Reports Presented to the Annual Parish Meeting May 2016
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Reports Presented to the Annual Parish Meeting May 2016 Report by the Chairman of the Parish Council .................................................................................................. 2 Manuden Village Community Centre Management Committee ..................................................................... 3 Manuden School ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Owlets Manuden Playgroup .............................................................................................................................. 5 Manuden Guides ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Manuden Brownies ........................................................................................................................................... 6 St Mary’s Church, Manuden .............................................................................................................................. 7 Manuden Bell Ringers ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Friendship Club .................................................................................................................................................. 8 The Manuden Singers ........................................................................................................................................ 8 Manuden Junior Football Club ........................................................................................................................ 10 Manuden United Football Club ....................................................................................................................... 10 Manuden United Reserves .............................................................................................................................. 11 Manuden Golf Society ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Manuden Womens Institute ........................................................................................................................... 11 Manuden Footpaths ........................................................................................................................................ 13 Manuden & Berden History Society ................................................................................................................ 13 Manuden Open Gardens ................................................................................................................................. 14 Manuden Men’s Dining Club ........................................................................................................................... 15 Manuden Cricket Club ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Manuden Fun Run ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Badminton Club ............................................................................................................................................... 16 Short Mat Bowls .............................................................................................................................................. 16 The Manuden Park Group ............................................................................................................................... 17 Local Councillor’s Report ................................................................................................................................. 17 Appendix – Financial Report ............................................................................................................................ 19 Report by the Chairman of the Parish Council As you know, this is my first Chairman’s report, having succeeded Les last year as chairman. As was said last year, much of what has been achieved over the past twelve months has been as a result of initial discussions held and actions taken by Les and we frequently refer back to those discussions in order to progress issues without going over old ground, so Les’ spirit very much lives on within the Parish Council. I would like to start with some thanks. Firstly to my fellow councillors - and of course our indomitable clerk, Charles - for their contributions and hard work throughout the year once again. Thanks to all of those who participate in the clubs, societies and activities on offer in the village. It is your energy and enthusiasm which make our village such a lovely place to live. A special thank you to Frank Bengtsen and Richard Dale-Cooke for the splendid crocus display once again and to all the villagers who turned out last month for the annual village clean up – the volume of rubbish which we manage to collect each year never ceases to amaze me but we were able to complete the task in record time this year thanks to the support of the village. There has been much fund raising activity this year with some very impressive results – particularly by the Manuden Park group - which I shall allow the individual teams to comment on. I shall briefly cover what I consider to be the three main issues currently affecting the village – namely flooding/drainage, roads and broadband. We would like to thank those residents who have been constantly vigilant and active to prevent flooding of not only their own property but those of others in the village but contacting the various agencies directly. Dogged determination is needed in order to achieve positive action and the power of personal experience and direct contact with the relevant agencies, in addition to ongoing pressure from the Parish Council has proven the most successful method, although progress remains slow and the outcomes are inevitably finance related. The main road through the village is finally due to be resurfaced – for those unaware, this is scheduled to take place from 2-10th June when the road will be closed from White House Corner to Mallows Green Road – with access allowed. The alternative route will be via Stansted Road, so I would suggest adding an extra hour on to your journeys at that time. Seriously, we thank all those who have persistently reported road defects and our Essex County Councillor, Ray Gooding, who has applied as much pressure as possible to Highways, which we know is not an easy task. Once again I would like to encourage villagers to individually report road defects via the ECC website as we know that the more complaints received, the better the likelihood of action being taken. The promise from BT of the advent of Superfast broadband to the village seems to have been on our agenda for years. The reality is inching closer – we have seen some activity in the village recently, however, only the houses in close proximity to the new cabinet will receive anything like the promised Broadband speeds (and we still don’t have a timescale). But help is at hand. Some of you attended a presentation from Gigaclear recently who specialise in delivering ultrafast fibre to rural areas and are looking to install a fibre network in the village. The Parish Council very much endorses this scheme and we urge those who are able to sign up to do so as soon as possible – and please spread the word – even if you don’t feel you need ultrafast now, technology moves very fast and you will effectively be future-proofing your properties. If you need more information, please ask one of us or check out the Gigaclear website. There will also be a further information event in the near future. These have been the main issues which have dominated many of our meetings this year and occupied much of our time. However, there has been opportunity for a little fun; the Village Family Christmas Party was hosted jointly by the PC and the MVCC and we were delighted with the number of villagers who joined the event and will look to make this a regular occurrence. Particular thanks to Chris Bailey and Chris Hannington for their hard work to make the party a success. Plans are well underway for a village party on Sunday June 12th to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday – more details on that shortly. We look forward to the coming year’s activities and welcome any comments or suggestions as to how we can make the village an even better place for us all to live. Julie Kershaw Manuden Village Community Centre Management Committee It is now two years since the Manuden Village Community Centre first opened for business. In the past year the focus has been on consolidating the sound framework established in the first year and developing the Centre in a range of ways. Bookings for the use of the facilities both inside and out have steadily increased in terms of both volume and use of the Centre. In addition to being the home of Manuden Football Club, Manuden Cricket Club and established organisations such as the Women’s Institute, the Friendship Club, Owlets, Brownies and Guides, a number of clubs and classes have been formed. These include Badminton, Karate, Short Mat Bowls and a range of keep fit classes such as Zumba, Pilates, Yoga, Reshape, Wiggle/Wiggle (movement for pre-school children), Children’s Dance, Re-shape and Circuit