MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD IN

QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL , WORSTEAD, ON TUESDAY 9TH MARCH 1999 AT 7.30pm

PRESENT:-

Mr K Uglow (Chairman)

Mr G Paterson (Vice-Chairman)

Mr B Amies

Mrs L Gray

Mr R Charman

Mr W Nash

Mr J Parker

Mrs K Wilkins

Mr P Duffield

ALSO PRESENT:- Ms S Cullingham and 6 members of the public

Chairman's Report 98/9

The new chairman gave a new style of report which he hoped would sow seeds for thought about how we can improve the community for the future.

Activity

Mr Uglow gave a brief summary of the work done be the Council throughout the year on items such as the Churchyard gates, Millennium project, school footway etc. Unfortunately vandalism is still a problem and help is needed to combat this.

Changes

He thanked Mr Amies for the hard work he undertook as Chairman before standing down for personal reasons and hoped that Mr Amies would again be standing for election. He also thanked Mr Amies for the gavel which he presented to the Council.

Finances

The Council has again supported several local organisations but with prudent housekeeping has again not needed to increase the precept.

The future

Two key items were highlighted.

The future of our community is the young people of our community and it is important that we give support to activities which will encourage the young people to grow up as part of a united community who are going to be here for a long time and are not going to be defeated by the few who participate in the mindless vandalism.

May 1999 sees elections in this Parish and the Chairman wanted to make it clear that most of the work of a Parish Council goes on behind the scenes and to stress the need for people standing for election to realise this and to take on board the fact that it is a job which requires dedication and a lot of hard work often for no thanks and the only reward the knowledge that you are doing something useful.

Minutes of the meeting held 10th March 1998

These were approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

Mr Amies asked that anyone having knowledge of a resident reaching pension age should let the Council know so that we can keep the Christmas gifts list up to date.

Parish Council Accounts 98/9

Copies of the accounts to date were available for all present to study. The council had managed

to stay within the precept with enough left to cover expenses until the next instalment of the

precept was paid in May. The numbers attending the luncheon club were going down. The public were asked to

let people know about it and the clerk was asked to mention it in the Parish magazine.

Proposed B Amies Seconded J Parker

Surveyors Allotment Account 98/9

The school footway scheme is going forward and this will mean a large withdrawal from this account in the next financial year.

Charities Account 98/9

Copies of the accounts were circulated .There were no major changes on this account.

Worstead Village Amenities Trust 97/8

This trust was set up as a vehicle to hold money mainly from the Festival because the festival did not wish to get involved in the day-to-day spending of Festival funds. Details of the balances held by the Trust were given.

Queen Elizabeth Hall Accounts 97/8

As the village hall accounting year did not finish until the end of May these accounts were unavailable.

L Gray asked when they would be available and K Uglow suggested that in future the audited accounts for the previous year should be available along with a report on the financial year to date. Clerk to write to Treasurer and request this.

Concern was expressed by Mr Shaw about the proposed addition of a room upstairs in the hall which was intended as a mini museum. This was being funded by the festival and was not the responsibility of the Council.

The badminton club expressed concern about the lighting in the hall. It was understood that the lighting was obsolete and would be a major task to replace. This would have to be dealt with by the village hall

committee.

Rail Group

The traffic on the Bittern Line had increased by 5% and they were looking at possible freight connections.

They were also looking at the possibility of running trains through to Holt. On the down side however they were looking at replacing manned level crossings with automatic barriers. We were however promised full consultation before this took place.

Millennium

A project involving new technology such as computers and the internet had been put forward. This would cause problems with security and space but the committee would weigh up the options and come up with some recommendations.

Meeting closed 8.45 p.m.

CHAIRMAN