Wellesbourne & District Lions

Summer seems long gone - I think it finished in mid July this year! People are starting to talk about the dreaded ‘C’ word. (Christmas he whispers).

The Lions held a bucket collection on Saturday 28th August at Wellesbourne Co-op to give the people of Wellesbourne and the surrounding area the opportunity to show their generosity towards the flood victims in Pakistan. An impressive £467.63 was raised and all of the money has been forwarded to the Lions Club International Pakistan Floods Appeal. So we would like to thank everybody who donated and also thank Mr McGrath and his team at the Co-op for making us welcome.

The next major event we are presenting is, ‘The Magical Mayhem Show’ with Mel Harvey on Saturday 23rd October at 7.30pm in Kineton Village Hall. Tickets are priced at £12.50 to include a hot supper with dessert. There will be a licensed bar and a raffle. Tickets are available from Lion President Terry Offiler on 01926 624153, Lion Max Down on 01789 841567, Lion Vick Horton on 01926 640329 or from Shakespeare Hospice shops. Please join us for what should be a fun evening. Proceeds to Shakespeare Hospice and Lions Charities.

An advance notice that the annual afternoon of entertainment for senior citizens in the district will be taking place at Kineton High School on 30th November. More details will appear next month, but if you would like to know more please contact Lion Vick Horton on 01926 640329.

Finally that ‘C’ word again. Would your charity like to join the Lions for an evening in this year's Christmas float collections? If you can offer some helpers and would like to be considered for this event please talk to Lion Max Down on 01789 841567. All charities taking part receive a share of the money collected during the event.

Lion Andy Stokes

Parish Council Notes

Advice from our Auditor
The Parish Council received the result of the Council’s external Auditor investigation into seven objections to its accounts. One has been upheld, and in this case the auditor has advised that the Parish Council increases the level of delegated authority to the Clerk to the Council. None of the other objections were upheld.

Chedham’s Yard
The Barrister appointed by the Auditor has given his opinion that the development of the Yard is not covered by the law defining the powers of the Parish Council. We now have two entirely contradictory views, one from the National Association of Local Councils, the other from the Auditor. The Parish Council has taken the view that for the Council to pursue this legal argument further will lead to unnecessary expense and delay. With the continued assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, we are seeking to set up the Trust which was always intended to manage the Yard, once the restoration was complete, and for the Trust to take forward the project. The result of this may lead to some delay, but this will be as little as possible. The Parish Council will be asking the National Association to take the legal argument up at a National Level.

Three other points
1. The Council’s Correspondence to the Auditor will be published on the Council’s website. Paper copies are available through the office to anyone asking for them.
2. The cost of this additional work by the Auditor will have to be paid by the Council Tax payers of Wellesbourne from the Council’s current budget.
3. These notes are written about three weeks before they are published. Events occur between writing and publication, so I always choose my words as carefully as possible, and because of the nature of the Wellesbourne and Walton News, I deliberately avoid controversy. I think that this is the sensible thing to do.

Work is going ahead on repairs to the Sports Club Building, Vision 4 Wellesbourne, and the Extension to the Burial Ground.

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on 5^th October at the Methodist Hall at 7.30. All are welcome.

Parish Council Committee Meetings scheduled for October are:
Finance and Administration, and Office and Staffing Committee: 12 October 7.30 at the Parish Office
Amenities Committee: 19 October also 7.30 at the Parish Office.

David Johnston, Chair - Wellesbourne Parish Council

St Peter’s Tiddlers

It is great to be back at pre-school after a relaxing summer break. We welcome back some children and are delighted to be joined by some new faces.

This half term we will be learning about ourselves, each other and our families.

We will also be exploring our local environment on welly Wednesday walks.

We have lots of new books so we will learn how to handle and look after them. Last term the children chose their favourite stories to explore in more detail. We will find out what the author and illustrator do and look at other titles by them. Some popular choices were The Gruffalo, Someone Bigger and The Enormous Turnip.

Children at Tiddlers are very creative, so we are excited by large outdoor art projects planned for this term. Inside we will be gluing, cutting, painting, modelling and weaving to create the journey from the Bear Hunt.

Many thanks to all those who collected Sainsbury's and Tesco vouchers for us. The new equipment has arrived. The staff are particularly looking forward to playing with the water channelling stands and guttering!

The staff have been busy this year; Jo and Claire completed their NVQ level 3 in Children's care, learning and development and Sue her level 2. All staff have completed their level 2 awards in safe-guarding. This is a six month correspondence course. Sally has passed the first year of her Early Years degree.

Tiddlers pre-school runs from 9.15-12.15 week days during term time.

There is an optional lunch club until 1.00 costing £2.50. If you are interested in a place for your child from 2 years 9 months upwards please visit us at the church rooms after 10am and watch us at play.

Our OFSTED No. is 200773.