## **Eglingham Community Association** 

## **Annual Report 2022** 

I would like to open this report with the Chinese saying: ‘May you live in interesting times…’.  Well, we have lived in interesting times this year in Eglingham Parish. Here’s hoping that the interesting times are over! 

I would like to cover the period from the last Calendar through to this Calendar. Thank goodness for the Calendar.  Without it, we might not have any money. 

We made a donation of £50 to Morrison’s Christmas Carols and light switch on, paying for drinks and nibbles at the Tankerville (I am not sure we can repeat this if asked again this year). 

Then, a great idea.  The Aubretia refresh, led by Joyce and Julian.  For a mere £36, 100 new plants were installed in the walls up and down Eglingham Village.  We should begin to see the results next year. 

Around about the time we were planting Aubretia, Russia invaded Ukraine. Donations of sleeping bags, clothing, blankets, etc to the tune of £100 were made by ECA to the appeal.  We followed this up with an appeal for donations at the April Coffee & Chats, with £303 being forwarded to the National DECC appeal.  Thank you to the many people who donated. 

We had been asked by Andy Gray, when he was Chair of the Parish Council, if we could organise a Platinum Jubilee Party on the Community Field.  A grant of £1,000 was obtained and off we went.  I think every single person on ECA pitched in and helped to make this the best event we could, given the collapse of the Parish Council and all the acrimony that followed.  A special mention must be made to Joyce, who came up with the idea of a red, white and blue flower display on what was built as a barbecue.  It looked fabulous all summer and has been much commented on. 

Unknown to most was the management of the grass cutting and the rather neat pivot from Greenfingers to Mick Douglas.  We had to pay, but I think it was worth it, with the cut grass being removed from the field leaving a much tidier surface.  The maintenance of the field over the summer cost us more than £200.  It kept the grass looking excellent whilst the Parish Council were not in existence and there was no means of them paying the bill.  Once we had a new Council, we have carried on with Mick who is providing a great service. 

A new Parish Council was duly elected and we have a representative, with Jo taking the Vice Chair position.  In the background again, we have been pushing along the proposal to repair the fingerposts, styles and gates on the Parish footpath network, in conjunction with the County Council’s Footpath Department.  Julian and I had a meeting with Lorna Turner, PC Chair in October to reiterate the proposal and subsequently the PC have agreed to provide us with a letter of support so that it can accompany the application for a grant to cover the installation costs.  A big thank you 



to Julian for not only coming up with the idea, but walking all the footpaths and mapping out everything that needs to be replaced.  We will now start trying to progress everything. 

Finally, I would like to mention Coffee & Chats.  We hosted in February, April, July, November and are doing December.  Pretty much the whole team was there for the November edition and it was lovely, getting back to something like it used to be with that warm community feeling everyone is looking for.  It has taken a lot of work to get it this far, so thank you to everyone on the Team for your support. 

Here is to a very uninteresting 2023. 

Malcolm Angus Chair Eglingham Community Association 



## **Accounts 2021 – 2022** 

## **ECA 1[st] June 2021 – 31[st] May 2022** 

|Income|||Expenditure|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Brought|forwards|£621.80||||
|11.1.22|Calendars etc|£543.00|12.11.21|Calendars/notelets|£283.00|
|23.2.22|Coffee/Chats|£23.00|1.12.21|50 Notelets|£142.00|
|02.4.22|C&C Ukraine|£303.50|14.12.21|Xmas Lights|£50.00|
|31.5.22|Jubilee Grant|£1000.00|09.2.22|Lock/bolt for shed|£15.00|
||||23.2.22|Aubretia refresh|£36.00|
||||04.3.22|Ukraine donation|£99.90|
||||07.3.22|Ukraine Decc|£303.00|
||||05.5.22|Hobberlaw Plants|£124.85|
||||11.5.22|Hey Zeus booking|£50.00|
||||13.5.22|Planters/Hobberlaw|£20.00|



£2,491.30 £1,123.75 

Minus £1,123.75 

**£1,367.55** 

(Including: £805.15 – Jubilee Grant, leaving ECA Account at £562.40)