Cllr Mike Butcher

Archive for March, 2010

Spent the morning canvassing around Caister with Parliamentary Candidate Brandon Lewis and team.  Great response from those that we talked to.  Several Labour supporters switching to Conservative.  Lovely sunny day!

Last of competitions tonight.  Table Tennis competition which I am helping to score/control!!  The last time I played each game went to 21 so will have to learn the new rules as we go along…….Oh what fun!!

Meeting cancelled last night.  I have to say it is nice to have a free evening with nothing to do but sit at home and chat to Janette and watch some TV.  Need to be careful, I might get to like this!

Chaired this meeting this evening where progress reports were discussed on the new village hall build and the fundraising position.  Building work is progressing despite the weather and the funding position was explained that all core funding is now in place but that we were still looking for additional support from residents and one or two other public funding bodies.  It was confirmed that we had been successful in obtaining £5000 from NALC (Norfolk Association of Local Councils) which will assist with fitting out the new office.  Well done to Cllr Ken Hicks and team for pulling this grant together.

About 40 people attended the launch of the new walking route book for the Great Yarmouth Area at legends club on the Wellesley Recreation Ground.  The Mayor & Mayoress Tony and Sarah Smith attended along with County Councillors Bertie Collins and Tom Garrod, Borough Councillors Penny Linden, John Holmes & yours truly (representing HPC of course).  There were several residents from Hopton and other parishes around the borough.

We all headed off (after the usual speeches) for a walk along Marine Parade through the Beaconsfield Recreation Ground, back onto Marine Parade, through the Waterways, back across Marine Parade into the Northern entrance to the Beaconsfield and then back to Legends for a welcome cuppa and cakes!  I ate too many again!!

here are some photos:

Cllr Ken Hicks (HPC Project Leader) and myself had our monthly meeting this morning with the Architect,Quantity Surveyor and John Youngs the builders.

Most things were moving on well despite the really bad weather recently.  The contractor reported that they were about 2 weeks behind schedule but assured us that they were well positioned to complete by August this year.

The site is beginning to resemble something that we can recognise now after the concrete base was poured and brickwork up to DPC (Damp Proof Course for you non builders!) level has been completed.

The photos below will give you some idea of progress from the last photos that I published. 

Took our caravan down to Constable Country for a few days.  It rained almost constantly!  Good job we took our wellies!

Spent some time looking around historic Colchester the oldest town in England.  Had a good look around the small but lovely town hall there as well.

Visited some of the scenes where Constable did some of his World famous paintings.  A very pretty area indeed.