Annual Parish Meeting Minutes 28th May 2024
MINUTES OF THE ROPSLEY AND DISTRICT ANNUAL PARISH MEETING, HELD AT ROPSLEY HALL ON TUESDAY 28TH MAY 2024
- WELCOME
The meeting commenced at 7.00pm.Councillor Ward chaired the meeting by virtue of his office as Chairman of Ropsley and District Parish Council.He welcomed those present, who included Parish Councillors Marshall, Hughes, Vaughan, Campbell and Louth, one member of the public and Andrew Jones, the Parish Clerk.
- APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from Councillors Rowbotham and Leslie.
- MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2023
Councillor Ward informed the meeting that the minutes for the 2023 meeting could not be located.
- CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS
The Chairman remarked that there are a number of projects that the Parish Council were planning for this year. These included Bulb Planting, Christmas Tree, Speed limit signs as well as The Newsletters and Annual Calendar Competition.
The Chairman also thanked all the volunteers for their hard work and contribution during the past year including
Nathan Coyle, Barry Buxton, Heather and Roger Charles, and Councillor Rowbotham for maintaining the defibrillators.
The Chairman also hoped that a Community Calendar could be produced and maintained that would enable everyone in the village to know which events were taking placed from all organisations such as The Church, School, Village Hall, WI etc.
- PRESENTATION OF REPORTS BY VILLAGE ORGANSATIONS
Ropsley Hall
Sam Farkas from the Village Hall reported that the hire of the Village Hall has exceeded last year’s budget facilitating a whole range of activities throughout each week. The new Toddler Group is going well, and the weekly Community Café has been a great success and will be taking a break during the summer.
Unfortunately, the Saturday Men’s football team has folded but the Ropsley Colts goes from strength to strength.
The gas tank has finally been moved from the main carpark, work is to be carried out on the field via the Pitch Improvement Grants, and some new cricket nets have been erected.
Arrangements for The Ropsley Festival, that is due to take place on Saturday 29 June, are progressing well with security, St Johns Ambulance and six bands booked for the day. Tickets are selling well although they are looking for some volunteers to man the gates etc for a couple of hours at a time.
Ropsley Baboons
Apologies had been received from Ropsley Baboons, who had forwarded a written report as follows:
The speculative decision made in the spring of 2023 to commit to cricket in the summer, despite dwindling player numbers, proved sound and the Baboons lived to fight another year. Ten fixtures: 4 wins, 3 losses and 3 cancelled (lack of players) made it, on balance, a successful season. There were strong performances from players of all ages, from our younger members in the mid-teens bracket through to our more mature cadre in their seventies. Player numbers remain a concern but we welcomed a good handful of new players to the club
during the summer so perhaps things are on the up. Once again, I thank the members of the Parish Council for their continued support. Despite our small size, the club still has considerable overheads and we very much appreciate the help we receive from all our generous benefactors. To see our club playing cricket on the field on a sunny Sunday afternoon never fails to make me smile and I know that we all feel proud to be one small part of the village community.
Ropsley and District Churches
Councillor Ward reported that Reverend Anna Sorensen will unfortunately be leaving in early September. There is a low likelihood of a replacement in the short term.
There are three events coming up – a D-Day Anniversary Talk at the Church on the 6 June, Afternoon tea at the Rectory on the 30 June and the Harvest Supper and Produce Show in the autumn.
- PERSONAL REPRESENTATIONS
There were no personal representations.
The Chairman thanked those present for their attendance and closed the meeting at 7.26pm.