Would you like to contribute your thoughts to how the village is run? If so, there is an opportunity to become a Parish Councillor – details below.

In this issue:
  1. Parish Council Vacancies
  2. Elections for Parish and District Councillors
  3. Church News
  4. Bystander Archives on the Village Website
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1. Parish Council Vacancies

Ian Yates writes:
There are seven members on Birlingham Parish Council. The recent members have been Stuart Allen, Ken Fitch, Marion New, Paula Aston, Steven Byrne, Terry Griffin and Ian Yates. Members are required to stand for re-election every four-year term and it is common that after having served one or more terms, some members decide to stand down rather than nominate themselves for re-election.

As previously reported we are going through a re-election process and the closing date for nominations to the Parish Council was Wednesday 3rd April at 4:00pm. The list of candidates was published by Wychavon District Council on Thursday 4th April and this showed the election will be uncontested due to an insufficient number of candidates. This is actually good news as it saves your Parish Council the considerable cost of running an election. As a result those who were nominated, Paula Aston, Terry Griffin and Ian Yates, have been returned unopposed. I would personally like to thank the existing members who have decided to stand down this time for their hard work and dedication on behalf of the village and its residents over the last few years.

The Parish Council will therefore be looking to co-opt members to fill the four vacancies that now exist. Serving on the Parish Council is not always easy and can be frustrating at times due to small budgets and large bureaucracy! However, it is an important activity which deals with issues of concern to residents and it is an opportunity for those involved to give something back to their community. I would therefore like to encourage anyone who is interested in becoming involved to contact either the Parish Council Clerk, June Hiden, or myself (contact details on the Birlingham website) and we’d be happy to tell you more about the role. Please contact us well before the next Parish Council meeting on Wednesday 29th May 2019.

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2. Elections for Parish and District Councillors

There will be no elections for Parish and District Councillors in Birlingham this year. The Parish Council still has vacancies, as mentioned above, and Ron Davis has been re-elected unopposed as our District Councillor for the Eckington ward. Our congratulations to Ron, who always works extremely hard on behalf of Birlingham at Wychavon District Council.

The Notice of Uncontested Election for Birlingham Parish Council can be viewed at www.birlingham.org/pc_info/parish_elections_2019.pdf and the notice for the Eckington ward is at www.birlingham.org/pc_info/district_elections_2019.pdf.

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3. Church News

The Parochial Church Council is delighted to announce the election of Adrianne Woodward to be churchwarden from 4th June.

We are also very grateful to Sue Hayward for volunteering to become treasurer.

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4. Bystander Archives on the Village Website

The fourth edition of the Birlingham Bystander, published in Summer 1983, is now available on the website. Among other articles, this edition includes a piece by Anne Porter on a Kenya safari, a complaint about dog licences, a description of water dowsing and an interesting article on beakers and burials on Bredon Hill. There is gardening and fashion advice, a recipe for oakleaf wine by Virginia Cooper and one for shortbread by Charlotte Butler. The issue also includes reports from the Cricket Club and the Village Hall, which was suffering from a lack of volunteers. Potholes in the roads were also a cause for concern, a perennial problem.

Old photographs include one of the church choir from the 1950s (which was also part of our recent Christmas quiz) and two of onion tying, with information about the Gibbs family in the 1800s and a village journal from the eighteenth century. There is an article on blindness and another on fascinating funghi. Finally, there are examples of Worcestershire expressions. As always, the Bystander contains an eclectic mix of articles.

The fourth edition of the Bystander can be viewed at www.birlingham.org/village/bystander.

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