To receive any Chairman’s announcements.
Minutes:
The Chairman said that the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 came into force on Saturday 4 April 2020 to enable councils to hold remote committee meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic period. This was to ensure local authorities could conduct business during this current public health emergency. This meeting of Council was being held remotely under these regulations, via the Zoom application and was being recorded and live streamed on YouTube.
The Chairman welcome the Rev’d Ysmena Pentelow from St Mary’s Church in Ware. The Rev’d Pentelow thanked the Chairman for inviting her to address Members. She shared some personal reflections on the year and the religious celebrations of Hanukkah as celebrated by a friend. She mentioned the light that did not go out and talked about the celebration of advent in Christian Churches. The Rev’d Pentelow talked about images of light and the hope that light kindled and she led Members in an adapted prayer.
The Chairman welcomed those attending the meeting online and those observing the livestream. He reminded Members that voting would be via the green tick or red cross voting tools within the online software and he asked whether there were any Members who were attending by telephone. The Democratic Services Officer confirmed that there were no Members participating by phone.
The Chairman said that guests were welcome to stay or to leave the meeting but should turn their camera off if they were staying online. Members and Officers were reminded to mute all microphones during the course of the meeting.
The Chairman introduced and welcomed Barbara Doherty to Members and thanked Members for following the festive tradition of wearing seasonal jumpers, ties and hats. He mentioned the involvement of Members with the Isabel Hospice and said that this had been a tough year as the hospice had been unable to hold fundraising events.
The Chairman drew attention to an email sent by his PA regarding donations to the hospice. Barbara Doherty, president of Isabel Hospice, addressed the Council meeting and gave an update on the work of the Hospice. She thanked the Chairman for the invite and set a context by setting out the financial position of the hospice in 2020. She said the hospice had been set for a good year before COVID-19 affected everybody. She said that the living well centres (day hospices) had all been closed down in March.
Members were advised that the hospice specialist nurses had to work virtually which was very challenging for them. The inpatient unit had stayed open and 6 beds were let to the NHS and the hospice took in some COVID-19 patients. Barbara Doherty detailed the ways the hospice had adapted its operations and she summarised a number of ways the hospice had assisted people during the pandemic. She said that the most important thing was that the Isabel Hospice in patient unit had been kept up and running.
Barbara Doherty said that all the major mass fundraising events were cancelled although some marathon runners did complete their runs in some strange locations. She summarised the new ways and initiatives that had been undertaken to raise money for the Isabel Hospice. Barbara Doherty wished Members of the Council a very Happy Christmas from everyone at the Isabel Hospice.
The Chairman congratulated Mr Kevin Glogner on being presented with the Peterkin award by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE). He talked about Mr Glogner’s work as a parish councillor in Hormead and in particular, using his horticultural skills to improve the Meads recreational ground as this was in a poor state. The Chairman said that Mr Glogner had improved the pavilion both inside and out, had planted many new trees and had improved the play area and installed some new benches.
Mr Glogner thanked the Chairman for his kind words and for inviting him to the meeting. He said he would recommend becoming a parish councillor to anyone as a way of making new acquaintances and finding out what was going on. He said that improvements to the recreation ground and the village as a whole had lifted everyone’s spirits during these very tough times. He thanked Councillor P Boylan for his support as a District Councillor.
The Chairman said other award winners of the Peterkin award included Birch Green village shop and the Chairman’s award had gone to the Tewin Village Store. Finally, he congratulated Steven King, financial management trainee, for passing his level 3 association of accountancy technical exams with distinction. He said that Steven had started at the Council in 2017 just out of school and Steven Linnett had said that Steven King had demonstrated a very mature, can do and helpful attitude.