Category: News

Trustees needed – can you help?

We are delighted that our recent fundraising work has supported a three-year agreement between Church Stretton Town Council and Shropshire Council to keep our lovely local library open.

We are totally run by a small committee of volunteers and want to recruit two additional people to join us .

Our Main Activities

• Raise funds to support and enhance the work of the library

This involves planning, organising and publicising a host of events from quiz nights to sea shanty concerts, including the creation of our ever-popular calendar!

• Run activities of educational and cultural interest

Recent talks we have organised have covered a variety of topics such as local geology, the Narnia books of C.S. Lewis, healthy living, Syria, book illustrations and Medical Royal colleges.  Our events are nothing if not varied!

• Opening the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) on Mondays and Wednesdays

To do this, we have volunteers who open the VIC on days when the library is closed.  This helps make visitors to Church Stretton feel welcome and thus supports local traders in the town.

We are a registered CIO charity, fully insured and Trustees are not financially liable for the running of the charity.

What does being a Trustee involve?

We want people who would be able to commit around eight hours a month, some of which could be worked from home. Computer access for email and documents is essential.  Anyone with a working knowledge of social media would be very welcome, but it is not an essential requirement.

Trustee meetings take place once a month and last one to two hours.

As well as attending Trustee meetings, Trustees are expected to help in some way with the running of the charity. This could be helping with admin, running events or helping with publicity, depending on your personal skills and preference.

We are a friendly group of local volunteers where everyone’s contribution is welcomed and we work around our members’ work and family commitments. 

Our activities are both interesting and rewarding.

If you might be interested, please get in touch to find out more.  You are welcome to attend a few Trustee meetings before making any final commitment.

We are delighted to tell you that a verbal agreement has been reached between Church Stretton Town Council and Shropshire Council regarding the future of the library in Church Stretton.

Under this agreement, Shropshire Council will continue running the library for the next few years with a contribution from the Town Council of £20,000 per annum. Friends of Church Stretton Library have committed to contributing £5,000 a year towards this in order to reduce the load on the Town Council precept.

We are now waiting for a formal written contract to be signed.  Once signed, the library’s future will been secured for at least another three years.  One possible obstacle to this is if Shropshire Council declares itself insolvent by raising a section 114 before the contract is signed.  

Since the campaign to keep the library in Church Stretton began back in 2014, we have often been uncertain whether the library would be funded the following year.  Now, ten years, on we have secured an agreement for at least three years, after which another conversation can be expected on the library’s future.

We would like to thank the Mayor, Andy Munro, for his hard work in securing this agreement and the Town Council for supporting the proposal.

We would also like to thank all our supporters, especially our regular donors, who have helped us through the years.

If you would like to help us raise the money required, you can donate on our website at How To Donate – Friends of Church Stretton Library, or fill in a donation form at the library and leave a cheque payable to ‘Friends of Church Stretton Library’.

Thank you

Sheila Davies Chair, Friends of Church Stretton Library

Focus have recently developed a ‘Whats On’ calendar – see Calendar of Events in The Strettons

 The Focus calendar now allows organisations to add their events months in advance, so they can alert other organisations of their plans and avoid two similar events taking place on the same day.

Organisations can then add more details about their event later on, to help promote their event to the community. 

It makes sense for only one organisation in the Strettons to have a planning calendar – and Focus is the obvious website to host this.   

We have therefore taken down the Friends Stretton Planning Diary down from our website – and are encouraging organisations to use the Focus one . 

To add an entry you can use the template on their website at  Submit an Event | Stretton Focus  ‘

Local residents support increase in town precept

There was a total of 1021 responses to the survey the Town Council delivered to 1,980 homes in the parish in September.  This included 504 surveys on paper and 517 returned online.  This rate of return of 52% is huge compared to the average turn out for a public consultation which is more typically 10-15%.

82% of respondents said they would be prepared to see their local precept raised in order to help protect the town’s leisure centre, library and swimming pool.

Residents were asked to prioritise which service was most important to them.  Approximately half of respondents (52%) expressed a preference which showed a fairly even spread across all three services.

Service	Priority
Library	36.0 %
Swimming pool	32.2%
Leisure centre	31.8%

Of the remaining surveys, 37% of respondents said that ‘All services were equally important to them’, whilst 11% indicated that ‘None were of interest to them’. However, many of the respondents who said none of these services were of interest to them still offered to pay additional money in the precept to save them.

This included older residents who emphasised the need for all these services to be retained for younger residents and children, even though they themselves were now too old to use the leisure centre.

This result gives the Town Council a huge mandate to try to negotiate an agreement with Shropshire Council to save all three services.

 The full results of the Town Council survey can be viewed on the Town Council  website – see  Services-at-Risk-1.pdf

What happens now?

Over the last few months, the mayors of the nine towns in South Shropshire have been meeting with Shropshire Council to negotiate on the subject of ‘venue based’ services such as libraries, leisure centres and swimming pools.

Shropshire Council had calculated that if all Town and Parish Councils increased the local element of their precept by 10% this would raise over £1m which is more than the savings they need to make for leisure and library services as written in their Medium Term Financial Plan.

However, three weeks ago Shropshire abandoned this approach because:

• Some of the larger towns (although none in South Shropshire) refused to participate because they felt secure that their facilities would not be withdrawn even if they didn’t contribute anything, because of their population size.  
• Some market Town Councils (but not Church Stretton) are already either operating their libraries, leisure centres and in one case their swimming pool, or contributing financially towards their running costs. This has come about in previous years after their local services were threatened with closure.

Asking towns already contributing financially towards their venue based services to contribute again would lead to an even greater inequity across these towns.

Shropshire Council have now said that they wish to continue negotiations but are looking for individual solutions for each council which takes this into account. The mayors from the nine councils in South Shropshire have agreed to continue to work together, as this gives them a stronger negotiating position which will help in finding a more equitable solution across towns in South Shropshire.

A meeting between the mayors and the Leader of Shropshire Council to discuss these services has been scheduled for the second week of November.

Larger towns not contributing – is this fair?

It seems unfair that residents in the larger towns will get all of their venue based services provided without them having to raise their Town Council precept, whilst residents in the smaller market towns are expected to help finance theirs.

If the larger Town Councils refuse to assist, one option might be for Shropshire Council to look to make savings on venue based services in these towns. For example, the libraries in the bigger towns in Shropshire are currently open 5 or 6 days a week, whilst those in the smaller market towns are mostly open 4 days a week or less.  Shropshire Council could perhaps opt to make savings by reducing the opening hours of libraries in the bigger towns.  

Our 2025 calendar now available

We have been overwhelmed with the quality of the photos submitted for the 2025 calendar. We had so many wonderful photographs to choose from it was difficult deciding which ones to choose.

This year we have four new photographers whose work has not appeared in any of our previous calendars.  How lucky we are to have such talented people living in the area.

We would like to give a big thank you to Richard Gresswell, Jill Ming, Penny Hayward, Geoff Taylor, Matthew Halstead, Terry Moore, Sandra Whitlock, Richard Childs and Julia Williams who have given us permission to use their photographs.

A special thank you to Geoff Taylor who again has helped to source the photos and prepared the picture files to make a single proof print.

At the moment the calendar is only on sale in the library but it will be appearing in the shops around town in the Autumn.

We are again keeping the price at £8.00 this year, but you are welcome to top this up to £10.00 by making a donation of £2.00 to Friends of Church Stretton library when purchasing. 

Each photograph is A4 in size and comes with an envelope suitable for sending the calendar through the post

This calendar makes a wonderful present for friends and family, as well as a treat for yourself.

All profits go to the library

For further information email churchstrettonlibrary@outlook.com

Library Budget Cuts – what can we do?

Date: Thursday 20th June 2024, Time:  7.30 to 8.30pm,

United Reform Church Hall

Please come along to our AGM to receive our annual report and detailed accounts. 

The main topic for discussion at this year’s Annual General Meeting is the review of library services currently being carried out by Shropshire Council.

Their latest Financial Strategy mentions making savings by reducing spending on libraries and leisure centres, which could include reducing opening times, fewer premises or increased charges.

What can we do to influence decisions being made concerning Church Stretton Library?

How can we raise additional funds for the library if required?

Please come to our AGM so we can share ideas on how we think we can support our local library and gauge how much support there is in the community for such an approach.

You can download the agenda and minutes for the meeting here

Following the AGM there will be wine, soft drinks and nibbles in the URC garden.

ALL WELCOME

A collection of resources to help people whose lives are affected by Dementia was launched at Church Stretton Library as part of Dementia Action week.

Left to Right: Pete Banford, Rawden Parslow, Sheila Davies, Vicky Munro, Hayley Reynolds (Church Stretton Library Manager)

The collection was purchased for the library by two local charities, Friends of Church Stretton Library & Stretton Dementia Friends.

The launch took place at the Memory Café, run by Stretton Dementia Friends, which meets once a month in the library. Pete Banford, Head of Culture & Communities for Shropshire Council and Rawden Parslow, Shropshire Council Principal Library Operations & Development Manager attended the launch and met with regular attendees of the Memory Café.

Sheila Davies, Chair of Friends of Church Stretton Library said:

‘We were delighted to help fund this resource, which would have been so useful to me personally when my mother was first diagnosed with dementia. This initiative will mean Church Stretton residents get helpful information early on and find out about resources that can help. I think all libraries should house a similar collection.’

The contents of the collection have been carefully selected to provide information and resources relevant to a wide range of the community, and not only those directly affected by Dementia. It includes:

Reading Well books: a collection of books approved by the NHS and Dementia Charities to provide information about dementia, practical advice for families and carers and inspiring personal stories written by people affected by dementia.

Books for children and young people: that aim to increase understanding about dementia and how they can help if one of their relatives has dementia.

Picture to Share books:   which provide beautiful high-quality pictures combined with a a small amount of text, to help stimulate memories and conversation for those in the mid to late stages of dementia.

Relish Jigsaws:  designed with a small number of pieces suitable for those with dexterity difficulties, pictures which stimulate memories and spark conversation and illustrations with vibrant colours to help with visual impairment.

Vicky Munro, chair of Church Stretton Dementia Friends said:

‘This collection is such an important resource and exemplifies our commitment to increasing awareness of, and information for, those living with dementia in our community. I’m proud to be formally launching this collection during Dementia Action week, when we are running over 14 activities for those with memory issues’

The books and jigsaws can all be taken out on loan from the library.

You can view the Dementia Collection here

How would you cut millions from Shropshire Council’s budget?

Shropshire Council has to find savings of £23 million in next year’s budget, in addition to the £51 million savings made this year. This is likely to affect non statutory services such as libraries and leisure centres.

Shropshire Council is asking residents to tell them where they should make savings.  The survey is lengthy and asks people to prioritise different local authority services.  We have written some Hints and Tips below which we hope you will find helpful.

We encourage residents to complete the survey. We also recognise that your priorities might reflect your own personal experiences of needing these services for either yourself or your loved ones.

Hints & Tips

Print or online – You might find it easier to print the survey and decide how you want to fill it in before entering online.  You can download a print version of the survey at the bottom of this web page.  Printed versions of the survey are available at the library and completed paper surveys can be submitted there.

Video – The 2 minute video in which Lezley Picton, Leader of Shropshire Council, explains how money is currently spent is well worth watching to give some context to the survey.

Statutory and non statutory services – Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care and Housing Services are statutory services, meaning local authorities have to provide them by law for those who need them.  Most savings will come from other services.  Local authorities have to provide a library service as it is a statutory service. However, they can make savings by closing some libraries and/or reducing opening times.

Outdoor spaces – Where this is mentioned, it does not refer to outdoor spaces in Church Stretton.  Rectory Wood, Coppice Leasowes, Sandford Avenue Town Park, the two recreation fields, the cemeteries, allotments and the war memorials are all funded by Church Stretton Town Council and not Shropshire Council.

Prioritisation and suggested options – These two sections include questions asking you to prioritise different services, including leisure and library services.  Please make sure you answer these two questions.

Other questions

If you struggle to answer some of the other questions as you do not think you have sufficient information, you can always flag these as ‘neither agree or disagree’ and add a comment to that effect.

Leisure or library service? – Some residents might struggle to prioritise one of these services above the other, as they are both important to Church Stretton. Putting one close to the other in the prioritisation is the best you can do. 

We encourage people to complete the survey as it is important that the views of residents from this area are heard.  Please remember to include Church Stretton as your nearest town at the end of the survey.

Links to the online consultation and print version of the survey can be found at Budget consultation 2024/25 | Shropshire Council

A printed copy of this web page can be downloaded here

The consultation runs until 28^th January 2024.