Plumpton Village Society Annual Report April 2021

Summary

Plumpton Village Society was formed in April 2020 and boy, what a first year this has been.  When a group of interested Villagers got together in February at The Plough pub, nobody had any idea of the advancing Covid 19 Pandemic.  As the Country went into lockdown on 23 March, a constitution was created and the Committee looked forward with hope, that a traditional Village Strawberry Fair could be held in the Summer.  Sadly, it was not sensible to hold a full Village Fair given remaining restrictions. 

The Committee has learnt a lot in its first year including the need for the Covid risk assessments to ensure events were held in a safe way.  The concept of volunteer helpers who have been asked to help for only an hour was successful and with the Villagers support in numbers attending the 2020 events, the Committee feel they are in a good place to run the 2022 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Events for the Village.

We welcome any suggestions for events and if we have the capability to run events these will be added to the programme.  A new website www.villagesociety.plumptonpc.co.uk  (which we can develop over time) has been set up. Our thanks go to the Parish Council and Louise Sheeran for their help and support. We now also have a dedicated email address of plumptonvillagesociety@gmail.com for messages.

The Village Society Aims

Within the constitution, all residents and those who work in the Parishes of Plumpton and East Chiltington automatically became members of the Society.  Only the Committee members have financial responsibility for the Society and a Village Society bank account has been set up. We wanted to include East Chiltington as there has traditionally been strong links between these two villages, including the three churches and this continues today with family and friends involved in both. The stated aims are:

• To organise a Village Fair for the benefit of the communities of Plumpton and East Chiltington Parishes in the County of East Sussex,
• To organise other community activities for the benefit of the villages, as deemed suitable by the Committee,
• To be nonprofit making and to distribute funds raised to local worthy causes for the benefit of the local community as a whole.

2020 Events

July 2020: Pop Up market for local businesses and crafters to sell produce as we came out of lockdown 1.
October 2020: Apple Pressing and the transition from the existing team to the village society.
December 2020: Christmas Walk by Market as we came out of lockdown 2.

Planned Events

May 2021: Coach trip to Wisley Gardens open to all, but aimed at those who have been shielding/isolating
June 2021: Strawberry Fair a traditional village fair for all clubs and societies to promote their activities.
October 2021: Apple Day to be a market incorporating the annual apple pressing and tabletops sales.
April 2022: A Pop up market for local businesses and crafters and tabletop sales.
June 2022: The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee over the 4 day bank holiday weekend.

Committee Members
Chair: Lee Stevens, Secretary: Rod Owens, Treasurer: Sue Brown,
Committee Members: Kathy Baker, Martin and Beverley Gilbert, Jane Hildyard and Carole Nicholson.