Village News

from Margaret Morbey

Lizzie Carte

There will be a service of celebration at Chearsley Church on Friday, May 9th at 11.30a.m. for Lizzie. Eric is inviting donations to a fund to enable her brother, Billy, to continue his special treatment for MS. If you would like to remember Lizzie in this way, please send your cheque to K.Y. Green, 29 Cambridge Street, Aylesbury HP20 1RP.

Flora London Marathon Sunday 13th April

David Taylor of Chearsley ran a very successful marathon, finishing in the first 4,000 in a time of 3hrs 28mins. He owes his success to his training which he started in August and to his understanding family. David has raised £3,000 for Scannappeal, a hospital charity raising money for The Cancer Fighting Fund for Stoke Mandeville and High Wycombe hospitals, where David is a Chest Consultant. The Fund has a target of £150,000 to buy state of the art equipment for lung diagnosis. Congratulations to David.

Alpha Global Expedition by Adrian Flanagan

Adrian, whose ex-wife, Louise lives in Chearsley and is managing the shore side of this adventure, is about to set sail on the final part of his “vertical” circumnavigation of the earth and thereby becoming the first solo yachtsman to achieve this. This last, difficult leg is a 1,600 mile stretch from Mehamn, northern Norway to The Royal Southern Yacht Club on the south coast of England. Sleep will have to be taken in snatches as for much of the time, he will be beating into wind and there is a lot of shipping in the North Sea and oil rigs.

He has had a long and hard expedition in Barrabos, a French designed 40ft Trireme constructed entirely of stainless steel, twice having to break off the circumnavigation since starting in 2005. We wish Adrian good luck in completing his dream.

Youth Club

This meets this Friday, May 2nd at the Village Hall from 6.30 to 8.00 Everyone from the ages of 8 to 14 is welcome. Contact Gillie Travers on 202469 for more details.

Village News

with Margaret Morbey

Lizzie Carte

As was reported last week on the front page of The Bucks Herald, Lizzie died on April 10th and Eric is now home. She was known and loved by so many of us in the village and we now just have our many memories of her bubbly, witty, cheeky personality. She will never be forgotten. Our love and sympathy go to Eric and Lil, Lizzie’s mother, who lived in Chearsley for quite a few years, her brother Billy and all her other relatives. No details are known of her funeral as I write, but these will be posted on her website http://lecarteblanc.blogspot.com/

Village Quiz

I gave wrong information last week about the Village Quiz, for which I apologise. This will now be held on Saturday, September 27th in the Village Hall, so you have plenty of time of mark the date in your calendar and swot up! It will be well advertised at the time.

“The Oil of Life”

There will be an evening of songs and poems of Sir John Betjeman on Saturday 17th May at Chearsley Village Hall at 7.30pm. Tickets will be sold on the door at a price of £8.00 or £5.00 concessions, to include a glass of wine. For more information, call Annie Munk on07942718908 or email anniemunk@aol.com.

Chearsley Country Fayre

Have you made a note in your diary for Saturday 28th June for this year’s fete? There was none last year, so it is hoped to make this year’s a really magnificent event and all help is needed. The Country Fayre will have Morris Men, The Animal Man, Thatching, Fancy dress, BBQ, Teas, Children’s Rides and Bouncy Castle etc. Help is needed on the day and contributions to the many stalls : books, cds, videos, toys, nearly new, produce, bottles for the bottle tombola, bric a brac, jewellery, hats, handbags, plants, cakes, etc. All items can be left at The Bell, or call Claire on 208087 for help or information.

The busy day will conclude with a good village event at The Bell - a Pig Roast and there will be dancing in the street to live band, Silver from 7pm.onwards. Come along – we need a good time.

Mobile Library

This will be in The Bell car park on Monday 28th April, 10.35 to 11.05am

Village News

with Margaret Morbey

Lizzie Carte

Lizzie died Thursday morning 10th April. She had collapsed after appearing on stage on board The Oriana, sailing from South Africa to Southampton, apparently from a brain haemorrhage. I can do no better than to quote from Eric’s email on the website especially set up to keep us informed of Lizzie. “…our darling girl left us this morning at 6, though she really went backstage on Saturday in naughty underwear, gold shoes and on top of the world….”. The Oriana docks at Southampton on Wednesday, bringing Lizzie back home again. Our love and tears go to Eric and all of Lizzie’s family, especially, Lil, her mother and Billy, her brother. The website dedicated to Lizzie is http://lecarteblanc.blogspot.com/ which has some delightful photos of her.

Joan Smithers

Joan, who lived in Turnip Close in the village with her husband, and then in School Lane, near her daughter, died on Sunday 6th April after a long illness of Alzheimer’s. Her funeral was at Amersham Crematorium on Monday 14th. Our sympathy goes to her daughter Ann and family.

Chearsley Shop

The sale of this has indeed been completed, as anticipated. Janine Rees is the new owner of the whole premises and has many plans for it. The shop will be a village convenience store, much as it has been in the past, and adjoining this will be a tea room. How much better it will be to sit and natter over a cup of tea when you bump into old friends in the shop, than catching up on the gossip or making arrangements for a meeting while leaning against the ice-cream freezer, dodging other customers reaching for a tin of beans or dog food!

The alterations and arrangements will take a while, but it is hoped the shop will open in June, as you may have seen from the many posters put up round the village.

Annual Parish Meeting

This was held on Monday 7th April in the Village Hall with poor attendance. The chairman, Mike Edmonds outlined the function of the Parish Council and its concerns over the past year, which had mainly been the shop, state of the village roads, speeding, parking issues, planning matters, NAGS and GC2C meetings.

He then described the roles of the District Council and County Council and their different responsibilities.

Sue and Caroline, our local PC Special Officers were in attendance and briefly outlined their presence in the village and agreed to try to attend the next Parish meeting when speeding in the village would be discussed.

The good news about the Shop was reported and Jay announced her enthusiasm and plans to open in June.

The Neighbourhood Watch report reminded us all to be vigilant, especially in the light of the recent walk-in burglary in the village.

Stockwell Project: Although no active action had been taken, Perry Smith reported that he had organized volunteers and was in contact with the Countryside Commission for their help and advice. Great Crested Newts are believed to be in the Pond, so this is a great consideration when any work is started.

Speeding: Community Speed Watch was described by Sue, one of our PCSOs at the meeting where villagers record the registration number of cars speeding in the village, this can lead to a letter being sent, and then possibly a fine. She agreed to come to the next Parish Meeting to discuss this. She was of the opinion that the more signage and road lettering there was about the 30mile an hour speed limit, the more likely motorists were to adhere to the restriction.

Village Car Service: Jock Scholefield reported that this service had been used 53 times in the past year by 10 people. There were 10 volunteers, and more would be welcome to help out.

Village Trust: There was no representative present to give a Report

Village Hall Report: Lettings of the Hall were good to village societies, activities and functions. A quiz and Theatre in the Villages in conjunction with AVDC had taken place, raising money for any maintenance, repair and work needed to the Hall in the future.

Any Other Business

A fairly new resident in Chearsley complained to the meeting that he felt victimized by the Council about the parking of his van and this led to a discussion that the Council could be more pro-active in the village, and provide more communication by way of newsletters. The chairman accepted all this criticism and said this would be discussed at the next Parish Council meeting in May.

The mystery of broken locks on the large and small gates into the Millennium Field was brought up, and it was resolved the damaged large gate would be mended and the lock re-instated and possibly a notice displayed informing anyone who needed vehicular entry into the field who the key holder was.