Villager's Articles

A Parish Action Plan

On Saturday 24th of February 2007, from 2pm till 5pm the Parish Council will be holding a meeting to present and discuss a Parish Action Plan for Appleford.

The plan will not be an elaborate and unachievable 'wishlist' nor will it be just a 'talking shop'. The PC wants to provide a forum for Appleford residents to give their views and opinions on whatever they feel needs to be done. Then the PC can get on with improving the things that there is agreement on.

I speak for the majority of the Parish Councillors in Appleford when I say we joined the Parish Council because we felt we had skills that could be used to make a difference to our village environment.

We do not seek to raise the rates any more than the next person would - we realise the effect even a small rise has on those of low income - so we are pursuing plans to make more money FOR the Parish in order to provide services that the resident will NOT have to pay for, but they will need volunteers to make them work.

We have one such scheme in The Pressings which draws in income for the Parish from the advertisers. It is totally dependent on volunteers and the editor in particular is a very dedicated person. The Pressings pays for this website and contributes a useful amount to the precept.

Income from the hall and the recreation ground has been increasing lately due to the youth club and the young footballers and these are all dependent on volunteers, from the hall committee, through to the various club organisers, members and parents. We all benefit from the work of volunteers in the village because they earn money that goes to pay for our services, whether it helps pay the precept, keeps the hall available or keeps us informed.

Volunteers make villages work - without them, nothing happens.

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