For any parish matters, contact:
Lois Tilden
Clerk to Egerton Parish Council
Potters Forstal Farm
Chapel Lane
Egerton Forstal
Ashford  TN27 9BX

Tel. 01233 756 221
Email: lois19@btopenworld.com

Sue Palmer, former Clerk to Egerton Parish Council, has kindly written this history of the Council. 

According to the parish records, the Council was established at a meeting on 4th December 1894, at 7.00pm.  Unfortunately, the minutes do not record where it was held.  George Pearson was proposed and seconded to take the chair, and 16 residents put their names forward as Councillors.  The following were elected:

 Following this, the first official Parish Council meeting was held on 20th December 1894 in the local school.  Reverend Francis Mercer was elected Chairman, Henry Grigsby was elected Vice Chairman, and George Pearson was appointed Clerk. Revered Mercer was Chairman until April 1896, when Horatio Missing took over the position and held it until April 1912.  Meetings appear to have been held monthly, as now.  The first Annual Parish meeting was held on 27th March 1895.  From 1942, meetings were held in the Parish Hall, continuing until 2000, when the new Village Hall, with its Committee Room, was completed.  

Many longstanding Egerton family names such as Missing, Weeks, Ledger, Homewood, Oliver, Pearson, Gore, Harmer and Pack appear on the Council from the beginning to the present day.   The Oliver family has served the Council both as Chairman (Tim) and Clerk: Tim’s father Phil held this post for 29 years, retiring in 1965.  

The role of the Parish Council has changed little over the years, although the workload has changed dramatically.  Minutes are much more detailed now, and meetings take longer reflecting the increased paperwork involved in running the Parish Council.  One major change over the years has been income and expenditure.  In 1966, the parish precept for the year totalled £20, but by 2000, this had risen to £6,000.

Sue Palmer retired from her post as Clerk in May 2006.  Tim Oliver has written this appreciation of Sue’s contribution.

The resignation of Sue Palmer after over twenty years as Clerk, brings to an end a period of continuous and conscientious service to the village.  With her organisational skills, energy, dedication and attention to detail (nothing ever slipped past Sue!), coupled with a great sense of humour, she kept the Parish Council running smoothly and efficiently throughout her period of office.  If she felt that the Parish Council was failing in any way, she was not afraid to point it out!

Over the years Sue spent many hours of her own time pursuing the interests of the Parish Council, whether organising the re-cycling facilities or attending site meetings around the village, meeting officials from all the relevant bodies such as Highways, Southern Water, the Housing Department, grass cutting contractors and more.  These officials were usually left in no doubt as to what Sue thought Egerton required of them.

Fortunately, Sue is not resting on her laurels, and has already taken up responsible positions in several village organisations, which will no doubt reap the benefit of her abilities.  Those of us on the Parish Council who have worked with Sue over the years have learnt one thing, whatever of whoever she was dealing with, she always put the interests of Egerton first.  Many thanks Sue.  The Parish Council’s loss is other people’s gain.

In May 2007 a number of long-standing Councillors stepped down, including Tim Oliver and Jeff Hopkins who had served on the Council for just over 30 years.  Tim had also chaired the Council for many years.