Congratulations to Grundisburgh & Culpho Parish Council who have just been awarded Quality Parish Status. They are the only village parish council in Suffolk so far to receive this award. To achieve this  the parish council had to demonstrate that it is representative of the whole community, communicates with its residents and is properly managed and responsible.
A number of initiatives including affordable housing, a children’s play area and also a new website created on onesuffolk helped the parish council gain this award.

Click here to visit the Grundisburgh and Culpho website

A Thriving Community
Grundisburgh is situated about 6 miles North of Ipswich and 3 miles west of Woodbridge with around 1400 residents of varying ages. The village has over 30 organisations and benefits from two shops, a pub (which I am reliably informed does very good food!), a primary school, Post Office and nearby Doctors Surgery. Culpho, a smaller community of just 36 residents, joined Grundisburgh to form one council in 1971.

I had never been to Grundisburgh before so it was nice to have the opportunity to meet John Ager, the Parish Clerk. John describes the village as a thriving community, which he feels is mainly due to its heart being very much centred on the village green. John decided to take on the role of Parish Clerk as he was very interested in the village and the work of the Parish Council and wanted to become more involved in the community. John is a very active member of the community and also teaches Tennis in his spare time and runs an annual Junior Tennis Camp, which is now coming up to its 30th year. He is also Clerk to the Gordon Trust, a charity established in 1895 to help the poor and needy during times of hardship or distress in Grundisburgh.

John finds using a computer for his duties as a Parish Clerk means that he can do more for the community. He had always used computers for accounts but setting up a website was completely new, however with a bit of training arranged through SALC (Suffolk Association of Local Councils) and some help from the onesuffolk web team the new Grundisburgh website was created.

Affordable Housing

After my chat with John, he very kindly offered to take me on a tour of the village, taking a circular route which took us past the Baptist Church, then down to the Village Green with The Dog Inn, St Mary’s Church, the Old Forge and Williams Stores. Then to Ablitts Meadow, an affordable housing scheme which is being built in three phases to provide 24 homes for local people at affordable prices. HRH The Princess Royal is due to visit this development on the 7th December 2004. Then our last call was to the playing fields situated behind John’s bungalow, here we find the new children’s play area, tennis courts (not far for John to go for his Tennis Coaching!), Football pitch and Pavilion.

I had a very enjoyable afternoon in Grundisburgh and would like to Thank John for his hospitality and to congratulate the Grundisburgh Parish Council on their award.

If you would like to learn more about Grundisburgh then click here to go to their new website.

If you have an interesting Village or area which you would like to share with us then email kerry.burn@onesuffolk.co.uk or phone the onesuffolk team on (01473) 583891, we would love to hear from you and feature your area.