Clerk's Notes of Annual Parish Meeting held 9 May 2024
Clerk’s Notes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at Sedgebrook Social Club at
7.00 pm on Thursday 9 May 2024
Present:Chair Gill Mahoney of Sedgebrook Parish Council together with District Councillor Rob Leadenham, Mrs J Bratton (Parish Clerk) and 13 members of the public.
1 Chair’s Welcome – the Chair welcomed everyone to the Parish Meeting and introduced the Clerk and Parish Councillors to the meeting.
2 Apologies: Apologies were received from Sue Ashby, County Councillor Mark Whittington, District Councillor Pamela Bosworth, Andy Green, Wendy Fowler, Jenny & Malcom Stuart.
3 To approve the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on the 11 May 2023 - The minutes were approved and signed.
4 Any Matters Arising from those minutes - none.
5 Chair’s Report – see Appendix A for the full report.
The Chair had raised £36000 funding for the Parish Council for the benefit of the village including playground equipment, funding for The Green, benches and picnic tables for the Recreation Field.
6 Short reports from District Councillors – District Councillor Robert Leadenham said how active we are in the village and mentioned The Community Speed Watch Team which has been running for the past six years. When we were hit with flooding, residents came together to help. Marc Jones has been re-elected as the Police Crime and Commissioner. The PCSOs are being reduced to nine. We do not get the cover we need - if there is an incident, you are lucky if they come out. There is a General Election this year and he will be meeting with two MPs tomorrow - he will put forward a request for more support for our communities. His first year has been a busy one. He tries to attend all the meetings as possible – there are nine Parish Councils in the Belvoir Ward.
7 Short reports from village organisations
7ai St Lawrence Church – Alan Cook, Church Warden read the report from Jenny Stuart, the Lay Preacher for St Lawrence Church. See Appendix B.
7aii Markham Museum and Heritage Group – Elisabeth Carnell read her report – see Appendix C.
7b Whitehouse Farm Nursery – Nicky Spencer reported they have a waiting list of 12 to 18 months. 28 staff are employed and 130 children are on their books. 70-80 children attend daily and they have been operating for 13 years. The nursery also run a Holiday Club for school aged children up to 13 years. An Open Day is being held on the 29 June when there will be games and activities for the children. They have just had a visit from Ofsted and were pleased with their result. They are looking to continue to use the Church and Social Club and gave thanks for all the help and support received.
7c Community Speed Watch – See Appendix D for the full report which David Mahoney gave to the meeting. Following the report, the District Councillor said he uses Sedgebrook’s Community Speed Watch Team as the “blueprint” when helping to set up the new Speed Watch Teams in the Belvoir Ward. There have been two training sessions - 47 residents are now fully trained through the villages. If one village is short of volunteers for a speed watch, the trained residents are happy to help out.
7d Social Club – Simon Bradley, Chair, reported they now have a new TV, a new till system, a new fire alarm system and a new kitchen. A lot of the work has been done free of charge. There are 103 members and a few more people to pay their subscriptions. Last year there were 110 members. The Hall is booked every evening apart from Fridays. There is a reduced rate for members to rent - £12 per hour and £20 per hour for non-members. They have had a very successful year and now have permanent bar staff. Events are coming up and the details are pinned to the doors and social media.
7e Allington with Sedgebrook Primary School – Victoria Hammond took over as Head Teacher from Leanne Barr in September and it has been busy. Just after starting she had to evacuate all the children because of the flooding. A new reading scheme has been introduced for the younger children. Next week it is SATS. It has been a real pleasure to be welcomed into the community and she has enjoyed her time going to the Church. She will be promoting Nicky Spencer’s holiday clubs.
7f Sedgebrook Craft Club – Jane Denton read out her report – see Appendix E.
7g The Twinning Association – the Clerk read out Susan Ashby’s report – see Appendix F.
8 Invitation to the public to raise any matters of interest
8a A parishioner asked if a finger signpost could be erected on The Green for the Church, Museum, Defibrillator and Social Club. Funding could be raised from the Church, Social Club and the Jubilee Fund. The Parish Council would investigate.
8b A parishioner reported on how high the grass is as you join the A52 and requested the PC take the grass-cutting over. This would not be possible as the verges on the A52 are the responsibility of Highways and they can only cut back so far. Clerk: to report the issue.
8c Sedgebrook Park – a parishioner was concerned about a Google site giving details of our Recreation Field at the rear of his garden. The Clerk had received communication from Google to “own” the listing or it will be taken down. No further action had been taken by the Clerk.
8d Flooding – the Railway Bridge has been flooding over the past 25 years. This was nothing to do with the flooding of the properties which we are waiting for a meeting with consultants. Concern was raised regarding the flooding grants from SKDC as no grants are allocated until the relevant consultants have made their site visit. People do not know what they can and cannot do. Clerk Action: to inform the County Councillor to pass this to Rowan Smith. It was noted that long-term money is being spent and nothing is maintained. There is a lot of wasted money and there are a lot of potholes which have not been filled. When they are filled, it isn’t long before the filling comes out eg a large pothole on the Woolsthorpe Lane was mentioned which has been filled in four times and it still requires repairing again. It appears all the funding is being spent in the towns and not in the villages.
The meeting finished and the attendees were able to socialise while enjoying a buffet provided.
APPENDIX A - CHAIR’S REPORT – GILL MAHONEY
Unfortunately, Storm Henk in October of last year and Storm Babet on 2nd January this year were devastating for the village. Sadly, some properties were flooded. Residents were tremendous and pulled together during these traumatic times and a special thanks to Nick and Sam Wade, their family and employees who were a stupendous help with manpower, vehicles and pumps. A date is currently being finalised for a meeting with Lincolnshire County Council's flood risk team and Anglian Water.
Discussions were to the fore at one of our Parish Council Meetings regarding safety aspects of the A52 from Grantham to Bottesford. A separate meeting was held to discuss this. Mark Whittington is to give the Parish Council details of the out come.
On more cheerful matters:
A new security post was installed at the entrance path to the recreation field.
Following on from the Lottery Funding last year, we put the final piece of the jigsaw together with the installation of the Lectern on the Green. Neil McBride kindly agreed to install it with no extra charge. The information board was collated by Elisabeth Cornell, our local historian. Richard Coppin did the drawing of the map of Sedgebrook and Wayne France of DV8 Design did the digital artwork.
Sedgebrook is a lovely village in which we live. We have St Lawrence Church and the Social Club, both incredible assets to the village. We shall hear more about these in their reports.
I'm pleased to say that the Hornbeam tree, which was planted to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s II Platinum Jubilee, is thriving.
This year we applied to the South Kesteven District Council Prosperity Fund for £5,000.00. to purchase new goal posts benches and a picnic table for the playing field and a leaflet holder for the K6 phone box. The only items we are waiting to be installed are the picnic table and three benches. The ground had been too wet to transport them onto the field.
Very rare do we see litter in the village and this due to Stephen, our Community Cleaner. He does an excellent job.
Paul Hempstead and his team continue to keep the village tidy with their fortnightly grass cutting.
We are looking forward to hearing reports from you all who support the village in various forms.
Thank you
APPENDIX B
ST LAWRENCE CHURCH – ANNUAL REPORT ON PCC ACTIVITIES AND MINISTER’S REPORT (Licensed Lay Minister Jenny Stuart)
Firstly we would like to thank all those who have supported St Lawrence Church in so many ways over the last year. Our PCC has worked tirelessly for the good of the community with particular thanks to Alan our churchwarden and Ian our treasurer without whose skills and dedication the church could not function and who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for St Lawrence church. We are fortunate to have a great team around the church with those on the electoral roll contributing to the life of the church in many ways.
Although finances have been difficult and demands high, we are pleased to have paid our covenant in full. Our charitable giving has also continued with Marie Curie Cancer Care and Grantham Poverty Action.
The church has been open daily from 10am-4pm. Quite a few people have been dropping in, and the nursery has enjoyed the children's corner. We have loved having the church and nursery in church for services during Christmas and Easter and have attracted visitors from far and wide, including the Churches Group of the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology and Dr Chris Brooke from Nottingham University.
We are deeply appreciative of the support Elisabeth Carnell has given in heading up the Museum and Heritage Group. Particular appreciation was shown by the Ogilvy family on the memorial display for The Hon. James Ogilvy and for the Remembrance exhibition. The exciting visit of Prof. Chris Brooke to survey the church using LIDAR technology has revealed the possibility of a large medieval wall painting on the 12th century north wall of the church.
Elisabeth has produced a delightful illustrated children’s booklet “A Teddy Bear’s Picnic at St Lawrence Church”. Copies were given to the children at the nursery and are for sale in church. The Markham Bear, featured in the booklet, makes regular appearances at special events!
We would also like to thank Malcolm, Mike and Billy for all they have done to keep the cemetery so tidy and attractive. It has been much appreciated by those visiting their loved ones. Also our grateful thanks to Lady Caroline and her team for mowing the churchyard. We are now moving to obtain outside help to mow the cemetery using the Parish Council mowing team. The Probation Service planted trees to screen the cemetery extension from the allotment and Bishop Nicholas consecrated the extension at our Harvest Festival service.
We continue to try and make the church as warm and welcoming as possible and, with the help of a small bequest for that purpose, we are looking at improving the heating in the church. Our hopes for a disabled toilet and servery are still on the agenda for the future. We are also addressing outstanding quinquennial works.
We were sad to hear of the death of Dick Kelham who managed the allotments for the church. Malcolm Stuart, with the help of John Castle has now taken this over and all allotments are now taken except for Dick’s plot. Members of the PCC attended Dick’s funeral at Irnham Church.
Fundraising events including Afternoon Teas, taking part in Coronation celebrations and a Fashion Show have helped the church operating expenses, and the 200 Club will be in aid of the church in 2024.
Following a Transformational Grant to purchase Lego, craft materials and a superb giant Fuzzy Felt which tells every bible story, Lively Church has continued but with small numbers and we continue to seek younger members to help run it. Due to family circumstances Jenny Stuart has had to resign as Governor at the School. Headteacher Leanne Barr retired from the school and will be much missed. We were delighted to recruit a new headteacher, Victoria Hammond, who joined the school this year and it has been a pleasure working with her.
We also said goodbye to Father James Titley, formerly a curate at St Wulfram’s, who had spent a year at Long Bennington Rectory working on Time to Change Together, the Diocesan reorganisation of churches. During this time he supported services in the Benefice. We are now advertising for a new incumbent for the Saxonwell and Claypole churches and Alan Cook is the lead representative for St Lawrence, with Jenny Stuart as reserve.
Jenny Stuart, on reaching the age of 70, is now Permission to Officiate and conduct Funerals as she continues her work as Authorised Lay Minister. She has completed Safeguarding training for Leaders, Domestic Abuse Awareness and Safer Recruitment Training and, as Foundation Governor, was part of the team to recruit the new Headteacher for Allington with Sedgebrook C of E Primary School. Jenny continues to take a monthly service of Morning Prayer at St Lawrence and the monthly Lively Church. She has also assisted at funerals at Long Bennington and the All Souls’ Service there. Due to the lack of clergy support, we travel to Holy Trinity, Allington for Holy Communion and both churches have supported each other’s services and events and share the APCM meeting.
Baptisms of Myrna Wilson and Aria Rigney took place during the year. Funerals of Hon. James Ogilvy and Chris Cartner took place during the year.
We end the year having achieved great things for the church and the community and working well together for the good of the village, but we are conscious that we need a succession plan as we are not getting any younger. We pray that a new incumbent will come forward for our parishes to lead us into the future.
Jenny Stuart
PCC Secretary and Licensed Lay Minister
APPENDIX C
Markham Museum and Heritage Group Report 2023/24 – Elisabeth Carnell
Museum:
New display boards were acquired for use in the museum, providing a larger display area. Displays have included: The Descent of the Manor 1066 – 1485; The Markhams during the Wars of the Roses; Authors of Sedgebrook – a comprehensive study of authors either living in or associated with Sedgebrook through the centuries to the present day; Remembrance display featuring George Whatton and the Breeder Hill/Mill Cottage men who lost their lives in WW1; and for the first quarter of 2024, The Honourable James Ogilvy.
The display re authors was done for the Heritage Open Day event, when we also had the pleasure of an opportunity for a Q and A session with our very own Helen Golden, author of the Right Royal Cozy Investigation Mysteries.
Heritage Group:
Met 10 times through the year. Mostly discussion of artefacts and new discoveries relating to Sedgebrook history, often linked to the displays in the museum. Two visiting speakers:
Bernadette Wray who spoke on 'Richard III: The Facts' and the other in January 2024 by Dr Chris Brooke on 'Seeing the Invisible'. Dr Brooke followed up his talk with a visit to the church to scan the sanctuary wall with his equipment, which confirmed there is a hidden painting.
Plans for remainder of 2024:
Dr Brooke hopes to re-scan the church wall in warmer weather for clearer results and also is planning to arrange a visit to Abbey Farm to use LiDAR equipment over the site of Newbo Abbey when the ground has dried out more. A new display is planned for the museum to show the developments of Dr Brooke's surveys so far.
Other displays planned are one for the D-Day Landings, Henry VII and Routes-Networks-Connections (HOD theme).
Visiting speakers for 2024: a return for Bernadette Wray who will speak about Henry VII and three fascinating women in May; Beekeeping; Dr Brooke to return with the results of his surveys; plus others in the pipeline too.
APPENDIX D
Sedgebrook Community Speed Watch - Annual Report
Your Sedgebrook Community Speed Watch Team has entered its 6th operational year. Sadly we lost the services of two of our founder members: Bruce and Angela Tapson. However, we gained a new member: Jo Skinner. Jo joined us at the back end of 2023, and her support is much appreciated.
Fundamentally your Speed Watch Team is out there to try and educate drivers not to exceed the speed limit in particular through our village of Sedgebrook. Of course we hope this experience transfers to their general driving wherever they may be. During the past 12 months to 30th April 2024 we have recorded 3371 drivers passing our check point. Of these 169 were exceeding the speed limit. So although there will be some duplicates, we have been able to spread the message to well over 3000 drivers. That’s around 12,000 drivers since we started. We will continue to get the message across over next 12 months.
On a broader perspective, I would like to mention that the Speed Watch Scheme is expanding significantly locally with Teams being set up in Barrowby, Allington, Denton, and Wooolsthorpe. Hopefully this expansion of the scheme will help to further the cause across the wider community of villages. Once the new Speed Watch Teams settle down, I feel sure we’ll work towards a number of coordinated sessions whereby all the Teams are operating at the same time.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Sedgebrook Community Speed Watch Team for their continued support. It is much appreciated.
Finally, we’re always looking for new members and if anyone is interested or you know someone who is, please let me know.
David Mahoney
Co-ordinator for the Sedgebrook Community Speed Watch
APPENDIX E
Sedgebrook Craft Club Report 2023/24 – Jane Denton
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 and very popular.
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 which go to local residential homes.
We are also making items to sell at the village Summer event.
So if you have the time and are making something please come along!
APPENDIX F
Twinning Association - Sue Ashby
There are a few things to report regarding the Twinning Association.
Tuffe have recently started to send us their newsletter which will be put in various places around the village for people to read. If anyone is interested in receiving one regularly please get in touch.
The schools in Allington and Tuffe were put in touch, so hopefully they are going to start corresponding with each other. I haven’t had an update but hopefully this will happen soon if it hasn’t already.
A lady from the village asked if there was the possibility of a penpal from Tuffe. Someone was found and now they are enjoying corresponding with each other. There was another lady in Tuffe who also asked to be a penpal but unfortunately I have been unable to find anyone else yet who would like to correspond with her. If anyone is interested please get in touch.
I have recently had news that Theresa and Paul Tanner are resigning from the Twinning Association after being involved with it from the very beginning. I would like to thank them both for everything they have done for it over the years. We will need a new treasurer so if anyone is interested please let me know