Handcross

The Parish Council: will be meeting this evening, Thursday, from 7.30 pm in the Pavilion on the Recreation Ground. As always, the agenda can be found on the Council’s website or a copy should be on the notice board outside the Spar Shop. If you make a habit of looking at this notice board you will have seen something about becoming a Parish Council member. If this is of interest, and the Council does need some more members to ensure a varied and unbiased view of everything in the Parish, go to the Council’s website, www.slaughampc.co.uk and click on the link on the home page ‘Notice of Election’ where you will find further information – you have until 4pm on Wednesday, 3 April to submit your nomination forms; go to www.midsussex.gov.uk/elections for further information on how to get and submit an application form. The elections for this will take place on 2 May, the same day we have the opportunity to vote for our district councillors. For your information, we currently have 8 parish councillors when we can have up to 13. The villages of Handcross and Pease Pottage between them can have 10 councillors, they currently have 6; Slaugham and Warninglid can have 3 and currently have 2. So, if all current councillors agree to re-election, there are vacancies for a total of 5 councillors but I think there may be one or two stepping down so there might be a need for more. You don’t have to be qualified in any way to become a parish councillor, you just have to be interested in local affairs and I suppose want to give something back to your local community. If this is something of interest, why not go along to the meeting this evening to meet your current councillors and see how a meeting is run. I hope to see a few more people attending, it gets lonely being the only member of the public attending each month!
Handcross newsHandcross news
Handcross news

On Friday next week: 5 April, the Hardware Shop has to undertake a stock take and is looking for some help. If you are free between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm and would enjoy a fish & chip lunch with dessert, why not go along and help out; they are a friendly crowd who help out in the shop and you never know, you might find you enjoy yourself so much you volunteer to help out on a regular basis! The Hardware Shop really is the hub of the village; Christina and Les are always willing to help you find anything in the shop and if they don’t have it, they will do their best to order it in as quickly as they can. The Shop is also the first point of contact for Help at Hand, a much used facility run by volunteers, and is the place where you can find out and book your place on any of the Community Bus trips. Basically, if you want to know anything about the village, the first place to try is probably the Hardware Shop!

If you would like to know more: about Help at Hand and possibly volunteer to either be a driver or a duty officer, they will be holding their Annual General Meeting in the Parish Hall on Wednesday, 10 April from 7.30pm for an 8pm start. As always, the Committee get the business out of the way as quickly as they can so that everyone can move on to socialising/catching up whilst enjoying a glass of wine (or something soft), munching on a variety of cheeses. As mentioned above, this is an organisation run entirely by volunteers, many of whom have been doing it for years (some for 20 plus years!) so it is about time some younger members of the community step up and help out. It is a lovely way to get to know people in the parish without leaving the comfort of your home, if you are a duty officer that is, and you only have to give up one, at the most two, mornings (9 am to 12 noon) a month. If you volunteer to be a driver, and they really could do with a few more willing drivers on the books, how many trips you do depends on how the need matches your availability; plus you can claim for up to 45p a mile for any trips you do. If this has piqued your interest, do go along and meet everyone, they are a friendly group who don’t bite!

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