LITCHAM ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Held in Jubilee
Hall on the 20th April 2009 at 7.30pm
click on name
of organisation to go to report
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Organisation |
Submitted
By |
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ALL SAINTS CHURCH
(Parochial Church Council) |
Richard
Vogt - Churchwarden |
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Litcham ALLOTMENTS
and Leisure Gardeners Association (L.A.L.G.A.) |
John
JONES |
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Tim
ANGELL |
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John
JONES |
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Judith
BENTLEY |
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Tim
ANGELL |
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Tim
ANGELL |
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John
RELPH |
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Christine
WATTS |
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Chris
CHALK |
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Richard
BAILEY |
Annual Report from the Parochial Church
Council for
Litcham Parish Annual Meeting held on 20th April 2009
Despite the
continuing interregnum for well into the year, Litcham Parochial Church Council
has maintained its equilibrium. Meetings have been regular and the pattern of
worship has kept its continuity. Great importance is placed upon this primary
function, which has been uninterrupted for many centuries and must not be
derailed by temporary difficulties in recruiting incumbents.
Whilst a full
time Rector (now technically a Priest-in-Charge) has yet to be found, an
interim appointment was made during the year of the Reverend Dennis Rider, a
capable and experienced priest who is working on three weekdays and Sundays.
This is in order to ensure that there is smooth transition when a full-time
incumbent is appointed and in order to encourage applicants for the post, in
that they would not be walking into a vacuum. The post has been re-advertised
in recent weeks and we should shortly hear of the applicants.
Several
applications for the post were received during the year and one proceeded to
interview stage, but a majority of group Churchwardens felt the applicant to be
unsuitable for this particular situation.
The ten
parishes in the new community are coming to terms with the new arrangements.
Both churchgoers and other parishioners will have perforce to acclimatise
themselves with these. Even a full time priest will not be able to cover ten
parishes in the same way as we have been used to in the past, either in terms
of worship or pastorally. More duties will therefore fall upon the laity.
Apart from the
above issues, the PCC has been occupied with the perennial issues of finance
and ancient buildings. The balance of income in recent years has moved from
regular giving to special occasion fund raising. This is less predictable and
gives less opportunity for recovery of income tax under the Gift Aid Scheme, so
regular commitments of any size are very welcome. The church has managed to
meet most of its commitments during the year, but after its contribution to the
costs of the ministry, utility bills and buildings insurance, which we have
always resolved to keep at full cover, there is little left for discretionary
items. We are currently working on the provision of a new heating system, as a
very cold and protracted winter has taxed the stamina of churchgoers. We are
therefore very desirous of improving the physical welcome of the building
before next winter.
A most
important event during the year was the formation of the Friends of All Saints.
Formed and catalysed by the enthusiasm and hard work of one supporter,
membership has grown quickly. The Friends organisation, a Registered Small
Charity, is independent of the Church Council and is pledged to raise funds and
facilitate work to maintain the fabric of the church building, which is at the
heart of the village and has a place in the lives of its inhabitants
irrespective of their beliefs or attendance at services. The first project is
the restoration of the church clock to visual and audible function and plans
for this are well on the way. Various grants have been pledged, including a
generous donation from Litcham Parish Council.
Richard Vogt, Churchwarden, April 2009
(L.A.L.G.A.)
Annual Statement Presented to Litcham Parish Council AGM 20th April 2009
We only received this afternoon the
invitation to present a report to the Annual Parish Meeting, so it will have to
be a very brief report.
As an association we have had several fund
raisers over the past twelve months both here in Litcham and at Gressenhall. Some considerable time has been spent in the
clearing and ditching of the corner allotments on the Dereham & Dunham Roads,
but more work is to be carried out.
We understand there is a waiting list of
people requiring allotments, but with the uncertainty at the moment
that we are all working under, and we are now awaiting clarification from
all of the appointed Trustees of the Litcham Relief in Need Charity, as to the
future of the allotment site and our own position as allotment holders.
Report for Litcham Parish Annual Meeting
The past year
has seen Litchamıs bells rung only infrequently, due
to their generally poor condition and a lack of ringers within the village.
However, with the help of people from other villages we have been able to ring
the bells for some special services and for occasions such as weddings and
Christenings. For example, this month the bells were rung for the Palm Sunday
service and last Friday a quarter peal was rung, dedicated to a couple in the
village who have recently become engaged.
The bell restoration
project is making slow progress. Three different firms have carried out surveys
and provided quotes, with a view to comprehensive repairs and tuning work being
undertaken. So far the funds raised amount to around £2,900, but the total cost
of repairs will probably be in excess of £30,000, so there is a lot still to be
done. However, the end result should be a properly tuned set of bells that will
not need any further major work for perhaps a hundred years.
Litchamıs bells and tower are
of historical interest and Tim Angell would be happy to show them to anyone who
is interested. All you need is a head for heights, depending on how far up the
tower you want to go.
Tim Angell
Litcham, Tittleshall &
District Branch
Annual Statement presented to Litcham Parish Meeting
Sadly during
the past twelve months we have lost two members namely John Lambert &
Marianne Mulrenan and our membership now stands at 21
members. Having lost several members and the increasing age and ill health of
several members makes it very difficult to attend meetings. We do continue to
look for new members to join the branch and anyone interested please contact
the secretary or any member of the branch.
We have changed
our meeting day to the first Wednesday in the months of February, May, August
and November (AGM) in the afternoon at the Tittleshall Village Hall, commencing
at 2.30 PM
The poppy
appeal for 2008 was again very successful and thanks must go to Arthur Clarke
acting as the Poppy Appeal Organiser, and the numerous collectors and
shopkeepers in the surrounding villages and of course the generosity of the
local populous. The final total for the poppy appeal, along with Tittleshallıs contribution amounted to £1441 approximately.
We attended the
Armistice Services in the churches at Litcham, Tittleshall & Mileham also
the memorial service held at the American War Memorial in Beeston followed by a
buffet lunch in Beeston village hall.
We would like
to record our thanks to former officers and members of the branch for past
support.
Report for
Litcham Annual Parish Meeting
At present we are holding everything in
abeyance as there is no way forward until a decision has been reached
concerning a site on which to build the Recreation Area. Any advice from
the Parish Council will be most welcome.
Litcham Common Conservation Group was set up in
January 2004 to assist with conservation work on the common. The group is
relatively informal, with no written constitution or formal membership list,
and uses the Litcham Common Management Committee bank account to hold funds.
However, the group is a member of, and insured through, the British Trust for
Conservation Volunteers (BTCV). The groupıs only income this year was a grant
of £250 from Litcham Parish Council, for which it is very grateful. This
covered the cost of insurance and expenses such as minor equipment
renewals.
Volunteers meet on the second Saturday of each month
and carry out tasks agreed with Norfolk County Councilıs Countryside
Department. Over the past year the work done has included cutting and burning
scrub, clearing rubbish and litter, and raking up cut vegetation on a nearby
Roadside Nature Reserve.
Individual members of the group carry out regular welfare checks on the ponies
that graze the common, on a rota basis. They also help round up the ponies from
time to time for inspection by a vet or farrier.
The volunteers come from other villages as well as
Litcham, and have ranged in age from five upwards. Those who come enjoy the
physical exercise, company, pleasant surroundings and a sense of achievement.
Tim Angell
Litcham Common is a Local Nature Reserve
and the Committeeıs primary responsibility is to manage it as such, particularly
taking account of the siteıs importance as an area of lowland heathland. At the same time, consideration needs to be
given to maintaining a diversity of wildlife habitats, as well as taking
account of the commonıs importance to the people of Litcham and surrounding
villages for recreational purposes.
The members of the committee include
representatives of Norfolk County Council (Sarah Cureton),
Lexham Hall Estate (Neil Foster), Litcham Parish Council (Mike Oldfield),
Litcham Common Conservation Group (Tim Angell), and also three residents of
Litcham (John Jones, John Mitchell and Joyce Green).
After many years service, Joyce Green has
decided the time is right to step down from the Committee. The other members
are very grateful to Joyce for all she has contributed over the years.
The Committee would like to hear from
anyone who is interested in taking Joyceıs place. Ideally the person should be
a resident of Litcham who regularly uses the common and is able to attend a
minimum of two weekday meetings a year, in March and September. In the first
instance anyone interested is asked to speak to one of the current committee
members mentioned above.
The main focus over the past year has been
the reintroduction of grazing on the area of the common to the north-west of
the Dunham road, which entailed the erection of stock proof fencing with gates
and stiles, and a holding pen. The fencing was put up in May 2008, with four
Dartmoor ponies (two year old geldings) arriving soon afterwards. Funding for
the project was received from Norfolk County Council and DEFRA. A great deal of
practical help and assistance was also received from the Norfolk Wildlife
Trust.
Overall the project is considered to have
gone very well so far, Feedback received from people who visit the common has
proved overwhelmingly positive, and the ponies seem to be very popular. They
are also doing their intended job of keeping the scrub and course vegetation
under control, which helps to preserve the heathland
plants and wildlife.
On a few occasions the ponies have escaped
through the pre-existing fence running along the northern boundary of the
common. No harm was done, but some running repairs have had to be made. The
intention is to completely renew this fence in the next few months.
The ponies are regularly checked by
volunteers but have proved to be hardy animals, and were declared to be in good
condition when last examined by a vet. There is a possibility that more animals
will be purchased in the future, and permission also exists for the area of the
common to the south-east of the Dunham road to be fenced so that this part of
the common can be grazed too. However, it has been decided to wait until the
ponies have been on site for at least a full year before making any firm
decisions for the future, just in case any unforeseen problems or issues arise.
Other work carried out over the past year
has included the mowing of bracken, and selective scrub and tree clearance.
Finally, a problematic issue which has
arisen once again is that of people camping on the common. Camping is
specifically prohibited under the existing Bylaws, but would probably not be a
cause for concern if so much litter and rubbish was not left behind.
It is sad that the inconsiderate actions
of a few people are spoiling the environment for the majority, and may result
in the Management Committee having to take a tough line.
Tim Angell
Report for
Litcham Parish Meeting
Litcham Homewatch
have been particularly active over the last twelve months as, at the suggestion
of our local Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Sarah Smith, we started
having regular meetings, approximately every three months. Unfortunately after
two meetings Sarah Smith resigned for the police force to go and work for
Breckland Council and so far, although we have been promised one, we are not
aware of a replacement for her. Thus the last two meeting have taken place
without a member of the Police being present.
In February John Mitchell stood down from
the post of Area Coordinator, a post he has held since the inauguration of the
Litcham Homewatch some twenty years ago. All the
current members of the Homewatch team would like to
thank John for the time and effort he has taken in keeping the Litcham Homewatch going all this time.
He was replaced by John Relph, who is coordinator for the Rectory Meadow &
Archer Farm area.
Crime remains at a fairly low level in
Litcham, in total eleven incidents were reported to the Police over the last
twelve months. There were three burglaries, one domestic and two commercial and
one attempted burglary. There were also half a dozen incidents of damage to
property and five theft or damages involving motor vehicles.
There remains a persistent but relatively
low-level incidence of anti-social behaviour in Litcham. This has been
difficult to for the Police to take action on as accurate reports of incidents
have been hard to come by. Generally the Homewatch
co-ordinators hear of incidents through rumour and hearsay or, as on one occasion,
six months after the event!
I would therefore encourage all residents
of Litcham to contact the Police or their respective Homewatch
coordinator, (listed below) immediately they are aware of any incidents of
anti-social or any other criminal behaviour, this way we and the Police stand
some chance of doing something about the situation.
John Relph, Area Homewatch Coordinator
List of Local Homewatch coordinators
Rectory Meadow & Archers Farm.
Mr. J. Relph (Litcham Area Co-ordinator) 700 813
Pound Lane, Back Street, Front St. & Lexham Rd. Mr. R. J.
Mitchell - 701 342
Butt Lane Mrs. D. Collen - 701 401
Tittleshal Rd. & Back Lane Mrs
Claire Lawrence - 700 145
Mileham Rd. Carol Hilton - 700 745
Manor Drive & Upper Church Street Mr. S. Lynn - 701 377
Priory Area Mr. & Mrs. A. Clarke - 701 720
Lower Church Street Mr. N. Housden
- 701 218
Dereham Road Mr. J. Jones - 700 184
Oaklands Farm Area Mr. D. C.
Holland - 701 304
Wellingham Road Mr. L. Raven - 701
958
Weasenham Road & Keppel Close Mr. T. Walker - 701 592
Lexham Road West, Hall Farm House
& Coronation Cottages Mr. G. Blower - 701 748
Report for
Litcham Parish Annual Meeting
I am once again pleased to provide the
following report of the school and its events from April 2008 to now. The
school sends news every month to the Parish Magazine and this is a good source
of information, as is the schoolıs website.
> The pupil roll is presently 82, which
is an increase from last year, pupils continue to join and leave at times other
than year end and beginning. We have maintained four classes this year
and will be able to for the next academic year. The Reception class presently
has 10 pupils but we are promised 15 in September, which to my knowledge will
be the highest intake number the school has had for some years. We
suspect that the provision onsite of good childcare and our extended schools
provision may have contributed to the increase in numbers.
> 2008 saw the school
achieving its best set of results at KS1 & 2 and very high profile scores
at the Foundation Stage.
> We opened our new
library, naming it the Brocklehurst Library, after
the couple who own the Norfolk Childrenıs Book Centre. Every term the
bookshop arrives and they always provide our pupils with a class story session
too.
> The teaching
kitchen at the childrenıs centre has meant that a group of pupils are able to
cook each week.
> Several families
have benefited by being a part of the Norfolk Family Learning 10 week course on
numeracy which ran during the spring term on Fridays.
> Work on the
development of the school grounds to provide an increased range of outdoor
curriculum activities has begun with tree planting sessions. Tomorrow a
tyre play system will be installed.
> The schoolsı
reputation for the provision we offer for pupils with Special Needs has been
maintained. The Reading Recovery type programme we offer has shown good
results.
> The budget has
allowed us to continue employing a Games Instructor and our Music Specialist,
who can also teach French, to work for a day each enabling assessment, planning
and preparation time for our class teachers and our classes some specialist
teaching. The school also continues to provide the opportunity for its
pupils to learn the recorder, violin, keyboard and guitar. This year the
school has taken advantage of the governmentsı widening opportunities grant and
we have been able to offer all our pupils in KS2, two classes a 30 minute Samba
percussion. The group recently gave their first performance to parents
> All our recycling
activities, collecting clothing and paper have continued. The Road Safety
programme for pupils in Reception and Year 1 and cycling proficiency to pupils
in Year 6 has once again been repeated. Our Year 6 had a residential trip
to Wells Field Study Centre in September and in June pupils in Years 5 & 6
took part in outdoor activities at Caythorpe,
Lincolnshire.
> The High School
Science status funding was able to support us in sending our Science Leader on
a two day science coordinatorsı course and we our extremely grateful that we
are now able to loan science topic boxes.
> We always support
several charities during the year, this year sending Christmas parcels to
families in Romania, making a sugar collection for the Homeless and a Christmas
card collection for the RSPCA. We also raised £300 for Comic Relief on
Red Nose Day.
> Our Class &
School Council system, Energy Busters & Playground Angels are all still
thriving and making good contributions to the life of the school.
> With Litcham
Childcare we enjoyed a pantomime production of Cinderella at Christmas and
pupils in Years 5 & 6 watched the High Schoolsı performance of a
Midsummerıs Nights Dream. The school continues to offer a range of clubs during
the year, multi-skills, film, drama, orchestra and dancing. At Christmas the
lower school produced a Nativity and the upper school pupils a version of
Scrooge.
> The Whole school
visited All Saints at Harvest & Christmas.
> The Year 5/6
cricket team for the third year running won the cluster tournament and we went
on, not only to the area but the county finals too.
REPORT TO LITCHAM PARISH COUNCIL BY CO-OPTED TRUSTEES OF LITCHAM RELIEF
IN NEED CHARITY
This report is submitted by three of the
five Trustees of Litcham Relief in Need Charity in order to explain to the
Parish Council and all parishioners the current position of the Charity.
The Charity is currently in a state of
uncertainty, due to the fact that there is disagreement about the length of
tenure of the co-opted Trustees. While this may seem a small technical
point, it is crucial to the membership of the committee and we are still
awaiting its resolution. The Charity Commission has recommended mediation on
the issue, but to date our current Chairman, Mr David Holland, has not made any
arrangements for such mediation to take place.
Urgent outstanding matters such as the
management of the allotments; the setting of rents and the sending out of
tenancy agreements; the holding of the first ordinary meeting of the Charity in
2009 (which will also be the AGM when the election of officers must take place)
and, of course, the distribution of Charity funds to those in need within the
village have therefore been unable to proceed.
In the meantime the co-opted Trustees are
attempting to identify and recover rents that may have been sent to Mr
Hollandıs personal solicitor at Mr Hollandıs request but without the knowledge
or approval of the Trustees sitting as a quorate
body.
The co-opted Trustees have enjoyed working
with members of LALGA and very much appreciate their energy and enthusiasm in
regenerating the allotments.
The co-opted Trustees will keep the Parish
Council and the Litcham Parishioners informed of developments through the
village website and the village magazine.
Litcham
Relief in Need Charity Co-opted Trustees:
Chris Chalk
Doug Rork
Liz Christie
20th April
2009
Annual Report
2009
Congratulations to Litcham U11 football
team on an outstanding season. The team have been playing in the Mid Norfolk
Youth League and have finished League champions in their final year together in
mini soccer. Having played 16 league fixtures winning 13 and drawing 3 they
have finished this season undefeated in open play. Litcham also won through to
the League Cup Final, playing Old Hunstanton where it
finished 0-0 and Litcham unfortunately lost on penalties. The U11's scored 88
goals and every out field player contributed to the goal tally.
The Lads would like to thank all their friends and family for all their support
to make our seaon so successful.
We would also like to thank the Village Butcher and Litcham Post Office who
have supported the club this year. - Litcham U1
Litcham needs
you for next season
We are only a small village team with a
great track record, with not having the resources and a large catchment area
like some of our surrounding towns we are looking to take the team forward into
the 11 a side game. We need players who want to come to a small club and play
in friendly and successful team. If you are about to start year 7 next school
year we would love you join our squad, even if you now play for another club
and fancy a change. Matches will be played on a Sunday with training during the
week run by FA qualified coaches that have been CRB checked.
For more
information please contact
Richard
McCormack 07767 26556
Ady Jarrett 07544770586
Richard
Bailey 01328 700 539
END OF REPORTS