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WEBMASTER CHANGEOVER - THE LONG GOODBYE:
If I may lapse into personal prose for just one time...
As most Shrewton people know Wendy, Laurence and I are moving to Cornwall. This now looks as though it will occur in early August (after many delays, leading to one of the longest goodbyes ever!). It's time for me to give up my editorship of www.shrewton.com and hand on to new people with exciting new ideas and capabilities for this, one of the earliest UK village websites to go online.
I've enjoyed editing the website tremendously, though I haven't always been able to give it the focus and time it deserves. There are far too many people to thank individually for their support and updates. However, I must single out Peter Sweet and the Parish Council: Their forward thinking was what made www.shrewton.com possible in the first place.
Also I must thank Wendy for letting me get first sight of Arrowhead stories and re-use them. Then, huge thanks must go to Arrowhead editors past and present (especially to Sally the current editor) who enabled the website and the Arrowhead magazine to work hand in hand. Pete Elston at Blue-Dog IT has latterly financed the site as a service to the village (more of him shortly) and of course thanks to YOU the readers, who make it all worthwhile.
It's truly been a privilege.
The new Website editorial team will be headed by Pete Elston. There will be a new webmaster emailbox (webmaster@shrewton.com) which will be active soon. Wendy and I will watch from afar to see the great things that an influx of new ideas and skills will bring about for shrewton.com and will use it to keep in touch with what's going on in this wonderful community.
With very best regards
Alan Trevennor
(ex website editor).
REC TRUSTEES IN PLEA TO DOG WALKERS:
Dog walkers at the Recreation Ground are failing to clean up after their pets, Rec Trustees heard this week. Some owners are acting responsibly in keeping the recreation ground clean, but many are not. The Rec Trustees want to remind dog walkers that the ground is used not only for sports events but also by parents and young children. It is therefore essential that the ground is kept clean and free of dog fouling. The Trustees heard that offending pets and their owners can be identified and reported which may result in fines.
HELP!! TILL VALLEY LINK NEEDS YOU!!
The following disturbing report has been received from Till Valley Link.
"The Till Valley Link Scheme held its annual General Meeting on Sat 12th June 2010. The meeting was attended by only the committee and three drivers, despite being an open meeting.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and read the minutes of the last AGM. She then went on to report on the activities of the last year. It has been a difficult year for the Till Valley scheme, due to a shortage of drivers, and more journeys being needed. In addition, we now have regular double journeys, where a client goes to a day centre in the morning and needs taking home in the afternoon. Although this is classed as one job, it entails two trips, which means double mileage. Also, it may involve two drivers if one is not able to do the return trip. We have undertaken 707 jobs this year, which is 57 more than last year.
The
secretary has also retired from the committee. June Morris has been
secretary for the last ten years, and feels it is time to step down. She
will still be available to help the Chairman with the CRB checks that we
need to do, and we would like to thank her for all the hard work she has put
in over the last ten years. We are now without a secretary, so if there is
any one out there who feels they would like to join our committee, please
contact one of us. That person does NOT have to be a driver. We hold
meetings every two months, and the committee hold fund raising events
several times a year.
Fund raising is another problem. Our drivers are paid a mileage fee, and although the jobs we have undertaken have been going up, the donations have gone down by over £1000. Our fund raising was up this year, simply because one of our members held a garage sale which brought in £300. That was a one off which will not happen every year, and without it, our figures would have been down on last year.
This is a very valuable service that we offer to the villages, but we cannot continue without drivers, and committee members. As reported, we need a secretary, but also our Vice Chairman will be leaving us sometime this year so we will need another volunteer for that post. The service has been running for 16 years now and it would be such a pity if the service fails because of a lack of volunteers. If you have been thinking about joining us, please do it now. TILL VALLEY LINK NEEDS YOU. If you have not thought about joining before, if you have any time at all to spare, please give us some time, even as little as 1 hour a month could be a help."
If you can give just a little of your time or transport, please contact Margaret Turner on 620565.
STONEHENGE
VISITOR CENTRE CANCELLED:
At a meeting a couple of weeks
ago regarding the new
Stonehenge visitor centre concerned villagers
were told that the project hung in the balance. And so it has proved: On the
17th June, the project was one of many cancelled by the new coalition
government in its drive to curb government spending.
This means that there is no change planned for the foreseeable future at Stonehenge itself, or for the A303 road to the west country, a summer-weekend traffic disaster area.
Fears remain that traffic volumes through Shrewton area will climb, due to the ever increasing number of SatNav users being re-routed through the village when the A303 is jammed.
The meeting heard that traffic levels on the A303 are set to rise from 31,400 in 2006 to 36,000 in 2012 and over 40,000 by 2027. Despite the A303 being the de-facto second east-west route after the M4, there seems to be little hope, since the Government abandonment of the tunnel scheme, of any help for traffic congestion in the bottleneck extending from the monument to the dual carriageway just beyond Winterbourne Stoke.
Sadly, it looks as though traffic jams half way back to Andover on peak Summer Fridays and Saturday will be with us for many years yet.
SOS:
SHREWTON OIL SHEIKHS: SAVE ££s ON HEATING OIL!!
Mike Badham-Thornhill (Chief
Sheikh) is now busy organising the latest heating oil purchase for the
Sheikhs, to be made soon. Summer time is historically the cheapest
time of year to buy heating oil, because demand is lower - but we live in a
changing world, so let's see what price Mike can get this time around!
Would you like to be part of the SOS
buying syndicate? Membership is free and simple.
Click HERE
to see the details of savings made and contact details for Shrewton Oil
Sheikhs.
BOOK ON HISTORY OF SHREWTON SCHOOL
A book on the history of
Shrewton School has been published (cover art shown, adjacent). This tells
the story of the school from its earliest days right up until now.
With the completion of the new school and fevered local debate about possibly new uses for the old Victorian building, interest in the school and its history should ensure that the book, sold in aid of school funds, will sell well.
The text is accompanied by lots of pictures of great interest, showing the school at each stage of its development, and some of its former pupils look out at us from the pages lending a deeper fascination to an already enthralling read.
You can obtain copies of the book through the school itself or through local shops.
Full details of the book can be found in Arrowhead, your monthly free magazine and key to all that's going on in the Till Valley.
REC TRUSTEES ELECT NEW CHAIR AND SECRETARY:
At their June meeting, the Recreation Ground trustees unanimously elected Mr David Clutson as the new Chair of the Management committee, and Judith Robinson as the minutes Secretary. Mr Mick Cotton (elected at the AGM) continues as treasurer and Melonie Williams continues as the Recreation Hall manager.
The Trustees - at their AGM - voted a unanimous vote of thanks to outgoing chair Bryan Wheatley. They similarly voted a unanimous vote of thanks to Peter Sturt, outgoing treasurer, for his tireless work in turning around the fortunes of the Recreation Ground Hall during the past 3 years and the resulting improvements and upgrades to the facilities it provides.
BARGAIN BAGGERS! SHREWTON COUNTRY
MARKET:
The Country Market events at the Village Hall in 2010 have been increasingly
successful, with villagers (and people from further afield too!) coming
along to grab bargains of fresh produce, and baked goods such as cakes and
delicious pies. Additionally there are craft items for sale, such as hand
made greetings cards, beadwork jewellery and many other intriguing items.
Don't miss out! Come along to the Village Hall at Shrewton Recreation Ground and bag yourself some of these wonderful items.
Country Markets happen at the Village Hall between
10.00am and 11.30am on the 3rd Saturday of every month. That means the following dates:
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If you'd like to join the Shrewton Country Market co-operative in order to
sell your produce, or want more information, please contact one of the
committee listed below.
Linda Harris –
Chair:
linda.harris@btinternet.com
Derek Miles – Treasurer
derek.miles@btinternet.com
Sarah Cunningham- Market Manager
sarahcunningham491@hotmail.com
NHS WILTSHIRE: NEW OUT
OF HOURS ARRANGEMENTS
IMPORTANT: The following is a
press release from NHS: Wiltshire
"Duvet
day or emergency? Choose well to get the right treatment
You’ve shut your finger in a door
and think it might be broken. You’ve got a really bad cold and it might even
be flu. It’s ten o’clock at night and your three-year-old is screaming with
earache. Your elderly mother has fallen downstairs and lost consciousness.
Do you call A&E, an out-of-hours GP, go to a Minor Injury Unit (MIU) or wait
until it goes away?
Each of these common medical situations has a different solution. In the
first instance, you should go to an MIU. In the second, take a paracetamol
and curl up somewhere warm with lots of tissues. The three-year-old needs a
call to the out-of-hours service and a fall leading to a loss of
consciousness means call 999 at once.
Making the right choice is important for you, so NHS Wiltshire has produced Choose Well – a webpage and leaflet that act as a simple, handy guide to getting the right treatment.
The webpage – www.wiltshirepct.nhs.uk/choosewell, goes live on April 1, along with a new Wiltshire-wide service for out-of-hours medical and dental services, provided by a local company, Wiltshire Medical Services. Click on the website, or pick up a leaflet at your doctor’s surgery, library or other public building, to find out who to call when.
In an emergency (eg serious injury, loss of consciousness, chest pain or suspected stroke), patients should always phone 999. For healthcare advice over the phone, NHS Direct is available on 0845 4647."
There is more detail in the leaftlet (in PDF format), which you can view by clicking HERE.
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING TEAM CONTACT
To report
local crime or disorder issues, or for advice on how to improve your home security, please contact your Neighbourhood Policing Team on 0845 408 7000.
