BROAD TOWN NEWS – JUNE 2025
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
PARISH COUNCIL
Keep up to date at https://www.broadtownparishcouncil.org.uk
Village Tidy-up Thanks to all the residents who volunteered to walk the village picking up litter. 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.
Redhills Play Area Please note that the fort in the play area is for climbing up the ramp and enjoying the slide but please don’t allow your children to climb on the roof of the fort.
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 Restoration Group, Community Coffee Mornings, Made in Broad Town, Speeding data captured by the SID, Broad Town History Website, Community Speedwatch, Parish Council
Next PC Meeting - Monday 9th June will be at 6.30pm in the Village Hall. All are welcome and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
WILTSHIRE CONNECT
The Public Transport team at Wiltshire Council is pleased to advise that they have extended the popular Wiltshire Connect on-demand bus service to include Broad Town. The service can be used for journeys to Royal Wootton Bassett, Malmesbury and to any location in the operating area which includes the Great Western Hospital, Orbital Retail Park and Kemble Railway Station. Anyone can use Wiltshire Connect and the wheelchair accessible vehicles operate between 6am-8pm Mon-Fri and 8am-7.30pm on Saturdays. Rides can be booked by using the Wiltshire Connect app or by phone on 01225 712900 For more information and to download the booking app, residents should go to the website https://www.connectingwiltshire.co.uk/royal-wootton-bassett-malmesbury.
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 29,088 vehicles passing which equates to approx. 1003 a day. 25% of vehicles were speeding.
CHRIST CHURCH
The services for June are as follows: • 8th June 10.30 Morning Service • 22nd June 10.30 Communion.
Plant sale A big thank you to everyone who supported our plant sale in any way. It was a lovely village event and we raised an amazing £400. We would value your further help in considering and suggesting qualities we would like a new vicar to bring to our village and church. A suggestion box will be available for your thoughts at the Community coffee morning and Made in Broad Town sessions. We can’t promise everything but will do our best!
SOCIAL CLUB
The social club is open every Friday from 8:00pm 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:
30th May, 27th June, 25th July, 29th August, 26th September. 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.
VILLAGE PLANT SALE RAISES £1060!
A big thank you to everyone involved in our village plant sale and tea on Saturday May 10th. It was fantastic to see so many people coming along to buy the plants, to socialise with friends and to enjoy the refreshments on offer in celebration of the 80th Anniversary of VE Day. Whether you grew plants to sell, baked cakes or scones, or simply came along to enjoy the event, we thank you for your generosity and for your support. Thank you also to all those who set up the hall and tidied up afterwards. £660 was raised for the Wiltshire & Bath Air Ambulance and £400 for Christ Church Broad Town, through the joint efforts of Made in Broad Town, Christ Church and the Community Coffee Mornings Team.
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
Thank you to everyone who provided cakes and scones for the plant sale and also to those who helped in the kitchen.
Police visit to Coffee Morning If you’re reading this before May 28th…Kelly Hillier, our local Police Community Support Officer, will once again be joining us at the coffee morning on the 28th. Please come along with any concerns or queries that you might have.
Our coffee mornings in June will be on Wednesdays June 11th and 25th, and we look forward to seeing you there. Please encourage anyone you know of in the village to come along who doesn’t do so already, the more the merrier! Please also remember to visit our book table whilst you’re at the coffee mornings. There is a wide selection of books available to choose from and also a few jigsaws – borrow any items for as long as you like and simply return them when you’ve finished with them. 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.
‘MADE IN BROAD TOWN’
Crafts & Hobbies Group As well as playing our part in the very successful plant sale earlier this month, we have also been busy participating in a watercolour painting session with teacher Maggie, and a ‘shell craft’ session making wind chimes and photo frames. During the watercolour lesson everyone managed to produce some fantastic hummingbird paintings and hopefully another similar session will be booked for later in the year. Inspired by the first of our three visits to the children at the village school to help them make their own shell wind chimes, we decided that we would also have a go at making wind chimes and photo frames.
June Sessions will be on Wednesdays June 4th and 18th. Everyone is welcome to come along for refreshments and a chat, you don’t need to have any crafting skills. We’re very friendly, and if you do feel creative there are always activities available for you to try. We ask for a £2 voluntary 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
BISHOPS NEWSLETTER
Jack Spratt’s scrap heap clock
St Andrew’s, Wootton Rivers, you will find in the porch a beautiful board telling the story of local character Jack Spratt, who achieved fame by constructing a church clock entirely from local scrap to commemorate the coronation of George V in 1911. As a new installation was too costly, handyman Jack invited villagers to leave him their spare bits and bobs and proceeded to make a clock that ran (and still runs) with pin point accuracy. Instead of numerals on its face, the tower clock reads ‘Glory be to God’. This eccentric and appealing project bears witness to the steady Anglican faith and resourcefulness vital for our churches to thrive and survive. Also, to the creator God whose spirit can work within us to make something wonderful from the scraps and times of our lives. To him be the glory. Also an invitation to place the first signature in their new visitor’s book, after the sixty-year service of its predecessor. These volumes are found in most village churches and remain a quiet record of the thousands who call into our places of worship, usually unseen, and leave their appreciation with a word or two and, often as not, a coin in the box or a tap on the e-reader!
PLEASE NOTE e-mail any queries or articles for publication to broadtownnews@gmail.com by the 22nd of the month except December.