The first meeting of Stretton Parish Council was held in the School Room on 17 December 1894. At that time the councillors were the main landowners in the village including:
Rev Henry Russell Dodd – Chair
Joseph Smith – Vice Chairman, Stretton Hall
Alfred Faulkner, Moss Hall
Edward Brocklehurst – Treasurer, Roadside Farm
Peter Leather, Spark Hall
James Howard, Smithy House
Edward Owen, Dorothy Cottages
The clerk was John Ellison, school master, who was paid a salary from £11-£15 per year.
4 February 1895:
Some of the matters discussed include:
That the Clerk be empowered to engage some persons to cover the footpath along the church wall leading to the Dog Fields with cinders, not less that 3t at a cost not exceeding 15/-. Carried unanimously.
October 1895:
Clerk to write to Miss Milner and Messrs. Greenall Whitley and Co. re quality and water supply to the farm and premises occupied by Messrs. Faulkner and Greaves.
Just over a hundred years later in May 1979 when Joseph Billington retired from the Parish Council after 30 years service, having spent the last ten as Chairman, he recieved a letter which provides an insight into local democracy in Stretton. The letter lists the members of the parish council for 1949, which is remarkably similiar to those in 1895 mentioned above, but totally different than today. Parish councillors in 1949 included:
Frank Blackshaw, farmer and landowner at New Farm
May Bower, widow and landowner at View Field
Charles Ernest Brocklehurst, farmer at Roadside Farm
Herbert Green, solicitor, Fir Tree Cottage
Arthur Hough, farmer, Fir Tree Farm
Frank Smith, farmer, Stretton Hall
Joseph Billington, farmer, Brookside Farm
Today the parish council meets in St. Matthew’s Church Hall on the first Monday of the month, and all meetings are open to the public. Parish Councillors live across the parish and work with residents to deliver projects such as Twinkling Stretton, the planting of the Jubilee oaks and village tidy up days.
For more information please see the Parish Council’s website.
The History of Stretton, near Warrington 