BARKING PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at Barking Village Hall at 7.00pm on Thursday 27th May 2021 PRESENT: Cllr Mark Lillie – Chairman, Cllr Marcus Tabberer, Cllr Rosamund Fellowes, Cllr Steve Butler and Cllr Mike Bailey County Cllr Kay Oakes and District Cllr Dan Pratt IN ATTENDENCE: Mrs L Rogers - Clerk 2 members of the public attended BPC 01/21 APOLOGIES Cllr Ann Ross, Richard Cage (Barking Tree Warden), Sandra Reynolds (Barking Community Council and Choir), Sue Marsh (St Marys Church), Juliet Beadle (WI), Kate Griffin (Art Group) and Brian Smith (BATS) BPC 02/21 MINUTES The minutes from the meeting held on 9th May 2019 were approved by the councillors and signed by the Chairman as a correct record. BPC 03/21 BARKING PARISH COUNCIL –Cllr Mark Lillie (Chairman) I would like to start by thanking my fellow councillors and especially Lucinda for all their hard work throughout the past year and we will look forward to serving the community during the coming year. I would also like to thank everyone in the village who contribute so much by running the village organizations and activities. We have witnessed acts of great kindness during these unprecedented times. I was particularly pleased that The Council was still able to meet according to its normal schedule through the use of virtual meeting technology. Special thanks go to Marcus Tabberer for facilitating. We would like to thank Councillor Oakes, our County Councillor, for her hard work and guidance during the past year. In particular she was able to fund the SID camera which is finally up and running in the village. We would also like to thank Dan Pratt, our District Councillor, for his hard work and guidance during the past year. He has been instrumental with helping fund the flora and wildlife surveys and is an inspiration for ideas on how we can increase our green credentials in the future. The changing of the contractors for the cutting of the grass on the Tye, has gone smoothly and a 3 year contract has been agreed to save costs. We have had a changing of the guard on litter picking Grants have been recently awarded to St Mary’s Church, Headway, East Anglian Air Ambulance, the Four Parishes Magazine and Neighbourhood Watch. Progress has been made on negotiating and agreeing an easement with building contractor DAB. Future funds will enable community projects such as the construction of a footway along the Tye which is a long term ambition of the Parish Council. We will report further progress through the year. The Council adopted a Tree Policy and commissioned a Tree Survey last year. The Survey highlighted a number of trees which required attention. Urgent items have been addressed and this year priority will be focussed on items such as crown lifting. There has also been interest expressed in using the Tye for junior football coaching in the future and I would like to thank Mike Bailey for his support on this. We 1 received a resignation from a councillor earlier this year and have advertised to co-opt a new member, so far with no success. The pandemic has presented challenges to everyone in the community, but it has also demonstrated the care and kindness of neighbours to each other. I feel proud and fortunate to live in a happy village and look forward to seeing it grow as light now emerges from these most challenging times. BPC 04/21 INVITED REPRESENTATIVES: Barking Neighbourhood Watch – Mark Lillie - Barking Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator Main points: The crime figures are stable with about 6 crimes a year – burglaries. Much more online and phone scams. Nextdoor group is a way of keeping in touch with what is happening locally. The police are focusing on abuse and drugs crimes St Mary’s Church, Barking - Sue Marsh (Lay Chair). Report read by Cllr Lillie. The year 2020 started as normal with the first PCC meeting on February 18th, A concert by the Trianon music group would occur in May to raise funds for the benefice and there would be fund raising afternoon teas in July. However all changed with the tragic arrival of the Corona Virus. Our Mothering Sunday service in March was cancelled and all routine Church services were banned by the PM with the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Only Funerals and weddings could take place under strict regulations. It was allowed that places of worship could remain open for private prayer under strict safety guidelines. Initially it was hoped to keep St Mary's open under this routine. However large unruly groups who used the Churchyard as a meeting place and an attempt at an overnight stay in the car park plus the rigid cleaning routines decided us to keep the Church closed. The weddings were cancelled as were all fund raising events. There were two funeral services in the Church during the year and three cremations of parishioners. Sadly, one of the latter was that of our late Lay Reader and Church Warden for many years, Michael Hodgson. We were able to say our good byes as the Cortege left from outside the Church on his journey to the crematorium. In July 2020 regular Services were allowed to resume with strict guidelines, distancing, masks, sanitisation and no singing. We were again able to celebrate our regular communion service on the 4th Sunday of the month at 11.00am. We are extremely grateful to Dan for undertaking this unlike some other Cathedrals and Churches, although streamed services from the Diocese and Dan's sermons were available on line. We were able to hold a Harvest themed Communion in September and on Remembrance Sunday had a well attended Act of Remembrance [Socially distanced etc] at the War Memorial on the Tye. Finally we were able to hold our Annual Parish meeting in October when Barry Gascoyne [who had been shielding since March] resigned as Church Warden. Unfortunately no one wished to undertake this appointment and it was agreed that members of the PCC would share the duties. At the PCC meeting afterwards plans were made for a take away Valentines tea and Easter Raffle in 2021. Reports were received of the on going investigation and plans for work to be carried out to repair the leak in the South Aisle. Thanks to a healthy bank balance and generous donations and collections we were able to pay £6,000 towards our Parish share. We were grateful, again, to the Parish Council for their donation towards maintenance of the Churchyard and to the faithful few who helped at our belated work party. Thanks too to Brenda our organist who played for us when services returned although we were not allowed to sing the words. We lost worshippers during the year due to shielding but welcomed those who have joined us, keeping our numbers fairly steady. 2 Barking Chapel –Pastor Graham Steward: In common with everyone else we have experienced a year like no other. Fourteen months ago we discovered what ‘lockdown’ meant, followed shortly after by the discovery of Zoom which most of our members had hardly heard of. When all normal activity within the church came to a halt the telephone came into its own to enable us to keep in touch with those who were very much isolated. Shortly afterwards we commenced Sunday services via Zoom which enabled us to continue to worship as a community. When guidelines allowed, we returned to worship at the Chapel with appropriate Covid-security measures in place. Initially we met outside in the car park and then within the building. At the same time we have continued to have a Zoom link from the Chapel to others at home. Often the music we have used has been played by some of our members at their home in Hadleigh. We have even had services in the building led by someone at home. We still struggle with the fact that we are not allowed to sing in the building but in recent weeks have been able to move outside at the end of a service to sing. Most of our other activities have been, and still are, on hold. One exception is our mid-week meeting for Bible study and prayer. This has taken place entirely via Zoom and may well continue to do so. It has seemed very strange to have no activities specifically for children nor any opportunities to do school assemblies or care home visits. We look forward to being able to resume some of these things in due course. As our old hall has been out of use for all this time it has given us the opportunity to get the floor replaced, which it desperately needed and we have just had a new carpet laid, so it is ready for action. We also gave the worship area a lick of paint during the first lockdown. As restrictions are further lifted, and we settle into whatever the new normal is, we look forward to welcoming old friends and new to share with us in our journey of faith. Village Hall Management Committee & Community Council – Jeremy Reynolds Current Situation Covid Restrictions effectively closed the hall in 2020. The hall had no users until the Preschool re-started in January 2021. As Covid restrictions are easing, there will be an increased interest in clubs re-starting their activities. The current Chairman/Booking Agent and the treasurer are standing down from the posts after many years in post. The Secretary post is vacant after the loss of Sue Bailey last year.