KEYHAM VILLAGE MEETING
Minutes of the village meeting held on Tuesday 13th April 2010
Present: Mr Tony Johnson – Chairman
Mrs Sylvia Wood – Secretary
19 Members of the Village
Apologies for absence were received from Christine & Tony Hill, Glynn Price, Mollie
Hoskinson.
1) MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 7th April 2009 were read and signed as a true
record.
2) MATTERS ARISING
FROM LAST YEARS MINUTES
Puncheons woodland was purchased by Mr Clark and is being developed. It is believed
that the bungalow is under offer.
.
Litter picking: continuing with with our own village volunteers. Special thanks
go to Edna and Richard for their sterling efforts.
Almoners no longer a formal function. Many thanks to Sue Letts, Sylvia Wood
& Keith Wood for their time helping less able village residents.
Heritage: This position is now no longer functioning.
Footpaths through Keyham Livery land – no further problems reported with unruly horses.
2) ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
Tony Johnson agreed to carry on as Chairman for another year, which was proposed by
Margaret Hughes, seconded by Bill Podesta.
3) ELECTION OF SECRETARY
Sylvia Wood agreed to carry on as Secretary for another year, which was proposed by
Carol Johnson, seconded by Sandra Price.
4) CHAIRMANS REPORT
Highways outside Keyham
Pothole in evidence after the winter. Tony will monitor and pursue with LCC
Highways.
Visibility when turning at junction to Beeby from Keyham Lane is still a problem.
Tony will pursue.
Highways within the village
Leaf debris in Snows Lane is accumulating again underneath the wall. Tony will
contact the Council if this gets considerably worse. And request that they clear it.
Village mowing/ Cleaning
Road Sweeping taking place on a regular basis.
Fly Tipping – has been particularly bad on Hungarton Lane with rubbish
being dumped over the bridge into the brook. Currently the Council have
removed it but this is an ongoing problem. Tony discussing with HDC.
5) VILLAGE MEETING BUDGET FOR 2010/11
The Chairman gave background information to the budget (attached)
KEYHAM VILLAGE MEETING
BUDGET FOR YEAR 2010/11
Surplus carried forward from 2008/9: £2923.67
BUDGET
£
ITEM
500
Cemetery mowing
500.00
550
350
Street Lighting/maint.
222.66
300
450
Village Insurance
284.05
400
650
Village Hall
650.00
650
1,025
Miscellaneous
25
Subscriptions
3000
TOTALS
ACTUAL
£
PRECEPT 2010/11
£
193.00
1500
75.50
100
1925.21
3500
Surplus carried forward to 2010/11 £3998.46
Notes:
- Expenditure considerably less than budget overall.
- Village insurance still at a very favourable rate following change of provider.
- Forecast of £1025 for miscellaneous expenditure included allowance of £650 ( costs
for last year) for Keyham News; actual invoices received totaled £55 approx.
- Miscellaneous budget for next year includes a contingency for necessary
refurbishment to Keyham Cemetery gates.( funding for this under review)
6) REPORTS OF CHAIRPERSONS
Keyham Charities Report – for year end 2009.
Keyham Charities continued to support a number of applications during 2009. Again, the
pensioner’s lunch was funded in full, and support given to the village Christmas lunch.
Keyham Charities funded the coach taking villagers to the Malvern Show, and assisted a
younger person in the village with their educational studies.
The primary objective of the charity is to support those in need in the village; please approach
our chairman, David Witcomb, or myself, if you, or someone you know, requires financial
assistance. We meet twice a year, April & October where, in addition to reviewing matters
relating to the cottages, we consider the applications received from individuals / collective
groups in the village. If you are not clear what the charity can support, then do ask me for a
copy of the Trust Deed.
We are currently undertaking some significant clearance of the charity cottage gardens, and
will be looking to implement some routine maintenance to keep them in good order. I reported
last year that we had held several discussions to look at development options which would
benefit the cottages and the charity as a whole. We took this a stage further last year and sought
to engage with Shoulers, our lettings agency, to seek their expert view on what we had been
considering. Suffice to say, we have no firm plans at present but continue to build up sums of
money should an attractive proposition present itself.
Margaret Hughes
( Treasurer)
Neighbourhood Watch 2009/10
Usually nothing to report but unfortunately there has been a theft at Edna & Richard Taylor’s
So please.... review your own security arrangement, always be vigilant, report anything
suspicious to the police and provide mutual support to neighbours (esp. vulnerable ones).
Village Hall
This period has been relatively uneventful. We have had a few children’s birthday parties, a
farewell party (Kieran Blake); and a small charitable evening organized
by Sylvia Wood. The W. I continues to use the hall on alternative months and in addition,
hired it out for two other meetings. The Christmas lunch, which seem to have established itself
as fixture in village life, was again held successfully last December.
We have Margaret Hughes to thank for organising the two film shows – The Changeling and
Slum Dog Millionaire. These were well attended and raised a useful amount for the Village
Hall coffers.
A number of Keyham residents use the hall for Table Tennis, Chris Podesta is using it a a
training area for Muah Thai Boxing, while Katherine Markee occasionally uses it for
developing dance routines. While neither Chris nor Katherine live in the village at present,
their parents have lived in the village for many years and as there is no conflict of interest for
use of the hall at the times they require it, the arrangement appears to work well.
The two new wider doors still require attention and we need to come up with a solution for the
door on the disabled cloakroom.
Amazingly we have come through the winter without major problems of freezing pipes or
leaks, considering how cold it has been this is worthy of comment.
The finance is in good shape at present thanks to Tony Johnson, but Open Gardens is very
important next year.
I conclude, as I did last year, that the Hall is an asset for the village, and we are grateful to our
Chairman John Hughes and the Committee for their work in preserving it as such.
Conservation Committee 2009/10
A small number of Planning Applications for properties have been dealt with over the past
12 months but, once again, most of the attention of the committee has been directed
towards developments at Mayfield Meadows.
Alistair and Bernie Clark have constructed a track from Ingarsby Road to their land (now
called Long Meadow Farm). This was the subject of a successful planning application.
They have also applied to erect a barn half way along this road. Initially this application
was refused but a scaled - down application is expected to be given the go ahead. Tony
Johnson is in regular contact with Mr & Mrs Clark who intend to keep him informed of
their plans for the development of their land. Enforcement Officers from HDC recently
visited the site and no planning violations were in evidence.
Kelvin Clarke (Hungarton) applied for a shelter to be erected on Plot Mayfield Meadows(
The Puncheon Land). That application was rejected but a scaled- down revision has
recently been approved. However, a number of environmental constraints have been
placed on this development. A number of those constraints were put for by KCC.
Generally speaking developments on this site appear to be sympathetic to the location
(e.g. Lots of tree planting)
The caravan behind Ingarsby Road Stables is the subject of an Enforcement Order from
HDC. The owners have been ordered to apply retrospectively for Planning Permission.
Sarah Skelton left the committee earlier in the year and been replaced by Matt Wheeler.
The committee is now as follows:-
Elizabeth Henderson, Chairman; John Hughes, Secretary; Tony Johnson, Village
Chairman; Chris Page, Lois Jerman, Ros Atkin, Matt Wheeler.
A key committee objective is to be as open and accountable as possible. To this end I
extend an invitation to all villagers to put themselves forward as a member.
John Hughes, 13th April 2010
c) KEYHAM NEWS ANNUAL REPORT
I begin my report with thanks to John & Sue Letts who spend many hours in the
production of Keyham News each month. Without their efforts we simply would not
have our regular magazine, or any magazine. Someone who has never this type of
thing would have no idea how long typing, collating, printing, stapling and delivering
takes, but I can assure you the hours are considerable!
Many of you may be aware that Tony Johnson has been exploring the possibilities of
adding Keyham News to the Keyham website. Tony has been asking for names of
anyone prepared to forgo the old format and simply read the News online. The figures
so far are approximately 15 who would do so, which leaves about 38 plus various
extras that are still required to be produced in the old format.
Apart from the consideration of saving time for John and Sue, the other consideration is
financial. There is a considerable variation in annual costs. Between the years 2008-9
and 2009-10, a difference of approximately £650 (last year) and £55 this year, initially
begged the question as to whether John or I had somehow failed to produce and
outstanding bill during the current period. I then realised, however the the explanation
is simple. Last year two new toners were ordered and a service was required. Toner
costs in the region of £165 a time, so two of these bring the bill to at least £330. Add a
charge for servicing the copier, plus charges for print cartridges and paper, which, if
they all fell due last year and have carried us through, add up to about £650.00. Not
such an inexplicable discrepancy after all. It may be that we will have to assess the
costs over a number of years and average them out.
Tony’s idea of making Keyham News available on line, if enthusiastically embraced,
would reduce costs of paper and toner and time, but there are still a large number of
residents who do not have internet facilities who would require it in the old format, and
of those able to receive it on-line, many feel certain reluctance about agreeing to do so.
Even if the number of copies is only reduced by about 15, this should help reduce costs
by cutting down the numbers printed, and we ought to do this. Whether a Sue and John
will find their time much reduced may be a moot point. With the idea of reducing the
hours spend producing Keyham News, after some discussion with Sue, I have come the
conclusion, that we should experiment by perhaps producing Keyham News as a bimonthly, or perhaps a step too far a quarterly magazine. In the interim, for important
news, dates, changes of time and venue for some event, for example, we could product
a single sheet giving updates, which could be issued monthly or as necessary.
Obviously it would save time if these could be emailed or put on the Keyham website
where possible so the number of copies to be distributed was reduced. Sue, John and I
will explain how we plan to do this in more detail in Keyham News.
I realize these changes may not be popular but the place for discussion is perhaps best
done in Keyham News. They would certainly cut some costs and time and I think
ought to be considered.
Elizabeth Henderson
d) CHURCH WARDENS REPORT - FOR THE YEAR 2010
STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH
The church fabric seems to be in good condition and may thank are due to John Letts
for all his hard work towards this.
The church has been cleaned very efficiently by John & Margaret Hughes and we are
very grateful to them for this.
The church is kept looking attractive with fresh flowers regularly and we thank the
flower group for this. I am a little bit concerned that there may be some further
movement of the chancel walls because there is no tie bare across this part of the
church and I think this needs to be investigated. If it turns out to be true, it may prove
quite expensive.
SERVICES
The church services have been generally well attended although we would always
welcome more people. We are now holding regular family service which appeals more
to families with children.
We are pleased that Gill Wheeler has joined the PCC to add some younger blood to our
increasingly ageing group.
We have been very well served by our Priest in Charge, Paula Hollingsworth,backed up
by the 2 retired priests living in Houghton on the Hill, Gordon Richmond and Philip
Norwood.
The church continues to be an important venue within the village for weddings,
funerals, and special services but is there is anybody in the village who would like to
see different forms of worship or want to see the church being used for other purposed
please discuss this with a member of the PCC who can bring it to our attention for
further consideration.
FINANCE
We have an adequate bank balance for our churches needs at the moment but one never
knows when we are going to have to fund some major capital project and so we
certainly do not feel complacent about this. We thank our treasurer Brian Atkin, for
looking after this aspect.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
As a result of the enthusiasm and initiative of Trevor Clarke, my co-church warden.
Christmas lights were installed with a short service and the opening of a Book of
Remembrance to honour past family and friend and I think that this has been very
received.
REV PAULA HOLLINGSWORTH DEPARTS
The saddest news of this report is that our current Priest in Charge, Paula
Hollingsworth, will be leaving at the beginning of July and so Keyham with Hungarton
and Houghton will be thrown into the ecclesiastical melting pot again with
unfortunately the possibility of being forced into an enlarged group of other parishes,
possible with Billesdon, and so we are going to go through a period of uncertainty and
services in the second half of this year may not be as predictable as we would like.
A Priest in Charge,working half-time as Paula Hollingsworth has done, has in fact work
rather well for us and we can expect service on alternate Sundays in Keyham which is
very much better that most other rural parishes in Leicestershire can enjoy. This is very
largely due to the fact the we have the assistance of 2 retired but very active Priests
living in Houghton on the Hill, with whom Paula has been able to share some the work.
I have little doubt that we shall go through an interregnum which is likely to be many
months, and probably 6 months at least, during which time we shall have to ask for
outside preachers and lay people to lead our services. I would like to register our
gratitude to Paula for many years of inspired work in our parish. Although officially
part-time, she has worked hard for our parish in serving our spiritual needs and
maintaining the enthusiasm for keeping our church going in Keyham
Hugh Henderson
e) TASK FORCE
There has been no activity this year by the Task Force - there have been no funds at
our disposal, and following the very expensive year when we refurbished the
bus shelter, the Task Force has been lying low.
However this year I do believe some funds will become available and therefore during
the forthcoming months we will give consideration to possible improvements
for the village - under the heading of BEAUTIFICATION OF KEYHAM.
If anyone has a particular idea (or annoyance) that we might pursue, then please
come forward with your proposals. While we will keep endeavouring to
improve our
verges and common grasslands etc., at the present time we do not
have any large projects in mind.
However, at this point, I will raise again, for your consideration, the illumination of
our Church. You must have looked admiringly at Stoughton Church, in the
evening and I, personally, would much like to see something similar here in
Keyham. Of course, cost of electricity is a big factor these days - and the
possible annoyance to neighbours with
bright lights.
If the above has any credit with you (or otherwise), perhaps you would voice them
at the Village Meeting (to which sadly I will not be able to attend).
CHRISTINE HILL
Note:
It was decided to put Christine's suggestion to the meeting; the outcome was, by
an overwhelming majority, that this should not be pursued.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Money needed to be spent on the repair or replacement of the cemetery gates.
No issues raised, but need to look into funding.
.
Keyham Website -Tony said that there was further scope for development of the site,
events such as Open Gardens being a good example. Tony would welcome any further
suggestions.
Open gardens – a date was proposed of the 18-19th June 2011
Village Gritting Facilities.
It was agreed that the gritting facilities were inadequate, particularly on Main St.
One more gritting box was required in the village; Tony had spoken with Matt Wheeler
about the possibility of positioning any new box adjacent to the pampas grass at the top
of his drive. The possibility of a gritting machine was discussed but was though that
this would be too difficult to administer with regard to the deployment throughout the
village.
Keyham livery stables were apparently using the grit from the top of Kings Lane. Tony
will monitor.
Rogue cat- a long discussion took place about the, almost feral ,cat that was causing
havoc with cat owners in the village. It was agreed that this was unacceptable and the
matter must be addressed. John Letts will be escalating with Shoulers.
Meeting ended at 9.25pm Tony said he was very pleased with the turnout and
thanked everyone for their attendance.