LOOKING BACK IN THE HISTORY
OF THE PARISH COUNCIL
In this section we
look back at news items involving the council over the years
since its formation in 1894.
in the early 1900's
Expenditure items incurred by the council in the early
1900’s make interesting reading. At a meeting of the council
on October 13, 1902, members agreed a cheque of £8 15s
(£8.75) to Earl Manvers for the rent of half a year for the
playground and for £1 18s (£1.80) for four weeks wages for
the village lamplighter. Another 14s (£0.70) was paid to the
City of Nottingham Water Department for six months supply of
water to the village fountain.
A request at the same meeting by the Rev J Cullen on behalf
of the managers of the village school for help from the
council in making a gas supply to a lamp in the school
grounds was aloud to lie on the table, with no action being
agreed. The Vicar, who was chairman of the managers, said
the school had no funds for such expenditure. But at the
meeting a motion was received from Mr Butler Parr that the
council purchase a lamp near the entrance to the school and
was carried on a 7 – 3 vote. Chairman Mr Richard Barratt was
one of those voting against. At the next meeting members
were told that the Lighting Inspectors had recommended that
the project for the new light should not proceed ‘for this
season’. The council had a budget figure of £40 for street
lighting in 1902.
Later that year Mr J Bell was paid 4s (£0.20) for eight
weeks work for ‘attending to the swings’ and the City of
Nottingham Gas Department was paid £3 for the Michaelmass
Gas Account (street lights). And the council also bought a
copy of the Littles Law of Burials at a price of 18s 6d
(£0.92) and a copy of the Lunacy Act 1890 for the price of
10½ d £0.04).
(Published May 2010)
in the year OF 1904
A special Parish
Meeting was held in the School Room at Radcliffe on June 24,
1904, to consider a scheme by the parish council to purchase
land and lay it out as an extension to the cemetery.
Permission was also sought from the meeting for the council
seek a loan for the scheme.
The chairman of
the council was Mr Butler Parr and he made a statement to
the meeting as to the suggestion of the parish council —
then having been in existence for ten years — and minutes of
the meeting indicate there was 26 people present and 12 of
them supported the proposal to go forward with the scheme,
for opposed it and the remainder did not vote.
The meeting
approved the council seeking a loan of £1,300 to meet the
expenditure being incurred, on a proposition from Mr Butler
Parr and being seconded by Mr Henry Marshall.
Before the end of
the meeting Mr Thomas Haynes demanded a poll be held and
this was later organised for July 7. That poll resulted in
168 people voting in favour of the proposal by the parish
council and 37 against it.
In November 1904
the Local Government Board held an inquiry into the plans of
the council, with this taking place at the Manvers Arms Inn.
The land for the extension was offered to the village by
Earl Manvers and covered two acres. The Medical Officer of
Health at Bingham Rural District Council, Mr James Ealow,
spoke in favour of the extension and said because the ground
was on a gentle slope this afforded every facility for
efficient drainage and said he felt it would be difficult to
find a more suitable site.
The paperwork
involving the extension said that this was necessary because
of the numbers of burials being accommodated for from the
‘County Lunatic Asylum’ at Saxondale. The records showed
that prior to that opening in 1902 the usual number of
burials varied between 16 and 28 a year. After it opened the
number rose in the first two years to 50 in 1903 and 58 in
1904. In 1904 there were a total of 428 patients being
catered for in the Asylum, including 57 who lived in. There
was 10 staff living in the nearby cottages, all males.
(Published May 2010)
in the year OF 1937
The
parish council advertised for the appointment of an
assistant engine man for the village sewage pumping station
and were offering 55 shillings (£2.75) a week for the work.
The council put notices up in the village and an advert in
the Nottingham Evening Post to advertise the job.
At the
council meeting in March members were told there had been 95
applicants for the post. Bingham Rural District Council
approved of the additional man to be employed.
At the
same meeting the council agreed that street lights in the
village — they were gas operated — be turned off for the
summer season after April 9. The clerk was instructed to
ascertain the cost of storing the lights once taken down.
The
council were told of a failure to obtain a strip of land
required for the public park, the Rural District Council
having sold it to Mr Meads.
It was
agreed to pay a commission of 2.5per cent to a newly
appointed Assistant Overseer in the village for collection
of the Special Expenses Rate.
The
meeting was chaired by Mr J Upton in the absence of the
chairman, Mr J Butler Parr. Receipt of £1 from Mr J Wright
for the ‘cemetery crop’ was reported to the meeting and 5
shillings (25p) for the annual rent from Mr J Gilbey for an
allotment.
(Published
March 2011)
in the year OF 1937
A parish meeting held in the village in
January 1937 appointed a committee to organise celebrations
for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on
May 12. The meeting was chaired by Mr Dowson. Various groups
from the village attended including the British Legion (then
not having the ‘Royal’ tag), the Ratepayers’ Association,
the WI, and the various churches. The parish council was
represented by Couns.. Dowson, Measures, Stanley, Taylor and
Tinkler.
Each organisation put forward views on
what should be arranged and it was agreed that the
activities be similar to those that had been provided
previously for the Silver Jubilee, such as a fancy dress
parade, a tea party for children, an entertainment event for
old people and all children to be given a Coronation mug. It
was also agreed as a permanent memorial a start should be
made for the provision of a village hall by subscription and
an application be made to the Carnegie Trust for funding.
The meeting appointed Messrs Measures, Lygo and Siggs to be
joint secretaries. The village cricket club was to be asked
to allow their ground to be used on Coronation Day.
It was agreed that any surplus of funds
raised for the Coronation left at the end of the festivities
be used to start the village hall fund.
(Published
April 2010)
Minutes of the parish council in October
1941 show that the amount of money collected in Radcliffe
for the appeal had been £30 1s 10d (£30.08) and the amount
collected in the whole of Bingham RDC area had been £298 2s
(£298.10).
(Published March 2010)
IN THE YEAR
OF 1945
The annual meeting
of the parish council on April 16, 1945, was held at the
home of Mr J T Foulds on Bolton Terrace and was attended by
12 members. Coun. E J Wright was elected chairman. Coun.
Dowson raised the question of the sum of 2 shillings (10p)
being inadequate for a Ministers fee for a burial. The clerk
reported that the matter had been raised the previous year
and the Auditor had approved of the decision then to take no
action in making a change. The meeting was told that owing
to the war making heavy demands on the Home Secretary — who
would have had to confirm any change — the matter be left
over until an end to the hostilities.
Skills Motor Coaches wrote to the council to say they had
been granted permission by the Regional Transport
Commissioner to operate double decker buses on the route
from Nottingham to East Bridgford and were needing to
“remove one or two obstructions en route” and asked the
council to arrange for the removal of two lamps, one
protruding from the Cooperative building and from a house
wall some 40 or 50 yards from the Co- Op Hall on the road
from Radcliffe to Radcliffe Station. The bus company said
they would be willing to bear the whole or part of the
expense incurred in the work. The council agreed to the
removal of the two standards and wrote to Skills to ask them
to meet the cost of a new standard to be erected on Shelford
Road near the Methodist Chapel.
The council
received £20 7s 3d (£20.37) in allotment rents at the
meeting. It was agreed at the meeting that the £10 rent for
allowing Armstrong’s fair to be sited on the playground be
divided between the War Comforts Fund and the Penny a Week
Red Cross Appeal.
Members felt the condition of the air raid shelter on New
Road was unsafe and it was agreed to write to Bingham Rural
District Council to point this out.
(Published January 2011) |
