BROAD TOWN NEWS – APRIL 2024
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR EDITOR
At this time of year, we start to see nature reborn in our gardens. We are blessed with the refreshing sight of the birds nesting, flittering from branch to branch and the buds of primroses and bluebells blossoming once more. Spring is a time of renewal and birth; we start to feel the year come alive and we feel the light return not only to our home but to ourselves. Colour touches our world once more and we find a love for new beginnings and for our ideas to grow and bloom. This April edition is a reminder of all that is to blossom in this coming month in our community, so why don’t you pop down to the coffee mornings or take a look at our Broad Town Shelter? Read this paper to see what your community has been doing and what it can share with you this beautiful time of year!
BROAD TOWN CHRIST CHURCH
We would like to thank everybody who supports the Church financially by means of contributions from regular services, either via the ‘plate’ or giftaid yellow envelopes, through regular standing orders/donations, ad hoc donations, the ‘100 club’ and for the considerable time and effort volunteers spend fundraising throughout the year. On top of any qualifying donations, we are able to claim gift aid back which amounts to 25% of any donations, however whatever we raise it never seems quite enough to pay all the bills. But did you know there is an additional way that you can contribute? You can donate any amount via the Givealittle website either regularly or ad hoc donations and the Church can claim the 25% extra giftaid back on donations – all without you needing to do anything. Why not give it a try? It’s only the cost of an Easter egg! Link to Givealittle:- Support for Christ Church Broad Town - Give A Little. Thank you for any donations you are able to make to help keep the Church within the community. Regards Brian
April Services
7th April 10.30am Communion. 28th April 6pm Evening Service
Annual Parochial Church Meeting (AGM) 7th April 11.30am in Church - Everyone welcome - 2023 Annual Report will be available.
Churchyard Work Mornings
Dates for 2024 - 6th April, 11th May, 1st June, 6th July, 3rd August & 7th September.
From 10.00am to 12 midday. Refreshments provided.
There are a number of tasks to choose from. We desperately need more volunteers so If you and/or anyone you know would like to join our friendly team, please contact Ray Tel: 731564 for more details or just turn up.
Fundraising. Judy’s plant stall – 18th May at Queen Elizabeth Cottage
BISHOPS LETTER
At this time of year, we are beckoned outside after a long, cold and often wet winter. Spring has sprung and all creation calls us to go outside, to tend to our gardens and to admire the new life around us. The benefits to our health from time outside are well known. Growing something from a small seed to a flourishing plant or flower requires care, skill and patience which not only brings us satisfaction but also slows us down. Unlike life in the modern world, nothing in nature is instant or immediate – it will not be rushed.
In this Easter Season, our scriptures also draw us outside. On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene finds herself in a garden, outside of Jesus’s tomb, so much so that she mistakes the resurrected Christ for the gardener. There is a vast passage of time between Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden to that moment when, in a garden, Mary realises that it is the risen Christ who calls her by name. Yet now in that garden, Mary and all who throughout the ages proclaim, ‘I have seen the Lord’ are restored to God’s eternal presence.
Maybe then there is something in the Easter Season when the resurrected Christ is ‘made known’ to us that can help us as we – as the Church of today – seek to make him known. Firstly, we need to go outside: to be active in our communities, in our schools and in reaching out to all as we show them the love of God; the God who – through Jesus – calls us by name. And secondly, all of this takes time. There can be an understandable anxiety about the often low numbers of people who come to church. Yet let us never forget that it took time for the good news of Jesus Christ to spread through active discipleship – like growth in a garden, nothing of this was immediate or instant – we need to persevere. As the Declaration of Assent made by all who are being ordained or licenced to a new appointment states, our faith is one that the church is called upon to ‘proclaim afresh to each generation.’
I pray that we can do this; go outside, take time to build relationships with all around us, show to all the love, compassion and forgiveness of God and in doing so Make Jesus Known afresh, to all generations.
FOODBANK
The next collection at the Village Hall will be 13th & 14th April - 9am – 4pm
WHITE HORSE LIMING (HELP NEEDED!)
Weather permitting, White Horse liming will take place on the morning of Sunday 19 May.
Protective equipment will be available at the site in the form of eye protection and face masks. All participants are requested to wear appropriate footwear and work gloves. If possible, they should also bring a tool that can be used for removing weeds or for spreading the lime.
The event will be open to all those who wish to be involved, with the only stipulation being that participants should be physically fit and in good health.
Would anyone who wishes to be involved please contact Andrew Law on 01793 731472 or andrewlaw456@gmail.com . Fuller details will then be provided to all volunteers.
Individuals who have already declared their availability to the organizer need not do so again.
Andrew Law
DDAY- A MESSAGE FROM CHRIS STUART
I am in the fortunate position to be working for the military team organising DDay 80 having done the same for DDay 70 and 75. However there is a far greater cross government influence this time and sadly we have far fewer veterans attending events. The Royal British Legion funded the travel for almost 450 veterans for DDay 75, with even two parachuting into Normandy. This year we are planning on only 50 attending events in France, but there are UK based events for those unable to travel to Normandy.
However, I thought it could be interesting to look at Wiltshire’s contribution to DDay almost 80 years ago and it is surprising which military and civilian units/industry were in the area considering we are so far from the coast and France.
The nearest military unit to us in Broad Town would have been the Home Guard who were raised to counter any German Airborne invasion. We came under the 9th Battalion Wiltshire Home Guard Battalion, Swindon Division. Across Wiltshire there were 13 Battalions based on a geographical area or large factories like the GWR had their own battalion. In addition to these there was a Mechanised Transport Company in Salisbury and a Rocket Anti-Aircraft Battery based in Swindon all manned by the Home Guard.
Broad Town had its own Platoon as did the other surrounding villages of Clyffe Pypard, Bushton, Tockenham, Lyneham all answering to a higher HQ based on H Company in then Wootton Bassett. The Platoon would have consisted of a junior officer and approximately 30 soldiers ranging from 17-65year non enlisted men. Women were admitted after a while and trained with weapons but were kept to clerical and driving duties.
The role of the Home Guard was to try to slow down the advance of the enemy even by a few hours to give the regular troops time to regroup. They were also to defend key communication points, logistic stores and factories in rear areas against possible capture by invading paratroopers. Another key role was to maintain control of the civilian population, to “forestall panic and to prevent communication routes from being blocked by refugees to free the regular forces to fight the Germans”. The Home Guard continued to man roadblocks and guard the coastal areas of the United Kingdom and other important places such as airfields, factories and explosives stores until late 1944. For DDay the Home Guard were used to control key north to south arterial road junctions for military vehicles leading to Portsmouth, Southampton and Weymouth to ensure the strict timetables were adhered to. After DDay the likelihood of a German invasion subsided so from Nov 44 the Wiltshire Home Guard was reduced in size until it disbanded in 1945 with a fitting parade. The Officer Commanding H Company in Wootton Bassett was made an MBE for his efforts upon disbandment.
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
If you’re reading this before Wednesday, March 27th please remember to come along to our fundraising coffee morning in aid of Prostate Cancer UK, as March is prostate cancer awareness month. There will also be a raffle so please support the event generously!
Unfortunately, the Police Community Support Officers who were due to visit us on the 27th, have had to postpone their visit until our first April coffee morning on the 10th, so please come along then with your questions and concerns for the PCSOs. There will also be children’s activities available.
Our second April coffee morning will be on Wednesday April 24th, all welcome.
Coffee mornings are always on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, from 10 – 12 noon in the village hall, so come along to enjoy delicious homemade cakes, sausage rolls, coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
PARISH COUNCIL UPDATE
Keep up to date at https://www.broadtownparishcouncil.org.uk
Village Tidy-Up. It’s the time of year for us to give the village a spring clean. 27th April Meet at the Village Hall 10am for a village tidy and litter pick up. We will be providing litter picker tongs, gloves, bin bags and Hi-Viz vests to teams of willing helpers. We are also looking for volunteers with spades/shovels and buckets to weed the pavements.
Next PC Meeting - Monday 8th April
The next Parish Council meeting will be at 6.30pm in the village hall on 8th April. All are welcome and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
MADE IN BROAD TOWN
Our March meetings saw us continuing with the production of garden cane toppers and bunting together with some painted wood slices and pyrography items, so we are building up a good stock of products to sell at the Bushton Plant Fair in May.
In April our meetings will be on Wednesdays the 3rd & 17th. We’d love to see some new faces so please join us from 10-12 noon in the village hall. You don’t need to be creative as everyone is welcome to come along for refreshments and a chat. We’re a very friendly bunch, and if you do feel creative there are always activities available for you to try.
A wide range of hobbies and crafts take place during the meetings and it’s always interesting to see what people are up to! We ask for a voluntary £2 donation please, to help cover hall hire and refreshment costs.
If you have any questions, please email us, we would love to hear from you!
We are still looking for donations of any craft materials
and plywood, but also any summery/pastel fabric remnants or yarn, we would be very grateful to receive them.
Please bring them along to the village hall or if you contact us, we can collect them from you. Thank you!
Email: Linda Boyden lindaboyden12@gmail.com;
Helen Greer hjgreer1@gmail.co
DATA FROM ACTION FRAUD, THE NATIONAL FRAUD AND CYBERCRIME REPORTING SERVICE
22,530 people reported that their online accounts had been hacked in 2023, with victims losing a total of £1.3 million.
How are accounts hacked?
On-platform chain hacking
This is when a fraudster gains control of an account and begins to impersonate the legitimate owner. The goal is to convince people to reveal authentication codes that are sent to them via text. Many victims of this type of hacking believe it’s a friend messaging them, however the shared code was associated with their own account and the impersonator can now use it to access their account. Usually when an account is taken over, fraudsters monetise control of the account via the promotion of various fraudulent schemes, while impersonating the original account owner.
Leaked passwords and phishing
The other predominant method of hacking reported is leaked information used from data breaches, such as leaked passwords, or account details gained via phishing scams. This becomes prevalent as people often use the same password for multiple accounts, so a leaked password from one website can leave many of their online accounts vulnerable to hacking.
How to secure your accounts
·Use a strong and different password for your email and social media accounts. Your email and social media passwords should be strong and different from all your other passwords. Combining three random words that each mean something to you is a great way to create a password that is easy to remember but hard to crack.
· Turn on 2-Step Verification (2SV) for your email and social media accounts. 2-Step Verification (2SV) gives you twice the protection so even if cyber criminals have your password, they can't access your email or social media account. 2SV works by asking for more information to prove your identity. For example, getting a code sent to your phone when you sign in using a new device or change settings such as your password. You won't be asked for this every time you check your email or social media.
If you live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and have been a victim of fraud or cybercrime, report it at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, victims of fraud and cybercrime should report to Police Scotland on 101.
If you receive a suspicious email, you can report it by forwarding the email to: report@phishing.gov.uk.
Find out how to protect yourself from fraud: Gov.uk/stopthinkfraud
WHAT OUR S.I.D. SAW LAST MONTH
The SID has been located at the Chapel Lane monitoring Northbound traffic (heading to RWB)
The SID counted 21,494 vehicles passing which equates to approx. 860 a day.
11% of vehicles were speeding
Please note that all copy to be included in the next edition should be emailed to: BroadTownNews@gmail.com by the 22nd of EVERY month.
For any queries, please contact Ray Manley 01793 731564