It is a rare thing for any Parish Council to have the chance to celebrate 50 years’ service by one of its members, but Stanton Parish Council would be remiss if they let such a significant golden milestone pass by without taking the time to say Congratulations and Thank you. 

It was back in December 1970 when Mrs Miller was offered a co-opted position on Stanton Parish Council having been nominated by standing members of the council.  She was a young mum of two children and having left her late husband Don Miller, with a fresh nappy and a bottle for 6-week-old son Andrew, she attended her first meeting on the 14^th January 1971.  Who knew then that she would still be actively representing the interests of villagers 50 years later! 

There have been many projects along the years that have been championed by Cllr Miller.   Parish Councillors who have served alongside her have learnt to embrace the concept of a good project when looking for longer term ideas for the village.

In 1993 Cllr Miller led the project to buy a piece of land to extend the recreation ground to provide Stanton football club with a dedicated full-sized pitch.

The planters along The Street that have been so diligently looked after for many years were organised by her, and to this day she continues to be involved in the clearing and replanting twice a year. 

Until more recent years Cllr Miller always represented the walkers of the area and would report any problems with the network of footpaths in the locality.

There are, for sure, many other examples of Cllr Millers thoughtful and dedicated service to the village over the past 50 years, which I am sure she can recall, and probably have a record of in her files too!  

There have been many comings and goings on the parish council over the last 50 years – several Chairs and Clerks (Ruth Cotton was the incumbent in 1970) have come and gone, Councillors have passed through, but through it all Cllr Miller has remained a constant and stayed the course, providing many of us with words of wisdom and reminding us of the important role that we have to play as Parish Councillors. 

Her local knowledge and excellent memory have been and continues to be an invaluable source of information that has educated many of us over the years. 

In addition to her role as a Parish Councillor, Cllr Miller plays an active part in the Stanton Parochial Church Council playing a vital role in all their fund-raising events and is also a very important part of the Stanton WI ensuring funds are raised for a lot of local charities through her cake baking, flower arranging and any other arduous task that no-one else wants to do. As the Baker’s wife, Cllr Miller sets the bar very high in respect of her baking! 

It was Cllr Smithson’s pleasure to deliver a planted basket to Cllr Miller recently, just to let her know that we are all grateful to her for her tireless public service and to mark the day.  Hopefully we can have a more fitting celebration later in the year. 

In the meantime, the Parish Council both past and present would like to put on record our thanks to her for all that she has done and continues to do for the benefit of our village community.   

 Congratulations Councillor Miller! 

Article by Barbara Smithson – Vice Chair of Stanton Parish Council

January 2021