Ayton
Community
Council

Minutes for meeting held Tuesday 12th November 2024

Held in Ayton Community Hall at 7:00pm.

Present

Apologies for Absence

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 7th October 2024 were approved. Proposed by DH and Seconded by AW as a true and accurate reflection of events.

Christmas Market

Emily Sanderson attended the meeting and gave an update on the progress being made for the Christmas Market. She advised that there would be a number of indoor stalls which will be housed in the bowling club and consist of a Santa’s grotto, Berwickshire Swap, face painting and a family photographer. Outside there would be 16 stalls selling a variety of merchandise as well as 2 food vendors and 2 fair ground type rides. She was also looking at the possibility of having some live music but this was yet to be confirmed.

It was agreed that all children would receive a gift from Santa and the council acknowledged the generous support of Local Businesses Ayton Mini Market and Hair by Louise who have agreed to cover the cost of this. In addition to this support Amanda Wright had agreed to support Santa in his duties on the Day. The Council placed on record their grateful thanks to Santa and his Elves. In preparation for this it was also agreed that TS would contact Eyemouth Rotary about the possible use of their mobile Grotto and AC would be asked if she could provide support with decoration of the area housing Santa.

MMWR

The police report was not received ahead of the meeting and TS agreed to chase this and circulate to members when received.

Cllr J Anderson Report

Cllr Anderson was unable to attend due to prior commitments and no report was submitted.

Clock Tower Flag

DH advised that he had spoken to Berwickshire Housing who had confirmed remedial work had been completed on the clock tower but a further official was required to check the flag pole itself due to movement within the roof. Berwickshire Housing Association have agreed to chase this and will update DH in due course following a further site visit.

Treasurer’s report

PI informed the CC that the council had purchased a poppy wreath which was laid by AM at Sunday’s remembrance event at Ayton Church. The cost of this was £39.60.

Project Account balance stands at £909.96
Treasurer’s Account balance stands at £905.21

AOB

Following on from last month when a member of the public had approached several members of the community council about a private residence on the High Street, whose garden had become overgrown and was now making use of one of the bus stops more difficult. It was reported that TS had been unable to speak to the resident directly despite several attempts. It was agreed that we would speak to our local councillors from SBC to check on what obligations the resident has in relation to tidying up their garden and if any action can be taken by the community council.

TF reported that the defibrillator outside of the community hall would require new pads by the end of January 2025 and a new battery by the end of November 2025. TS agreed to look into this and report back to the next meeting.

PI advised the meeting that when ordering our poppy wreath, he was unable to find an official logo for the CC or the village. TS stated that he thought we did have one and would contact the former chair who may be able to help with this.

TS reported that the council will have been in operation for 1 year by the date of the next meeting and that we should look to be holding our AGM. It was agreed that we would look at this in January to allow festive events to be organised and reported on. It was also agreed that with 7 members on the CC now we should be actively looking to recruit new members to fill vacancies created by resignations over the last year.

Next Meeting

The next Ayton Community Council Meeting will take place on 10th December 2024.