Happy New Year everyone. I'm writing this just before Christmas, which has already been a real boost for me. I'm in a position where I can voluntarily give my time to a number of community organisations even more rewarding than the parish council. This year the food bank where I volunteer organised Christmas boxes as a little extra, given by members of the community to those who needed to use the food bank through the year. Delivering those surprise boxes of Christmas goodies was the most rewarding thing I've done this year. People's reactions varied from the stunned to the very emotional. Everyone was grateful for the unexpected gifts that could make their Christmas special, and I was grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. There are lots of different volunteering opportunities locally depending on ability. I might choose to help with scrub clearance on nature reserves or DIY at The Growing Project Pensilva; others help in reception at Millennium House. Anyway I highly recommend volunteering as something to start doing, maybe as a New Year's resolution.
The parish council is about to set the precept portion of our council tax. We have two options: Delegating the management of Millennium House to the Pensilva Community Association charity (PCA), or carrying on as usual. If we carry on as before the precept will have to go up dramatically, from £62,000 probably to about £87,000. If PCA take over, the precept could actually reduce slightly. This is because parish reserves would not need to be as large for a smaller parish turnover, and as a charity PCA can save money.
Don’t forget the parish
website st-ive-parishcouncil.gov.uk with council meeting agendas and
minutes; also downloadable copies of the Parish Pump. For those of you
who do Facebook, our St Ive Parish Council page is still being updated
with parish news. Phone me, email me on martin.corney@btinternet.com or
"martin corney blog st ive" in search engines will find my blogs for you
to comment on this article and other gems.
