Chairman's Christmas Report December 2024

Parish Councils Chairmans New Year Message 2025

As we look forward to the coming year, I think we should first pay tribute to those who have left us. As you all know we sadly lost to illness both George Hodder, our wonderful handyman, and Rob Lewis one of our stalwart Council members and local taxi driver. They will long be remembered for the years of service they gave to the Community. We also want to thank Abigail Smith who has stepped down from the Council having moved away from the town. Abigail was an amazing councillor and she will sadly be missed. Thank you to them all!

Looking forward to the coming year, the council will continue to represent your views and work towards keeping Painswick a fantastic place to live. It is particularly pleasing to see the way in which the various community groups are now working much more closely together. The recent Goodwill evening is a great example of this and shows how the community can pull together to create vibrant events and activities. Painswick Community Support continues its sterling work providing help and assistance to those who need it. It was also so lovely to see children from the Croft School at the Remembrance service at the war memorial. We must remember the children of the town are the future and its essential they are involved in our activities including developing future plans. We would like to thank every group in the village. Without them we would not have so many lovely clubs and groups to cater for most tastes.

We have continued with our lovely Friendship with Slavutych in Ukraine, and have recently conducted a Zoom meeting with their Council to explore ways to expand our Friendship, such as putting our local groups, clubs and societies in touch with each other, to share values and views.

To ensure we represent you effectively, please let us know if there are things on your mind or suggestions you wish to make. We will always do our best to make things happen! To that effect, we still have vacancies for councillors within the Slad and Painswick wards and if you are interested in finding out more, please call into the Town Hall and chat with Roy and Irena about what is involved. It really isn't too onerous but like everything, volunteers are needed to help the town achieve its potential.

Finally, a huge thanks to Roy and Irena, our amazing town clerks and our newly appointed Parish Handyman, Lucas, without their tireless efforts, the Parish workings would not run so smoothly.

Happy New year to one and all.

Adrian Gyde

Chairman of Painswick Parish Council