2025 Annual Parish Meeting

MINUTES OF FRAMPTON PARISH COUNCIL ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON 17TH APRIL 2024 AT 1930 AT HUBBERTS BRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTRE

 

Present: Cllr Ashton (Chairman), Cllr Fowler, Cllr Hladun, Cllr Balgarnie, Cllr Claire, Cllr Hildred, Cllr Burton and Cllr Pryke (Boston Borough Councillor – Kirton & Frampton Ward).

Absent: Cllr Rylott (Boston Borough Councillor – Kirton & Frampton Ward), Cllr Tennent, Cllr Hildred, Cllr Middleton (Boston Borough Councillor – Kirton & Frampton Ward) and Cllr Austin (Lincolnshire County Councillor).

In attendance: Lana Maclennan-James (Clerk & Responsible Finance Officer) and Members of the public.

 

1. Welcome from Cllr Stuart Ashton, Council Chair (Agenda item 1 APM 17.04.25)

 

Cllr Ashton gave a welcome to all in attendance and thank everyone here that has prepared a report for what is going on in the parish. 

 

2. Approval of minutes from last year’s Annual Parish Meeting 18.04.2024 - (Agenda item 2 APM 17.04.25)

The minutes were signed and approved as a true and correct record.

3. To receive report from members of the Parish and Community groups (Agenda item 3 17.04.25) 

 

 

This has been the groups 19th year running, they started this year with talks from the Lincolnshire Aircraft Recovery Group, Boston Stitchers and about the diaries of Henry Winn and more too. 

 

 

Services: The monthly pattern of services during the year has been two at St. Mary’s and one at St. Michael’s. The third Sunday is a group service in St. Leodegar’s and every fifth Sunday the service is held in rotation among the three churches. We are fortunate to have the Reverend Canon Sudharshan Sarvananthan to lead our worship, ably supported by the church wardens and by Mike Eyre, who took on the new role of Focal Minister at the end of the year. Congregation numbers in St. Mary’s remain steady and we have welcomed two or three regular new members. St. Michael’s Church has a small congregation but St. Mary’s supports their service on every fourth Sunday. Fund-raising: St. Mary’s main fund-raising event is the autumn Craft Fair, which has now been held for almost 20 years. This year there was a new event which we hope will become equally popular: a Christmas Tree Festival over two weekends in December. We also lit the Spire. This last was not new but has not taken place for a while, and not for so many days over the Christmas period. In June we marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day with a musical event organised by Onstage in Frampton, with the profits shared between the PCC and Onstage. Louise Balgarnie and Rachael Everett have been very involved in the additional fund-raising. They also organise a Saturday Coffee Morning with craft activities every other month. St. Michael’s held Coffee Mornings and the very popular annual Pancake Evening on Shrove Tuesday. Unfortunately a planned Stew and Dumplings evening in the autumn had to be called off through insufficient support. The Friends of Frampton Churches arranged an afternoon tea in St. Mary’s, with Horace Liberty speaking about the history of Liberty’s of London. The WI also held their afternoon tea in the church. The PCC would like to thank the Parish Council for the Newsletter and for giving details of our services and events. If anyone would like any further information, please feel free to approach any member of the Church, who I am sure will help. We are sorry there is no one here to present this report, but it is the Passover service at St. Michael’s this evening. Lastly - and hot off the press! - we think we have found someone who will come to take on the church cleaning in St. Mary’s. The bats make a lot of mess during the spring and summer.

 

Frampton VC Hall Chairman, On Stage In Frampton, Frampton Charities - Wendy Cope 

 

Frampton Charities – It has been business as usual, managing both investments and farm tenancies, they maintain the playing field with minimal issues this year. She is sad to report the death of Me Brian Woods, who passed away recently, who acted as a warden for the playing field. 90 pensioners, 5 students and several village organisations received grants from the Charities. Wendys time as Chairperson is coming to an end and her role will be taken over by David Hildred.

 

Frampton Village Hall – Wendy introduced Stephen Plumber, the new Chairperson to take Wendys place when she retires. The hall is still having its regular hirings from Pre-school, Parish Council, WI, Dance and other hires including casual bookings. This year the electrical circuits needed some work doing for their insurance policy. Stephen freshly painted the rails outside of the village hall too. Wendy thanked the preschool for continuing to pay for the broadband account and the Parish Council for the defibrillator. We were very pleased to receive a grant from the “Bicker Trust”, part of the Lincolnshire Community Foundation. This grant paid for the new eco-friendly LED lighting to be installed in the main hall and kitchen. Wendy also shared that Louise Balgarnie will be taking over her role as Treasurer. 

 

On Stage Frampton – Wendy shared that fundraising remains as crucial as ever, On Stage held two great fundraising events this year. After 30 years of promoting shows, On Stage has evolved in to Frampton Hall Live. The next event is on May 4th, with the return of Gerry Graham with his show for VE Day. 

 

Cllr Ashton thanked Wendy for all of her years work and wished her the very best for the future. 

 

WI – 

 

WI membership currently stands at 59, they were recognised as the WI whose membership had increased the most and they brought home the trophy. Alongside their normal meetings they also run many side groups/clubs. They have continued their quest of attending all the local venues, encouraging more and different mixes of members to attend, helping bonding and encourage new friendships. Over the last year they have had talks from Vicky Reed, Joan Dean and John Cooper, they have tasted world-wide cuisine, had a session of chair yoga and many more fun things for their members and the community. 

 

Thanked the committee for all their amazing hard work. 

 

 

Andrew shared the hall is doing nicely, bookings are on the up with less traditional bookings than expected.  The hall is in fairly good order, there are arrangements for the floor to be sanded and revarnished with thanks to the Parish Council for a grant. They have held many events such as car boots and bingo. The hall is hoping to get a roadside notice board on the grass near the road for people to be able to see what is going on with ease. Stephen retired from the committee last month after many years of service so the committee is still looking for members. The hall booking system is working very well. There are also new lights and cameras fitted.

 

 

The club was formed in 1988, the bells were refurbished and added to. Before Covid, the bell ringers would visit local care homes especially before Christmas, they have tried to get this back on track but it is a struggle. They are also looking to get back in to playing in music shows. They do not charge however; they do ask for subs and donations due to insurance of the bells and expenses. There is currently 8 people in the group. 

 

Cllr Ashton invited the group to put something in to the newsletter for May. 

 

 

Myra shared that they are now down to one service a month since Val Marriot has left. This service is a joint service on the 4th Sunday of each month. A service on the 5th Sunday alternates between St Michaels and St Mary’s. The usual events such as pancake day took place and were well received. A damaged tree had to be removed from the front of the Church.

 

Regarding the hall, there is a steady stream of bookings however, still room for more bookings to be taken. They are becoming stricter with single-time bookings due to an issue with damage and mess caused from one previously. 

 

John shared that the nesting birds in 2024 included over 400 pairs of nesting waders, this included over 170 pairs of Abaset birds who have had chicks. He has also seen a Snipe Chick nesting on the reserve. The past winter was record breaking in many ways with over 23,000 widgeon and a Lincolnshire record count of wild hooper swans of 1140. The RSPB have installed the worlds first sea-aster mining bee hotel, due to works being done on the sea bank this was constructed to give the bees a suitable habitat on Frampton Marsh. 

 

They have installed a new Sculpture called Haven, which is part of transported arts “Wing” trail. This can be found on the North Side of the reed bed opposite the centre. They have also done some path improvements and have had some funding to put some new windows in to the visitor’s centre but some structural work has had to be done to allow the installation of these. 

 

Frampton RSPB have been working with Freiston Shore to help create a Lagoon to be a habitat for a lot of migrating birds.

 

In partnership with Frog life, RSPB have had some funds to put in some new ponds for newts and other pond life. 

 

Lastly, RSPB have been developing an application for DEFRA as part of their land recovery programme. 

 

 

It has been a steady year of monthly events; in September they held a Macmillan’s coffee morning raising over £800. They also held a new tradition of afternoon tea at St Mary’s in July. They are holding an AGM on the 28th of April at St Michales with a short history talk by Joan Deane. The small but very enthusiastic committee are seen in many guises around the village but continue to being committed to preserving the churches in Frampton. Membership for FOFC is just £10 per year.

 

 

The past year has seen us happily dancing our troubles away at Frampton village hall!  I continue to teach two very popular tap classes - Tuesday evenings and Thursday afternoons. although the Tuesday class started just over a year ago as " a beginners tap class", my ladies have quickly become skilled in the basics of tap dancing and are going from strength to strength. It is a very chatty, friendly class and it's wonderful for me to hear students remark that it's the most enjoyable hour of the week!!

I started a second "keep fit & dance" class on Tuesday evenings, but numbers were low, so am just continuing to hold my Thursday afternoon class, which is popular and more established, at the moment.

In March,we were thrilled and honoured to be asked once again to perform at south holland centre, Spalding, as part of the Spalding rotary clubs annual variety show. 15 of my students performed a tap routine and a modern jazz routine. their ages were from 20s' to 80s' and I was very proud of them all. In the future i am hoping to take some of my ladies to various groups to demonstrate what great exercise for the mind and body dancing can be. It is always a pleasure to use Frampton village hall as our base and we hope to be there for many years to come, filling the hall with music and dance.

 

 

We continue to hold our evening indoor meetings on the last Thursday of the month in Frampton Village Hall where we currently charge only £1 door entry. Our raffle and refreshment sales continue to produce a regular small income, and our annual subscriptions are £15.  This income, together with our very welcome Parish Grant, and an annual member’s June ‘open garden’ event enables us to just about break even financially. 

 

We have a total membership of about 30, of which about about  22 regularly attend our talks. Several have joined recently as a result of much publicity from Frampton WI’s help in launching their Facebook page to include FGC.

 

Good speakers are a key attraction but we have limited this to March, April, September, October and November, as many now charge £150 or more. Several speakers do bring a range of plants which members are keen to buy.  

 

We have our AGM, flower competition and quiz in May, a coach outing in July and our Produce Show & competition in August.   We do not meet in December, January and February. Winter evenings are not popular with our ageing members.    However we do enjoy a January Club Lunch at the Thatched Cottage, Sutterton, when we take advantage of their reduced price Seniors’ Lunch for about 25 to 30.

 

In 2024 we reserved 24 seats on a Haines coaches trip to Cambridge Botanic Gardens, which proved so successful we are repeating this for their 2025 outing to Pensthorpe Gardens in Norfolk.

 

In what seems to be a common theme in all clubs nowadays we are sadly losing many of our Committee through retirement: Phil Jameson (treasurer),  Di Froy (speaker-finder), Denise and Stuart Lindley (who organised our raffle and managed the cash). 

 

We need to recruit new members to our Committee in May, as there will only be three left: Susan Starling (raffle), Maggie Welberry (membership secretary/ cashier) and myself (chairman, acting treasurer and speaker-finder).

 

The chairman finished the reports by thanking everyone involved. 

 

4. Chairman’s report (Agenda item 4 APM 17.04.25) 

 

Cllr Ashton shared that as a Parish Council we are here to help you, if anyone is struggling, please approach us with anything you need, if we can help, we will. 

 

He thanked everyone for coming and sharing their reports. 

 

5. Questions and comments (Agenda item 5 APM 17.04.25)

 

Keith asked if he could fix the wood supporting the Gibbet Nook sign. Cllr Ashton said the Council would be very grateful if he did. 

 

 

The meeting ended at 20:25