Improving Your Town

and Santa rode by in his sleigh.

Entertainment throughout the evening included: Bodmin Town Band, Bodmin College Jazz Or-chestra and the Pirate FM Road-show. The event culminated on the Mount Folly with the Town’s lights being switched on by the Reverend Matt Godfrey. Warm mince pies were distributed to the children.

This year’s tree symbolised a

O n Friday 1 December 2006 Bodmin’s Christmas lights

event saw hundreds of people descend on the Town Centre to watch the Town’s lights being switched on. The event started with a procession of local children dressed in nativity costumes being led by Mary and Joseph on a donkey from Town Wall down the main shopping street to the Mount Folly. En route, carols were sung, lanterns were waved

‘Tree of Remembrance’ raising funds for Vitalise Cornwall. Each year the Town Council provides and lights two trees, one on the Mount Folly and the other by the St Lawrence Memorial Clock at Five-Ways.

The event coincided with the Town’s late night shopping and was organised by the Bodmin Chamber of Commerce & Indus-try.

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G O V E R N M E N T W H I T E P A P E R

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B O D M I N T O W N C O U N C I L S A V E S T H E D A Y . . .

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B O D M I N T O W N C O U N C I L N E W S L E T T E R

Bodmin Town Council

Shire House

Mount Folly Square

BODMIN

PL31 2DQ

Phone: 01208 74159

Fax: 01208 264764

www.bodmin.gov.uk

P O’Callaghan TOWN CLERK

paul.ocallaghan@bodmin.gov.uk

L I G H T S C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R S 2 0 0 6 !

This Issue:

Contact Us:

Bodmin Town Council once again invited mem-

bers of the public to take part in its third Christ-

mas Lights Competition during December

2006. To ensure a wide range of views, this

years judging was carried out by 2 local teenag-

ers from the Air Cadets, together with 2

adults. Judging occurred separately and took

place over the weekend of 9 - 10 Decem-

ber. Only those houses that entered the com-

petition were judged. A reception at Bodmin

Jail was held for the winners where prizes were

presented by Councillor Phil Kerridge.

The winners were:

• David and Barbara Tamblyn of 64 St. Mary's Road (Coffee Maker from Woolacotts);

• Calvin Mykytyn of 50 Queens Crescent (meal for 4 at the Callywith);

• Lesley Taylor of 6 Alexandra Road (meal for 2 at Bodmin Jail);

• Wayne Williams of 24 Wallace Road (Bosch Drill from Focus Do It All)

A G R E A T T U R N O U T F O R T H E G R E A T T U R N O N . . .

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Right: A graphical representation of the Multi-use Court coming to Fair Park

New Teen Prov is ion At Fai r Park

B odmin Town Council is pleased to announce an exciting new all-weather multi-use Court for teenagers, complimenting its rolling pro-

gramme of play area improvements.

The Council has agreed to purchase a 23metre x 13metre multi use court which will be sited adjacent to the existing play equipment and youth shelter at Fair Park. This will ensure that there is sufficient area towards the Westheath Avenue end of the playing field for other recreational use.

There is no proposal to light the multi-use court at this time. It is hoped that work to install the new £29,900 facil-ity will commence in January/February 2007.

“The Council is keen for this new facility to be installed

in the St Mary’s Ward and underlines the Council’s

commitment to promoting sport and healthy living.”

- John Phillips, Chairman of the Council’s Properties Committee

“I am particularly excited about this provision for the

teenagers of the Town, as they are often overlooked

and I hope that they enjoy using this exciting new

equipment.”

- Councillor Griffiths, Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Council’s Youth Committee

For further information on the Multi-use Court, please contact Selina Jay, Project Assistant, on (01208) 7 4 1 5 9 o r e m a i l : selina.jay@bodmin.gov.uk

B O D M I N T O W N C O U N C I L N E W S L E T T E R W I N T E R 2 0 0 6 / 2 0 0 7 Page 3

T he Town Council was very pleased to help Greenfield , at

short notice, to put on its Christmas Party at the Public

Rooms in Bodmin.

Greenfield, the North Cornwall Area Resource Base located

within Bodmin College performed its version of Grease, together

with fun sketches, Christmas carols and much jive dancing to a

packed audience of parents and friends of Greenfield on Friday 8

December.

All thirty four students taking part had severe learning, medical

or behavioural difficulties but overcame these to give a profes-

sional two hour show full of excitement, laughter and joy (see

below). Elizabeth Baines headed up a team of ten special needs

professionals together with some volunteers who made the show

possible.

Ra is ing the prof i le of the Counci l ’s Room Hire Fac i l i t ies

Left: Facilities Administra-tor, Nick Rowe, can be contacted for bookings and

further information on the Council’s room hire facili-ties on (01208) 265982 or

y o u c a n e m a i l : bookings@bodmin.gov.uk

N ow, for the first time, all the Council’s function rooms can be viewed online

at www.bodmin.gov.uk. You can also find details of rates and the capacity

of each of these facilities.

By adding such features, the Council continues to maximise the potential of its

website.

Below: One of the smaller conference style rooms available in Shire House and, right, inside the spacious Shire House Suite

Greenf ie ld ’s Chr is tmas Par ty -

Bodmin Town Counci l Save the Day Loca l Government Whi te

Paper

C oming To Your Community - On 26 October the Depart-ment for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)

published new proposals in a White Paper: Strong and Pros-perous Communities. These proposals aim to devolve power to local government and significantly strengthen local leadership. They also intend to provide more opportunities for local people to influence local decision-making, improv-ing their lives and shaping their own communities.

What Happens Now? - Alongside the White Paper, the DCLG published an invitation to all county, district and unitary councils in England to submit proposals for unitary local government. Alternatively, Partnerships of a County Council and all District Councils in the County area will be able to propose new models of two-tier working. Councils must submit their proposals for unitary structures by the end of January 2007 and in March 2007 the Government’s prelimi-nary views on those proposals that have met specified crite-ria will be announced.

Implications for Bodmin – Quality Town Councils, like Bod-min, should be able to take on more services from other tiers of local government, if they so wish. This will help to ensure greater control of important services locally – more power to the local community. Bodmin Town Council will be working hard to ensure that the quality of services for local people is not compromised by any local government reor-ganisation.

Interested to know more? Check the following websites for updates:

www.cornwall.gov.uk,

www.ncdc.gov.uk,

www.bodmin.gov.uk

ST MARY’S WARD

M Dominey M J Griffiths- Deputy Mayor

F M Hancock P Kerridge F G Stone

*T A Trevenna H G Vanderwolfe

A F J Webb

ST PETROC’S WARD

*E T Denholm OBE, DL M Denholm

A Duffin L G J Kennedy - Mayor

G C C Minors R J Micek J L Phillips *L A Spear

Bodmin Town Council

The names highlighted and marked with a * are North Cornwall District

Councillors as well as Bodmin Town Councillors

For further details about Bodmin Town Council visit our website at:

www.bodmin.gov.uk

Bodmin Town Counci l Supports Chi ldren In Need

Shire Hal l Gal lery’s 2007 Exhibi t ion Programme

April 9th – 29th Bodmin Photographic Club

May 14th – 26th West Country Alliance, Photographic exhibition

July 2nd – 28th Ashley Hanson, one-man show

July 9th – 14th Bodmin in Bloom

August 6th – Sept 1st Summer Selling Exhibition

Sept 10th – 29th West Country Embroiderers

November – Jan Christmas Selling Exhibition

When out in public spaces remember to take a ‘poop scoop’ or bag and clean up after your dog. The Town and District Councils have provided bins for this purpose. A bag dispenser containing biodegradable dog waste bags has been placed for your convenience at the lane towards the end of Priory Car Park. • Always carry a bag with you to ‘poop scoop’ when on site.

• Please refrain from snapping branches or twigs to throw for your dog. Bring a ball with you and don’t allow your pet to attack trees or hedges.

• If your dog defecates in the meadow, or in the lanes lead-ing to the meadow, please ‘poop scoop’ and place in the bins provided.

• Not everyone who uses the Meadow has a dog, so please clean up after your pet to allow others to enjoy the area. For further information on the Priory Meadow project please contact Stephen Facer on 01208 74159 or via email: stephen.facer@bodmin.gov.uk

Scoop The Poop!

P riory Meadow is a popular open space in Priory Park providing a large area for quiet informal recreation. In recent years the

number of dogs being exercised in this site has dramatically in-creased. Whilst the Town Council wishes to ensure that this contin-ues, the concentration of dog mess is cause for concern. Nobody enjoys stepping in or smelling dog faeces and this can significantly deter other site users from returning.

Dog fouling may not only cause a problem for public health and rec-reation, it can also affect nature conservation. Maintenance of hay meadows with public access can be compromised in this way. Poor

dog behaviour may also impact on vegetation and wildlife, where owners fail to keep their pets under close control.

The Council hope to forward a project within the

Priory Meadow and surrounding area with the em-

phasis on this new initiative placed on co-operation

and shared responsibility.

O n Friday 17 November Bodmin

Town Council Staff bravely

S t P i ran ’s Day

S t Piran’s Day Celebrations – come and join the Council on Monday 5 March 2007 to honour St Piran, originally the Patron Saint of Tinners but adopted by Cornish People as their Patron Saint.

Local school children will be marking this special day by parading through the town with Cornish flags. Other events being planned by the Bodmin St Piran Committee include a Church Service and a Concert together with an exhibition. More details in due course from the Council’s website www.bodmin.gov.uk

The Council is leading by example in granting its staff a local public holiday to celebrate St Pi-ran’s Day and hopes that other organisations and businesses will join the Council to create an official day to honour St Piran.

donned Fancy Dress to support the BBC’s Children in

Need Appeal. Dressed to represent Nursery Rhyme

characters the Staff had great fun and raised a total of

£155.00 with the help of their families, Councillors and

Callers to the Council Offices.

Worth particular mention was the generous donation

from West End Motors—Brian Cook together with Tony

Martin (pictured left), relishing the opportunity of helping

demolish the Bus Shelter in Dennison Road. While pro-

viding valuable service to the people of Bodmin through-

out its many years, this little wooden shelter had

reached the ‘end of the line’.

© Judy Morton

You can now book your National Express Coach Tickets from the Shire Hall Visitor Information Centre!