Parish Council meetings are held at 7pm on the third Tuesday of each month, except August, in the Stithians Centre. Anyone may attend the meetings, which have a public discussion slot where Parishioners may have their say on any matter concerning the Council. Persons attending do not have to stay until the end of the meeting and may leave at any time. We look forward to seeing you!

Since the last edition of Spotlight, the Parish Council has gained a further two members.

Ted Vincent. A Cornish lad, born in Redruth and educated at Truro School, followed by Camborne School of Mines and Surrey University. Now retired to Crellow Hill, Ted has many years’ experience in Cornwall as Divisional Works Manager and Surveyor for the North Cornwall and Restormel Divisions of Cornwall County Council.

Roger Nicholls, Roger has lived at Trevales for 25 years, enthusiastically running his highly unprofitable small farm, and has been a member of both the NFU and South Devon Cattle Breeders. He is actively involved in fund raising for Shelterbox and Cancer Research. He was a prime mover of, and remains actively involved in, the Stithians-Ploerdut Twinning Association.

Cornwall Council’s Affordable Housing Teams have set up a Priority Parish Scheme where a small number of Parishes in each area can be involved in delivering Affordable Housing for local people. It is intended to be a Community Affordable Housing Project where Cornwall Council and the Parish work together to establish the housing requirements of the village and identify sites that could provide for those needs.

Stithians Parish Council was offered the chance to become a Priority Parish and has accepted. The first stage is to carry out a Parish Housing Needs Survey to establish the level and precise nature of housing requirements. You will find a copy of the Survey in this edition of Spotlight with details of where to return it and by what date.

Anyone passing our bus shelters in early Spring will notice a splash of yellow from daffodils. These are the result of some enthusiastic grubbing in the soil by the Stithians Guides, under the watchful eye of Guider Cathy Thomas who has done so much for the youth of the village for many years. Please don’t pick them, they are for all to admire! However, her request to the PC for permission set me thinking. Driving through France earlier this year, I was struck by how many villages about our size have invested in flowers and plants at roadside verges etc. The effect is startlingly attractive! There are a number of places in the village, some under PC control, some for which we could probably obtain permission, which would look so much better with a splash of colour. It need cost so little. Most enthusiastic gardeners will have excess shrubs, bulbs etc, and may even be willing to plant one themselves. Don’t do it, at the moment it is just a thought! But if you think it is a good idea, and you might be willing to plant even one small shrub, do contact me, Anton Barkhuysen, 01209 860834, and I will try to get the idea properly organised and planned. Or if any other enthusiast would like to be overall planting supremo-----!

I somehow missed the predicted barbeque summer, though perhaps I blinked, and the subsequently promised barbecue autumn seemed to escape me as well. Oh well, glad no-one has yet promised a barbecue winter!