BROAD TOWN NEWS – AUGUST 2023 Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
PARISH COUNCIL UPDATE
Many thanks to all the residents who are going above and beyond and trimming hedges, verges and maintaining the flower planters. This not only keeps our village looking attractive but also helps pedestrians and mobility scooters. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and the whole village owes you grateful thanks. Do you have an unruly hedge overhanging a road or pavement and need some help? Contact the Parish Clerk to seek assistance and guidance BTPCCLERK@outlook.com Let’s cut hedges back to the boundary rather than encroach on roads and pavements!
The South West Rural Crime Survey 2023 Police and Crime Commissioners across the South West have come together to launch this survey to get an updated picture of how crime is affecting rural communities in 2023. To take part: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RuralDC
MyWilts If you come across a pothole or material blocking a road or a footpath then report it to Wiltshire Council using the MyWilts app (downloaded onto your mobile phone) or via the MyWilts online reporting.
Wiltshire Council. PC Vacancy There remains a vacancy for a Parish Councillor. If you are interested in being co-opted onto the Parish Council please contact the Parish Clerk for a co-option form, or even a chat about the work of the Council.
The next Parish Council meeting will be at 6.30pm in the village hall on Monday 14th August. All are welcome to attend these meetings and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
CHURCH NEWS
Only 1 Service this month - 27th at 6pm – Evensong but there will be other Services in the Benefice. For details visit: www.achurchnearyou.com
We welcoe Richard Holness as Assistant Curate, following his recent Ordination as Deacon at Salisbury Cathedral. Churchyard Work Morning – Thank you to everyone who helped in July. The next work morning will be 5th August. More volunteers needed please
SOME NEW, EXCITING AND DIFFERENT SOCIAL EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARIES:
2nd September – Coffee Morning in Village Hall 10am - midday Come and join us for: Bacon butties and crumpets. Coffee/Tea/Cold Drinks. Childrens Craft. ‘Bottle Stall’. Cake Stall. Philip Male’s (Photos)
Do you have a bottle you could donate for the ‘Bottle Stall’? – anything from a bottle of sauce to a bottle of wine. Please give to Ray Manley during August.
14th October – HARVEST SUPPER in Village Hall. More details next month but tickets can now be reserved. Contact Margaret Manley Tel: 731564
24th November – Beetle Drive in Village Hall in conjunction with the Social Club. Organised by Andrew & Rosie Law. 2nd December – A new look CHRISTMAS CRAFT & COFFEE MORNING. In Village Hall 10am – midday Refreshments “Made in Broad Town” Craft Stall for your Christmas Gifts/Decorations. “Made in Broad Town”
Cakes, Chutneys, Jam etc. Childrens’ Craft Table.Grand Christmas Draw
Proceeds from all fundraising events will go towards keeping Broad Town Church open.
Future Plans for 2024 include: February – Pancake Coffee Morning
Spring – Art Exhibition in Church
June – Open Gardens and Cream Teas More details on these soon.
FOODBANK – Next Village Collection at the Village Hall will be on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th August, 9 am – 4pm. Your generosity is never taken for granted.
100 CLUB LOTTERY
For just £1 a week you can have the chance to WIN a Monthly Cash Prize and help raise Money for your Church in the 100 Club Lottery. For further information please contact Fiona Holness on email fholness@btinternet.com or telephone 07833 683444 or 01793 850562. Terms and Conditions The Christ Church, Broad Town 100 Club Lottery started on 1st October 2017. Each number purchased costs £4 per month or £48 per year paid by Standing Order or Cash. Any person over the age of 18 can purchase a number. There will be 12 Prize Draws held during the year, one each month. Prizes will total 50% of all numbers purchased in a month, up to a maximum of £100 for the first prize, £60 for the second prize and £40 for the third prize when all 100 numbers have been sold. The money raised will be used for the repairs to Christ Church, Broad Town and other maintenance related issues in due course including possibly the installation of a toilet. Just think you could spend a £1 to spend a penny! The 100 Club Lottery will be run by the PCC of Christ Church, Broad Town. Congratulations to our July & August winners who are: July 1st Prize: Pam Howells 2nd Prize: Christine Marshall 3rd Prize: Fiona Holness August 1st Prize: Christine Parkin 2nd Prize: Margaret Manley 3rd Prize: Jim Veary
WHAT OUR S.I.D. SAW LAST MONTH
The SID has been located at Broad Acres monitoring Southbound traffic (heading to Broad Hinton) • The SID counted 27,730 vehicles passing which equates to approx. 990 a day. • 6,844 (25%) vehicles were speeding
Actions arising from our SID are,
1. The Parish Council have requested Police enforcement checks to be undertaken in Broad Town. They are also in discussion with the Police and Crime Commissioner initiative to use SID intel to resource enforcement checks. 2. If you want to improve the safety and quality of life for everyone in Broad Town please give Chris Woodhouse a call on 07790815616. If we get enough volunteers we’ll set up Community Speedwatch to work alongside the various enforcement initiatives.
BISHOP ANDREW’S SEPTEMBER'S LETTER
Thank you for all the work you all continue to do in your parishes. God’s own field Harvest, in the agricultural sense, is well past. All is safely (or soggily) gathered in and the appealing blocks of barley and hay baling our landscape into a pop-up sculpture park have all but disappeared. The Church’s Harvest celebrations – extended as a ‘Creationtide’ season into October – are in one sense, then, a delayed thanksgiving for the yield of former months. That needn’t trouble us, however, for they are just as much focused on a rather less specific future point: the anticipated end of the world believers know as the Last Judgement. For many, this is merely one of the vestiges of a Christian worldview with little bearing on present times, a sickle blade blunted by unbelief. Nevertheless, the idea of a harvest that separates the righteous from the unrighteous often crops up in Jesus’ teaching and has gained a new edge as we witness the ecological ends of our actions, more fearfully evident with each passing, and slightly warmer, year. The once-familiar Parable of the Wheat and the Tares tells us that good and evil inevitably grow together in this life: one is easy to mistake for the other and this fact should caution us away from prejudice or self-righteousness. But it is also a warning that the real myth is the one that imagines our actions have no lasting or eternal consequences. They do, they will - and to ignore this is simply to hasten the day.
BROAD TOWN FOOTPATHS
The Broad Town Footpath Group continued its good work on Sunday 16 July by clearing the footpath from the top of Horns Lane to Littleton Farm. This is a significant path as it is the route by which the White Horse Trail passes through our parish. Future work will include the continuation of this task and also the installation of two kissing gates. Workdays take place from 10-12am approximately monthly and are open to everyone; no particular skills or tools are required. Future dates: Sunday 13th August, Sunday 27th August, Saturday 30th September Saturday 14th Oct.
If anyone is interested in joining in with this worthwhile activity, would they please contact: malcolmholland567@gmail.com
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
*PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE NO COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS IN AUGUST*
Thank you to everyone who has attended the coffee mornings during the last year. Through your generosity we have recently been able to make more donations, and this time we have been able to donate £150 to our village pre-school and £100 to the church. We know that both groups are extremely grateful for these very welcome additions to their funds. The coffee mornings will resume as usual in September so please make a note in your diaries to come along on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from 10 - 12 noon in the village hall. One of the September coffee mornings will be a charity fundraiser so please look out for details in the September newsletter. We look forward to seeing you on September 13th and 27th for our usual tasty offerings of delicious homemade cakes, sausage rolls, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. If you are new to the village or just haven’t been to a village coffee morning before, why not give it a try, we are a very friendly and welcoming group!
CRAFTS & HOBBIES GROUP
Our new group continues to go from strength to strength and we will continue to meet throughout August on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays – the 2nd and 16th so please come along and join us. Sessions run from 10 – 12 noon in the village hall, and we ask for a £2 contribution please, which goes towards hall hire, coffee, tea and biscuits. If you don't have a craft or hobby to bring along, you are welcome just to come and chat, you could help with the Christmas decorations that we are starting to make, or we have colouring sheets and pens and pencils available for you to use. Children are also very welcome! We are already starting to create items to sell at the Church Christmas Coffee Morning on December 2nd and any donations of craft materials such as wool, ribbon, felt, lace, buttons, card, fabric remnants and other haberdashery items would be greatly received. We would also love to have your unwanted craft kits and if there is anyone out there who has any plywood or similar (not MDF please), that we could use to make nest boxes, or bug hotels, please bring it along, or if you email us, we can come and collect it from you. If you are keen to make items at home but can’t come along on a Wednesday morning, please also let us know. We look forward to seeing you at our next session on Wednesday August 2nd at 10 am, new faces always welcome! Helen & Linda Email: hjgreer1@gmail.com; lindaboyden12@gmail.com
THOMAS SPACKMAN EDUCATIONAL TRUST GRANT
Are you, or do you know, a young person living in the Clyffe Pypard or Broad Town area who would benefit from a grant from The Thomas Spackman Educational Trust? The Charity’s main focus is education or work-related training and apprenticeships but The Charity may also be able to help a promising individual develop a particular talent; perhaps help fund tuition in a musical instrument or develop a sporting skill. Applying is very easy. If you wish to find out more about the application process, please email spackmancharity@gmail.com or contact Karen Hawkins 07788 210960. All formal applications need to be in by 30th September 2023. The next opportunity to apply will be March 2024.
THE DEADLINE FOR ITEMS FOR THE NEWSLETTER IS THE 22ND OF EVERY MONTH.
Send items to: Email- BroadTownNews@gmail.com
or for any queries contact:- Ray Manley- 01793 731564