Annual Parish Meeting – Chairperson’s Annual Report, thanking volunteers

Thank you to everyone who made it to the Annual Parish meeting, on Thursday 20th March.

Our Chairperson, Cllr Sarah Aitken, took time to thank everyone who has volunteered their time to the Parish, in the last year.

We greatly appreciate the support of the local community. Here is the Chairperson’s full report…

‘A Parish Council is only as good as the people who volunteer to be Parish Councillors. I would like to welcome our newest recruit, Cllr John Marshall and to thank Cllr Mark Robinson and Cllr Emma Crowe for all their time and commitment over the last year. Having lived in the area for over 25 years, John says he is ‘delighted to have the opportunity to work with, and for, our very special community’. Together we make a good team, each bringing different perspectives and skills. We still have one vacancy if you feel inspired to join us. We aim to keep it enjoyable and to be realistic about the limited amount of time people have for the role.

We continue to be very fortunate in having Claire Vaughan as our Clerk, who is pivotal to everything we do. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for all that she does. We achieve so much more because of her efficiency, professionalism and enthusiasm.

We meet in public and are very pleased to have had residents present at all our meetings over the last year, some coming frequently, which we hope will continue. I like to think our meetings are more interesting and enjoyable than you might expect! A short part of the agenda of every Parish Council meeting is open to residents to provide their views on an agenda item or to bring an issue to our attention. This evening, an important part of our Annual Parish Meeting is to provide residents with an opportunity to speak about any parish matters if they wish to.

On the 9th November last year, we launched the new Sellack War Memorial Plaque Trail, achieving the Parish Council’s long held ambition to place a plaque for each man on the Sellack War Memorial on footpath gates around the parish. After an Act of Remembrance at Sellack Village Hall, two groups enjoyed led walks of separate sections of the new trail. Thank you to everyone who joined us on the day and to everyone who sponsored a plaque.

Thank you to the two volunteers who worked to repair and care for our War Memorial last year. Its location on a busy crossroads makes it impossible to hold an annual Remembrance Sunday around the War Memorial, but we continue in our ambition to hold an annual act of Remembrance to honour the sacrifice of Sellack’s fallen. Thank you to the many residents who have attended in recent years.

Backney Bridge Picnic Site is the largest asset that Sellack Parish Council owns, and I would like to thank all the volunteers who have helped to maintain it over the last year. Together we keep an eye on the site, which generally is well respected by those who use it. Our spring working group is this coming Saturday morning and everyone is welcome to join us to help in any way they can. We will be litter picking, painting railings and continuing the battle with the brambles and tree saplings, which each year we succeed in controlling and pushing back a bit further. Over the next year we will be applying for grant funding to add interpretation boards about the wildlife and history of the site and will be exploring how we can make the top viewing platform accessible in a wheelchair.

This year we extended the Picnic Site working group’s Terms of Reference to include acting as the Flood Action Group for Sellack Parish. Thank you to the resident who has been actively linking into Herefordshire Council’s flood planning. We are concerned that any upstream flood prevention does not result in higher flood levels on the stretch of the River Wye that flows though Sellack.

Sellack Parish Council opts into the Herefordshire Council Lengthsman scheme which provides us with a small amount of funding to maintain the road drainage network around the parish. Wet as the roads have been this winter, they would have been much worse without the expertise and hard work of our Lengthsman, Terry Griffiths and his team. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for turning out in all weathers to do their best to keep the drains flowing. Last year, Herefordshire Council invited Parish Councils to apply for funding to undertake more significant work on the drainage system, but we are yet to hear if our application has been successful.
We have been more successful with our application to Herefordshire Council for grant funding to buy new footpath gates to replace stiles and make our footpaths more accessible.

Sellack Parish Council owns and maintains the defibrillator and bleed kit inside the box on the outside Sellack Village Hall. Both are registered with the ambulance service whose advice is phoning 999 is the best way to access them, because they will give guidance on resuscitation, dispatch expert help and provide directions to the nearest, functioning defibrillator. With that in mind, we have liaised with Bridstow Parish Council about the continued placement of defibrillators along our common boundary.

Sellack Parish Council owns the three coronation commemorative benches located around the parish. Thank you to the volunteer who recently painted the Queen Elizabeth II (QE II) coronation bench located at Sellack Marsh near the Millenium and Jubilee trees. The other QE II bench has been removed from the Caradoc bus stop to be restored, as has the George VI bench from Picts Cross. We are seeking quotes to restore them and they will be replaced once restored.

As the most local unit of local government, we are the point of contact for a range of public bodies who send us a wide range of information. In an urgent situation, our ambition is to be able to disseminate information quickly to all households in Sellack. An example would be a problem with the drinking water supply and the need to distribute bottled water. The red alert for strong wind that some people in our community received last autumn, prompted us to question whether we could be doing more to build our community’s emergency resilience and we are open to any suggestions.

If you are not already signed up for receiving our electronic communications, please consider signing up. We will continue to hand deliver our printed newsletter twice a year as well’.