involved in Parish Council matters in her area, plus some may know her already through her role as President of Stanhoe and Barwick WI.
• At the July PC meeting we also welcomed Councillor Chenery from the County Council and Councillor Sandell from the Borough whose input was much appreciated.
• One of the things we agreed to make the council more productive was to form working groups to address specific items and report back to the whole council at the regular meetings. A working group consisting of Steve Shaw, Neil Shearer and Tim Fitzjohn has already been hard at work - their remit covers Road Safety, Playing Field/Playground, plus village appearance and maintenance. They are pulling together a team to clear the growth round the pond, clean the benches and remove the broken bench by the War Memorial on Thursday 24th August. Incidentally the professional cleaning and maintenance of the War Memorial is due to take place by the end of the summer.

ROAD SAFETY:–

• One of the hot topics currently in the village is road safety. In particular the numerous bad accidents at the Bircham crossroads, and the speed of vehicles and lack of pavements going through the village. We have welcomed several young families to the village recently but walking with buggies and toddlers is simply not safe. In fact anyone, of any age, out for a walk takes their life into their hands. Earlier in the day of the July 19th PC meeting a group of Parish Councillors had met with a representative from the Borough Council Highways department to discuss the various issues. Initial discussions surrounded the installation of TRODS (a lower cost version of a footpath) particularly along the BIrcham Road,a review of speed limits, and lack of drainage.
• Highways agreed that the Bircham crossroads are a real safety concern - agreement was made to make short term improvements as soon as possible such as repainting of the road markings, and to investigate longer term solutions such as the layout of the junction.
• If anyone has any particular concerns or queries concerning this please do let us know - the more information we have to pass on to the Borough Council the more likely we are to get things done.

PLAYGROUND, PLAYING FIELD AND PLAY EQUIPMENT:–

• There have been some problems recently with the maintenance of the playing field and playground, more specifically the cutting of the grass. The contractors, CGM, after numerous reminders from me and the Clerk, have finally accepted that there has been a problem and are promising to ensure the cutting of all areas is carried out in a more timely manner. We will be monitoring their progress closely.
• You may also have noticed that the cone shaped climbing frame has been out of action for some time - some of the rope connectors are broken. After much discussion and deliberation on the cost involved in repairing the equipment it has been decided to remove the offending article entirely and this will happen in the next few weeks.
• The Playground and Playing Field are owned by the MEHM trust (the village hall) and maintained by the Parish Council. So the logical conclusion was to hold a joint meeting to discuss future plans for these village assets. The first meeting of the two groups took place on 7th August and plans were made to meet regularly and to launch a working group to consider the options and opportunities for the playing field and playground - a whole village consultation will be part of the plan going forward.

NEXT MEETING:–

• The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Wednesday 6th September at 6pm in the Village Hall. Please do join us if you can. In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions please contact the Parish Clerk at stanhoe.council@gmail.com.

Mike Wilson, Chair, Stanhoe Parish Council

Stanhoe and Barwick WI news:– Stanhoe Ladies, where are you?

Your WI is still here after 104 years and, in fact, it’s flourishing! We have 41 members but only 4 from the village itself.

• If you enjoy learning about new things,
• visiting gardens,
• trips and visits to a range of places,
• crafts,
• the company of vibrant women,
• meeting new people and eating tea and cake,
• any of these things, then it might be for you?

Some members can only make meetings; others only join in our activities. One thing is certain, whatever they do they are assured of a warm and friendly welcome.

We might just be the WI for you and on your doorstep. We meet in The Reading Room on the first Thursday of each month at 2:00pm.

Thursday 7th September:– Handmade jewellery with Claire Howard

Thursday 5th October:– Norfolk’s Indian Princess, a talk by Juyna Lewis

Thursday 2nd November:– Binham Blue, a talk by Mrs Temple

STANHOE VILLAGE SCREEN:–

are pleased to announce our first film for the Autumn season:

The Day Of The Jackal (PG) (Thriller) on Thursday 28th September at 7:30 pm.

Celebrating the 50th birthday of this classic thriller, based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel. It’s 1962 and Algeria has gained its independence from France. A group of disgruntled army officers have banded together and formed an organisation called the OAS, with the aim of killing President Charles de Gaulle. After several failed attempts and the trial and execution of some of their leaders, the OAS hire an assassin (Edward Fox) in a final attempt to complete the task. He is The Jackal.

Watch the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyBjYTnqomY

VENUE: Stanhoe Reading Room and Village Hall, Cross Lane, PE31 8P

Tickets £5 (CASH ONLY) on the door to include a complimentary drink. Doors open 7:00pm

For further information visit the website: Stanhoe.org (or ring 01485 518191)