BROAD TOWN NEWS
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
WHITE HORSE LIMING
The White Horse was limed under a blazing sun on Sunday 19 May. An enthusiastic crew of volunteers numbering 20 assembled in Chapel Lane to walk to the Horse, weed it and then spread 1500kg of lime onto the figure. Hopefully everyone ha noted the results of the good work undertaken and those involved should be proud of their achievements.
Thanks are due to a number of people including:
❖ The Parish Council for their support.
❖ The village for volunteering.
❖ Rupert Pearce for providing transport.
❖ Jason Bayliffe for providing beer.
❖ Paul Olson for flying his drone and providing photos.
❖ Hortons for procuring the lime and transporting it to the site.
We were pleased to be joined by Emma Campbell and Helen Mark who are producing an episode of BBC Radio 4’s Open Country on the Wiltshire Chalk carvings. They had already visited Fovant, Westbury and Alton Barnes and appreciated the chance to see us in action. The programme airs on 6 June at 3pm so tune in.
Bob Clarke has, after a number of years of organising the liming, decided to retire this year. Many thanks to him as he took on responsibility for the liming in 2015 after the last regime stepped down; Derek Greer has kindly offered to assist on the admin side for 2025. Next year will also be my last as organiser and I hope someone will be prepared to take on the responsibility for 2026. Any volunteers - please let me know. Andrew Law
CHURCH NEWS
A big thank you to Judy Rendell and everyone who helped at Judy’s plant sale – the amazing amount raised so far is well over £400 which will be donated to our village church. Thanks also to everyone who came along to buy plants!
Thank you also to Judy & Colin for sharing their garden and providing teas to their many visitors. A tremendous amount of work also went on before the event to prepare the plants ready for sale, as well as keeping everyone busy on the day!
Broad Town Church Service dates and times for June:
2nd June - 10.30 am Holy Communion.
9th June - 6.00pm Evening Worship.
23rd June - 6.00 pm Evening Worship.
WORK MORNING IN THE CHURCHYARD
Thank you to the 9 villagers who worked very hard and achieved a lot at our May work morning.
Please come and join us on 8th June, 10.00 – 12.00 Refreshments provided. More volunteers desperately needed please.
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
A big thank you to our new cake bakers!
Margaret and the coffee mornings team would like to say thank you to everyone who has volunteered to bake a cake for our community coffee mornings. The response to our appeal in last month’s newsletter has been fantastic and it’s good to know that our homemade cakes will still be part of our coffee mornings which have now become a village institution!
Of course, we are also extremely grateful to our established band of bakers who have been baking regularly since the establishment of our village coffee mornings in 2016 – we raise a wooden spoon to you all in grateful thanks!
Thank you to everyone who came along to our May coffee mornings. Our June coffee mornings will be on Wednesdays June 12th and 26th.
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. Everyone welcome, and if you’re new to the village, it’s a great way to meet some friendly faces, so please come along.
PARISH COUNCIL UPDATE
Keep up to date at https://www.broadtownparishcouncil.org.uk
Village Tidy-up. Thanks to all the residents who turned out on a murky day for the Village Tidy-up. We had a very productive few hours and made a noticeable difference throughout the village. Grateful thanks also to those who provided refreshments and bacon baps afterwards, it was much appreciated.
Annual Parish Meeting. The Annual Parish meeting was well attended by members of the public and representatives from the various community groups who gave presentations on their activities for the past year. Reports were made by representatives on: Christ Church, Village Hall, White Horse Group, Community Coffee Mornings, Footpaths Group
Made in Broad Town Craft Group, Speeding data captured by the SID, Broad Town History Website,
Community Speedwatch and Parish Council.
Followed by discussions on the future of a number of important village facilities including: Broad Town Facebook page & group, We are looking for a volunteer to act as the administrator and moderator of the Facebook pages. We don’t foresee this being a time-consuming task but if someone is not found then these may have to close.
Playing Field at Redhills. We discussed possibilities for enhancing the playing fields and encouraging wider usage. As always if anyone has a suggestion, please send it to the Parish Clerk BTPCCLERK@outlook.com
Next PC Meeting - Monday 10th June -The next Parish Council meetings will be at 6.30pm in the village hall on 10th June. All are welcome and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
BROADTOWN SOCIAL CLUB EVENTS
Food for Thought (FFT) Evenings. These evenings are proving very popular for eating in and take away. It is lovely to see new faces and whole families (and extended families) enjoying themselves and making use of the pool table, table football etcetera. If you are waiting for your takeaway pop in for a drink and a chat - the FFT team will bring your takeaway in when its ready for you, so you won’t miss it. If you arrive as a group with friends or family and it looks full, don’t worry, we have plenty of tables and chairs to hand and these will miraculously appear (!) while you get your drinks and/or takeaway order in.
Dates for the next few months are:
❖ Friday 31st May
❖ Friday 28th June
Social Club opens at 5pm through to 11pm and Food for Thought open 5pm to 8pm. Feel free to bring your own cutlery and crockery but you have to take it home with you afterwards to wash up!
Menu and details for pre-orders to avoid the queues can be found at https://www.facebook.com/FoodForThoughtSwindon.
For dietary requirements contact them directly. They have limited space for stock but will gladly try to meet all requests.
Thursday 6th June D-DAY 80th Anniversary Beacon Lighting The village will be joining in the national Beacon Lighting initiative on this auspicious occasion.
❖ Social Club open 8pm – 11pm
❖ Beacon Lighting (on the hill) 9.15pm
❖ 1940’s themed dress encouraged (but optional)
Regular Friday Night Opening
The Social Club is open every Friday from 8pm to 11pm. Reasonably priced drinks and snacks, free pool, table football and darts, with lots of banter at the bar! If you want to come as a group and have a table and chairs set out, let us know and we’ll magic the furniture out of the store!
BROAD TOWN PRIMARY SCHOOL SUMMER FETE: ALL WELCOME!
Saturday 15th June 11.30am - 3.30pm. Entry: £1 per adult, children free entry
A Summer fete will be held at Broad Town Primary School in partnership with Wootton Bassett Hounds Running Club.
Alongside a 5km running event, there will be a BBQ and bar, ice creams, entertainment and games including a bouncy castle, face-painting, hay bale hurdles and much more! All funds raised from the fete go towards equipment and activities for the children of Broad Town School.
We are also looking for applications from small business owners to take stall spaces. Considerable footfall is expected. The cost of a pitch is £10, and you will be required to provide your own table (and gazebo if you wish). If you would like to apply, then please email: btspta23@gmail.com With: -Business name -Product -Email
Do not hesitate to contact us should you require any more information.
WHAT OUR S.I.D. SAW LAST MONTH
The SID has been located at the Marlborough House monitoring Southbound traffic (heading to Broad Hinton)
The SID counted 24,409 vehicles passing which equates to approx. 787 a day17% of vehicles were speeding.
‘MADE IN BROAD TOWN’
Bushton Plant Fair. We very much enjoyed having a stall at Bushton Plant Fair on May 6th. It was lovely to be able to take part in this popular annual event in the wonderful gardens at Bushton Manor.
Thank you to all our helpers on the day, and to everyone who came along and visited our stall. We are very grateful to Rupert & Judy who generously lent us their gazebo and a large sales table.
We managed to make £280 from the sale; we made a donation to St Peter’s Church and the remainder will be divided between Dressability Swindon and Julia’s House Children’s Hospice. – this is a friendly and welcoming independent charity which supports the clothing needs of individuals with disabilities and those with limited dexterity.- provide practical and emotional support for families caring for a child with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, providing frequent and regular support in their own homes, in the community or at our hospices.
Wrapping Paper, in our last meeting we enjoyed decorating wrapping paper. Whether by using stencils or painting freehand, we’ve discovered that there is far more artistic creativity hiding in the village than we realised, and we all had a relaxing morning!
Annual Parish Meeting. Thank you to Linda B for presenting our report at the Annual Parish Meeting on May 20th. We’ve had a very busy first year and it was great to be able to share our progress with the village. Although we only started in April 2023, we have become a well-established group and hopefully provide a welcoming and creative social space in the village, which is open to all. We are also proud to have already raised over £900 for at least seven good causes.
Broad Town School Summer Fair Saturday June 15th
This year we will be having a stall at the school fair so please come along to support us and all the other stalls – we look forward to seeing you there from 11.30am – 3.30pm
Glass Painting
Our first meeting in June will be on Wednesday 5th when we will be continuing with our wrapping paper designs, and there will also probably be an opportunity to try a mystery activity so come along and find out what that is!
For our session on June 19th, we have arranged a glass painting demonstration. Local glass painter Terri will be giving a demonstration on how to decorate a glass item using paints and there will be a chance to have a go yourselves.
Please bring along an item you wish to paint. This should be made of clear glass e.g. an old clear wine bottle, jam jar, sauce jar or vase etc. Please ensure that your glass item is clean and dry and that you have soaked off any labels or stickers. Glass paints and brushes will be provided but you may wish to bring an overall or old shirt as well as your glass item.
This promises to be a fun morning, and everyone is welcome whether they have been to a Made in Broad Town session before or not – the group is open to all ages and genders, and it would be lovely to see some new faces! 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.
Email: Linda Boyden lindaboyden12@gmail.com; Helen Greer hjgreer1@gmail.com
BISHOP’S LETTER
This month marks two years since my service of inauguration in the Cathedral and so it’s two years since I first ordained people deacon and priest – a powerful and humbling experience. June 2024 will see more ordinations and a special service to mark 30 years since the ordination of women to the priesthood on Saturday 15th June at 11am in the Cathedral. Everyone is very welcome to attend this service, to give thanks for the gift of women’s ministry in this diocese and across the Church. Please join me in praying for all those who are preparing for ordination, as well as those who serve, and have served, in all forms of ministry across the diocese.
At the service for the ordination of deacons, the bishop explains that deacons are ‘called to reach into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible.’ Never before has the world been so connected, so visible, with its remotest parts so easy to reach. Yet despite this, many people still feel forgotten and invisible. Our fast-paced news culture means that stories of suffering, of tragedy or disaster quickly make way for the next headline. The world moves on, but not for those who still dwell, every day, in a place of great difficulty. There will be people around us who have been forgotten and who feel invisible – those who need support but struggle to access it; the lonely, the housebound or those who cannot access technology. You may feel that way yourself.
‘Reaching into the forgotten corners’ of our world and local communities and making visible the love of God, is a calling to all of us – lay and ordained. This is what we see in Jesus – going to the forgotten places; the forgotten people and showing them that God is with them; that God forgets no-one. Let us, as the church of today, ‘Go and do likewise.’
Bishop Stephen
NEWLY RE-ELECTED PCC PHILIP WILKINSON’S BULLETIN:
Regardless of political alignment, I'm here to serve you. My determination to represent and serve our communities is unwavering and I am honoured to have been re-elected to serve as your Police and Crime Commissioner for the next four years. It is my responsibility to ensure that your views and lived experiences are reflected in how we work towards making Wiltshire safer and my promise remains the same – to be your voice in policing and to hold the Chief Constable to account for the effective and efficient police service that residents deserve. Regardless of political alignment, or whether you voted for me or not, I am here to serve you and act as your voice in policing and crime. Before the role of PCC was established in 2012 there was a disconnect between the communities and police accountability and since then you have had the power to have your say at the ballot box on who you feel best represents you. My focus now turns to ensuring that those lesser heard voices are consulted in the development of my next Police and Crime Plan which acts as a blueprint for the strategic policing and crime priorities. My responsibilities spread the entirety of the criminal justice system, including policing, victim support, early intervention and offender rehabilitation. It is of paramount importance to me that your feedback is reflected in any decisions that are made.
I want to hear more from rural communities, business owners and retailers about the impact of crime on them – and what they need to feel safe and supported by Wiltshire Police and partners.
Wiltshire Police was placed into the Engage status or ‘special measures’ shortly after I took office during my first term and alongside my wider office I continue to robustly scrutinise, in addition to supporting the Chief Constable to drive up the standard of policing our residents receive.
Tremendous work has been done in that time to improve the police’s response and performance, and especially so since Chief Constable Catherine Roper started in post just over a year ago. Whilst I am proud of the improvements that have been achieved in that time, the Force is still not where I or the Chief Constable would like it to be, and we will not be satisfied until Wiltshire Police is considered an outstanding police force.
The following police related links may prove of interest:
https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/newly-refurbished-police-custody-reopens-after-multi-million-pound-investment https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/organisations-can-now-apply-for-funding-to-provide-youth-work-in-swindon https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/more-street-wardens-funded-to-help-tackle-violence-against-women-and-girls-across-wiltshire
JUNE AT A GLANCE:
Friday May 31st – Food for Thought Fish ‘n’ Chips, 5-8pm, village hall
Sunday June 2nd – Holy Communion, 10.30am
Wednesday June 5th – Made in Broad Town, 10-12 noon, village hall
Thursday June 6th – D-day Beacon Lighting, 9.15pm (on the hill), social club open 8-11pm
Saturday June 8th – Churchyard work morning, 10-12 noon
Sunday June 9th – Bishop’s Salisbury Sudan Fete 2-5pm
Sunday June 9th – Evening Worship, 6pm
Monday June 10th – Parish Council Meeting, 6.30pm, village hall
Wednesday June 12th – Community Coffee Morning, 10-12 noon
Saturday June 15th - Broad Town School Fête, 11.30am-3.30pm
Wednesday June 19th – Made in Broad Town, 10-12 noon (glass painting)
Sunday June 23rd – Evening Worship, 6pm
Wednesday June 26th - Community Coffee Morning, 10-12 noon
Friday June 28th – Food for Thought Fish ‘n’ Chips, 5-8pm, village hall
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