MORTIMER WEST END PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of the Council Date: Tuesday 17th May 2016 Time: 7.30pm Place: Mortimer West End Village Hall Present: Cllr Robertson (Chair) Cllr Brown (Vice Chair) Cllr Thurlow In Attendance: Maxta Thomas (Clerk) 8 members of the public Cllr Gardiner (Borough) Cllr Tucker (Borough) Apologies: PCSO Scott-Molloy Graham Dennis ( Wildlife Trust) Adam Green (Burghfield FC) Heather Sims (Village Hall) Mrs D Povey (Silver Circle) Michael Hatch (Relief in Need) Jon Saltmarsh ( School Governors)

Action 1 Apologies for Absence As above. 2 Minutes of the Parish Assembly held on 12th March 2015 These were approved soon after the 2015 Annual Parish Assembly. The minutes were acknowledged. 3 Chairman’s Welcome and introduction to the meeting Cllr Robertson welcomed everyone to the meeting. He gave his report (appendix A). 4 Borough Councillor Report Cllr Tucker has supplied a written report (appendix B), which was read out by the Clerk. Cllr Gardiner gave a verbal report:  Noted Waitrose addition, and loss of BHS. Number of units available, but is very low on a national scale.  Noted that BDBC will be looking to find savings, and may well increase Council Tax again next year.  Noted Marilyn’s length of service, and congratulated her on her 40 years of service.  JR asked how BDBC were attracting more industry into Basingstoke. RG replied that there is a department in BDBC who work solely on bringing in industry to the town. Work with colleges and schools to ensure right skill base to invite firms in. Noted development of Basing View. Speculative build of large office block. Also making sure that right infrastructure is in place to invite industry.  NT asked about old IBM building – RG confirmed that it has been converted into residential flats.

Keith Chapman  Noted that he has been made Chair of HCC for this year, and that he would be standing down at HCC in May 2017.  Cuts – see minutes from May meeting.

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Action  Devolution – might allow devolved areas to take responsibility for major roles in County. Gave background to proposed scheme for Hampshire. Government have said they must have an elected mayor, which Central and North Hants districts do not want. Solent & East Hants have put in an independent bid, including elected mayor. If this goes ahead it will split county, and major casualty will be Hants Music Service. External consultants have recommended that HCC puts in a bid to go it alone and get rid of all boroughs and districts. 5 Report on Burnt Common FB read out the report on behalf of Graham Dennis (appendix C). 6 Organisation reports Reports were given by the following organisations as follows: a. Calleva WI – presented by Diane Imms (appendix D) b. Englefield Estate – presented by Edward Crookes Mineral extraction – Burnt Common does not belong to Englefield, although Benyons does. Current Hansens site is also Englefield. Hansens long standing application to work Benyons was finally approved subject to conditions. Hansen then decided to withdraw their operations from the area – Englefield have been negotiating the terms of the withdrawal, and will be bringing a new operator in for the new site. There is some complexity on how certain areas will be restored after extraction – this is being investigated and monitored. Extraction at new area will not start until well into 2017. Richard Edwards was introduced – Forestry Manager. Working on strategy for estate. Covers 21 square miles, and deals with a great range of people and organisations. Involved in land and property business, but very much embedded in the community. Residential property is core business – provider of all housing types, including traveller sites, affordable housing, elderly sheltered housing, and some refugee housing. Commercial property – re-use of agricultural property, some office space in towns, and farm land – 26 fully equipped farms. Noted that farming industry is in great difficulty at the moment, and therefore farmers are very keen to diversify. FB asked if third party as regards replacing Hansons had been found – EC stated that they had not as yet, although they have met with selected contractors for discussions. Forestry another key industry. Fishing, mineral extraction, leisure industries. Renewables – new solar park opened recently. Working closely with Mortimer PC on their Neighbouhood DevrP. Filming at Englefield – The Crown series on Netflix, some of which was filmed at Englefield. Current Lloyds Bank advert features Englefield Church very briefly. Strategy – continue working closely in community in all areas. Events – Newbury Spring Festival, Silchester Fun Run, YMCA country fair to name but a few. Aware that they need to improve their communication both internally and with the general public. New website being developed in next 12 months. Richard Edwards – manages woodlands across the estate – 3000 acres, mostly conifers for forestry. 8500 tonnes per year processed. Will drop to around 6500 tonnes per year over the next few years. Rely wholly on contractors to get work done. Any problems with local woods should be reported to estate or directly to Richard. Local police also now have keys so that they can access woods if necessary, so problems can also be reported to them via 101. MT asked what would be extracted from Benyons enclosure – EC confirmed it would be sand and gravel. Footpath problems can be reported to Englefield APM 2016 minutes final Page 2 of 12 19th May 2016

Action and well as HCC Rights of Way. Nick Munson – is Benyons extraction more complicated than that already done. EC confirmed that technically it was not, although conditions set are onerous. Marilyn Wyatt – potholes at back lane – EC confirmed that some work had been carried out on these, but they are still a problem. They are being worked on. c. Hampshire Police – prepared by PCSO Aimee Scott-Molloy, and read by Cllr Robertson (appendix E). d. Burghfield Football Club – prepared by Adam Green and read by the JR (appendix F). e. Mortimer West End Cricket Club – no report. f. District Annual Show – presented by Nick Munson (appendix G). g. Village Hall Management Committee – prepared by Heather Sims and read out by Cllr Brown (appendix H). h. Silver Circle – prepared by Mrs D Povey and read out by the NT (appendix I). i. Parochial Church Council – presented by Marilyn Wyatt. Church Warden for 15 years. Little has changed at Church since last years. It celebrates its 160th anniversary this year. Chapel of Ease set up by Richard Benyon. Struggles to survive financially, with a very small congregation. Quinquennial inspection – building was not too bad, but gutters and down pipes need to be replaced, and around £800 of electrical work needs to be done. Christingle service is always well attended. Churchyard requires a lot of maintenance – thanked PC for paying half of mowing bill each year. Regularly visited churchyard by locals. Recent leaflet drop highlighting appeal to people who don’t wish to see church closed – looking for regular donors. No heating in church since Christmas as oil ran out and can’t afford to replace.

j. Clark’s Educational Fund – presented by Cllr Thurlow. Charity uses investment and rental income to fund bursaries for young people going on to further education. Various bursaries given out in last year. k. Relief in Need charity – presented by Cllr Robertson. Referenced in Chair’s report. Local Charity for Mortimer and Mortimer West End. Supports projects that are seen to be good for the local community. l. Silchester School Governors report – prepared by John Saltmarsh and read out by the FB (appendix J). m. Gravel Allotments Trust Trustees – presented by Cllr Robertson JR noted that parish Councillors are trustees of the Trust, which looks after the recreation ground and allotments. Current project is to upgrade the children’s play area, and a grant has been secured from the Greenham Trust. Currently seeking quotes for necessary work. 7. Open Forum Cllr Robertson invited questions from the public. M Wyatt – from Mary Massey – rubbish around roadsides around parish. Can this not be tackled with a clear up day? JR noted H&S element to this, which complicates a volunteer effort. RG suggested using Parish Lengthsman

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Action Scheme, which is funded by Hampshire county Council – suggested talking to Parish Clerk for information.

8. Election of Village Hall Committee 8 members were elected. 9. Any other business JR thanked everyone for coming to the meeting, and for their valuable input to the meeting and the Parish. Noted difficulties that all organisations seem to have in recruiting members. Mrs Wyatt thanked the PC for their efforts over the previous year. The meeting closed at 9.20pm

Signed: …………………………………………………………………. Date:……………………………………… (Chairman)

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Appendix A Chairman’s report REPORT OF THE PARISH COUNCIL FOR 2015/2016

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and thank-you for attending the Mortimer West End Parish Assembly. I am John Robertson, chairman of your Parish Council and it is my pleasure to introduce the other councillors.

Fraser Brown has been a councillor for six years. He is our representative on the Village Hall committee, and manages our Parish Blog on the Internet. Fraser has tendered his resignation due to a new commitment he is making in his professional life. We thank him for his contribution to the Council’s business with a special mention for his input regarding the planned extraction of gravel from Benyon’s Enclosure. His resignation takes effect at the end of September. Nick Thurlow is now in his third year with the Council and represents us on Basingstoke & Deane Association of Parish & Town Councils and Clarke’s Educational Trust. He has been busy this past year in seeking and arranging grants for the restoration of the Children’s Play Area.

I represent the Council on the Mortimer Relief In Need Charity, the AWE Local Liaison Committee and the Roman Town Advisory Committee.

Our Parish Clerk Maxta Thomas has been with us one year having replaced Bill Goudge who served as our clerk for seventeen years. Maxta has tendered her resignation and leaves on 27th May. She is Clerk for both Bramley and Silchester and an increasing work load and family commitments have resulted in her decision. We are currently seeking a replacement and are close to appointing her successor.

I will now give you my Report for the past year.

The last information we received regarding the proposed Gravel Extraction from Benyon`s Enclosure is that the Planning Application has been extended to May 2018 and this included the workings to the north of Welshmans Road. Edward Crookes of Englefield Estates will give us an accurate update on the present situation regarding Benyon’s Enclosure following my Report.

Planning applications in the Parish are viewed by the Council and are, in the main, to do with building extensions. We make a point of speaking with immediate neighbours regarding applications and taking note of any comments.

The last Police Beat Panel Meeting which was used to update the parishes on local crime and set the priorities for local policing took place on 15th March last year. There has been a change in the Local Police Liaison Officer , our new officer is PCSO Aimee Scott-Molloy who we have had no dealings with to date although we have a report from her which will be read out as she is not available for this meeting. Regarding a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme for Church Road and Welshmans Road this has not progressed but there is an alternative for anyone interested. This is called Hampshire Alert and can be accessed on the WEB at hampshirealert.co.uk. If you register you will become the recipient of messages on information, crime alerts and witness appeals local to this area. The Scheme plays a key role in preventing and detecting crime and anti-social behaviour and improves the flow of information between us, the community, and the police.

Speeding on the roads in the Parish continues to be a problem. The Police are aware of this along Church Road and have utilised their police speed detection vehicle and hand held radar speed detection equipment in an attempt to control it. PC Dean Stickland who was the officer carrying out the speed checks in our area has recently retired. Regarding his replacement we have no information to date. We have committed to hiring a Speed Indicator Device from Hampshire County Council and this will be installed for a one month period in both Soke Road and Church Road in locations already agreed with the Parish Council.

Fraser Brown has managed our Village Blog on the Internet which can be accessed at APM 2016 minutes final Page 5 of 12 19th May 2016

mortimerwestend.blogspot.com. We are in the process of re-creating a Village Web Site which we hope will be accessed more often than the present Blog. We will endeavour to keep the information on the site up to date and will publish all Parish Council Agendas and Minutes of Meetings on it.

Potholes remain a problem in the local roads. We have had one good result this past year regarding the roads and that was the fixing of the flow of water down the hill on Church Road. We contact the Highways Agency periodically during the year.

As Parish councillors we are Trustees of MWE Gravel Allotments Trust which makes us responsible for the Recreation Ground and the Allotments. Use of the Rec Ground is rented out to MWE Cricket Club and Burghfield Football Club on a yearly basis. We have recently been granted funding from Greenham Common Trust for the renewal of the equipment in the Childrens’ Play Area and hope to proceed with the work in the near future. We recently replaced for the second time the dead oak tree sapling in the Rec Ground planted to commemorate the Queen’s 60 year reign. This time we have planted a tree donated by Engelfield Estates – let us hope this one survives the summer.

I represent our Parish on the AWE Local Liaison Committee. Typically, at each meeting there is a presentation on the current environmental, safety and health records, reports on new building work being undertaken and presentations on various subjects. Aldermaston or Burghfield sites are two of the five sites in the country which have been selected as the possible location for the storing of the nuclear reactors from dismantled submarines until such times as a permanent location for this radioactive waste is determined – expected to be in forty years time. A decision from the Government is expected this summer regarding the chosen location. AWE are making a conscious effort to reduce the road traffic attributable to their employees by introducing a nine day working fortnight with the result that every second Friday AWE local traffic is greatly reduced. Also they have a scheme in hand to reduce single car occupancy with a target of 79%, 67% at present. If any of you require information on what is discussed at these liaison meetings the Minutes are available on the AWE web site or you can ask me personally.

I represent the Parish on Silchester Roman Town Joint Advisory Panel. Our presence on this Panel is that the Roman Amphitheatre is in our Parish. English Heritage have the Guardianship of the site and the freehold is owned by Hampshire County Council with their Countryside Service managing the site.

My final representation is on the Relief-In-Need Charity. This charity is for the benefit of the parishioners in Wokefield , Mortimer and Mortimer West End. Over the last year it has distributed approximately £14,000 to various causes.

As parish councillors we give our time freely to represent and protect the interests of you parishioners in local committees and in the wider world. However we are short of two parish councillors, soon to be three. Our constitution requires a quorum of three councillors to be present before a parish council meeting can be held and so after September we may be unable to hold a meeting unless we can recruit new councillors. Should you be interested in becoming a councillor then please contact a present member of the Council or the parish clerk.

We are currently seeking a Footpath Representative who would report on the conditions of our numerous footpaths and by-ways in the Parish. This would suit a dog walker who could mix their pleasurable ambles with a small useful input to the Council.

Wine with savoury snacks including cheese and biscuits shall be available at the end of the Meeting so please stay behind and take the opportunity to have a chat with your councillors , your neighbours and friends. A quick thankyou to my wife Lynne for providing the goodies.

John.A.Robertson 17th May 2016

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Appendix B Borough Councillor report Rates – You will all know what our new Council Taxes are. Government grant was cut by over a third (nearly £800,000). Despite this the council is only putting up its part of the council tax by only £1.98. Top Personnel changes – the Borough has a new CX in Mel Barrett and a new Executive Director for Borough Services in Rebecca Emmett. Both of whom have requested to visit our ward to learn of our area and its problems. Recent elections The result was: Conservatives 33, Labour 19, Liberal Dems 6, Independents 2 = 60 in total. (Roger Gardiner won his election for our ward very easily.) Local Plan covering development to 2029 The Inspector Mike Fox has declared our local plan as ‘sound’ with one or two very minor amendments. It includes the development rate of 850 houses per annum. It goes to Full Council for ratification on 26th May. Once ratified it means we will be able to reject applications which do not comply with the plan. We have lost many appeals recently because we did not have the statutory 5 year land supply within a local plan and have been awarded thousands of pound costs against us. Within the new plan is a large part of land to the west of Basingstoke owned jointly by BDBC and HCC call Manydown. The Manydown land included in this plan has been out for consultation to local people (including children) as to how it should be developed, and a draft has been published. It will include around 3,500 homes. It has not yet got as far as being in a planning application. Government and Planning Government have suggested that planning permission should not be required for certain development and have consulted on it, but it has met with a lot of criticism. Basingstoke Leisure Park Discussions are going ahead with NewRiver Retail to redevelop the Leisure Park in Basingstoke. Many of the facilities need upgrading and NewRiver are proposing upgrading and enhancing the whole of it (except Milestone Museum) and including a Designer Outlet Village adjacent to it. The latter would pay for the improvement of the other facilities. It is very exciting but it is still at the discussion stage, not at planning application stage yet. New Homes The Council are endeavouring to support more individual homes for those wishing to self-build and are compiling a list for those wishing to do so including the type of designs they would have in mind. Top of the Town in Basingstoke. The Council are continuing to work towards improvement of the Top of the Town including improved video coverage. There is great concern at the number of drinking and betting establishments there at the moment. The nearby car parks are changing to allow the first hour’s parking to be free (an increase from half an hour) which is very popular. Infrastructure I’m sure you will have noticed, and probably been inconvenienced, at the road works if you travel on the A340 and A33 and A339. These are improvements which are hoped to accommodate the traffic from present development and that in both BDBC’s Local Plan as well as proposed development with traffic coming from . Devolution You may have heard about suggested devolution, i.e. changes to the way Local Government is organized. Discussions at the moment include the south of the county, i.e. The IOW. Portsmouth, Southampton, Fareham etc. being separate from the middle and north of the county. That would be two local government areas and probably as unitary authorities with elected mayors. It is still very much up for debate. Government are very keen on and insisting on elected mayors being included in the packages but many councils are not happy with that. Discussions are still going on and ideas and discussions seem to change from day to day, so it is a matter of watch this space. Appendix C Burnt Common report It has been very quiet at Burnt Common since Hanson closed the site down last year, apart from the presence of a security guard to secure the plant on site. There has been no progress on the restoration after the latest bit of reshaping that was done in 2014. APM 2016 minutes final Page 7 of 12 19th May 2016

I have however been told that Hanson are due to go on site to install the outfall penstock that will enable control of the water levels in the lake. I was told that this should be done this month but nothing happened yet – no surprise there! Whist on site they will also be doing some work to allow the proper drainage of the old silt lagoons so that they can dry out and then be capped. That is all that I know of, it seems that now they have vacated the site they have even less interest in completing the restoration and there is no effective compulsion from HCC the minerals authority who should be enforcing it. Maybe the PC should get in touch with their HCC councillor to try and get the county to move on this.

Appendix D Calleva WI Calleva Women’s Institute meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30pm, in Mortimer West End Village Hall. At most of our meetings we have a speaker and many interesting and varied topics have been covered. Some are informative, such as “Canine Partners”, where we learnt of the invaluable help dogs can be to their disabled owners and about the training required for these partnerships. We also had an extremely interesting talk entitled “The Life of Bees”. We soon realised what fascinating and highly organised creatures they are and we even got to enjoy the fruits of their labours….. delicious honey. Carol Wheeler entertained us with her hand-bell concert and in November it was “Beauty and Duty in WWII”, when we tasted mock chocolate spread. It was suggested that we could shape this into chocolates to give away as Christmas gifts but this is not to be recommended if you want to keep your friends! However, a tip about what to do if you run out of stockings to wear was considered to be very useful! In January, usually a cold and dreary month, our talk was entitled “Mysteries of the mind”. This turned out to be a very successful, entertaining and amusing evening which left us all with lots to think about and brightened the day enormously. Our talk in April was “Be nice to bugs”. The bugs turned out to be those inside our bodies which keep us healthy, or not, and we had it explained how to look after the “goodies” and deter the “baddies”. It certainly gave us food for thought. In June, three of our members were able to go to Buckingham Palace to attend a Royal Garden Party to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Women’s Institute. I was one of the lucky ones and we set off from Theale with ladies from other local WIs on a cold, rainy morning, all done up in our summer finery, with hats to match. The coach dropped us outside the Palace and we joined one of the huge queues snaking round the walls, waiting to go in. The sun broke through right on cue and our outfits were saved! To be honest, the real highlight was meeting so many ladies of all ages from so many different parts of the , chatting and laughing at this special, shared experience. We always have a craft evening each year, usually in February and this year was no exception. It was another successful evening, with everyone chatting and laughing as we made earrings with beautiful coloured beads and keyring tags in different shaped felts. Everyone seemed to be pleased with their creations. We have been informed, enlightened, taught and entertained, meeting in our way the objectives of the Women’s Institute. Finally, in an effort to attract new members, we had five hundred leaflets printed which we distributed to houses in Mortimer West End, Silchester and . This resulted in our welcoming five new members, two of whom live virtually next door to the Village Hall but who were unaware of our existence. We also have two more potential members, so we consider this quite a success. We hope to continue to grow and enjoy ourselves over the coming year.

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Appendix E Police report PCSO 16140 Aimée Scott-Molloy Contact your Neighbourhood Policing Team on 101 Or via email on [email protected] (Please do not report incidents via email)

Incidents reported to Police 15/05/2015-15/05/2016 Total reported – 28  9 of these have been registered as crimes by the Home Office  11 crimes reported in the year previous (15/05/2014-15/05/2015)

Breakdown of incidents: Anti-social behaviour (environmental/nuisance/personal) – 12 All 12 incidents of anti-social behaviour are regarding a reoccurring issue of off-road bikes in adjacent to St Catherine’s Hill and Welshman’s Road Assault – 2 Criminal damage – 1 Driving complaints – 1 Road traffic incidents/collisions – 2 Suspicious incidents (people/vehicle/other) – 3 Theft – 3 Theft from vehicle – 2 Theft of vehicle – 1 Wildlife related incidents - 1

Community policing priorities:

Mortimer West End shares the same three Policing priorities as the rest of the Basingstoke District, due to the low level of crime within the area – the priorities are less effective:

Dwelling burglary:  There were no dwelling burglaries in Mortimer West End this year  1 dwelling burglary in the year previous

Non-dwelling burglary:  There were no non-dwelling burglaries in Mortimer West End this year  4 non-dwelling burglaries in the year previous

Traffic offences:  2 road related incidents this year  Regular speed enforcement is carried out in Mortimer West End by the local neighbourhood team

Other key Policing news:

 Operation Liberal – doorstep crime has been rising around the Basingstoke Rural area (rogue trading, distraction burglary) – please be vigilant when approached by doorstep knockers!

The Police priorities poll opens every 3 months - you can choose what you think they should be by voting on APM 2016 minutes final Page 9 of 12 19th May 2016

SurveyMonkey – further information will be issued when the poll reopens.

Follow us on Twitter @BstokeRuralCops for regular updates on key incidents in the area

Sign up for Hampshire Alerts on www.hampshirealert.co.uk – you can join the area most relevant to you to receive up to date crime information via email

If you wish to report an incident yourself, you can do so by contacting 101 In an emergency always call 999

Appendix F Burghfield Football Club

Appendix G Produce Show The village show happens on the Saturday of August Bank Holiday weekend every year as I’m sure you all know. It provides a bit of friendly competition through a range of traditional classes including vegetables, fruit, flowers, handicrafts, photography, art, homemade wine, domestic and children. We aim to appeal to as many people as possible and there really is something for everyone. To ensure fairness our independent judges are specialists in their respective fields, score exhibits using published methods and provide valuable feedback where needed to competitors. The schedules for the show are normally made available to the public in early June through various outlets in the area. We do currently provide an electronic version of the schedule via the MVP website and we are investigating having our own website and/or Facebook to make access easier in the future. The afternoon is a traditional format where everyone can view the exhibits, play a few games and chat to each other over a cup of tea and a piece of cake. The local papers normally send a reporter along and we tend to make the news in Reading, Basingstoke and Newbury. Support for the show over the last few years has been fairly steady however we really are trying to increase entries in the children’s classes which is where we tend to struggle. We are working with local children’s groups through the potato growing competition and produce a separate leaflet setting out the children’s classes for them. Numbers have varied from year to year but there seems to be a bit more interest again this year so far. A plea; we do need a few more people on the committee as we really are down to the bare minimum at the moment. We are actively looking for a secretary, a job which is not too onerous at all. We need someone to look after the minute taking, correspondence and a few other bits and pieces of admin. We also need a couple of new committee members to help with organising the show. Please get in touch if you are interested. My thanks as always go to everyone who supports the show and makes it a continuing success.

Appendix H Village Hall Management Committee Members Chairman & Treasurer Heather Sims Secretary Virginia Bray Bookings’ Secretary Beryl Donnelly Parish Council Representative Fraser Brown Produce Show Representative Stephanie Merrison Committee Member Clive Rumble Committee Member Toni Lidster Committee Member Cherry Graham

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Report The hall continues to run at a loss, despite our best endeavours to increase bookings (by way of Facebook and other on-line sites) and to promote and run fundraising events. We ran our “Woodland Walk and Treasure Hunt” again last summer, and were very hopeful that we would have a larger number of entrants, as, firstly the event was advertised as part of the Basingstoke Festival and secondly, we advertised the event at the Mortimer Fun Day the previous week. Sadly, numbers were similar to the previous year, perhaps partly because of the rain we experienced on the day. But those who took part enjoyed the day. The Quiz Night in October was also enjoyable and financially successful, although there were not quite as many people as in the previous year. Sadly rain blighted the Mortimer Easter Egg hunt this year. But we still sold about forty tickets for our “Easter Bunny and Lambs” raffle and were able to promote the forthcoming “Bingo and Chilli Night” as well as promoting the hall as an ideal venue for children’s parties. We are doing our best to make the hall look its best. Outside, we have had the car park weeded this year. Inside, we have put a few more pictures up in the ladies’ toilet and replaced some broken clip frames, and we are looking at possibly repainting the hall, with financial help from the Parish Council. We are also investigating various options for ensuring that the ladies’ toilets are not too cold during the winter months. We have also created our own Health and Safety Policy, Fire Risk and General Risk documents, which are displayed in the Village Hall, and we have updated the rules for the hire of the Village Hall. But, as I mentioned earlier, our main problem is money. We have, in the last few days, managed to persuade our insurance company to reduce their premium from £700 to £600. And, since the start of 2016 we have been having the hall cleaned fortnightly rather than weekly. This should save us about £750 per year. We have also cancelled the refuse collection by BDBC, another saving of about £170. And we have also applied to deregister from VAT which should save about another £400 per year. Unfortunately this deregistering has proved more difficult than was thought as an “Option to tax” was taken out in July 1994, which, apparently, also has to be revoked. I hope that this can be done in the near future, as Stephanie Merrison has kindly agreed to take over as treasurer once the VAT issues have been resolved. And I would like to thank Stephanie very much for offering to do this. I am also pleased to welcome Cherry Graham to the committee, who having only attended one meeting has already proved an asset to the committee, providing help in organising the Bingo Night, manning our stand at the Mortimer Easter Egg Hunt and coming up with fundraising ideas. Thank you also to all the other members of the committee for their support, particularly Stephanie and Virginia who have both put a lot of time and effort into organising our fundraising events and promoting the village hall. Thanks also go to Virginia for all the work she does as Secretary of the Committee. And thanks are also due to Beryl for all she does in booking the hall, providing keys to hirers and collecting money from them.

Appendix I Silver Circle The Silver Circle is a very small group that meets monthly. We try to have speakers regularly, although these are proving to be increasingly expensive. We also lay on a regular tea – the next one is schedule for next month. We have an annual Christmas lunch – the 2015 lunch was successful.

Appendix J Silchester School Governors report  Ofsted report last summer very positive – the school has a ‘Good’ grading.  Pupil numbers highest for over a decade. Now 200 on roll.  Fully staffed for September – stable workforce.  Continue to have very good results at the end of each Key stage: Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) – 80% achieved at good level of development, above the LA average of 73% and national average of 66%. KS1 – Above or in-line with national average for reading, writing and mathematics. KS2 – Particularly strong results in mathematics and reading with % of pupils achieving L5+ was significantly above the national average.  Outdoor learning. Firmly established in EYFS and Y1 and now rolling out through the school. Trailblazer APM 2016 minutes final Page 11 of 12 19th May 2016

Bronze award. Improvement to the school grounds.  UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award – recognition of commitment.  Fairtrade School – renewed out Fairtrade status. Supported Fairtrade fortnight.  Voice in a Million at the O2. Hampshire Primary music festival at The Anvil. 5 different instrumental lessons – strings, woodwind, keyboard, guitar and brass.  Before school clubs – yoga and wake-up  After school clubs – choir, computer programming, tag rugby, multi-sports, art, netball, hockey  Very supportive PTA. Laptops, outdoor learning equipment, playhouse and role play area for EYFS  School will be at the summer fete  Church links – Rev Richard Harlow and Em Paddick-Wilson regularly lead worship in school. Em runs a living bible club for KS1 and KS2. Classes regularly attend service at St Mary’s Church.  Head boy and girls at The Hurst from September are ex Silchester pupils (Rebecca Herbert and Dominic Smith)

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