Minutes Annual Parish Meeting

Meeting Date: 1st June 2021 – Annual Parish Meeting
Venue: Mendham Primary School/ Zoom link
Time: 7.00

Committee Members

Name	Role	Present/Absent
Dennis Pye	Chair	Present
Thelma Brown	Vice Chair	Apologies
Kathy Farrar		Present
Jimmy Kent		Present
Richard Mattocks		Present
Sally Mckinnon		Present
Clare Rix		Apologies
Mark Shortt		Absent

Clerk

Liz Frere-Smith

1. Welcome and Apologies

Clare Rix, Thelma Brown

2. Minutes of Previous Meeting

None available as previous Annual Parish Meeting was not held due to COVID 19 restrictions

3. Introduction and Update from Chairman

Chair gave a brief resume of the past year which has been exceedingly difficult for all areas of society. Local community groups within the parish worked tirelessly to help each other during the pandemic. Now the opening up of society was happening things would become easier. The council had struggled to meet regularly to start with but had then had virtual meetings. The chair requested formal thanks to the community who had pulled together in unprecedented times.

4. Reports of Activities by the Parishioners

As I write this it is hard to believe that there will only be six weeks of school before the summer closure. Once again it has been a very ‘different’ year for the pupils at Mendham Primary School. We currently have 84 pupils on roll, we are full in all but one year group- with one space! For the first time we have a waiting list for families wanting to join our school. Next year’s reception year group is also full. This is fantastic news for our small school- which when I joined in 2014 only had 29 children. The increase in numbers provide security for the school- when so many small schools close, it also provides opportunities for our children to extend their friendship groups, whilst keeping that small school feeling. The growth does of course come with problems, we have physical restrictions of the actual building and of course volume of traffic/ parking in the village. We are very aware that very few children in our school live in the village/catchment area. This means that our families have to drive to school. We are working with both the Parish Council and families to find compromises with regard to parking- a very difficult situation. As a school this year we have been working on the development of our curriculum. We are creating a curriculum that builds both academic knowledge but also looks at developing personal characteristics such as determination, resilience, perseverance, relationship building to name a few. As educators we feel passionate about helping children to become rounded individuals as well as teaching them the knowledge. I couldn’t write about the school year without the mention of dreaded Covid! In September we returned with a longer school day, in a bid to help children recover from the impact of the school closures. The day was increased by 30 minutes in all trust schools- with the plan to also allow children to staff for an extra our for curriculum enrichment (something yet to be rolled out due to Covid this year!) It is ironic that as I write this a paper from the government has been leaked- seemingly the DFE Tsar for catch-up is suggesting this move! Schools were ‘closed’ in January- this was the message the press gave to the nation. However we were very much open! I am proud that staff at our school put their own fears to one side to open the doors to key worker children and vulnerable pupils. Those children at home were provided with live virtual lessons. Teachers and support staff provided a core of 3 hours live teaching daily- with afternoon work set on Google Classroom. Words cannot express how proud I am of our school community coming together (again) in such challenging times and coming through the other side. So with six weeks left we are trying to safely give our children some sort of normality- albeit with slight adjustments. Our Christmas enterprise project/sale has become a virtual summer selling project, our year six pupils are able to go swimming. Finally we are planning our sports day, at this stage we are uncertain as to whether parents will be able to attend and this years will be a school sports day, rather than partnership sports day-but it all give a little sense of normality returning, with caution of course!

Susie Collins
Academy Head, Mendham
Withersdale Village Hall – the village hall has only just opened since lockdown in 2020. It is hoped that a full calendar of activities will soon be published.
Community Council hadn’t met since the outbreak of the pandemic and Kathy Ferrar was unsure when it would be possible to meet in the future

5. Issues Raised by the Parishioners

Conversations and complaints surrounding road conditions and repairs were ongoing although the new council appeared to be very keen to chase this up on behalf of the parishioners. It is hoped that Mundy’s lane will be addressed very soon.
No change was recorded with regard to the footpath and missing bridge. It is hoped this will be mended very soon.
Richard Mattocks was continuing to collate suggestions from members with regard to the ongoing issue of parking in the village. He had had 4 replies so far and once all had been received he will collate them anonymously for further discussion.
Yvonne Lidgate is continuing her efforts with regard to Speed-watch. She has received information suggesting that the council should receive new speed guns in the future which would be an asset to the community.
Sally Mackinnon had met with the tree warden and had managed to agree 3 tree protection orders on veteran trees in Foxes Lane – 2 at the new barn conversion and 1 slightly further along the road. A successful outcome.

6. Reports Received from District and County Councillors

None received for the annual meeting but any other correspondence had been previously forwarded to the members.

7. Matters Arising Not Covered by the Agenda

Clerk advised of recent correspondence received regarding the public paper bins in the village car park. A small amount of income would be received twice yearly.

8. Next Meeting

5th July 2021 7pm
6th September 2021 7pm
1st November 2021 7pm
Venue to be confirmed and zoom link to provide virtual access to continue.

The meeting closed at: 7.35pm
Signed by Chair: Dennis Pye
Date: 5th July 2021