Due to the high value of wood this year the Parish Council are not able source pallets for the bonfire in the usual volume.
If you have any old wood suitable for burning please feel free to add it to the bonfire pile on the Oval
There is to an EGM to discuss the policies and in particular the Local Green Spaces designation in those policies.
Once the policies are finalised the parish will be consulted on those polices: there will a post on the website, an Exhibition in the Community Centre and a posting to each household.
Please download the attached documents for the agendas.
The annual Bonfire & Fireworks event hosted by North Luffenham Parish Council will go ahead on The Oval on Friday 5th November 2021.
Doors Open 5.30pm; Bonfire lit 6.15pm; Fireworks 6.30pm
The Cricket Club will be running the BBQ (to raise funds to continue the good works on the wicket); Janet Whittaker & Judy Cade will be offering hot & cold refreshments from the Pavilion with home-made seasonal cake; Lin Burrows will be serving her specially prepared Mulled Wine whilst Charles Cade & Pete Burrows are in charge of lighting the fire & fireworks. Our Chair of the Parish Council – Tim Smith – will be co-ordinating the important task of the ‘Donation bucket collection’. All this helps to offset the costs so please be generous to enable this event to continue.
Whilst The Scouts will be sporting high vis jackets and stewarding the perimeter and entry points, more volunteers are needed on the night to assist with ensuring a safe and enjoyable evening.
If you can help, please contact any of the above teams or Charles Cade on 01780 720467.
Thank you 😉
Anyone who has played cricket will know the importance of the condition of “The Square” – the hallowed area where the wickets and creases are located.
Following two years of lockdown, the pitch on North Luffenhams own “Oval” was in very poor condition. Nick Davenport agreed to take on the not inconsiderable challenge of maintaining the area and temporary repairs were made in June 2020 to ensure the surface was safe to play on for this season.
Advice was taken from Keith Exon (ex head groundsman at Glamorgan County Ground & Oakham School) who, along with his son Alex, now offers a pitch maintenance and renovation service through his business ‘Perfect Pitches’) and they were able to advise on what could be done do to return it to it’s glory days during the off season.
As it happened, Keith phoned at the end of September to say that he had finished a job at Old Trafford, and had a gap in his schedule before he went to Trent Bridge, and could fit North Luffenham in – elite company for a village pitch indeed!
The cricket club accepted the offer, and Keith arrived with his highly specialised equipment
Keith used a Koro Field Top Maker to remove all surface vegetation from the top 6mm of the square, levelling out hollows and bumps and preparing a good base for reseeding as you can see in the following images. A huge amount of surface vegetation was removed and at the Butt Lane end of the pitch a further 2mm was removed to lower the slope around the crease and the excess soil was placed at the opposite end to fill a depression which ran along side the top side of the wicket. This should ensure the pitch is perfectly level.
The next step was to use a scarifier to remove any remaining vegetation and leave grooves at 20mm centres to give better seed/soil content.
35kgs of grass seed and 25kgs of fertiliser where then applied and covered by 1250kgs of Boughton County Loam.
Keith’s last step was to drag a matt/lute by hand for final levels and so ensuring a good finish for germination.
Keith’s attention to detail and his professional expertise have been crucial to the renovation of the square. We could not have achieved the same outcome and ongoing support for the care of the wicket without his intervention. We should not underestimate this given Keith currently carries out the same task for county grounds such as Trent Bridge and Northamptonshire.
Watering wisely then became a key factor to encourage germination and support the emerging grass in what turned out to be a hot spell. This required frequent visits to the oval to move the sprinkler to avoid drowning the seed and avoiding the hottest time of the day to prevent scalding of the emerging grass. The outcome of all this has been 99% germination, great coverage of grass and to date two cuts to keep the grass at 20mm to encourage tillering and strong root growth.
The plan over the winter is to keep the grass level to 20mm and then in spring begin a regime of gentle rolling to settle any upheaval caused by frost. Gradually lowering the cutting height to around 6mm and increasing the rolling as we move towards the start of the season.
The Army have notified us that the Airfield will be out of bounds week of 4th of October till 8th of October
Please find attached the AGAR for North Luffenham PC which has been agreed and signed by the Internal Auditor appointed by the Leicectershire and Rutland Association of Local Councils.
Please click below to view the minutes.
The funeral will take place at St John the Baptist, North Luffenham on Monday 6th September at 11.30am.
Remininsences on John’s life will no doubt continue in The Fox following the service.
At a special meeting of Rutland County Council on the 1st September the decision was taken to withdraw the submitted Local Plan (LP) and the making of a new Local Plan.
The main strategic aim of the LP was to build a town bigger than Uppingham on the St. George’s Barracks (SGB) site.
Over the past four years North Luffenham Parish Council (NLPC) along with the help of local residents, local communities and our county councillors have attended many meetings, given deputations and asked questions as there were serious concerns about the deliverability and viability of the submitted LP. Not least were the concerns of the effects that such a large scale development would have on local parishes.
There will be development at SGB and NLPC, in early 2020, initiated a Neighbourhood Plan (NP-plan for our parish) in order to have a significant influence on any development. This now becomes more important for any development proposals that are submitted for SGB as it will take a new LP some 3-4 years to develop.
At the meeting on the 1st, NLPC made the point that one of the reasons that the submitted LP caused so much controversy was the lack of meaningful consultation with the most affected communities. Going forward it is to be hoped that from the beginning the necessary involvement will now take place.
There will be a meeting of the Indoor Bowls Club on Monday 6th September at 7.00pm in the Community Centre.
You may have noticed an outbreak of roadworks recently and Rutland County Council Highways Department has informed us of yet more in September.
Please find attached Notices and accompanying plans in respect of the Temporary Road Closures in the above areas in Rutland which will come into effect between 06/09/2021 to 27/09/2021
Plans of the proposed closures and their associated diversion routes are included in the attached documents.
Rutland County Council will hold a Special Full Council meeting next week on Wednesday 1st September at 7.00pm to determine if Rutland’s Draft Local Plan should be withdrawn from examination.
The meeting will be held at the Rutland Showground but because of restrictions members of the public who wish to attend will be limited to 60 people.
It makes a difference if County Coucillors are aware that a large number of the public are listening into the deabte and there will be a live audiostream: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85261800870
The report to the council can be downloaded: