Normanton on Soar
WOMEN’S INSTITUTE The speaker at the meeting held on May 2 was Clive Rudd whose theme was “Everybody loves the music”.
Clive reminisced about the pop music of the 50s through to the 70s, accompanying his singing with his guitar, and telling amusing stories along the way. He soon had the audience singing along and participating as they wracked their brains to remember who sang what!
At one stage Sue James and Sally Dicker donned Mexican hats and accompanied Clive with a rendition of Speedy Gonzales much everyone’s amusement.
There was also much laughter when Clive sang Hello Mother, Hello Father to the classical piece Dance of the Hours. Sue James, In thanking Clive, said that his presentation had brought back a lot of lovely memories.
The competition for an LP from the period was won by Grace Buckley, and the 50:50 draw was won by Rosemarie Alltree.
During the business of the meeting arrangements were made for transport for the boat trip on 23 May; and names were taken for a trip to Denby on 10 October, and the ladies lunch visit on 25 May.
Di Coltman reported on the spring council meeting and Heather Herrington reported on the Spring Group Meeting. The members’ day planned for 5 September was confirmed; there would be no evening meeting on that day. There had been no communication from County about tickets for the Nottingham Playhouse tour om 19 May. It should be assumed that the event was over-subscribed. Heather Herrington would advise if circumstances changed.
Discussion about the resolutions for the National AGM in June resulted in a majority rejection of the resolution about Alleviating Loneliness, and unanimous support for the resolution about Plastic Soup.
The next meeting will be 6 June at the village hall, starting at 7.30pm. Visitors always welcome - £4
ANNUAL VILLAGE MEETING At the annual village meeting of Normanton on Soar Parish Council on Wednesday 3 May the chairman, Jeremy Hellier, thanked Sally Slaney for her work on the Council prior to her resignation, and welcomed Sue Ponting and Dominic Alhariri who had both been co-opted onto the council.
He went on to thank Sarah Sleight for the good work she did in keeping the village environment tidy, John Herrington for his work on the new village web-site, Heather Herrington for publicising the village in the local press, Gill Hilsdon for co-ordinating the litter picks in the village, and Jenny . Faulks for her support as clerk to the council.
Work on Bowley’s Bridge had been completed; work was expected to start on the County Bridge in September.
The council continued to address the issue of flooding on the corner of Main Street; Severn Trent had declined an invitataion to attend the meeting. Dog fouling continued to be a problem in the village; particularly on the village field, and the Council was considering installing CCTV to provide evidence which would apprehend offenders.
The council had also considered banning dogs from the field. Despite the common perception that the village was a crime-free area there had been an increase over recent months in incidents of vandalism in the village. Residents were urged to report all such occurrences.
The re-surfacing of Main Street was scheduled to take place in September, but there were no plans to re-surface Far Lane.
Welcome income came to the village from Caravan Club rallies, and wedding marquees on the field. Some of this would be used to stage another village event on 5 August.
Sue Ponting would be distributing information nearer to the date. The council had been grateful for the support received from the “Supporting Local Communities” fund which had allowed work to be done on the ferry. Jeremy thanked the Bonser and Sleight families and everyone elsse who had supported the project. The cabin had been opened on 8/4/17, since when 300 passengers had used the ferry. There were plans to install electricity in the cabin. More volunteers were needed to operate the ferry, and this could be done in three hour stints.
The council was planning to enter a community competition which would consider the look of the village, its history, regular events, other activities, and the extent to which the village catered for visitors.
The clerk to the council presented a statement of the accounts. The precept had been raised to restore the funds used during the solar farm campaign.
Borough councillor John Thurman praised the work of the village and its council.
He referred to the 820 building approvals which had been given in East Leake, and which had put strain on the infrastructure services.
Recent applications had been rejected, but others were in the pipe-line.
East Leake was one of the “big 6” villages in Rushcliffe. There had been surveys of retail businesses, and investment in “Positive Futures” which aimed to target disaffected youngsters at school and work with them towards a positive outcome.
John was unaware of any issues concerned with fracking in the borough.
Tony Davies, police community support officer answered questions from the audience and urged people in the village to report anything out of the ordinary either to 101 or to 999.
Reports were presented by the Community Shop, WI, Men’s Association, St James’ Church, Normanton on Soar School, the litter-pickers, village choir, Soar Valley Twinning, and Village Hall Committee.
When taking questions from the audience it was confirmed by the Council that volunteers had been trained pending the introduction of the new Community Speed Watch equipment, and that provision of dog poo bags would be re-introduced.
Simon Barrington thanked the council for its work on behalf of the village.
ST JAMES’ CHURCH There will be a service of Holy Communion on Sunday 14 May starting at 9.30am. Everyone is welcome to the service.
LADIES WALKING GROUP There will be a 4.5 mile walk on Tuesday 16 May; Measham Meander at Oakthorpe. Meet at The Plough Normanton at 9.30am and contact the leader, Pat Gassor 01509 827028 or 07804 688741 if you intend to walk.