ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2010/11
I would like to thank my predecessor, councillor Gill Kennett who kindly stepped in and continued as chair until I could
take over due to work commitments. Secondly, I’m sure that all councillors will agree that our clerk Mrs Sally Woods has
done an outstanding job this year and this include training our new assistant clerk Jane Blackmore who is standing in for
Emma Carter who is off on maternity leave. My thanks go to all three of you and as Sally is on sick leave at the moment, I
wish her a speedy and full recovery.
This year has been a very busy year for all and we had a very enjoyable evening last September in the Memorial Hall,
celebrating and handing out certificates of achievement to some of our local residents who went out of their way to help or
donate their time and efforts to the community. This event was organised in conjunction with Totland Parish Council and the
Memorial Hall who contributed equally to this memorable evening and I thank them for their help and enthusiasm.
I am grateful for our archivist, Roy Tyrrell who has put in a tremendous amount of work in order to preserve and safe keep
our heritage and “old time” pictures. Also Pauline Tyrrell who is leading on Village Voices and doing an excellent job. I
would also like to thank David Lewis and his wife Jane, who worked tirelessly on our very well designed flood plan. This
project is vital and this initial work that is linked with Yarmouth flood defence committee is vital for the future
structure of sea defences in future years. As we are aware, Freshwater lifeboat is in the process of re-building their base
in the Bay and I thank all those who made kind donations to this cause and I wish the crew all the best with their new plans
and the newly ordered vessel.
Sub Committees: I must say that our sub committees has done very well this year and we have several projects in progress at
the moment and every one of them is for the benefit of the community. All the councillors involved have done an excellent
job and as these projects are delivered we will celebrate these achievements. Some of these include Granny’s Meade, The
Golden Hill Park project, The Robert Hooke Trail (Already Delivered) and the Robert Hooke memorial. We also have the FYT Bus
project, which is aiming to provide a comprehensive bus route for local residents throughout Freshwater, Yarmouth and
Totland. This project is jointly delivered between the three parishes and my thanks go to them as well for their input.
We are also in the process of establishing a Local Action Group and the role of this group is to develop partnership working
and to ensure that all children and young people have access to a range of services. The group is proposed to comprise of:
Community members, Police, Parish Council, Young people and the High Sheriff. The membership of the group will change as the
needs change and for example older voices and other groups will be involved as well.
I will conclude with a big thank you to Mr. Robin Day who has done another year of excellent work on the Parish Website and
this form of communication is more valuable by the day and we do appreciate Robin’s work entirely. Lastly I thank to
Southern cooperative that is sponsoring and donating vast amounts of money to local projects. This I supported by local
residents who joined their fantastic loyalty scheme, I would encourage everyone to join this scheme as all the money raised
is spend locally in the West Wight. Thank you very much.
George Cameron (Chairman)