Barrow Focus

Barrow’s celebrations of the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day May 8th2020

As the photographs below show, some areas of the village celebrated with great gusto. There were lots of family, or housemate, celebrations as you could only celebrate with the people you lived with. Houses were decorated with Union Jacks and in front gardens and drive ways traditional afternoon teas of sandwiches and scones were scoffed, or perhaps more frequently, bottles of wine and nibbles. The weather was perfect for Prosecco in the sun. Sadly because of the coronavirus lockdown no one from Barrow Voice could wander around the village taking photographs of the festive streets. These photos were sent in to Judith Rodgers as a result of her plea for pics. New Street answered the call magnificently. The British Legion had suggested this way of celebrating and in Barrow it worked well in streets that had little through traffic and were really good at organising themselves for parties! For other streets there were few outward signs of festivities, but the Queen was on TV and Vera Lynn singing away, so in living rooms around the village the anniversary was well remembered.
Gaynor Barton

VE Day 75th Celebrations

We had such great plans for VE Day but I am sure that you are not surprised to hear that we will have to cancel the Street Market and the Spitfire flyover. Both had been arranged for 10th May as part of the VE Day 75th celebrations. Communities are encouraging residents to come out and celebrate in their front gardens, as part of a street party with social distancing, so if you feel your street would like to do this please do and send in your pictures to clerk@barrowpc.org.uk. We are hoping to be able to hold some form of celebrations once the lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

The Parish Council in Lockdown
The Parish Council officers are continuing to work during the lockdown to ensure the village is kept neat and tidy and carry out our duties at the cemetery. We are also continuing to meet remotely online to observe the social distancing regulations. Full Council Meetings are being kept to minimum and the only committee that is meeting during the lockdown is the planning committee. Meetings will be advertised on our website and any members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting are invited to contact the Clerk via email, clerk@barrowpc.org.uk, prior to the meeting. Please do check our website for the meeting dates and agendas as they may have changed from the usual dates.

Parish Council Caretakers
Although the Parish Council office is closed, our village caretakers are still working seven days a week continuing to help keep our parks and streets clean. Roy, Tommy and Derek do a fantastic job; please give them a wave or say hello if you see them out and about around the village. We would ask that you continue to pick up after your dogs, using the bins provided. The bin lids are cleaned daily. We have unfortunately had to close our play areas but the parks are still open for walking and exercising.

Grant Funding
There has been a fantastic response from our community to those affected by the Coronavirus and subsequent lockdown. The Helping Hands group and the Baptist Church have really brought residents together and are a lifeline for those in need. It seems whether you need a prescription collecting or headband sewing they will be there for you! The generosity of the public is overwhelming. We should all be very proud of our village. The Parish Council is pleased to have been able to support the groups financially through grant funding. The following groups have recently received funding: Barrow Community Library, Barrow Baptist Church, Barrow Methodist Church and Barrow Town Cricket Club.

Village Hall Survey
Our survey regarding the provision of a village hall was included in the last copy of Barrow Voice. We have received a lot of responses with some very valuable comments both online and posted through the door. Due to current circumstances we will be extending the deadline for the survey, so if you still have not completed yours there is still time. Your opinions are really important to us to enable us to evaluate whether or not residents feel a new hall is necessary. You can either drop your completed survey into the Parish Office at 12 High Street or follow the link below to the online survey.
www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GMN6295.