2017 Parish Minutes of Meetings

PRESENT

• Chair. J Allan.  Vice Chair. D Spittlehouse. P Fotheringham.  L Alsop. P Rushton. T Hall. Cllr. J Milne.  Clerk L Holman.

• 6 Members of the public.

APOLOGIES OF ABSENCE

• None.

• J Allan started off by paying a tribute to Audrey who was a tireless supporter and member of local organisations. She raised a significant amount of money over the years for various groups.  She served on the Parish council as Clerk for many years. Condolences were paid to Peter.  Audrey will be sadly missed.  He thanked his fellow councillors for their support and hard work over the past year.   Also big thank you to the volunteers and committee members who give their time to help run various clubs and organisations.

The planning application for the Industrial Pig Rearing unit played a big part of the year. This drew the community together to prevent this from being passed. Despite our best efforts in letters of objections and public meetings as well as speaking at the planning meeting, we failed at preventing the proposal being supported.  Disappointing as this is, “ I don’t regret the stance we took in making sure everyone was aware of what was being proposed and giving the community the opportunity to voice their concerns and objections”.  To date there has been no further developments on the site.

We also kept pressure on the Lincolnshire County Council on road surface repairs and I am delighted to see that after a number of pothole repairs they have decided to re surface the main roads through the village.

Issues of speeding through the village have been taken on board.  30mph signs have been erected and wheelie bin stickers have been distributed.   A costing of automatic speed signs has been sought and talks are still in progress with sharing with Kexby.   

There have been changes in council funding, which means some costs have been passed on to the Parish Council.  Due to this our annual precept has had to be increased.

I look forward to next year and hope I can count on your support again. We will continue with our policy of keeping the village informed of issues and events with our Village Newsletter.  It is our aim to support the local community and to make Upton a village to be proud of.

• Minutes were approved and signed by Chair J Allan.

 

• Helping Hands.  Disbanded.

• Highways.  Progress included in the Chairs address.

• CHURCH.        The open festival will be held again this year, was successful last year but didn’t make much money.

• CHAPEL.          Doing well, with a 10 – 19 increase in membership.  Services are well attended. The pews have been changed to chairs.  Recently decorated.  Rental from room helps with funds.

• BLOOMERS.     Last year saw the installation of the first planter. A sculpture is now in place. Plans for the second planter around September.  More bulbs were planted around the war memorial and along the burial ground fence.  The trees at the end of the burial ground bore fruit on October.

• KURLING.          Another enjoyable year for the club. Numbers have been slightly down but averaging 8 to 10 on Fridays. Howson House continue to support Tuesdays session. No competitions won this year but hopefully next season will be more successful. The end of season was finished off with a very pleasant presentation evening at the Rose and Crown.

• CHRISTMAS MARKET.     The organisers were kept busy throughout the year with a number of events taking place.  Several quizzes, fashion show, race night and a very well attended Christmas market.  Also got money from the Queen’s Birthday celebrations. Each of the 11 organisations received £280. Plans are well underway for this year’s market as well as a summer fete being held in August.

• CRICKET.    There are 3 junior teams.  Under 9’s,  13’s and 15’s.  Thriving at present. Funds raised through quizzes and Christmas market.   There is 1 senior team. They have recently won their first match but unfortunately not very successful last season. Hopefully this season will prove to be a good one.

• BOWLS.   A friendly crowd with 20+ members. Finances are healthy. Playing re starts first week in September.

• BURIAL GROUND.   There has been 1 advance purchase of burial plot for cremation. The accounts have been made up to date and showing a balance of £3,392.74.  There are 7 remaining burial plots and 18 remaining plots for cremation.

• VILLAGE HALL.   As in previous years the village hall is used regularly by various organisations. The Monday morning computer sessions continue as well various bookings for private functions.  Fundraising has continued with Jumble sales, table top sales, craft fayre and stalls at the annual Christmas Market, and a great financial support both from Upton and Kexby Parish Councils.  Coffee and chat alone raised £750.14 this past year and thanks are expressed to all the helpers and anyone who contributes.    Some of this fundraising money has enabled the village hall to have the other Mural cleaned.   The next project is to have a smoking shelter erected something that has been suggested by previous hirers of the hall.  The finances for the last financial year are healthy.  

• FRIENDSHIP CLUB.   There have been 5 new members and it is open to anyone, young or old. Lots of local speakers and outings are arranged regularly. A warm and friendly group.

• W.I.   The W.I. has welcomed several new members and the numbers now stand at 45. They have a wide and varied programme, including Lincoln’s town crier, a talk from Denise Taylor about the work of medical dogs and a humorous and fascinating talk from Maggie Allen about vintage underwear. Joan Wines gave an emotional and heartrending account of her travels in Romania.      A big thank you to Linda Spurr the programme secretary, for all the hard work that she does to ensure all members enjoys an interesting and varied programme.

The W.I choir enjoy singing with” The Trent side Singers” and have performed several concerts in the local area.  There is a craft group that meet twice a month in the chapel schoolroom. They work extremely hard making a range of goods to sell raising monies for various causes. In September they hosted the Macmillan coffee morning, which along with quizzes raised over £2000 for that charity.  

Also a big thank you to Jenny Littlewood the treasurer, who works tirelessly to keep the W.I. financially on track.  Last but not least, thank you to all our members because you are our W.I.

PLAYING FIELD AND VILLAGE HALL

• The grants given to both organisations were discussed. £750 was agreed.   J Alsop proposed and P Fotheringham seconded.