Annual Parish Meeting 2024

Saxilby Scout & Guide Association

It has been another busy year for all our sections, all sections are now up to full capacity and operating a waiting list system.

Our paper collections have continued with our 2 monthly kerbside collections round the village as well as continuing with our two paper recycling bins in the village hall car park throughout the year. We have also raised funds from Leaflet Drops and Marquee hire, and received Donations, this funding is vital to our finances and allows us to offer affordable Guiding and Scouting to the young people of Saxilby. We are exploring other fundraising avenues in order to keep subscription fees at a sensible level for our young members.

On 8th May, 2023, Scouting and Guiding together with the Saxilby WI, held a special Coronation BBQ event on the Memorial Field, We had numerous activities including a Pioneering Assault course, it was an extremely successful event with reasonable weather and well supported.

All sections enjoyed their Camping weekends during June and July with venues including Sudbrooke Park, Walesby and The Revesby Estate.

In July and August our Garage Store extension was finally completed and following two working party weekends we managed to dispose of a lot of unwanted items, enabling us to transfer most of our equipment into the new area.

We attended The Saxilby Water festival on Sunday 24th September, with Scouting and Guiding sections taking active parts in the event. Scout sections enjoyed Kayaking sessions on the water under the instruction of Saxilby Scouting water sport team. Despite the windy weather Beavers Cubs and Scouts all got onto the water, one highlight for the children was to paddle up to the Area where the Saxilby Fire Services were firing their hoses across the Foss Dyke to try and Dodge the spray!!

In November all our sections paraded to the Memorial Gates on William Street to take part in the Annual Parish Council Service of Remembrance This was followed on the Sunday with a number of sections attending and parading their colours at the Church Remembrance Service.

In December the Scouts Continued with their Operation Goodwill collections of food items for the Homeless at Christmas. The items went to the Nomad Trust (now part of the YMCA) who also ran their shoebox campaign (as last year) The final total of food items collected was 2,038 and the shoe boxes reached 17. Many thanks must go to the people of Saxilby for their amazing response to this appeal, it was really appreciated by the Nomad Trust. Also a Big well done to the Scouts for enabling it to happen.

In March this year sections attended the Mothering Sunday service at the Church, with the usual Simnal cakes being available after. This was followed by a successful St Georges Day Parade (21st April) at the Cathedral where Scouting and Guiding Groups were able to parade their colours.

Neil Mellor

GSL 24th Lincoln Saxilby Scouts

On behalf of Saxilby Scout and Guide Association.

Saxilby with Ingleby Good Neighbour Scheme (SIGNS)

Chair’s Report for SIGNS (Saxilby with Ingleby Good Neighbour Scheme)

Thank you everybody who is here or who is reading this – you’re very welcome!

It’s good to say we’ve had a fairly normal year, with most things ticking along smoothly. In June we gave all our Clients coasters celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III, which seemed to be very well received. We continue to hold our monthly coffee mornings in the Village Hall on every third Saturday in the month and these are very well attended. We had a good and much-appreciated Social for our Clients at the end of November with Julie from the Animal Rescue and Saxilby School Choir coming to visit us. We also ran an outing to the Blue Diamond Garden Centre at East Bridgeford, in December. This came about due to a very generous donation from Margaret Hogan, who wanted our Clients to enjoy getting some time out of the village. We sincerely thank Margaret for this lovely gesture.

We currently have 22 active Volunteers;  2 volunteers who do some of our telephoning of Clients

In total we have 75 Clients.  Altogether since April 1st last year we have completed around a 100 activities.

Call-handling is now done on a rota basis, with each committee member doing a month at a time, responding to voice messages and sending out texts to our Volunteers. We thank Zoe very much for the time she ran this single-handedly and we wish her well in North Hykeham. I would just like to pause a minute to think of those who are no longer with us and to say we miss each and every one of our Clients. A special mention of Pauline Woollock, who was of our earliest Volunteers and who sadly died earlier this year. We appreciate her kind heart and her willingness to help others.

I would like to thank the Parish Council for its ongoing support & funding. The Parish Council, with SIGNS continue to host the Welcome Hub at St Andrew’s Pavilion [community centre]. This has been running nearly a year and a half and numbers continue to increase. The Parish Council provide the downstairs bar area and kitchen, alongside the library and SIGNS provide most of the servers and the refreshments. We also thank U3A for all their help and support with this venture. We are currently providing 2 sessions a week on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10.30 – 12.30. Refreshments are free but the people attending are very generous with their donations.

A big thank you must go to all our Volunteers for their willingness to help those who need it and to the committee members for keeping everything running smoothly, Dilys Britt, Rob Elkington, David Greenop, Wendy Kopetzki, Lyn Rudderham, Anita Ruffle, Roger Sellors and Peter Walton. We would also like to thank our Friends of SIGNS, Rachel, Brenda, Pam and Monica who do so much to help behind the scenes!

We always appreciate new Volunteers and anyone willing to come on the committee and we would sincerely ask you to consider joining us. 

We look forward to another year of helping the people of Saxilby and the surrounding villages.

Thank you.
Penny Davies

Saxilby WI

Since April 2023 Saxilby WI has been very active both within the wider WI family and the local Saxilby village community.  We were fortunate enough to gain PC funding to purchase a Laptop Projector to aid our meetings and campaigns, which have covered topics as diverse as learning more about the progress of Saxilby’s conservation areas of Hardwick Scrubs and Ingleby Clays to learning about the role of a social worker with much else in between.

We continue to campaign on issues felt strongly by our members to be important to both us and the wider community such as AUTISM AND ADHD IN WOMEN AND GIRLS, CLEAN UNPOLLUTED RIVERS, AND CAMPAIGNING FOR INCREASED DENTIST PROVISION WITHIN THE COUNTY.   Members attend and participate in national conferences, listen to renowned experts and vote and campaign on these issues at both a local and national level, many of which are taken up at a governmental level.

We have participated in several events at a Federation level such as Lincolnshire Show, Carrington Steam Rally and others in a catering capacity but we are much more adventurous than that. Members have taken part in many diverse events such as Carriage Driving lessons, Forensic Science Workshops, Gin Tasting Tours and Gliding at Kirton Lindsey.  There are plans to enjoy a High Ropes Adventure and a visit to Tolethorpe Open Air Theatre.

On a more local level our member numbers continue to grow with many more attending our regular monthly meetings, bi-monthly lunch clubs, monthly craft sessions and, now that the weather is beginning to be suitable, our garden meets are about to resume which means that many more people are getting in to social activities that interest them and give access to tuition and fun that would be lacking otherwise

We have had a very useful and enjoyable relationship with the Scouts and Girl Guides movement which has provided much increased inter-generational contact for many members. For instance this year we are helping Guides and Brownies with various sewing projects and cookery events in which WI members support, mentor and help the girls.

We continue to thrive, join forces and make a difference to local ladies, many of whom live alone, and view Saxilby WI as an opportunity to meet, interact and have fun with like minded people who share many of the same values.

Saxilby Voluntary Car Scheme. (SVCS)
SVCS has been in existence for approximately 20 years.
We do not have the exact date that the scheme started operating but I have been involved for 18 years and I know it was operating for a couple of years before I joined.
The remit of the scheme has not really changed since it first started and we still provide a much needed service for the residents of the Parish.
In the last 12 months the volunteers have made 341 journeys taking a total of 361 patients to attend all manner of medical appointments. A total of 5229 miles have been covered in these
journeys with trips as far afield as Nottingham, Boston and Leicester.

With the increased numbers of people now using the service we are looking for extra drivers to help with the workload.
The scheme operates in the following way:
1 A patient contacts our number and requests transport for a medical appointment.
2 Our coordinator takes the details and contacts drivers to find someone available to do the trip.
3 When a driver agrees to do the trip our coordinator rings the patient back to confirm.
4 The driver, using his or her own car, collects the patient at the agreed time, takes them to the appointment and brings them home afterwards.
5 Expenses of 45p a mile are paid to the driver.
There are no set hours of being on call, and drivers are free to accept or reject any trips depending on their availability.
The scheme is supported by the Parish Council and Lincolnshire County Council and received a Community Grant from the Lincolnshire CO-OP last year.
Please contact Maggie on the number below if you are able to help or in need of assistance for medical appointments.
07530327664
David Thorpe
SVCS Treasurer.

Saxilby Tennis Club

Over the last 12 months we have been planning and working hard to develop the courts.
Our first aim is the fencing.
We have been hosting tournaments, quizzes, and applied for [Lincolnshire Co-op] Community Champion funding.
We have 15 summer league teams this year and are growing our membership well.
Juniors have been playing in matches too and have enjoyed the experience.
We feel it is very important to encourage the youngsters as sport teaches them so much more than just tennis in our case. It helps them mix well with all age groups and understand them and also team work.
We are starting to consider how we celebrate our centenary next year. It is quite an achievement to have for the village that tennis has survived for so many years. If anyone has any suggestions and if any other clubs/groups would be interested in joining in, please let us know. 
We are always willing to see new people coming and joining us.
Club sessions are Tuesday evening from 5.30pm and Saturday from noon. 
You don’t have to be a super-duper player. 
This is a village club and all standards are welcome. Give it a try!

Sue Whitley Tennis Club Committee member