Village News 2009

Quorn Parish Council News
February 2009

A New Face in the Parish Office
Quorn Parish Council is very pleased to welcome to the team their new Assistant Clerk, Melanie Burdett. Melanie started in January and you will see her in the Parish Office on most days.

Melanie was brought up locally and attended Humphrey Perkins and Quorn Rawlins. She lives in Quorn with her husband Dan and two young children, the eldest of whom attends St Bart’s Primary School. She loves Quorn and was delighted to find a post that enabled her to play a bigger part in village life.

Melanie is already enjoying the challenge that the wide demands of a busy Parish Council involve. Chairman of the Parish Council, Phil Child said that “Melanie is already a valuable member of the team and we are delighted to have her on board”.

Supporting Quorn Businesses
Quorn Parish Council is putting its support behind an initiative to give all Quorn businesses an entry in the village website’s on-line business directory. This is a fully searchable business directory with a free entry for any business based in our village.

Villagers can now utilise the website to search for local businesses no matter what the business activity. This includes shops, restaurants and pubs, hotels, professional services, gardeners and tree specialists, handymen, and trade professionals such as plumbers, builders, plasterers and many others.

Sustaining our Community
Choosing to use local businesses can yield huge dividends for a village. In an age where globalisation seems to dominate our lives, finding a local business is vital in sustaining your community. The money you spend stays in the local area and this in turn helps to support other local businesses, organisations and the general community.

Local businesses also benefit directly. It’s much better to attract trade from on your doorstep rather than some distance away. Everyone is conscious of the cost of fuel and carbon footprint issues, and so a local contractor is so much better for all parties.

Any business in the village can have a free entry on the website containing their business name and contact information with full search information and keywords. For a nominal annual charge, a business can become a sponsor to support the website and can then have an in-depth entry that contains more information about their business activity, plus their logo and a link to their own website if they have one.

The directory is easy to use - you simply enter a keyword or phrase and the website lists all relevant Quorn businesses. If you run a business based in Quorn and want to be included, go to www.quorndon.com/business/

The Parish Council supports the initiative to provide a website directory for Quorn businesses generally, However this does not imply Parish Council endorsement of any individual businesses appearing in the directory, or lack of it for businesses which choose not to make use of the facility.

Quorn Events Calendar – On-line
Did you know that Quorn has a very active on-line events diary? The diary includes details of films and plays at Quorn Village Hall, special village events, talks run by the WI, concerts, and village-wide events such as May Day and Open Gardens, plus a host of other events.

Contributing to the diary is simply - you just complete a short form with your event’s details and it’s all added to the list in the correct date order.

One bonus of using the diary is that a paper copy is printed off and added to the village notice board outside the Post Office, so your event is also seen by people in our busy village centre.

To add your next event, just enter your event details at www.quorndon.com/events/

CCTV
The installation of the first CCTV at The Banks has now been fully operational for some time and there has been a significant reduction in problems in this area. The scheme was completed under budget, which has given the opportunity to consider the installation of a second camera mounted at Quorn cross and covering the Memorial Gardens, the whole of the Cross area and along Station Road to the shops. Cameras not only record actual incidents, they also record activity in the area at the time and prove a significant deterrent to crime. Subject to effectiveness and public opinion, further installations will be considered in the future when finance becomes available.

Brass Band Carol Concert 2009
The Brass Band Carol Concert held at The Village Hall on 19th December 2008 was acclaimed by the whole audience as a wonderful social event. Assisted by the free wine and pies, it started the Christmas holiday in a very enjoyable and festive way. It was staged by Quorn Arts and although it made a small loss it fulfilled the objective of using the Village Hall for the enjoyment of the community and will be repeated next year on 19th December - so put it in your diary!

Village Hall
A successful FLAG grant application had been made for the renovation of the main corridor at the back of the Village Hall and the gents toilets. These works have now been completed. The gents toilets are now so much better, and no longer will actors encounter members of the public as they stand in the wings. Thanks are due to the Parish Clerk Lindsay Swinfield and Katharine Newman for pursuing the grant and making this happen.

Other village news in 2009