Saints Alive: Stanhoe and Barwick Newsletter

March 2010

The Flower Show

The 2010 Flower Show (our 25th) will take place on Saturday 7th August in the village hall. New schedules have been printed and will be delivered shortly to every house in the village so that an early start can be made on entries. The willing ladies of the WI have to do a lot of preparatory work behind the scenes to put on the show. We should be grateful to have some more help from anyone in the village willing to give time on the morning of the show to help stewarding for the judges, and in the afternoon for helping with the raffle. Please ring the show secretary (Rosemary Brown) now on 518277 if you could volunteer your help.

Stanhoe Social Club

It is with deep regret that the Stanhoe & Barwick Social Club committee has to announce that there is no longer a Social Club in the village. Due to lack of support from villagers, this amenity has now been disbanded due to the lack of helpers to open the bar and help with Bingos and Quizzes. There will be a sale of all the remaining bar stock and this will be announced at a later date. The committee have agreed to donate all the income that is presently in the bank to the MEHM Trust to help with the upkeep of the hall. The hall will still be available for hire, but sadly there will be no bar for any function. So through lack of use and support the Social Club is no longer. The committee would like to thank all those who have supported and assisted with the Social Club over the years. (J. Lough).

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COST OF HIRING THE HALL TO VILLAGERS IS £6 per hour.

Stanhoe Open Day – Gardens & Hog Roast – Saturday 22nd May 2010

This year instead of only having the Gardens Open, the PCC have decided on a change of direction and hope to involve as many people from the village as possible. Changing from Sunday to Saturday we are planning the following:

2pm–5.30pm

• Gardens Open with stalls and a raffle
• Teas
• An Exhibition by the WI and a Stanhoe Archive IT presentation in the church.

From 6pm

• An evening of fun on the playing field.
• Hog Roast (tickets at £6 available nearer the event).
• Auction of Promises to include “Watch an Archers Episode being recorded, Meet the Cast and come away with a “signed script” package auctioned by Tim Bentinck (aka David Archer).

 

Flights over Stanhoe and along the coast – in a vintage aircraft. By arrangement and with a contribution to All Saints Church, Stanhoe.

Please put 22nd May in your diaries and take part in this special village day. Further details of the event will be in the next edition of Saints Alive. Enquiries to Pen Roche 01485 518324.

Community Information Point

The grand opening will take place on Tuesday 9th March between 10 and 11.30am (see separate information leaflet). Refreshments will be available. Everyone is welcome, whether or not you expect to make use of the computer facilities – please come along, find out more, and make this a social village event. The CIP will open on Tuesdays 10–11.30, and Fridays 8.30–10pm: as wireless broadband is available, you can bring your own laptop to sessions if you wish.

Art Classes

We have some new members and the classes are still proving successful and enjoyable. More members would be welcome, so if you have always wanted to draw or paint, or you have done some and would like to do more, come along and join in. Bring your own paper and drawing/painting supplies; any medium except oils. Take advantage of the warmer, lighter weather. 9.30–11.30 Friday mornings from 26th February to 26th March.

Wind farm community liaison group

A meeting took place recently, to establish a ‘CLG’ within the four parishes which would be affected if the Jack’s Lane wind farm were built. The role and membership of the CLG was discussed and decided – this is to be a permanent role lasting as long as necessary, possibly up to and including the decommissioning of the proposed Jack’s Lane Wind Farm in 25 years time!

No assumptions should be made that the parish councillors on the CLG are either for or against the proposal for a wind farm at Jack’s Lane. Future CLG meetings will be open to the public, with a limited opportunity to ask questions.

Proposed plan to close Docking Waste Centre

On Friday evening 12th February, the Ripper Hall at Docking was overflowing with members of the public ready to hear the County Council’s proposals to shut down the Docking waste centre.

It was not long after Cllr. Ian Monson started speaking, that it became clear that this was not a consultative meeting, as the Council had already decided to close the waste centre. The decision was to be confirmed on Monday 15th February.

Initially Mr Monson seemed under the impression that he was only there to give details as to why the tip would be closing. Members of the public from all over the area soon began to question the Cllr. after informing him that there had been no consultation at all and little warning of the closure.

Mr Terry Austin, Stanhoe’s Parish Chairman, together with other Parish Council representatives, confirmed that Parish Councils had also not heard of the proposal. Even some County Councillors present had not known it was to close.

Questions and comments were fired at Mr Monson from all parts of the hall indicating the opposition to closure. He was clearly unaware of the need to provide this service at Docking despite the difficulties being experienced at the Heacham tip.

Several speakers questioned the figures relating to tonnages, re-cycling and other figures etc. Apparently the saving likely to be made by closure was as little as £115,000 and this calculation had been made without consideration of many other relevant aspects. Reluctantly, Mr Monson appreciated that we were all going to incur extra costs taking waste to other more distant tips, but he did not seem unduly concerned.

Amidst noisy disbelief, he said that fly-tipping would not be a problem after closure. It was not long before the public let him know that they had no confidence in either his judgements or that he would put our case before his colleagues on the 15th.

However, by the end of the stormy meeting he was beginning to realise that he had a duty to present our case. A vote to have the decision referred back to a later date was agreed unanimously. The local County Councillor, Michael Cheney, promised to be at the meeting to check that Mr Monson would honour this request. SO, WATCH THIS SPACE!