Annual Parish Meeting - reports from local groups and organisations
Stoodleigh Annual Parish Meeting - 26 May 2021 - 7.30pm - Parish Hall
Reports from parish groups and organisations
Cricket Club
For obvious reasons it has been a strange year for the cricket club. The first half of last season was a nonstarter and, with the league season voided, we only played friendly cricket in the latter half. This was a good opportunity to give some play time to some who had not had much and some old returning heroes!
Our brilliant secretary, Matt Shaw, has been busy over the last couple of years securing some much needed funding for a new changing room (which still needs a lick of paint!) and a container for our grounds keeping gear. We are also considering purchasing a cricket net for use at the ground. Any funding available for this would be greatly appreciated.
Our groundsman, Steve Partridge, has not been stopped by the pandemic. As a result, the pitch is in the best condition it has ever been and is looking magnificent! It has been regarded as one of the best in the league for the last few years and is only getting better.
I would also like to extend a big thank you to Michael Webber who is an incredibly supportive and cricket loving landowner. We could not wish for better.
As for this season, we have had 2 league games and 3 friendlies rained off but did manage to get a game in (and win) last weekend. Matt Shaw scoring a club record 143 in that one!
Overall Stoodleigh CC is in a good place at the moment. The standard of cricket keeps improving year on year and is being reflected in our league positions in west Somerset division 2. We have got a great mix of players, young and old, hailing from the village itself, the surrounding area and even from Tiverton!
Bing Torrance - Club Captain
Garden Club
It has been a very different year through 2020, as it has for everyone. We had a very interesting talk on bees from Mervyn Brice early in the year but subsequently the whole programme of events was cancelled, including the Annual Stoodleigh Show.
The group has turned to keeping in touch by email with the formation of 'Garden Club Chat'. Members contribute photos of interesting views of their gardens, comment or ask questions. These are circulated by blind email to all members. The response has been good and the Annual Show was even operated by this means, with photos of the entries being circulated and votes from the Garden Club Members and entrants being collected to decide the winners. The overall winner was Laura Parkman. The 'potato in a bucket' competition was held in the usual manner, the heaviest weight of potatoes being produced by Ann Roberts. Thank you to all the members, local residents and friends who took part.
The plan is that this year's Show will go ahead normally. Seed potatoes have been sold and the schedule of classes is available on the Stoodleigh website, along with other Garden Club information and events.
The Garden Club is responsible for the tubs at Kissing Gate and these have been maintained throughout the year. Thanks go to Pat Pennington for continuing to plant them up.
The Club is now able to meet, initially in small groups outside, so there have been some visits to member's gardens, to exchange tips and ideas and enjoy the company. It is obvious that, despite everything, the Club is thriving. Sadly we have lost members for health reasons or moving away, but have gained others and look forward to welcoming more.
History Group
This has been a difficult year for the Group. The closure of all Libraries and Records Offices due to the Covid lockdown in 2020 inevitably led to a curtailing of outdoor activities and meetings and research has shrunk to what further information could be obtained from the Internet.
Through the Stoodleigh web, Chris Whitehead has received and been able to answer over a dozen queries on all aspects of Stoodleigh and Family Tree History and is adding to the extensive notes collected in the earlier years. As the lockdown is easing we are hoping to be able to hold another exhibition to display that material and are looking forward to becoming more active during the rest of this year. If there are newcomers to the Village or old members who are keen to join again please give us a call at the telephone numbers listed on the History Group pages on the parish website.
Malcolm Jones
Parish Hall
The last 12 months have been a challenge for everyone and for the most part of last year the hall remained closed during the lockdowns. Our secretary has been amazing, keeping the committee informed with updates on general business and every changing guidance for safe opening through emails as we have been unable to meet face to face. Our treasurer/booking officer has been great liaising with the hirers.
In September we finally opened with limited numbers due to the COVID 19 restrictions with hall cleaning taking place every week thanks to volunteers from the committee and the cooperation of the instructors taking the classes. It was lovely to receive comments from the villagers who attended the classes to say that they were grateful we had opened the doors and felt safe to attend.
Unfortunately our planning permission for the hall improvements expired in February 2020. We reapplied with the changes to the internal alterations expecting this to sail through as we had not changed anything else but were told that as we had not consulted the Conservation Officer this was unlikely to be passed. To say the least we were completely floored by this because of the lengthy discussions we previously had with Catherine Marlow to get it passed in the first place. As a result we withdrew the application before it was declined. At present we are somewhat lost on the way forward especially as a lot of the funding that was available appears to have dried up.
On a positive note the upgrade of the electric supply into the Parish Hall has been finalised and due to be completed shortly which has been funded by grants.
We are pleased that the hall has reopened again to the public on the 17 May 2021 and hope normal service will continue to move in the right direction. A big thank you to the deep clean team of volunteers for their hard work.
The Parish Hall committee is due to have a meeting within the next month along with our delayed AGM. Perhaps then we can try to see a way forward but feel this may be more of a uphill struggle.
Thanks to everyone in the village and on the hall committee for all their continued support.
Linda Brice - Management Committee Chairman
St Margaret's Church
Like all churches we've been unable to hold services for most of the past year. However we have started again with services so far led by members of the church. This will continue (subject to official guidance) and Steph will be here in Stoodleigh celebrating Holy Communion on June 20th. We are waiting to find out when we can open the church other than for services.
The work on the church tower was completed earlier this year — many of you will have seen the men carrying out the work from ropes hanging from the tower. We are very grateful all those who contributed to the costs of this work — we received grants from a number of sources. Particular thanks to the Friends of St Margarets, who provided E5000 towards the work. Christine has asked me to remind you that all money from the Friends is used for the upkeep of St Margaret's.
We must not forget the contribution the Parish Council makes to the upkeep of the churchyard. Our thanks go to them and to Berry's who have continued the work despite the restrictions imposed by COVID. In 2019 some very necessary work was carried out to the yews in the churchyard, and we would like to thank the parish council for their generous donation towards those costs.
Also in 2019 we had a new roof for the boiler house, which looks very smart.
The Harvest Supper raised £270 for Air Ambulance and we also gave E141 to the Market Bus.
Most of you will have noticed that high winds caused the church clock to be out of action for much of the year. The problem was sorted out with more help from the abseiling team at WestAccess.
Chris Whitehead - Church Warden
Village Signpost Renovation Update
Villagers driving around the Stoodleigh lanes will have noticed the signage at West End Cross has been renewed and repainted and new boards made to replace those stolen. The replacement of the temporary sign at Stoodleigh Moor Cross is underway The volunteers working on these, the final sign posts are are awaiting the delayed lettering of which 50% has so far been supplied. The supplier is being chased and hopefully within a few months all will be resolved and completed. They intend to wash down the rest of the signs to remove the detritus built up over the winter period.
Malcolm Jones
Parish Website
This will be the eighth year of the Stoodleigh Parish website! This year has been much quieter for Jean and l, as website administrators, because we've had little parish news to share. The Covid pandemic has meant the Church, the Stoodleigh Inn and the Parish Hall were forced to close for much of the year and most of the regular activities were unable to operate. However, we were able to post up the links to the Government and NHS websites for Covid advice and guidance and also provide contact details for Stoodleigh residents needing help and support during the pandemic.
There was one major piece of website admin during the year which kept our brains active but also caused a lot of extra work during the summer of 2021. All public bodies are required to meet the Website Content Accessibility Guidelines. This means we must ensure our website is as accessible as possible to everyone, including those with disabilities and those who use assistive technologies to browse the web. We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website.
The website held seven or eight years' worth of documents. It was agreed that to be practical and sensible about the work to be done we should be realistic about the time we could commit to the process. So to provide an up to date and efficient platform for users, we agreed to concentrate on just the 3 years' worth of history for all organisations contributing to the website. Even that took us many, many hours! But, boy, was that satisfying when MDDC finally advised that we had achieved the necessary compliance!! I have to say, we would never have achieved that without the amazing support of MDDC IT Services — thank you Richard Galt! I must admit that I received much advice/guidance across the dining table from our grandson studying his Digital Forensics Degree at Uni — thank you Billy Talbot!
If you want to know more about the Accessibility Guidelines, please see https://www.middevonparish.co.uk/stoodleigh/accessibilitv/
During Lockdown 3 in January, we set up a Lockdown Gallery — this meant those out and about taking photos could share their local views and pictures with residents in the community who weren't able to get out and about too far. Happy photographers and happy website users.
As restrictions ease and we move forward, there'll be more news for the website — but only if the groups and organisations keep us up to date with what they're doing —just send your news to stoodleighweb@gmail.com
Over the last 14 months, the community email system has grown further and become one of the best methods of sharing news around the village ......... quickly! A quick email can provide a headline with full information about an issue via a link to our own website or another news platform. Some messages contain vital information for the community but the system also provides a link with news to those unable to get out, isolating or shielding. Many in the community provide positive and great feedback! During the pandemic, the community email system has been a useful way of welcoming our new residents and keeping them informed until we can meet together in the village. There are over 130 people signed up for community email which is fantastic! Jean and I shall continue sending out your messages — updating the community about events coming up, sharing details of the items you no longer want or messaging for an item you need, reporting your lost and found animals as well as the useful warnings of suspicious activities. We are informed that this information is gratefully received by those on community email. If you would like to sign up, please email us at stoodleighweb@gmail.com
We believe that the parish website provides a useful platform for users to find information about what's happening in the village and that the community email can link with it to highlight the Stoodleigh news.
Geraldine Talbot and Jean Winter - Website Administrators