The December meeting was delayed due to the snowy weather closing our meeting venue. The latest parish council meeting was held on 9th January. Here are the highlights:
Community Events and Projects:
- The Christmas Fayre went very well and the Parish Council enjoyed arranging the Santa’s Grotto. We look forward to being involved in more events with the school.
- Easter Community Fun Day planned for 1st April.
- Coronation celebration event planned for Sunday 7th May.
- The Parish Council is promoting the Bee-Squared initiative – see our blog for more details.
- We’re also looking at how the parish council can improve active travel, particularly connecting walking and cycling routes out of the parish.
Street Naming – the parish council was invited to put forward suggestions for naming the streets in the remaining parts of Phase 4. Research was carried out on the history of Colethrop Farm and we proposed Godsell and Chamberlayne, previous residents of Colethrop Farm, along with Humphrey Cook, previous Chair of Haresfield Parish Council, to be used as street names:
- Chamberlayne: Henry and Elizabeth Chamberlayne had taken over farming at Colethrop Farm by 1911, living there with five of their at least nine children. Their son Sydney appears to have taken over the farm and run it until at least 1963. He was successful in competitions run by the Gloucestershire Root, Fruit and Grain Society including second place in the County Cup for Best general crop of not less than 8 acres in 1954 and winning the William Friday Challenge Cup for best exhibit in the kale classes of the society’s 1963 competitions as well as first prize in the best one acre of marrow stem kale.
- Godsell: Two Godsell siblings married children of Henry and Elizabeth Chamberlayne: Catherine J Godsell married Herbert in 1916 and her older brother Thomas married Bessie in 1918. Thomas and Bessie were farming at Eastington and then Coaley before Bessie died in 1927. They were the parents of Geoffrey (born 1920) and Alec Godsell (1922). Alec took on Colethrop Farm and was there in 1974 when his brother Geoffrey, then Foreign Affairs Editor at the Christian Science Monitor newspaper in the US and previously a BBC correspondence, recalled happy times spent at the farm. Geoffrey had been registered at the farm in 1946.
Youth provision:
We are continuing to look at the provision already on offer for the young people of Hunts Grove and what we can do to support / add to the provision available. We’ve applied to the Office of Police & Crime Commissioner for grant funding towards Easter Community Day youth activities, and / or scoping costs.
Budget 2023/24
The parish council agreed a precept levy for 2023/24 of £52,250. This is slightly less than in 2022/23 because the tax base (the way the precept is calculated by Stroud District Council) has decreased – we have therefore reduced our budget to match so that residents won’t see a percentage increase on the parish council portion of the council tax bill.
Council meetings are held on the 2nd Monday evening of each month at the Hunts Grove Primary Academy, please check website for agenda and meeting papers.