The Church Lawford Parish Meeting was first formally held shortly after a Bill was passed in Parliament to introduce them in 1894. Prior to that date the Parish (including King’s Newnham) was governed by the Church Vestry, which made decisions on local taxes as well as looking after those matters that the Lord of the Manor did not have immediate responsibility. The early minutes of those meetings were kept, but are still to be located. Between the two wars the chair of the parish meeting was Simeon Robinson from Manor Farm, and after the Second World War he stepped down. After some discussions with King’s Newnham, who held a similar parish meeting, reviewing whether to form a joint Parish Council, the standalone Church Lawford Parish Council was formed, with minutes available from 1949.
The members of the Parish Council in that first minuted meeting in 1949 were:
- Rev. L W Blount (Chair)
- A G Day
- W L Simmonds
- Mrs Blount
- E Chambers
- C W Reay
The minutes books for the next few decades up until 1974 are held at the Warwick Records Office, and these show that a lot of the issues people will be familiar with in the 21st Century were on the agenda in those times.
For example, back in 1951 the Parish Council were progressing issues with the sewage system, lighting, transport services, the state of the roads (following the gas main installation), allocation of new housing and mutilated grass verges. Perhaps the only issue that no longer crops up would be the question of a replacement sub-postmistress.
Please note that King’s Newnham continues to look after its own local affairs by convening a Parish Meeting where necessary.