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Lady Margaret Grace Martin

It is with gread sadness that the Council announces the death of long-standing Councillor and former Chair Lady Margaret Grace Martin.

Lady Martin was elected to the Council in May 1967 and served as Chair from May 1976 to May 1985 and again fron July 2000 to May 2003.

There will be a Funeral Service at St Paul's Church, Woodhouse Eaves, on Wednesday 10 December - at 11.00 for family, parish and local people only - followed by a Thanksgiving Service for friends and colleagues from the wider community at 3 p.m. also at St Paul's.

Remembrance Day 2008

Poppy wreaths were laid at the Council's War Memorial on Church Hill, Woodhouse Eaves on Rembrance Sunday as usual. This year, Church Hill was closed to traffic so that people could stand around the area more safely. In Old Woodhouse, a similar ceremony took place outside St Mary's Church on School Lane, also closed to traffic, with representatives attending from the "Y" Services [Garats Hay] Branch of the Royal British Legion.

The Garats Hay "Y" Services were based at Beaumanor during WWII where they intercepted enemy communications and passed them onto to Bletchley Park for decoding, using the Enigma machine. A number of existing residents in both villages worked for the services during the war.

Litter pick - 8 October

Ten hardy Loughborough University students went litter picking in Woodhouse Eaves on Wednesday 8 October, collecting about a dozen bags of rubbish. Many thanks to the students for offering to do this work.

Mayor's visit to Horticultural Show

Photo credits: Cathrina Tierney-Reed

The Mayor of Charnwood villages was the guest of the Parish Council at the Annual Horticultural Show in Woodhouse Eaves on Saturday 6 September 2008. The Mayor, Cllr. Stephen Campbell, together with Mayoress Cllr. Mrs Brenda Seaton, kindly agreed to present the winners' prizes firstly to children at 4.15 and then at 7 presented the Parish Council's trophy for services to the village to Bill Avery. As usual, there was an entertaining auction of produce after these proceedings co-ordinated by Neil Roberts and Mervyn Greenhalgh, shown above.

To see more on the Show go to the Woodhouse Eaves community website at http://woodhouse-eaves.co.uk/show/index.php?page=Timetable

Annual Parish Award 2008

This beautiful award is given by the Parish Council "in recognition of a significant contribution to the life of the village" and was a gift from former Chairman Mervyn Greenhalgh. It is normally presented to the worthy recipient at the Annual Horticultural Show. The 2008 award was presented to Bill Avery for his services to the Horticultural Show, the Woodhouses Fellowship and for his work as "Fabric Manager" to St Paul's Church. Parish Council Chair David Barker QC is just behind the Mayor, Stephen Campbell.

Parish website wins award!

Your Parish Council website won the award for Parish Information at the Leicestershire Rural Partnership's annual parish & town council web users conference at Beaumanor on 26 February. The award recognised the wealth of information on the site and, in particular, the explanations of how the Parish Council works.

Improvements to property

Spring 2008 saw the start of a series of improvement works to Council property.
The War Memorial dedication board was restored. The Village Hall had some outside wood and stucco repairs before the exterior was re-painted. Double glazing at the rear of the Hall will help to make the building warmer and reduce heating bills. New emergency lighting and rear window grills were fitted to the Annexe to make it more secure. Other work completed included new flooring in the Village Hall upstairs Ladies loos. Investigations continue into a troublesome sewage leak affecting the Tennis Courts until the Council can find out where the problem occurs, and on the Playing Field efforts were made to remove moles from the football pitch to prevent injury to players. The Council is also beginning work on creating a teenagers play area.

Meet your councillors!

Councillors make themselves available informally at "surgeries" that are held two or three times a year on Saturday mornings. The last event was on Saturday 23 February 2008. If possible, the local police Beat Manager and/or Police Community Support Officer also attends. These events are ideal opportunities to raise concerns, ask questions or make comments.

Councillors representing Woodhouse for the Borough, County and Parish attend these sessions.

Financial Officers changeover

A new Responsible Financial Officer [RFO] was officially welcomed to the Council on Monday 7 January 2008. Victoria Charlesworth lives in Anstey and has good relevant experience. Her contact details are on the 'Councillors' page.

Liz Tebbutt's involvement with the Council covered the past six years during which she was Clerk and subsequently RFO. Liz helped to engage Council Members in the Parish Plan, was instrumental in securing all the funding for the children's play area, and made the Annexe into a better place for the Youth Club and the many other organisations that enjoy using it now. Liz's work has been of great value and she will be sorely missed.

Duke of Edinburgh honours Councillor Pole

The National Playing Fields Association - now called Fields In Trust - awarded Parish Councillor & Vice-Chair Les Pole a prestigous President's Certificate at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 16 October 2007.

The award was presented by the Duke of Edinburgh, President of Fields In Trust, and was one of only four awards. The award is "to acknowledge your special contribution to the work and aims of the Association" and recognises the work Les Pole does both as coach to Woodhouse Eaves Imps football team (and protector of the playing field] and in supporting young people in the villages. Congratulations to Les.

In the same month Les Pole was also honoured by the County Council when there was a celebration of older people's activities across the County.

Photo credit: Theimagemaker.co.uk [Terry Sellick]