Annual Parish Meetings

The Annual Parish Meeting was held on Monday 26th April 2021, via zoom and commenced at 7.00pm.

The Chairman of the Parish Council, Councillor Alison Buckley-Jones, presided and opened the meeting with a welcome to those present. There were 12 members of the public present, 10 Parish Councillors, a District Councillor and 3 members of staff.

Parish Council Chairman’s report:

PIKE AND EURE GEORGE WALKER EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION. Presented by Councillor Sue Sockell:

The Pike and Eure is a very old educational charity established by the founders Timothy Pike in 1728 and Ralph Eure in 1627 for cover both the villages of Heighington and Washingborough. Also, alongside it is the George Walker Sports Foundation which was started in 1997 from the donations on the death of George Walker by his family as George was a Trustee. It is run by 10 Trustees, 5 from each village who meet at least twice a year.
The Charity continues to be well supported and in 2019 14 grants were awarded to students between the ages of 16 – 25 years towards university, college, or vocational courses. There were no takers for the sporting grant. The Trustees contact the local secondary schools, Lincoln University, Lincoln Colleges and Siemens each year with copies of the application forms informing them of the available grants plus adverts in the Sheepwash Times and details on the village websites. The applications are considered by the Trustees around October/November of each year when they are more aware of what interest the charity will have as the trustees are only able to use this income for grants.

The income they receive is interest from COIF shares usually around £5,500pa. The Charity was privileged to be awarded the proceeds from the sale of the Washingborough Village Hall by the Charity Commissioners in late 2019 and this investment will be used to enhance the amount of grants available to be used in future years.

Garrett’s Charity Annual Report – presented by the Chairman of the charity Ron Oxby:.
The Covid-19 pandemic has dominated life for everyone in 2020 and 2021. When the Heritage Rooms and St Thomas’ were required to close in March 2020, we hoped that we would soon be open again. The Trustees of Garrett’s Charity with the Executive Committee of the Friends of Garrett’s Charity and the PCC worked behind the scenes to make the buildings ‘Covid secure’ in anticipation of re-opening in the summer of 2020. In the end the re-opening was limited and short-lived. Plans to celebrate the 400th birthday of the charity with a series of events in September including an exhibition and demonstration of crafts plus a choral concert and thanksgiving service all had to be shelved. 

Whilst St Thomas’ is now open for private prayer and some services will resume at Easter, the earliest that the community buildings are permitted to open is 12th April. However, the detailed guidance makes it clear that the types of activities permitted does not include arts & crafts or social gatherings, thus the earliest the Heritage Rooms are permitted to open will be 17th May 2021. The work put in last year to make the Heritage Rooms ‘Covid secure’ will mean that re-opening can happen just as soon as permitted. Whether all groups will want to return immediately is at present uncertain. 

Inevitably for the Heritage Rooms this has taken a toll on hire income. However, the Trustees have been active in trying to plug the gap. The Heritage Rooms received three grants from NKDC to cover loss of income during the lockdown periods and these are most welcome. In previous years, the charity has held a Grand Raffle at the Heighington Christmas Festival which has raised significant sums. The cancellation of the 2020 Festival restricted fund-raising activities, but donations have continued to come in from alternative sources: these include regular donations (some eligible for Gift Aid,) single one-off donations, a legacy, and cash from the collection box situated at Anderson’s Butchers.  Washingborough Coop gave a box of cleaning materials ready for re-opening. Thank you to all who have donated. In January 2021, the 100 Club launched and is proving to be a success. 
The capital funds of the Charity are invested in COIF Charities Ordinary Investment Fund.  These have continued to perform well. 

The refurbishment project particularly in regard to alternative heating and insulation is still very much an objective. Conversations have taken place with heritage architects and a feasibility study has been commissioned. The Trustees are grateful to the Parish Council for a grant to fund the study. During the Spring quarter (March to June 2021) the Heritage Rooms will be local Coop Community Champions at the Washingborough Coop: each time a member shops and uses their dividend card a donation will be added to the fund. Any monies received will be put towards the refurbishment programme. Further grants will be sought to bring the project to fruition along with fund-raising in the community. 

Since the last annual report Ann Crust has retired as a Trustee and we extend our thanks for the significant input she has made to Garrett’s Charity over many years. Conscious of the tasks ahead, the Trustees were keen to increase the number of trustees managing the Charity and with the consent of both nominating bodies a request was made to the Charity. 
Commission which was agreed to. There are now nine managing trustees. We welcome our newest members to the team: Jane Chard was nominated to fill the PCC vacancy in December 2020; Michelle Hunter and Nick Eyre were co-opted in December 2020 and February 2021, respectively. The dedicated team continues to fulfil their responsibilities via Zoom until allowed to meet again in person. Let us all hope that will be soon. 
Ron Oxby, Chairman.