WHAT'S ON: Bawtry

JEAN RETIRES: Jean Cox (82) has brought the curtain down on her long and distinguished career as a Bawtry town councillor by retiring after almost 40 years. London-born Jean has lived in Bawtry since 1969. She was first elected as a councillor in 1976 and went on to become town mayor on five separate occasions. Jean is the wife of former town GP Dr Geoffrey Cox and they celebrated 60 years of marriage last year. Jean and Geoffrey have three grown up children – Martin, Andrew and Tickhill businesswoman Lesley who is following in her mum’s footsteps by being the chair of Austerfield Parish Council. To mark Jean’s years of dedicated service, Bawtry Town Council presented her with a bouquet of flowers. In thanking the council, Jean said: “I will miss being on the council as I have spent half of my life doing it. I hope that I have been able to contribute something useful to the life of Bawtry and its people. I have met some lovely people over the years and I have had some wonderful experiences.” During her time in office Jean was instrumental in the planning of the New Hall and in 1982 she had the honour of officially opening the building that continues to be a much-used community facility. Jean served as Justice of the Peace (JP) on the Doncaster bench for almost 20 years before her retirement in 2004. She was also a governor at several local schools and her involvement with the Bawtry community also included being an actress with and chair of Bawtry Amateur Dramatic Society. Jean said: “When I applied for re-election to Bawtry Town Council last year I had intended that this would be for the last time. I hoped that if I was elected I should be able to serve for the full term of office. I knew that I would have to have an operation in a few months but this was scheduled to be a routine procedure requiring only a few days in hospital followed by a rapid recovery. In the event, as a result of unexpected complications, I remained in hospital much longer than anticipated and recovery has been very slow and accompanied by other health problems. I am unable to sit through entire council meetings and I feel that it is unfair to the people of Bawtry to deprive them of a full complement of 13 councillors. As a result I decided that it was time for me to retire from the council. I would have liked to have completed 40 years but I feel that is not a good enough reason to remain as an inactive member of the council.” She added that her decision has also been influenced by disagreeing with the recent Bawtry Town Council proposal to renege on the contract between the council and Excel Parking Services Ltd that manages the Market Hill pay and display public car park on behalf of the council.

PAVILION BREAK-IN: Work has been carried out to improve security at the Memorial Sports Ground pavilion after it was broken into during December. The break-in left the building, used by both Bawtry Cricket Club and Bawtry Football Club, exposed to the winter weather for several days.

COUNCIL MEETING: Mayor of Bawtry Cllr Alexander Young invites members of the public to attend the meeting of Bawtry Town Council on February 9. A 15-minute open session during which townsfolk can have their say is the first item on the agenda at the meeting in the New Hall, Station Road 7pm.

NEIGHBOURHOOD CONSULTATION: Members of Bawtry Residents Group have organised the neighbourhood consultation session in the Crown Hotel, Market Place on February 11 2-9pm. The session will give the community an opportunity to consider the production of a Bawtry Neighbourhood Plan.

NUISANCE BIKERS: DMBC has been advised by Bawtry and Rossington ward councillor Rachael Blake that quad bike riders are causing a nuisance in the area adjacent to the Kingswood Close housing development and through Kingswood off Doncaster Road.

LIONS THANKED: Tickhill and District Lions Club has been thanked by Bawtry Town Council for accompanying Father Christmas and his sleigh on his annual visit to the town. The council has, as is its usual practice, donated £100 to the club in appreciation of its continued work in raising money for local good causes.

PARKING PERMITTED: Following a complaint to Bawtry Town Council by a resident, DMBC has advised the council that Post Office vehicles are exempt from the local authority traffic orders and are therefore permitted to park on double yellow lines along Station Road. As a result DMBC parking officers cannot issue parking penalty tickets to the drivers of Post Office vehicles.

GIVE BLOOD: There is an opportunity to give blood at a session on February 12 at the New Hall, Station Road 1-3.30pm and 4.30-7pm. www.my.blood.co.uk/SessionFinder.