Benches, Speeding, 101 and Youth Club

It’s said that nothing is ever really new and that most things (particularly fashion, my metallic green platform boots of the 70s spring to mind) come round again if you wait long enough. So this month I want to open up with a request that came to our last Parish Council meeting and canvas views regarding positioning some bench seats along Main Street and possibly other places within Bubwith village. I’m reliably informed that is not new and has been discussed, and as is self-evident not supported, some years ago for a variety of reasons.

We have a number of senior parishioners within the village and the distance from homes to the Doctors’ Surgery can be quite a hike for even the fittest of us! Transport within the village is as we know only a dream for some and although folk are kindly and supportive with the offer of lifts the most challenging trip (whilst retaining personal independence) is the walk to the surgery for an appointment. If you have a view, support, not support, reservations or suggestions for where the best places to site benches would be, Steve Young Parish Clerk or I would love to hear from you. or alternatively you can speak to any Parish Councillor to give your view.

Speed in the village also came up again with a report from Bubwith Against Speed and following up on suggestions and overtures made to the local authority and Police for more speed restrictions, traffic calming and the potential for a pedestrian crossing in the village. Sadly many of the suggestions have been pursued previously with little success and of course, they will be pursued again. We were reminded in our discussion that until a few years ago we did have a Lollipop Person to assist crossing during school hours. Unfortunately, when this became vacant, despite a number of adverts no replacement could be found. The PC will be pursuing this again as there may now be someone interested in this role (and if you are please let us know).

Sadly, recently there have been a number of incidents of antisocial and intimidating behaviour within Bubwith.

These are very distressing for the victims of this behaviour and are always of great concern to the Parish Council. Unfortunately, we lack the powers to take direct action and there is a limit to what we can do other than report it to the Police and urge anyone who experiences such behaviour to report it to the Police. In communication with our local Police Officer, he has highlighted that although you can email him directly he may not always be on duty to pick up messages, his advice is to contact the Police using Tel: 101 to report any incidents as this will be picked up by officers on duty. He also advised:

“Whenever something is reported to the Police then it is followed up, it is sometimes difficult to speak to “culprits” if they are not named or known.” “There has been a report of an attempted break-in on Breighton Road last week. The person reporting this said that on Facebook for Bubwith it says that persons under the age of 18 cannot be dealt with by the Police. This is rubbish, the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years. Therefore, young persons will be dealt with by the Police as you know. Can you ensure that this knowledge is passed out”.

On the good news front, the Youth Club continues to go from strength to strength and it was agreed at Parish Council to fund a mobile phone for the club to assist with communicating with parents via WhatsApp in a more timely way. The club has been very lucky to receive an injection of funds recently. I’d also like to give my personal and sincere thanks to Louise Smith from the Jug and Bottle who recently did a marathon walk to raise funds for MIND and the Youth Club. Hopefully, Louise’s blisters are on the mend and we are very grateful for the £780 she raised for the Youth Club and MIND (£1560 in total). These funds will enable the Youth Club to buy new equipment to expand their activities for the young people in our community.

On a final note, and I can’t believe we got to an October meeting before this subject appeared, Christmas is not far away!!! Already the PC, Bubwith Elves and talented Leisure Centre folk are making plans for decorations, events and of course the Christmas Post Box! Watch out for firmed updates and details of these well-loved events. In the meantime, we have the Friends of Bubwith School (FOBS) Halloween Scavenger Hunt to look forward to and an extra hour sleep between the 30th and 31st October, enjoy!

Thank you for your kind attention, please feel free to make contact if you wish to raise anything with the Parish Council.

Sandra, Chair of Bubwith Parish Council, https://www.facebook.com/BubwithParishCouncil