Parish council chief praises councillors

Making sure village life went on as normal as possible was always the aim of Charlesworth Parish Council when the first lockdown began 12 months ago.

Despite meeting by Zoom and not face-to-face, members reckon they have achieved it.

Councillors made a start on the village orchard, trained to operate speedwatch cameras, gave cash to good causes and much more.

Exactly what progress has been made was outlined by council chair Kath Swindells at the annual Charlesworth Parish Meeting, also held by Zoom.

Thanking councillors and the parish clerk for their ‘continued hard work’, she said: “Nobody would have thought at the beginning of 2020 that the year would be so challenging. We had a good start and arranged defibrillator training for members of the public to attend in January.

“Little did we suspect that by the end of 2020 that our parish defibrillators would have saved two lives. 

“Early in the year, three of our parish councillors attended a training session at the police station so that they could play an active role in the local Speedwatch group.  

“Although this is not a parish council issue, the speed of the traffic coming though the village is a great concern to the residents and the parish council continues to fully support the village.   

“The parish council also helped the local school with the request for a second crossing patrol and with the help of Cllr Jean Wharmby we pushed through interview timing so that the crossing was covered in January and February. 

“After March, due to Covid-19 we were faced with altering the way we held our meetings and despite the challenges of Zoom, I’m very proud of the way we have managed to work together as a team and continue to support our community. 

“We have continued to look after the common land in the village and created a sub-committee to look at our responsibilities for common land. 

“We carried out some minor repairs to play equipment on the village green and replaced the majority of the bark.   

“We also continued the upkeep of Brenda Tetlows Gardens and Pinfold and would like to thank our parish council gardeners for their hard work during this past year. 

“Our largest project this year was to repair the surface of the common land on Town Lane at the side of Pinfold leading up to the school.  

“We have also contributed towards other projects in the village, donating £150 to a plaque and £600 to a pathway linking Long Lane to Marple Road. 

“During lockdown, we were quick to tackle the cancellation of the local bus through the village and this was very quickly re-instated. 

“Our final project was the approval of an orchard for the village green, the trees have now been planted and I look forward to reporting back with the progression of this project.”

Cllr Swindells added: “I would like to say it is an honour to serve as the chair to such a proactive group of councillors during what has proved to be a difficult year.  

“Despite the cancellation of the well dressing, carnival and Remembrance Service we have managed to accomplish a lot and I look forward to working on future projects during the next 12 months.”

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