Walkern Parish Council Report – October 2024
The Parish Council met on Thursday October 3rd at Walkern Sports and Community Centre. This report covers some of the issues we have been dealing with over the last few months. The full minutes of the meeting will be available on the Parish Council website and on the Parish Council Notice Board by Budgens.
Appointment of the Parish Clerk
Although Abigail Brown began her work for the Council on September 13th this was the first official meeting where all Councillors were present and able to meet her in person. She kindly agreed to write a little introduction for herself to be included in this month’s journal.
Abi writes,
“I was thrilled to recently be appointed as Parish Clerk for Walkern. I live locally with my husband and two children and can regularly be found walking my dog on the many country walks we have right on our doorstep.
I look forward to supporting the beautiful village of Walkern and its Parish Council and getting to know residents and local business owners.
All my contact details can be found on the website so please feel free to contact me if there is anything I can help with.”
Parish Domain Helper Service
I reported last month that the National Association of Local Councils are strongly advising Parish Councils to change to a “.gov.uk” email domain rather than continuing with “.org” which it is at present. This would give added security to Council’s business. We decided to follow this advice. The new contact details for Councillors can be found in this month’s journal and on the website, though emails using the .org address will be forwarded to us.
Councillor Vacancy
Following the resignation of John Wilson there is a vacancy for a Parish Councillor. We are a friendly group of people from all walks of life who care about the village. The work of the Parish Council is wide and varied. Yes, we do look after the waste bins, dog bins and street lights but there’s a lot more to it than that!
In the past five years we have obtained grants for the Fitness Trail, the Playground at the Walkern Sports and Community Centre as well as the provision of young trees that have been planted there. We also give grants and recently the Elderberries, the Cricket Club and other village groups received help towards running costs.
The Council owns many of the village assets, such as the sports field, the Pavilion, the allotments and the High Street Playground. These assets are run directly by the Council or by committees who work with the Council.
We are also approached with the problems of individual householders and can help by raising their concerns at a district and county level.
There is an opportunity for the public to attend our meetings and see the work of the Council and all are welcome, so if you feel you would like to contribute to the life of the village then come along and meet us.
Defibrillator Course
There are two defibrillators in the village, sited at the entrance to the High Street Playground next to Budgens, and at the Pavilion at the Walkern Sports and Community Centre. The Council have arranged a free training course to run from 10am.on Sunday November 24th at the United Reformed Church. Numbers are limited as there will be a chance to practise using the machine on life size dummies. More information is given in the journal so if you would like to attend
please enquire as soon as possible as it’s on a “first come first served” basis.
To book a place please contact the Clerk:
07584 679526 or
The next Parish Council meeting will be held on Thursday 7th November 2024 at the Walkern Sports and Community Centre commencing at 7.00 pm.
Christine Nudds, Parish Councillor