Crooke Village Residents Association Meeting Minutes for August 2025

Crooke Village Residents Association Meeting
Crooke Hall Inn
Tuesday 12th August 2025

Attendees

Mike Thomas (MT), Howard Cain (HC) Sue Neve (SN), Charlie Neve (CN), Linda Kellie (LK), Paul Green (PG), Ken Taylor (KT), John Whitely (JW), Morag Tebbit (MoT), Steve Tebbit (ST), Malcolm Moore (MM), Trisha Poole (TP), Pete Glynn (PG) Ian Timmis (IT) Kathy Bradley (KB) Nigel Brookwell (NB)

Apologies

Dawn Glynn (DG) Katherine Timmis (KaT)

Matters arising

PG asked how much the raffle at the Shevington fete had made and was told by CN £150. MT said it was a good day, and the Crooke stall was well attended. A signed Wigan Warriors shirt had been donated by KT, but MT felt this should be raffled off at a later date as there had been many other prizes donated by residents for the raffle at the fete. It was discussed that maybe it could be part of the raffle at the three-day event at the pub in aid of the hospice. CN suggested an auction, HC a silent auction. It was decided that MT would speak to KT and find out his preference.

The June 2025 minutes were proposed by CN and seconded by MoT, the minutes were signed off by the vice Chairman, HC.

Chairman's Report

MT said he had been let down by an offer of some weed suppressant material for the allotment, this will now be paid for from CVRA funds. ST mentioned he had some and would donate it to the allotment. NB said he was willing to help with getting the allotment up and running.

Last bank holiday Monday Mike was alerted via his CCTV that someone was trying to steal items from his land. The intruder ran off when MT arrived. There have also been problems with burglaries in Shevington. MT urged everyone to be vigilant and to call 101 if they see any suspicious behaviour, this helps to map the problem areas.

Vice Chairman's Report

HC said there was a problem with the lock on double metal gates beside his house causing them to bang when they are left open. A new lock is being investigated.

Treasurer's Report

LK said there was £1656 in the CVRA account before the supplies for the allotment were purchased. CN reminded the group that £750 of this money had been either sought from outside authorities (£500), and (£250) from CVRA, was ring fenced for flood defences.

Secretary's Report

Nothing to report

SPC Report

CN passed out his parish council report and briefed the group on the main points of the 2 meetings since June. CN said that the broken gate and post to the playing field had been reported on the Wigan website, the report is still open so he will chase this up.

JW said he had nothing to add to CN report. MT asked JW what the financial burden would be on the community’s precept payments for the £141K loan being taken out for drainage works in the memorial park? JW said that the loan would be paid off, over 40 years, at a rate of £5,000 to £8,000 per year. MT suggested that a better remedy would be to make the wet areas into more parking. He said historically many trees have gone from the park and not been replaced. JW said these arguments had been had many years ago. Drainage was approved method.

Agenda

1. Litter pick and village tidy

HC would like to get members of the village to get together to keep Crooke clean and tidy. He suggested that members get together to decide on a date or just go out independently. HC will promulgate a date on WhatsApp and FB. However, HC also felt that effort was needed on weeding and tidying up overgrown areas as well as litter picking. The area at the entrance to the village was discussed as the mirror is slightly obscured by bushes, also it requires some hazardous (yellow/black) tape on it.

CN reported that the overgrown canal towpath in the village area had been reported to CRT, NW with photographs of the trees and bushes growing through the coping stones. An inspector will be sent out to investigate.

2. Village Social Activities

HC suggested that it would be good to get some social events in the diary? MT reminded the group that during the summer we have had monthly events at the Crooke Hall Inn and their big, 3-Day Charity Festival event will be 29-31 August. A brief discussion was had on ideas for ‘socials’ and a vote was taken on the continuing of the Christmas Lunch. Passed unanimously. HC will organise a date with Crooke Hall Inn and announced he will organise it.

AOB

JTraffic at Village entrance. Numerous residents have experienced problems at the village entrance with vehicles not knowing about, or not using, the mirror. The black/yellow tape will help. However, a priority system was mentioned. CN will raise with Wigan Councillors, at the Parish Council, to ask if a traffic officer can investigate to determine if a priority system is feasible.

Flood Barriers. MT apologised that he had not chased up the Jigsaw Housing offer to match the Local Association funding we have secured for Flood Barriers. The contact MT had is not answering emails at all. CN said he would approach Jigsaw through another contact to determine if the original POC was still in Jigsaw employment and report back.

The meeting closed at 8.10 pm. The next meeting will be Tuesday 9th September 2025

This concluded the Meeting of the CVRA for August 2025.