The Parish Assembly
The Parish Assembly is the name given to the annual gathering together of all the groups and organisations who contribute to making Dunchurch such a great place to live.
Published: 28 January 2025

Questions to all DVM readers from the Chair of Dunchurch Parish Council:
- Are we making best use of this ancient institution enshrined in law?
- With a population of over 4000 are there too many of us to make this work?
- Is it an effective forum for individual electors to discuss matters specific to the Parish?
- Does it provide the right opportunity for village organisations to inform other residents of their current activity and to answer questions about their future plans?
Please let me know your views after reading this article. Please write to: annchristina.coomber@dunchurchparishcouncil.gov.uk
I have been completely amazed by the amount of volunteering that goes on in Dunchurch. Almost everyone I meet is involved in some kind of a voluntary role contributing to making Dunchurch an interesting and caring community. Everywhere I go I find people giving freely of their time and energy to help the life of the village.
The enormous commitment of so many residents is truly wonderful and needs celebrating.
One place to do this could be the Dunchurch Parish Assembly. A place to shout out loudly at least once a year: “WELL DONE DUNCHURCH”!
Volunteers in Dunchurch all have the same aim, to improve Dunchurch as a place where people live, work and play. To bring all parts of our community closer together – the Assembly meeting can be a showcase for all this but also a place for focusing opinion about anything that affects the well-being of our community and to bring it to bear on the responsible authority. It’s a place to get to know your community and all it has to offer for improving quality of life and community well-being.
I’ve been researching the history of the Parish Assembly. I’ve discovered it is a tradition dating back to Anglo-Saxon times when it was that Parishes provided a means for people to come together to govern themselves. Local Parish Councils did not exist. All local decision making was carried out by meetings of the whole community taking place in any available large building. So the annual Parish Assembly here in Dunchurch is a legacy from the middle ages which still provides a form of direct democracy uncommon in Britain. Only on this one occasion the people who have been elected as Parish Councillors because they are themselves residents are of equal standing to all other electors within the meeting.
The Parish Assembly is therefore a Public Meeting required by law (Local Government Act 1972) to which all residents of the Parish are invited and is held at least once a year between 1st March and 1st June.
In 2025 I intend to call the Assembly on the first Monday in March (March 3rd ). The law says it can’t be held before 6pm so it has to be at a family unfriendly evening time unfortunately. But I hope to offer some refreshments and enable a social atmosphere before and after the meeting. Information about the meeting will be available on the Parish Council website: www.dunchurchparishcouncil.gov.uk and on the noticeboards on The Green and on our boundary on the Coventry Road in Cawston.
Ann Christina Coomber – Chair of Dunchurch Parish Council
Written in October 2024 and published in the Village Magazine in December 2024