Reports to the Pulloxhill Annual Village Meeting – 3rd May 2021 AVM Report from the Chair of Pulloxhill Parish Council When I did my report last year, I was not expecting that we would have been in lockdown for most of the year. The village community has been more important than ever and many residents have supported others and some have made it their mission get villagers of all ages to smile – my particular highlight was seeing the Easter Bunny walking up the High Street. My heartfelt thanks do to everyone involved. Despite not being able to meet, our village organisations have kept going and we will hear from some of them during this meeting. We very much look forward to finding the “new normal” where we can all meet up and enjoy each other’s company again in person. The Parish Council has continued to meet via Zoom and we have made progress this year despite COVID restrictions – and I would like to thank all my fellow Parish Councillors and Parish Clerk for their support. We are in process of adopting the telephone box at St James Close and once that is finalised, the defibrillator donated by a resident will be installed. Thanks to Craig Prest’s and the rest of the project team’s perseverance, our Neighbourhood Plan – The Big Flitton, Greenfield and Pulloxhill Plan – is up for public vote this week and we ask all villagers to use their vote. Thanks to Brian Brown’s engagement with Highways over many years, the village now has both speed humps and two locations for a speed warning sign that can be moved between locations. As Brian has recently stepped down from his role as Parish Councillor and Deputy Chair, I would like to personally thank him for all his work and achievements during his two separate periods as Parish Councillor. I’m sure I speak for all the Parish Councillors, when I give a vote of thanks to Bob Cowell. Bob has been an excellent caretaker, looking after the Shelter and playgrounds for us for many years until recently. So we have a vacancy for Parish Councillor and are looking for one or two people to take on the roles of playgrounds inspector and Shelter caretaker. If you would like to help, please contact the Clerk. Cllr Jamieson – Central Bedfordshire Council CBC has had a successful year in implementing many Highway improvements. Cllr Jamieson wished to thank the great efforts of Brian Brown, and David Taylor (CBC) in bringing to fruition these local improvements. Further maintenance is planned for this year. The Local Plan was progressing and, whilst the Inspector had raised some queries on specific sites, these had been addressed and it was now hoped that the plan would be finalised within the next 12 months. CBC had approved the new A1/A5 link road and the business case was being put before the Department of Trade for approval. This may take another 12 months. Flitwick Station is to be upgraded with much improved parking, bus terminus and cycle facilities. Network Rail have agreed to provide Disabled Access facilities to the station and platforms, although this is not likely to be scheduled until 2024. On an environmental front, work continues with a further round of matched funding grants towards the planting of trees. The council continues to pursue the growth of cyclepaths across the county and will be embarking on the installation of electric vehicle charging points. Art and strollers - David Forrester The art group has been unable to meet for their regular Tuesday group in the Church Hall since March last year however, we hope that we can recommence as soon as the restrictions are lifted in June and groups are, again, allowed to meet indoors. Our meetings are held on Tuesday afternoons from 2pm in the Church Hall and have a typical attendance of 12 regulars. Our range of talents are from beginners to very proficient, and whilst we do not have a formal teacher, we have a very strong self help group prepared to offer support, advice and encouragement. If you feel you are a budding artist, please come along and join our friendly group – all our welcome. It is also a similar picture with Strollers Golf with there being no events in 2020 and the first scheduled event being on July 2021 this year. We hope that we can have a further two events (September and October) this year. As for the evening dinner following the golf we still await confirmation that we will be allowed to gather at the Cross Keys without social distancing so we can have a full house. Around 20 golfers meet, with varying handicaps, to have a round at the local golf courses where Green fees are less expensive. We have been meeting for nearly 30 years and our objective is to have fun, socialise and raise funds for the Senior Citizens annual Christmas dinner, via a small premium on the green fees and the dinner raffles. Anybody interested in joining, you are more than welcome to contact me – details in PVN. THE PULLOXHILL SINGERS Pulloxhill Annual Village Meeting Report Monday May 3 2021 The last 18 months has been a difficult time for all of us, and the Pulloxhill Singers are no exception. But in March 2020, we joined forces and created a Zoom Room practice session which we hold fortnightly, lasting approximately an hour. It is a whole new experience for our Musical Director who conducts a computer screen with 15 people on it from her study! Out of the 25 Singers, we are fortunate that about half regularly join the Zoom group. The rest of the group is kept up to date with what news there is. During this time, we have remotely created recordings of half a dozen songs, where we each record our part and send it to our accompanist John Hemmings, who, as if by magic, blends it all together. These songs will serve as a reminder of our happy and supportive group during these difficult times. Regular rehearsals will resume on Tuesday evenings at the Church Hall as soon as restrictions are lifted. In the meantime, the Zoom Room has enabled us to keep practicing about 30 songs, so when we are given the word, we will be fixing the date for a concert in the Church. We very much look forward to seeing you at this event. Hilary Parks Musical Director, The Pulloxhill Singers Rushymeade Report for Pulloxhill Parish Council Annual Meeting, 3rd May 2021 All is well with Rushymeade. The area has been managed with the aim of maintaining a mixed environment which encourages a wide variety of birds and mammals, and is a safe and interesting area for the public. This is done by grazing with cattle along with selective cutting of thistles and brambles, and with selective hedge and wooded area maintenance. Careful spot spraying of brambles and thistles in difficult areas is resulting in good control without harming the wild flowers in these areas. An annual grant from Natural England is used to cover the maintenance costs. In 2020, this funding helped pay for the hedge laying along the bottom of Little Field. This was done largely by village volunteers, but a local expert (Colin Carpenter) was hired to help and give instruction on the process. This year, we hope to use these skills to manage more of the hedges around Rushymeade, with volunteer days to be organised. COVID-19 lockdown restrictions continue, and as a result, there are a lot more walkers, from Pulloxhill and further afield, making use of Rushymeade and all of our footpaths. We are getting a lot of favourable comments from visitors, many of whom didn’t realise that Rushymeade existed as a public area, or just how many good walking routes there are radiating from Pulloxhill. It has been a very wet winter up to late March, then April has been exceptionally dry, with warm weather for the first week which set the grass growing, followed by night frosts for 2 weeks to the 22nd which stopped grass growth and caused the new grass to die back. As a result, the cattle have not yet been brought back onto Rushymeade, but will be coming in early May – look out for the signs at each of the gateways for updates before and as the cows arrive. Last year, the first cattle were introduced on the 10th April, with plenty of grass available and the ground was dry. An advantage of this later date is that the footpaths and wetter areas of land which became trampled and muddy through Autumn and Winter, will have time to recover. They are already greening over and the soil surface is levelling out naturally as the biological activity increases with warmer weather. Another reason why the cattle have not yet arrived is that this is a year when all cattle in the herd which ours come from must be tested for M. bovis, which can cause TB in humans. This is a legal requirement and must be done only once every 4 years for our herd as we are in a very low risk area. Assuming that all our cattle are clear of infection, they can then legally be moved from the farm and onto Rushymeade. This testing should be completed by early May, when we plan to bring about 15 adult cows. As always, it is important to stress that care must be taken when walking in Rushymeade once the cattle return. Central Beds Council produce a Good Behaviour Guide - for the General Public accessing the countryside, which has been printed in the Pulloxhill Village News, and is displayed in the Rushymeade notice boards.