PALGRAVE COMMUNITY COUNCIL OFFICERS 2009/2010

Palgrave Community Council was set up way back in the 70s with the aim of providing Palgrave with a meeting place in the centre of the village. All sorts of fund raising activities took place including several villagers making no-interest loans. This was a mammoth task – as was the actual building leaving aside the complicated business of getting plans, costings and permissions, the actual hard labour was admirably tasked by people living in the village. Some of these people still live in the village and we should all be eternally grateful to them. As for the present day…

Palgrave Community Centre is run by a committee of twelve – not all of them live in Palgrave it must be said. The running of the Centre and the paying of the bills associated with the building and the field etc is all paid for out of Community Centre funds which are raised by membership money (in 2007/8 members pay £7.50 each, this gives them access to the Members Bar and also reductions on events put on by the Centre, but it also shows support for the Committee which is valuable). There are regular activities in the building including Crib, Bowls, Table Tennis, Bingo, Darts, The Friendship Club, Lunch Club, Dancing and exercise etc; in fact our Bookings Secretary often has to juggle dates to accommodate everyone. The hall is also let out for parties and meetings at a charge which helps to run the Centre. During the year there are several events organised with the aim of getting the village people together – Summer Fete, Harvest Supper, Fireworks, Christmas dinner, Coffee Mornings, The Waveny Motorcycle Group, etc. The committee are always keen to consider new ideas. With the advance of time and increases in costs, the committee are very aware that we must keep raising money in order to keep the Centre going. We produce the monthly newsletter, The Star, a task which has to be highly organised from the Editor to the printers to the distributor to the people who deliver to all the doors in Palgrave, something which is now paid for by advertising and support from local traders and companies.

On top of all of that and under the guidance of John Kilgannon, a major effort is being exercised to “Cut Your Carbon” as individuals and community-wide. Grant initiatives are to hand and 2009 is targetted for raising the CYC profile at all levels.

The Community Council are keen to foster good relations with everyone in the village, with St Peter’s Church and with our village school. Incidentally, the school use the Community Centre building for exercise and drama because their own premises are not suitable and we are very pleased to be able to help. Several joint ventures have proved very sociable and it is rewarding to see Palgrave pulling together.