And the winners are:

SUE & ALAN BULL –They have been running the bingo in the hall for many years, and for the last two years also the monthly social meetings. Any profits are for the hall. Alan and Sue also check the hall over on a weekly basis, checking for any maintenance work that needs carrying out, Alan does a huge amount of this himself, all on a voluntary basis. They both also help out neighbours with lifts to hospital and GP appointments and even some dog sitting when needed. Sue is Chairman of LWMH. They both work tirelessly volunteering in the village.

Sue and Alan were presented with a certificate and award at the APM on 24th March.

The LPC Community Fund were delighted to be able to provide funding for a new village flagpole and replacement flags, this is sited just outside the lounge door. The old flagpole is in a tucked away place and is in poor condition, so it was felt it was not worth spending money refurbishing.

This new position will ensure the flag more visible when flying and will enable it to be seen from the road. 

The Lest we forget flag flying to commemorate Rememberance Sunday.

Plans have now been drawn up to create a public toilet in the old boiler room, next to the parish office at the village hall. This will enable people to access this toilet during set hours (there will be a timer on the lock allowing LPC to lock the toilet overnight). This will be one toilet for all, setup with disabled access. 

The necessary Planning permission has now been granted by Canterbury City Council for this works to take place - so LPC hope to move forward with this is in the spring.

HELPING NEIGHBOURS

The Emergency Planning Team of the Parish Council are organising a volunteer scheme in the village to assist the elderly and vulnerable through these extraordinary circumstances.

Can You Help?

Can you spare time to shop for a neighbour or telephone them regularly to check on them? No matter how you can help – please call and we can put you in touch with a neighbour you can help

Do You Need Help?

Are you an elderly or vulnerable person in the village? We hope to have volunteers to help you, but we need to know who you are.

Please call and let us know what assistance you may need – whether that is shopping, collecting medicines or even an occasional telephone call for example, and hopefully we might be able to help.

Who to call

Leave a message on the Council Offices answer-machine with your name, address and contact number and whether you want to volunteer (and details of the time you can spare) or whether you need assistance.

Parish Council Office - 01227 721500

or call Cllr Mick Giles, Co-ordinator of LPC Emergency Plan on 01227 728228

Cllr Ken Shaw on 01227 721560, Cllr Cate Reid on 01227 721831

Although this has been a strange and unpredictable year since March, the school has remained strong as a community of parents, staff and children. Through the co-operation of all parents and some juggling of the timetable, we were able to re-open in June and July for all year groups, so that the majority of children attended school again and re-established their regular learning behaviours as well as their friendships and opportunities to be physically with their peers. 

On-line learning was available to all families, with children of key workers still attending school every day throughout the lockdown period thanks to the dedication of staff who also continued to attend school in person. Our year 6 pupils had the opportunity to join lessons virtually via Zoom for their last terms with us. They had a successful transfer to secondary school after filming their leaving assembly, so it could be shared with their families and friends who would normally have filled the school hall to wish them well on their last day at primary school.

Since September, we have re-opened fully and have been pleased with the positive attitudes displayed by the children and their willingness to resume their learning.  All year groups in the school are now at capacity and we have a short waiting list of applicants. We took the opportunity during lockdown to decorate all the classroom and communal areas, as well as have a general tidy-up and de-clutter; something it is usually hard to find time to do in a busy school. We were hoping to have replacement windows and external doors fitted to the school over the summer, which would improve the outside look of the building, but this project had to be postponed – although we have the necessary funding for it to happen once things get back to ‘normal’. 

We have been making additional use of our school grounds, and Forest School area, to ensure the children have plenty of fresh air (as advised) and feel blessed to have such a lovely environment around the school building with plenty of room for groups to stay safe distances apart. We have also been very grateful to an amazingly dedicated volunteer who has spend many hours repairing the wooden shelters, sheds and benches in the school grounds as well as taking on the task of pruning trees and shrubs to provide further play areas for the children as well as to improve the overall standard of our grounds. With his support, we are developing a further wildlife and gardening area for use by the classes.

Although we are not able to meet together as a whole school at the moment for assemblies or at lunch-time, we were able to celebrate Harvest Festival by linking the classrooms together virtually through Zoom. We marked Remembrance Day in a similar way with two classes visiting the churchyard to lay a wreath of poppies made by the children on the War Memorial. We have tried to maintain our link with the residents of Littlebourne House by sending cards and letters from the children every few months.

A new headteacher, Mrs Samantha Killick, has been appointed to lead the school from January 2021 as I am retiring. It has been a real privilege to be a part of the Littlebourne Village community over the past 5 ½ years and am genuinely thankful for the support and encouragement the school has received from the Parish Council, the church congregation, the Four Villages Fund, Littlebourne Ladybirds and many local residents particularly the families linked to the school. 

A final note: applications for a place in Reception have to be submitted by January. As we are currently not able to show visitors around the school, we have created a short film about the school for prospective parents to view. It is available from the school website (www.littlebourne-kent.co.uk) and includes the comments and opinions of the children themselves as well as short clips from the classrooms.

Wishing everyone an early ‘Happy Christmas’ and a much more positive 2021,

Stella Byrne

LPC carried out a survey of residents in the village, asking a series of questions on The Parish Council and Village life. The results of this can been viewed in the below report.

Following consultation with the children at Littlebourne School, the winning climbing frame, which received 63% of the children’s votes, has now been installed by HAGS in time for everyone to enjoy this summer. LPC applied for some funding for this project from Canterbury City Council and were awarded £7440 towards this new item of equipment and the resurfacing under the existing slide.

The igloo climbing frame was beyond repair and the safety surface under both items was no longer up to scratch. We now have this new climbing frame with wet pour safety surfacing under and shiny new wet pour surfacing under the slide.

Action Fraud has received the first reports of Tech-Support scammers claiming to be from Microsoft who are taking advantage of the global WannaCry ransomware attack.

One victim fell for the scam after calling a ‘help’ number advertised on a pop up window. The window which wouldn’t close said the victim had been affected by WannaCry Ransomware.

The victim granted the fraudsters remote access to their PC after being convinced there wasn’t sufficient anti-virus protection. The fraudsters then installed Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which is actually free and took £320 as payment.

It is important to remember that Microsoft’s error and warning messages on your PC will never include a phone number.

Additionally Microsoft will never proactively reach out to you to provide unsolicited PC or technical support. Any communication they have with you must be initiated by you.

How to protect yourself

• Don't call numbers from pop-up messages.
• Never allow remote access to your computer.
• Always be wary of unsolicited calls. If you’re unsure of a caller’s identity, hang up.
• Never divulge passwords or pin numbers.
• Microsoft or someone on their behalf will never call you.

If you believe you have already been a victim

• Get your computer checked for any additional programmes or software that may have been installed.
• Contact your bank to stop any further payments being taken.