PARWICH.ORG

On Tuesday Parwich Memorial Hall were delighted to receive a £10,000 cheque which was presented to Jane Harris, chair of Parwich Parish Council by Derbyshire County Councillors, Simon Spencer and Chris Jackson as part of the Derbyshire Aggregates Levy Grant Scheme (DALGS).   Official notification of this grant was received in late August.

Read Full Post »

Due to further mechanical problems with the drilling rig, work will continue this weekend.  Wildgoose again apologise for any inconvenience.

Read Full Post »

A message from Debbie Webster: “I know that I can borrow the old memorial hall table and chairs from Val or Janet, but where are the plates/cutlery/etc because I need to borrow those as well. Thanks! Debbie”

Read Full Post »

We have a new site manager, Rob Osborne, who will be looking after things during this project.  He will be on site most of the time.   A specialist firm is just completing the removal of all the asbestos from the old hall and we should get the all clear today, this will mean that the demolition should start by Wednesday at the latest.  Obviously during the demolition phase there will be increased activity on the site, with more vehicle movements as the rubble is removed.  Mains electricity is being established today, our thanks to the Parwich Legion for facilitating this.   Thanks, Ben.

Read Full Post »

According to Wikipedia: “Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging a desire or appetite for certain activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure.”

Now that our Memorial Hall fund-raising drive is reaching its final stages, perhaps it’s time to think once again about ways in which we can help to raise additional funds for the project.

With this in mind, here’s one possible idea: a sponsored “Abstinence Week”, in which some of us will pledge to give up some of our favourite indulgences, in return for donations (from friends, relatives, colleagues, and anyone else outside the village who might be feeling supportive) to the building fund.

For example: if you enjoy a drink, then why not give up alcohol for a week? Or if you’re a smoker, could you be persuaded to give up tobacco for seven days? For younger people, how about pledging to stay away from sweets and fizzy drinks?

There are loads of other possibilities. Ladies could spend a week “au naturel“, without using make-up or other beauty products. Gentlemen could go without shaving. Internet addicts could refrain from surfing the web. Telly addicts could switch off their TV sets. Game players could shut down their Playstations or Xboxes. Or perhaps users of “colourful language” could promise not to swear!

These are just a few suggestions. But before we commit to organising anything, we’d like to hear from you.

If you had to give something up for a week, what would you choose? Please let us know in the comments box!

Read Full Post »

A recent Office of Fair Trading (OFT) report was pointed out to us by several local residents and had already been drawn to the attention of Parwich Parish Council and the Memorial Hall Committee. Although there appear to be no negative implications for the Memorial Hall rebuild, we felt it was important to report in full.

On Tuesday of this week the OFT issued a press release entitled ‘Construction firms fined for illegal bid-rigging’ summarising the completion of a three and a half year investigation.

They fined some 103 construction companies mainly for ‘cover pricing’, that is where companies entering competitive tendering submitted deliberately high bids to ensure an agreed company gained the contract. There were also a number of instances where building firms successfully gaining the contract, paid cash sums to ‘unsuccessful’ competitors, by means of false invoices. The events reported took place between 2000 and 2006.

A significant number of companies co-operated with the OFT investigation and consequently had their fines reduced by between 35 and 65%. It is recognised in the Report that these practices have been widespread in the industry.  Indeed the OFT had evidence relating to a considerably larger number of companies nationally, but chose to focus their investigation on the East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside.

The report further states that the companies fined may now have more reliable procedures in place than other companies not subject to investigation. The OFT and OCG (Office of Government Commerce) advise that the named companies should not be excluded from bidding for public projects on the following grounds:

• The Parties have received significant financial penalties appropriate to the infringement findings in the Decision
• It would be wrong automatically to assume that construction companies that are not named in the Decision have not also been involved in bid rigging
• As a result of the OFT’s investigation, the Parties can be expected to be particularly aware of the competition rules and the need for compliance and, if anything, are more likely to be compliant
• Many of the Parties have cooperated fully with the OFT’s investigation and a significant proportion have taken measures to introduce or reinforce formal compliance programmes and to ensure that their staff are aware of their competition law obligations.

The contractors for our new Memorial Hall, Wildgoose Construction Ltd were cited by the OFT as being involved is some 7 cases, between April 2001 and July 2003. However, they had stopped this practise some time before the start of the OFT investigation. Wildgoose, though fined, had their total reduced by 50% (the second largest reduction) as a result of their co-operation in the investigation.

The OFT report gives us no grounds to doubt either Wildgoose’s current trading practices or their conduct in relation to our project. Indeed the OFT goes further saying those companies who co-operated with their investigation are now likely to have more reliable policies for public tendering. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Meet Wildgoose Construction, tomorrow

builders of the New Memorial Hall

Tuesday 22nd September
7pm
in the Memorial Hall

An excellent opportunity to find out about the building programme and their communications process.

Everyone is Welcome

Read Full Post »

Meet Wildgoose Construction,

builders of the New Memorial Hall

Tuesday 22nd September
7pm
in the Memorial Hall

An excellent opportunity to find out about the building programme and their communications process.

Everyone is Welcome

Read Full Post »

click on poster to enlarge

Entry for Children is £1-00. Any raffle prizes will be greatly received, please leave them with Janet G or Sandra C in advance.

Read Full Post »

Everyone is invited to a meeting in the Memorial Hall on Tuesday 22nd September at 7pm, it is an opportunity to meet the builders who will be building our new Memorial Hall.  You can find out about the building programme  and how they are going to keep the village informed about work and progress.  A letter will be coming to each household from Wildgoose Construction over the next week, giving more details.  So do try and keep this evening free and come along and join us.

Read Full Post »

Well done to the Fund Raising Committee, particularly Amanda for all her hard work in successfully gaining a £10,000 grant award from the Derbyshire County Council Aggregates Levy Grant Scheme.  The Memorial Hall Committee heard the good news last night.

Read Full Post »

Please click here for a printer-friendly version of this newsletter, in PDF format. Printed copies can also be found in St. Peter’s Church, The Sycamore, and on village notice boards.

After a thorough and comprehensive tender process involving five separate building companies competing for the job, Wildgoose Construction Ltd have now been appointed as the contractors for the new Memorial Hall. One of the reasons that this company was selected – in addition to them presenting the lowest price – was their previous experience of working locally and collaborating directly with the Peak District National Park Authority. They demonstrated sensitivity to the demands of working in a village such as ours, and understood the need to keep disruption to a minimum.

Wildgoose has shown a willingness to work closely with the committee and the existing donors and local business who are offering free of charge, or at cost building materials. This ensures that we get best value for money, while keeping the overall cost as low as possible.

We have all been aware of the difficulties created by the recent economic climate. However, every cloud has a silver lining. For us this means building costs have reduced dramatically over recent months, enabling the current estimate to be in the region of £730,000. It is hoped that this figure can be further reduced when the detail of all materials that can be supplied free of charge is known. This can then be further subtracted from the costs.

The revised figure not only reflects reduced costs of building, but also the professional fees for the consultants and design team. Their support has been instrumental in achieving the building cost reductions. Since professional fees were originally included in the fundraising figures as “in kind” contributions, we have now reduced this accordingly. Consequently, the funding gap is now in the region of £40,000 to £60,000, depending on how subsequent costs come down as prices become clearer with time. This is good news because there are applications already submitted (and some with a good chance of success) for grants totalling over £90,000.

The build can now start as soon as all the necessary contractual paperwork has been finalised. Our current expectations are that this paperwork will be completed by mid September.

Read Full Post »