The Runners Are At The Starting Post

Well they are at the starting post so roll on 22nd May.  You would  expect someone from West Stockwith or Misterton to run but why from other villages?  At least it will provide a little more interest to us than the European Elections.  Should be interesting, especially with a UKIP  rider, unfortunately for him I've never been a floating voter. 

Name of Candidate	Home Address	Description (if any)	Name of Proposer	Reason why no longer nominated*
BRAND Hazel	Sycamore Lodge, Grovewood Road, Misterton, DN10 4EF	Independent	Moffett Amanda-Jane
CAPP Roger	Everglade House, West Moor Rd, Walkeringham, Doncaster, DN10 4LR	United Kingdom Independence Party	Walker David
TAYLOR Simon Victor	The Old Vicarage, High Street, Gringley on The Hill, DN10 4RF	The Conservative Party Candidate	Young Loretta V

*Decision of the Returning Officer that the nomination is invalid or other reason why a person nominated no longer stands nominated.

Next at the starting blocks for the Parish Council (sorry some a  bit small but wanted to get it all in), and, what a lot of riders this time.  Just one comment.  What's with the Keep Misterton A Village, especially since some of them quoting it don't even live in Misterton.  Is this going to be their clarion call in the hope of  frightening people off voting for the other candidates.  Why on earth would Misterton become a town.  Is Armthorpe a town?  Population 12000 in 2001. Retford is a town in Nottinghamshire, population over 21,000, so I hardly think the size we are, they will force town status on us, assuming they can of course.  Still I suppose they think it will stir the broth.

Nice to see more interest in our village parish elections and at least we get to select who we want in.  Mind you I can't for the life of me see why we have two applicants from the same address applying, it's not exactly a night at the opera, more like a soap opera sometimes.  

The Knives Are Out Already

Well can't you tell there are elections coming up.  When you look at the Spring Newsletter even the Parish Council are having a go, and against one of their own members, which I find a bit disturbing, especially since I think what they have written is a complete load of tosh and a little  fishing expedition.  Makes you wonder, bearing in mind what happened at that previous Parish Council meeting.  Anyway is this legal, election rules and all that, which I am sure apply to Parish Councils as well.

What about all these achievements.  This kind of thing normally goes in an annual report, the one we don't get now, the one that should tell us about our financial affairs and how much is left in the kitty etc.  Some of them are very suspect and a tad misleading.  The old  bank saga rolled on for years simply because nobody could identify who owned the land and so the County Council and District Council had to be involved, as well as the previous administration who instigated it in the first place.  No mention of them whatsoever, just us, us, us. 

Then there is the reduction in council charges for this year.  Didn't that go up last year and is it now reduced by about the amount it went up.  Misleading?  Very.

Stolen picnic tables, why drag that up since that happened years ago.  According to the parish council member I spoke to the claim hadn't lapsed, just left on file after speaking with the insurer, until the Packet Inn matter was sorted out, and had appeared on the Annual Return for the Auditor every year and he was satisfied. So why the wanton attempt to deceive?

Then there is the other piece on Merryvale and the land at Gravelholes.  They did nothing really as I understood it was the residents of this village that said they didn't want it.  Although to be honest I suspect it will happen in the future, along with that land behind the Church Estate up to the canal.  There is too little low cost housing in this village and the only way you will get it is by building cheaper estates, not large posh houses that youngsters can't afford on the first rung of the housing ladder.

The trouble is when they do try and do something useful it just gets lost in the smoke, mirrors and vitriol.  What really makes me laugh is that the only reason they can be so bountiful with our money is because the previous and very qualified clerk landed us with a windfall of over £100,000, which makes the present monetary comments just plain petty and poorly presented. I'd like to see the new clerk pull a deal like that out of the hat again.  Just a thought, but do they have to share these returned goodies with the Co-op and the Police, since they have shared costs, or is this another attempt to deceive?

Did the Newsletter go to the council for approval by all members, like it is supposed to do, or did the 'select' few waive it through with a snigger.  I can make an educated guess what happened.   I was under the impression there was a fully qualified clerk in residence to ensure fair play.

If our present clerk is so qualified, how come we aren't aiming for that prestigious award of a Quality Parish Council. We paid for her to get the qualification, why can't we reap the benefits instead of them just puffing their chests up.  Or is it just that the way they run our council now means they wouldn't qualify.

I can see the next thing happening is we have someone waltzing down the street with a megaphone or maybe even a village crier employed.  All this to make sure they get re-elected. I was under the impression that a Parish Council was a corporate body, a legal entity separate from that of its members not a point scoring bitter contest on a past administration, some members who are still on the council. Very poor taste and judgement, particularly on the clerk. 

No mention of the VI, the trusteeship of which they handed over to some members of the Friends of the Institute, who are now digging their heels in.  That could have been sorted out in 2010 if it hadn't been for a certain individual making a false claim.  Now they have missed the boat on selling at a reasonable price.  Make no mistake, if funds run out it will be the parish that  bears the cost

Pity I prefer quilted or I could have used that coloured Newsletter for something more appropriate. Still the cleaner and Brian got a bit of a mention, not much though, more of an afterthought.  

The War Memorial looks much improved as it deserved.

I do wonder though, exactly how much we have left in the kitty with all this bountifulness.  Perhaps we might get to know in the new council year.

Village Parish Council Elections

Just in case you are interested the Parish Council elections also take place on the 22nd May.  If you are interested then you need to move quickly.  Application forms should be available at the Misterton Centre and should be returned to Bassetlaw by the 24th April 2014.  There are 13 places available for Misterton.  There used to be full details on how to join the Parish Council on their website but for some reason this information is no longer shown.

You don't need any experience, just an interest in what happens in your village.  Despite what you hear  around  the village, there is no need to be intimidated by some of the existing members.  All you need is a resident to countersign your form.  It doesn't matter how long you have resided in the village or even just out of the village (5 miles as the crow flies I believe).

I would like to see more younger people on the council, the ones who will be affected in the future by changes/decisions that happen now.  Another more positive aspect is if that if you don't have a job and you are looking for one, it will be something to add to your CV.  All it takes up is a few hours a month at one meeting on the second Tuesday of each month.    

 So don't think about it, get on and do it before it is too late.

Rumours

I don't know whether it is common knowledge yet but I've heard the Misterton Social Club is in trouble.  Resignations of key figures, only one director left, that is not good, someone left holding the baby and taking the flack.  There are few social places in the village with the amenities and space this building has, not to mention the car park, in the village.

It was a good place for the village gala, will that have to find a new home?  Hopefully not and things will work out.  Trouble is even with ale prices lower than elsewhere, you still have to get people out but with most people short of brass, it's easier to drink in and avoid the pain of a drink driving charge. 

Food is what draws a lot of people to the pubs now, good cheapish food and you are onto a winner, and I'm speaking as someone who only goes to a pub now when a meal is involved.

I joined for £1, maybe that should be more.  Even non profit making organisations need a sound financial base to work on.  From memory a lot of County Council money went into the venture, would be a shame for that to be lost because that would be our loss as  well.

Got your post late recently?

Well if you have don't blame the postman/woman.  If you notice they have taken their bikes off them, something to do with insurance, and given them a van that is parked at some intermediate point and then off they trot on foot.  Now if you notice, there are an awful lot of houses in this village with drives that are a lot longer than say 5 meters, which means an awful lot of walking during the day.  The result of this daft (insane foolish or whatever you want to think) idea, is that they run out of time and post is going back to the Post Office.

Now I for one have never been a fan of overtime.  Family, leisure time, personal interests etc., are much more important to me than the extra money.  Nobody objects to the odd half hour to finish a job but 4 hours!  The Post Office could stick the overtime up their jacksie as far as I would be concerned so I certainly wouldn't want anybody else saddled with it on a daily basis. 

You would have thought the Post Office is in public hands, efficiency was the order of the day but this new method of mail delivery in this village is far from efficient.  A bike is much more labour saving, especially when you can whiz up and down long drives with a bike.  Might be alright in a town/city but in this neck of the woods absolutely barmy.

I would suggest that the people who dreamed up this idea, and probably got paid a lot of money, go back to the drawing board and do a bit of evaluation of their new working procedures because losing up to 4 hours of work every day is going to produce a large backlog of mail very soon.

For heavens  sake GIVE THEM THEIR BIKES BACK

Just a thought but what's the idea of shortening some of the lampposts
   

Best Kept Village Anyone

I see from the free magazine that gets distributed in the village, that Haxey are entering the Best Kept Village competition.  Considering we won it before, are we entering?

We've got rid of the eyesore of the old Bank, the other eyesore on Station Street doesn't look quite so bad now and we have a new posh corner ( for the life of me I can't think of its name), although as my mother used to say it has an air of all fur coat and no knickers.  The VI lets the place down considerably but I suppose they could turn a blind eye to that since it is work in progress, of sorts.  A new Pharmacy has given new life to that other eyesore so all that really remains is the Langley site, which is out of our hands.

In addition to this there are some great looking gardens in the village which make up for all our bad spots.  So what about it.  That nice little post and sign on Windmill Garden looked very nice when it was erected to celebrate our win.  It would be nice to have it back again.

Now didn't that look good back in 2007, and wouldn't this have been better on our village signs  as well?

What's on now is a bit too twee for me.