On addressing the Parishioners of Elstead Mr Denis Holmes, the chairman of the Parish Council, thanked Mrs Humphries on her retirement from cleaning the Thursley Road Cricket Pavilion. She had been attending to this job for approx 30 years.
The Council has employed Mr Tony Cheeseman as handyman which has greatly helped the Council in swiftly dealing with small jobs like repairing posts etc.

WOOLFORDS LANE
The top part of Woolfords Lane has been tarmaced to allow better access to the cemetery area.

VILLAGE CLOCK
The council are looking to replace the Millennium Clock which hung above the Spar shop. It has proved to be very difficult to change the time in the Spring or Autumn and the mechanism has become unreliable. It is hoped that the new timepiece will automatically adjust for the changes to and from GMT but this but is likely to cost in the region of £1,000.

VILLAGE DESIGN STATEMENT
This is now 10 years old and is under review to up-grade.  It has been very useful as a reference, especially in planning matters.

SPRING CLEANING DAY
This was held in April and was a great success with lots of people turning up to help.

PARISH WALKS
The two walks in August and October were well attended with over thirty people taking part, walking the public footpaths around the Village.

THURSLEY ROAD PAVILION
Mr Pat Murphy gave thanks to all who have helped get the new Pavilion built and up and running. The project was funded and built by the people of Elstead as no lottery grant was forthcoming (after two applications) Grants were obtained from Elstead Parish Council, who also secured a £25,000 a 'public works' loan, Waverley Borough Council gave £55,000, and there was funding from Surrey County Council and many other sources. After many negotiations and an appeal, £7,200 was recovered back from the VAT. This has resulted in the VAT office changing their ruling on public buildings. In all £60,000 has been borrowed (which has to be paid back) The building has cost approx £250,000 which is about half of what it would have cost if we had employed a builder to do the work. The result is a magnificent facility for the village.

PLAY EQUIPMENT
Nancie Mitchell has chaired a sub committee to discuss the children's play equipment. This consisted of several members of the Parish Council and two Parents.  The resulting secure perimeter fencing and new play equipment has been well received by the parents of young children.  Nancie paid thanks to the Elstead Traders and the Elstead Tenants association who donated a new seat and to David Harmer, Surrey County Councillor, who gave a grant towards the train. The sub committee had concentrated on Thursley Road recreation ground but have other plans to further develop the Burford Lodge recreation ground.

The Parish elections will be held next year. As it is likely that there may be some vacancies, It was recommended that anyone interested in becoming a Parish Councillor should come along to Parish Council meetings to see what is involved or contact any member of the committee.

Questions and answers from the floor concluded the informal part of the meeting.

The audience were then treated to a splendid talk from Dr Rob Mcgibbon of the Surrey heath project. With the aid of slides, he gave a historic insight into the origins of Heathland and why we should preserve them to-day.  It was very informative and most interesting. (see opposite)