Whatfield, Suffolk Village of the year 2014

The cheque from Babergh

Whatfield recently won the Suffolk Village of the Year competition.  Yesterday evening I went along to Whatfield Village Hall for the awards ceremony and celebration in the village hall.

Well over 100 people crowded in to see representatives from Babergh District Council, The Suffolk Association of Local Councils, BBC Radio Suffolk and the East Anglian Daily Times commend the village for beating off strong competition from elsewhere to carry off the top prize. To qualify for the Suffolk finals Whatfield had also won the Babergh Village of the year award.  The picture above shows the cheque for £500 which was the prize for this competition, which was presented by Babergh Chairman, James Long.

The proposed affordable housing, the strength of the Amateur Dramatics and other village organisations, and the care taken over keeping the footpaths both functional and sustainable were all cited as reasons for why Whatfield had won the award. The strong links between the school and the village were also cited.  The community was praised for the fact that enthusiasm had not just been communicated by a few of the ‘usual people’, but that everyone the judging panel met had been keen to come out to express the fact that they believe that their village is a good place to live. The panel felt that Whatfield both has a keen sense of its own history, and also enthusiasm for where it is going in the future.

An excellent spread was laid out in the village hall, which is itself a cause for celebration since this year marks the 40^th year of its existence. Whatfield Parish Council has always made me most welcome since I became its elected representative, and we have had some constructive discussion at Parish Council meetings.   It was good to see so many friendly faces at the event and also to meet some new residents.

Songs of Love and Life in Acton.

There is a real treat in store for music lovers at 7 p.m. on 1st November at All Saints Church, Acton.

Songs of Love and Life from the talented local group Opera and More will feature a wide range of songs, from grand opera through songs from the shows to Flanders and Swann and music hall.

According to the flyer:

There will be familiar songs, and songs that are new to you, songs of deep emotion and songs to make you laugh, all delivered with the professional flair for which the group have become well known.  In the interval there will be a glass of wine, or soft drink and light refreshments.

Tickets are £12, and can be purchased at the St Nicholas Hospice Care Shop in Sudbury, from the church by telephoning 01787 379275 and via the website here.

All profits will be shared equally between St Nicholas Hospice Care and All Saints Church.

Learn to love your computer!

It doesn't have to be like this!

The Cockfield Computer Circle will be starting once again on 20^th October.  Classes run until March 2015.

Sessions cover computer skills for beginners, and for those wanting to improve their knowledge.  There are also courses for those wanting to use i-phones and i-pads.

The classes are held on Mondays, both in the afternoon and in the evenings at Cockfield Hall.  There are computers on site, and participants are also encouraged to bring their own kit.

The organiser writes:

The Cockfield Computer Circle (CCC) aims to help participants increase their computer knowledge and gain confidence in carrying out common tasks.  This is achieved through a combination of teaching and sharing of experience among participants in a relaxed environment. Some topics are aimed at beginners seeking to learn new skills and gain more confidence in using a computer; other topics are aimed at the more experienced user seeking to push their knowledge a little further.

For more information please contact neilka@btopenworld.com . Telephone 01284 827238 or 07900 880 888.

Details of the courses available can be found on www.cockfieldcomputercircle.org.uk

Post Conference blues

The Party Conference season is gradually drawing to a close.  I have found it depressing how little attention has been paid by the Parties to the issue of Local Government Finance.  I suppose it was too much to ask that this pressing issue might be addressed before the General Election in May next year.  I just hope that it is taken up with necessary urgency thereafter.

Meanwhile, while the grandees fiddle in Birmingham, Glasgow etc.  life for anyone getting on with trying to balance the budget at the County Council becomes increasingly challenging by the day.

Coming to the Cabinet next week is a paper from the Adult Care area outlining two areas of service that are mandatory, but for which there is no visible funding stream at present.   Bridging the gap out of our own resources is somewhat challenging, given that we have to find £120million of savings over the next three years.

The first issue perhaps might not have been foreseen by Government since it relates to the outcome of a Supreme Court decision about assessments for those in care.  Due to the ruling the need for these time consuming and expensive procedures will increase exponentially.  I will not burden you with the detail (the cabinet paper is on the website for anoraks among you).  Suffice it to say that apparently this is going to add an additional £500,000 to our budgets on an annual basis.  Legislative change to remedy the matter cannot, I understand be expected, for three years at least.

The second is the issue of how the Care Act is to be funded.   This legislation was passed earlier this year, and imposes a number of new responsibilities on Local Authorities, including the need to work with those who fund their own care for the first time. As things stand at present there is a significant shortfall between what is being offered by Government and what we, and other councils, estimate that we will need to fulfil our obligations.

None of this fills me with much confidence about Central Government’s understanding of the pressure that they are currently placing on Local Authorities.   This view was compounded when I read the following recently:-

‘The Local Government Association has warned that almost three in every four local councils will abandon or scale back welfare schemes designed to provide emergency help for England's most vulnerable citizens from next April because of cuts. One in six local authorities said they would be unable to afford to run a crisis safety-net scheme at all if the government goes ahead with plans to cancel its £175m-a-year local welfare grant from next year. Claire Kober, a Haringey councillor and chair of the resources board of the LGA, said: “If government pulls the plug on funding from April, many local authorities will be unable to afford to make up the difference. For some local authorities, where budgets are already on the brink, they will have no choice but to close their local welfare assistance schemes down altogether.”

The DWP said the government expected local authorities to "act responsibly" and to continue to provide local welfare services.’

Yeah….right DWP, but is it acting responsibly to ask local government to increasingly run its services on thin air?

Lorries in Lavenham

High Street, Lavenham

The presence of heavy goods vehicles in our historic villages and towns seem to be an unsolveable problem.

I was recently contacted by a Lavenham resident who had taken photographs of a huge juggernaut making its way along the High Street.  I forwarded this to Trading Standards, in the belief that it was probably not making deliveries locally and was therefore not authorised to be there.     Unfortunately because it was a foreign owned vehicle there was nothing that could be done.   

A few days later the same resident was successful in contacting the owners of three other large trucks that were in much the same position. On this occasion the vehicles were from one company, and the resident in question was able to elicit an apology from the proprietor of the firm concerned.  This is probably a good result because it is the experience of Trading Standards that repeat offences of this type are rare.

The issue of lorries in Lavenham, and indeed Bildeson and other village and town centres, is a great concern to many.  It is not just the risk to pedestrians and threat to parked cars, but also to the fabric of ancient buildings.  However, it is a difficult issue to resolve on account of the lack of infrastructure in Suffolk and the need for goods to flow freely and life in general to go on.  There are no easy answers really.  Were funding to be available, which it is not, would residents really want much improved trunk roads in South Suffolk, bearing in mind  the additional development and environmental damage that these would bring to the County?  I have my doubts.

I am however thinking of contacting Vicky Ford, our East of England MEP, who is regularly seen in Suffolk, to see if anything can be done to identify and sanction these non UK based juggernauts who often blame their sat navs for being in the wrong place.   The EU loves bureaucracy;  perhaps a pan European register might be possible?

Suffolk primary schools, signs of improvement

Following on from the GCSE and A level results (looking better) and the SAT's results for children aged 11 (not so good), we now have some promising signs from younger children at Primary Schools in Suffolk.

According to figures released by the Department of Education at the end of September, children of 5yrs to 7 yrs have shown some clear improvement in attainment levels over 2013.   Reading, writing and phonics all saw good increases, and maths was also a little improved.

It is to be hoped that these improvements can continue, and that they will start to feed up the age ranges and time goes by.   Meanwhile, in the Cosford Division, Elmsett School recently received a positive OFSTED report, moving up to Good from Requires Improvement.

National Poetry Day, today!

Yes, I remember Adlestrop --
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop -- only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire

Edward Thomas

11^th May 2014

Read a poem, or better still share one!   You know it makes sense!