During the year the Parish Council has given financial support towards the running costs of the computer suite in the Village Hall and I would like to thank Marcia, Kirsten and Sue for all the time that they regularly spend updating the web sites and ensuring that all the latest news is available on the Web. They also give help to members of the public attending to make use of the web at advertised times.

The Parish Council regularly forms views on the state of the highway network and keeps the County Council and the County Councillor Tony McMahon informed and seeks to obtain improvements in the area. I would also like to thank members of the Speed Watch Team who have carried out successful checks in the Oake and Hillcommon area.

The Parish Council has supported the provision of the new play area which was officially opened last Saturday and I am sure that all those who have been actively involved in the discussions, prior to the building of the play area, will be delighted to see how much it is appreciated by the children, parents and the community.

The Parish Council supported the planning application for a new school and I am sure that everyone is looking forward to seeing its completion in readiness for the start of the school term in September. Some concerns have been expressed over the naming of the new school.

The last meeting of the Council was the most controversial and some residents residing in Saxon Close expressed their concern about the potential site for about twenty houses shown in the TDBC Core Strategy which had been published for consultation.

During the year many planning applications were discussed by the Parish Council and some were controversial.

I would like to express my thanks to Marcia for the way that she carries out her duties and to thank members of the Council for their support. I also thank the Footpath wardens and the Tree warden for the work they do.

Somerset County Council: - Cllr.Tony McMahon.

My thanks to all who voted for me in the County elections last June. Thanks also to those who voted at all and to remind all in Oake, however you voted, that I am here to serve the community to the best of my ability.

Highways issues. In response to a request from the Parish Council, I arranged for Highways to install a speed monitoring device outside the Primary school to see if justification existed for further traffic calming measures at that end of the village. The results indicated that traffic rarely exceeded the village limit in both directions there and therefore no further measures could be justified.

Repairs and repainting have been carried out in the Oake/Bradford road and weekday speed observations outside the Ramus’s house revealed no excessive speeds at various times during the day.

Play area. I was very pleased to attend the opening of the new play area outside the village hall. It is a superb play facility, well positioned and thought out. It has the unqualified recommendation of my three grandchildren! I was concerned to hear the disquiet caused by the naming of the new school in Oake but it was the decision of the Governors and the Chairman is very optimistic that this wonderful new school will be open on time for the winter term with 4 brand new classrooms. In addition, there has been an excellent response to the advertisement for a new Head.

General. It has been a pleasure to be associated with Oake and a delight to work with its excellent Parish Council.

Report from the Deane Vale Benefice 2010 – Rev. Alison Norris

The churches of Oake, Hillfarrance, Heathfield and Cotford St Luke (the Deane Vale Benefice) have just celebrated Easter with standing-room only in church – and a wonderful family feel as all ages joined in worship !

Our highlights this year have been – Lydia the donkey on Palm Sunday, joining wih the Milverton Benefice for the Passover Supper, the walk of witness on Good Friday, Remembrance at Cotford St Luke, Songs of Praise for Back to Church Sunday at Oake. Christmas services throughout the Benefice – with 2 real babies playing Jesus at both Cotford and Hillfarrance! Welcoming the school to Oake church at Harvest and Easter, and perhaps on a sadder note, the service of Remembering with Thanksgiving; our annual service for the bereaved.

A new Toddler church has started in the community classroom in Oake, after the huge success of the Toddler Church at Cotford. Village lunches continue to be a highlight at Hillfarrance.

We’ve packed Christmas boxes for Romania. Sent Christmas cards to Amnesty prisoners, collected over £1,000 at the frost Fair to build a school in Uganda, and joined with the school to raise money for Shelter boxes. 10% of all our collections has been sent to 3 charities this year, and each week we put goodies in church for the Taunton charity,Open Door.

Heathfield has a refurbished set of bells – courtesy of a bequest from the late Nell and Jim Cossins, which were dedicated in the Autumn along with a new altar rail, in memory of our late Patron Michael Spurway.

We have shared the sad and the happy times, the ups and downs of local village life and Ugandan village life, as we have sought to serve and love God and our neighbour in the world today.

Oake & Bradford School: - N o report received.

Oake and Bradford Toddler Group : - Fern Dunn

The toddler group meets every Tuesday morning between 9.30 and 11.30 and all parents with babies up to school age are welcome, although the majority of junior attendees are 2 or under. We offer a large selection of toys, large and small, to play with and a “creativity” table with craft equipment, Play Doh, books and colouring which parents and toddlers can enjoy together. A fruit and biscuit snack is offered to the children during the morning and tea/coffee are available to parents.

At the beginning of 2010 Frankie White took over from Emma Slatter helping me run the group. We have seen an increase of smaller babies recently and are delighted that a “new generation” of local children are joining and increasing the numbers.

We hope to hold a few outdoor meetings, picnics, farm visit etc during the summer.

Oake Day Centre: Vivienne Russell

We have had another successful year. A varied programme each Wednesday – also two very good Bring & Buy sales, well attended. We have a library table each week, we also had two lunches out. We have two new members but would welcome more either on a day, morning or afternoon, all will be made very welcome just come along we meet 10.30am till 2.30pm on Wednesdays, there is a charge for lunch, for more details please call me on 01823 400488.

Oake village short mat bowls : - Mick Alexander

We have had a good first year back in division one after an absence of six years they finished fourth, every team that comes to Oake village hall remarks how lucky we are to have such a lovely hall to play in we always reply not luck a lot of people put a lot of effort and hard work into getting it but it is a nice place to come and play and we appreciate it, the club as well as playing bowls twice a week sometimes more has also donated to local charities we all donate ten pence every time we hit the block in practice this added up to along with our yearly tournament to £620 plus our annual charity match against Kingsmead which raised £80 these figures are for last year to November the charity was children’s hospice south west so far this year we have raised £500 for the charity SURE we would like to thank the village hall committee for there kind donation of the hall which in turn donates to these charities.

Police Report.

Please remember you can contact Jon or Tess on the usual numbers: 0845 456 7000 the force service centre where a message can be left. Our mobile numbers are: 07717700612 for Tess and 07717700663 for Jon. Or if you wish to send us an e-mail message: go to the Avon and Somerset force website and click on “In your area” find our beat areas: Wellington Monument or Bradford on Tone beats and e-mail us from there.

Women’s Institute.

Oake & District Women’s Institute meet in the Pig and Whistle lounge during the evening of the fourth Thursday of every month (except December). We hold a brief business meeting followed by speakers or a demonstration. Once a year we try to arrange an outing and our November meeting is a Christmas one.

We are in our third year and are Somerset’s second youngest WI, now having 15 members.

This year we catered for a large, WI organised, Easter extravaganza in April and also provided the cream teas at the village fete in June. We had a Big Tidy Up litter collection in October all around the village and including the village hall grounds.

Fern Dunn Secretary – Pam Jacobs President.

Oake Family History Group : Sue Earthrowl

I report the demise of Oake Family History Group. A small but dedicated membership enjoyed speakers and help re researching family history and have now moved on to do their personal research, with some signposting to family history services in the area (like the Somerset Records Office which is re locating to Norton Fitzwarren)

The Cyber Café welcomes those who wish to use the internet for their research.

Tree Wardens report:- Roger Earthrowl

Through the offices of the Tree Warden coordinator for Taunton Deane, I heard that a fellow Tree Warden in Taunton had several young trees grown from seed and they were taking up too much space in her garden. So I was able to avail myself of several which are now planted (with the help of John Sharland and Dave Sedgwick) on the left hand side as you drive up to the Hall.

I have had no calls from T.D. to comment on any tree issues.

Footpaths: Jim Paul

S.C.C. has been active in Oake parish with repairs and new installations. Gates have been provided in place of stiles on WG9/23 and WG9/28, however no footbridge has yet appeared on WG9/39 just below Pitlands Farm in spite of several reminders.

A new entrance to WG9./37 has been requested to be incorporated in the proposed new entrance to Knapp Farm. No progress on this yet. There are some small jobs to be done by myself but nothing major.

OAKE AND DISTRICT VILLAGE HALL - Kirsten Horton.

This has been a year of consolidation at Oake Village Hall. In spite of the financial climate, bookings have covered our running costs and we continue to have regular lettings every evening of the week with additional events at the weekends. To mention just a few of our regular bookings, we are pleased to host the Mother and Toddler Group on Tuesday as well as the Mini-day Centre on Wednesdays. Our Short Mat Bowls Team continue to do well in the county league. Two Bridge sessions as well as classes are held each week and Somerset County Bridge Association favour us for additional events in view of our facilities particularly our large car park. The popular monthly Whist Drive and special Bingo Sessions continue – their prizes are legendary! The Oake W I meets monthly in the lounge and we are pleased to welcome the Parish Council for their monthly meeting.

Our plant sale proved as popular as ever with a tremendous choice of annual bedding and vegetables as well as interesting herbaceous items. The successful village fete, a joint event with the school was held in June and we were pleased to have good support from parents in running this. We enjoyed another baffling quiz night and the Harvest Supper drew a good crowd. New Years Eve adopted a new format with an all generation celebration.

Oake Cyber Café is open two Monday afternoons each month and includes the updating of the village and hall websites. We have several regular visitors but others who have needed to update their CV or carry out some research. We have had financial support from Somerset Active Living and we appreciate the annual funding received from the Parish Council which helps toward the cost of the broadband connection and virus protection for the six computers. We would welcome any events or information which villagers would like to contribute to the website. Last month the village website had more than 1400 hits from United Kingdom, Canada and Australia and a popular page was that for Oake and Bradford school.

Finally the high light of the year has been the construction of the Oake Play Area on the hall recreation field, thanks to funding from Play England and Taunton Deane Borough Council which was formally opened last Saturday 10April 2010 by the Mayor of Taunton Deane. Oake had been identified as having a need for provision for the age group aged 8 to 15 and judging by the throngs of children in the play area since the constructors removed the fencing last Friday, their assessment would seem to be correct. We were very glad the Dave Sedgwick our chairman was able to chaperone the Mayor for this event – after a difficult year culminating in a troublesome knee, Dave is tending his seeds in preparation for the plant sale next month.

Signed Chairman………………………………….

DRAFT MINUTES

Oake Parish
parishclerk@oake.org.uk

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