Sutton Bonington
SHARE OFFER Residents in Sutton Bonington are being urged to support their Community Shop and Post Office by buying shares in it.
Steps were taken last year to introduce changes to the way the business was being run, following the news that the proprietor wanted to retire.
The introduction of the process began in autumn 2020 and from September 1 this year, and as previously reported in the Echo, the local Post Office and gift shop has become a Community Benefit Society. This has been set-up with assistance and advice from the Plunkett Foundation, a national charity that supports rural communities.
Information and details for buying shares in the Community Shop can be found on line.
For the majority of customers your local Post Office is a free way to access your high street bank account for personal or business banking
Shares are already on sale , with the closing date for their availability being September 30.
Anyone buying shares will be taking up the opportunity to contribute financially on a long-term basis to their community, with the primary purpose of receiving a social rather than financial dividend.
“We want the Community to buy into the shop project both literally and metaphorically and we believe that this is best done by the issue of shares to members of the Community, say the organising group.
“Unlike investing in shares in commercial companies where personal financial gain is the main motive, shares in the Community Benefit Society are subject to laws that limit financial gain and emphasise social benefit. You will be investing for the long-term benefit of your Community.”
A GREET MONTH Parishioners at St. Anne’s Church in Sutton Bonington are being urged to “greet
September with expectation and a hope for normality and a steady pace of time and events.”
Writing in this month’s parish magazine, David Etherton, churchwarden at St. Anne’s says that after the pandemic “there is a sense of moving on to normality and change for the better.”
He says that one constant in the passage of time ”is nature and the process of the seasons, although tempered by our weather and its erratic behaviour, plants, crops and fruit grow and mature in a regular manner with September bringing harvest time and its celebration of the work of the farmers and indeed our own labours in gardens and allotments.”
Mr Etherton, former chairman of the parish council in the village, continued: ”September marks the change from summer to autumn and the start of nature changing colour into autumnal browns, orange and yellows.”
He added: ”Our churches will celebrate the harvest time with services during September and for us Anglicans in early October. It is then that we can give full thanks to God and to those who plant, grow and harvest our food.”
Sutton Bonington has two medieval churches, a result of the merging of the two original villages of Sutton and Bonington - they are St. Michael’s Church the Bonington church and St Anne’s Church the Sutton church located down St
Anne’s Lane. St Michael’s is the larger and much taller of the two churches.
The two ancient ecclesiastical parishes of Sutton and Bonington were united for civil purposes in 1829 and combined in 1923 into one ecclesiastical parish with one rector appointed from 1950.
St. Michael’s Rectory, situated on the other side of the Midland Main Line, is now used by the University of Nottingham, who have a large campus just north of the village, to house postgraduate students.
Related to the situation of the two original parishes, Sutton and Bonington are separate manors, named after their churches — St. Anne and St. Michael respectively. TREES Villagers at Sutton Bonington have been thanked for helping to plant 400 trees and shrubs given as a gift by The Woodland Trust.
Sutton Bonington Parish Council Biodiversity and Climate Crisis Working Party has thanked the villagers who helped with the planting.
Grateful thanks have also been expressed to villagers who helped with the initial removal of the plastic surrounds and stakes from the trees in the Diamond Wood.
A large number of the plastic surrounds still require removal and helpers are asked to watch out for dates in the future when there help will be required.
The Biodiversity working party is “delighted” to welcome Chloe Payne as a work experience volunteer for her Level Three Countryside and Environmental Management course.
As well as being part of the group generally, Chloe is already working on specific projects related to hedgehogs, bats and tree preservation orders.
PLANNING Rushcliffe Borough Council have given the go ahead for changes to an existing house at Sutton Bonington.
Permission has been given to raise the eaves and ridge of the main house at 26 Park Lane in the village as well as install new dormer windows to front and rear, replace existing concrete roof tiles with clay plain tiles; erect a two storey side extension and a single storey rear extension as well as changing facing materials on existing rear extension; new bay windows and porch to front elevation. The application permitted with conditions being imposed.
CLEANERS Extra volunteer cleaners are needed at St. Michael’s and St. Anne’s Parish Churches in Sutton Bonington.
As time goes by, the number of church cleaners is gradually dropping and the Parochial Church Council is asking if anybody in the village would like to join the cleaning rota.
Voluntary cleaners usually help out four times a year and anybody with some spare time is asked to contact Beth Clarke on 672110.