BROAD TOWN NEWS AUGUST 2026
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
Welcome to the August edition of Broad Town News, keeping you informed about activities in and around our village. Read on for details of how you can support Matthew Harvey-Samuel’s fundraising bike ride for Prospect Hospice in memory of his dad James, the chance to win a garden gift card with your Broad Town photos, and news of all the social and fundraising events going on in our community.
CHRIST CHURCH, BROAD TOWN
There is only one service in August at Christ Church: 23rd August at 10.30am, Communion, everybody welcome
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 for the year - just ask Trevor behind the bar. Draught beers and lagers are for sale at just £3.50 a pint and there is a free pool table, so why not pop in and check us out. Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FourWaysBroadTown
Food for Thought Fish & Chips 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: 28th August & 25th September. The Social Club and bar will be open from 5pm on these Fridays so why not pop in and enjoy a drink while you are waiting for your supper!
CHRIST CHURCH - QUEEN ELIZABETH COTTAGE GARDEN TEA
It was a lovely afternoon. The sun shone and tea and delicious homemade cakes were enjoyed in the shade of trees and gazebos. Thank you to Judy and Colin for hosting the event in their beautiful garden, the wonderful bakers, and to everyone who came and made it such a successful afternoon. £507 was raised for the church corner stone project. Our first quote for the work needed on the corner wall is £15k!
Bric-a-brac stall, Wednesday 9th September from 9.30am. Our next fund-raising venture is a bric-a-brac stall at Wootton Bassett market. If anyone has any items they no longer need, Judy Rendell or Carolyn Crocker would be happy to collect them to sell on the stall.
PARISH COUNCIL
Keep up to date at https://www.broadtownparishcouncil.org.uk. Hopefully you will have noticed the new 40mph speed limit which has been implemented from Broadacres to beyond Cotmarsh where it then becomes 50mph. This will slow down the traffic and make it safer for all road users and businesses. The SID will be deployed along this new 40mph section to help reinforce the limit as well as continuing to be installed throughout the 30mph section as normal.
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 roadside drains along the main road and up Broad Town hill have all be visited by the ‘Gully Sucker’ tanker which has unblocked them in time for when the rain eventually arrives. Residents can report blocked gullies by using the MyWilts app (on a phone or tablet) or else at https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywilts-online-reporting
Dogs in the Playing Fields. We have received reports of someone walking their dog in the playing fields at Redhills. This is a children’s play area and dogs are not allowed for health reasons. Please respect the signs and keep your dog outside the fence.
Next PC Meeting - Monday 10th August at 6.30pm in the village hall on 10th August. 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
NOTE : this was the first time the SID was located in the new stretch of 40mph. In Summary : 26,561 vehicles passed the SID located between Elmside and Broad Town Brewery monitoring Northbound traffic (i.e. just exited the 30mph zone heading to RWB) which equates to approx. 759 a day. 1% of vehicles were speeding.
MADE IN BROAD TOWN
August dates: Wednesdays 5th & 19th(and July 29th)
Broad Town 100 Project Photos - £20 Garden Gift Voucher to be won!
We hope everyone has enjoyed having a go at growing seeds and trying to increase wildlife and plant diversity in their gardens this summer. Please email us photos of any wildlife friendly displays of flowers, plants, ponds etc in your gardens, or around the village, all contributors will be entered into a prize draw to win a £20 garden gift voucher! It doesn’t matter whether you received our free seeds earlier in the summer or not, we are looking for any bright and colourful photos which represent our village as colourful and wildlife friendly – we are trying to create a snapshot of summer in Broad Town. Photos including wildlife such as insects or wild animals would be particularly welcome. They can be of flowers, views & wildlife etc, taken anywhere in and around our village. Photos should be emailed to: madeinbroadtown@gmail.com. Please note the closing date for photos is August 31st
.N.B. if these photos include people that’s great but please only send them if you are happy for these photos to be used in our village hall display and photobook. Thank you. Photos will be displayed during the village hall Macmillan Coffee Morning on Saturday September 26th, 10 – 12 noon.
Free Made in Broad Town Kids Activity Sessions during the summer holidays. Our August sessions will also include activities for children in Broad Town Village Hall from 10am – 12 noon. Please just turn up, there is no need to book a place. Wednesday August 5th – seaside-themed activities e.g. lighthouses, crabs & jellyfish Wednesday August 19th – nature-themed activities e.g. wind spinners & collages, plus lolly stick rainbows & aeroplanes
Please note that all children should be accompanied by an adult. Entry, all craft materials and refreshments will be free! We would love to see you there and wish you all a very happy summer holiday.Please email us if you have any questions. madeinbroadtown@gmail.com
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
Please note that there will be no coffee mornings in August as we will be taking our usual summer break. Thank you for all your support during the last year enabling several donations to be made to local charities. The most recent of these has been a £250 donation to Prospect Hospice in support of Matthew Harvey-Samuel’s fundraising 700-mile cycle ride.
On July 22nd we held a very successful final coffee morning of the summer, together with a raffle, raising a grand total of £150 for our village church’s Cornerstone Project.
Our next coffee morning will be on Wednesday September 9th, we look forward to seeing you again then, in the village hall from 10am –12 noon. We wish you all an enjoyable summer break. Annie, Carolyn, Sandra, Helen & Linda
Please save the date –Macmillan Coffee Morning on Saturday September 26th – delicious homemade cakes, raffle, display of villagers’ BroadTown 100 Project wildlifefriendly garden and village photos. village hall, 10 – 12 noon. Everyone welcome.
CELEBRATING THE WEDDING OF EMILY AND AIDAN at the Hop Chapel on 15th August
Whilst the ceremony is for family only, we'd be delighted if anyone who knows us in the village could join us for celebratory drinks afterwards from 2:00pm
FOOD BANK COLLECTION
Sat 29th and Sun 30th August. Always needed are small jars of coffee, Sugar, 1 litre bottle squash, long life milk, long life juice, tinned fruit, tinned plum tomatores, tinned meat, tinned pies, tinned fish etc, Tinned vegetables, tinned baked beans, tinned puddings, angel delight, jellies, tins and packets of soup (preferably with a shelf life of 6 months or more). Please drop off any unopened and unused items at the village hall.
POLICE & CRIME COMMISSIONER NEWS
https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/pcc-parish-column-5
https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/hundreds-of-people-safeguardedsince-launch-of-south-west-crackdown-on-drugs
https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/police-and-crime-commissionersgrants-reopen-to-help-tackle-crime-and-support-victims-across-wiltshire-and-swindon
https://wiltshirepcc-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/wiltshire-remains-one-of-the-safestplaces-in-the-country-despite-rise-in-recorded-crime
AUGUST AT A GLANCE:
Wednesday July 29th, Made in Broad Town, village hall, 10 – 12 noon
Sunday August 2nd, Matthew Harvey-Samuel’s Cycle Ride starts @ 10 o’clock by the Shelter
Wednesday August 5th, Made in Broad Town, village hall, 10 – 12 noon
Sunday August 9th, Matthew’s Cycle Ride finishes, village hall, 3pm
Monday August 10th, Parish Council Meeting, village hall, 6.30pm
Saturday August 15th, Emily & Aidan’s Wedding Celebration, Hop Chapel, 2pm
Wednesday August 19th, Made in Broad Town, village hall, 10 – 12 noon
Sunday August 23rd, Holy Communion, Christ Church, 10.30am
Friday August 28th, Food for Thought Fish and Chips, outside village hall, 5 – 8pm
Saturday August 29th & Sunday August 30th, Food Bank Collection, village hall
Friday August 28th to Monday August 31st, Music Festival, Hop Chapel : tickets available from the Hop Chapel
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. Any queries should also be sent to this address.