MINUTES

BAYDON PARISH COUNCIL

PARISH ASSEMBLY

FRIDAY 12^th May 2017 - AT 8.00PM IN THE BYPA HALL, MANOR LANE

In attendance: Cllrs Witt (Chair), Chidgey, Billington, Bryan, Lawrence, Charlotte Booth, Clerk, and 17 members of the public.

1)         Apologies

            None Received

2)         Report by Parish Council Chairman

Cllr Witt summarized the activities of the council since the 2016 Parish Assembly. The activities included: Relaunching the Parish Steward Scheme, Cllr  training on the speed training device, a new Facebook presence, the Clerk undergoing official training, two extraordinary meetings (one for traffic calming and one to set up the Save Baydon Lion Team), at Christmas the council erected and took down the Christmas tree on The Green, organised Christmas Carols on The Green, a new tree was planted on The Green, discussions about changing the speed limit on Aldbourne Road, and agreeing to construct traffic calming measures on the western end of Ermin Street, there have been three new councillors (Billington, Chidgey, Lawrence and Hancock) and two councillors resigned (John Cockcroft and Kevin Howell). 

3)         Reports from Village Groups

            Reports were received from numerous groups in the village.

Allotments

The allotments are looking very smart and well looked after and for the first time all the plots are taken.

The Little Crickets have recently taken up the offer of a small part of one of the plots and the children have been there to identify vegetables and plant a potato each.

Table Tennis

This is a new club to the village and has 20 members. They meet weekly on Friday at the BYPA.

They are always looking for new members, both novice and experienced. All contact details can be found on the Baydon website.

St Nicholas’ Church

            They wanted to thank the council for supporting the church.

They were able to raise £2750 this year and they have organised some amazing events.

The church has had to undergo some changes and they now have a service only on the first Sunday of the month.

They are unable to fill the gap between the funds they raise and the money they need and ask for volunteers to help at the church. No experience is necessary and any skills are useful.

They appreciate the help they receive and would be grateful for any further help offered. 

Little Crickets

Apologies were made for not attending in person, and they had a member of the management team to speak on their behalf.

In August 2016, a new committee took over the management of the Preschool with a diverse skill set. They received an Ofsted rating of ‘Good’ in January.

They have strong links with Baydon St Nicholas School and they work together to help the children with the transition to school.  They also have part of a plot on the allotment thanks to the allotment committee and parish council.

There are currently 12 children registered with more signed up to start in the future weeks/months.  The infrastructure is now in place to move the pre-school forward. If anyone would like to visit the school they can make an appointment on 01635 541781.

St Nicholas School

They would like to thank the staff, children and parents. There are currently 125 children in the school divided into 5 classes from Lambourn, Lambourn Woodlands, Great Shefford, Aldbourne and Ramsbury and they work closely with the other school in the Marlborough Cluster including Aldbourne, Ramsbury and Chilton Foliat.

There have been a number of highlights including a model of the Great Fire of London and a number of PE activities with a Skip2Bfit day, and one class is running the Magnificent Mile every day.  There are 4 additional festivals lined up (tennis, quadkids, rounders and athletics). There are two theatre workshops and the Christmas and Easter productions are a highlight.

The school took part in and won a Design and Technology Competition, and have raised money for Children in Need, Comic Relief and Prospect Hospice.

The school works closely with the church and has a different ‘value’ as a theme each term. There are also regular bible stories.     

They have been working closely with the Parish Council to put in a bid to improve the signage around the school and carry out a feasibility study to improve traffic at the beginning and end of the school day.

They thanked the staff, Governors, parents and children for all that they do to make Baydon St Nicholas such a wonderful school.

Baydon Brownies

They meet term-time on a Wednesday at the BYPA and have ten girls on the register. In the past year there have been various events and trips, including joining with Aldbourne Brownies to a trip to PGL at Liddington, cooking and craft events, the Fairford Air Tattoo and Ashdown House.

For the Baydon Fireworks the Brownies and parents ran the refreshment stall, and also in November they attended the Remembrance Service at St Nicholas Church.

There was also a visit from one of the Thames Valley Police road traffic officers who gave the girls a tour of his patrol car and taught them about road safety and they were awarded their Road Safety badge.

Baydon Bash Golf Society

They were formed in 2006 and have more than 20 participants with handicaps ranging from 12-28. There are 3-4 local golf days a year. These 18-hole games have a number of prizes for various categories.

There is an annual weekend away, which this year the trip is on September 15-17 to Hellidon Lakes and Staverton Park in Northampton.

If anyone wants to join call Andrew on 01672 540320.

Fireworks

Nearly 1000 people attended the fireworks and £711 was raised to go towards the 2017 display which is to be held on November 4. They are continuing training with Pains Fireworks. The bonfire was once more shut due to people putting things on the fire which would not burn.

They wanted to thank Baydon PC, Johnathan Smith, Debbie Moxon, Julie Watts, Don the microphone man, ladies on the gate and the stewards.

Father Christmas also came to the village last December and they hope he will be able to come in 2017 as he was very popular.

Baydon Flyers

The Baydon Flyers have been running for 5 years and have 11 members from Baydon, Aldbourne and Lambourn. 

They meet at the Red Lion at 6:30 on Thursday nights and cycle between 25-40 miles whatever the weather, except if it is dangerously icy or snowy.

They go to the pub after the ride, and consume enough to replace the calories they calculate they have worked off during the ride.

Baydon Website

The website has been in place for 11 years and has a page listing all the clubs and their contact details, as well as a page for the Parish Council, and Church. Recently the Church pages have been re-worked with some items being archived.

The April average of visitors was 120 people, most from the village but some hits from further afield.

The website is updated nearly every day.

Link Scheme

The Aldbourne and Baydon Link Scheme has about 30 volunteers but they are always looking for more.

Each journey is an average of 14 miles and is generally to local hospitals, doctors, dentists or vets.

Their finances are healthy as they tend to raise as much money as they spend, so no profit but no loss either.

Thanks were expressed for the work Brian Buckler had done for the last 11 years as chairman.  He has resigned and has been replaced by Alan Duck.

Save Baydon Lion

The Save Baydon Lion team was set up to save the Red Lion pub in February 2017. There are 8 team members and 75 registered interested parties within the community.

The pub has been registered as an Asset of Community Value, and the team are hoping to save this asset which is important to retain in the village. Wiltshire Council has acknowledged the Save Baydon Lion team may proceed as a potential bidder so they are finalising the business plan and aim to make an offer for the asset within the next 2-3 months.

To start the process of submitting a successful bid to purchase the pub they need to raise sufficient capital and those who are interested should go to www.savebaydonlion.uk

BYPA

The toddler group folded this year but there have been enquiries so it may start again. The table tennis has started, and there have been a number of garden days with the next one on May 21.  

The BYPA needs to be rebranded, perhaps as a village community hall, as it is not being used enough. Although it is primarily aimed at the youth of the village this is not proving sustainable for the hall itself. There are not enough regular bookings.

A structural engineer has also been on-site providing advice regarding structural improvements which would take place in the long-term. 

4)         Any other matters

The Church Warden wanted to extend thanks to Donnie, and the Parish Council for their help and support, to Mark Austen for working on the website.

The Meeting was closed at 20.55.

Signed                                                 Chair          Date 

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