A parish newsletter brought to you by Gittisham Parish Council and St Michael’s Church
| Gittisham Parish Council JANUARY 2025 REPORT |
| Four councillors met for the January meeting. One member of the public was also present. DCC Highways. In his report Phil Twiss (DCC) said that Devon has been allocated £83.6m from the government funding for repairs fund, more than any other council in the UK. This is broken down as £61.7m in 2025/26 and £22.5m in 2026/27. He said this will have a significant impact on the quality of the highways network, but is subject to certain criteria being met including highways, bridges, cycle ways etc and is not just for fixing potholes. In the coming weeks and months, plans will be drawn up as to how this funding can be put to best use. Councillors also discussed the regular flooding at Iron Bridge on the old A30. The Chair said she would contact Phil Twiss to see if anything can be done, as cars often get stuck there following periods of heavy rain. EDDC Local Plan. David Valentine explained that East Devon District Council’s Strategic Planning Committee had approved a policy which sees land west of Hayne Lane allocated for a mixed-use development to provide 310 homes and 14.6 ha to accommodate employment. According to EDDC’s policy document, “this allocation will need to come forward on the basis of an agreed masterplan for the whole site that clearly demonstrates how comprehensive development will be undertaken and implemented. Southern parts of the site are in the East Devon National Landscape and this area will require very careful design to take account of its landscape setting. On the western edges the site is close to the historic village of Gittisham and particular sensitivity will need to be attached to preventing adverse heritage impacts. These southerly and westerly parts will be best suited for open space uses.” This is part of East Devon’s Local Plan, which will have to go to a public enquiry. Finance. Members agreed the budget for 2025/26 and the parish precept was increased to £10,927.25; as the population of the parish has increased, this should not represent a rise at the individual level. Crimes. Hedge Field Close – 2 x violence and sexual offences Hamlett Close – 1 x violence and sexual offences Nether Close – 1 x violence and sexual offences Parsonage Lane – 2 x violence and sexual offences Donations. Members agreed to donate money to Force, Diabetes UK, TRIP, Citizens Advice and Hospiscare. Road closures. 16 January: Lane to Catshayes Farm closed for installation of South West Water sewer level equipment. 03-08 April: road closed through Alfington again for SW Water. Peter Orchard said he would ask Phil Twiss to enquire as to why it’s felt necessary to close the road during term time, with corresponding disruption to school transport. Casual vacancies – new councillors wanted. The Chair said Janet Twist had resigned from the parish council. Councillors joined the Chair in thanking Janet for her dedication to the council and service to the local community. There are now two vacancies on the parish council, one to represent Gittisham Vale and the other to represent Gittisham Village. If you are interested in taking up one of these roles, please contact for more details. The posts will be advertised in due course. Next meeting. Thursday 6th February at 7.30pm in the parish room. |
Alex
Gittisham Village Hall Committee January 2025
| Date | Tuesday 7th January 2024 | |
| Present | Nick, Damian, Claire, Alex, Steve, Maggie, Bill, StellaObserving: Toni | |
| Apologies | Pierre | |
| Next meet | Next meeting: Tuesday 21st January – 6pm, Village Hall – specifically on governance Next full meeting: Tuesday 4th February – 7.30pm, Village Hall | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | Stephen to advertise the hall as a flexible workspace on booking portals. Damian and Carol to agree a process to reconcile booking income to list of bookings. Damian continues to chase the installation of a smart meter. Maggie to cut four new keys using Maggie’s key as a template. Stella to send round next iteration of the governance document before 21st January. New actions:All to send Chair leaving present ideas to Nick. Damien to remove Hamish from current account once trustee situation resolved. Damian to undertake a further analysis of projected total income vs projected total expenditure to guide decision-making at the upcoming January 21st meeting.Damian to renew insurance contract with existing provider for three-year term, also considering hazardous activity. Alex to alert the Combe Estate to the imminent installation of solar panels, advertise EDDC CO grant success and meet terms of grant application. Hamish to submit planning application for new windows and doors (pending DCC approval). All to review emerging lottery grant application and comment on google doc. Stella to progress £3231 of kitchen works with further investment discussed on 21st. Stella and Alex to co-ordinate payment and timing of fuse box upgrade works. Stephen to write a card to Ed Fuller to say thank you for talk. Claire to lead stepped up marketing initiatives. Nick to buy haggis. Maggie to coordinate with Sue and committee on Burns Night catering. Damian to advertise Joanna Southcott talk and make poster. Alex to change wi-fi network and passwords. | |
| Committee members and governance | Committee members to send ideas for Hamish leaving gifts to Nick. Stella continues to iterate the initial governance document / constitution, adding in details on the charity’s affiliations and drawing on examples from other VH governance documents. The meeting agreed that a dedicated meeting was needed to consider further: this will take place on Tuesday 21st January at 6pm at the Village Hall, with draft document circulated in advance by Stella. As acting Chair Nick suggested that once the governance arrangements were clarified a Special General Meeting was needed in order to re-establish key committee roles. A date for this could be set at the 21st. However, the committee noted that Nick’s continued presence as Chair may be beneficial for the coming months whilst a number of complicated issues remain in play. | All Stella |
| Finance | Damian presented the latest financial reports – see summary in Annex. Thanks to substantial fundraising efforts and generous grant donations, year-to-date income (£13.7k) is significantly outstripping outgoings (£5.2k). Further significant income opportunities before the end of the financial year are Burns Night and the Easter Bingo. Significant outgoings remain to be paid in this financial year in relation to a) the Carbon Offset EDDC grant (£2565), b) the new cooker and associated kitchen improvements (£3231-£7014), and c) insurance renewal. As previously agreed by the committee, in-year outgoings must not exceed in-year income, as this would entail a third successive year of loss-making which would be detrimental to the charity and its chances of success in future grant applications. The committee agreed that spend may need to be sequenced carefully in the coming weeks to prevent this from occurring. Damian will undertake a further analysis of projected total income vs projected total expenditure to guide decision-making at the upcoming January 21st meeting. The committee approved the Treasurer’s recommendation to renew the insurance contract with the existing provider over a three-year term. Damian to look into the provision of bouncy castles and other potentially hazardous equipment in the terms of the contract. | Damian Damian |
| Grants | The committee congratulated Alex on the great success of securing over £13k of funding from the EDDC Carbon Offset Fund for the installation of LED lighting, solar panels and battery storage. This is a significant investment in the Village Hall which will reap financial and sustainability benefits for decades to come. Well done Alex! In due course the battery storage may enable the VH to sell electricity back to the grid – we shall see what’s what once the installation is complete. Alex is liaising with all parties on the installation and is confident that this will all be completed in advance of the end of the financial year. The batteries will be stored in the boiler room, and the solar panels will not be installed on the section of the rear roofing that has caused problems in recent months. Alex took the actions to inform the Combe Estate of the upcoming installation, calculate how the installation has improved our sustainability (to satisfy the terms of the grant agreement) and to make sure that the improvements are publicised in the Gazette and beyond. We have still not heard back from the DCC grant – we should hear imminently. This grant requires payments to be made in advance of works being completed. Should we be successful we will need to consider quickly our options and how manageable this is within our financial envelope, as well as the feasibility (and necessity) of applying for and receiving planning permission. Perhaps another thing to return to at the 21st January meeting. Alex has circulated the lottery grant document to the committee over email. All to review and suggest amendments. No imminent deadline on this application (?) and we can return to this at subsequent meetings. | Alex All |
| Maintenance | Stella presented an update on the cooker and a series of quotations for installation and associated works, as well as recommended options to pursue. The committee thanked Stella for her excellent work. Further to discussion the committee agreed that Stella should in the first instance progress the £3,231 of works to install the cooker and three shelves, with further installation to be discussed on the 21st in the light of Damian’s updated cashflow analysis. There is the potential for the fuse box upgrade works to be covered by Alex’s solar panel grant. But the sequencing of this is complicated. We do not want it to delay cooker installation. Alex and Stella to liaise on the timings and costings and report back. The rear roof has not leaked since Hamish and Alex sorted it out. The committee expressed its thank to both for their work sorting out this significant problem! | Stella Stella and Alex |
| Bookings | The Ed Fuller talk on 3rd January was well-attended and a great success. Stephen to write a card of thanks from the committee. Bookings for December are set out in the annex. It was noted that a better system is needed to reconcile bookings with payments, perhaps through use of invoice numbers – Damian and Carol will meet to review. | Stephen |
| Future events | We discussed the marketing of future events. We could be more rigorous and systematic about this, using more space in the gazette to talk about Village Hall events and ensuring that Baker Estates WhatsApp groups are also informed. Claire kindly agreed to lead the marketing of future events along these lines – thank you Claire. Future events schedule agreed as follows: Saturday 18th January, Burns Night, Mary Marker is booked, tickets are selling well. Sue is doing the food – thank you Sue. Nick will buy haggis. Maggie to co-ordinate with Sue over what food needs purchasing (potatoes from Vinnicombes) and how committee members can help. Steve to take the money on the door. Setup from 5.30pm. Raffle so please bring prizes. Saturday 25th January, next monthly cake sale – Gary is leading. Friday 7th February, Damian’s Joanna Southcott talk. £4 on the door, Damian to do poster and advertise. Saturday 22nd February, cake sale, no nominated lead. Friday 7th March, next evening talk, Maggie and Paul to lead a discussion on village history. Saturday 29th March, cake sale, no nominated lead.Saturday 29th March, Easter Bingo, Stella and Claire leading. Friday-Saturday April 25th–26th, Gittisham cabaret.Sunday 15th June, Father’s Day BBQ. Potential future events:Hardy talk / gardening talk / astronomy talkSpanish event | Claire Nick Maggie Damian |
| AOB | Alex to change the wi-fi network name and the wi-fi passwords so that there is a private committee network – thanks Alex. | Alex |
Booking for January
Accounts for November
MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| New large range cooker |
| New kitchen refurb: sink, worktop…or full kitchen |
| Replace two front windows |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Re-fit audio visual capabilities |
| Rewiring of cabling, particularly in the loft |
| Extractor fans in kitchen |
| (Rising) damp in southern elevation |
| Internal repaint including / especially ceiling |
| Loft insulation |
| Replace all windows, not just front windows |
| Bin Store |
Gittisham Parish Hall Accounts – 1st April 2024 to 31 March 2025
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | ||||||
| 2023/24 | 76.4% of 2023-24 | 1.04.24 – 03.12.25 | 2023/24 | 76.4% of 2023-24 | 1.04.24-03.12.25 | ||
| Balance b/fwd | £3,627.91 | Insurance | £690.38 | £527.45 | £0.00 | ||
| Non-domestic rates | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | ||||
| Hire of Hall | £5,588.85 | £4,269.88 | £3,971.97 | Cleaning/grass cutting | £1,019.62 | £778.99 | £1,492.59 |
| Social Events | £1,371.36 | £1,047.72 | £3,368.38 | Maintenance/Equipment | £5,840.55 | £4,462.18 | £684.24 |
| Interest | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | Water/Gas/Electric | £3,031.87 | £2,316.35 | £1,753.08 |
| Miscellaneous | £2,005.91 | £1,532.52 | £6,381.90 | Miscellaneous(inc. bank charges) | £1,014.59 | £775.15 | £1,297.52 |
| £8,966.12 | £6,850.12 | £13,722.25 | £11,597.01 | £8,860.12 | £5,227.43 | ||
| Balance | £12,122.73 | ||||||
| Total | £17,350.16 | £17,350.16 |
Village Hall Committee December 2024
| Date | 3rd December 2024 | |
| Present | Hamish, Damian, Claire, Alex, Steve, Maggie, Bill, Stella | |
| Apologies | Nick, Pierre | |
| Next meet | Next meeting: Tuesday 7th January | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | Stephen to look at advertising the hall as a flexible workspace (June meeting). Damian and Carol to agree a process to reconcile booking income to list of bookings (September meeting). Damian to cut three new keys using Maggie’s key as a template. Hamish to write to Terry (and Cordelia who resigned her position at the October meeting) to express the committee’s thanks. Hamish various banking transfer tasks to Damian. Damian continues to chase the installation of a smart meter Someone to make an attractive ‘Hall in use’ sign. New actions: Nick to organise Hamish’s leaving do. Stella to send round next iteration of the governance document. Alex to take forwards our response to the successful EDDC grant. Hamish to submit planning application for new windows and doors. Hamish to write to community kitchen benefactor to convey thanks. Alex to circulate a google doc with emerging lottery grant, for everyone to review / contribute. Stella to purchase chosen cooker model. Stella to circulate quotations from various electricians and other workmen for the kitchen works so that we can chew over and make an informed recommendation before January meeting. Alex to convey our thanks to the flower and produce show committee for the excellent tables. Alex to seal the deal with the black mugs. | |
| Committee members and governance | This was Hamish’s last meeting as Chair of the Village Hall. The Committee’s thanks to Hamish are captured in previous minutes, and a note recognising his long service and significant contribution was posted in the December Gittisham Gazette. Nick has the action to organise Hamish’s leaving do in the new year. As Nick is Vice Chair it was agreed that he would take over chairing of the Committee until the next AGM (scheduled for the summer) or earlier if Nick chooses to schedule a SGM at which committee roles could be voted in. A meeting was held late in November to review the hall’s constitution, which is still in draft. Only half of the committee could attend. Stella has taken the action to iterate the document and submit to the January meeting. | Nick Stella |
| Finance | Monthly accounts are still pending. They will added to these minutes when they are ready. The Christmas Bingo was a huge success, in terms of enjoyment and profit, and the committee expressed its thanks to Claire and Stella in particular for all of their work organising the event. | |
| Grants | The committee discussed the EDDC grant application submitted by Alex: solar panels with batteries and new lighting; £15k bid; our payment is 10% + VAT. Since the meeting we have found out the terrific news that we have been successful with our application. This achieves a long-standing aim of the Village Hall to install solar panels and puts us on the path to significantly reducing our long-term running costs. Spend will need to be incurred by end of March 2025 – Alex to coordinate our next steps. A parallel DCC carbon offset grant application has also been submitted: full reimbursement for insulation of roof spaces, new windows and doors. The grant application requires planning permission to have been granted for any works (and we will need permission to replace our windows and doors with PVC due to conservation area). The planning application will cost £700. After a lengthy discussion the committee agreed to submit this planning application at risk, noting that even if the application was not successful the approvals would last for three years and we would want the work done in this time. It was noted that given the healthy trajectory of the annual finances we could absorb the application cost in our outgoings. Hamish will submit the application – thank you Hamish. Given that the grant requires us to pay for the costs up front, and given the advanced position within the financial year, there remain challenges about our ability to spend any successful grant award before 31st March. However, we are under no obligation to accept a grant should we be successful. We will return to this bridge should it need to be crossed. Nick confirmed that he has spoken with the anonymous benefactor who has confirmed that they will donate funds to the village hall to help pay for the hall’s running costs of the community kitchen. This is fantastic news. Hamish will write to the benefactor to convey the VHC’s thanks. The Growing Communities Fund deadline is coming up again – we will need to submit an application in January. The lottery grant deadline is also coming up. Alex will circulate the lottery grant document as a google doc to allow the whole committee to edit. As always a huge thank you to Alex in particular for all of the time he spends researching and supporting grant applications for the hall. Great to see this hard work rewarded with a substantial, successful application! | Alex Hamish Hamish Alex |
| Maintenance | Stella presented an update on the cooker. She has not purchased the chosen cooker model yet as she wanted to get a clear sense of the costs of the other necessary works, primarily electrical work to support the cooker installation but also quotes for new surfaces, plastering, etc. There are questions about aquaboards. It is complicated, there are a lot of quotations and Stella is still building a picture. Stella took the action to summarise the costings and different options and circulate before the next meeting so that we can make an informed decision at that point. We cannot delay beyond the January meeting if we want the cooker to be installed in a timely fashion to meet the £1k grant award we have received. No other maintenance issues were raised; the long-term maintenance schedule remains unchanged in the annex. | Stella |
| Bookings | Bookings for December are set out in the annex. | |
| Future events | Future events schedule agreed as follows – some great events coming up!: Saturday 14th December, Christmas Quiz, £7 on the door. There will be a raffle so please bring donations. Bill and Sue are cooking, committee setup from 5pm. Friday 3rd January, Ed Fuller talk about his Paralympic Gold Medal. (Can someone make a poster about this?) Saturday 18th January, Burns Night, Mary Marker is booked, price still up for debate. Saturday 25th January, next monthly cake sale – I’m afraid I didn’t note down who is in charge of this. Friday 31st January to 1st Feb, Gittisham cabaret, with compressed rehearsals in the days leading up. Friday 7th February, Damian’s Joanna Southcott talk. Saturday 8th March, Mad as a March Hare, Spanish Evening. Title may change. Saturday 29th March, Easter Bingo. Sunday 15th June, Father’s Day.Potential future events:Hardy talk / Gittisham history talk / gardening talk / astronomy talk | |
| AOB | The committee agreed to purchase 20 plain black mugs. Alex to sort with Damian. The committee expressed its thanks to the Flower and Produce Show committee for the excellent tables – Alex will convey our thanks to the committee. | Alex Alex |
Booking for December
Accounts for November
MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| New large range cooker |
| Rear foyer leaking roof |
| New kitchen refurb: sink, worktop…or full kitchen |
| Replace two front windows |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Re-fit audio visual capabilities |
| Rewiring of cabling, particularly in the loft |
| Extractor fans in kitchen |
| (Rising) damp in southern elevation |
| Internal repaint including / especially ceiling |
| Loft insulation |
| Replace all windows, not just front windows |
| Bin Store |
Gittisham Gazette December 2024
What’s On?
at the village hall in
December & January
Quiz Night with Hamish
Sat 14th December
Gingerbread House making
Sun 15th & Mon 16th
3-6pm
with Emese HomeMeadBakes
An evening with Ed Fuller
Gold medal Paralympian
Rower
Friday 3rd January
Burn’s Night
18th January
Community Kitchen
Every Thurs, village hall
6.30pm.
It is with great sadness that
we have heard of the death
of Mike Newcombe from
Combe Farm. Our thoughts
are with all at Combe Farm,
especially Michael, Sasha
and Alysia.
Pierre’s Café. We would like to thank all of you who have supported Pierre’s Café over the past year. To see your smiling faces and the enjoyment you get from sharing good food with friends makes us happy. We wish you a merry
Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the new year. Please come along and bring your friends, the second Sumday of every month for home made food with a French twist. With love Pierre, Fiona, Rose, Solenn and Patch
Thank you
Gittisham Village Hall Committee
would like to thank the parish and
other Gittisham friends for
supporting the hall and the events
we have worked hard to deliver over
the past 12 months.
We are a charity and we rely on your
support to keep this valuable
Gittisham asset going.
We have enjoyed some wonderful community events over the last 12 months,
including the recent highly popular Coffee&Cake4ACooker afternoons and the
Christmas bingo. Through the support of the community we are now in a
position to purchase the much needed cooker and are now looking at ways to
refurbish the kitchen and attend to other pressing maintenance issues. We have
an exciting programme of events on the drawing board for next year and we
always welcome ideas from others.
We look forward to seeing you at the Christmas quiz, where Quizmaster Hamish
will be testing your mental and
physical dexterity. And there’ll
sausages and mash at half time to help
those who are flagging…
The Village Hall Committee would like
to wish all our supporters a wonderful
Christmas with health and happiness
throughout 2025.
Designed by Octavia Madden.
£2.50. Proceeds to St Michael’s
church.
Contact Helen Hayman 07806
480246
Flower and Produce Show Committee The Village Hall Committee would like to express their thanks to the Flower and Produce Show Committee for donating seven brand new square tables with folding legs, these match in hight and appearance with our larger tables and will be stored neatly bellow the stage once we make a trolley.
PARISH COUNCIL – DECEMBER 2024 REPORT
Six councillors met for the December meeting.
Broadband Councillors heard that Damian Furniss and David Fallows have met to discuss the way forward on an Openreach quote to take fibre to Town Farm Buildings. Cllr Adam Powell is working with them to draw up a number of questions they will submit to Openreach. The parish council succeeded in getting some publicity in the press for the poor broadband issue, and local MP Richard Foord mentioned Gittisham in Parliament as illustrating the challenge facing some parts of his constituency in accessing superfast broadband. The Chair said she would contact Voneus to see if there was any possibility of increased coverage with additional infrastructure.
Finance. Councillors noted the finances.
Crimes. October 2024: Hedge Field Close – 3 anti-social behaviour, Hamlett Close – 1 x violence and sexual offences, Meadow Acre – 1 x other theft, Village Hall area – 1 x violence and sexual offences. NB Devon & Cornwall Police say the hotspots on their crime map give only a loose idea of where crimes happened. Actual locations and details of crimes are kept anonymous.
Road closures. – 09 Oct 23 December: Sidmouth Road 200m uphill south of Tesco roundabout. Temporary traffic signals. Guarding collapsed culvert causing water damage to road.
- Until 10 th December approximately: all roads in Gittisham Vale, installation of ducting for Virgin Cable. A cabinet has been added by the grass at Old Elm Road turning circle.
- 16 January 2025: Lane to Cathayes Farm closed for installation of South West Water sewer level equipment.
Future projects. Councillors discussed ideas for projects that the parish council could potentially contribute towards in the future. These included:
- Planting a horse chestnut tree for future generations to enjoy conkers
- An electric vehicle charging point
- A bench near the village end of the balancing pond
- Community shop
- Leaflet of walks around the parish
- Parish Christmas event 2025
- Funds for a planning consultant to help the parish council uphold parishioners’ interests regarding EDDC’s Local Plan
All agreed to discuss these further when setting the parish council’s budget and precept in January.
Maggie Walker. After 20 years of service, Maggie Walker has resigned from the parish council. She said it had been a privilege to serve the community, and a rewarding experience. Councillors joined the Chair in thanking Maggie for her commitment and enthusiasm over the past two decades on the council.
Next meeting. 9 th January in the parish room at 7.30pm. The Chair wished councillors, their families and all those who support the parish council a merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy New Year.
Parish Council links Who’s who https://gittisham.org.uk/parish–council/
Emergency Plan https://gittisham.org.uk/parish–council/emergency–plan/
Parish Council Clerk Email: Tel: 01404 851442
Advent Message from St Michael’s Church
‘Why are we waiting?’ As a child, I remember loudly singing this refrain with my fellow schoolfriends as we stood outside,, in the playground, on a cold December afternoon, impatiently waiting to be let in for the school’s Christmas party. The headmistress was not pleased. An early Advent lesson in waiting. Waiting is everywhere! We can’t avoid it. It happens all the time. At bus stops, railway stations airports and in our everyday lives, queuing for services of one kind and another, whether we are out and about or in our own homes. It happens on our phones and online as we wait for our calls to be answered, or as we wait still for a reliable internet service or mobile phone signal. We wait to book an appointment to see a doctor, we wait for a hospital appointment, we wait for expectantly for a date for treatment. It happens here in Gittisham as we wait for a bus, which still does not come!
Waiting can be frustrating and sometimes life threatening, especially when we can’t get help when we need it. And how can we not be afraid when we are faced daily with news of a world in turmoil, threatened by war, climate change and environmental disasters in which so many suffer and afraid for their lives?
Our waiting and longing for peace, justice and mercy can seem endless. In Church our Advent readings are all about waiting often in difficult circumstances. Perhaps more than ever, we need to listen to the Angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary ‘Do not be Afraid!’ to be reminded that there can be hope and joy in waiting, that God’s love is stronger than our worst fears, stronger even than death.
He will come like dark
One evening when the bursting red December sun draws up the sheet and penny masks its eye to yield the star-snowed fields of sky. He will come, will come, will come like crying in the night, like blood, like breaking, as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.
(from the poem ‘Advent Calendar’ by Rowan Williams)
And so I pray that whatever your circumstances, whatever the hopes and fears you may be holding for our world, yourselves or others, that you may know the blessing, hope and joy of the coming of the Christ Child this Christmas. Julia Barrett from St Michael’s Church, Gittisham.
Upcoming Church Services and Events
Sun Dec 15th 4.30pm Carol Service mince pies
Children’s nativity pageant, festive drinks,
Fri Dec 20th 5pm Carols on the Green with the Honiton Town Band
Sausages & mulled wine
Sun Dec 22nd 4pm
Crib service
Tues Dec 24th 11.30pm Midnight Holy Communion Wed Dec 25th 11am Holy Communion
Gittisham Village Hall Committee November 2024
| Date | 12th November 2024 | |
| Present | Hamish, Damian, Stella, Claire, Alex, Steve, Nick | |
| Apologies | Maggie, Pierre, Bill | |
| Next meet | Special General Meeting: 20th November, 1930, Damian’s house Next meeting: Tuesday 3rd December | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | Terry has resigned his position from the village hall committee. The Chair put on record the committee’s thanks to Terry for years of service supporting the village, maintaining the hall building and contributing to events. The Chair will write to Terry (and Cordelia who resigned from her position at the October meeting) to express the committee’s thanks. | |
| Committee members | Terry has resigned his position from the village hall committee. The Chair put on record the committee’s thanks to Terry for years of service supporting the village, maintaining the hall building and contributing to events. The Chair will write to Terry (and Cordelia who resigned her position at the October meeting) to express the committee’s thanks. | Hamish |
| Finance | Damian ran through the monthly accounts, a screenshot of which is captured in the below annex (an accessible version of the monthly accounts has been uploaded separately to the village website). Income is significantly up on last year, with the majority of this income ring-fenced for the new cooker. Damian set out some of the changes he wanted to make to how we track and monitor finances, including: a tighter reconciliation process between bookings and invoicing; a five-year costed maintenance programme; and the clearer ring-fencing of certain funds (e.g. cooker funds, community kitchen funds) within the accounts. The committee also agreed that expenses should be sent to Damian over email, with a photograph of the receipt, and not over WattsApp. Not all financial tools and accounts have been fully transferred to Damian. Hamish took actions to ensure Janet is removed from the HSBC bank, to ensure Damian has access to the Redwood account, and to give Damian a paying in book. Damian continues to chase the installation of a smart meter – thank you to Damian for taking this forwards. | Hamish Damian |
| Grants | It does not look like we have been successful with either the South West Water or Morrisons grant applications. Thank you to Alex for pursuing these on our behalf. Both EDDC and DCC are running Carbon Offset Grant programmes. The EDDC grant subsidises 90% of carbon offset works (-VAT) and closes on Friday 15th November; results should be announced before the end of the month. The DCC grant pays for 100% of works and makes payments in arrears. Alex has kindly progressed various quotations for works that would fall under the scope of these two grants, namely: lighting and minor electricals (replacing all interior and exterior lights with LEDs, replacing and upgrading our emergency lighting, replacing the heater in the kitchen); solar panels for the roof elevations at the rear of the hall with accompanying 2x10KW battery storage; and insulation and window replacement. The meeting agreed that the priority grant to submit to EDDC this Friday should be solar panelling, with a larger grant for the various other works to be submitted to DCC prior to the closure of that window. Hamish took the action to alert the Combe Estate of our intention to install solar panels. Alex is once again pursuing the £20k lottery grant, using information from the village survey to support the grant claims. Some potentially very good news: a benefactor has expressed an interest in donating a substantial grant to support the running costs for the community kitchen. Nick is liaising and will update the committee at the next meeting. As always, a huge thank you to Alex in particular for all of the time he spends researching and supporting grant applications for the hall. | Alex Hamish Nick |
| Maintenance | Further to October’s extensive review of potential cooker options, Stella and Claire have visited Broadhembury Village Hall to hear their views on the cooker they have installed. The cooker has been in place for 9 years and works very well, with no issues. Further to this information, the committee weighed up again the various cooker options and decided to progress with the purchase of the Broadhembury Village Hall model. Stella will take forward the purchase, researching the best possible deals and keeping an eye on Black Friday sales. Stella also took actions to research the purchase of larger cooking trays, or ‘gastronorms’, and to price up some suitable second hand stainless steel worktops and splashbacks and bring quotations back to the next meeting. Thank you to Stella. Taps have been replaced by Alex and are no longer faulty. Thanks to Alex. Tiles have fallen off in the kitchen. Hamish to sand down and give a quick lick of paint. We don’t want to repair as the whole kitchen will soon have a glow up. Further long-term maintenance priorities were added to the maintenance schedule in the annex, namely: a new kitchen fit out including sinks, splashbacks and worktops, rewiring of the external cabling and loft space, and a refit of the audio-visual capabilities in the hall. | Stella Stella Hamish |
| Bookings | A full list of November bookings is included in the below annex and is also uploaded on the village website. Upcoming village hall committee events in October are the next cake sale and Bingo, both on 30th November. Claire updated the committee on the plans for Bingo, which has a wonderful raffle and a lot of people attending and should be a knock out event! Claire to let committee members know how they can be of most help on the day. The meeting agreed that a ‘Hall in use’ sign is needed to prevent committee members or others wandering into private events. Maybe someone can make an attractive one of these? | Claire Someone |
| Governance | The meeting briefly discussed the governance document circulated by Hamish. Some comments have been submitted in writing. The committee agreed that some dedicated time was needed to consider the committee’s constitution in detail. As such, a Special General Meeting has been called for later in the month to agree a final version of the constitution. | |
| Future events | Future schedule agreed as follows: 5th December, fuel poverty clinic with a free fleece blanket, in place in advance of Community Kitchen. Christmas Quiz, Saturday 14th December – Maggie to speak to Sue about possibly catering.Damian, Joanna Southcott talk, Friday 10th January. Burns Night, Saturday 18th January, Mary Marker is booked.Cabaret, 31st January to 1st Feb. Compressed rehearsals. Future events:Hardy talk / Gittisham history talk / gardening talk / astronomy talkSpanish event Carol to advertise the above programmes in the gazette, Alex to advertise on Facebook. | Maggie Carol, Alex |
| AOB | Alex offered the committee the purchase of 20 plain black mugs. No decision made – rolled over to next meeting! |
Booking for November
Accounts for November
| Gittisham Parish Hall Accounts – 1st April 2024 to 31 March 2025 | Gittisham Parish Hall Accounts – 1st April 2024 to 31 March 2025 | |||||
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | |||||
| 2023/24 | 61.37% of 2023-24 | 1.04.24 – 11.11.24 | 2023/24 | 61.37% of 2023-24 | ||
| Balance brought forward | £3,627.91 | Insurance | £690.38 | £423.69 | ||
| Non-domestic rates | £0.00 | £0.00 | ||||
| Hire of Hall | £5,588.85 | £3,429.88 | £2,946.01 | Cleaning/grass cutting | £1,019.62 | £625.74 |
| Social Events | £1,371.36 | £841.60 | £1,247.32 | Maintenance/Equipment | £5,840.55 | £3,584.35 |
| Interest | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | Water/Gas/Electric | £3,031.87 | £1,860.66 |
| Miscellaneous | £2,005.91 | £1,231.03 | £6,051.90 | Miscellaneous(inc. bank charges) | £1,014.59 | £622.65 |
| £8,966.12 | £5,502.51 | £10,245.23 | £11,597.01 | £7,117.09 | ||
| Balance | ||||||
| Total | £13,873.14 | |||||
| Income includes: | Redwood Deposit A/C TBC (awaiting access) | £25,654.20 | ||||
| DCC grant (community kitchen) | £1,000.00 | Includes annual interest | £842.98 | |||
| DCC locality budget (oven) | £1,000.00 | N.B. 61.37% is proportion of year passed to date. | ||||
| Fete donation (oven) | £750.00 | |||||
| Fete donation (community kitchen) | £750.00 | Income not yet banked: | ||||
| Coffee/cakes September (oven) | £247.50 | Tesco donation (oven) | £250.00 | |||
| Donation from Drakes Plumbing (Xmas bingo – oven) | £200.00 | Coffee/cakes October cash (oven) | £297.00 | |||
| Sparklers/bangers (sumup) | £61.95 | Bee Talk cash (oven) | £77.00 | |||
| Bee talk (sumup) (oven) | £14.75 | Sparklers/bangers cash | £25.00 | |||
| October cake/coffee (sumup) (oven) | £136.13 | |||||
| Expenses not yet paid: | ||||||
| Sparklers/bangers | £38.00 | |||||
MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| New large range cooker |
| Rear foyer leaking roof |
| New kitchen refurb: sink, worktop…or full kitchen |
| Replace two front windows |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Re-fit audio visual capabilities |
| Rewiring of cabling, particularly in the loft |
| Extractor fans in kitchen |
| (Rising) damp in southern elevation |
| Internal repaint including / especially ceiling |
| Loft insulation |
| Replace all windows, not just front windows |
| Bin Store |
Gittisham Village Hall Committee October 2024
| Date | 8th October 2024 | |
| Present | Hamish, Damian, Maggie, Pierre, Stella, Claire, Alex, Steve, Nick, Bill | |
| Apologies | Terry | |
| Next meet | 12th November, 19:00 – a slightly earlier start than normal due to significant agenda items | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | Stephen to look at advertising the hall as a flexible workspace (June meeting). Damian to explore grant opportunities presented by Gittisham alumni Southcott and Hardy (September meeting). Damian and Carol to agree a process to reconcile booking income to list of bookings (September meeting). Hamish to speak to Fullers about Ed Fuller talk and agree date if possible (September meeting). Pierre to organise Spanish and Flamenco evening for the new year (September meeting). Hamish to look at transferring the card reader so it works for everyone without linking to any phones (September meeting). Bill to organise next cake sale, Saturday 26th October. Various members to transfer utility bills to Damian’s address. Everyone to nominate the Village Hall to the Benefact Group before 11th October. Alex and Bill to undertake an initial look at the leaking foyer roof Friday 11th. Maggie to speak to Sue about possibly catering the Christmas quiz. Hamish to book Mary Marker for Burns Night. Damian to cut three new keys using Maggie’s key as a template. | |
| Committee members | At the start of the meeting Hamish announced that he is resigning his position as Chair of the Village Hall Committee. Hamish will serve as Chair until the end of the calendar year. The committee wished to put on record its appreciation for Hamish’s long service over twenty years to the work of the committee and for his dedicated leadership as chair in the past few years. Hamish has been a selfless and energetic chair and has helped to ensure the upkeep of the hall as well as organising a huge number of popular and entertaining events over his time. The members expressed their hope that he will remain closely involved in future events, not least in running his fiendish quizzes, wielding the dagger at Robbie Burns night, and starring in future cabaret turns! Cordelia has resigned her position from the village hall committee but is happy to remain involved supporting village events. | |
| Finance | Damian ran through the monthly accounts, a screenshot of which is captured in the below annex (an accessible version of the monthly accounts has been uploaded separately to the village website). Thank you to Damian for his work on the accounts. With recent grant and fundraising successes the year-to-date position is looking healthier than in previous months’ accounts, though a significant proportion of this income is ringfenced for the new cooker. The meeting discussed the size of the funds it needs to keep in reserve. Whilst a final decision will be reached in conjunction with approving the hall constitution (scheduled for the November meeting), it was noted that Charity Commission guidance stipulates that an appropriate reserve should be at least one year’s running cost, plus sufficient reserve to undertake a programme of necessary and predictable maintenance and be resilient to other significant unforeseen and uninsured costs that may materialise. The £26k in the reserve account is kept in reserve in order to meet these stipulations. Further discussion on an appropriate reserve level will take place in November. The committee agreed to change the hall’s electricity provider to take advantage of a smart meter installation and credit offer. Thank you to Damian for taking this forwards. Various utilities are currently dealt with by various committee members. Damian suggested that all of these bills are redirected to him to support his bookkeeping. | Various |
| Grants | We were successful with the £1k bid for a new cooker from the locality budget – many thanks to Carol for pursuing this. We continue to await news on the grants submitted to date: the EDDC Carbon Offset Fund, the South West Water Fund, the Sykes Holiday Cottages Fund. In addition Alex is looking to apply to the McCarthy Stone Foundation. The Lottery Grant remains a long-term option, which the results of our village survey on uses of the hall will support us with. Thank you to Alex for his continued oversight of these grant applications including his liaison with other village halls. Nick reminded everyone to nominate the Village Hall to the Benefact Group before 11th October. | Everyone |
| Maintenance | The meeting debated the key maintenance priorities (see annex). It was observed by some committee members that repairing the leaking roof in the rear foyer was of primary significance and should be prioritised ahead of all other maintenance and hall improvements. Alex and Bill are to undertake an initial look at the roof this Friday, the 11th, with Hamish also available on Monday 14th if more work is needed. To discuss again at the next meeting. Stella, Alex and Pierre have undertaken significant research into options for a new cooker – thanks to all three for the thorough research and the clear presentation of options. The meeting considered a range of commercial cookers, domestic cookers and standalone oven units, as well as the associated installation costs and some of the other necessary kitchen upgrade work that could accompany a new installation. After deliberation the meeting expressed its preference for a hotplate commercial cooker. Likely costs are £2.5k for the cooker and £1.5k for the installation and associated works. However, prior to agreeing a way forwards the committee sought further reassurance on the suitability and safety of the preferred cooker model. To this end Stella agreed to speak with Broadhembury Village Hall, which has the same installed cooker on site, and to report back on that committee’s experience. In addition, the meeting deferred until November a decision on whether a new cooker could be purchased in advance of the fundraising target being fully reached, or at the point of the target being reached. | Alex and Bill |
| Bookings | A full list of October bookings is loaded on the village website. Upcoming village hall committee events in October are the Bee Talk on Friday 11th (where the committee agreed a reduced rate for children), the Harvest Supper on Saturday 12th and the next Cake Sale fundraiser on Saturday 26th. | |
| Future events | Future schedule agreed as follows: Bingo, Saturday 30th November.Christmas Quiz, Saturday 14th December – Maggie to speak to Sue about possible catering.Burns Night, Saturday 25th January – Hamish to book Mary Marker. Cabaret, Friday 7th and Saturday 8th February. Further to Friday’s Bee Talk we will review the potential for and dates of further villager talks, possible topics: Joanna Southcott (Damian), Gittisham history (Paul Wakely), organic gardening (might have got that wrong) (Sue and David), if possible, Ed Fuller to talk on the subject of his Paralympic Gold Medal. Hamish/Carol to advertise the above programmes in the gazette, Alex to advertise on Facebook. Future events: Pierre and Fiona are investigating running a Spanish and Flamenco evening to raise funds for the Village Hall! Pierre to investigate and return with dates. Thank you Pierre! | Maggie Hamish |
| AOB | Three members of the committee need new keys cutting. Damian to have cut using Maggie’s key. | Damian |
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| New large range cooker |
| Rear foyer where roof is leaking |
| Replace two front windows |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Extractor fans in kitchen |
| (Rising) damp in southern elevation |
| Internal repaint including / especially ceiling |
| Loft insulation |
| Replace all windows, not just front windows |
| Bin Store |
Gittisham Gazette November 2024
| Gittisham Gazette | November ‘24 | ||||
| A monthly community newsletter published by St Michael’s Church and Gittisham Parish Council | |||||
| What’s On? at the village hall in November & December Coffee&Cake4ACooker Saturday 30th Nov 2.30-4.30  Bingo Saturday 30th Nov 7pm Community Kitchen Every Thurs, village hall 6.30pm. Pierre’s Café Sunday 8th December Quiz Night with Hamish Sat 14th December Gingerbread House making Sun 15th & Mon 16th 3-6pm with Emese HomeMeadBakes Christmas Bingo Saturday 30th November 7pm One free raffle ticket if you wear something Christmassy Some great prizes coming forward for the bingo night, so far from Drakes Plumbing, Honiton Golf Cub, The Pig, EV Hair, Hare & Hounds. Contact Stella 07813 802292  Upcoming Church Services and Events Sun Dec 1st 11am Advent Sunday Morning Service 6pm Advent Carol Service St Paul’s, Honiton Sun Dec 8th 11am Holy Communion Sunday Dec 15th 4.30pm St Michael’s Carol Service Fri Dec 20th 5pm Carols on the Green with the Honiton Town Band Tues Dec 24th 11.30pm Midnight Holy Communion Wed Dec 25th 11am Holy Communion |  Getting Fibre Broadband to Gittisham VillageThank you for attending our open meeting to discuss Broadband Connectivity in Gittisham Village and surrounds, we had thirty one in attendance, including our guests. We now know for certain that the contract with Airband has now been cancelled. Our guests from Connecting Devon and Somerset CDS, Phil Roberts, and Matt Barrow from Devon County Council DCC explained the historic failure of the three previous cancelled contracts dating back over ten years. In short, our guests suggested we explore other options to get a fibre connection to Gittisham Village. There was a lot of discussion after the meeting, on WhatsApp and in person and some good avenues were suggested. To cover all of this thoroughly, the Parish Council has agreed, that creating an engaged fibre connection working group would be an effective way to cover these options thoroughly and discounting those that proof impractical. If you are interested in helping with a group to get Fibre Broadband to Gittisham, whether you attended the last meeting or not, please get in touch with Carol Hall or Adam Powell. Our first meeting will be in The Otter at Weston, provisionally next Friday 6.30 pm 16th November, meeting for no more than an hour. Lots of folk voiced their woeful experiences of their poor broadband connection, expressing clearly how it is making their ordinary lives difficult or aspects impossible. Fast broadband should be available to everybody enabling efficiency and opening opportunities in our lives so we can live a rural existence, but take part in the business of the wider world. The rural population do not deserve to be disadvantaged in this way, superfast broadband should enable rural lives. Adam Powell Parish Councilor , 07535233558 The path at the top of Landscore Lane – Paul Wakley This path is part of the track that used to run from east hill to Combe House. Although the path is in Ottery parish I tend to think of it as Gittisham. At the start of the path, the wooded land on the left were gardens, Mr Marks, an estate carpenter, was, I think, the last person to till them in the thirties. Mr Marks was then living in part of Westgate. He told me that he had planed every plank of wood used in the building of the village hall! Somewhere around the old gardens once stood a house/shack said to be the last of its kind in the area, where the fire was in a pit and the family had to sit around the edge of it. Carrying on over the track from the top of Tommy Wax, the path passes some beautiful old oaks, carry on a bit further and you come to the site of a chapel, of which nothing remains. I think the site was also subsequently used for a farmstead. The last of the bits of wall from the barns? which were built into the hillside unfortunately were used as ramps for motorbikes etc. to jump and no longer exist. The fields to the right are very steep and now covered in bracken and scrub. The family who lived there could not afford a horse or donkey to pull the plough, so the wife had to do it! On the way back I like to visit what I think is the biggest beech tree left on the estate. I often think when walking out that way how lucky most of us are now. The story of the families, I heard from people in the village and also from Peter Hill who lived in the house just beyond the style near the end of the path. He collected historic papers and maps to do with Ottery and Gittisham.  Beech Walk – photographed by Claire  A glimpse of the sun at Church Mead – photographed by Sarah Pierre’s Café on Sunday 8th December will celebrate Christmas French style. Piere will be making the traditional French yule log for dessert, along with a mouthwatering selection of homemade cakes, pastries and of course lunch. Bring a friend and be merry! | ||||
| 200 Club The October draw results: James Fuller 1st prize £75, W Wolsey 2nd prize £50, G Pester 3rd prize £25 St Clement’s Day at Finch Foundary, Sticklepath Saturday 23rd November 10-4 Free Entry The National Trust invites you to celebrate St Clement the patron saint of blacksmiths and metalworkers with displays by the Blacksmiths and Metalworkers Association of the South West. Live competitions, the famous snail race, traditional firing of the anvil and see one of the last working water powered forges in England. Health to the jolly blacksmith, the best of all fellows, who works at his anvil while the boy blows the bellows! | Devon County Council Roads and Transport DCC Report a Problem On their website there is a facility to report problems on our roads. This is particularly useful for Gittisham as we do not have a Parish Lengthsman at the moment. You can report potholes, overgrown vegetation, debris or obstructions (thick mud), flooding and blocked drains. You are directed to an interactive map where you can zoom in and select your place of concern. Or please report your ‘problem’ to one of the Parish Councillors who will be happy to do this on your behalf. The Parish Council will be procuring a Lengthsman in due course. Village Hall Survey https://forms.gle/zfVMWdBSoLq7weft9 This is an anonymous survey for users (or potential users) of the village hall and the information can be helpful in gaining grants and deciding on events. Gittisham Gardening Club? Would this be of interest to anyone in the parish? We could meet once a month to share skills, resources and inspiration. Contact Claire 07718 624456 Reflections from St Michael’s Church. Julia Barratt Lay Minister with responsibility for St Michael’s, Gittisham In Church, the season of remembering begins with ‘All Saints Day’ when Christians celebrate the lives of the Saints, followed the next day by ‘’All Souls’ traditionally know as All Hallows, when we commemorate the lives of the Faithful departed. As a Christian Minister, people often assume that I disapprove of Halloween celebrations and can be surprised when I say that I don’t. Joining in the fun, while staying firmly in role, is I’ve discovered quite an effective way of playfully scaring little demons! However I am sad that the tradition of remembering and giving thanks for the lives of loved ones on the feast of All Souls appears to be largely forgotten in our secular world today. On Remembrance Sunday the mood turns more sombre when as a nation, we collectively remember all who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars and in wars since, both past and present, as we offer our prayers and heart felt longing for peace between the nations. Remembering, helps us to make sense of who we are and where we’ve come from, reminding us, as we receive the sacrament afterwards in Church, that we are not alone as we carry the hopes and fears of past and future generations in the way we live our lives today. Though as we look around our world with wars being waged once again in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, it can be tempting to despair. Yet, as November draws to a close and the season of Remembrance gives way to Advent, once again we will wait in hope and longing for the coming of the Christ Child, the mystery of the Word made flesh, dwelling among with us, even in our darkest nights. Julia Barrett. LLM, | ||||
PARISH COUNCIL – NOVEMBER 2024 REPORT
Five councillors met for the November meeting along with Phil Twiss (DCC), Graham Long (rural broadband campaigner), Phil Roberts (Connecting Devon and Somerset Programme Manager), Matt Barrow (CDS Stakeholder Engagement Officer) and 22 members of the public.
Broadband. The majority of the meeting was dominated by the fall-out from the announcement on 31st October that Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) and Airband had agreed to scale back Airband’s contract agreements to deliver full fibre broadband to properties in the region. This means that Gittisham will not be included in the areas remaining under Airband’s modified contract. It’s the fourth time in more than ten years the village has been let down by providers promising to bring superfast broadband to the parish. Many people outlined the difficulties they have working from home or attending online appointments with a very poor broadband connection, even for those who have Voneus wifi which is unreliable and for technical reasons cannot serve some properties in the
village. Many residents have weak mobile ‘phone coverage, which makes using 4G impossible. Several teenagers explained how, during the years of the Covid-19 pandemic, having slow broadband had left them particularly disadvantaged as they could not always participate in online lessons and therefore missed out on their education. Adam Powell explained what the parish council had been doing to highlight the issue. Phil Roberts and Matt Barrow from CDS said it was a humbling experience to hear the challenges people face first hand. They outlined the possible scenarios for bringing superfast broadband to the village, acknowledging that none were likely to be delivered quickly. There are voucher initiatives which involve working with providers to find a solution, but finding a provider to take this on could be a challenge. There is also central Government’s Project Gigabit, a £5 billion programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access superfast gigabit-capable broadband. Building Digital UK (BDUK) is launching phased contracts to deliver this, but none include East Devon at this point. This could change as BDUK continues its market research.
Finance. Councillors agreed the finances.
Crimes. August 2024: Hamlett Close – 1 x violence and sexual offences. Nether Close – 1 x anti-social behaviour. Hedge Field Close – 3 anti-social behaviour, 4 x violence and sexual offences. Cypress Close – 1 x violence and sexual offences. Laburnum Close – 1 x other theft. Rowan Close – 1 x vehicle crime. September 2024: Hedge Field Close – 3 anti-social behaviour, 1 x violence and sexual offences
EDDC Local Plan. David Valentine said he’d attended the Strategic Planning Committee meeting on 29th October, where he had addressed those present on potential site allocations in the Honiton and Axminster areas (including Gittisham). He outlined the parish council’s opposition to the inclusion of two sites in the Local Plan, with a further 310 dwellings proposed west of Hayne Lane towards the Forge. He explained that this is not a sustainable site for residential development and is contrary to EDDC’s own sustainability objectives. He declared himself very frustrated by the process, which he felt was undemocratic in many ways. However, EDDC’s officers’ recommendation to allocate both sites in the Local Plan was approved by a majority of 8 to 3. The final consultation
plan is due to be published before the end of 2024 with an examination in public in 2025.
Next meeting. Thursday 5 th December at 7.30pm in the parish room.
Parish Council links Who’s who https://gittisham.org.uk/parish-council/
Emergency Plan https://gittisham.org.uk/parish-council/emergency-plan/
Gittisham Gazette October 2024
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A monthly community newsletter published by St Michael’s Church and Gittisham Parish Council |
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What’s On? at the village hall in October
Bee Talk Friday 11th Oct Harvest Supper Saturday 12th October 7 pm Tickets: 3 children for primary age; 6.50 for an adult or secondary school age. Community Kitchen Every Thurs, village hall 6.30 pm. Fit for Life class with Marjorie every Tuesday at 10 am Pierre’s Cafe Sunday 13th October Coffee & Cake 4 A Cooker 2.30-4.30 Sat 26th Oct
November events at the village hall
Bangers and Sparklers Sunday 3rd Nov 5-7 pm
Broadband in the village Public information event run by the parish council with broadband providers Thursday 7th Nov 7.30 pm
Pierre’s Cafe Sunday 10th November
Christmas Bingo Sat November 30th 7pm
Christmas Bingo Saturday 30th November 7pm One free raffle ticket if you wear something Christmassy
Some great prizes coming forward for the bingo night, so far from Drakes Plumbing, Honiton Golf Cub, The Pig, EV Hair, and Hare & Hounds. Contact Stella 07813 802292
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Memories Paul Wakely The Combe Ice House (Beech Walk Gardens)
The ice house is approximately 10ft in diameter and 23ft deep, it may be deeper depending on how much stone had been thrown in. It is brick lined with a brick dome. The ice to fill it would have been cut from the larger of the ponds in Combe drive. The ice house would have been quite an investment just to supply ices and ice cream for the summer,
A number of ice houses were built during the Georgian period, not that many remain. The photos show the entrance and interior of the ice house, which can be visited on charity garden open days. Thank you to Richard and Nelly for allowing me access, and to Phillip for the interior shot. 
 
 PUMPKINS 2024
Pick your own pumpkins is returning to Gittisham farm this October!
Like last year, entry is free, with no need to book. There will be 25 pumpkin variety s, plenty of refreshments, and farm animals to see! Just arrive and pay for what you pick.
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I first came across the ice house in the seventies, when I was asked to go and clear some camellias which had fallen across the track. This was before Richard and Nelly moved over from Canada, the house was empty, so I had a look around the garden which I hadn’t seen for a few years. I saw what I at first thought was an upturned tree stump, but it looked too regular, so I went over to it and saw an entrance, looked in, there wasn’t any barrier, and saw what I thought was a dry well 
St Michael s Church Julia Barratt Lay Minister with responsibility for St Michael s, Gittisham
What s On: Sunday October 13th Harvest Festival Eucharist 11am
Sunday October 27th 11am Morning Worship
Michaelmas, the Feast of St Michael and All Angels falls on September 29 th . It is one of the four quarter days, along with Lady Day, Midsummer s Day and Christmas Day, each linked to the summer and winter solstice and the mid points in-between. There used to be a tradition of roasting and eating a goose on Michaelmas day and as a child I remember going to the Goose Fair in Tavistock which is still held every year. Michaelmas marks the beginning of autumn when the days draw in and the nights lengthens, when summer has come to an end, the harvest gathered in and winter lies before us. And when naturally we look for the consolation of warmth and light traditionally associated with angels.
Angels wing their way in and out of our lives. We speak of angels in relation to acts of hospitality and generosity. We also speak of guardian angels especially of
children. In some of our towns and cities there are teams of street pastors,
sometimes called street angels , who offer help to homeless people and those in
need on our streets at night. Acts of kindness and generosity, messengers of hope in challenging times are angelic traits. I m sure many of us can tell stories of
encounters with angels in disguise whom when we look back, we realise were there for us just when we most needed them. And at the lowest points in our lives when we feel overwhelmed by loss and a sense of helplessness is when we are most open and receptive to being visited by angels breaking through our ordinary perceptions of reality. We are fortunate here in Gittisham to have such a powerful protector as the Archangel Michael as our Patron Saint. In these troubled times when our world is threatened by the powers of greed and destruction, the story of Michael doing battle with Satan reminds us that we need the strength and courage of all Angels and Archangels to come to our aid in our own day and restore in us a sense of praise and thanksgiving.
And so were delighted this year to welcome the Honiton Team Choir to help celebrate our Patronal Festival with Choral Evensong; one of the great musical jewels in the Church s treasure box. To be followed shortly by Harvest Supper in the Village Hall on Saturday Octpber 12 th at 7pm with the proceeds being donated by the Church to the Community Kitchen. And on Sunday 13 th October, our Harvest Festival Service at 11am when we give thanks for the fruitfulness of the earth, our farming communities, all who sow and gather our crops and care for the land and work in our food, transport and retail industries, that we may have enough to eat and share with those in need.
200 Club The September draw results:
E Read 1st prize 75, S Trumper 2nd prize 50, P Madden 3rd prize 25
PARISH COUNCIL OCTOBER 2024 REPORT
Three councillors met for the October meeting along with Alasdair Bruce (EDDC), PhilTwiss (DCC) and one member of the public.
Pension Credit. Phil Twiss encouraged pensioners to check if they qualify for pension credit, and if so, to
apply for it by 21 st December in order to receive the winter fuel payment. If you get pension credit, you can also get other help potentially including contributions towards NHS dental treatment, a council tax discount, help with your heating costs through the Warm Home Discount Scheme, and a free TV licence if you re aged 75 years and over. Pension credit tops up your weekly income to 218.15 if you are single, or your joint weekly income to 332.95 if you have a partner. You could get additional benefits depending on your circumstances. You can apply for pension credit up to four months before you reach State Pension age. You can apply any time after you reach State Pension age, but your application can only be backdated by three months. Currently only 63 per cent of people who are eligible nationwide for pension credit are receiving it. That s nearly four in every 10 pensioners who, although they are entitled to pension credit because of their low income, are not claiming it. To find out if you are eligible for pension credit, visit https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit
Finance. Councillors agreed the finances.
Crimes. July 2024: Nether Close – 1 anti-social behaviour, 1 x criminal damage & arson, Putts Corner – 1 x other theft, Beech Walk 1 x public order, Nags Head Road – 1 x violence & sexual offences
Planning applications. a) 24/1683/FUL – Combe Garden Centre Hayne Lane Gittisham Proposed extension to existing building to form dry store area to kitchen and new toilets with new orangery to caf . Councillors had no objections to the application.
EDDC Local Plan. David Valentine said he d attended the Strategic Planning Committee meeting on 20th September, where he had addressed those present on potential site allocations in the Honiton and Axminster areas (including Gittisham). He reported much confusion and last minute alterations. Decisions for land near Gittisham were deferred to a later date, but the committee agreed to consider the entirety of the land earmarked between Hayne Lane and Sidmouth Road at the next stage. Alasdair Bruce added that the Local Plan process is not helped by the selection system EDDC has adopted. For example, when site selections are being made, the committee has two choices. Either they adopt a site or move on, but not to refuse one. This leaves the process open ended, allowing the committee to return and review sites if they end up with a shortfall in potential housing
numbers. The result, he argued, is no certainty to communities as to what may happen in the future and is fundamentally unacceptable. This method completely moves away from community-driven development where local needs are paramount.
Road closures.
22-24 Oct. A30 Daisymount to Langford Honiton. Overnight closure for roadworks.
07-17 Oct. A35 Honiton to Axminster. Overnight closure for carriageway works.
Public transport.
09-22 Nov. Railway line closure Honiton to Axminster for engineering works. A bus replacement service will run instead.
Next meeting. Thursday 7 th November at 7.30pm in the village hall.
Parish Council links Who s who https://gittisham.org.uk/parish-council/
Emergency Plan https://gittisham.org.uk/parish-council/emergency-plan/
Parish Council Clerk Email: Tel: 01404 851442
Gittisham Village Hall Committe September 2024
| Date | 10th September 2024 | |
| Present | Hamish, Damian, Maggie, Pierre, Sue, Stella, Claire, Alex, Steve (arrived late) | |
| Apologies | Nick, Bill, Terry | |
| Next meet | 8th October, 7pm start, 30 minutes early to accommodate discussion on Community Kitchen | |
| Item | Details | Actions |
| All actions | Hamish to use caulking gun around flashing (June meeting).Hamish to replace bathroom tap (June meeting). Stephen to look at advertising the hall as a flexible workspace (June meeting). Everyone to look for a noticeboard for foyer (July meeting). Hamish to make contact with Cordelia re committee membership (September meeting). Hamish to invite Sara Trumper to the next meeting. Hamish and Alex to meet on Monday 16th September to progress grant applications. Damian to explore grant opportunities presented by Gittisham alumni. Pierre, Stella and Alex to bring cooker options to next meeting. Damian and Carol to agree a process to reconcile booking income to list of bookings.? to take forwards September cake sale. Stephen to agree with Steve M a date for beekeeping talk. Hamish to speak to Fullers about Ed Fuller talk and agree date if possible. Claire to organise Christmas bingo. Pierre to organise Spanish and Flamenco evening for the new year. Hamish to look at transferring the card reader so it works on phones. | |
| Committee members | Hamish to make contact with Cordelia re committee membership. | Hamish |
| Finance | Welcome to Damian, our new treasurer, who presented the monthly finances (see annex). In spite of the increases to hall prices agreed at the turn of the financial year year-to-date expenditure has exceeded income by nearly £1k. The hall also operated at a loss in the previous two financial years; a third consecutive year operating at a loss will stymy our ability to attract grant funding. The village fete was a great success and the Village Fete Committee has kindly agree to donate ~£1200 [exact figure not noted] to the Village Hall. The committee discussed how best to utilise this income and agreed, in line with the request of the Village Fete Committee, to split the proceeds between investing in a new cooker and subsidising for a time-limited period the hiring fees for the weekly Community Kitchen. The Committee will invite Sara Trumper to the next meeting to discuss how best to utilise these funds and ongoing funding models for the Community Kitchen’s hiring of the hall. | Hamish |
| Grants | The meeting agreed the immediate priorities for grant expenditure as follows: a new range cooker, replacement windows, and new replacement drainage / sewers. (Full list of potential remedial works for the hall updated in annex.) The committee was unsuccessful in its recent application for grant funding for replacement windows. However, Carol Hall has this month applied to the EDDC locality budget for a £1000 grant to go towards a new cooker. Alex is also making a huge effort to explore grant opportunities – thank you Alex! – as follows: The South West Water grant (video) application is still pending and we await a response. Alex is submitting another video application to the Sykes Holiday Cottages Community Fund (a national fund). Alex has approached EDDC about its Carbon Offset Fund. We are on the list to be visited by EDDC officials so the hall can be assessed. The lottery grant is re-opening and we agreed to submit another bid for the lower threshold amount. The results of our village hall survey (publicised recently in the gazette) will stand us in good stead here and improve our chances of being successful this time around. In addition Hamish has taken an audio-visual company around the hall. They have provided a quotation for improvement works and suggested grant opportunities to fund the works. Hamish and Alex to meet on Monday 16th September to progress applications. Damian suggested two ways in which we could leverage famous alumni of the village for possible funding opportunities. The Panacea Trust (Joanna Southcott’s organisation) has a trust fund which may be approached. And Hardy Wines (Australian wine company) may also want to support the home village of their founder. Damian to explore further. | Alex and Hamish Damian |
| Maintenance | The priority is researching new cookers. We formed a cooker sub-committee (Stella, Pierre and Alex) to explore potential options. Hamish will provide a more detailed specification but key points: same size as current cooker, two ovens, electric/induction, real knobs not electric interface. Options to be considered at next meeting. | Pierre, Stella, Alex, Hamish. |
| Bookings | The list of bookings for September is provided in the annex. Unfortunately we have now lost the regular toddler group booking. We need to ensure that the booking income is reconciled to the list of bookings. Damian to discuss with Carol how this will work in practice. | Damian/Carol |
| Future events | We have agreed that we will use the last Saturday of every month, 2pm-4pm, to run coffee and cake sales to fund the new cooker. Autumn schedule agreed as follows: Harvest Supper, Saturday 12th October, organised by the church.Sparklers and hot dogs, Sunday 3rd November, 5-7pm.Christmas Bingo, Saturday 30th November, Claire to organise.Gittisham Christmas Cabaret, Friday 13th and Saturday 14th December. Steve M beekeeping talk. Date not yet agreed, Stephen to take forwards.If possible, Ed Fuller to talk on the subject of his Paralympic Gold Medal. Hamish to approach Fullers. Date not yet agreed. Hamish/Carol to advertise the above programmes in the gazette, Alex to advertise on Facebook. Future events: Pierre and Fiona are investigating running a Spanish and Flamenco evening to raise funds for the Village Hall! Pierre to investigate and return with dates. Thank you Pierre! | ? Claire StephenHamish Carol/Hamish/Alex Pierre |
| AOB | Hamish to look at transferring the card reader so it works on phones. | Hamish |
| Long term maintenance list, for progression when funds allow. Rough hierarchy order. |
| New large range cooker |
| Replace two front windows |
| Sewerage and drainage pipe replacement |
| Extractor fans in kitchen |
| (Rising) damp in southern elevation |
| Internal repaint including / especially ceiling |
| Loft insulation |
| Replace all windows, not just front windows |
| Bin Store |
Gittisham Gazette September 2024
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A monthly community newsletter published by St Michael s Church and Gittisham Parish Council |
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What s On? at the village hall Coffee & Cake 4 A Cooker 2-4pm Saturday 28th Sept Harvest Supper Saturday 12th October 7pm Tickets: £3 children for primary age; £6.50 for an adult or secondary school age. Community Kitchen Every Thurs, village hall 6.30pm. All welcome to enjoy a free meal and good company
Pierre’s Cafe Sunday 13th October
200 Club The August draw results
Mrs S Fallows 1st prize 75 Mrs A Acland 2nd prize 50 Ava Marker Morgan 3rd prize 25
 Congratulations to Ed Fuller on an outstanding performance at the Paralympics Paris 2024. Gold in the PR3 Mixed Coxed Fours. (Ed is 2nd from the right) |
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Gittisham Fete in Photos 2024 – Alex Rowe, Photos by Mark Hemsley & Robert Rowe
 Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters for this year’s fete we are still finalising the figures but it’s looking like we raised around £3000! This will be split between the Hall and the Church.  The weather was on our side again for another packed afternoon, the Village was buzzing with visitors enjoying all we had to offer once the fete was opened by Caroline Kolek Honiton’s town Crier!  The Honiton Town Band gave us a music medley, whilst Mikey and Co. took visitors around the village on a cart behind Whiskey. Then at 3pm came the dog Show which was organised by Will W sponsored by Vale Vets. The much enjoyed & anticipated duck race was sponsored by Heltor Fuels  More photos & videos on the website We will be having a consolidation meeting on Moday 23rd September at 6pm in the hall to discuss areas we can improve for next years fete (August 30th 2025).
Memories Paul Wakely
One of my earliest memories is going to the flower show at Pomeroy. The marquee was set up on the lawn, now a field, which has its entrance to the right of the main gate. For a time I thought the river had been diverted to run close to Pomeroy gardens to form a leat for Gittisham mill, which was situated on the river, but in the 70’s colonel Starr ( who used to live in Coign cottage) lent me the tythe map of the village. He had borrowed it from the records office on parish business. This shows the mill was further downstream, so the leat theory didn’t work. Then I realised when the village mains sewage was put in the treatment plant had to go in the old river bed. To take the river back to the original bed, a brick pipe of about four feet in diameter was built, this also allowed trout and other fish to reach the village. The pipe was finally washed away in one of the floods. |
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PARISH COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 2024 REPORT
Six councillors met for the September meeting along with Phil Twiss (DCC) and two members of the public.
Broadband. Phil Twiss reported that discussions are taking place between Connecting Devon and Somerset and Airband as to what the company will be able to deliver before its contract ends. A decision is expected at the end of the month. Adam Powell said three newspapers had published his letter outlining the broadband situation in Gittisham.
Outdoor September. Phil Twiss said that this month Devon County Council is running a campaign encouraging people to embrace the great outdoors and consider ditching the car and, where possible, use an alternative form of transport. It’s all part of Outdoor September, a Devon-wide month-long campaign being promoted by Active Devon. Being active, particularly outdoors, benefits your health and wellbeing and during the course of the month Active Devon and their partners from the Devon Local Nature Partnership, Devon Climate Emergency, Devon County Council’s Public Health team and Travel Devon, will be sharing details of events, ideas and tips to help us all make the most of our environment. For more information visit https://activedevon.org
Finance. Councillors agreed the finances.
Crimes. May 2024: Meadow Acre – 1 x violence & sexual offences.
June 2024: Nether Close – 1 x other theft , Hamlett Close – 1 anti-social behaviour, Meadow Acre – 1 x criminal damage & arson, Parsonage Lane – 1 x violence & sexual offences
Planning applications.
- a) 23/1631/MFUL – Coastguard Road Ltd Devonshire Road Heathpark Industrial Estate Honiton EX14 1SD – Development of 17x commercial units
- b) 24/1504/FUL – 6 Honeysuckle Drive Honiton EX14 2YL – Proposed single storey rear extension
- c) 24/1420/MRES Land Off Hayne Lane Gittisham Honiton EX14 3PD – Reserved matters application in respect of matters of appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the construction of 37 no. residential dwellings and associated garages, infrastructure and landscaping all in association with outline permission
22/1322/MOUT Councillors had no objections to the applications. Regarding c) they requested that the
work be completed in one go to minimise disruption to existing residents. They expressed concern over the removal of asbestos and urged that this work should be done in a way which complies with the highest standards of safety. Councillors recommended a flat grassed area which can accommodate family-type activities such as
table tennis, and they would like access to the western boundary to be maintained in managed land rather than private ownership.
Road closures. 25 Sept 01 Oct. Devonshire Road/Rowan Close. Minor works opposite old Jurassic Fibre warehouse for land clearance on north side.
Old Elm Road rewilding. Alex Rowe said that EDDC officers were working on a plan for the Old Elm Road rewilding site. The grass matting has now been laid in the area beyond the rocks.
Next meeting. Thursday 3rd October at 7.30pm in the parish room.
Parish Council links Who’s who https://gittisham.org.uk/parish-council/
Emergency Plan https://gittisham.org.uk/parish-council/emergency-plan/
Parish Council Clerk Email: Tel: 01404 851442
St Michael s Church Julia Barratt
Services and Events
Sunday Sept 8th 11am Eucharist
Sunday 29th September at 6pm Choral Evensong led by the Revd Scott and the Honiton Team Choir when we will be joined by members from our fellow churches
Saturday 21st September from 10.30am Coffee Together and 200 Club Draw
Looking ahead
Sunday Oct 13th October 11am Harvest Festival Service.
Fete and Flower Show
A big Thank you to all who helped to organise and make the Fete and Flower Show such an enjoyable event with the profits shared between the Church and Village Hall. Well Done Everyone!
The Flower Arrangers creativity and skill were once again on show in the Church and much appreciated by a constant stream of visitors throughout the afternoon. Many of whom were impressed by the beauty of our village parish church; the colourful stained glass windows and unusual box pews, the Beaumont monument, the decorative ceiling and organ pipes, to mention just a few of the Church s distinctive features. With many lingering to look at the photos of past memorable Gittisham events and share personal and family memories of their own associations with the Church.
And as visitors often do, to admire the kneelers and ask who stitched them. Although one visitor, Christine, had no need to ask, as we searched and found the kneeler she herself had stitched, also with her Geoffrey whose picture was shown in one of the photos on display of himself presenting handmade baby hats to the mothers of babies receiving treatment in a hospital in Ghana, hats knitted by the ladies of the Gittisham Craft Club. And so of course, I took a picture of Christine, Geoffrey and also Comfort originally from Ghana.
The weekend was rounded off cheerfully with Hymns and Pimms on Sunday as a thank you to all who support the Church and in so many ways help to make it a place of welcome, beauty and inspiration for all who visit. An enjoyable occasion, singing favourite hymns, often with personal significance to those who chose them, with a half way break for Pimm s to whet the vocal chords. The service ending with a rousing rendering of God save the King in celebration and honour of Ed Fuller and the GB rowing team winning an Olympian Gold Medal! Though I reckon the proud parents deserve a medal too!