The INFORMER
Todwick Parish Council
No. 63
July 2003
YOUR NEW PARISH COUNCIL
Clive Pantry (Chairman) |
85 The Meadows |
(771024) |
John B. Mosley (Vice-Chairman) |
95 The Meadows |
(771384) |
Virginia R. Anderson |
6 De Houton Close |
(770130) |
Mary G. G. Gregory |
13 Manor Way |
(770703) |
Paul Langford |
28 Mortains |
(772345) |
Darryl J. Lythell |
37 Rectory Gardens |
(773387) |
Barrie Marsh |
The Byre, Wales Hall Farm, Church St. Wales |
(773235) |
Brenda Waller |
13 The Pastures |
(770819) |
Leslie Waller |
13 The Pastures |
(770819) |
Unfortunately there were insufficient candidates to necessitate an
election, but the Borough Council still charged Todwick £206.31 election expenses!
There is one change from the previous Council - Virginia Anderson in place
of Tony Rusling who did not stand for re-election. This Council serves for
4 years - until 2007.
The Clerk to the Council remains Mr J. R. Walker, 10 High Street, South
Anston, Sheffield 5AY (tel: 566639) to whom all official correspondence
should be addressed.
You are of course welcome to approach any Councillor on any matter you may
wish, but if you want to see him/her it is advisable to telephone first to
arrange a mutually convenient time.
COUNCIL COMMITTEES
ALLOTMENTS: |
Councillors L. Waller, B. Waller, Marsh & Mosley. Co-opted Mr T. & Mrs H. Calladine. |
FOOTPATHS: |
Councillors Gregory, Anderson & Lythell. Co-opted Mr P. Wilson. |
PLANNING: |
Councillors Pantry, Gregory, Lythell & Mosley. |
RECREATION: |
All Councillors. |
VILLAGE HALL: |
Councillors Mosley & Anderson. |
COUNCIL MEETINGS - Are normally held on the last Tuesday of each month except August in the Village Hall commencing at 7.30 pm. There is always an Open Session at 8.30 pm at which any resident may ask questions or comment on any matter of concern. Forthcoming meetings are on 29 July, 30 September & 28 October.
COUNCIL PROPERTY - The Council owns the Allotments, the Children's Playground and the Recreation Ground. Councillors are Guardian Trustees of the Village Hall which was left on Trust with the management vested in a Committee representative of the village organisations.
THE 2003 ANNUAL ASSEMBLY in April equalled the record attendance of Todwick residents - NIL! Were you all really so satisfied with the work of your Parish Council?
THE BUDGET FOR 2003/4 - It was decided in April to leave this year's Budget for the new Council. In May Councillors were asked to consider items for inclusion at the next meeting, and the suggestions received will be further investigated and costed so that the Budget can be decided on at the July meeting. These are: a structural survey of the Council's buildings to ascertain what repairs if any need to be carried out, safety surfacing around the igloo in the Children's Playground (not done when the new equipment was installed); provision of a limited number of hanging baskets in the village; increasing the area of asphalt adjacent to the basket ball pitch on the Recreation Ground. Also the financial implications if it is decided to go ahead with a Village Bonfire this year and of any decision on the future of the Allotments.
THE ALLOTMENTS - At the Annual Parish Meeting in 1983 it was reported that only one of the 31 plots on the Allotment Field was unlet. Since then there has been a regular decrease in the number of plots let until at the most 10 are now cultivated. At the July meeting the future of this is to be discussed and possible options for the future considered, as the cost of keeping vacant ones from becoming completely overgrown has become a constant drain on resources. Present Allotment holders will, of course, be consulted about any decisions taken.
THE VILLAGE BONFIRE - It is hoped to organise this again in 2003, but not only is it necessary to discover the cost of insurance, and any requirements the Borough Council may now insist on, but there is a problem with acquiring suitable material. For many years a supply of old railway sleepers has been available, but now under EU regulations it is illegal to burn these, so an alternative has to be found. This is under active investigation as are the other matters.
A CHANGING PATTERN OF PARISH COUNCIL INVOLVEMENT - Until fairly recent years the work of a Parish Councillor was almost wholly confined to activities within the Parish. Not so now - the Chairman represents Todwick at meetings of the Area Assembly for Rother Valley South, and on many other bodies; and in March this year the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman attended a meeting with representatives of Rotherham's Planning Board to be made aware of the Board's current policy. In June, within a period of 8 days, Councillor Mosley attended a full day's seminar in Nottingham on Health & Safety matters; Councillor Gregory attended a training meeting on the implications for Parish Councils of Section 17 of the Crime & Disorder Act 1998; and Councillors Anderson and Gregory attended a meeting on the requirements for attaining Quality Council status (which Todwick will aspire to!). Councillor B. Waller regularly attends meetings on local Transport issues, and the Council continues to be represented on the Seven Parishes Liaison Committee by Councillors Gregory and Mosley and the Clerk.
AND CHANGING LEGAL REQUIREMENTS - The powers and duties of
Parish Councils have always been defined by law (mainly the Local
Government Act of 1972) but recently there has been has been a need to
conform with much new legislation. By 2002 Councillors were required to
adopt a model Code of Conduct and to sign up to it as individuals. In the
same year Parish Councils were required under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 to make certain classes of information readily available to
electors and to publicise its availability.
Now, as you will have read above, certain requirements are placed on
Parish Councils under Section 17 of the Crime & Disorder Act 1998.
Councils have a duty to consider the impact of all their functions and
decisions on crime and disorder in their local area, and to review how
they exercise their powers and deliver their services in order to comply
with the Act. The generally accepted major problem in parishes in this
area is anti-social behaviour (i.e. Youth Nuisance) but Rotherham
Borough's strategy to reduce crime and disorder only rates this as Priority 9!
TODWICK GOES WORLDWIDE!
Have you ever wondered how many people use www.todwick.org.uk - Todwick's own web site? Sheila Pantry, who runs it, reports that it continues to attract traffic from across the world and that she gets some interesting correspondence. Here are some samples:
- Claire Holland (nee Marshall) writes from California that Daniel Matthew Holland was born on Tuesday 4 March and all are doing well. They have an updated web site "to share pics of our little guy" http://home.attbi.com/~holland.peter and ask people to check it out and sign the guest book.
- Marilyn Le Conte from Cardiff whose grandparents, Mence and May Fox, lived at Common Farm, Aston Common from about 1930 until 1981, and whose mother, now 79, had attended Todwick School, asked for any information about the house now. They would both like the chance to visit the farm again as they have so many happy memories of it.
- Todwick Church Rectors: the information on the web site about the Revd. Richard Inman, who was Rector from 1816 to 1866, came from Nancy R.C. McLaughlin - a member of his family who is now living in New Zealand. She was searching for information about him and came across Todwick web site.
- From Stavanger, Norway, from John Thropp who owned Todwick Old Hall from 1988 to 1997 and who now runs a web development agency working in Norway and back 'home' in South Yorkshire. He sent a lot of interesting information about what used to be known as The Abbot's House, the oldest part of which goes back to at least the 15th century.
- From Cambridgeshire Tony Austin found the site enabled him to identify a painting dating from about 1800 of a funeral procession approaching Todwick Church with the buildings or cottages attached to the manor house in the background. He buys and sells pictures and bought this at an auction because it was such an unusual subject (he'd never seen one of a village funeral before) but thinks it would be far better kept in the village where it clearly originated. He's asking £300 for it, which is what he paid, and the offer has been passed on to the Parochial Church Council which has so far not made a decision. (If you are interested contact the Rector, David Bliss, on 770283).
- And Danny Tucker, who has just purchased a house in Todwick, asked for clarification on a point of local pronunciation - is the 'W' in Todwick silent? He had heard both versions vehemently argued and sought a final word on the subject from a local expert. We hope Sheila told him the local pronunciation sounds the 'W' - it's only 'foreigners' who think it is silent!
QUICKER INTERNET ACCESS FOR TODWICK - ADSL Broadband provides
high speed "always on" internet access for local residents and businesses.
ADSL is not yet available in Todwick, BUT by 29 August 2003 BT will have
enabled the local exchange to provide this service which requires a
minimum number of subscribers to make it possible.
For more information see www.btwholesale.com/get_broadband.
TODWICK CARE HOME LUNCH CLUB - All senior citizens are invited to join this and be served a traditional home cooked meal (2 choices of lunch, a sweet and a pot of tea) served at 12 noon (dining room closes at 1.30 pm) for just £2 per person. For further information ring the Home at 160 Kiveton Lane on 770248.
A NEW BOROUGH COUNCILLOR - David Hall of Harthill (tel: 771607) was elected in May - we hope he remembers that he represents Todwick!
CONGRATULATIONS - to Alice Booth who has been awarded the MBE. Apart from serving on Wales Parish Council for 38 years she was one of our Borough Councillors for 21 years and always took a keen interest in Todwick and its problems, which we much appreciated.
SKIPS - will be available on the Allotment Field on 9 November 2003 and 11 January 2004. A request has been made for one on an earlier date if possible.
CHRISTIAN AID - The house-to-house collection in May raised the record amount of £1295.86 this year. In addition Christian Aid are able to claim £165 under the Gift Aid scheme. Roy and Joan Hesketh, the Todwick organisers, wish to thank all who contributed.
INTER-PARISH ACTIVITIES - Todwick Bowling Club are running their usual summer programme of activities, including a competition for Todwick School children, and culminating in a Charity event on Sunday 20 July. So far they have not arranged an inter-parish competition, but are prepared to do so if requested. It is extremely likely that they will be asked to do so after the disappointment expressed last year when one was not organised. The usual FISHING competition was arranged for 28 June and the Parish Council contributed £30 to enable Todwick to be represented by a group of retired anglers. Harthill will be arranging the annual QUIZ which usually takes place in late September. Anyone who is interested in taking part is asked to contact Councillor Gregory.
A NEW CHURCH GUIDE - An illustrated guide to Todwick's historic 11th century Church (the only Grade 2* listed building in the village) was published at Easter. Copies are available (price £1.50) from Todwick Post Office, Kiveton Branch Library, and of course Todwick Church.
STREETPRIDE - This is a new initiative by Rotherham Borough Council to bring together all the activities and functions which affect the streetscene - it is to be customer-focussed and responsive to customer needs. It will cover all highways/construction, grounds maintenance and street cleansing (including fly tipping and graffiti removal), refuse collection, neighbourhood wardens and school crossing patrols. The first phase was launched on 2 April and there will be a well-publicised launch of the second phase in the autumn. Of immediate interest is the fact that there is now a one stop shop phone number for all Streetpride issues - 01709-336003. So if you want to report any problems, pot-holes in the road, street-lights not lit, weed-infested gullies, graffiti, etc. etc. this is the number to ring.
MOTOR-CYCLE NUISANCE - The Police have new powers to deal with vehicles being used in an anti-social manner and committing an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. If a vehicle is being used in such a way as to cause distress or annoyance to members of the public on a road or in a public place or off the road where permission has not been given, a NOTICE OF SEIZURE will be issued. If the vehicle is seen again committing offences it may be seized and it will cost the owner £105 for removal, £12 for each 24-hour period or part of that for every day it is impounded up to a maximum of 21 days when the vehicle will be disposed of.
POLICE CONTACT NUMBERS - Emergency - 999; Prompt attention - 0114 2202020.
Do not leave messages requiring immediate attention at the Kiveton Office (01709 832681).
The Informer is published three times a year by Todwick Parish Council from 10 High Street, South Anston, Sheffield S25 5AY. The next issue is due in November 2003.