The Town Council sends New Year greetings to all residents, visitors and potential visitors and wishes everyone a peaceful and prosperous 2008.

It is always slightly sad to see the town without the christmas trees which make the centre look so attractive during the dull days of December. The new LCD lights were very pretty  (as well as being low energy) and will re-appear next year. The enormous tree on Kings Street was donated to the town by a resident as it had grown too large for where it was growing. We are very grateful to the owner of the house on King Street who allowed us to erect and light the tree in her front garden. It looked spectacular!

The Lantern Walk was once again a very popular event. About 300 adults and children took part in the walk from the Courthouse (where light sticks were on sale) up the Burgage, through Bull Yard and thence to the Market Square where the Collingham Singers led the robust singing of popular carols, mulled apple juice was given away (thanks to the Baptist Church), as well as sausage rolls and mince pies (from Riverside) and a crepe stall which did a roaring trade.

Many of the participants from the lantern walk then went on to admire the sensational displays of lighting by White Light in the Minster grounds and on various houses around the town.

Flooding Update

In December the Town Council facilitated a second meeting for residents to enable them have the opportunity of questioning the agencies involved with flooding issues.

Many residents felt that not enough had been done since the floods in June as well as previous problems at other times and that there were still long standing issues over land ownership and sewerage capacity which had not been solved.

Although the Town Council has no responsibility or budget for any flood related problems, it nevertheless feels strongly that it should take a lead in assisting residents to resolve their problems with other agencies. We are preparing an Emergency Plan for Southwell (not just for flooding) and we have undertaken to arrange another follow-up meeting with all the same agencies in June 2008 in the hope that more positive progress will be evident.