NOTES of the ANNUAL PARISH MEETING held on WEDNESDAY 13th MAY 2026
HELPRINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL
clerk@helpringhamparishcouncil.gov.uk
helpringham.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES of the ANNUAL PARISH MEETING held on WEDNESDAY 13th MAY 2026 held at the Memorial Hall, Helpringham
PRESENT:
Councillor Geoff Hotchkin
Parish Clerk – Judy Pittock
Seven members of the public were present.
1. Cllr Geoff Hotchkin welcomed everyone to the meeting .
2. The notes for the Annual Parish Meeting held on 15th May 2025 were approved as true and correct record of the meeting.
3. Chairman’s Report
Cllr Geoff Hotchkin welcomed everyone to the meeting and reported the following:
Change in Councillors – Cllr Hotchkin noted that over the past year three Councillors had resigned and he extended his thanks to Will Watts, Rob Spencer and Chris Taylor for their service to the Parish. He went on to welcome the new Councillors, Steve Waterfield, John Pittock and Adam Young and confirmed that the Parish Council now has a full contingency of members.
Traffic Matters – notable issues in the village over the last year were:
- Bollards on Station Road – these are currently all in place;
- B1394, road collapsing adjacent to the beck. LCC Highways and the Environment Agency are disputing who is responsible for the repair. The Parish Council will continue to keep the pressure on LCC Highways.
- Speed on Station Road – the Parish Council has applied for a road safety audit to reduce the speed limit on this section of road. The speed awareness signs regularly highlight speeding vehicles.
- High Gate junction – the Parish Council has been successful in having parking restrictions on this junction to reduce the issues to large vehicles in particular caused by parking cars.
- Potholes – these are an ongoing issue and the Parish Council continues to monitor them and report them on FixMyStreet.
War Memorial – thanks was extended to Cllr John Pittock for cleaning the plaques an so allowing the names to be read clearly again.
Tree maintenance – the dead tree on the East Street junction has been removed and replaced with another flowering cherry tree as part of the Giant Tree Circle project.
Seat replacements – there is a rolling programme of seat replacement in the village. Two by the school have already been replaced with the third due to be done.
Community support – the Parish Council has continued to support local organisations with a grant given to HACVS, a replacement bin for the playing field and using the memorial hall for Council meetings.
Cllr Hotchkin finished by thanking all the Councillors for their work and support, in particular to Cllr George Frizzell for his overseeing the cemetery and grass cutting, to Cllr Julie Frizzell for her support as Vice-Chair and to the clerk.
4. Presentations by village organisations.
Report from Denis Pell, Chairman of Helpringham Playing Field Committee:
The playing field continues to provide sporting facilities to:
HELPRINGHAM BOWLS CLUB
POINTON SENIOR FOOTBALL CLUB !st and 2nd X1 (SAT)
HELPRINGHAM JUNIOR U7 (SUN)
In addition CAR PARKING for the Teachers and Parents of the school and a Secured play area for local children.
Our constant problem revolves around litter. May we thank the parish council for their contribution in this area. The new litter bin will help reduce the problem but does not stop those who wish to spoil it for others by not using the facility.
We are financially sound at this time having had a very successful race night which, with two generous donations raised, over three thousand pounds.This will cover our outgoing for the next twelve months. New Committee members continues to be problem with no real interest coming from younger members of the community - a problem we all seem to share.
St Andrew’s Church Annual Report to the Parish Annual Meeting May 2026
During the last reporting year, life at St Andrew’s has been as busy as ever.
The nave roof has been replaced on a like for like basis with minor internal works done to the roof on the inside of the Church. The Chancel roof had fared better and this could be repaired.
During the roof works, there were seven inscribed plaques upon the roof which were salvaged, trimmed, mounted and are now hung in the main body of the Church. These show major milestones of the roof over the years and form a big part of the Church’s history.
We have had some work done to keep the organ in good state, given the historical importance of that also.
Thanks to some funds raised by the Feast last year, some hampers were able to be given out to those in a less fortunate position, to help ease the financial burden of Christmas.
The foodbank is still in use and we regularly source items of household things for people who are struggling.
The Community Café continues to grow. We invested in a ‘Mrs Whippy’ ice cream machine that is the same as a commercial ice cream van would have installed, and this has proved popular with the children of the village.
We have continues to establish a good working relationship with the School, and it was a joy to welcome the Christmas concert back in Church last year. The School choir come and sing to the customers of the café on a regular basis and this is always so very well received.
We have had a volunteer from the village doing some work for his Duke of Edinburgh Award and he has been clearing away ivy from the headstones that are around the perimeter of the churchyard. We are very grateful to him for the hard work he has put in.
Sadly, dog poo continues to be a problem in the grounds of the Church with people not being bothered to pick it up. We approached NKDC and they very kindly put up signs on the gates at either end of the Churchyard, but unfortunately someone saw fit to tear these down and destroy at least one of them, which is disappointing to say the least.
We were recognised for our work in the community with an award from the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire this year.
We look forward to another busy year ahead.
Fee Lightfoot
Focal Minister/Churchwarden.
5. Questions and comments from members of the public - none
6. The meeting closed at 7.20pm
A printable copy of these notes can be found here