A public meeting will be held in the Village Hall, Hoby on Thursday, 11th March at 7.30pm. This will give villagers the opportunity to learn the facts about this development and express their views. There will be representatives from Melton Borough Council Planning Department attending and the agent of the developer has also been invited.

This year Brooksby Hall is to be working with ‘John Montague Presents’ to bring you a range of exciting performers from Celtic inspired sessions to jazz and storytelling. All the performers have their own unique style and will not only get your feet tapping but may even get you dancing a jig or two.
This winter sees the launch of our new ‘Ghosts & Ghouls Evenings’. A spine tingling tour awaits you as our expert guides take you back through Brooksby Hall’s turbulent history.
Don’t forget Brooksby Hall is open for Christmas parties and private dinners and lunches. Call our events team to book one of the best Christmas dinners in the county!

It is with great sadness that the Parish Council learnt of the death of our Ragdale Councillor, Grazyna Whittaker on September 22nd after a long illness. Grazyna represented the interests of Ragdale for many years and will be missed by her colleagues. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time.

Have you got ideas on how to make your local area an even better place to live? Perhaps you are involved in a project or activity that, with some further support, could help benefit many more in your local area.

If so, you may be interested in attending a special Area Forum workshop to share and discuss ideas and vote for your favourite.

On September 3rd 2009, the Melton West Community Forum will be holding a Dragons' Den-style workshop where residents and community groups can pitch suggestions. More »

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If you're fed up with throwing away leftover festive food why not buy a hugely discounted green cone food digester this Christmas? Leicester County Council is currently offering these digesters for £14.95 instead of £29.95. Offer ends 31st December. Visit www.greencone.com or phone 0800 019 2061 (mon - Thurs 9am - 5pm; Frid 9am - 4pm) to place an order.

The Parish Council accounts for 2007/08 are now closed. They are available to view by prior arrangement with the clerk between 4pm and 6pm between Monday 17th November and Monday 1st December 2008.

Diane Horsfield, Clerk to Hoby with Rotherby Parish Council. Tel: 01664 434422

Leicestershire County Council is calling on people who are proud of their parish to help share with others what makes it special and create a heritage trail.

The County Council is interested in areas with features unique to Leicestershire or special places, interesting landscape or fascinating wildlife and people.

A training session, Creating a Heritage Trail in Your Parish, is being held on Monday, October 6, from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Holly Hayes, in Birstall, and is run by the council’s Community Heritage Initiative, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Rutland County Council. More »

In spite of the unsettled weather this year's event was well attended and many complementary comments were received. Although we are still awaiting the final figures the editor understands over £5,000 was raised for All Saints Church, Hoby.

23rd April 2008 [Wednesday]
A Concert for St. George
7.30pm (doors 7.00) - St. Bartholomew's Parish Church, Quorn

Centre Arts for Quorn is presenting a concert to celebrate St. George's Day given by Hoby's virtuoso guitarist Alan Thomas, featuring some great English music alongside masterpieces of the classical guitar recipe from Spain and Latin America. Performing on several different guitars, Alan plays with both fingerstyle and plectrum techniques to create a veritable one-man band in his delightful arrangements of popular songs from Sting and The Beatles (from his recent critically acclaimed CD release "The Long and Winding Road").He'll also play some magical Spanish music, South American tangos and some of his own compositions inspired by African music with a bit of boogie and blues thrown in for good measure! Come along to hear the beautiful sounds of the solo guitar and experience why "Classical Guitar" magazine said - "Thomas conjured a wonderful rich world from his instrument in this spell-binding concert. Anyone interested in the best of the contemporary guitar should seek out Alan Thomas, who exudes confidence and pleasure in his inspired playing and repertoire". Tickets priced £8 are available from Quorn Post Office as of April 1st or through the ticket hotline 01509-414287 (Terry Stirling) e.mail terrystirling@ntlwrld.com.

Thank you to all those Hoby residents who turned out on Sunday, 16th March for the Hoby Litter Picking Morning. In-spite of the foul weather eleven people were there helping and a huge amount of litter was collected. A big thank you to you all from the Parish Council.

Householders who have been flooded recently, or who are identified as living in a flood risk area, may be able to benefit from a scheme run by Melton Borough Council. Under this scheme the Council provides a financial contribution for flood barriers / flood defence works (subject to certain criteria). The flooding has to have occurred from April 1998 onwards and the grant provides up to 75% of the cost of the work, up to a maximum of £750. There are other criteria that must be met to qualify and full details can be obtained from Ramon Selvon at Melton Borough Council.

It has been two years since the last litter pick and we have arranged for one to take place on Sunday, 16th March. We will meet at Hoby & District Village Hall at 10.00am and be issued with litter pickers, gloves and plastic refuse bags. If you would like to come along and help you would be very welcome.

Hoby volunteer's attended a training evening at the village hall last night on how to use hand held radar speed guns. Hoby will have this equipment for four weeks commencing Monday, 14th January. Volunteers will be monitoring traffic through Hoby during this period and vehicles exceeding the 30mph speed limit will be reported to Leicestershire police.

To allow essential carriage way drainage works to take place on Brooksby Road Hoby, this road will be closed for up to three days from Wednesday 5th December 2007.

The road will be closed from a point approximately outside No 6 Brooksby Road up to the junction with Thrussington Road. Access to properties fronting the closed section of road will be maintained but all through traffic will be diverted via Thrussington Lane & Mill Lane.