Annual Parish Meeting - reports from local groups and organisations
Stoodleigh Annual Parish Meeting - 25 May 2022 - 7.30pm - Parish Hall
Reports from parish groups and organisations
Stoodleigh Garden Club
After another year of not being able to meet up on a regular basis, we were able to hold our AGM in November 2021. Our Chairperson, Pat Pennington wished to retire from that post and she was thanked for all her hard work and dedication to the Club over the many years. On leaving, she presented a new Show cup to replace one destroyed by fire, though she will always remain a welcome member and we shall value her advice.
A new leadership Committee was formed of Jill Chant (Show secretary), Amanda Baggott (Treasurer), Paula Hullett and Shirley Cope (Coordinator).
We have run a full programme of events this year, starting with a most enjoyable Christmas party; the first opportunity we had had to meet up socially for a while. In March we planted snowdrops at the top of Stoodleigh Drive by the sign and in Church path. Later that month a group of us made plant pots with a local potter and we await seeing the final results with anticipation! The Garden Club ran a stall at the Easter Market to help raise funds for the Parish Hall and promote the Club. In May we paid a visit to Knightshayes for a talk by the Head Gardener and a tour of the composting area, followed by a wander round the garden and the, ever popular, tea and cakes! Future visits are planned to members’ gardens and a group will be out removing the spreading Himalayan Balsam from around our lanes.
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.
Plans are well under way for the Stoodleigh Annual Show which will be held this year at the Parish Hall on Saturday 20th August. The Show Schedule can be found on the Garden Club page of the Stoodleigh website, along with other Garden Club information and programme of events.
Despite all the difficulties over the last couple of years, 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.
Shirley Cope, Stoodleigh Garden Club
Swap-box
The Swap-box, located in the old telephone box at Hillcrest, is once again open for Community use. It is hoped that plants, produce and other small items will be left in the box for others to use, either by swapping or giving a small donation to the Parish Hall.
Maintained by Shirley and Trevor Cope
Parish Hall Management Committee
I would like to start by saying a huge thank you to all those involved in the running of the Parish Hall and everyone who contributes to it activity in any way. A special mention I feel needs to go to those members of the team who wrestled during the covid pandemic with the everchanging rules and regulations which needed to be followed to keep the hall functioning. Thank you.
I would also like to offer thanks and appreciation for the kind donations made by various individuals and businesses in the village toward the different events held at the parish hall. These kindnesses provide great encouragement to those people organising activities and greatly add to the occasion.
During the pandemic, the hall was unable to earn very much income so we were more than grateful for the council grants which helped to keep us afloat and allowed us to build a healthy bank balance.
Late summer 2021 saw an easing of restrictions and the various exercise classes were able to resume with regular pilates, Zumba and yoga classes being fairly well attended.
The church harvest supper and skittles evening in September was an evening of great entertainment with the usual skittles champions continuing to reign!
Our next joint venture with the church will be in August when the annual Dog Show is planned to take place. We also continue to have fundraising for the hall and church via the 100 Club draw.
In December, the hall was used for the ‘Lighting Up the Christmas Tree’, mulled wine and mince pie evening. This event was very popular and there have been many requests for it to be an annual event.
The Saturday morning coffee and book club has resumed on a monthly basis with positive feedback from attendees. It’s included ‘seed swap’ sessions and children enjoying games while their parents’ chat.
In March, the spring walk started with breakfast in the hall and finished with a hearty lunch. It was well attended and anyone not wishing to walk was welcomed to join in for the food and company. The occasion provided a great opportunity for newcomers to the village to meet other residents.
April saw the Easter Market enjoying its usual popularity, with many folks working hard and contributing to the success of the event.
The Hall is used for many and varied groups such as the Parish Council, Exe Valley Market Bus Committee, Exe Valley Church Wardens, Stoodleigh Garden Club, St Margaret’s Church Fayre and Harvest Supper, Birthday Parties etc. It is an important building and takes lots of effort to keep everything working and in good order. The more it is used, the better for everyone so please support as many of the events held here as you possibly can.
Although the parish hall funds are quite healthy at the moment, the planned improvements to the hall have had to be modified due to restricted funds and a need to be practical. During the next year, a complete refurbishment of the kitchen and lobby areas are planned. This will improve the facilities and functionality of the hall for the future.
We look forward to the hall continuing to come back to life in the coming months and to welcoming everyone to join in and make use of this village asset we are lucky to have.
Statement on behalf of the chairperson, Viv Menear.
Stoodleigh Parish Website
After a couple of quiet years, members of the community are beginning to use the parish website a little more. Mid Devon District Council provide us with monthly Google Analytic reports so we see our user figures. This gives the number of hits over the whole website as well as a breakdown of hits on each page. Numbers had been low until the early part of this year with sometimes only 600/700 average hits per month. Figures are now going up, averaging 1000 per month and hopefully will return to 2019 figures about 1500 a month, and more maybe, before too long.
The most read webpages are, in order, Planning, Police, News, Parish Council and the Events Calendar. Users are looking at other webpages for the Parish Hall, Church, Groups and Organisations but not as many or as often – just goes to show, the use of the website is only as good as the current news posted. So, please send us information about what your groups are doing or have done!
Community Email, via stoodleighweb@gmail.com , as you will know, is on full alert! With about 150 on the email list, you all have lots of news out there to share, and that’s great! Because it was so busy in the early spring, Jean and I decided to take half the week each for monitoring the stoodleighweb email. We try to send urgent messages such as emergency road closures and lost dogs, as quickly as possible. Other information is sent as soon as we’re able to do so and it can’t always be immediately. If you have information to share, please send it as soon as you can because we can’t always send it quickly and it might mean you have missed a deadline or advertising your event. Please send your information to stoodleighweb@gmail.com
Can you help us with a question raised recently – “where do I look quickly if I want to send a message via community email – should it be on the website somewhere?” There is a “Contact Us” section on the website providing the email address. Do you think it should it be included on the Useful Information section? Let us know how you find it when you have info for community email or where you would suggest putting it.
You know we are volunteers, so to help us …
- please be patient ….. any emails have to be sent via our computers/laptops so we need to be at home to do that;
- where a response to a community email is needed, please don’t reply to stoodleighweb, please reply to the address or phone number given in the email as we don’t have time to forward your messages;
- please remember we like to have weekends off too. If you want routine information circulated, please let us have it by Friday at the latest.
Despite those little requests above, Jean and I enjoy playing our part in communication amongst our community so keep those messages coming to share with your fellow residents!
Geraldine Talbot/Jean Winter, Stoodleighweb Admin