Saints Alive: Stanhoe and Barwick Newsletter

February 2023

Parish Council Matters:–

• January:– was a busy month for the Parish Council. We started with a meeting on the 4th which carried a full agenda. It was decided that all the (previously announced) meeting dates were to become ‘provisional’ and the actual date for a meeting would be confirmed at the preceding meeting. The next meeting will be on Wednesday March 8th and future provisional meeting dates are 10th May, 12th July, 13th September and 8th November. This is to ensure maximum possible attendance by Councillors acknowledging the increasingly busy lives we are all leading.

• Parish Council Elections:– In May we will be electing a new Parish Council (which happens every 4 years). We encourage anyone who has an interest in the wellbeing and management of the village, its safety, care for all and future maintenance and development, to put your names forward. The standard term is 4 years and duties involve attending 6 evening meetings a year in every alternate month (as per this year – see above). We welcome any interested person be they woman or man, young or old for the position of Parish Councillor. If we have more applicants than spaces, we will have a simple ballot in the village.

• Emergency Plan update Volunteer Group:– The Parish Council is working on updating the Emergency Plan following the open meeting. At the meeting the question of Vulnerable People was raised and how to make sure that they would be made aware of an Emergency and take any action if required. There was a suggestion of compiling a list of people who wished to be considered ‘vulnerable’ and to be contacted in the event of an emergency being declared The PC is not able to undertake this and the option of forming a voluntary group to produce, administer and maintain a list seems a good way forwards for this important information. We are looking for volunteers to take this idea on.

• Website:– As most know, we have an outstanding village website which is run by our friend Charles Butcher. This provides an invaluable service in helping the PC meet its transparency obligations (notices of meetings, minutes, accounts, contact details) and the site also has an active diary which is the bit that needs regular updating. In addition there is a wealth of historical information on Stanhoe. It is worth a regular visit to ‘Stanhoe.org’. We repeat our request for anyone who can help maintain these updates.

• Precept:– We have submitted a Precept request of £8,100 for the year commencing May ’23, being 11pct more than the £7,300 last year. This is because we are experiencing higher costs and demands on our resources including the War Memorial, the Playing Field equipment and maintenance, the maintenance of the tree and pond on Cross Lane and more. Please send any comments or queries to our Parish Clerk (below) or come to our next meeting to discuss.

• SAM 2 Speed Sign:– Just because we didn’t report the November figures last time doesn’t mean the sign wasn’t silently working on. In December the sign was at Longwall Barn facing Bircham (and November it was at the Pond facing Burnham Market).

  The top speed recorded was 55 mph (Nov 55 mph too) and the average speed was 30.3 mph (Nov 28.8 mph). The traffic count was 14,701 vehicles (25,651 in Nov – note the Pond site picks up all the traffic coming from the ‘east’, the Longwall site does not show the traffic headed from Docking). But on average we seem to be enjoying about 50,000 vehicles a month. The good news is that the average speeds are coming down (slowly).

• Go to Town Bus Service:– We have just been notified of the cancellation of the existing contract service 21 effective Dec 31st 2022 and the substitution of a new Lynx bus service ‘33’ commencing on January 3rd. Stanhoe is not included in the proposed service. Your Council is making the strongest representations against this surprise decision; please do contact us if you have personal objections and we will do what we can to raise our own in the right quarters.

• Contact:– For any queries re the above and issues or further information please contact our Clerk, Wayne Leighton at ‘parishclerk@stanhoe.org’ or on 01485 518570.

Defibrillator social evening:–

Friday 13th January: What a lovely evening this was, so many people came. We had a talk on how to use the machine and what it does.

There was a very tasty finger buffet. Thank you all who made this a very pleasant evening.

Ann Deam

Celebration of the life of Nigel Wickens:–

Please join us to celebrate and remember the life of Nigel Wickens on Saturday 18th February at All Saints’ Church, Stanhoe, Norfolk PE31 8QL from 2:00-3:00pm followed by tea at Bagthorpe Hall, Bagthorpe, King’s Lynn PE31 6QY, by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Morton.

A selection of Nigel and Terry’s paintings and drawings will be available, in return for cash donations for the Church fund, from 1:00pm. Please RSVP to Laura on 07957545466 / lauranickoll@yahoo.com.

Christmas lights:–

Derek Scales would like to thank everyone for their generosity in making donations for Tapping House in response to his brilliant display of Christmas Lights this year. The collection raised £750. Many heartfelt thanks.

Stanhoe & Barwick WI:–

Thursday 2nd February:– “Lynn as it was”. Michael Aldis gives an illustrated talk.

Thursday 2nd March:– Sound Healing. Sally Collins demonstrates the benefits of sound healing.

Venue:–The Reading Room, Stanhoe. 2:00pm.

Visitors are most welcome; there is a charge of £3. Please contact Valerie (01485 576261) for further details.

Hunstanton and District Community Voices:–

After a busy Christmas season and a well-deserved break, the choir will resume weekly meetings, and begin to focus on a summer repertoire to cover more public performances, and celebrations for the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.

New members are always welcome, whether or not they are already used to singing in a choir - so feel free to try us, free of charge for your first visit.

Meetings at 7:00pm

Venue:– ‘The Way’ Christian Fellowship Hall, Downs Close, Hunstanton PE36 5HU: every Monday until we break for Easter.