Congratulations Scothern Cricket Club                                                 18 September 2011

After playing undefeated for most of the season Scothern Cricket Club has finally made it into the premier division.    This is a wonderful achievement for the club and the village and at the latest meeting of the parish council a special tribute was paid to all involved.  Well done SCC!

The cricket club not only brings credit to the village because of its sporting achievements but also lays great emphasis on its programme for our children and the young people of the village.  If you want to support the club and its work then why not do it by having a good time at one of its two major autumn events. 

Cricket legend Graham Gooch is coming to the village on the evening of Friday, 28^th October.   Between 1973 and 2000 he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057 runs.   He has captained England and is currently batting coach for the side which has beaten the whole world – and he is coming to Scothern!   How can you miss seeing him?   Ring up Steve Bett straight away (07904 573102 or email scothernccevents@gmail.com) and book your tickets for an evening with Graham in a luxury marquee at the rear of the village hall – you will have a great night and you won’t even have to get the car out.

And you could follow that by going to the Halloween Masked Ball at the same venue on the following night – ticket details here

Other stuff at the parish council meeting on 7^th September

Christmas Tree

Do you think it’s time we had a Christmas tree in Scothern.  Chairman Ian Reid thinks so and is trying to get support for this as part of the council’s plan to bring the village together by increasing the number of traditional village activities.   What do you think?   If you email the Clarion and say you would (or wouldn’t) like some of your council money spending on this then you can be sure it WILL be passed on to councillors and have an influence. 

Allotments

Councillor Melanie Tointon said that the council still has not identified any land which can be used for allotments apart from (possibly) a small corner of Grange Park.  The council now has a legal duty to provide some allotments so they will soon have to either buy/lease some land or use that corner of Grange Park.   The council has received an objection from one resident to the use of any part of Grange Park for this purpose.   If you agree with this objection and would prefer the council to raise the money to buy/lease some land rather than use this corner of Grange Park then now would be a good time to let the council know as they will very soon be setting next year’s budget and they may need to set the precept to reflect this.

According to the Best Kept Village Competition Judges (we didn’t win) quite a few people in the village don’t know where Grange Park is, so below is a Google Earth picture – you will see Cade Close to the left, the Alders below and Vicarage Close to the right. The area being considered for allotments is the little strip (approx 10 metres in depth) just above the red line.

            

         

Parking

Several members of the public complained about parking on

Sudbrooke Road

near to the junction with

Main Street

(i.e. next to the Bottle and Glass) and the council has been asked to refer this to the Road Safety Partnership.   What do you think?  Do you agree that there is a real problem, or is a bit of congestion near the junction perfectly acceptable?  

LIVES First Responders

It is some months since the Clarion announced the presence in the village of LIVES first responders.   You might recall that we now have a volunteer team available to Scothern, Sudbrooke and Langworth which comes out in emergencies to give immediate response to life threatening collapses.   The volunteers have since attended a number of calls in Langworth – fortunately none in Scothern up to press.  The three councils agreed to a donation of £925 towards this valuable service – Scothern’s contribution is £250.

Fast broadband –David Mason updated the council on his research into fast broadband and it was agreed to hold a public meeting at Ellison Boulters School on the evening of Wednesday 9^th November.  A programme of briefing local residents on the thinking behind this is under way. Outside of the meeting questions are beginning to filter through about YouView TV. If you want to get a flavour of what the BBC et al plan for 2012 then CLICK HERE.  If it doesn’t make sense you should either turn your sound on or get faster broadband!

The Clarion and God

The Clarion doesn’t really do God, but it does support all activities by local people and groups so it is pleased to publicise “Back to Church Day” on Sunday 25^th September.   “Back to Church Day” is an initiative started in 2004 when one day each year is designated for encouraging past church attenders to go back and take a look at what is happening in their churches.  This year Scothern Methodist Church is taking part and is inviting people to call in at 10.30 a.m. next Sunday - there is no preacher and they say that it will be different from what you may have experienced before.   If you would like to go you would be made very welcome – there is coffee, tea and biscuits AND orange squash.