Village Voice
newton fallowell
raising the standard of estate agency
MELBOURNE ESTATE AGENTS Residential Sales and Lettings Tel: 01332 865696 Melbourne: 01332 865696
Melbourne & District
No 207 February 2010
Scrum-ptious time at the rugby club MUM’S the word when it comes to providing the backroom support for Melbourne Rugby Club. These three ladies let the boys and girls of the club’s junior and minis section get on with their training sessions while they put their talents to use in the kitchen. So when the youngsters were finished with their exertions there was plenty of hot and filling refreshments at the ready. Lesley Butler, Heather Lowson and Sarah Cartwright are pictured dishing up the grub.
LEISURE CENTRE TAKEOVER PLAN MORE than 150 people braved the freezing weather to attend the public meeting to discuss the future plans for a takeover of the parish council-run Melbourne Leisure Centre. What they came to hear was all about the company which would like to take over the day to day management of the centre. There was a lively discussion, plenty of comment, and plenty of questions from the people present, in a good tempered meeting run very efficiently by Nigel Collyer, the chair of the Parish Council’s Leisure Centre committee. "We had a divided council, so we thought it would be a good idea to hold a meeting to ask the people of Melbourne what they thought,” was how Councillor Collyer
explained the reasons for calling the meeting. Philip Dobby was the lead spokesman for the four members of what would become Melbourne Community Centre Ltd, a not-for-profit limited company. The other members of the presentation team were Blase Lambert, John Robinson and Philip Heath. A fifth member of the new company to be formed, Brian Dollamore, was away. The group explained that the company would seek a transfer of the lease. User fees would remain unchanged, but they said that "asset was not being used well or efficiently". The building would be vigorously marketed, and it was stated that the object would be to have a modernised facility, "inviting, welcoming and responsive" to the public. Many local facilities – village halls and community centres throughout the country – are run on a similar basis to that being proposed. The group stated that the response to the Parish Plan
INSIDE STORIES
Kaleigh’s award – Page 6
Ton up for Edna – Page 9
had shown a strong view within the community that improved facilities and the creation of a performing arts centre was important. There was a possibility that grants could be made available, but the remainder of the lease could be used to investigate and plan what could be done, to make the centre fit for purpose. Not everyone welcomed the proposals being made. One speaker said that "nothing being proposed could not be done by an active leisure committee of the parish council". Cliff Crawford, a parish councillor, was unhappy that a public asset could be passed over to a private body, and he doubted the validity of the claim made by the takeover group that what was being suggested was what a sizeable majority of Melbourne residents wanted. Since the meeting, a petition has been raised, demanding that the leisure centre be kept in the hands of the parish council. Continued on Page 2
Look what’s cooking – Page 15
Sunday best – Pages 18-19
M elbourne G arage MoT TEST CENTRE SELECTION OF WORKSHOPS AND OFFICE SPACE TO RENT Castle Lane, Melbourne, Derby DE73 8DY Telephone 01332 862373
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