HARPLEY PARISH COUNCIL

Chairman‘s report to Annual Parish Meeting for year 2014/2015

Your Parish Council met on 9 occasions during the year to discuss a wide range of issues all of which, to a greater or lesser extent, impinged on life within our community.

Minutes of all meetings can always be found on the notice board erected outside the Village Hall, on the village web-site www.harpley.net, or in reports regularly printed in the quarterly Parish Magazine, “What’s on in Harpley”. Our thanks go to Val Wilson and Linda Steed for their hard work in producing this newsletter.

Local Village organisations continue to thrive, due mainly to the efforts of local volunteers, whose work in fund raising, motivating their peers and generally being at the beck and call of village needs often goes without recognition.

Reports from these organisations will be tabled separately.

The Community Car Scheme continues to serve the needs of those local people without their own transport; again this group is given only limited funds and is reliant on volunteers.

The Parish Council has been successful in their bid for match funding from County Council for two ‘TROD’ footpaths leading from Ravens Lane to the A148 to provide safer pedestrian access to the bus stops. These paths should be installed later in the year. The Parish Council will have to pay £2,232 from their limited budget. Harpley Village Hall has already kindly offered a donation of £500. Any donations would be appreciated to enable completion of both paths.

After 8 years our Clerk, Anne Winder, has decided to hand the role over and we are grateful to Linda Steed who has offered to take on the role. Anne and Linda will be working together initially.

We would like to encourage more use of the village web-site www.harpley.net If you would like to contribute to the site, advertise future events etc, or comment, please contact Lloyd Mitchell.

Your Council will endeavour to reconcile any differences and to deal with any new problems, which will doubtless arise in the future, with the same enthusiasm and dedication. Village web-site www.harpley.net Email address [email protected] Harpley Baby and Toddler Group

Harpley Baby and Toddler Group runs every Tuesday from 10 – 11.30am and offers mums and children a chance to play and mix with other children and adults. We have healthy snacks for the children and a cup of tea and cake for mums and grannies. A warm welcome is given to all who attend.

Activities this year have included -

 Crafts and messy play;  Early Days Photography session;  Christmas Party with presents delivered by Santa;  Valentines coffee morning; and  Easter bonnet decorating.

There was a slight decrease in attendance and with the increase in hall hire funds for the group were low. The pre-school kindly donated weekly cake raffle proceeds to help keep us afloat and a coffee morning was held on Valentines day with raffle, tombola and activities for the children. The event was very well supported by the village and £300 was raised. We have increased the entry fee from £1.50 to £2 per family and numbers are up once more. Secretary's report for the Annual Parochial Church Council meeting on April 13th 2015.

2014 was a difficult year for St. Lawrence with ten months of it in interregnum, and two thefts of lead from the roof.

We followed the same service pattern. With the support of the Choir and re- tired clergyman Rev. Julian Thompson we held a Sung Eucharist on the first Sunday of each month, and a Lay led Family Service on the third Sunday of the month. The congregation continues to be very small due to several people leaving to the house church, and some leaving to join Little Massing- ham. We also had our regular Wednesday Communion on the first Wednes- day of the month led by either Rev. Thompson or Rev. Robin Elphick. We have held children's workshops on St. Valentines, Good Friday, a summer event, and Advent (donkey) with a Family Harvest Service followed by Tea. The workshops have all been well attended by between 12 and 20 children. The Rural Dean, Rev. James Nash has supported us by taking the Good Fri- day workshop, and by chairing our APCCM on 3rd April 2014.

We have had a number of successful fund raising events: the Christian Aid soup lunch in March, the ceilidh in April, the Open Gardens in June, the cycle ride in September, and a Christmas Tree Festival in December.

Along with and we have joined a new Benefice of Gayton, Grimston and Massingham led by Rev. Jane Holmes. A new partner appointment was made in the summer and in November we were delighted to welcome the Rev. Judith Pollard who moved in to the Grimston Rectory and who is leading worship in the Massingham end of the Benefice at the moment. She has been conducting two Holy Communion services each month in Harpley as well as the Wednesday 9a.m HC service and we join to- gether on the second Sunday of the Month for a Benefice Group Service.

We were shocked and dismayed to learn on September 29th that thieves had stolen some of the lead from the South Aisle roof, and whilst organising cover for the roof and quotes for a replacement roof, we were again hit with a fur- ther theft of all the lead from the North Aisle, the organ chamber, more from the South Aisle roof, and three sheets from the porch. On the second visit considerable damage was done to the coping stones on the end of the North Aisle roof and the guttering on the North side; a grave was desecrated, and a large hole left in the churchyard where they obviously got their vehicle stuck. We were very fortunate to have the help of Neil West from Massingham who covered the roofs in tarpaulins immediately and then returned and covered both roofs with good quality felt which will keep the church watertight for the immediate future. A large number of people responded to Lucy Brown's appeal for help to clean up the church due to water ingress following rain, and about 40 people turned up on Sunday ? to mop, polish and clean, reinstate the churchyard and repair the grave. We have yet to decide on the way forward to replace the roof with a more permanent solution, but we are extremely grateful for a number of donations, large and small, towards the cost of roof repairs, and we have also received the maximum amount the Ecclesiastical Insurance co. will pay out in these circumstances.

Inspite of all our difficulties we look forward to 2015 and a brighter future led by the Rev. Pollard and the Rev. Jane Holmes. G M A

C C S Great Massingham Area Community Car Scheme

Chairman’s Report for 2014

Introduction The Community Car Scheme is 12 years old and serves the 10 parishes in West Norfolk lying between Docking in the north and Great Massingham to the south. Some adjacent areas are also included. The Scheme has approximately 56 drivers who took over 4700 trips in 2014, about half of which were medically-related.

Drivers Ten drivers joined the Scheme in 2014 and six resigned. At the time of writing (March 2015), the total number of drivers was 56

We have sought new drivers through our Norfolk Community Transport Association using PR Consultant Patrick Lowman to write press releases about our work for local newspapers. We also inserted short pieces in local newsletters, put-up a display board at local markets and film club evenings and showed promotional slides at some local societies.

Out-of-the-ordinary trips undertaken by drivers have included a double trip to Herne Bay in Kent over Christmas; taking a school boy home after football practice once a week and trips to and from King’s Lynn Station 7 days a week for 6 weeks so that the passenger could receive daily hospital treatment in Cambridge.

As part of our efforts to help drivers improve their driving skills, several attended a short course arranged by our umbrella organization the Norfolk Community Transport Association on how to drive in difficult conditions.

Parking problems at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn have been eased by our securing sufficient parking permits for every driver.

As a “thank you” event for our drivers, a garden party was held In July at Wensum House in , the home of our Treasurer Tony Dessent and his wife Sue.

Drivers are now sent monthly e-mails carrying summaries of our committee meetings and other news items.

Last year, drivers returned an estimated 82 % of their Drivers Trip Record forms. These are the most direct record of our work. They showed drivers travelled almost 50,000 miles, put in 4067 volunteered hours and took £18,000 in fares.

The Office Following a Health and Safety review, a bin containing salted sand was placed outside the Office to help prevent accidents on the steps in icy weather. The office carpet was identified as a trip hazard and replaced in June. A safer electrical background heater was also purchased.

In December, Diane Browne resigned after 11 years as an Office Co-ordinator. On behalf of all involved with the Scheme I thank her most warmly for her long and loyal service. Fortunately, we retained the services of her colleagues Angie Durrant and Christine Warnes. 2 They have recently been joined by Linda Swallow. In addition to telephone work, Linda will be primarily responsible for generating most of the statistics that chart our levels of activity.

In the past year, out of almost 2000 requests, our co-ordinators failed to find a driver for only 15, with 3 of these being because notice was so short. This is a highly commendable 99.4 % success rate. It means that those asking for transport can be confident their request will almost always be met.

Thanks to careful selection of drivers for each trip the number of dead miles (journeys to between a driver’s and passenger’s address) was restricted to about 6,200, approximately 12.5 % of the total miles driven. . Performance At the end of 2013 we had 187 passengers on our books. This number has now grown to 235 - about 23 people per parish, on average. Not surprisingly therefore, the past year was again the busiest on record. We took 4758 trips, 9 % more than in 2013 (4362) and 17 % more than in 2012. On behalf of the Committee and of course our many passengers, I thank drivers for this magnificent effort. Based on their trip record forms, drivers put in an estimated 4074 hours of voluntary work (3400 hours the previous year) and drove an estimated 50,282 miles (46,688 miles in 2013). This work was underpinned with about £8,628 of public funding donated by the various local authorities

The bar chart below shows how many trips were taken from each of the parishes we serve. The Massinghams remain the busiest and trips from there increased 7.7% compared to 2013. Docking was second busiest parish with trips increasing just over 10 %. was our third busiest parish. Trips from here increased an impressive 23% and now stand at 930, up from 755. Not all villages increased their trip numbers. The Rudhams and the Weasenhams were notably quieter last year.

A second graph compares the popularity of the various destinations. The pattern is similar to previous years. When trips to hospitals, doctors, dentists etc are added up, Health Care trips accounted for almost half the total trips (2,204) followed by shopping (1,526).

We have recently instituted routine telephone checks to find out if passengers are happy with the service we give and feel safe. This is part of our Health and Safety policy as well as being sensible management practice. The outcome will be reported more fully next year. Comments from passengers to date include: 'an exceptional service' 'its been a great help while I've been waiting to move house' 'very efficient and reliable, I always get a helpful and friendly driver' 'very grateful for the wonderful service' 'always marvellous' 'such a lifeline' 'I feel very lucky to have the service, a big thank you to all concerned' 3

Destinations in 2014

Out of 4758 trips in total Vet Bus

Station Other Day care B.Mkt + other surgeries Hairdresser

Clubs

QEH GM Surgery Shopping

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

Number of trips in 2014

Trips from the villages in 2014 Out of 4758 trips in total

Roydon Other Fring

Harpley

Syderstone The Weasenhams Tattersett & Wicken Grn. The Rudhams Bircham

Docking Massinghams

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Number of trips in 2014

4 Funding Our finances remain healthy, although we have recently had to re-apply for our grant from Norfolk County Council, our major funder. Data taken from our Drivers’ Trip Record Forms and the booking diary helped to state our case in quantitative terms. The outcome is unknown at the time of writing. In the meantime, Norfolk County Council continues to support us. The Borough Council funded us again last year as did all but one of the Councils of the ten parishes we serve. Several local organisations also made substantial donations, including the Sandringham Flower Show, the Massingham and Docking surgery and the F.R.O.G. Fund Quiz based at the Fox and Hounds pub in Weasenham. Several passengers also gave generously to the Scheme last year. Several cheques for £40 or £50 or £100 have been received and one for £500. Small donations passed-on by drivers amounted to £538 and drivers have given back £210 of their dead miles money. These grass-roots donations are a healthy sign that we are very well-regarded and, critically, allow us to balance income and expenditure.

Meg Rendle the original office co-ordinator, held a coffee morning in support of Community Cars at Great Massingham on Saturday 26 April. This raised £230. Thanks go to Meg for arranging this and to all those who came to support the event.

Administration We retained the Committee voted in at the last AGM for all of 2014 and met for two to three hours each month except in August. There was also a Health and Safety Meeting in April that office co-ordinators and committee members attended. Overall, 441 hours of time were put-in by the committee in 2014. Collectively, that’s about 8.5 hours a week. I would like to thank the Committee members for their work and support.

The Scheme continues its involvement with The Film Club at Great Massingham. Drivers who take passengers to see the films can watch the film free of charge. We are also willing to take people to the Syderstone film club.

The Scheme’s new web site (www.massinghamcommunitycars.co.uk ) is used regularly. There have been roughly 15 page downloads each week.

New initiatives and future plans A new promotional leaflet was designed at the end of 2014 and was distributed in early 2015. We intend to update the Drivers’ Trip Record Form, offer drivers the option of printing these forms themselves rather than collect them at the Office and give drivers the opportunity to submit their completed forms and obtain payment for dead miles by post. The Driver Guide will also be updated. We will re-examine the case for introducing DBS Checks and take action if we need to. The search for new recruits to our team of drivers will continue.

Concluding remarks Our pleasant rural area suffers from much-diminished public transport and many people would be prisoners in their own homes if our scheme did not exist or operate on its current scale. There is ample evidence that we are highly appreciated by those who use the service. I would like to thank everyone who helped us achieve this recognition.

Mike Jackson (Chairman) 12 March 2015

HARPLEY PLAYGROUP

The playgroup have had a very good year with high numbers of children attending and 5 sessions running in total. We have recruited an apprentice to share our early years knowledge with and this has proved very effective. In February we had a long awaited visit from Ofsted and achieved a pleasing report grading us up from satisfactory to a good setting with some excellent practice in most areas. Following current government initiatives we have looked into moving up to the school as it is predicted that all schools will have to provide early years provision on site in the near future. This is something that will need to be fundraised for as costings are high and therefore predicted moving time will not be for another 3/4 years possibly.

We will be losing a high number of children in July as they go up to school and therefore numbers are very low in September but we are hoping this will gradually increase in order to sustain our fundamental service in the village. HARPLEY C of E PRIMARY SCHOOL SCHOOL LANE, HARPLEY, KING’S LYNN, PE31 6DY Email: [email protected] Headteacher: Ann Beardall Tel: 01485 520274

HARPLEY C of E PRIMARY SCHOOL HEADTEACHERS REPORT MAY 2015

Harpley Church of Primary School is thriving with 53 pupils on roll at present. In September we are expecting a Reception intake of 11 pupils. This is the largest intake for many years and will have a very positive impact on the sustainability of school numbers in future years.

The partnership with Great Massingham C of E Primary School has proved a success for both village schools, with improved learning opportunities, a shared management and staffing structure, improved professional development and collaborative working. The governing bodies have taken the decision to seek federation through the shared, strategic vision for the future of both schools. Federation means the formation of one governing body, with equal representation from both schools whilst retaining the individual characteristics and ethos of each school. Each school will remain legally separate and stakeholders should, therefore, see no change. Parents had the opportunity to vote for the name of the federation and the majority decision was ‘The Great Massingham and Harpley C of E Schools Federation’.

As a school we constantly strive to improve and are keen to improve our community links.

At present we have strong links with the village community through  The Pre-School – weekly transition visits commence in June.  The church – Reverend Judith leads collective worship fortnightly and the school uses the church for special services and to support the curriculum.  Community governors and volunteers visiting school to work with the pupils

We are very keen to extend the school’s involvement in the local community and would welcome input from the Parish Council on any further ways the school could support initiatives and activities locally.

To contact the school office call 520274 or email [email protected]

Ann Beardall - Headteacher

TREE WARDEN'S REPORT 2015

This has been a quiet year as Tree Warden, the only trees I have had any dealings with have been my own.

Most of the “communal” trees in the village seem to be coping unaided, most (but not all) of the new planting on the far side of the A148 by the bus stop seem to have taken, the trees planted by the schoolchildren in the Brickyard Lane Area are thriving to the extent that they would benefit from a little thinning out, the oaks at the entrance to the pits are looking very healthy and the oak by the bus shelter on the green is getting quite magnificent.

The Brickyard Lane “complex” is looking a bit neglected, as is bound to happen if nature is left unaided.. It is very heartening to see that James Hoddy is organising a regular working party to keep it tidy, I seem to be away whenever it happens, but I wish the scheme well and will be present whenever possible. Our thanks must go to James for volunteering his services

I am still available on 520288 to either give advice on tree matters if I am able or to point people towards someone more expert if I am not.

David Wagstaff Tree Warden May 2015