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Nine councillors make up the Colton Parish Council, supported by the Parish Clerk. The Parish is divided into 3 wards, with 3 councillors for each. All councillors sign a Code of Conduct to which they must adhere, and the council operates under the Data Protection Act (1998) and the Freedom of Information Act (2000). The Council is supported by Cumbria County Councillor Rod Wilson, and South Lakeland District Councillor Colin Davies. We thank outgoing County Councillor Ted Walsh (to June 2009) for all his valuable support for Colton Parish Council during his term of office. The Council also receives valuable advice and support from Tony Hill the LDNPA Ranger for the Southern Area. East Ward This covers Finsthwaite and Lakeside. Central Ward This covers Bouth and Rusland West Ward This covers Colton, Oxen Park, Nibthwaite, and Spark Bridge (Colton side of the Crake). Members of Colton Parish Council, June 2011, outside Colton Church Hall.
From left to right:
Cllr Chris Potts (Vice-chair),
Cllr Ian Cunliffe,
Cllr John Watson,
Cllr Colin
Barr (Chairman),
Cllr Ken Dean, |
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Colin Barr (Chair)
Colin has a keen interest in local affairs. He is a local contributor to (and former editor of) the Rusland & Satterthwaite Newsletter; a Committee Member of the Rusland Valley Horticultural Society; the Treasurer of the Oxen Park Cinema Club; a volunteer minibus driver with the South Lakeland Community Transport scheme and is active in local history studies. Colin believes that rural Parish Councils have an important role to play in ensuring that local people have a voice in deciding the way the countryside is managed and develops. He is particularly interested in retaining what is best of traditional pastimes and ways of life, while managing the introduction of inevitable change as sympathetically as possible. He also believes that councillors need to be fully accountable to the parishioners they serve and that there is a need for better communication within the parish. To this end, he was one of the initiators of this website.
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Ian
Cunliffe
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Brenda Fishwick
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David
Hoyle
David has been involved with the Rusland Valley for over twenty years and now lives at Thwaite Moss, having grown to love the area. He has a small holiday cottages business on Cartmel Fell and a retail business with his wife, Judi, in Marple, Cheshire. He has been chairman of Marple`s regeneration partnership, its local business forum, a local football supporters trust and is currently on the committee organising a local Arts Festival. He is experienced at working with local authorities and related organisations, has a background in financial management, tourism and retail, and interests in music, sport and the countryside. |
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Ken Dean
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Chris Potts
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Vanessa Champion
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John Watson John was born at New Close, and went to school at Colton and then Cartmel. He left school at 15 and worked with his father on the farm for 10 years. In 1973 he set up in partnership with his brother, keeping 200 plus pedigree Ayrshires. He is a member of the Ayrshire Cattle Society and a member, and at one time chairman, of the North West Ayrshire Breeders Club. He is the present chairman of the Rusland Show Committee and has served on that committee for about 40 years. He has been a member of the parish council for four years.
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Anne Robinson
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Mandy Lane, Clerk
Mandy took over from Judith Dove as Clerk on 1st Dec 2007. She has lived in Oxen Park since 1989 and is married to Colin Barr. She has a background in environmental research, and worked for 12 years at Merlewood Research Station in Grange, retiring in 2006 not long after it was closed and moved to Lancaster. Her interests include hill-walking, dogs, horses (in her younger days!) and the natural environment. She is 'Judges secretary' for the Rusland Show Committee and runs the website for the Oxen Park Cinema Club.
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County and District Councillors |
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Rod Wilson
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Colin Davies
Colin Davies is the Liberal Democrat member of South Lakeland District Council, Hawkshead Ward.
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Brenda has lived in
High Nibthwaite, in western corner of Colton parish, since 1985. She has
2 children who were educated at Lowick School, Leven Valley School and
John Ruskin, now 16 and 20 years of age. She is a former teacher and now
works freelance for Cumbria Development Education Centre, raising
awareness of global issues. From 2000 - 2007, Brenda was Education &
Events Manager for the LDNPA, and so has a good understanding of the
delicate balancing act of conserving the environment whilst meeting the
demands of living, working communities. 
Vanessa lives in Finsthwaite where her family have lived for over 25
years. She has a background in education, having been an LEA inspector,
a lecturer in educational management at St Martin's College, and a
governor at Leven Valley School. She chaired the Finsthwaite and
Lakeside Village Hall Committee for some years, helping to secure the
future of the building for the community, and she now runs a keep-fit
class there for the over '50s! Since retirement, Vanessa has become an
Ancient Tree Verifier for the Woodland Trust, leads a group of woodland
archaeologists surveying woods for the National Park, and enjoys
volunteer work for the Lakeland Arts Trust and the Lake District
Horticultural Society.
Anne was born and brought up in the Parish of Colton in the hamlet
of Ickenthwaite, where her maternal family have lived since the 19th
century. Her paternal family moved into the parish in 1947
when they bought and ran Crosslands Farm. Anne and her family moved
to Crosslands Farm when her parents retired thirteen years ago. She
was educated at Satterthwaite and Rusland Primary School and then
Ulverston Victoria High School. Following school, Anne attended
catering college in Carlisle, worked locally as a cook, and then
started her outside catering business in 1981. Along with two
friends, she regenerated the Rusland Young Farmers Club (of
which she was at one time secretary and then Chair), which
gives children in the valley a social focus, through a variety of
activities and interaction with other clubs in the area. She is a
trustee for The Rusland Valley Community Trust, a founder member of
the valley's First Responders and supports other committees
including the Rusland Show and Parish Room. She is passionate about
the valley, its people and its future.
