Archive for category: News

Once again the Parish Council will be illuminating the Community Christmas Tree on the first Sunday in December – 7th December 2025. There’s lots of exciting things happening this year, including a special performance by the Cawston Grange Primary School Orchestra.  The full details and schedule can found in the booklet below which will also be delivered to all homes in Cawston.

Christmas Celebration Information

The Parish Council has the power to grant small grants to community or non-profit organisations based in Cawston or which directly benefit the residents of Cawston. In the past it has been able to support groups such as the Brownies and Guides with camping equipment, activities and resources.

If you would like to know more please contact the Parish Clerk on clerk@cawstonpc.org or download the Policy and application form below:-

Cawston Parish Council Small Grants Policy

Grant Application Form

Note from Warwickshire County Council

We are pleased to inform you that the application process for the community welfare grants will remain open for a further three weeks with a final submission date of Monday 30 June 2025 and payments made by Friday 18 July.
Please see information below for the DWP’s specific grant conditions, which projects will need to meet to be eligible for consideration
by the panel. Every application will be considered on its own merits; however, funding remains limited and awarding of the grant will depend on the number of applications received, and the impact of the project on vulnerable people.
Thank you to those of you who have already submitted an application or supported organisations to apply for funding. We’ve had more applications than in previous rounds. To ensure continuity for time-sensitive projects, particularly those requiring funding from 1 July (such as summer holiday activities), applications submitted by the original deadline of 8 June will still be assessed on the original timeline. Successful applicants from this group will be notified by Friday 20 June, with payments issued the following week.
As before, if you have any questions, please contact us by email at localwelfarescheme@warwickshire.gov.uk and one of the team
will get back to you.

Kind Regards
Local Welfare Scheme
Enabling Services
Warwickshire County Council

Grant Application Form

Community Bulletin

The Parish Council held it’s Annual Meeting on 6.30pm on 20th May 2025, at which Cllr Rich Bishop was re-elected by a majority as the Chairman for 2025-26 and Cllr Kate Boxall as Vice-Chair. Cllr Bishop gave his Chairman’s report reflecting on his tenure for financial year 2024-25.

At the end of the Council year, it falls to the Chair to write an end of year report. This has been my second year as Chair of Cawston Parish Council but marks the end of the 6th year as a Parish Councillor. 

A year ago, I commented that the 2023-24 year had been the toughest in my time as a Parish Councillor, and although I’m pleased to report things have got better – I’m also disappointed that so much time, effort and money has been wasted yet again this year through the continued unnecessary adversarial behaviour. But I do genuinely believe the end is in sight here, and so, rather than dwell on the low morale they have caused in the year gone by – instead I want to focus on the positives and look forward.

As a Parish Council we helped to arrange or facilitate more community events this year, than ever before. With food festivals taking place throughout the year, our Christmas event bringing the community together, and a reimagining of the Annual Parish Assembly – turning a statutory duty into a vibrant community focused event – bringing together people such as:

Our fantastic Neighbourhood Plan team, led by Kate, supported by our Clerk, and Umesh, with many members of the public Linzi, Andrew, Christel, and Clive also giving up their time to help.

Neighbourhood Watch and Speed Watch were there – led by Lisa Chamberlin with the Neighbourhood Watch regional team showing up to support her. 

We also had the police in attendance to listen to residents’ concerns around speeding and anti-social behaviour. Who have said they want to work with other Parish Councils to run similar events.

I know one Parish Councillor around this table asked, “what is the point of having a Parish Assembly?” – well, it’s a legal duty for one. But also, when we put our mind to it, and councillors come together to volunteer their time – we can achieve events like that.

And as we look to the year ahead – there’s even more planned – with a continuation of that programme, and with us celebrating 10 years of this Community Hall, with another community event. Bringing together the diverse range of users of this hall, so show off what happens in this treasured asset.

A quick look back again though, and I wanted to pay tribute to Sam Bestwick who after stepping back from this council in May 2023 through ill health, stepped back up when we needed her, and continued to provide support and continuity to this council, until she, understandably stepped back again. Last year, I was delighted to be able to celebrate Sam’s contributions, and we will award her with Freedom of the Parish in recognition of selfless service to Cawston – appropriately while we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of this Community Hall, which she helped to create. Thank you again Sam! 

May also sees local elections – and this year was no different. I want to also pay tribute to Peter Butlin who retired from the County Council this year. Peter and I will both tell you that we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye – but I respect him fully for the professional way he conducted himself in his County Council role. He was known to put aside party politics when it came to issues of this Parish. He and I met and spoke many times outside of these meetings – and there was always mutual respect between us. His professionalism and decorum in these meetings, and beyond, will be something I will miss. I know he plans to take a holiday or two, and get a much overdue hip replacement now, before taking on his next adventure. I will say though he didn’t exactly leap at the chance when I pointed out there were vacant seats on the Parish Council if he fancied it – but that may have been his hip holding him back. Thank you Peter Butlin for your service to the Parish.

We now have a new County Councillor, Dean Richards.

One of my final requests as Chair for the previous year was to set a new standard of transparency and accountability in this Parish Council. We have followed the traditional path of only publishing minutes when they’ve been signed off and being scared to talk publicly about issues between meetings. With the blessing of whoever is Chair next, I have asked the Clerk to start providing more detail in the minutes, and publishing draft minutes of our meetings, as soon as they are ready. And that will start with this meeting now, and this review of the year. From now, I look forward to showing the people of Cawston what their Parish Councillors have actually been up to – the hours of volunteering they put in for this community, and what they have achieved with that. 

And while we discuss the Clerk and her role – I would just like to take a moment to thank her for her unwavering support for this council and our community over the last year. Yet again, she has been tied up in more red tape, and had her time wasted on more odd behaviour – but has persevered through, and with our Caretaker Rachel, has kept this Council and this Hall functioning throughout another challenging year. Thank you.

As a Parish Council we have the chance to have an even more positive impact on our community – when we concentrate on positivity, rather than holding ourselves back with unnecessary adversarial political games… so I look forward to the positive year ahead.

Thank you!