Mountfield

On Tuesday April 16, Mountfield Parish Council held its Annual Parish Assembly (writes Caroline Hollamby). The evening got off to a slow start - owing to some confusion over start time - and attendance was lower than previous years, possibly due to the lack of a regular Village Voice to advertise the event and a growing number of younger village residents who were probably all in their beds by then.

However, the Parish Council and the general public heard nearly a dozen clubs and committees in the village give their reports for the previous year, including their plans and aspirations for the future, which highlighted how much actually goes on ‘behind the scenes’. Did you know that they include stoolball, cricket, archery, men’s club, children’s club, horticultural society, annual family bonfire, a community bus service and a thriving active village hall committee (with regular painting and dancing classes, and blind club) amongst others?

The evening also included updates from locally elected councillors and an overview of the local crime and community police initiatives, plus a summary of what the Parish Council has achieved, on behalf of it’s residents, throughout the past year.

The event was rounded off with a very interesting and informative talk and slide show by local enthusiast, Robin Harris, on the local birdlife around the Darwell Reservoir – he could have talked and we could have listened longer but the evening had already been a full one!

For further information and full reports, you can visit the local village website at www.mountfield.org.uk – where you might be inspired to join a club, or even volunteer to support the village by joining in with a local activity or committee - Mountfield continually depends on the goodwill and support of others in order to provide as rich and diverse village life experience as possible – but we all have lives to live too and we don’t have magic wands, so would always welcome new blood and ideas.

Which brings up the question of the Village Voice. Mountfield needs a strong Village Voice to support all those clubs and activities. All it takes is a bit of commitment, common sense and reasonable literacy. Help would be given to anyone prepared to take it on. If you think you might be interested, please give Peter Miles a call on 880614.