Parish Council Update

Like everyone, we’ve had a very different few months to what we had planned. It was a shame to have to cancel the special VE commemorations but it was lovely to see the posts on the community page of everyone commemorating the day from home. We received a particularly lovely message from a resident who said that one of our amazing volunteers, Carol Campbell, had made house-to-house doorstep visits to those on their own in the village, with a bowl of flowers singing ‘We’ll Meet Again’. It’s actions like this that have really lifted peoples’ spirits and reminded everyone what a wonderful community we live in.

May is usually when we host our community lunch for our over 50s residents. Sadly, this will have to wait too but we’ve all agreed that when it is safe to do so, the Village will come together to celebrate all the volunteers who have helped friends and neighbours over the past few months. We had over 30 residents register as ‘official’ volunteers but we know that there were many more who have helped their immediate neighbours. A very special thank you to all these volunteers, and also to those who have been volunteering their time in different ways such as litter-picking - it’s all much appreciated by the Parish Council and also the wider community.

As many of you know, Crockenhill Parish Council already had an emergency plan in place, so when this pandemic hit, we were ready to respond quickly and we have been regularly calling all our residents who have registered as requiring help/support, arranging for shopping and prescriptions to be collected when needed. Every person was given the Parish Council number which has been diverted to ensure that out of hours calls have been answered too.

As lockdown measures are lifting slightly, we are starting to move forward with some of the other projects that we have planned for this year and we will be updating you on these over the coming few weeks.

Rubbish/litter

With the ease of lockdown restrictions, we have also seen a vast increase in the amount of rubbish in the bins on the Village Green, Harvestfield and on the Cricket Meadow. Our Amenities Assistant reported that one of the bins that was emptied on Saturday was already full again by Sunday! We have therefore decided to increase the emptying of the bins in the short-term to twice weekly. We would however like to politely request that if bins are looking full, please take rubbish home with you and please DO NOT dispose of your household rubbish in these bins.

We are also planning on replacing the open bins on the Village Green and at Harvestfield as these are very old and litter sometimes blows out in the wind or is removed by animals.

Fly-tipping

You may have also seen one of the projects our Parish and District Councillor, Rachel Waterton, is working on to try to tackle the fly-tipping problem that we are experiencing. We are certainly not alone in this, and problems are being experienced across the County but please click here to see how we can all help: https://www.facebook.com/100048968591555/posts/145930477049238/?d=n

Village Green

You may have noticed that over the weekend the wall on the corner of the Village Green was jet cleaned by a resident who volunteered their services for free. Special thanks to Everest Professional Driveway Services https://www.facebook.com/everestprofessionaldrivewaycleaning/
for a fantastic job. This has prepared this area nicely for the plans to re-vamp this whole space, which will include a special memorial to commemorate Alf Thorpe, our school lollipop man who sadly passed away a few months ago. So many came out to pay their respects that day and it was clear how much he was thought of by so many in the community. The family approached us to ask about a memorial and it was decided that a fitting tribute next to the crossing would be ideal as this is a real focal point for the village. Sylvia Halls has also volunteered to help the Parish Council in choosing the most suitable plants and shrubs for this area. More details about the plans will be revealed shortly.

Annual Parish Meeting

Due to government restrictions on holding public meetings, we were unable to hold our normal Annual Parish Meeting this year. We did however still gather reports from the various village groups and organisations in the village, including the Parish Council, and this document is published on the Meetings and Minutes page of our website. www.crockenhillpc.org.uk