Friday 15 April 2011

Parish Council Notes - April 2011

The meeting which took place on 14 April was well attended. The Allotments Association have now taken over the extra land and a letter of thanks was read to the Council.

Georgina Harper, the parish clerk for the last five years, is retiring at the end of May. The new clerk is Margaret Davenport (Ovington) and she will take over from June.

A long standing request has been answered - what to do with the old village post box. Bob Klotz is arranging for it to be loaned to Bellingham Museum, where it should have a good home. If there is anybody who has a photograph of the old post office, this would be good to send with the postbox.

The Parish Council are still very concerned about the state of our roads. Some clearing of the gutters has been carried out but still many of the drains have not been cleared and cause very large puddles across the roads. Some potholes on Horsley Road have been cleared but still many remain and the subsidence on Castle View is still giving concern.

Councillor Holden must be congratulated on all his hard work with the Playbuilder Scheme which as I write this is almost finished and by the time you read this we will have had what we hope is going to be a very happy afternoon launching the new play scheme. We hope that the young people will find it a good asset to the village.

Councillor Jordon, together with Councillor Jackson are well on the way with producing the new village plan and their appeal is to everybody for things they feel would improve village life. Please, when you receive your copy, do think, write and return to the Council your "wishes".

For two years now the Council has been producing a monthly magazine which is circulated to all households. However, under the economies which they are having to make this is to be discontinued, though hard copies are to be produced which will be found in some of our libraries.

On a rather sad note - our Community Policeman has reported that there is a crime wave at the moment here in the village on the Piper Road Estate and in Wylam. The police are urging everybody to be vigilant with property and especially cars and their contents.

Additional notes from OPC councillors:-

As you will have read in the notes above, Georgina Harper is retiring at the end of May. The job of parish council clerk involves a wide range of skills including perseverance, diplomacy, flexibility and above all a commitment to the community. Much of the work goes un-noticed by residents. Phone calls, meetings, letters, emails, chasing up un-answered emails, ... the list goes on. Georgina over the last 6 years, has done all of this on our behalf extremely successfully for minimal remuneration but we know with a lot of satisfaction. For that Georgina, on behalf of all the councillors and residents, many, many thanks. We wish you well.