Roydon Parish Council

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING Held on Tuesday 25th March 2014 in the Parish Room, St. Remigius Church

Present: David Goldson (District Councillor) (Chairman), John Taylor (Vice-Chairman), Paul Curson, Pam Murton, David Bartrum, Herbert Hawers, Jennifer Shorter, Elizabeth Taylor, Andrew Daniels, Katrina Burrows (Clerk) and 6 residents

1. Apologies: County Councillor Jenny Chamberlin 2. Minutes: The Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 19th March 2013 were approved and signed by the Chairman 3. Matters Arising: None 4. Parish Council Report: The Parish Council had held meetings every month, Brewers Green was often the main item on the agenda with concerns regarding maintenance and trespass. The Brewers Green Management Committee was formed consisting of Parish Councillors and local residents. The Parish Council contributed half of the cost of the commemorative gates at the Village Hall to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee.

5. District Councilor’s Report: SNDC has had a satisfactory year with good financial stability and a further freeze in Council tax. The District Council has worked with Broadland and Norwich City on the Local Plan for housing and economic development. It should limit or even prevent speculative planning applications for large development south of Norwich. Funding arrangements have been put in place for major road projects including the Long Stratton by- pass. 6. County Councilor’s Report: The governance arrangements for NCC are currently under review. A committee system is being proposed to replace the cabinet and scrutiny panels. Two large infrastructure projects are under review for 2014. These are the energy from waste plant and the other is the northern distributor route. Children’s Services have made a significant improvement to change current practices; the focus is now on families.

7. Roydon PCC Report: Part of the Diss Team Ministry. Our 8 a.m. Holy Communion services are cancelled for the time being, but we are told that they may return in the future. Hopefully there will be a new appointment of a part time Vicar who will live in Roydon Rectory, which will be re-named, the Vicarage (will that work?).The church continues to produce the monthly Parish magazine, the Herald, which is still delivered free to every house in parish. Toddler Church for pre-school children, our annual holiday club week and various parties during the year are popular and well attended. We continue to maintain the Churchyard and are very grateful to the Parish Council for their donations towards the summer grass cutting. We are also grateful to Diss Rugby Club who are trying to resolve the problem of cars using the car park at the Church which belongs to us and the White Hart . They now put out big notices directing cars to Benny Gaze’s farm and we also put out a notice saying that this is our car park. It doesn’t always work. We are sorry to have to report that we have not got enough helpers to run the Annual Fete this year. We could probably find just enough people to man the stalls but we need committee members with new ideas and strong volunteers to help set up and clear up on the day. Sadly we don’t have these this year -cancel Fete. This Room is available for the village. We are not permitted to make an official charge, but we do appreciate any donations which are given. Roydon Church is for, and belongs to, everyone in the village. It was lovely last year to have so many local weddings in the Church and whilst funerals are naturally always sad occasions, it is true to say that we feel content with what we can offer to families at these difficult times. We feel that we are truly a village Church 8. Police Report: The Police report asked residents to raise any issues concerning inconsiderate or poor parking around the Primary School with SNDC. Police only have the power to remove a vehicle if it is causing a total obstruction. Crime statistics in Roydon continue to be good but the Police prefer to focus on crime prevention and advise all residents to do whatever they can to stop crimes happening in their area. Anti-social behavior and criminal damage is also low in Roydon.

9. Roydon Village Hall Management Committee Report: For the year ending October 2013 the hall had a loss of £839 which was a result of a £2000 contribution towards the Jubilee gates, the most significant aspect for this loss has been the dramatic decrease in income – the hiring receipts show a drop of £2350 - Some regular users have also been lost to other locations. Running costs have increased by nearly £1200, the main factors in this being the rising costs of heating and lighting with increasing costs for cleaning and maintenance becoming more common. The current hiring fees are covering the day to day running costs but this need to be looked at and adjusted in the near future. The management committee has met on 4 occasions and Claire Lister took over as Chair person with Andrew Stratfold acting as Vice Chair person at the October A.G.M. All the windows and external doors are due to be replaced over the Easter Holidays which will hopefully improve the efficiency of the heating and also reduce running costs.

10. Roydon School: No report available.

11. Reports from Village Organisations: Carpet Bowls – The club meets every Monday evening with a membership of 16. The club takes part in two winter leagues and one summer league. Some members participate in County competitions held at Wortwell and we achieved good results. Monday Whist Club – No report available Brownies/Rainbows/Guides – No report available Local History Group – Carolyn Barclay reported that due to illness and family problems the group had met infrequently and there were no formal meeting dates. Roydon Pre-School – The pre-school group is going from strength to strength and is currently almost full with a waiting list for September. We had our OFSTED inspection in September 2012 which graded us at GOOD across the board which we were all thrilled about. We have 10 staff. Over the last 18 months Tammy the Supervisor of the setting has successfully completed the level 5 foundation degree in early years, Level 6 Ba degree in Early childhood studies and also gained Early Years Professional Status. Two staff have successfully completed their level 2 and are now working towards their level 3 and one member of staff is now working towards her level 2. We have raised over £1500 by holding jumble sales, quiz and chips night and raffles. This money has gone towards our annual zoo trip – last year we took 115 adults and children on what could have been the wettest day of the year! This year we are hoping for better weather. We are also in the process of updating our equipment and resources. We have also fundraised for other causes including operation Christmas child, red nose day, children in need, world diabetes day and cancer research. We have held numerous events including IMPS mornings, teddy bear picnics, Grandparents day family learning festivals – all of which the children’s families are invited into the setting to join us with. We have held our annual open morning which saw us welcome another 12 families to the setting and we have another one planned for July this year. We are now registered to receive funding for some 2 year olds which has seen the number of year olds we have on our books dramatically increase. Our pre-school has been running for 40 years this year so on Saturday 31st May 4pm-8pm we will be holding a family fun afternoon to celebrate – everyone is welcome and we would like to involve as many past and present children and members of staff as possible. Roydon Quilters – The group continues to enjoy meeting in the Barclay Room and are happy with the facilities of the Village Hall. Bridge Club – The Bridge Club meets every Thursday evening. Usually ten tables play but it is hoped that the numbers will grow as newly taught players will join. The Village Hall is invaluable as a venue; it is central to most players and has excellent facilities. Quaker Wood – Quaker Wood is now in its 6th year and the trees, last year, enjoyed another excellent growing season with many of the earlier planted trees well above head height. Last week we hosted about 60 children from Roydon Primary School who were divided into 4 groups and they all enjoyed 4 different activities. We had a very good response from the school who hope to bring more children next term when we should be able to make use of the recently completed dipping platform. This is quite a landmark for us since we have been able to demonstrate the opportunities for using Quaker Wood as an outdoor learning experience beyond just the planting of young trees. In addition to the planted areas we now have many diverse areas of habitat including the cut margins, hedgerows with mature trees, the pond, wild areas and the central meadow where we intend to encourage natural wild flowers. Last year we purchased 3 lightweight Austrian scythes specifically for cutting the meadow grass and we now have a team of trained scythers! This has led us to celebrate Lammas Day which traditionally marks the end of the hay season and the beginning of the corn harvest. We are planning to have an afternoon Lammas Fair and barbeque on Saturday 2nd of August. This will be publicised later in the year. Unfortunately there is no sign yet of any lodgers in the owl house donated by John Taylor. Maybe this is because it faces the prevailing south west wind and most birds seem to prefer a home facing away from the wind. We have no plans for change but perhaps a move to the opposite corner of the field might be worth considering. We seem to have an increasing number of visitors (2 legged as well the flying and 4 legged) and it always very good to receive interest from Roydon Parish. First Responders – The Responders continue to be very busy and to date have attended over 1120 calls since going live in April 2008, with over 300 calls in 2013. Training in 2014 include additional skills such as use of epi pens, taking tympanic temperatures, taking blood pressures and attending children over 2 years old.

12. Other matters – There being no other matters the Chairman closed the meeting at 7:55pm