Clerk's Notes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on the 11 May 2023
Clerk’s Notes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at Sedgebrook Social Club at
7.00 pm on Thursday 11 May 2023
Present: Chairman Clive Wood of Sedgebrook Parish Council together with Councillor Richard Davies, Mrs J Bratton (Parish Clerk) and 12 members of the public.
1 Chairman’s Welcome – the Chairman welcomed everyone to the Parish Meeting and stated that since the last Parish Meeting we have had three prime ministers, two monarchs but only one Parish Council! We have just had the local elections.
2 Apologies: Apologies were received from Samantha Wade, Sue Ashby, County Councillor Mark Whittington, District Councillors Pamela Bosworth and Robert Leadenham, Leanne Barr, Simon Bradley, Barbara Mooney and Geraldine Cook.
3 To approve the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on the 12 May 2022 - The minutes were approved and signed.
4 Any Matters Arising from those minutes - none.
5 Chairman’s Report – the Chair introduced all the Parish Councillors to the meeting who had been re-elected to the Parish Council – the changes to The Green being completed by Vice Chair, Gill Mahoney (assisted by David, her husband) has been a tremendous help to the village. Gill has obtained nearly £31000 in total, which includes funding for the playground equipment, fencing and from the Lottery. Jane Denton has organised the planters which are sitting on the new paving around the flagpole; Jane also keeps us in line with financial matters. Christine Warby knows where to find out information and knows people who do things - she has filled the telephone box with paintings by the primary school children. It is very rare to see litter in the village and this is due to Stephen, our Community Cleaner, who is doing an excellent job in picking up the litter. The Clerk was also thanked for her role on the Council. The Ukrainian war has affected the Parish Council’s budget – the precept has been increased by 3% for YE 2024. We are facing 10 to 15% increase in the cost of stationery etc and we are keeping the costs to a minimum by cutting down on meetings and printing. Sedgebrook continues to be a great place to live with our Social Club, our marvellous church, the Whitehouse Nursery – a thriving working farm in the centre of the village and also Manor Farm on Allington Road.
6 Report from Councillor Richard Davies (Lincolnshire County Council’s Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport & IT) – The county of Lincolnshire has the fourth longest road network in the country with very little trunk road – the A1 and A52 are looked after by National Highways. Of the £800M funding 80% goes to Adult Social Care. 4000 people are employed by LCC. Of the £12.5M budget for roads £400M is actually required to get the roads back to the standard they should be – the county’s roads are now at their ‘end-of-life’ stage. The Council are undertaking a “risk-based” approach and are only repairing the sections of road which need doing. They are now working smarter by returning material back to the road. It was noted that temperatures reaching 45/46o C affect the road surface. Water flooding is causing the most amount of work – 5 years ago there were 15 events of flooding in the County and last year there were 147 events. Currently there are 78 ongoing investigations where people have been flooded in their houses. To put in new piping to stop the flooding coming from the A52 into the village would cost in excess of £1M. New foam-based material is being trialled on Allington Lane. Allington Road is due to be refurbished.
The Grantham Southern Relief Road is due to be completed at the end of 2025 and with the bridge being in place will relieve the A52. They will then be in a strong position to look at how the traffic flows. Ahead of the construction of housing, under Section 106 agreements, the planning authority obtained developer contributions of £8-£12000 per house built – for a primary and a secondary school and LCC secured £20M towards the relief road.
A new bus service from Vectare is operating in the village – Councillor Davies said “use it, or lose it” as not many people are currently using the trains or buses – a parishioner said the 18-seater bus is much better.
The A1 has more HGVs than the M1 and once every fortnight the A1 is closed due to an accident and the Government is not doing anything about it. The A1 from Peterborough to Blythe is the most dangerous stretch of road.
Regarding the future of local government in the County, it is likely we are going to see unitary authorities in the future which will cut costs (there so much duplication currently in processes).
7 Short reports from District/County Councillors – due to Kelham Cooke losing his seat in the elections, the County Councillor and District Councillors were meeting to elect their new Conservative leader and so were unable to attend our meeting. County Councillor Mark Whittington and District Councillors Pamela Bosworth and Hannah Westropp have helped us tremendously with their support on various issues and we were thankful of their recent funding for various projects.
8 Short reports from village organisations
8a Community Speed Watch – See Appendix A for the full report which David Mahoney gave to the meeting.
8b Social Club – Andrew Burgess informed the meeting they held their AGM in March and it will be Simon Bradley’s second term as Chairman. The Club is doing well and they have introduced three new beers on the pumps. The bar is now opening at 5 pm on Fridays. The downside has been the energy crisis – they were paying £48 per month for electricity, and it had increased to £480 per month. The old cooler has now been changed with a total of £4000 being spent in the cooler room and the energy usage has been cut. The Club have £17000 in the bank and they have acquired some second-hand chairs. Ten new tables will shortly be delivered. On the 24th July the main hall will be repainted. The Boiler Room will be changing into a servery. Howdens have donated a kitchen to the Club. The annual membership fee has been increased to £15 per annum. There are plenty of regular hirers of the main hall. Without the District Council’s grant of £10000 during the pandemic the Club would not have survived.
8c Allington with Sedgebrook Primary School – Jo Leech gave a report on behalf of Leanne Barr as the Head Teacher was unable to attend. Twelve children attend from Sedgebrook and 95 children attending from Allington and the surrounding areas. The children attended the Harvest Festival and also the Mothering Sunday service.
They continue to be very successful in sport – many Y2 to Y6 children have been playing netball, Kesteven Rugby, attended the Cricket Festival – small success in the swimming gala this year. The children have been collecting items for the Food Bank and have been supporting Turkey’s Earthquake Appeal. They have had many inspiring visitors over the past year. After 17 years, Leanne Barr, the Head Teacher, is retiring. Allington with Sedgebrook is one of the top primary schools in the country.
8d Sedgebrook Craft Club – Jane Denton read out her report – see Appendix B for her full report.
8e The Green – update from Vice Chair Gill Mahoney – see Appendix C for the full update.
8f St Lawrence Church
i Markham Museum and Heritage Group – Elisabeth Carnell read her report – see Appendix D
ii Jenny Stuart had guided us through her display. A free copy of the Markham Bear book will be given to each nursery child. The church is the focal point in the community and it is open every day from 10 am to 4 pm. It was open 48 hours following the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Bell ringers can peel the bells and there is a new set of handbells. A new “Lego” club is also being started. The nursery children come in quite often. There are some quiet times for people who are in trouble. Monthly afternoons for tea and cake are also held - £155 has been raised for Marie Curie. At the Coronation picnic they held a fete which raised £500. It is a church that “gives” rather than asking for things. Thanks were also given to so many people who clean the church, do the flowers and wind the clock etc.
iii Alan Cook is the Church Warden who looks after the building – following an inspection there was a major problem with one of the bars of the church which had collapsed in the nave. A grant of £3000 had been obtained to put the matter right and it is now secure. Planning permission and land registry for the new extension to the graveyard has been organised. There is an archway to the new graveyard which they were waiting for the Bishop to consecrate. The grass-cutting in the churchyard is done voluntarily. There has been an issue with the alarm system – the sensors in the roof of the church were replaced a week ago and the situation is being monitored. Thanks were given to Alan for obtaining trees/hedging from the Woodland Trust and for organising labour from the Probation Service who did an excellent job in planting the trees/hedging.
8g The Twinning Association – the Clerk read out Susan Ashby’s report – see Appendix E
9 Invitation to the public to raise any matters of interest - A member of the public thanked the Parish Council for all their hard work for the village.
In his closing comments, the Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting. There is such a lot going on in Sedgebrook and the village has been brought back to life following Covid and it is a village that so many people would love to live in.
The meeting closed at 9.20 pm.
APPENDIX A
The Sedgebrook Community Speed Watch started four years ago. With a current team of seven active volunteers from the village, we aim to perform two speed watch sessions per month. After allowing for holiday periods and weather, we achieve around twenty sessions per year.A session lasts for one hour and we monitor all traffic in both directions. To achieve this we need a team of three people each session. The average number of vehicles travelling along Allington Roadis in excess of two thousand per day. The numbers passing our check point varies, dependent on the time of day. We average around one hundred and fifty vehicles per session.
The vast majority of drivers adhere to the speed limit, but there is around five percent who don't. We record all the vehicles exceeding the speed limit and these details are forwarded to the Lincolnshire Speed Watch HQ which is part of the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.All speeding drivers receive an appropriate warning letter and/or visit from the police. However, our prime objective is to change people's driving habits and to this end we believe we're having an impact. During our most recent speed watch session we recorded no speeding drivers.
We are always looking for more volunteers and if you can help,or know someone who can, you will be most welcome.
David Mahoney
Co-ordinator for the Sedgebrook Community Speed Watch
11 May 2023
APPENDIX B
Sedgebrook Craft Club
This was the brainchild of Sandi, a Sedgebrook resident, and started off in September 2022 in the Social Club. It is on a Tuesday afternoon between 2 and 4pm.
For a couple of pounds (to cover the Social Club fees) you can join with like minded people to work on your own projects with a hot drink, biscuit and company.
A variety of crafts from knitting and crochet to mending, embroidery, felting, painting – whatever you are working on you are more than welcome to come along. There is nearly always someone on hand with advice if you need it. We are really open to anything and can learn new skills as well!
The group shortened some curtains for the club, have been making hats for Ukraine and also knitting squares to be made into blankets.
So if you have the time and are making something please come along!
Jane Denton
Craft Club Report 2022/23
APPENDIX C
The Green
As you all know from last year's Annual Parish Meeting, The
Parish Council received £10,000.00 from The National Lottery
Community Fund.
With these funds, we have been able remove the sweet horse
chestnut tree which was over mature. We had previously had a
survey and been advised that, unfortunately, all its major limbs
were also failing and it needed to be felled. Simpson
Arboriculture completed this work. This was replaced by a
mature Hornbeam purchased from Majestic trees.
As a Parish Council we have to get at least three quotations for
all work on which The Parish Council wishes to embark Not an
easy task sometimes. After meeting with eight contractors to
get quotations for the paving work, five of which failed to send
written quotations, Neil McBride was given the contract and I
cannot praise him highly enough. He, with his team of two,
were brilliant.
We are in the process of installing a Lectern, purchased from
Fitzpatrick Woolmer. This information board is being collated by
Elizabeth Cornell, our local historian. DV8Design is doing the
digital art work and Richard Coppin is free drawing the map of
Sedgebrook. We are hoping to have this installed in June.
Vice Chair Gill Mahoney
10 May 2023
APPENDIX D
Markham Museum and Heritage Group Report for 2022/3
The museum has remained open for visitors throughout the year. Three main displays:
• 'Sedgebrook in the News in 1952' for the late Queen's Diamond Jubilee, including a front cover of Country Life for May 1952 featuring Lady Caroline.
• 'Industry, Design and Innovation' for the HOD event in September. Displays covered each of these headings to highlight Sedgebrook's changing landscape due to industry, transport, farming and design from pre-Conquest to post-Millennium. A separate display was set up on site at The Grange for the HOD weekend and Jess of Manor Farm conducted farm tours.
• Remembrance Sunday display. This display included research into two men who lost their lives in WW1 not previously recorded as connected to Sedgebrook, who attended Sedgebrook Elementary School and lived at Mill Farm cottages and/or Breeder Hills.
Resources added to the archives include the first two Parish Council Minute books (1894-1970s), designs done for a village sign in 2000, artist's impression of the village green upgrade and photos.
Many positive comments were left by visitors to the church and museum.
The children's story book about Markham Bear's first visit to St Lawrence Church, is finally underway. Although the target to have it completed during 2022 was not met, we are confident it will be completed this year.
The Heritage Group met nine times through the year. Many thanks to the Social Club for making it possible for us to meet there in opening hours during the winter months. The group is well supported with numbers attending ranging from five to thirteen. Many of the topics discussed found their way into the museum displays noted above.
We had one guest speaker, Jess Copley, on the recent history and changes at Manor Farm, Sedgebrook, with the more distant history researched by Elisabeth Carnell. Elisabeth had an interesting interview with Peter Young, who provided information and photos relating to the Whatton/Young family, which were shared with the group.
Recent, ongoing topics have been centred on a photo of the Manor gates/church and 'who lived where' sketch maps, using historic maps and group knowledge.
We are hoping to have a couple of guest speakers during the coming year – the first one is June 25th by Bernadette Wray who will be speaking on Richard III and the second (tbc) will be on Sedgebrook railways and how they fit into the wider rail network past and present.
Apologies, no updates to the Heritage page on the village website last year. However, with the new information board soon to be installed on the village green with a QR code link to the website, there will be notes added to match the topics on the information board.
Elisabeth Carnell, April 2023
APPENDIX E
Allington with Sedgebrook Twinning Association
Unfortunately, because of Covid the Twinning trip here in 2020 never went ahead, but now things are back to normal hopefully trips can be organised once more.
In autumn last year I was contacted by the Tuffé Twinning Association to say that they would not be able to visit Allington this year, but that if we would like to go there, they would welcome us. I asked for an idea of the dates that they were thinking of. I have only recently received a reply. The dates are when they have bank holidays – jour fériés attached to weekends in May.
They also have two festivals The Tufféries - a concert and fireworks on August the 19th and the Chéronneries a raft racing competition on the 10th of September. This would be more of a self-guided visit as the committee would be very busy in organising the festivals.
It is quite short notice, but if anyone is interested in visiting Tuffé this year we can try and organise a trip. All of this information was recently put in Allington News. I will be contacting everyone currently interested in Twinning with an update. If anyone is interested in joining the Twinning Association, please get in touch.
Sue Ashby
17 April 2023