The headline is there will be no October work party. Over recent months the turnout has been disappointing and with the chillier weather it simply doesn’t seem right to ask the same three or four 60-70 year olds to spend another 2-3 hours outside grafting, while most of the village is either unable or unwilling to do so.
Due to the low numbers that have been attending the work parties the Community Council will be considering hiring a contractor during 2022 to help with the maintenance of certain areas of the village. This will come at a financial cost, perhaps £4,000 – £6,000, but if there are not enough regular volunteers to cover what needs to be done, then we have to consider all the options.
Using community funds in this way will mean there is then less funding available to share across the community, be it the school, the nursery, the church, community events, like fireworks, or across village clubs and organisations. The Community Council would much prefer that it is in these areas where the funds are used, but we also need to cut the grass, weed the flower beds and attend to hanging baskets and pruning etc.
The MUGA is due to be opened in the New Year. This will also require regular maintenance and upkeep to ensure it is fit for continued and long term use and volunteers from the village will be required. Hopefully we can get a ‘large’ volunteer group together in 2022, to cover all aspects of the upkeep which is required across the village and not use funds to pay for such tasks.
I would like to finish by thanking all of those who have, at some point during the year, turned out to help in the village. Be that at a monthly working party with weeding, digging, installing new picnic tables, planting of flower beds and hanging baskets, or in your own time picking up litter, pruning, cutting community area grass, strimming, clearing waste ground or whatever it might have been. Without your time and effort the village would not be in the shape it is. Thank you!
