At the time of writing, the Parish Council regret that there appears to be no positive move towards the establishment of a new Post Office facility.

Unless someone puts their name forward as a serious candidate for the position of Postmaster or Postmistress, there is nothing the Parish Council can do to investigate potential premises or the sources of any financial support.

The ball therefore remains firmly in the court of Andy Wright, the Rural Transfer Advisor for Post Office Ltd., and we can only hope that he identifies a suitable alternative although we are warned that it will take up to six months to establish a new facility from a standing start so the problem is with us for that long at least.

The Parish Council is pleased to announce that the Parish now has a new Tree Warden, Chris Mallet. He has kindly agreed to take over this responsibility from Terry Collins, who now has too many other commitments, and we wish him every success in this vitally important role. The Parish Council would also like to thank Terry for his contribution to the preservation of our tree population over the past few years.

By the time this is published, work should have started on the new play area which is scheduled for completion by the end of May. If all goes according to the plans, the Village should then have a modern, well thought out facility for younger residents which has been designed by experts in this highly specialised field.

Whilst there has been the inevitable rise in the Council Tax this year, it is hoped that Residents will have noted that the Precept levied by the Parish Council has been maintained at last year's level and that the increase in the overall Council Tax is due to increases from both the Borough and County Councils.

The Precept, the amount contributed by Parish Residents towards amenities not covered by either the Borough or the County, therefore again amounts to just 50 pence per week per household!