What’s On?

Storrington Conservation Society Work Morning: Dyke Farm

Our task at Dyke Farm is to improve and enhance its wildlife value. Nicola Peel is encouraging the local community groups to come and use the site for various activities. Our work on the site on different visits will involve tree planting and maintenance, meadow management and Himalayan balsam pulling.

Tools and refreshments are provided

Sussex Wildlife Trust (Storrington and Arun Valley Regional Group) are pleased to announce our first regional online event of 2022.

With only around 50 butterfly species found in Sussex, it should be a manageable task to get to know this group of insects well. Let’s find out together, through the creative learning of a talk plus quiz format, just how much we know. No prior knowledge is needed – just join in the fun and allow this online experience to drive you forward.

It is free to join and you can book your place on the Eventbrite page. You can also scan the QR code on the image above. This online event held via Zoom. Details will be sent following registration.

It is with the kind permission of Storrington resident, Martin Kalaher and the Sussex Butterfly Conservation that it is possible to run this quiz. With grateful thanks.

At a critical time for declining numbers of pollinators generally, we will find out more of these beautiful insects. Anyone with even a small strip of garden can make a difference. If we stop using chemicals, actively encourage native plants and leave sections of our gardens wilder, we can already play a big part. Even without your own back garden, you can help our group in various ways: you can influence the management of road verges in urban settings, get inspired to help create a corner of wildflower meadow and join our Garden Pollinator project in 2022. These all help to stall the steep decline in our insect pollinators.

“If butterflies do not survive and hopefully thrive, over the next few decades,
then neither will we!“

Full Parish Council meeting.

It is advisable to check the Parish Council website for meeting dates as these are occasionally subject to change.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Please contact the Clerk before noon on the Monday before the meeting to register your interest and to submit any questions or matters that you may wish to raise. 

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for the services it provides; it establishes policies for action and decides how money will be raised and spent on behalf of the community.  Understand how your council works.

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for spending public money lawfully and without risk and, of course, for achieving the best value for money.

Submitted to the Storrington Community Website using the Event contact form.

Sussex Wildlife Trust Storrington & Arun Valley Regional Group are delighted to invite you to an online event on March 22nd during which George Reekie, one of our group members, will talk to us about his pre-lockdown visit to Costa Rica and show us some of his stunning photographs from this trip.

For anyone who has been to Central America this will bring back some fantastic memories and, for those that haven’t yet, this is a great opportunity to find out more about this part of our natural world.

Please register for the event using the link HERE. It is free to join and please only register once per household.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica has an amazingly abundant and diverse ecosystem. It sets a good example of managing its bio-diversity to the rest of the world. For the photographer there are wonderful opportunities.

This talk aims to give a flavour of the country and its wildlife. In Costa Rica one cannot fail to be overwhelmed by the colour and sheer number of different species. In this respect the talk covers numerous species but concentrates on the exuberant colour to be found everywhere you look.

George Reekie

George has been a serious amateur photographer for many years. He has won many national and international awards in salons of photography. He is involved heavily in the camera club scene, both as a judge and as a lecturer. He has used his photography to give talks to all kinds of local organisations, raising money for charity.

George has achieved Distinction level with the Photographic Association of Great Britain and is an Associate of British Photographic Exhibitions.

George’s interests in photography are wide ranging, but his favourite area is wildlife. This started while living in Zambia and he wishes modern equipment had been available at that time! More lately he has travelled to many countries in the world to photograph the local wildlife and has experienced much of the amazing diversity this planet has to offer.

Recently George has moved to West Sussex from Somerset and is enjoying exploring the area and photographing the wildlife.

The groups email address is: swtstorringtonregion@gmail.com
Website: Storrington & Arun Valley Regional Group | Sussex Wildlife Trust
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/SAVRG

Full Parish Council meeting.

It is advisable to check the Parish Council website for meeting dates as these are occasionally subject to change.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Please contact the Clerk before noon on the Monday before the meeting to register your interest and to submit any questions or matters that you may wish to raise. 

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for the services it provides; it establishes policies for action and decides how money will be raised and spent on behalf of the community.  Understand how your council works.

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for spending public money lawfully and without risk and, of course, for achieving the best value for money.

Submitted to the Storrington Community Website using the Event contact form.

The Local Government Act 1972 states that “for every parish there shall be a Parish Meeting for the purpose of discussing parish affairs and exercising any functions conferred on such meeting by any enactment…”

The Annual Parish Meeting is open to all electors of the Parish, who have the right not only to attend, but also to speak on any matter of local interest.

(This is in contrast to a Council meeting, where electors who are not Councillors may only speak at the discretion of the Chairman of the Council. A Parish Meeting is a meeting of the people of the parish, a Parish Council Meeting is a meeting of the parish councillors).

With the exception of the Chairman, councillors rank the same as other members of the electorate during the meeting.

A skeleton agenda is usually published ahead of the meeting, but items may be added up to and even during the meeting.  Any member of the electorate may request items to be placed on the agenda.  Any matter pertinent to the parish may be discussed at the meeting.

All those present at the meeting who are on the electoral register for the parish have the right to vote.

This meeting has its own minutes, which should be kept separately from the Council minutes, and these minutes can only be approved by the next Annual Parish Meeting which will, of course, not be held until the following year.

It is however, good practice to bring the draft minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting to the next convenient meeting of the Parish Council, since otherwise matters are unlikely to get progressed. But it is important that the Council does not actually approve these minutes, as they do not belong to the Council.

The Chairman of the Parish Council chairs the meeting.  The Clerk to the Parish Council organises and takes the minutes of the meeting.

The Storrington & Sullington Annual Parish Meetings are typically held on the first Wednesday each May (Covid caused exceptions).

Proceedings of previous Annual Parish Meetings

(The information shown here has come from resources produced to advise Parish Councils)

Like any other organisation or company, the Council needs to hold an annual meeting to carry out those things that only need doing once a year. These include:

• Electing a Chairman
• Electing a Vice-Chairman (if the council wants to have one)
• Appointing committees
• Appointing representatives to other bodies (e.g. the Parish Hall Committee, or School Governing Bodies)
• Agreeing to subscribe to such bodies as the County Association of Local Councils
• Reviewing policy documents such as risk assessment, Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, etc.

The Storrington & Sullington Annual Parish Council meetings are typically held on the last Wednesday each May (Covid caused exceptions).

The proceedings of previous Annual Parish Council Meetings

“An Introduction to Insect Pollinators” – an online talk by Alice Parfitt, presented by Sussex Wildlife Trust (Storrington & Arun Valley Regional Group)

There are over 6000 species of Insect Pollinators in the UK including bees, flies, butterflies, moths and butterflies. Join us to learn more about the diversity of these insects, some tips on how to identify them, the threats facing them and what we can all do to help.  You need to register to attend this free event using the highlighted button above.

Our guest speaker is a local (Storrington based) ecologist and conservationist, Alice Parfitt, who has over 20 years of experience working for a range of nature conservation organisations such as Buglife, Sussex Wildlife Trust and RSPB. She is currently a Conservation Officer with Buglife working on a project called Changing Chalk on the Eastern Downs advising landowners, farmers, and communities how they can get involved with pollinator conservation. Alice is passionate about biological recording, and loves all invertebrates, especially hoverflies.

There will be time at the end of her talk for any questions, which Alice will be happy to answer.

Alice Parfitt

Full Parish Council meeting.

It is advisable to check the Parish Council website for meeting dates as these are occasionally subject to change.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Please contact the Clerk before noon on the Monday before the meeting to register your interest and to submit any questions or matters that you may wish to raise. 

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for the services it provides; it establishes policies for action and decides how money will be raised and spent on behalf of the community.  Understand how your council works.

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for spending public money lawfully and without risk and, of course, for achieving the best value for money.

Submitted to the Storrington Community Website using the Event contact form.

Full Parish Council meeting.

It is advisable to check the Parish Council website for meeting dates as these are occasionally subject to change.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Please contact the Clerk before noon on the Monday before the meeting to register your interest and to submit any questions or matters that you may wish to raise. 

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for the services it provides; it establishes policies for action and decides how money will be raised and spent on behalf of the community.  Understand how your council works.

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for spending public money lawfully and without risk and, of course, for achieving the best value for money.

Submitted to the Storrington Community Website using the Event contact form.

Full Parish Council meeting.

It is advisable to check the Parish Council website for meeting dates as these are occasionally subject to change.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Please contact the Clerk before noon on the Monday before the meeting to register your interest and to submit any questions or matters that you may wish to raise. 

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for the services it provides; it establishes policies for action and decides how money will be raised and spent on behalf of the community.  Understand how your council works.

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for spending public money lawfully and without risk and, of course, for achieving the best value for money.

Submitted to the Storrington Community Website using the Event contact form.

Full Parish Council meeting.

It is advisable to check the Parish Council website for meeting dates as these are occasionally subject to change.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Please contact the Clerk before noon on the Monday before the meeting to register your interest and to submit any questions or matters that you may wish to raise. 

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for the services it provides; it establishes policies for action and decides how money will be raised and spent on behalf of the community.  Understand how your council works.

Storrington Parish Council is responsible for spending public money lawfully and without risk and, of course, for achieving the best value for money.

Submitted to the Storrington Community Website using the Event contact form.

Sandgate Conservation Society Talk: “Water under the Bridge” by Tony Pratt (Wey & Arun Canal Trust)

The talk will take place on Wednesday 26th October at 7:30pm at Storrington and Sullington Parish Hall, Thakeham Road, RH20 3PP.

The talk is based on picture postcards from 1900-1930 plus press reports from the period, genealogy research and illustrated with contemporary video clips. All welcome.

Entrance is £2 for Society members, £4 for non-members.

Light refreshments after talk (expected to last about 1 hour).

Submitted to the Storrington Community Website using the Event contact form.