CLYST ST MARY SECTION OF THE OCTOBER 2014 CLYST VALLEY NEWS
CLYST ST MARY
Church Services
There will be an informal Family Serviceon 12th October and a Family Communionon 26th October. We welcome new families who would like to bring their children to join in these services. The School Harvest Servicewill be held
in church on Friday 10th October at 10 am.
Clyst St Mary Church Kitchen
Perhaps this is the time when you look around your house and think how about a new kitchen?! We would like to update the vestry at the church and would like to hear from anyone who is considering this and would be happy for us to give your old units a new home. I am afraid this would have to be for free, but happy to take them away should this suit both ways. Thank you and if you are thinking about this please contact Pat on 01392 877907.
Church Coffee Mornings
There was no church coffee morning in September but the Italian Harvest Supper on Saturday 13th September raised £300. This month’s coffee morning will be in church on Saturday 11th October from 10 to 11.30 am. All contributions to the cake stall, books and bric-a-brac gratefully received.
Pat Cusa is once again running the Christmas tombola at the coffee morning on 6th December and is asking for any Christmas decorations, ornaments, etc that you may not want any more. Please get in contact with her on 01392 877907. She’ll be happy to collect any time up to the week of the coffee morning.
ChurchFundraising CommitteeMeeting
The next meeting of the church fundraising committee will be held on 9th October at 2.30 pm in church. Please come along if you would like to help with fundraising.
Ploughman's Lunch 1st August
A belated thank you to all the helpers and for the donations of food for the ploughman's lunch at St Margaret's Church Topsham. The sum of £357.50 was raised to go towards the new oil tank for Clyst St Mary Church. Paddy Taylor
Clyst St Mary Christmas Tree Festival!
As mentioned in the last magazine, time is creeping up on us and it is time to remind you that the festival will be on the 5th , 6th and 7th December in the church. The school are joining in again and their entries are always a sight to behold - extremely clever with a lot of hard work from the children and teachers. Your chance has come to take that step forward and join in the fun that we have that weekend. The forms will be going out with the November Clyst Valley News and in and around the village, so please think about it. If you have no idea what this is, please ring Pat on01392 877907 or Sue on 01392 874597 and we can explain what is entailed. We would like some new people to join in with our stalwarts so please give it a go. We look forward to hearing from you.
Bishops Clyst Parish Council: Neighbourhood Plan
Bishops Clyst Parish Council are undertaking the task of putting together a Neighbourhood Plan (NP) for the whole parish. The NP has legal status and is a community-led framework for guiding the future development and growth of an area. Producing a NP gives residents the opportunity to decide their own future. It's a chance to look at housing that might be required, green area locations, leisure facilities and infrastructure. The Parish Council have already sought funding and employed an expert, Paul Weston, to help guide us through the process, which is hoped to be finalised by January 2016. There is a real risk that if we don’t draw up a NP, then important decisions will be made by officials sitting in Council offices.
The first meeting of the Neighbourhood Plan Group, which was open to the public,took place on Wednesday 17th September at Clyst St Mary Primary School. It attracted a handful of interested residents along with most members of the group. Officers were formally appointed to posts in the group, under the Chairmanship of Rob Hatton, and Paul Weston gave an interesting talk on the neighbourhood planning process. It was agreed that effective communication was paramount to the success of the whole exercise and, as an important first step, a questionnaire would go out to all parish residents with the November issue of the Clyst Valley News, eliciting their views on a range of planning issues.
If you would like to be a part of this group of local people helping theParish Council to prepare a draft NP, or you would like more information, please contact the Clerk, Juliet White, by email at or in writing to Ringmer, Culver Close, Bradninch, Exeter, EX5 4NY or call 01392 881256. Please also come along to the next public meeting of the group: 7 pm on Tuesday 14th October at Clyst St Mary Primary School. Your contributions to the planning process are essential to the adoption by the planning authorities of a strong NP as the basis for the future development of our parish.
Parish Council Vacancy
Bishops Clyst Parish Council has a vacancy for a Councillor. Anyone aged 18 or over who has lived, worked or owned property in the Parish or within three miles of the Parish boundary for at least a year can apply. Applications to be sent to the Clerk (details below) explaining a bit about yourself and why you wish to become a Councillor. Deadline for applications: 31st October 2014. Council meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 7.30 pm. For more information please call Juliet White on 01392 881256 or email .
Public Open Meeting: Winslade Park Development
Bishops Clyst Parish Council would like to invite you to a public open meeting on Thursday 2nd October at 7 pm at Clyst St Mary Primary School hall. F&C Reit, along with their consultants Jones Lang LaSalle, have been invited to come and present the details of the proposed outline planning application for Winslade Park (
The Masterplan now accommodates: three residential neighbourhoods (totalling 300 houses); sports facilities; workplace accommodation; community park and nature reserve.
Please do come along to this presentation. There will be time for discussions and questions.
Bishops Clyst Parish Council: Application for Grant Aid
Bishops Clyst Parish Council would like to hear from any organisation in the village who feels that they would benefit from a grant towards the running of their group. Criteria and application form are available on the Council’s website Alternatively, you can contact the Clerk on 01392 881256 should you wish to receive hard copies. Application deadline: No later than noon on 31st December 2014.
Those groups who are successful will receive their grants in March 2015. Clerk and RFO to the Council Mrs Juliet White, Ringmer, Culver Close, Bradninch, Exeter, EX5 4NY.
Walking Group
The October walk will be on Tuesday 21st and will be about 5.5 miles long, mainly on roads and footpaths and will include a visit to a pub forlunch. We meet at the Village Hall car park at 10 am andwe all walk at our own risk. For further information please contact Pat Boreham on 01392 669958.
Anyone for Tennis?
Some of us play tennis every Friday morning. Would you like to join us? Please ring Janice on 01392 876858 orMartin on 01392 874948.
Badminton Club
The new season started on Tuesday 23rd September. The Club plays 8 - 10 pm Tuesdays in Clyst St Mary Village Hall. We always welcome new members (13 years +) whether experienced or new to the game. Although we aim to win we primarily play for enjoyment and helping to keep (or get) fit. The subscription is very reasonable - for example, £20 for 12 sessions. So why not try it? For further details, please contact either Malcolm Macmillen (01392 873280) or Hilary Richardson (01392 874722), or just turn up on a Tuesday evening.
Clyst St Mary Primary School II
In September we welcomed 30 new children into Reception and 5 children who have joined us in other classes. September also sees us change from 5 classes to 6 to accommodate the increasing number of children wanting places. We now have 161 pupils, a record number for Clyst St Mary School.
We have also been able to offer all our Key Stage 1 children free school meals from the beginning of term – well done to all the staff who worked so hard to make this happen. Along with many schools across the country this has been a huge challenge for us and has required some creative thinking to get it running smoothly!
This term we have introduced several new initiatives to help our children stay active and healthy – Premier Sports are running before school ‘Start Active’ clubs and one at lunchtime. These are funded by the school and so are free to parents.
The children will be celebrating Harvest in October at the parish church and all the donations that we collect will go to support Exeter Foodbank.
New School Governor Required
We need a newLocal Authority GovernoratClyst St Mary School. You are probably aware that the school has a governing body, a group of people drawn from parents, LA nominees, staff and the local community, whose key role is to assist in the effective management of the school. This is your opportunity to get involved and have a real say in the development of our village school.
What have I got to offer? Time is the most important resource any governor can offer. You will also of course bring your life experiences and any additional specific skills.It will help if you are a good communicator, find it easy to get on with other people, can share ideas and work as part of a team. You don’t need any specific qualifications, but you should be prepared to undertake a certain amount of training to enable you to learn some of the basic responsibilities attached to school governance.
What will I be letting myself in for? School governors work as a team, alongside the Headteacher and senior management. As a new governor you would be joining an existing team with varying backgrounds, skills and levels of experience. Individual governors have no power or responsibility, and perhaps more importantly, no liability, and ‘all governors are equal’.
Governing bodies meet on average twice a term. In addition there are also meetings of governing body committees dealing specifically with issues such as finance, personnel, buildings, curriculum, etc. As a new governor you would be expected to play a full part, and would probably find yourself on at least one committee. Don’t underestimate the amount of time you may be asked to give. You will need to be able to visit the school regularly, during the day if at all possible, and there will be papers to read between meetings. You will serve a term of four years.
If you are interested in being nominated as a Local Authority Governor, talk to Rob Hatton (01392 874305) to register your interest and ask any further questions you have about the work of a governor.
Clyst Valley Pre-School
The Pre-school offers a friendly, secure, stimulating and fun environment for children aged 2 years and 8 months to school starting age.We are based at our fantastic new building on the primary school site and have close linkswith the school.We were judged to be an outstanding pre-school by OFSTED at our last inspection in February 2009.Ourhours areMonday to Friday, 9.15 am to 3.15 pm, and children can come on a full or part-time basis, and for either whole or half days.All 3 and 4 year-olds are entitled to15 hours of free 'early years' funding for 38 weeks each year and some or all of this can be used at Pre-school.Pleaseget in touchby going to our website at callingPre-school on01392 876615during session times. Some of our sessions are full so we advise booking as early as you can.
Toddler Group
We meet from 9.30 to 11.30 am on Mondays in the Village Hall and all children from 0 to 5 years are welcome with their parents, grandparents or carers. If you feel able, come earlier and help set up. There will be craft and other activities, including singing. It costs £2 which includes snacks and drinks for children and adults. Please contact Johanna on 07791 968056.