Charlton Musgrove Parish Council

Minutes of the Annual Parish meeting held in the Village Hall, Charlton Musgrove, Somerset

on Wednesday 11th May 2016 (7.10pm – 7.45pm)

Present

In attendance: Robin Bastable (Chair), A Sutton, B Izard, K McCarry, R Kimber, M Haskett

Representatives from the Village Hall and the Parish Church

Parish Clerk: Sheran Ring

1. Approval of the minutes from previous Annual Parish Meetings (Agenda item 1)

Minutes of the previous Annual Parish Meeting held on 12th May 2015 were approved.

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2. Annual Report from Charlton Musgrove Parish Council Chairman and presentation of the Annual Accounts Year End 31.03.2016 (Agenda item 2)

1) The Chairman apologised for the late start to the meeting. The year had been dominated by The Smithy. It was made an Asset of Community Value and then, at a public meeting, it was decided to commence the moratorium period to enable the Charlton Musgrove Community Benefit Society to explore the possibility of the community purchasing the property. The Chairman thanked the members of the CMCBS for their efforts and wished the new owners success with their new venture. (full report attached)

2) The Chairman presented the draft Annual Accounts to Year Ended 31.03.2016. It was noted that the accounts were yet to be approved by the Parish Council or externally audited.

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3. Presentation from local organisations (Agenda Item 3)

The Chairman welcomed representatives from organisations within the Parish to present their annual reviews

-Charlton Musgrove Memorial Hall: Sue Parroy, Acting Chairman gave an overview of community events and weekly activities held at the hall.

-The Walkers, Riders and Cyclists Group: The Group have completed the footpaths project. Circular walks are available to download from the village website and the new sign showing the village map and walks is in place. The group will now join with The Countryside Group members to form a Community Project Group.

-Parish Churches: Veronica White gave a report on behalf of the Parish churches (attached)

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4. Public Questions Time (Agenda Item 4)

Concerns were raised once more regarding broadband within the village. Wessex Internet was discussed as Cucklington are going ahead with them. There is not sufficient interest within our village at this stage to move forward with this option. It is unknown if BT will roll out their superfast broadband in the near future. It was agreed the Parish Council will investigate all options further and invite a representative from BT to a public meeting.

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5. Closure and thanks (Agenda Item 5)

The chairman thanked all those members present and for the reports given

Sheran Ring, Charlton Musgrove Parish Clerk

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Chairman

Chairmans Report 2016

Good evening everyone, and welcome to another Annual Parish Meeting, in a minute we will hear from the various groups within the village on their activities throughout the year but first a summary of what has happened in the village in the last year.

One of the main issues was the formation of a working committee to try to purchase the Smithy as a community pub, unfortunately this was not possible and it went back on the open market in early March, although we know nothing for certain, it seems likely that someone has made an offer to but to reopen it as a pubic house so hopefully it will be up and running by this time next year. The committee that was formed put in a lot of work and have set a good base for any further action that may be needed and I would like to thank them all for all their hard work and effort.

We recently lit a beacon on the event of Queen Elizabeth 11’s 90th birthday and everyone who attended seemed to enjoy it and was an opportunity for villager’s to meet.

One of the main issues for the Parish Council is planning and as well as the usual extensions and renovations we have recently had planning permission granted for 2 house’s opposite the Smithy which will give the village a much needed footpath to be able to walk relatively safely to the Village Hall which we hope will be welcomed by everyone.

Lastly can I thank everyone who puts in the work and effort within the village to keep everything working from the playing field to the village hall and keeping the footpaths repaired and clear, also although both the walkers and riders and cyclists group and the countryside group have been active throughout the last year the walkers group have repaired all the stiles etc and felt that a specific group for this purpose was no longer necessary, so they and the countryside group have been amalgamated into the Community Project group form March, so if anyone has any ideas for small projects around the village to improve it please let the council aware and we will endevor to get things done.

We will now hear reports from the village organizations, thank you.

ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PARISH COUNCIL OF THE CHURCHES IN CHARLTON MUSGROVE 2015

Charlton Musgrove is part of the United Benefice of Charlton Musgrove, Cucklington and Stoke

Trister with Bayford. The benefice is in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Charlton Musgrove has two

churches, the parish church of St Stephen dating from the 15th century in Rectory Lane and St

John’s church in Barrow Lane built in the 19th century which is known as ‘a chapel of ease’.

During 2015, a 9.30 service was held every Sunday across the Benefice. There was usually a

Benefice Communion Service at St Stephen’s on the 2nd Sunday and at St John’s on the 4th Sunday

of the month. As well as the monthly services a Good Friday Compline Service was held at St

John’s and a Holy Saturday Easter Eve Service was held at St Stephen’s. Christmas Midnight Mass

was held at St Stephen’s and a quiet service was held in St John’s after Christmas. Other special

services rotate around the villages so during 2015 the Palm Sunday walk started in Cucklington.

The Rogation Service was held at Higher Stavordale Farm, Charlton Musgrove, and the

Remembrance Day service was held in Cucklington. During the year the churches were also used

for 3 baptisms, 2 weddings, a blessing and two funerals. Our Rector Canon Jo Penberthy left us at

the end of August to take up a full time post in Wales. We are very grateful for the retired clergy

who have stepped in to keep our pattern of services going.

Charlton Musgrove fund raising for charities included Lent Lunches for UNICEF, the Harvest Supper

for Syrian Refugees which with the bags of warm clothing donated by villagers raised over £800.

We also supported a different charity each month through ‘the good cause’ box situated in St

Stephen’s.

The saying goes that ‘Charity begins at home’ and as well as direct giving some of the fund raising

was specifically targeted to support our churches here in the village. These were the Barn Dance

and Farm Open Day, a Quiz night, Easter Lilies, the proceeds from the flower Show, the Summer

Fair and a Christmas Workshop. The funds raised from these go towards the cost of the up keep of

both churches and to keep them open not only for regular Sunday services but for baptisms,

weddings and funerals. As well as finding funds for general maintenance of the churches each

parish contributes to the Common Fund of the diocese which provides us with a Rector and covers

the cost of monthly salary, clergy pension contributions, housing costs and additional training. Our

Parish Share for 2015 was over £9000. So we are very grateful to the community for supporting

our fund raising events and giving in any way.