In attendance Tony McKenzie(clerk), David Lake/Paul Kenefick (Footpaths Officers and Tree Wardens), Nobby Clark (Somerset County Council )

Apologies were received from Barbara Berks.

Minutes of the last meeting held on 24^th April 2006 had been signed at the parish council meeting held on 8^th May 2006.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending

The Chairman was pleased to report that things have progressed well during the year.

The new village hall has been completed and is an asset to the village. She said well done to everyone who worked so hard on the project from start to finish and reported that the Parish Council is still supporting the hall with an annual grant towards the cost of insurance.

The 7 low cost houses at Willow Mead have also been completed and are being enjoyed by the occupants. There is space for 3 more if required and we have, in the last village newsletter, asked for anyone interested to contact Falcon Rural Housing direct so that they can assess the need.

She was pleased to say that both these developments will be officially opened by the Mayor of Taunton on the 22^nd June this year.

The Cook’s bus service continues to be a benefit to the village taking people to Taunton and Musgrove Park hospital. Somerset County Council are currently reviewing all bus services in Taunton Deane Borough Council area that receive financial support and she was pleased to report that they propose no changes to our service.

During the year the Parish Council have received and following visits to all the sites commented on 23 planning applications.

A new rubbish bin has been supplied by the Parish Council opposite the post office in response to requests from residents.

Discussions have also taken place on a new village notice board to replace the Parish Council notice board currently on the wall of the old village hall and it is hoped to complete this project this year.

She also reported that since December 06 we have had a new Police Community Beat Manager supplemented by a Police Community Support Officer to cover our area. The P.C.S.O. has held 3 surgeries in the village hall for local residents including North Curry and Burrowbridge to go along and discuss any problems.

She thanked the footpaths officer, David Lake, for all he has done over the years in making sure our footpaths are very well maintained which has often been a difficult task. David is now retiring to take a well earned rest but has spent the past 3 months in training and assisting Paul Kenefick, our new footpaths officer, in the art of footpath management. She welcomed Paul to the team and assured him of our assistance on all matters.

The village newsletter now published every 2 months always contains a section on Parish Council news and the Council would like to continue to maintain a close liaison with local residents, the school, youth club which seems to go from strength to strength and all other clubs and societies.

She reminded local residents to feel free to come to our meetings to let us know if anything concerns them.Meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 7.30pm in the Williams Hall.

She thanked the Clerk for the professional way he has carried out his duties during the year and also thanked our County Councillor, Nobby Clark, and all Parish Councillors for their efforts on behalf of the village.

She concluded by thanking the 3 Councillors who were not seeking re-election for their efforts during their time in office and said that she looked forward to the coming year with enthusiasm and interest.

Parish Council Accounts The Clerk presented the accounts and gave details of all grants and donations made during the year. He reported that expenditure was in line with the budget that had been set and income was increased by the amount received for burial fees. He also reported that the precept for 2007/ 2008 had again been set at £ 6000, the same figure that had been maintained for the past few years. A member of the public thanked the Clerk for producing a clear set of accounts.

The accounts will now be audited by David Lake and the Annual Return prepared for the external auditors.

Playing Field Accounts The Playing Field accounts were presented by the new treasurer Tom Stobie. He reported that income was up because of grants received from T.D.B.C. and the Somerset County Councillors fund. This money had been used in the play area to buy new toys and for fencing/of the BMX track. Other major items of expenditure were for renovation work in the pavilion including a new floor and the extension of the BMX track.

Village Hall Accounts TM reported on the financial report and accounts that had been prepared for the Charity Commissioners.

He reported that the bank accounts for the old hall had been closed and the balances transferred into the accounts for the new hall.

Grants received were in the region of £250k and the donors were listed in the notes to the accounts. It would not have been possible to build the hall without them. He also thanked Alex Morrice for all his hard work in applying for and obtaining the grants.

All known costs of the new building have been included in the accounts. There was a 5% overspend on budget and this was because some facilities had been upgraded (eg. the kitchen) as more grants had become available.

Vicky Duxbury, Chairman of the Willow Set Playgroup reported that they had 26 children at present but 13 would be going to the village school in September. New members would also be joining in September. She said they were looking at extended hours possibly up to 5.30pm. They were also very disappointed that their application for funding to move to the school site had recently been rejected as this had always been their aim but were now exploring alternative funding sources. She concluded by saying that they had an open door policy and anyone could go along and have a look round.

Dennis Silk, Chairman of the committee thanked Stuart Wilkinson for all his hard work over the years, Jean House who had retired during the year as treasurer after many years and Sue Hembrow, Secretary for her energy and dedication. He reported that the Tennis club had a successful year, thanks to the Owen’s, the BMX track gave pleasure to the young people which was one the committee’s main aims and the children’s playground was a success thanks to the hard work and efforts of the Williams family. He also reported on the improvements to the pavilion and that new cricket nets supplied by the M.C.C. Foundation were being installed.

The Stoke Stampede had again been a great success and he said that although dead trees had to be removed they would be replaced with new ones.

Nick Bright, Chairman reported that they were very pleased with the new Village Hall and its facilities and that 3 successful productions had been staged since its opening. The Youth Drama group had another successful year and were again going to perform at the five counties drama festival. He concluded by thanking everyone for their support.

Barbara Berks, head teacher, sent her apologies for not attending but had asked Tony McKenzie, one of the School Governors to present her report.

This covered the School 150 years celebration in June this year, the new village hall facilites they were now using, the teacher exchange with an Australian school was proving very beneficial, improvements to the outdoor facilities using money raised at the 2005 ball, healthy eating and improving fitness of the children, the being truly grateful federation in September with Burrowbridge school and the proposed replacement of the temporary Elliott classroom with a permanent building. The report concluded by saying the school was as ever truly grateful for the support and interest received from the local community and they would continue to work to be an active part of the parish.

Stuart Wilkinson reported on the twinning association which twins 13 villages from Stoke to Byrtle with 13 villages in Normandy. Details of their activities are reported in the village newsletter.

The Chairman then thanked the representatives of the village organisations for their very interesting reports.

Reeves Feast David House explained that the Reeves feast is a very old charity dating back to medieval times originally founded to give to the poor at Christmas time. The last feast was held in 1865. The money comes from a small amount of money that has been invested. There are three trustees: the vicar, ex-officio, and two others chosen by the parish council. This year now awards had been made but this will be reviewed when the new vicar of the joint benefice takes up office in June..

Footpaths Officer/Tree Wardens Report David Lake reported that on trees it had been another quiet year with only a few inspections being requested, all of which had a satisfactory outcome. He mentioned the loss of a lot of mature trees in the centre of the village and suggested that when this happened people consider where possible planting a new young suitable tree. He also said that when the young trees planted around the new village hall grow we will see the wisdom in planning ahead.

On footpaths he reported a major change had taken place this year in that the responsibility for footpaths had been taken over by Somerset County Council. He thanked the Taunton Deane Council officers who had looked after us so well over the years.

Problems have occurred in getting repairs done in the new regime but he outlined what was currently happening. He advised that a post and rail fence had been erected on footpath 25/8 below Polkesfield to safeguard pedestrians from damage caused to the bank and asked local residents to keep their eyes open to prevent further damage in this area.

He said that on his retirement as the Footpaths Officer/ Tree Warden we were very lucky to have Paul Kenefick to carry on the work. Paul however is still working full time and does not have the chance to walk all paths weekly. David therefore said it would be a great help if when the public see something in need of attention that they let Paul know so that he can deal with it before it becomes a major repair that has to be dealt with by the County Council.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.50pm.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending