Necton Parish Council

Thanks to local resident, Kevin Miller, who has set up a No Cold Calling Zone covering  Oaks Drive, Ash Meadow and Maple Drive.  Kevin made the application to Norfolk County Council, undertook public consultation, sought support from the Parish Council and completed the necessary forms.

Now, the signs are installed and residents have their household packs which include stickers for their front doors, warning cold callers that they are not welcome.

Other residents are invited to make applications for their local road.  Follow this link to find out how to apply:  https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/business/trading-standards/consumer-advice/no-cold-calling-zones

Thank you Kevin, your neighbours will benefit with fewer nuisance callers knocking on their door.

 

 

Necton Parish Council utilised funds secured from Breckland Council’s Outdoor Sport & Play Fund to purchase and install a new table tennis facility.  The initiative came about following requests from local young people who are keen to add to the variety of sport and play activities already available on the playing field.

The table is already proving a success with all age groups, with grandparents playing against their grandchildren, young people playing against each other and active older groups utilising it as part of their active lifestyle routines.

Cllr Bateman, member of Necton Parish Council plays table tennis with his wife every day; “This is a fun way to add some outdoor exercise to our day.  Our routine is 30 minutes daily during the week at lunchtime and we extend this to an hour over the weekend.”

The village playing field already provides two football pitches, a smaller 5-a-side pitch with nets, basketball court, outdoor gym and a well-equipped children’s play area.   Football is organised through the Football Club, part of Necton’s Sports & Social Club.

The table tennis was supplied and installed by Fenland Leisure Products Ltd.

The Breckland Outdoor Sport & Play Fund is managed by Norfolk Community Foundation.

The AGM of Necton Rural Community Centre will be held on Monday, 22 May 2017, starting at 7.30 pm in the main hall of the community centre.

This is a public meeting and open to all residents.

The Annual Parish Meeting at Necton underwent a make-over this year.  We welcomed Jeremy Goss as our guest speaker, representing the Norfolk & Norwich Association for the Blind, a local charity who provides practical support and assistance to many local residents suffering from visual disabilities. Jeremy was accompanied by Donna Minto, Events & Community Officer for NNAB.  Together they explained the ethos and activities of the charity.

Afterwards, Jeremy spoke with our Community Reporter, Paul Young and you can listen to that interview here:

A vote of thanks was given by Cllr Phil Hayton on behalf of the Parish Council along with a donation of £100 to assist the NNAB in their work with local residents.

Our new Community Spirit Awards celebrated some of our wonderful village volunteers. Our own Nigel Wilkin, donned his red coat and tails and hosted these awards in his best Toastmaster style. Read the full story of these awards.

Other business at the Annual Parish Meeting

View our Annual Parish Meeting 2017, which incorporates the Clerk’s report on the year 2016/17.

Read our Annual Report 2017.

Read the County Councillor Report 2016-17 presented by Cllr Mark Kiddle-Morris (our current Ward Member).

Our minutes will be available shortly.

 

 

 

Some of Necton’s community spirited residents were recognised and celebrated at the Annual Parish Meeting on 27 April by Necton Parish Council through their new initiative, Community Spirit Awards.

Seven local people were nominated by residents and all received a Certificate presented by guest speaker, Jeremy Goss, well-known previous Norwich City footballer.  From these nominations, three were selected by an independent panel for their extra special contribution to the village.   These three Stars each received a certificate and a £40 voucher for a meal at the Necton Windmill.  These prizes were sponsored by local company, Town Farm Cars.

3 Star winners

Mrs Babs Hastell for her involvement in community life since she moved to Necton in 1968.  Babs has served on the Parish Council as Councillor and Chairman; served on Necton WI as committee member, moving to vice-president in 1977 and later president.  She has been the village Lollipop Lady, Yoga Club Organiser, The Thursday Club Organiser, as well as helping with other groups through the years.  She is still an active member of the Necton Bowls Club.  For 30 years she was the Dinner Supervisor at the village school and for the same length of time looked after The Cubs.

Babs was a campaigner of local issues.  In 1987, she lead a campaign to save the local postal services.  She also organised campaigns to protect local hospital and surgery cuts, which would affect vulnerable people.  Letters to the then Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, were all in a day’s work for Babs.

Frank Woodward for his life-long commitment to the Parish Council, campaigning for improvements to village infrastructure, managing village assets and being available at any time of the day or night for residents.  His Parish Council career spans 32 years.

Frank began life as a councillor in 1985, whilst still working locally as a full-time white goods engineer.  He worked tirelessly under several long standing Council Chairman as Vice-Chairman, before becoming Chairman himself in the late 90’s.   He was an organiser of the Village Appraisal 2006, a significant project collecting and collating the views of all residents into a detailed report, which helped to inform the objectives of Council and Village Hall committee in providing services suited to the identified needs.

From about 1983 until late 1990’s Frank was on the village hall committee, most of the time as president. During this time, the committee organised fundraising events such as bonfire and firework displays, dances and fetes.    He was also on the judo club committee until its closure.

Today, Frank is the Vice-Chairman of the Parish Council, a member of the Sports & Social Club committee and a trustee on the Iceni Partnership in Swaffham.

Leonard(Lenny) Luff for his dedication to his role as the Village Caretaker.  One might say he is doing his job, but in Lenny’s case, he does much more than ‘just his job’.  Lenny, now 84, has been officially employed by Necton Parish Council for over six years, although was doing the job for many years before that.  Lenny is out every day – in his yellow high Vis jacket or vest – equipped with litter picker stick and bin bag, walking or cycling his established routes of the village, making sure everywhere is covered at least once every week.   Known by everybody, Lenny has a friendly word and smile for everybody he meets.  He keeps a close eye on fly-tipping issues along our rural village roads, removing what he can and reporting what is not so easily removed.  Every year, he gives the litter and dog-waste bins a wash down, removes posters from poles and generally keeps our village looking very cared for.  He has a soft spot for wild life – known to rescue the odd hedgehog and bring it to the rescue centre.   Lenny’s sunny outlook on life makes a wonderful difference to those people he meets out and about in the village and for some this may be the only friendly face they see that day.

Thank you to those who helped make this event happen

• Nigel Wilkin for his excellent Toastmaster performance.
• Jeremy Goss for enthusiastically presenting the awards to our nominees and stars.
• Town Farm Cars for their sponsorship of the event this year.
• Our independent panel, serving Breckland Cllrs. Shirley Matthews, Frank Sharpe and Peter Wilkinson, who managed to increase the number of winners from two to three by creating a tie-break situation.
• Our lovely nominees, who by their generous and unstinting contribution to village volunteering provided us with a reason to celebrate.
• And our residents, who put forward these lovely people as their nominations for Community Star Awards 2017.

Nominations for 2018 are welcome now.  Deadline for receipt is 31 March 2018 – but don’t wait – do it now.

All residents of Necton are warmly invited to attend this annual open meeting of the Parish.

The Parish Council traditionally facilitates the meeting and creates a running order to include current matters known to be of interest to the community.  However, members of the Parish may raise for discussion any relevant matters.

Running order for the evening:

Chairman’s Welcome

Apologies

Minutes of the last Annual Parish meeting, 28 April 2016

Report by Clerk about the year 2016-17

Report from Cllr Wilkin about Breckland District Council topical issues and take questions from the floor

Report from Cllr Kiddle-Morris about Norfolk County Council topical issues and take questions from the floor

Presentation from Jeremy Goss (of Norwich City fame), representing Norfolk & Norwich Association for the Blind

Community Spirit Awards – celebrating some of Necton’s wonderful volunteers

Questions & discussion

Refreshments following the meeting provided by Necton Parish Council

David Matthews

Chairman

19 April 2017

Thanks to local residents who are helping to green up our village.

You may have noticed the blaze of bright spring colour at the bus stop on the A47 eastbound.  When the shelter was installed, over 250 daffodil bulbs were planted by a local resident and his wife.   This kind gesture will ensure that our bus shelter will provide waiting passengers with a visual delight for many spring times to come.

Meanwhile, as snowdrops begin to fade, another resident contacted the Parish Council to offer a number of clumps of snowdrops ‘in the green’ for planting.

With the help of the Chairman of the Allotment Association, these snowdrops were lifted and replanted along the new North Pickenham Trod, a perfect spot of dappled shade, where they will settle in and naturalise.

 

 

 

NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL has made a Temporary Traffic Order affecting the C17 Necton Road closed from a point 50m south of its junction with U35202 Barrows Hole Lane heading south for 50mtrs in the PARISH OF LITTLE DUNHAM because of new water connection.

The road will be temporarily closed (except for access) from 5^th April 2017 to 7^th April 2017 for the duration of the works, expected to be about 3 days within the period.

Alternative route is via: C117 Necton Road/Dunham Road, A47 From J A1075/b1135 To Dualling At Swaffham Bypass, C240 Station Road/Beeston Road C123 Station Road/The Street U35202 Barrows Hole Lane (Little Dunham CP,Great Dunham CP,Necton CP,Fransham CP)

The person dealing with enquiries at Norfolk County Council is Martin Dixon (Community and Environmental Services) Telephone 0344 800 8020.

Dated this 31^st day of March 2017