BROAD TOWN NEWS – MAY 2025
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
Community coffee mornings are looking forward to helping with the refreshments for the Plant Sale on May 10th, so please come along and see us in the Village Hall!
The May coffee mornings will be on Wednesdays May 14th and 28th. Kelly Hillier, our local Police Community Support Officer, will once again be joining us at the coffee morning on May 28th. Please come along with any concerns or queries that you might have
.Cake rota – could you bake a cake for us please? Many of you have already very kindly volunteered to be on the rota and we are very grateful to everyone who has baked cakes for us. If you are not yet on our rota, please consider volunteering to make a cake, it would only be 2-3 times a year, and any type of cake would be very welcome, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. If you are able to help out, please see one of the helpers at the next coffee morning or email Annie Crocker: anniecrocker@hotmail.co.uk
The community coffee mornings are always on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, so please join us from 10 – 12 noon in the Village Hall. Coffee mornings are a very informal way of meeting others in the village, having a chat whilst enjoying delicious homemade cake, sausage rolls, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. If you haven’t been before why not give it a try, we would love to see you.
Plant Sale in aid of the Air Ambulance, May 10th. Final preparations are now underway for our charity plant sale, so please come along and support us, all donations of plants or seedlings by anyone with some to spare would be very welcome, please contact Linda, Helen, or Carolyn: Linda Boyden lindaboyden12@gmail.com; Helen Greer hjgreer1@gmail.com Carolyn Crocker carolyn.crocker@hotmail.co.uk This promises to be a busy family-friendly event as not only will there be lots of Broad Town grown plants available, but also an Air Ambulance sales and information table, and refreshments will include homemade cakes and scones in celebration of the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
‘MADE IN BROAD TOWN’ CRAFTS & HOBBIES GROUP
May Sessions. We’ve already had two very busy sessions during April which included learning to crochet and making newspaper plant pots, and our final April session will be on the 30th during which we will be trying a surprise activity! On May 7th those with a place on the watercolour painting course will be learning a new skill, and everyone else is invited to bring along their own craft or to help with final preparations for our plant sale. Our second session will be on May 21st. Everyone is welcome to come along for refreshments and a chat, you don’t need to have any crafting skills. We’re a very friendly bunch, and if you do feel creative there are always activities available for you to try. We ask for a £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
BROAD TOWN SHELTER
A big thank you to all who helped decorate the Broad Town Shelter for Easter! It never goes unappreciated and is a highlight of the village.
BROAD TOWN WHITE HORSE LIMING - SUNDAY 18 MAY 2025
Weather permitting, White Horse liming place will take place on the morning of Sunday 18 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
BROAD TOWN CHURCH
It was good to be back in church for our service on Easter Sunday. Thank you to everyone who provided the flower arrangements that made the church look so lovely. A reminder for the church table at the Plant Sale on Saturday May 10th from 2.30 to 4.30pm. We would still be grateful for any surplus plants/seedlings or split established plants that you may have. If you could do with some new plants for your garden - we’d love to help - come to the plant sale and have a look!
The services for May are 11th May Morning Service at 10.30 am, (This will be followed by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting) and 25th May, Communion at 10.30 am. Both services will be held in Church.
BISHOP’S LETTER
Sudan and South Sudan Partnership – A time of crisis. We have been fortunate to celebrate a peaceful Easter in our land, we find Sudan and South Sudan in probably the most desperate state in more than 25 years of our half century of partnership. This Spring marks the second anniversary of the conflict in Sudan, and the BBC has reported that fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has claimed more than 150,000 lives. The UN calls it the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in which some 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes, creating new crises particularly in neighbouring Chad and South Sudan. As the conflict intensified, Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo, his family and staff were forced to flee and with other supporters we helped him re-establish the Episcopal Church HQ in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast. More recently the SAF has recaptured most of Khartoum including the symbolically important Presidential Palace. The RSF is now concentrated in El-Fasher in the Darfur region in the north and west of Sudan. It has been responsible for the most appalling atrocities yet denies it is ethnic cleansing but “tribal conflict”. Efforts are being considered for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate. The UK Government’s recent decision to reduce the Overseas Development Aid budget is very disappointing. In South Sudan, violence has returned too. Many people worry that Juba may be consumed by violence again, most recently triggered by President Salvar Kiir arresting the First Vice-President Riek Machar. The South Sudan Council of Churches has been urging all parties to seek peace and not conflict. “Faith before tribe” should be the guiding principle but that is easily said but much harder to practice. How do we do that ourselves? Our partnership with the Sudans is founded on prayer and fellowship so please continue to hold the people of the Sudans in your prayers. One way in which you can offer practical help is by supporting the Sudan Medical Link Fete, held in my garden on Sunday 15th June at 2pm. All are welcome as we raise much needed funds for medical aid for families in South Sudan. +Stephen, Bishop of Salisbury
PARISH COUNCIL
Keep up to date at https://www.broadtownparishcouncil.org.uk
Village Tidy-Up Saturday 3rd May Meet 10am Village Hall
The road-sweeper has visited and done its job along the main road so now it’s time for the rest of us to give the village a spring clean. Meet at the Village Hall at 10am for the health and safety briefing. 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 or shovels to weed the pavements. Refreshments and bacon butties will be provided afterwards as a well-earned reward. REFRESHMENTS AND BACON BUTTIES.
Annual Parish Meeting: Monday 19th May 6.30pm in the Village Hall.
We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Parish Meeting. This is not a council meeting but is an opportunity for all village groups and associations to share with the village the activity they have undertaken in the past year and their plans for the future.
Parish Council Election Vacancies
Most existing Councillors are standing again this year but there weren’t enough nominations to trigger an election and therefore they will be elected uncontested. The new Councillors are Ben Davis, Sandra Hartley, Glen Morley, Rupert Pearce and James Rawlins and there are therefore 2 vacancies so if anyone would like to join us in serving the parish and helping to make Broad Town a pleasant place to live then please make contact with the Clerk (BTPCClerk@outlook.com)
Next PC Meeting - Monday 12th May.
The next Parish Council meeting will be at 6.30pm in the Village Hall on 12th May. All are welcome and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
WHAT OUR S.I.D. SAW LAST MONTH
The SID has been located at the school monitoring Southbound traffic (heading to Broad Hinton) The SID counted 22,949 vehicles passing which equates to approx. 820 a day. • 17% of vehicles were speeding.
SOCIAL CLUB
The social club is open every Friday from 8pm and members and their guests are all welcome. If you are not a member you can join for just £3.00 for the year - just ask Trevor behind the bar. Draught beers and lagers are for sale at just £3 a pint and there is a free pool table, so why not pop in and check us out.
Food for Thought Evenings.
Food for Thought will be selling their delicious Fish and Chips (and burgers, sausages, scampi etc) outside the Village Hall from 5 – 8pm on the last Friday in the month: On these Fridays the Social Club opens at 5pm through to 11pm for you to enjoy your takeaway in the Village Hall with a drink or two. Feel free to bring your own cutlery and crockery if you wish but please take it home with you afterwards to wash up! Menu on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FoodForThoughtSwindon. For vegan, GF and other dietary requirements please contact them directly to discuss. They have limited space to carry stock but will gladly try to meet all requests. If you would like to pre-order or have any queries, they can be contacted via text, WhatsApp or Messenger on 07515 288414.
WILTSHIRE AND SWINDON PCC
https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/plans-for further-investment-to-improve-victims-services-announced
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