Due to a misunderstanding, several of the Parish Council articles published in the November Parish Paper were different to those submitted for publication. Hopefully this did not cause any inconvenience or confusion. Please see below for correct details.
Dawn Chamberlain, Parish Clerk
Connecting your community to the Slow Ways National Walking Network
Slow Ways is an ambitious crowd-sourced, community-verified national walking network that connects all of Britain’s towns, cities and national parks. Supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, the mission is to make it easier for people to walk and wheel between places. Contributing to the Slow Ways walking network will help communities across multiple agendas including:
- Health and wellbeing
- Connecting people and communities
- The Climate Emergency
- Active Travel
- Tourism, Leisure, Culture, Heritage
- Accessing Nature
- Planning
- Levelling Up
- Cost of Living
- Happiness and joy
Having a network of recommended and trusted routes is key to unlocking this. Citizens from across the country have already drafted 9,000 routes that stretch for over 130,000km (80,000 miles). Now these routes need checking on the ground to make sure they are good enough for people to follow. So far 1 in 5 Slow Ways have been checked and verified by people across the country. This is an incredible collective achievement.
Your help is now needed to scale-up the national effort and verify the whole the network. Each route requires at least three positive reviews and a survey for it to become part of the Slow Ways trusted network. The aim is for every place in the network to be 100% checked. Once that’s happened we’ll have jointly created a national network that everyone can use.
Walk the walk – you can help by choosing a suitable route from the Slow Ways website (https://beta.slowways.org/), or download your preferred walking app to your phone from the website, walking the route and then leaving a review. Together we can make a difference and create an amazing national walking network.
Dawn Chamberlain, Parish Clerk
New Noticeboards
By the time you read this the three new noticeboards should have been installed – a large general noticeboard by the Parish Hall, the Parish Council noticeboard next to it and the Tale noticeboard in Higher Tale. All three noticeboards are metal with double doors, so will be easy to open and will protect the notices inside from the weather. They also have magnetic backs so notices can be attached with small magnets which will be available in the noticeboards. The Parish Council received a very generous donation towards the purchase of the noticeboards and would like to thank those involved for their generosity.
Dawn Chamberlain, Parish Clerk
Road closures – November 2023 to January 2024
The following road closures are scheduled for November 2023 and January 2024, diversions will be in place if needed:
14th-15th November – road from Blueball Cross to Crowders Cross via The Forge (centre of Colestocks)
This is for National Grid upgrades to the overhead network resilience. The official diversion will be via Honiton & Feniton.
8th-26th January 2024 – road from Tuckmill Cross to Payhembury Cross (aka Alans Garage Cross).
This is for general utility repair and maintenance work by South West Water. The diversion will be via Yellingham Farm and Colestocks.
Dawn Chamberlain, Parish Clerk
Christmas Tree on the village green 2023
Last year the Parish Council received very generous donations towards having a Christmas Tree on the village green. There was enough money left over from last year to be able to have a Christmas Tree again this year, without having to raise any more funds. The plan, like last year, is to put the tree up in time for a grand switching on of the lights at 5pm on the first Saturday in December (2nd), weather permitting.
Like last year, the tree is coming from ‘Higher Willand Farm Christmas Trees & Gift Shop’, which will opening for business on 11th November. They will be delivering the village Christmas Tree on Friday 1st December and have offered to bring down, at the same time, any other trees that people may buy from them, if you are happy to have them delivered on the 1st December. Their address is Higher Willand Farm, Churchstanton, Taunton TA3 7RL, phone numbers 07815 059823 / 07818 462121.
Many thanks again to Amy Shaw, Baked With Love by Julie, Chetwood Private Wealth, Luton Green Sawmill, P. Woodley Plumbing & Heating, The Studio Hair & Beauty and Tuck Mill Barns for their generous donations last year towards the Christmas Trees for 2022 and 2023.
Dawn Chamberlain, Parish Clerk
Applications for a grant from the Parish Council
Each year Payhembury Parish Council award a number of small grants to voluntary organisations and groups that support the residents of the parish in various ways. Previous recipients include Tale Valley Trust, Applepips, FoPs, EDBC, the Tea & Bingo group, TRIP, the Ottery Help Scheme, the Payhembury Relief Fund and others. If you would like to be considered for a grant this year, please complete the application form (which will be available after the Parish Council meeting on 8th November). Completed forms should be returned either via email to payhemburypc@payhemburyparishcouncil.org.uk, or to Payhembury Parish Council, c/o Rose Cottage, Payhembury, Honiton, Devon EX14 3HR by 3rd January 2023. The Parish Council will consider these requests at the Parish Council meeting on Wednesday 10th January 2024.
Dawn Chamberlain, Parish Clerk