Visit from our Member of Parliament

We were delighted to welcome our MP Caroline Spelman to the Pavilion in the Recreation Ground on Thursday 4th September to open the new and refurbished facilities. As you will see from the Chairman’s welcome speech we have brought up to standard the Pavilion itself and have rebuilt the Children’s Play Ground after it was vandalised. A new parish office has also been created within the Pavilion and with the assistance of the Cricket club we have refurbished the bar and lounge area and installed a new kitchen.

Chairman's Speech

"As Chairman of Bickenhill Parish Council may I take this opportunity of welcoming you to our newly refurbished Pavilion? The Parish Council decided to build a Pavilion in the early seventies and it was opened some thirty four years ago on 30th November 1974 by Graham W Hankinson who was Chairman of the Parish Council at that time. The Pavilion is the central point of most of the activities that take place on the recreation ground, be it football in the winter or Cricket in the summer and for some time now it has been in need of some care and attention. The Kitchen was in a poor state, the tea room was being used for storage, and the scoring booth could only be used when it wasn’t raining. A year ago in spring of 2007 Council made the decision to look at ways of improving the area as well as bringing it up to the standard required for a public building. After much planning and discussion it was agreed to replace the external fascias, completely refit the kitchen, purchase a container to be sited in the compound, re-plan the layout of the tearoom so we could better utilise the space, and incorporate a much needed parish office. We have also fitted a new fire and intruder alarm system. As Chairman I must thank my fellow councillors for their support in making this all happen. I am delighted to welcome as our special guest today Caroline Spelman who has been our Member of Parliament since 1 May 1997. As well as all her other duties Caroline is also Chairman of the Conservative party, and with such a busy schedule I am delighted she has found the time to be with us today. This is most appreciated and I would now like to invite Caroline to officially open the new facilities."