May 2025 Chair's Report
Chair’s Annual Report 2024/25:
The past year has been a bit of an adventure for the Parish Council in various ways.
Our long-standing parish clerk Janet retired last May and due to family circumstances our new clerk had to step back last Autumn and we now have Caroline as our clerk.
We welcomed five new councillors to the Parish Council over last year to give us a full house again.
The big community project of a Neighbourhood Plan for Great Gonerby was also launched early last year and is in full swing now towards completion by the end of this year.
So some other things to tell you about…
The Memorial Hall & Recreation Ground –
The management committee have continued their great work in managing the hall, the field and play facilities over the past year.
Can I thank the Memorial Hall trustees for their hard work on behalf of the Parish Council - and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with you in the year ahead.
St Sebastian’s Parish and Hill Top Cemeteries –
Our two Parish cemeteries continued to provide a facility for the village, with Hill Top being our open cemetery for current interments. We worked hard last year on improving the visual appearance at Hill Top and loved meeting visiting families and having a chat while we gardened.
The additional lighting and extended CCTV system has reduced the reports of anti-social behaviour and damage in the car park area.
High Street –
The hanging baskets continued to decorate the High Street, adding a lovely splash of colour and really are a great feature of the village. A huge thank you to Jeff Thompson for coordinating the planting and watering of the baskets and thanks to all the helpers for planting them up in May. Thanks too to Keith for supplying the plants.
Also a thank you to the mystery knitter who delighted us all last year with the amazing themed post box toppers.
The village bus stop library continued to be well used and is a lovely facility for all ages to make use of for a good book or jigsaw.
And as for the Post Office, how lucky are we to have such a special hub in our village, with all its services and amazing staff.
The Pond Area –
The pond area with its friendship/lock down bench continued to provide a lovely focal point of the village, with statue Charlie being the feature.
Our green areas -
The village grassed areas continued to be maintained to as high standard as possible, despite the mix of weather causing an ongoing growth spurt everywhere. The Parish Council was contracted once again to carry out verge grass cutting on behalf of Lincs County Council, with SKDC responsible for other grassed areas.
Additional developments in the past year have been the planting of 17 community fruit trees in three areas in the vicinity of Kelham Road.
The Millennium Wood on the recreation field had a lot of undergrowth cleared by volunteers, which improved visibility and reduced antisocial behaviour and disturbance to local residents.
Other Parish activities
Grant applications and sponsorship continued to be a focus last year, which has seen new white posts around the green, the new bus shelter, three large speed signs and solar panels erected on the Memorial Hall.
The village Christmas Tree became a focus for lots of sparkle over the Christmas period, with a terrific light switch-on celebration with so many villagers joining the fun.
We launched a new website for the Parish to make it fit for purpose and a lot more user friendly. great-Gonerby.parish.Lincolnshire.gov.uk
The three parish defibrillators continued to be maintained by the Parish Council so they are always ready for use.
The new Pelican crossing was introduced on the High Street to replace the old zebra crossing by the school. Double yellows on Long Street and Pond Street were introduced too, to deter bad parking at school times in particular.
Our financial position is good, having managed our budgets diligently and with good sense.
I need to record our thanks to Pat Eland for her invaluable work in keeping the village in such a litter-free condition. Although both Caroline and Pat are our paid employees, I know they have regularly gone over and beyond their duties to ensure their respective roles are fulfilled.
And a big thank you to all my fellow councillors for your involvement in the village - we’re all volunteers and passionate about doing our best for the community
We continue to strive to keep a balance between representing the views of our residents and the longer term development of the village. It is so important that the village retains its character and identity, but also evolves to meet the needs of the inevitably expanding village population.
But regardless of all this, I know we’re all proud to live in such a lovely parish.
Yours faithfully
Ginny Beckett
Vice Chair,
Great Gonerby Parish Council