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Royston 2012 A Year of

Celebrations

Q QUALITY

TOWN COUNCIL

Keeping Royston residents in touch with their local council

ISSUE NO.23 SEPTEMBER 2012

ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2011—2012 Royston Town Council’s Annual Report is available from the Town Hall offices or the council’s web-site www.roystontowncouncil.gov.uk.

The Annual Town Meeting took place in the Town Hall in March, councillors from town, district and county reported on what had happened during the past year. The town councillors’ reports can be found in the full Annual Report and the reports from the district and county councillor are available in the minutes of the Annual Town Meeting. Both documents can be viewed on the council’s web-site. The Community Civic Awards and the Mayor’s Community Trust Fund Awards were also presented at this meeting. Work is also continuing in the refurbishment of the Town Hall ready for the Community Cinema to be installed.

The council is responsible for Green Walk and Stile Plantations, Town Hall, Market Hill Rooms, War Memorial, Royston Cave, Green St. Allotments, Royston & District Museum and Art Gallery and from April 2012, The Cross Public Conveniences. Due to receiving funding of £8,000 from the Big Lottery Fund Wildlife Project, enhancement works were undertaken on both Plantation sites by council officers, members and a band of volunteers. Our thanks go to the volunteers as their help in this project was valued enormously.

The town council is the Trustee for the Leete Charity Trust. This charity provides grants towards further education for students who live, or attend a school, in Royston. Application forms are available from the council offices and on the web-site.

This year has again proven to be financially difficult for everyone, residents and the Council. Last year we managed not to increase the precept but to enable the council to keep up the maintenance of its properties and the extra expense of maintaining the public conveniences we had to increase the precept from £222,783 to £244, 310. This equates to a weekly increase of 7p per week for a Band D property.

RTC Budget for 2012-2013 Year-End Income & Expenditure 2011-2012

Exp Income Income 31-Mar-12

Precept 222,780.00

All Admin & Offices costs 100,426 100 Agency 48,641.40

Museum 88,753 500 Interest received 936.63

Town Hall 46,523 25,909 Properties 53,335.17

Priory Rooms 28,008 24,948 Museum 7,214.32

Market Hill Rooms 29,924 18,409 Allotments 3,326.90

Plantation 6,862 n/a Royston Cave & War Memorial 12,733.61

Other Expenses 11,703 n/a Sec106/Donations/grants/May Fayre/In bloom/Misc 64,382.92

Royston Cave 5,741 n/a Town Centre Manager/Royston First 49,589.45

Allotments 4,508 4,958 Charter/& European markets 73,705.40

War Memorial 3,325 n/a 536,645.80

30 Kneesworth St 2,283 15,619 Expenditure

Town Manager 10,000 n/a General Administration /Civic/Grants 104,393.42

Interest n/a n/a Agency 48,641.40

Precept n/a 244,310 Properties 95,569.81

Public Conveniences 8,000 - Museum 76,522.91

Proposed Cemetery - - Allotments 3,441.36

Agency n/a 11,302 Royston Cave & War Memorial 17,922.63

346,056 346,055 Plantations 4,505.66

May Fayre/Bloom/Christmas Lights/Misc 20,367.42

Charter Markets 68,520 68,520 Town Centre Manager/Royston First 52,866.86

Charter & European markets 57,523.73

Cemetery 6,160.00

487,915.20

Contact details Town Clerk: Tel 01763 245484/email: town.clerk@roystontowncouncil.gov.uk

Royston in Bloom Competition

Our three hardy judges for the annual Royston in Bloom Competition braved the pouring rain on July 6 to travel round the town looking at this year’s wonderful entries.

Schools, private gardens and community areas were all viewed, with extra points being awarded to those which had one of our special 2012 celebration themes. The judges were all very impressed with the standard of entries this year, especially given the difficult weather conditions which gardeners have had to endure this summer!

Our deepest thanks go to Phil Hammer from Royston Country Gardens, David Bannister (a judge for many years) and Cllr Lindsay Davidson, Royston Town Mayor, for giving their time and expertise to the Competition. Thanks must also go to John Parrister, from Royston Community Transport, who gamely drove the judges around the town all day, and Sandra Restall from the Royston in Bloom Committee, who accompanied them and worked out a very efficient schedule, guiding them safely around all the locations!

Palace Ward: Cllr Martin Beaver 38 Yeats Close, Royston, Herts. SG8 5TE 01763 230364 Cllr Lynn Berry 22 Serby Ave, Royston, Herts. SG8 5EH 01763 243272 Cllr Elizabeth Freeman 22 Victoria Crescent, Royston, Herts. SG8 7AX 01763 230060 Cllr Robert Inwood 9 Thackeray Close, Royston, Herts. SG8 5TF 01763 221793 Cllr Philip Mayne 16 Gower Road, Royston, Herts. SG8 5DU 01763 246550

Meridian Ward: Cllr Paul Grimes 6 Valley Rise, Royston, Herts. SG8 9EY 01763 244139 Cllr Mike Harrison 12 Highlands, Royston, Herts. SG8 9HE 01763 220055 Cllr Marguerite Phillips 27 Redwing Rise, Royston, Herts. SG8 7XU 07903 715533 Cllr F John Smith 18 Hawthorn Way, Royston, Herts. SG8 7JS 01763 243082 Cllr Robert Smith 21 Redwing Rise, Royston, Herts. SG8 7XU 01763 222890

Heath Ward: Cllr Peter Burt 40 Echo Hill, Royston, Herts. SG8 9BB 01763 248042 Cllr Lindsay Davidson 5 St Mary's Park, Royston, Herts. SG8 7XB 01763 221431 Cllr John Davison email: cllr.johns.davison@btinternet.com 07802 907700 Cllr Victoria Hulström-Allen Flat 5 James House, 6 Upper King St, Royston, Herts. SG8 9WA 01763 247498 Cllr Graham Palmer 8 Grays Close, Royston, Herts. SG8 5AS 01763 243326

ROYSTON TOWN COUNCILLORS

A list of all Councillors’ names and contact numbers is given below, together with details of the wards they represent. All Town Councillors serve in a voluntary capacity and are elected for a 4 year term of office. Councillors are not paid and do not receive any allowance for attending meetings.

Town Mayor: Cllr Lindsay Davidson Deputy Mayor: Cllr Robert Smith

ROYSTON TOWN COUNCIL Town Hall, Melbourn Street, Royston,

Hertfordshire SG8 7DA Tel: 01763 245484 Fax: 01763 248016

Town Clerk: Mrs Susan Thornton-Björk

Town Hall Office Extended Opening Hours:

Monday to Thursday: 9 am to 5 pm

Friday: 9 am to 4.30 pm

www.roystontowncouncil.gov.uk enquiries@roystontowncouncil.gov.uk

Royston & District Twinning Association Since June 2011 Royston has had three twin towns. Grossalmerode has been our twin in Germany for about 40 years, La Loupe, in France, for 25 years and Villanueva de la Cañada in Spain is the latest addition to our family.

We visit France and Germany on alternate years and welcome them to Royston the other year. Villanueva de la Cañada invites us to the festival of San Isidro each May, but we are only just arranging the first twinning visit from them, hopefully in July 2013. Although some representatives came here in September 2011 this was an official visit to countersign the Twinning Agreement.

Over the past year we have visited all our twin towns. Last October a party of 27 went to Grossalmerode. We were taken to the Grenzemuseum which stands on the old East/West border, and were told of the difficulties faced by families torn apart by the division of Germany after the Second World War. After this we went to Bad Sooden Allendorf, a nearby Spa town and Schloss Rotenstein, where we had coffee and cakes, (3 slices each!)

Our final visit was to Göttingen where both Otto von Bismarck and Gerhard Schroder, former Chancellors of Germany, were at university.

The visit to France in May was to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of our twinning in La Loupe. We had already celebrated it in Royston last year. The party of 45 were taken to Paris for a boat ride on the Seine, taking in the classic sights of the Eiffel Tower

and Notre Dame, followed by a meal in a restaurant in Montmartre. That evening, a civic reception was held to renew the ideals of the original pledge, to enhance the existing links between our two councils and to promote a better understanding between our cultures. The barbecue on the Sunday rounded off another very successful visit.

Also in May a small contingent of 4 went to the festival of San Isidro in Villanueva de la Cañada. The twinning here is slightly different as they invite all their twin towns to send a few people to this event rather than a large party just for a twinning visit. The festival started with Mass in the park, with a wonderful Flamenco style choir, followed by copious amounts of food. There were also visits to Alcala de Henares, the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, and to the palace of El Pardo, used by both the Spanish royal family and General Franco.

The Twinning Committee also arranges a quiz, boules nights, dinners and other social events. Please contact Paul Rydon, our Chairman for this year, for any further information—paul@rydon.net.