News from the Chairman

January 2008

Welcome to our new edition of Saxmundham News which we have brightened with some colour. I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to former Councillor Gerry Wright for all the work he has put into the compiling of this magazine for the last five years. With the new electronically produced version we have brought the production in-house and it is now being done by the Clerk (as if she didn’t already have enough to do). See the latest news here.

I recently had the pleasure of attending the 100th birthday celebrations of Saxmundham resident Jimmy Balls. Mr Balls was chairman of Saxmundham Urban District Council in 1957/58, the year in which Wilfred Pickles recorded an edition of his radio programme “Down Your Way” in the Market Hall.

We now need to look forward to the next hundred years and Councillor Moye has suggested we initiate a Youth Council for Saxmundham. To this end we will shortly be attending a Youth Council meeting in Felixstowe to see how things are run there. The idea is that the new Youth Council will have some say in the spending of part of our budget thereby directing it to some of the things that they themselves would like.

By the time you read this we will have decided the Town Council precept (our portion of the Council Tax) for the coming year and this is likely to be in the region of £47,000.

May I take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Happy New Year and we look forward to assisting you with any matters that may be causing you concern.

John Fisher (Chairman)
Saxmundham Town Council