A New Book on
Week St. Mary

Concise Minutes of the Open Meeting held on Wednesday 12 April 2006 commencing at 7.30pm in the Parish Hall
Approximately 40 parishioners, including 8 Parish Councillors, attended the meeting to be welcomed by the Chairman Mr J. Ward.
Apologies had been received from C Sobey, P Johns, Tricia Kabler and Sue Russell.
Firefighters Simon Chadwick and Steve Greenwood (who are responsible for WSM Parish) explained the operations of Bude Fire Station, where there are 17 retained personnel. In addition to emergencies they will also fit free smoke detectors with a 10-year battery and carry out home fire safety visits. They can be contacted at the fire station between 6pm-9pm on Monday nights on 352734.
In his annual report Mr Ward outlined work of the Parish Council including conversion of the public toilets to meet the disability discrimination act, tidying the greens, and consultation on the Minor Injuries Unit. Future plans include developing a Parish Plan, renovating the War Memorial, adopting new footpaths round the greens and decorating the male toilets. He paid tribute to the late Mr George Harris who was a Councillor for many years and will be missed. He thanked the outgoing Parish Clerk, and the outgoing footpaths coordinators Brenda Crocker-White and Betty Elie-Lefebure for their work. He welcomed the new clerk, and the new footpaths co-ordinators Stephen Smith and Peter Juniper.
Reports were read out from Jacobstow School, the Parish Hall, the Parish Church, the Methodist Chapel, the Youth Club, the Magazine, the Football Club, the Women's Institute, the Playing Field, WSM Web Site, WSM First Responders and the Village Conservation Group.
Mr Booker as North Cornwall District Councillor and County Councillor gave his report. He mentioned changes to local government and health care organisation; a new energy for waste plant; an extra £5.5m for Cornwall, but phased in; Council tax rise of 5% for county and 4.5% for NCDC. AH planning applications can now be viewed on the NCDC web site. Stratton Minor Injuries Unit will remain open and there will be new weekend X-ray facilities in Launceston. The County Surveyor has looked at the adverse camber of the road outside the Chapel. The question of affordable housing was hotly discussed, especially that the only 2 affordable houses for sale in the new development had been reserved by Pearce Construction management. There will be 6 houses for rent through a housing association on the new site.
Mr J Ward introduced the Parish Plan, which will be launched at a village meeting on 25th April in the Parish Hall. The Plan will provide detailed consultation to find out what people really want for the village and set priorities for real action. It will provide solid evidence to influence future policies and will be supported with professional help from CRCC and NCDC, plus some paid administrative and data inputting work within the village. It will be done by an elected steering group and many volunteers. The following people were elected on to the steering committee : Jeremy Ward, Bill Pearce, Mike Goodman, Terry Edwards, Nicky May, Peter Casey, Lesley Booker, Micheline Smith, Jeff Roberts.
The Parish Hall Committee was re-elected en bloc, with the exception of Dennis Orchard who had resigned on health grounds and will be much missed.
There then followed a further debate on affordable housing. The meeting closed at 9.35pm.

Chairman's Report to Parish Open Meeting 17th April 2007
The work of the Parish Council is more varied than many people imagine. It includes, for example, diverse issues such as negotiating the supply of dog bins, arranging the management of footpaths, commenting on planning applications, managing the playing field, lobbying for the improvement of government services for the Parish and commenting on regional and national political issues.
The function of the Parish Council is to serve and promote the interests of the parish of Week St Mary. We will never all agree what that should mean in practice but have sought in meetings to take decisions that lead to improvements in the Parish.
We are fortunate in Week St Mary to have had a group of Parish Councillors for the last four years who have been so willing to give freely of their time and energy to serve the community. As this Open Meeting is taking place just before a new four-year Council session begins, I would like to pay tribute to the Councillors who are not standing for the new Council - Brenda Crocker-White, Betty Elie-Lefebure, Claire Sobey and Bob Booker. All of them have made substantial contributions to the work of the Parish Council across a range of responsibilities. Brenda has been a Parish Councillor for more than 20 years and prior to that was Parish Clerk.
I would also like to thank the people outside the Parish Council who have served on a voluntary basis on various Council sub-groups. Peter Juniper and Steve Smith who have taken on responsibility for the footpaths following the many years sterling work done by Brenda and Betty. Daniel Booker, Sue Booker, Sharon Powell and Tim Ward who serve on the Playing Field Committee. Terry Edwards, Bill Pearce, Peter Casey, Micheline Smith, Mike Goodman, Nicky May, Jeff Roberts and Lesley Booker who are on the Parish Plan Steering Group.
As we can see from the various reports presented to this meeting from organisations in the parish, we are fortunate to have such a breadth of people who make a contribution to parish life across a wide spectrum of activities. On behalf of the community I would like to record thanks to all the people who contribute to the running of groups and activities within the Parish. I believe we have in Week St Mary avoided the dormitory status that has afflicted many rural villages and are well placed to face the future with a sense of vibrancy and purpose.
We are a Parish that provides community facilities such as the public toilets, the greens, footpaths, the Parish Hall and the playing field. These facilities and responsibilities do unfortunately come at a price. Two years ago the Parish Council, having completed upgrading work on the Toilets, found itself in the position of having barely sufficient reserves to meet its commitments at the year-end. We resolved for the 2006-7 budget year to increase our income via the precept to ensure we built a small reserve to meet unexpected expenditure such as a mid-term election.
You will have seen in your Council Tax statements that we have sought a further increase of 16% in our budget for 2007-8. This reflects a number of specific issues:
• We have granted the Parish Hall £800 to assist with running costs
• The Parish Clerk's salary is being gradually increased to recommended levels.
• We have had to budget £750 for an election
I hope we have now stabilised the financial position to enable us to meet our responsibilities for the future. Setting the Parish Council budget for 2008-9 will however, be the job of the new Parish Council in the latter part of 2007.
A major part of the next Council year will be the development of an Action Plan arising from the results of the Parish Plan questionnaire. This should enable us to take a more proactive approach to community development. 70% of people aged 16 and over in the Parish responded to the questionnaire. The data has now been processed into the analysis programme and is currently being analysed by Cornwall Rural Community Council. This whole process has been time consuming but please bear in mind more than 300 questionnaires were returned, each with 103 questions (including sub-questions). We expect that there will be a meeting to discuss the results and develop the Action Plan in June. The important aspect of the Parish Plan for the Parish Council is that it will enable us work towards actions genuinely defined by the community.
Clearly we have some challenges to face as a community, not least the building we are sat in. However, thanks to all the voluntary work done by many people throughout our community, I believe the parish is in good heart to continue to improve as a living and working environment.

Parish Hall Report - Future Thoughts ? April 2007
The village hall is one of our greatest assets. It was built some 35years ago as the result of a great deal of effort by many enthusiastic members of Week St Mary parish. It was - at that time I suggest, a state of the art building and a credit to the team who engineered its building. Over the years the hall has served as well as contributed to our village life.
However over the recent years we have been hit by a double whammy! First the continuing introduction and imposition of new regulations which we are obligated to meet in order to keep the hall open to the public. These are also reinforced by insurance requirements and increases.
Examples are Fire regulations: An additional fire escape exit door in the hall together with the lighting signs. Curtains that needed to be of fire retardant material. Asphalt escape path at the rear of the building. Health & Safety & Welfare regulations. Disabled facilities.
Additional ventilation requirements for the heating system. At the time of inspection it was brought to our attention that the existing boiler was now obsolete and that spare parts will be difficult to obtain.
Catering regulations: An extensive upgrading of the kitchen facilities are required if we are to continue to hold functions involving the serving of food.
The second whammy is the ageing process. The building is beginning to show its age. We have endeavoured to keep abreast of this by the replacing of two or three windows and frames. Attention to the roof is on going as is the general repairs to the internal fabric. We are aware that the overhead lighting will need attention soon. Ivor has carried out a pretty comprehensive costing as to meeting our regulation obligations and carrying out necessary repairs and refurbishment. This amounts to the staggering sum of nearly £43,000.
Very few grants are available for general maintenance, only new works and these have to be generally match funded. We have discussed these issues at great length and arrive at two roads in which to proceed. We resolve to raise sufficient funds over the next two or three years to meet our obligations for the hall, or we investigate creating a new community centre on the playing field that will totally meet today's needs, and would attract some grant funding as it would be a 'new build'. By selling the existing building and land, the money would be available for some match funding grants. We have had a feasibility study made with this possibility in mind.

Week St. Mary Responders
In the first year of operation Week St Mary Responders have responded 30 times to Emergency calls both inside the Village and within about a 5 mile radius of the village centre. We now have three qualified responders and three who have yet to complete their ambulance experience Sessions. We have completed several training sessions with the help of the Ambulance Service and Peter Juniper who is one of our members and a Red Cross trainer.
On 15th March we handed over £3,500 to the South West ambulance Trust, this being the sum raised by the Parish to set up the scheme.
We now have our own Responder Liaison officer - Neale Walker who is an Ambulance Technician and who provides the support we need and organises our
training.
At present the Responders that are available are no where near enough to cover 24 Hrs a day, 7 days a week. We all have busy lives and commitments. The Responder group needs more Volunteers to train in Basic Life Support and to learn to use the defibrillator. Then with plenty of man power we will be able to more nearly cover all day every day. Being on call is not a big commitment of time because usually nothing happens.' If you do get called out, you are seldom away for more than 3/4 of an hour and the sense of achievement and satisfaction is immense.
We must stress that anyone who needs an ambulance must call 999. Do NOT call a Responder - the Control centre will call us if they need us and they will know who is on call and waiting to come out. As more people receive the help of our Responders group the value of the scheme becomes clear. It is a great comfort to anyone in distress to know that there is someone to help them while they wait for an ambulance to come to them. In this area the wait is seldom less than 20 minutes but their local Responders can be with them inside 5 minutes. Even neighbouring villages are within the vital 8 minutes that we have in which to make a difference to someone whose heart has stopped.

Week St Mary Village Conservation Group (WSMVCG)
Chairperson: Linda Cobbledick
Treasurer: Peter Johnstone Secretary: Tricia Kabler
C/o Clifton House, Week St Mary, Holsworthy EX22 6UH
10 April 07 - Report for Parish Meeting
It has been a quiet year for the WSMVCG since the last report.
One WSM parishioner requested in writing to address the issue of the proposed turbines at Treetops Holiday Park, WSM. A report was prepared and submitted to Development Control at NCDC. The installation was refused based on the reasons below (taken from the notification of refusal from NCDC):

Refuse for the following reason(s):
1. The proposed turbines would, if permitted, introduce an alien, modern technological feature into this historic and sensitive landscape defined as an Area of Great Landscape Value thereby harming the quality and character of the countryside, views into and out from the adjacent Week St Mary Conservation Area and the setting of the adjacent Grade I Listed church and Scheduled Monument. The proposal is thereby contrary to Policy 2 of the Cornwall Structure Plan - October 2004, policies ENV1, ENV12, ENV13 and ENV14 of the North Cornwall District Local Plan - April 1999, and guidance contained in PPG15 - Planning and the Historic Environment - September 1994.
2. In the absence of sufficient technical data, the Local Planning Authority is not satisfied that that the operation of the proposed turbines would not produce noise levels that would significantly harm the residential amenities of the occupiers of nearby dwellings. The proposal is thereby contrary to Policy DVS3 of the North Cornwall District Local Plan - April 1999 and guidance contained in PPG24 - Planning and Noise - September 1994.
Your attention is drawn to the enclosed notes.
29 March 2007
Authorised Officer: N. Pendleton

Week St. Mary Youth Club
This has been a rather turbulent year for the youth club in as much that in July we reluctantly accepted the resignation of Phil Warnford and in September the resignation of Lorrain Webb. Both these leaders have been with the club for a quite some years and have been very dedicated in their leadership.
This left the club with only Mike Caesar-Gordon and Sandy Not to carry on. This critical situation was further compounded by the fact that Sandy was on a long holiday at this time. However we managed to carry on for a short while, then with closure looking immanent we had three volunteers come to join our team, namely Joan Roberts, and Danny Houre to help with the junior section and Stephen Smith to help Mike and Danny with the seniors.
After these dramatic months we have purchased some new pieces of equipment for the juniors, had a visit to Plymouth football stadium with the seniors and have an average weekly attendance of some 32 young folk.
All the leaders are CRB checked and are doing a great job. I feel that providing the young people of the village with a club where they can meet together and enjoy themselves, is an important part of their development, both mentally and physically. It is also good for the community as it helps them to adapt to village life.    Len Davies

The Junior and Senior sections of the Youth Club continue to meet on Monday evenings in the Parish Hall with attendances of 30 or so each week.
2006 saw several changes in leadership:
• Sadie Wetherden and Phil Warneford stood down;
• Len Davies retired from "active service" but still continues in his role as Chairman/administrator;
• Danny Hoare, Sandy Not, Joan Roberts and Stephen Smith became leaders.
Thanks to all the above mentioned for their help and support. Although we have a regular team, we could still do with more leaders to cover for holidays and to run specific activities. Please contact Len Davies or myself if you are interested in helping.
Activities undertaken recently include:
■ Xmas party (juniors)/ disco (seniors)
■ Badminton and art/craft work (juniors)
■ Trip to Plymouth Argyle FC on Easter Bank Holiday Monday (see photo);
■ The WSM indoor cricket championship (coinciding with start of the Cricket World Cup). 
With the better weather and light nights we will be able to make use of the playing field:
■ Re-run the very successful football training school first held in Summer 2006 with the support of WSMFC;
■ Rounders and other team games.
Mike Caeser-Gordon.

Week St. Mary Parish Magazine
The monthly magazine continues to flourish thanks to the team effort of Lesley, Judith, Len, Pat and those who deliver every month and of course those in the Parish who contribute articles and those who advertise.
Rising costs of production have to be balanced with income, the majority of which comes from advertisements, Revel and the Scarecrow Festival. The Parish Council provide the paper for the magazine. We do try and accommodate all advertisements but space is limited and we cannot guarantee that prospective advertisers will be offered space. One way of including everyone is to reduce advertisement size to 1/4 page and this will probably be the norm in future, I am sure our long term regular advertisers will understand. We don't want our magazine to be just advertisements, we feel the articles are the most important part. There is a limit to the number of pages we can print and assemble every month.
My thanks to everyone for their support. Our magazine is a link to what is happening in the community. We try to be unbiased and try not to slip up but occasionally we make mistakes. All the team are volunteers and we spend a lot of time producing YOUR magazine. Please continue to send articles, preferably by e-mail but if you don't have that facility - don't let that stop you contributing. Editor

Cllr Bob Booker's Annual Report for Week St Mary

The General Finance of Cornwall County Council and NCDC
The government's 'Revenue Support Grant' formula for county councils which was modified last year will give us an extra 2 million pounds for 2007 / 2008. That is the good news!
The bad news is that under the same formula for the needs of the county we should be entitled to another six million pounds. We don't however get this because of the damping formula which protects other counties which have been over funded for years. To prevent them form being cut back too quickly they continue to get above what they need and Cornwall will remain short for the years to come on a gradually reducing scale. (Last year we were over eight and a half million short.) The demand on local council's is increasing. The A39 was taken out of the National Highways Agency's Trunk road network a few years ago and placed into the county council's highway network. The couple of years' worth, of funding grant which was handed over with this responsibility ran out in March 2006. The responsibility of licensing of Alcohol was passed on to District councils two years ago and this year the licensing of Gambling has also been passed from the magistrates to the District Councils.
Free bus passes for the elderly introduced last year is expected to be extended under government directives and has been, and will continue to be funded by local authorities.
The continuing short fall of the grant from central government and additional responsibilities means that the council tax rise for both authorities have been set at just under 5%. This is above inflation but protects as far as possible existing services to vulnerable people and the quality of service which we all expect in the 21st century.

County Councillor Report
It's not all doom and gloom in Cornwall
Objective one funding has now finished but has achieved its purpose! This has produced an extra 23,000 jobs in Cornwall and the county now has the fastest growth of gross domestic product in Europe. Except for a few isolated pockets the County of Cornwall was the first county to achieve virtually 100% Broad Band coverage. This broadband access is rapidly sweeping across Britain. Cornwall will gradually loose this commercial technological advantage. (Part of the exception I am disappointed to say is in parts of the parishes of North Tamerton and Boyton.) The follow up of 'Objective One' is the convergence fund, which will bring an additional 42 million pounds of development funding into Cornwall over seven years. (This is to help businesses to prosper not to pay for local authority services.)

Reorganisation of local councils
The Government's white paper on sustainable communities gave council's an opportunity to put in a bid for unitary status. This would abolish district councils and the current county council and would produce one unified authority for the whole of Cornwall. Twenty six local authorities across England submitted bids for unitary status. Sixteen of these were short-listed at the end of March. It is expected that the government will choose up to eight of these to pilot schemes before possibly reorganising other local authorities. Cornwall County Council's bid was accepted to go through to the consultation and modification stage. If this is finally accepted after consultation the new authority will be elected in May 2008 (Next year) and in 2009 after a year of overlap the current county council and the district councils to be elected this May will be dissolved.
Highways
Last year the government issued new directives on traffic calming and control. All speed limits are to be reviewed for compliance with these guide lines and a rolling program of reassessment will sweep across the county over the next few years. The vehicular obstructions at Week Green continue to be a problem despite requests for people to park on the eastern side of the road. Yellow lines may have to be considered. Temporary repair works at Week Orchard, Brendon and the Glebe are on the divisional surveyors list to be done properly.
Waste
The contract with SITA UK which was signed last year is progressing. Planning permission has been granted for up grading of the civic amenity site in Launceston (The Dump). Further plans are being drawn up for the CAS at Bush. Negotiations are ongoing with land owners for the new energy from waste plant. This will eventually replace most of our land fill operations and will extend the capacity of our existing, limited land fill capacity and save on punitive land fill taxes. Just as an example: The annual cost of burying used disposable nappies across the UK is 67 million pounds. UK families throw away 3 billion non biodegradable nappies a year and currently 90% go into land fill. The cost of this one item alone to the average county council is £1 million. And this cost will increase dramatically under escalating land fill taxes.

District Councillor Report

Waste
Having ended the county council report on Waste! I'll start the District Report on waste. The responsibility at district level is to collect it before passing it on to the County Council to dispose of it. The district council has just broken through the 30% barrier for the recycling of domestic waste. This is ahead of the government target of 28% The sale of useful goods at the County Council run civic amenity sites (dumps) has been stopped on health and safety grounds. The district council has with the support of a local charity entered into a partnership arrangement whereby reusable items are collected from the waste stream and are inspected and refurbished and are then sold on through the charity's retail outlet the first of which is in Bodmin.
Planning
The replacement of the District Plan has been delayed. Government Office South West has changed the goal posts for the consultation process for the Local Development Framework. The Core Strategy which was already completed will be re-submitted with the next document which includes more specific land use policies. There is the expectation that this document will, according to Government Directives restrict the majority of house building to the towns. Land allocations for development in villages, is unlikely. Therefore the only new build in villages will be within the existing development boundaries and exception sites which will be for 100% local need housing only. An example of this is the Cornwall Rural housing Association site recently passed in Boyton for ten houses which will have their residencies restricted to those with a local connection to Boyton and adjoining parishes. This will therefore include Week St Mary residents. I have continually argued that development in villages should be phased according to the local needs of the parish. The desperate need for housing across the district has been the counter argument used against this and has allowed development in villages which is out of proportion to the population's needs.
Housing
The Sale of Council Houses introduced by the previous government's right to buy, which has never been rescinded by the current government is no longer having the same effect in the loss of housing stock which is needed by the less well off in society. This is partly because there are fewer houses left available for tenants to purchase, but also because of the dramatic rise in house prices means that the maximum discount of £30,000 is becoming an ever decreasing proportion.
The county council is continuing to give 75% of its revenue raised under the 40% increase in second home council tax to the District Councils for affordable homes and this has helped to support schemes through housing associations and organisations like affordable homes UK.
On Home-finder Direct I have long argued that people with a local connection should be included on the preference policy on Silver Band as well as those on Gold Band. This change was finally achieved in February and those on Silver Band will now take preference over those without a local connection. This I argued on the back of the Government's Sustainable Communities white paper.
NCDC's supplementary planning guidance on community benefits has increased the proportion of local need housing on any development in the coastal parishes to 50% and in inland parishes to 30% and these figures may be adjusted within the new Local Development Framework. The development site in Week St Mary for example was below this percentage with only 6 affordable homes out of 29. These houses are just coming on stream and are to be let through the Cornwall Rural Housing Association. These houses are only available to residents within the circle of adjoining parishes.

The wider responsibilities of Councillors
There are services which are provided by other organisations but which council's have a duty to try and influence for the benefit of their residents.
The health authority for example is lobbied and responded to by councils and councillors during their consultations.
The Regional Spatial Strategy drawn up by the Regional Assembly against guidelines from central government and inspected by Government Office for the South West goes out to public consultation and was responded to by NCDC and Local councillors.
The Non Elected South West Regional Assembly has representatives sitting on it from District and County Councils including NCDC.
Parish Plans
During the last couple of years there have been two sources of Grant funding for Parish Plans; NCDC funding and DEFRA Grants. NCDC has prompted extensively the parish plan approach as a way of protecting our vulnerable rural communities. During the past year, 60% of grant funding awarded by DEFRA within Cornwall has been awarded to the North Cornwall Parishes. Parish Plans are not just about land use and development planning but are much broader and should be used as evidence to support a range of local concerns and wishes. During the past two years I have been involved in the development of parish plans in 5 of my eleven parishes. On Tuesday the 26th of March, I spent the day with our divisional surveyor looking at highway issues in my eleven parishes. On each concern raised within my division he wanted to know if the parish had a Parish Plan and whether the matter had been raised in the plan or not. Parishes which are unable to show evidence of local support for parish concerns or projects through an up to date parish plan are likely to loose out on grant funding for parish projects and on services provided by other organisations.
Policing
The new Neighbourhood Policing Plan recently introduced by central government improves the partnership working between local authorities and the local constabulary. Regular joint meetings now take place where local issues are discussed and appropriate solutions are investigated. The first new police constable support officer has just been appointed to help increase the police presence in our local neighbourhoods. There are five district council wards which make up the Bude and District area and their councillors are now able to liaise effectively with the Community Constables from Bude's police station. One of the top priorities for this partnership working is to reduce accidents on the B3254. This additional local policing may help the bad parking at Week Green.
The postal service
On the 5th of March I was in Redruth at a meeting with the Post Office Network Manager. This was just before the DTI's consultation period on the Rural and Urban Post Office Network finished on the 8th of March. Any organisation or individual were entitled to respond to this consultation,
however Parish Council's were not on the automatic consultation list! When the government does consult; many responses are from organisations like County and District Council's and individual responses are usually low. Before becoming a councillor like most people, I was too busy working as a teacher and getting on with life to pick up and respond to such consultations so councillors have an important role to play.
The Royal Mail makes a good profit, and Parcel Force also makes a small profit; they were however not part of this consultation. By only picking on The Post Office Network', the government is at risk of repeating the mistakes made for British Rail by Dr Beaching in the 1960's! How could the main lines succeed, once the branch lines which fed them were amputated? If there isn't a local post office within a short distance to take your parcel to, even if it costs a bit more, one may be tempted to ring up a private delivery service that will pick it up from your door.
In the 1960's the branch lines should have been reorganised and modernised. Today the whole postal system should be looked at holistically as each part of the mail service is interdependent on the other. The Rural Post Office Network needs to be modernised, improved and integrated to provide other services; not take services away from them and then as their turnover reduces just close them down. Such modernisation could improve the profitability of existing post offices and improve other rural services at the same time. The local post office is an important part of our local communities. Combined integrated mobile outreach services to small villages like North Tamerton and hamlets which currently have no local post office, library or prescription service could be introduced. Extended and Improved post office service provision would increase the turn over for the Royal Mail and Parcel Force and keep them profitable.
My representations on this consultation have gone to the DTI both through my input from the community committee on which I serve, and also through my individual response as a councillor. Such representations; can influence decisions! The early proposals during Cornwall County Council's boundary review paid little attention to the relationship between the parishes of North Cornwall. Thankfully the Boundary Commission made some improvements as a result of local representations, which were sent from North Cornwall District Council, some parish councils and many local councillors! If Cornwall becomes one Unitary Authority based in Truro there will be no representations to government by NCDC which will be axed, or from our 36 local district councillors who will also be taken out of the equation. Representations will however be made to central government from the new single unitary authority within which, only 14 councillors out of a total 82 will be representing the interests of the sparsely populated area of North Cornwall.  Cllr Bob Booker
(District Council Week St Mary and Whitstone ward / County Council Marhamchurch and Week St Mary division)

Week St. Mary Community Web Site
SINCE the 2006 report on the Week St. Mary Community Web Site, when we reported the visits to the web site as approximately 2,000 in number, we are pleased to report that the number of visitations has continued to grow. This is, in the main, due to the tremendous interest in the details relating to the inscriptions to be found on the headstones in the churchyard and cemetery. Genealogy is by far one of the most pursued topics on the internet.
Linda & David (with some help from his wife) spent several delightful days in the warm sun deciphering and collating the often hidden details, before David finally created the web pages. 
WE are pleased that GENUKI, a charitable body, has agreed to accept a reciprocal link pointing to our 'headstone' index page. This has increased our viewing audience to new heights. As you can see from the above header card our visitor numbers are growing and growing - even as we speak!
Week St. Mary Football Club's First Team are to be congratulated through Chris Warneford for continually submitting reports that are placed on the web site, no doubt to warn the opposing teams that our local team are dab hands(!) at scoring goals!
HURCH & CHAPEL information is to be found on the CALENDAR pages as is a wide variety of functions, notices and meetings.  There is NO LIMIT to the number of events that can be displayed and every club, group or organisation is encouraged to submit details of forthcoming events to either Linda or David personally, by email, or by way of a note handed in to the  shop, marked for the attention of Linda.    (Thank you Jeff)
THE MAGAZINE COMMITTEE are also to be thanked for their support of the web site in allowing the magazine to be reproduced digitally.  There are several people who live outside of the main delivery area and yet are able to view the magazine via the internet and maintain their links and interest in the village.  We have heard complimentary remarks from sometimes the most unlikely sources… an odd comment here and there. It never fails to amaze to learn who browses our Village Community Web Site.
THE BIRDCAM is another innovation, allowing people all round the world to view LIVE video images of the many visitors to a bird table situated in the village.  The list of visitors includes: House Sparrow, Hedge Sparrow, Blackbird, Robin, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Ring-necked Dove, Squirrel, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Siskin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Woodcock, Starling, Bullfinch, Jay, Magpie, Goldcrest, Bullfinch and a cat!!!
ALSO, because of the volume of interesting information collected for the web site, David has decided to collect even more local information and publish a book based on Week St. Mary Village. Any profits from the sales will help to finance the web site which currently is financed personally by Linda and David. We do not have any Internet Advertising and just a few contributions have been generously given for some local business advertisements.
PHOTOGRAPHS can be submitted by email for inclusion on the site; full credit will be given. A couple of local photographers have already submitted several pictures to help us keep the pictorial section up to date - so, if you take a picture of a local scene that you think would be of interest then please send it in.
THANK YOU once again everyone who has supported us and contributed in any way. Long may it continue!!

Week St. Mary Football Club
Since reporting to you last year Week St. Mary Football Club has continued to develop. The First Team, under the guidance of Tom Hannaford, became Duchy League Division 5 Champions.
The Second Team, guided by Jeremy Ward, continued to improve & grow in confidence. We have 52 players signed on, which means not everyone gets a game but many just enjoy the training & the team spirit.
Primary sponsorship has continued this year from Treetops Inn & Cornish Tractors. Additional sponsorship for home match days has been gratefully received from many local businesses & individuals. Also revenue from advertising hoardings along the bottom of the playing field is shared equally between the Club & the Playing Field committee.
During the summer holidays volunteers from the Club ran training evenings for members of the Youth Club.
The club has now added a Ladies Team, which is proving a very popular source of exercise even for those who have never kicked a football before. This new found font of talent helped raise funds for the Cornwall Air Ambulance when they beat a team of Veterans on Boxing Day. The Ladies, coached by Hillary Dorren up to Christmas, trained on Tuesdays & Sundays. Ben Smeeth now coaches the Ladies, aided by Tom Hannaford.
During the first half of the current season we produced a Newsletter (enc) which was distributed on match days & in the shop. The Club now faces the imminent loss of it's changing rooms so it is imperative we come up with a temporary alternative, whilst investigating long term solutions .
Week St. Mary football club are very grateful for all the help & support it gets from the community & hope to continue providing opportunities & entertainment for young & old, men & women, individuals & local commerce alike.

Week St. Mary Parish Church
This has been another full year in the calendar of the Parish Church with many varied fundraising events taking place - The year started with great excitement for the Sunday School children with their trip to Plymouth for the Pantomime in January, followed a few weeks later in February with their annual "Pancake Party" at the rectory, fun for all as they try to toss pancakes. A successful Table top sale was also held that month for church funds. March saw an ecumenical service for Womens world Day of prayer held at the church this service was written this year by the women of South Africa. CAMEO (come and meet each other) was started at the Rectory a monthly chance for anyone to drop in for a cup of tea and a chat (this has proved very successful) In June the weather shone for the annual Strawberries and Cream on the village green.
July was a very busy month with the visit of both Bishops - The Revd Rob Dickinson, parish priest and Rural Dean, welcomed a large congregation at a service to celebrate the ordination of Gavin Allan Douglas to the priesthood, at the parish church of St. Mary the Virgin, Week St. Mary on Sunday 9th July 2006. Those present witnessed the ordination of Revd Gavin Douglas by Bishop Roy Screech of St. Germans.
Representatives of Week St. Mary Methodist Church and all eight parishes in the Benefice were present in addition to many visiting clergy. The Army Chaplain General Revd David Wilkes OBE, QHC gave the sermon. The organist was John Hopkinson with renditions from the church choir and an aria sung by Tom Bates. The service was followed by a lunch in the Parish Hall.
A special service took place in the Church on Sunday 30th July to celebrate and dedicate the Week St. Mary Circle of Parishes and Institution of its Rector Revd Rob Dickenson, by Rt Revd William Ind (Lord Bishop of Truro) This service was to celebrate the union of eight parishes into the Week St. Mary Circle of Parishes; namely, Jacobstow, Poundstock, St. Gennys, Treneglos, Warbstow, Week St. Mary, Whitstone and Widemouth Bay. There was a large attendance with representatives from each parish. The organist was John Hopkinson and the church choir was in attendance. A presentation was made of framed commemorative pictures to the Bishop, Archdeacon and to churchwardens from each parish.
In August with the village annual Scarecrow Festival the Church held cream teas and ran a stall during the week of the festival, later in the month there was a BBQ and Promise Auction. September brings us back to the Revel and Harvest Festival a hugely popular event for the Village. During October the Safari Supper was held with many people perambulating around the village for each course of their dinner. In November there was a visit of the Archdeacon of Umzimvubu (Transkei South Africa) Vuyani Buso and Mrs Phyllis Buso, they spent two days in the parish attending many events & services.
There was a team of Worship Leaders and some further Pastoral Members sworn in and welcomed by all who attended a service in the Parish church in the autumn. The year drew to a close with a Mulled wine evening a few days before Christmas.
The final event is always looked forward to by all and this is the annual Crib Service where there is only standing room as carols are sung and the children enact the Nativity, during this service presents are placed around the tree which are then taken to the Womens Refuge immediately after the service.

The Methodist Church Week St. Mary
The calling of the Methodist Church is to respond to the gospel of God's love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission.
The Church exists:
• to increase awareness of God's presence and to celebrate God's love
• to help people to grow and learn as Christians, through mutual support and care
• to be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice
• to make more followers of Jesus Christ
The Methodist Church in Week St Mary has had a busy year of both regular events and new initiatives.
The building is in a good state of repair and the refurbishment programme has continued with the conversion of the old stables into a further small meeting room, with an additional toilet. A recent external property review commented on the good state of the building.
Ongoing plans include the re-leading of the windows and the re-slating of the Sunday School roof. The property meets all current disability, health and safety and environmental health requirements and as such is being increasingly used for meetings by a range of external organisations. Being central to the village, we see the effective use of our facilities for the community as a key part of our mission.
We have had a number of successful special events throughout the year. These include a successful Harvest Festival and Supper and concerts featuring the Washaway Gallery Singers and the Trelawney Singers. At Christmas this year we provided a hot Christmas Lunch for members and some invited guests. This was a good trial run for our new kitchen facilities and something we would like to repeat.
The Chapel was again packed for the Christmas Carol Service. Just to prove how good our heating system is we decided to cook the Church Choir. However their singing in no way suffered from the experience and everyone enjoyed the evening. All proceeds from Christmas events, including the lunch, were donated to NCH.
As to future events, we are holding a Church meal for friends and families at the Chapel on May 6th. The Circuit Rally, which is a short service followed by a meal in the Parish Hall, will take place on 17th May. The Circuit is also holding a Safari Supper on July 20th, the main course being at the Chapel.
Also a new fortnightly prayer meeting will start at the Chapel on Tuesday 24th April at 7.30pm. This is to pray for people in our Churches and our community. Anyone interested in the work of God in our community is welcome to attend. There will also be a prayer box in the Chapel, which is open every day, if you wish to confidentially place any prayer requests in it please feel free to do so.
There are increasing opportunities in our Methodist Circuit for different styles of worship. At Week St Mary, once every three months we arrange a Fellowship Service that enables the congregation to have a greater degree of participation in a more informal style of worship. A wide range of worship and social events are also held at the Circuit's multi-purpose centre at Eden, near Jacobstow.
Our minister, Rev Danny Wheadon, is on sabbatical for three months from the 10th April studying hospice care services. We have Ministerial cover throughout the Circuit for this period but the first point of contact should be Michael Hicks, Circuit Steward on 01840 261514 or Jeremy Ward, Week St Mary Steward on 01288 341317 who will be able to refer you to an available Minister.

Week St. Mary Playing Field (Sanders Park)
The field and equipment continue to be monitored on a weekly basis for any unsafe occurrences or failures. These inspections are recorded and our thanks are extended to Sue Booker for carrying out this onerous task so conscientiously. Two trees were donated to us last year by the Bude and District Forum, an Ash and an Oak. These were planted by members of the village youth club and seem to be doing very well. They are positioned alongside the fence below the play equipment area. There is little further to report other than to announce that we will be holding our Annual General Meeting mid June when we hope to welcome new members on to our committee. This date will be published in the WSM magazine. Len Davies (Chairman)

Week St. Mary Women's Institute
The year started well for the Institute with many new members bringing the total to 17.
The previous year's programme has been:-
MARCH - A most enjoyable lunch was held at Trencreek Farmhouse to celebrate our 61st birthday.
APRIL - Mrs Jeanette Coote from St Gennys gave an interesting, illustrated talk on the Bayeux Tapestry.
MAY - Kathy Reed from Marhamchurch came to assist in debating the AGM Resolutions:- 
1) to appeal for legislation to require renewable energy to be used in all future buildings; and solar power was approved by all 
2) to reinstate playing fields in all schools and to increase competitive sport. Programme for the rest of the year was drawn up.
JUNE - The Revd Gavin Douglas gave an account of his life, and what prompted him to move from the Army to the Church..
JULY - The weather was kind to us and we had a wonderful Bar-B-Q in the garden of Tudor House the home of one of our members. A great time was had by all!
AUGUST - During the village Craft Fayre/Scarecrow Festival we provided light lunches from a tent on the village green. The weather was kind to us and we did a very brisk trade, to locals and visitors alike.
SEPTEMBER - Once again we welcomed Mrs Brenda Hooten to our meeting and she took us on a most
exhilarating trip "Around the World in 30/40 minutes"
OCTOBER - We were delighted to hear from Chris Davies that our Institute had won the County Challenge Cup and were awarded the St Kea Cup + £75, for the Institute having the most new members by % over the past year. She also gave a précis of the discussions at the Hall for Cornwall, and also the AGM in Cardiff.
NOVEMBER - Mr David Martin, local raconteur and brother of member Linda Cobbledick gave an hilarious talk on his career as a driving examiner. Never a dull moment, scary at times, also informative, a very entertaining 'drive'.  Sue Koster elected as new Press Officer.
DECEMBER - We held 2 major events this month with a much enjoyed Carol Service in the Chapel on the 9th and then on the 12th we were pleased to welcome members from the Stamford Group to our Christmas Party
JANUARY - Drew up a programme for the coming year.

Jacobstow Community Primary School
Challenges Adventure Respect Enjoyment Security....   about preparing our children for their place In the world of the future 
Head Teacher's Report to Week St Mary Parish Council Spring 2007
Pupil numbers; there are currently 82 pupils on roll: 30 in Keystage 1 and Foundation Stage & 52 in Keystage 2. This represents 6 more than was predicted by the LEA for this period.
Staffing; there are currently 3 fulltime equivalent teachers and 3 part time with I teaching assistant in FS and KS1. Mrs Farmer who has worked for the school for 10 years will retire at the end of this term, we shall be sorry to loose her and thank her for her hard work on behalf of the children and the school. During the Autumn term Mrs Julie Johnson also left after a period of illness, again our thanks go to her for her hard work and support over many years. We appointed Mrs Nicola Osborne as the teaching assistant in KSlin January. With a generous funding allocation this year we are in a position to appoint teaching assistants in both KS2 classes. We also hope to employ Mr Shales to teach music in KS1 for 1 hour a week giving all classes specialist music teaching.
Informal discussion with children and parents suggests that they are happy at and with school. 
The views of the children about issues around the school are sought through the school council and Mrs Moloney has taken on the overall running of the school council. This term the council has been discussing their views on refurbishment of the toilets. Overall, the school is a happy and contented place to learn and work. As with any small school overall trends must be viewed carefully as the cohort sizes are variable and generally small, therefore the figures are statistically unsound.
The school recognises a decline in standards at both KS1 and KS2 over the last 5 years. We are putting a lot of work into ensuring that standards rise again; we have reviewed the curriculum and introduced an integrated curriculum, which links subjects to ensure that children see the reasons for their learning and the links between the different subjects. We were pleased with an improvement in maths as this was the area that we targeted last year for improvement and is the area that we invested in for resources.
The school will introduce the teaching of French from September 2007, this is a challenge as we have no specialist teacher but we hope with good teaching materials that both children and staff will enjoy this new learning experience. There has been a review of rewards and sanctions system and by enlarge this seems to be working well. 'Golden time' is now an extension of playtime on Friday morning and there are a range of activities for them to do during the golden time. The children were- involved in the change of system and are happy with it.
Miss Sillifant has taken on responsibility for guiding the school towards the Healthy Schools award. All schools are expected to achieve this award within the next 2 years. We have a set of criteria to work towards and have to produce a portfolio of evidence against these expectations. We were awarded an Active School award last year and this will help towards achieving the healthy school status. The children have been involved in raising money for several charitable events including red nose day, Marie Curie, Children in Need, Poppy Appeal, and support for our Action Aid child in Pakistan.
During the summer term last year we worked with St Gennys Parish Council on an art project to support their Parish Plan. We had a very enjoyable couple of days and the art work produced was excellent. We also worked closely with the National Trust to build a sculpture seat at the front of the school, we are really pleased with the outcome and feel that it is a real enhancement to the school entrance. We are working with the National Trust again this year on projects linked to our learning topics and using the local area to enhance the learning experiences, with trips to Crackington, Boscastle. We hope to repeat a day at the beach with another trip to Widemouth this summer, last years trip was not only fun but also great at developing social skills and team building as well as giving us information for our lessons.
Building refurbishment
• The junior toilets will be refurnished during the summer holiday with joint funding from the LA. The children are involved in the design process for the work on the toilets.
• The playground will be resurfaced in the summer holidays again with joint funding from the LA, Happy days are involved in the process, Mrs Russell is hoping to make some changes to the fenced area to make it look more attractive and give both Happy Days and school more play area.
• The waste area will be completed during this year, helping the caretaking staff and fulfilling health and safety issues
• All of the class rooms will be painted either during or before the summer holidays
The school continues to work towards raising standards, through its new vision and aims statements, drawn up by the children, staff and governors and linked to 'Every Child Matters' statements.