GAZELEY PARISH COUNCIL Newsletter Spring 2021

The Parish Council

Gazeley Parish Council meets in the Village Hall on the second Tuesday of every month, except August, at 7.30 pm. Village Residents are welcome to ask questions in the Open Forum section at every meeting.

Members of the Parish Council

Mr Kevin Grimwood (Chair) 01638 552317 Mr Paul Beard 01638 552363 Mr Ray Francis 01638 750150 News from the Parish Council Mr Wesley Heaton 07522 246343 Mrs Judy Moatt 01638 750151 As the period of lock-down continued with the Parish Mr Pat Spillane 01638 551511 Council unable to hold meetings in the Village Hall, Vacancy Councillors continued to hold virtual meetings via Zoom. Parish Clerk: The current legislation allowing remote meetings Mrs Lynne Francis 01638 750170 ceases to have effect from 7th May and the Email: [email protected] Government has stated that it will not extend the Parish Council Website: www.gazeley.onesuffolk.net legislation beyond that date so the Parish Council has agreed to hold the Annual Parish Meeting in the District Councillor – village hall on Tuesday 25th May. The Annual Meeting Cllr Roger Dicker. 01638 750392 of the Parish Council will take place immediately Email: [email protected] afterwards. Covid-19 safety requirements will be

County Councillor observed. Cllr Colin Noble 07545 423795 Email: colin.noble@.gov.uk The Annual Parish Meeting is not a meeting of the Parish Council. It is a meeting for the residents of the Member of Parliament parish, and electors can contribute to the agenda. Mr Matthew Hancock 01638 576692 In practice these meetings often celebrate local Email: [email protected] activities and debate current issues in the community. Suffolk Police (Non-urgent no.) 101 The meeting was cancelled last year, and few of the

VILLAGE CONTACTS usual village activities have taken place, but if there is a topic that you would like to discuss, please inform

Village Hall Bookings: the Clerk who will add it to the agenda. Mrs June Lewis 750062 Mr Wesley Heaton joined the Council in October, Dalham & Gazeley W.I. filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Cllr Dave Ms Debbie Saldana 750569 Osterburg.

Gazeley History Society Mrs Hilary Appleton 750725 Councillor Charlene Vandenbroucke has resigned from the Parish Council. Charlene has been a very Table Tennis Club valuable and effective councillor for the past 10 years Mr Tony Wilkinson 552221 and her resignation has been received with much regret. All Saints’ Church Rev. Chris Childs 751289 The vacancy is currently being advertised and, if no [email protected] election is called, it will be filled by co-option. Precept Blacksmiths Forge The annual parish precept for 2020-2021 remains at As some residents will have the same level as last year, £15,800. noticed, part of the front wall of the forge collapsed during a The precept covers the cost of running the parish period of very high winds in council, grass cutting, street lighting, repair and March. Council and Suffolk Highways maintenance and donations to local organisations erected the fencing as an emergency measure to keep within the village. residents safe from falling masonry. Unfortunately the bus shelter is situated within the ‘fall area’ and The Parish Council has agreed to award had to be enclosed but it is hoped that it can be a donation of £800 to All Saints’ returned to use as soon as possible. Church again this year which is specifically designated to help with the Residents regularly contact the Parish Council to ask costs of the maintenance of the why we don’t do anything about the forge, which churchyard as it holds such a many feel has been an eyesore in the village for far prominent place in the centre of the too long. The fact is that although the Parish Council village. owns the village green, the building itself is under separate ownership and we therefore have no The Parish Council also welcomes our new vicar, Rev. jurisdiction over what happens to the building. Chris Childs and his wife Wendy, who moved to the village at the end of January. Chris took up his post on Gazeley Civic Pride Awards 2021 11th February. He attended the remote meeting of the Parish Council in April and told us that he is very Community life in Gazeley has largely keen to see the church as the hub of the village and been suspended, unavoidably, during open to all, whether they attend church or not. He the past year due to the Covid-19 would like to encourage a wider use of the church for restrictions on our daily movements. All our usual the whole community and he looked forward to events and meetings have been cancelled and a meeting everyone in person when the current social casualty of this has been our annual Civic Pride distancing measures are relaxed. Awards.

A bench, which had been installed by The awards were set up to be able to recognise the the residents of Tithe Close some years efforts of individuals or teams within the community ago, was destroyed when a falling tree who have made an extraordinary contribution to the crashed on to it. Cllr Roger Dicker has made a well-being of the village. donation from his locality budget to replace it. If you would like to nominate someone this year you Residents were pleased to see that can obtain a copy of the Nomination Form via the the long desired marker posts were Parish Council website or apply to the Clerk for a copy installed along the edge of the which should be returned to her in a sealed envelope. pond near Gazeley Stud during the winter. County Cllr Colin Noble had As with all awards of this nature, the nomination of an agreed to cover the cost from his locality budget. individual, or group of individuals, must remain confidential throughout the process and the Data taken from the Speed Indication individual(s) concerned may not be informed by any Device shows that a significant number of means, including inference, of their nomination. motorists are still speeding through the Any indication that this confidentiality has been village. Various methods of speed control have been compromised may result in the withdrawal of the considered but it is felt that the sets of white gates at nomination from the process. the entrances to villages do draw motorists’ attention to the fact that a speed limit of 30mph is in place. The usual period of nomination has been wavered this year as no meetings have taken place at which an Cllr Noble agreed to make a donation from his locality award could be presented. For this year only, budget to cover the cost of two sets of gates and 50% nominations should reach the Clerk by Friday 21 May of the cost of an extra speed device. The Parish for consideration. Council has agreed to raise funds to cover the cost of a third set of gates and the other 50% of the cost of the speed device. Lynne Francis