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Report from the Parish Council:
New Look for Village Hall
Baddesley Ensor Parish Council are pleased to announce that following the success of 4 funding bids we are beginning work to refurbish the Village Hall.
The refurbishment work will:
Modernise the Village Hall office so enabling the Parish Clerk and Chair of the Council to be available at set times for any village issues people want to raise or discuss. The office will also enable the Parish Council to offer a temporary base to services like the Police, the CAB, and Age UK (was Age Concern) etc. who in turn will be available locally for appointments. Saving you time and money.
Convert a store room to an IT suite offering 5 refurbished computers, scanner and printer use as the first stage towards providing an Advice and Information and Service delivery Hub locally.
Save the soon to close Baddesley Library by bringing it to the Village Hall. In doing this we will utilise an unused changing room which has been a store making this into Children’s Library and small meeting room. Work on the small lounge will enable us to open as a community library in partnership with WCC, offering the same range of services currently available from the old little Brum.
It will also enable us to offer you a new range of services at a reasonable cost close to home which will include:
A local Cinema provision in the Village which will enable people to book the Hall to showcase local hobby films, to see films currently on circuit in the rural cinema library, host local events with large screen film or DVD capacity for ladies nights or birthday parties etc.
Hire out the hall for events with as above but utilising our new large screen Wii, ie for dance classes, exercise, party’s etc.
Reasonably fast broadband capability enabling us to offer silver surfer support to those unable to access a computer at home
Job clubs for all ages with support in CV completing and interview skills training and support to get jobs locally.
We will have video conferencing and Skype capabilities bookable by individuals or small firms locally
Conference and party/wedding facilities with new banquet tables and chairs.
Scanner and on line capability to enable you to both speak to and download documents to companies and agencies you have queries with. This will hopefully include the Borough Council and CAB.
A larger range of warm, pleasantly decorated small meeting rooms
A drop in facility offering tea and coffee and a warm welcome.
Further work on the Hall is planned to refurbish the out-dated heating system and replace it with a sustainable heat source and to refurbish the large Hall to make it warmer and user friendly.
Allotments: You may not be aware but the Parish Council have a specific duty to provide allotments locally should there be a waiting list. Currently we have 6 people waiting and are pleased to announce that we have finally exchanged contracts with Merevale Estate enabling us to offer at least 10 new allotments on the Newlands Road site next to the established Allotment association allotment site.
The site will we hope be available for occupation in early December so if you have your name down currently or want a plot please contact the Parish Clerk , Geoff Taylor or see Geoff Fisher to book your pitch. The plots will be approximately 15ft wide by 100ft long and we will be offering the first year rent free on the basis that the site will need additional work. We do intend to provide off road parking and to offer half plots as well as full plots. We are particularly interested in discussing allocation with any disable users locally who would want to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
To support the great work already taking place by local growers the Parish Council will continue to offer support ( and prizes) through the Allotment Association including a new prize of best kept allotment from 2012.
Recreation Ground update: Sadly the summer holidays have again taken their toll on the Rec with vandals using the tennis net posts to knock the handles off the new security doors with a view to gaining entry. This having failed there have been attempts to now lever off the security plates causing some damage that we will again have to use your precept to pay for.
Graffiti continues to be an issue for us as does dog fouling on the football pitches , in particular the first pitch where the children’s teams play. We do provide dog pooh bins so please clean up after your dogs and bin your dog waste not leave it for children to run or fall into.
We have been renovating the Pavilion despite the vandalism for some months now. The new look pavilion has more modern loos with better access, a shower block for the use of those paying football teams we rent pitches to. It is also cleaner and tidier.
Bids are in currently to renovate the Pavilion roof which is in sad need of repair having had bricks and other missiles thrown at it breaking tiles and dislodging others over the course of the summer.
This summer we also removed weeds and debris from the edges of the Rec where they meet the Speedwell Lane Allotments. Families are now able to picnic under the weeping willows or sit outside the Pavilion and look at the spectacular views.
It is our intention in the spring to replant the area cleaned and we have applied to the Queen Elizabeth II Trust for 50 trees to plant the space as a memorial to our dead. If you would like to dedicate a tree to a loved one please contact the parish Clerk Geoff Taylor or the Vicar who is a member of the Parish Council.
We have secured a grant of some £50k to build a Multi-Use Games area in the Rec on the site of the tennis courts. The new provision will enable the Parish Council to rent out the floodlit pitches at specific times of the day which will further subsidise the costs of the Recreation ground and Pavilion.
Lastly we would like to thank the children who attempted to clean up the Red paint poured down the large slide and mixed with grass and one of the rubber mats from nearby. We apologise for the time taken in clearing the site but because of the type of red paint used (gloss) it had to be specifically cleaned by the Borough Council. This particular act of vandalism has really convinced us that we must now take action to prevent further vandalism in the Rec and we are now in discussion with the Police and the Borough Council to install infra-red cameras. There will be a community safety event on the 23rd November between 4.30pm and 6pm to both demonstrate the cameras and to showcase progress on the Pavilion. Partners from Neighbourhood Watch, Woodside School, Police and Community Safety will be in attendance, the POD will be open and we will be offering refreshments and would invite you to join us.
Development Worker post: The Parish Council have secured £25k Leader funding to develop the Hub in the Village Hall. A key part of this will be the post of development worker, a new 25 hour post who will work across Baddesley, Baxterley, Bentley Merevale and Grendon to improve use of the Hall and to liaise with groups and organisations to bring new services to Baddesley. Our partner in what we have called the ‘Parish Pathways’ service is Age UK who will be recruiting the development worker post by mid November 2011 and the North Warwickshire Volunteer Centre in Atherstone who will be working with us to recruit and train volunteers to support our work.
Volunteering Opportunities Locally: If you would like to support local groups or services, or have some free time on your hands and would want to offer support to the new community library, IT suite, or job club or would want to help in the children’s library by doing a session weekly for story time, making tea of coffee in the HUB, whatever. If you feel you could help them please contact the Parish Clerk or Chair or contact Michelle Black at The Volunteer Centre in Atherstone.
Enclosed in the Common Word is a questionnaire asking you to tell us what you would want delivered from the Hall as part of the new development? Please return this to the Village Shop, The Post Office, The Library, The Red Lion Pub, or to any Baddesley Ensor Parish Councillor.
Many Thanks, Lorna Ferguson Chair of BEPC.contact details 01827 712020 or lornawren@hotmail.co.uk
Geoff taylor Clerk to the Council contact no 01827
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