At the Annual Parish meeting held on Monday 11th May 2009 there were present, Mr. J. Nichols, (chairman), Mr S. Perks, Mr. K. Wood, Mrs T. Townend, Mrs G. Soanes, Mr. J. Blowers,  Mr. S. Rees, Mr. S. Lewis, Mr. R. Leech and Mr. G. Wade. Councillor P. Ashdown, PCSO Kershaw and 14 Parishioners also attended. 
Apologies were received from Mrs. R. Herrivan, S.C. Councillors Barron and Cherry.
The Minutes of the 2008 Annual meeting were read approved and signed.
The Chairman reported that the Parish Council had met 10 times since the last meeting with an average attendance of 7.7 out of the 11 eligible Councillors, with Mr. Blowers and Mr. Nichols both having  100% attendance records. Mrs Hume had retired in October and Mr. G. Wade was subsequently co-opted in her place. Mr. Nichols thanked WDC Paul Ashdown who had attended the majority of the meetings during the past year, and S.C. Councillor Allyson Barron who had attended whenever possible, he also thanked the now retired Pc D. Boggis and PCSO Kershaw for their regular attendance.  The Clerk was thanked for her work over the year and she and Mrs Mayes were thanked for getting the minutes published promptly in the Lowestoft Journal. He mentioned that the Village Website does generate a number of enquiries about the village, with a recent enquiry from USA about a visit to her ancestor’s memorial which she is planning in September. 23 Planning applications have been discussed during the year, most of these have been minor alterations to existing properties. The B1074 continues to be discussed at virtually all the meetings with excessive speeding and unsuitable heavy vehicles using the narrow road being the main subject. The Council have contributed to the cost of the newly built footpath between the Village Hall and Short Road, unfortunately there has been no work done to repair the footpath in Lound Road despite this being requested for over 10 years now. Poor parking has been the subject of discussion at several meetings particularly that of motorists parking half on the pavement which is a traffic offence, as well as obstructing the footpath for wheelchair users and mothers with pushchairs. The Village footpaths are being maintained better by the SCC contractor lately and Mr. Ffitch and Mr. Edwards were thanked for their maintenance of the Market Lane to The Street footpath and the pond surrounds. Some new equipment will soon be purchased for the play area. Mr. Rees will elaborate more on this later. The Millennium Green Trustees have taken the opportunity of the change over of responsibility for Millennium Greens from the Countryside Agency to Natural England to hand over their trusteeship to the Parish Council, Suffolk Wildlife Trust will still take an interest and will visit the site regularly. The Trustees expressed their thanks to David Jermy for the maintenance work on the hedges and the members of the public who turned out to clear the footpath in November.
District Councillor Mr Ashdown reported that Waveney District is now 6th in country in Waste disposal excellence, and with regard to the flooding in Lound Road from new development, no recommendations were put into the original planning consent other than diverting the surface water into the pond but if the problem persists the Environment Agency will look into the matter. 
Skate Park. Ms Dawson reported that the Skate park was still being used by a cast number of youngsters on Skate Boards, mountain bikes and scooters, the young people regularly meet with the rest of the committee. In the next few months it is hoped to being Phase 2 which will be a scaled down version of the original plan, some funding has been secured but is conditional on the remainder being raised locally, to this end Ryan, one of the Youngsters told the meeting that he is organising a day when the youngsters concerned will get sponsors and they will dress in “drag“ for a days skate boarding. He also gave everyone thanks for providing this facility.
Art Circle. The group had had another successful year with several local exhibitions showing of the talents of the members.
Bowls Club. Mr Blowers reported that the club had a successful year and now has around 40 members. Further improvements have been made to the green, and a sponsor has helped to pay for new coloured shirts for the members. He said that the Secretary/Treasurer Colin Shaw had had to resign due to ill health and that all the members wished him well and hoped to see him back on the green very soon.
Blundeston Brownies. Mrs Brown reported that the 1st Blundeston Brownies had 21 members enrolled with 6 on the waiting list, various activities had been enjoyed throughout the year, and numerous badges had been earned.
Blundeston Charity Trustees. Iris Mayes reported that 114 households in Blundeston received Tesco vouchers of £45 for single people and £70 for couples at Christmas and 16 students received book tokens to the value of £70. The total assets at present are £291,155. 72.  Miss Bailey asked what was going to be done with the capital of £291,155. 72 held by the Trustees, Mr Nichols said that it has been decided to ring fence this money and not to distribute it, but to buy more land, or properties to rent out for needy people in the Village similar to those in Corton, but not of course on such a big scale. He also explained that the Trustees are governed by the rules of the Charity Commission which regulate the ways in which charities can use their capital. Mr Ffitch said that he agreed with the Chairman that what can be done is severely restricted by the Charity Commission. Mr Lewis asked what most of this years expenses were, this was reported to be the upkeep of the Marshes and the vouchers provided to Parishioners at Christmas.
Local History Society. Mr Ward reported that there are approximately 50 members who have had four speakers during the year, there have been 3 summer visits and at present the society is interested in making an inventory of any material which parishioners would like to share with the society, this will be archived and returned to the owner. Please contact the secretary on 733058.
Royal British Legion. Mr Marquis reported that the Local branch had taken part in the Remembrance Day Parade again, and that Mrs. Dulcie Knights had received a Gold Bar award for her long service to the Legion and acting as representative for the distribution and sale of Poppies. 2 members also attended the recent St. George’s Day service at the Church 
Blundeston Pre School.  The Pre School have 44 children on their register, and have 6 sessions a week. Close links are kept with the School and fundraising during the year has been carried out at the Nativity performance and the Easter Fair. A fence will soon be erected at the rear of the hall to allow for a permanent outdoor play area to comply with Offsted regulations.
Saint Mary’s Church. A new rainwater and drainage system has been completed during the past few weeks at a total cost of £36,000. Various fundraising events have been held during the year, with last years Teddy bear Parachute jumping seeing 460 bears taking the plunge. A totally new venture a coffee morning at the church each Wednesday morning in term times is proving to be very popular. The Chirldrens’ Holiday Club saw 36 children attending “Pirate Rock”. Thanks were expressed to all those who voluntarily maintain both the inside and outside of the Church. The sudden death of the Rector Roger Kent at the age of 52 came as a great shock to everyone and he will be sadly missed.  
Scouts. Mark Hansen reported that the Scouts had officially changed their name to 1st Blundeston Scout Group during the year and that members had attended the Teddy Bear Parachute, the Armistice Day service and the recent St. Georges Day concert in the Village. A 10 mile hike has recently been undertaken to raise funds. 60 children attend and 4 camps have been held. 9 members are going to a camp in Switzerland in the near future.
Sunshine Club The meetings take place each Monday excepting Bank Holidays, Miss Bailey has been successful in gaining funding to pay for the hire of the Hall and to enable the members to have a free Christmas lunch and several others during the year. Membership has fallen during the year and anyone over 55 was invited to join. Several outings have been arranged for the summer months.
W.I. Blundeston and Flixton WI have 45 members and have helped with various events in the village during the year. The Darts team have been very successful this year and are through to the Finals in Framlingham later this month. 
Village Hall Management Committee. Mrs Soanes reported that the Hall had experienced a very busy year with the Hall being used at least once most days, and often 3 times. With a lottery grant of £10,000 a new floor was laid in August and it is hoped to replace the old boiler and add two more radiators before the winter. The Hall has been redecorated by the Community Payback Scheme and it is hoped that the outside will be painted in August. Mr. & Mrs Fox were thanked for their work as caretakers during the year.  
Play equipment replacement £25,000 grant been given to replace some of the equipment on the play area Mr Rees has a drawing of the proposed new equipment and it is hoped it will be in place by the school holidays. New safety flooring will be placed under any existing equipment and under the new pieces.  
Police. The Police report stated that their had been a drop in the number of offences reported during the past year, and as usual the majority of these were connected to HMP. Pc D. Stranks taken over from Pc D Boggis as our Community Police officer
Northern Parishes Group The Chairman said that this group held 4 meetings a year and issues of mutual concern are discussed. 2 or three meetings during the year a speaker is invited to attend.
Any other business 
Miss Bailey, asked when the notice board is going to replaced in the Village hall The Clerk agreed to ask the Caretaker to replace the notice board. She also asked what the supervisors from the Community Service who were decorating the Village hall and had broken into all the locked cupboards in the Kitchen. Had done when asked about the offence. Mr Nichols that he had spoken to those concerned at the matter was being attended to. Mr Ffich reported that during the recent renovations to the rainwater drainage system someone had twice taken all the nuts from the joining brackets on the new down pipes  erected on the Church. Mrs Brown asked if the preschool could fix some plastic hinge protectors on all the closing doors in the hall. Mr Howard asked why there had been a gate now put into the fence in front of the Hall. The chairman said that something would be done in the near future. Mr. Ffitch asked if the shed in The Street was going to be removed and Mr. Nichols said that the  Planning and Building Control Department are taking action on this subject.  Mrs Brown reported that two boys are riding motor bikes at school leaving times at a break neck speed along The Street and parents are worried about the little children PCSO Kershaw agreed to monitor the situation
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.45