FEBRUARY 2024 GLENFIELD GAZETTE ONLINE

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FEBRUARY 2024 GLENFIELD GAZETTE
BLABY DISTRICT COUNCIL
Have your say
in our Residents’
Survey
As a District Council we provide a number of essential services such as
waste and recycling, environmental health, sports and leisure, parks and
open spaces and action on climate change.
To make sure we continue to commit resources to best meet our
residents’ priorities we want to know what local people think about the
services we provide.
That’s why, once again, we are reaching out to people across the District
and asking for responses in our Residents’ Survey. VISIT: https://
eu.surveymonkey.com/r/BDC-Residents-2024
The questionnaire
takes place every
two years to help
us understand what
people think about
Council services, how
they are provided
and how money is
spent.
It offers an
important
opportunity to gauge
public satisfaction and gain feedback which can help us identify where
we can make improvements.
An integral part of our vision to be driven by what matters to our
residents and so it’s essential for us to understand their priorities. This
allows us to focus resources and work with the community and partners in
doing our best to deliver those priorities.
As we do every year we are also asking for views on any change in
Council Tax. Currently the average household’s contribution to Blaby
District Council is just £3.53 per week from the total amount of Council Tax
paid.
The bulk of the rest goes to Leicestershire County Council (74%) with
allocations also to Leicestershire Police, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue
Service and the local Parish Council.
For 2024/24 the Council is proposing to increase its proportion of the
Council Tax requirement by 2.99%, that’s about 11p a week and just over
£5 a year for the average household. We are keen to hear what residents
think about this increase.
The closing date for the survey is Sunday 25 February
at 9pm. Results will be reviewed and used by the Council
when making decisions on future services. Views on Council
Tax will be taken into account when the Council makes
its final decision on the 2024/25 budget shortly after the
consultation closes.
St Peter’s Church News
Ash Wednesday and
Valentine’s Day
THERE ARE NORMALLY two dates in February
which I need to keep marked in my diary: 14th
February, Valentine’s Day, for obvious reasons,
and Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent.
This year I have a bit of an issue: they are one and the same.
This is very rare: although it’s happening three times in just
over a decade (this year, back in 2018 and then in 2029) that’s
it for the century and it hadn’t happened since 1945.
It’s an issue for me because Ash Wednesday comes with
certain professional responsibilities – it’s one of the days, like
Christmas and Easter, when I am not allowed to take any
holiday. While Valentine’s Day has personal implications! And
they’re not, on the surface, very similar: Valentine’s Day is all
about red roses, chocolates, gifts and extravagant gestures;
Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting – giving up chocolate for
many – of restraint, of reflection and humility.
Where is the overlap? Is there any? The life of St Valentine
(because of course this day of celebration of romantic love
has its roots in the feast day of a third century Roman priest)
doesn’t seem to offer many clues – he was killed for refusing
to give up worshipping Jesus when ordered to by the emperor.
I guess there is something: sacrifice. When we celebrate our
loves on Valentine’s Day, we know that one of the greatest
ways to show love is by our self-sacrifice, big or small: eating
the food that the other loves, watching their choice in movies,
moving across the country so they’re close to their sick mother.
Love necessarily involves
sacrifice because love involves
putting someone else first, or it
isn’t really love. Similarly, Lent
is about sacrifice: not just the
giving up of favourite luxuries
like alcohol or chocolate, but
the choice to put Jesus first –
as Valentine indeed did. After
all, Jesus chose to put us first
in his life and death – showing
his love by sacrificing himself
for our sake. So I guess it does
in the end make sense to hold
these two special days together.
Richard Trethewey
Rector of St Peter’s, Glenfield and All Saints, Newtown Linford.
Tel: 0116 287 1604
I got strip-searched at the airport. Why those customs officers had to take their clothes off I’ve no idea.