By the time you read this, we will have had the decorators in to re-decorate the hall’s remaining areas, including the entrance lobby, toilets & kitchen. We will, as last time, be using the same colours in these areas, so there will be no noticeable difference, but these areas will look clean and refreshed.

As reported last month, after much consideration, the trustees have decided to put in place an ANPR car parking system to help control unauthorised parking in our carpark

When the new School first opened, we were asked by KCC to financially contribute towards maintenance costs for wear and tear of the adopted section of the access road, which the school owns, and we have a right of way over. To this, we agreed. In more recent times, with the school getting more pupils, we have found our car park has become the first choice for many parents when dropping off at school, and more so when collecting in the afternoons when our car park is full to overflowing, with many parents showing no consideration for how or where they park, many outside of marked bays, in the disabled bays or even the footpath areas, all of which is unacceptable

We have approached the school and included KCC in the discussion on how we can resolve this problem, which for the trustees also includes Health & Safety and insurance issues that may affect our hall, suggesting to the school they could consider contributing towards our maintenance costs, however, this was not an option the school could offer. We have also noted that there have been suggestions in local planning applications that any shortfall in provided parking for these new developments could be accommodated by the hall car park.

The hall car park is private and part and parcel of the facilities provided for the people who pay to hire or use the hall. It is not a public car park or owned by the Parish Council.

The ANPR system we will be installing will allow the use of our car park by non-hall users, but you will need to pay £1 ph to do so, with a maximum stay of 3 hours. Payment is made via an App which you download onto your phone. Failure to pay, park outside of bays, on the footpaths or on disabled bays will incur a penalty charge of £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. Users of the Hall will continue to enjoy free parking and will have to log in using a keypad when they enter the building.

Once installed, there will be full instruction signs around the car park; we will be allowing some element of consideration for the first few days so people can get used to the new system.

This system will be run and monitored by an outside contractor and not by the hall trustees, so any appeals processes is via them.

We hope any income from this system will help cover the maintenance costs associated with our car park and gardens, the latter of which is suffering from a lack of volunteers.

Talking of which, our gardening dates for the rest of this year are Wed 1^st Nov & Saturday 18^th,  December 6^th & Saturday 16^th; these dates are subject to the weather. Please join us if you can for an hour or two for light gardening duties, a chat, and refreshments.

Some good news is that with energy prices moving in the right direction, we will be able to stay with current hire rates.

Our Remembrance Sunday ceremony will be on the 12th of November, at 10:00 a.m. as usual.

David Vallance, Chairman of Trustees