The parish council uses Facebook as a means to quickly inform the parishioners about various activities, issues in the parish, changes to meetings etc. and basically anything we think might be of interest.

Historically the council only used its website and noticeboards so this is a significant change. We recognise that not everybody will make a conscious decision to go to the parish council website on a regular basis and with Facebook notifications dropping onto your devices it becomes effortless.

From time to time parishioners will make comments or ask questions. Our social media policy (you can find this on our website) states “Worthington Parish Council runs its social media pages so that it can pass information on to residents quickly. Social media accounts will not necessarily be checked daily and posts will not necessarily be responded to. Worthington Parish Council’s social media accounts are primarily a tool to pass information on.”

Not all parish councillors use Facebook, and with posts being shared to village groups it can happen that posts disappear quite quickly. We are always keen to hear residents’ views but we don’t want to engage in discussions / debates on an informal communication medium.

Of course if someone asks for example about a meeting date, and we capture the comment, then it will be responded to but residents should be aware that comments or messages on social media are not recognized as legal or official notification to the parish council.

To ensure your concern/query, whatever it might be, is formally logged and responded to, please contact the Clerk directly by email clerk@worthington-pc.gov.uk. Please also be aware that, as a small parish council, our clerk Callum Bryant works part-time so your query may not be responded to immediately but rest assured he will come back to you as quickly as possible.

During the past year, you will have seen Facebook posts and parish council minutes outlining our proposal to enhance the Church Street play area with the installation of a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), designed to appeal to a wider age range of young people. We finalised designs and undertook an informal consultation in the village prior to applying for planning permission.

As a result of feedback from immediate residents, the MUGA project has been scaled back resulting in a smaller project which necessitated the return of much of the grant funding. We will be installing a couple of new pieces of play equipment for younger children, tidying up the basketball area and creating a hard surfaced path through the park.

We were planning to install CCTV which was primarily intended to protect the public investment in the MUGA; the decision now not to proceed on that scale means CCTV has not been prioritised in the budgeting and not included in the final plan.

Installation of new pieces of play equipment will commence on Wednesday 20th May. Other works will be communicated in due course.

We will be holding our Annual Parish Meeting and Annual Parish Council Meeting on Wednesday May the 13th at 6pm and 6:30 pm respectively at St. Matthew’s Church, Worthington. The agendas can be viewed here: APM | APCM.

The Annual Parish Meeting will start at 6pm, this is not to be confused with the Annual Parish Council Meeting, which will follow.

The Annual Parish Meeting is for all electors of the parish. It is not a meeting of the parish council. Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting; however, only registered electors of the parish may speak and vote during the meeting. Local community groups are usually invited (they are not obliged to attend) and can give an overview of the previous year’s activities and what they are planning for the following year.

Any registered elector may ask a question of the council which will usually be answered by the Chair, the Clerk of the Council, or a designated Councillor. An elector may also make a suggestion and comment on anything pertinent to the residents of the parish. This will be welcomed and is the whole purpose of the meeting.

The Annual Parish Council Meeting is the first meeting of the Parish Council in the parish year: a Chair and Vice-Chair are elected. It must be held in May and is the formal foundation that allows the council to carry out its work for the rest of the year.

Two parish councillors out and about around the parish on a lovely sunny day checking for condition of road signs, street signs and potholes.

Nice of people to stop and say thank you!

Last year we did a similar exercise and happy to report many of the issues, including potholes, were addressed by Leicestershire County Council.

Armed with a garden spray, washing up liquid, loppers and stepladder we managed to clean a number of signs, removed foliage that was hiding some signs and generally had a thoroughly productive morning! Issues we couldn’t resolve ourselves have been reported to county council.

Some before and afters. And nice pair of legs on show Chris! The other legs (encased in leggings) were behind the camera 🤣.

Why have an allotment?

• Grow your own fresh fruit & veg
• Save money on groceries – beat the cost of living crisis AND potential food shortages
• Boost your mental health & wellbeing
• Connect with nature and the local community
• Stay active and enjoy the outdoors – cheaper than going to the gym!
• Learn new skills and share tips with fellow growers

Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, allotments offer many benefits.

To find out more, please contact the parish clerk – clerk@worthington-pc.gov.uk

Allotments are in Newbold

Yesterday saw the first of our defibrillator / CPR training sessions at St. Matthew’s Church, Worthington.

The event was well supported and led by local resident Mr. Ray Woolley. Ray was a member of the ambulance service for 16 years and has considerable actual experience of administering CPR and using defibrillators for cases of cardiac arrest. In fact he received a number of commendations for saving lives and in one instance had to administer CPR for 35 minutes; as the participants will now know that is some considerable feat and requires a great deal of physical energy. Ray explained the workings of AEDs (automated external defibrillator) and we all had an opportunity to see for ourselves how they work.

We are very grateful to Ray for carrying out the training and thank all the participants and hope it was a valuable session.

If there is sufficient interest, we will be happy to arrange more training later in the year.

And as a reminder, the five public access defibrillators are located at Newbold School, Cross Keys Inn in Newbold, St. Matthew’s Church in Worthington, the Malt Shovel public house in Worthington and Griffydam School. The exact location with What3Words details are on the parish council website https://www.worthington-pc.gov.uk/our-parish/defibrillators/ and on noticeboards around the parish.

It appears that dogs are being walked down the grass track at the side of the allotments, probably early morning / late evening and sadly their human companions are not picking up after them. Its not very pleasant for the allotment tenants so please little canines, if your human takes you for a stroll and doesn’t see your deposits, give them a little nudge to pick up! Thank you.

The meeting scheduled for 8th April has been moved to Thursday 16th April at Newbold School, commencing 6.00 p.m. The agenda will be published prior to the meeting.