with Margaret Morbey
Chearsley Cricket Club
Almost £1,000 has now been raised thanks to their recent Quiz night for funds for their clubhouse extension. Profit from the bar run by The Bell amounted to another £280.
St George’s Meal at The Bell
A good number of patriotic Chearsley inhabitants, plus a few from our neighbouring villages, celebrated St George’s Day with a four course traditional roast beef meal . There was much flag waving, “singing” led by our Parish Council chairman, and friendly rivalry over the quiz, which was won, of course, by the best table, correctly naming most of the English heroes and answering questions on St. George and associations. Thank you to Ollie and Sharon and staff for arranging the evening.
Quiz in aid of Florence Nightingale Hospice
Another quiz, this time held in Chearsley Village Hall on Saturday 24th April was a sell out, with 10 tables booked. The raffle made £150, which together with the takings for the quiz amounted to about £500.
Car Pool
Keith Wright is appealing for more volunteer car drivers to join the car pool, which takes people to hospital or to keep doctor’s appointments. Please get in touch with Keith on 208607 if you would like to help out. Obviously, the more on the list, the better.
Speeding Signs
You will probably all have noticed the speeding signs which went up one weekend and were gone the next. A good attempt by our Parish Council at getting something done about the persistent speeding problem throughout our village, but deemed illegal by Bucks County Council on account of their size, material used and positioning. The one on The Green can remain as that land is not part of the highway, at the risk of the Parish Council.
Virgin London Marathon
David Taylor of Watts Green has again taken part in the Virgin London Marathon on 25th April for the second time, when he completed the 26 miles in 3 hours 17 minutes, an improvement on his previous entry. Sounds like a lot of hard work and effort. Congratulations David!
Mobile Library
This will next be by The Green on Monday 10th May from 1.10 until 1.35pm.
Annual Parish Meeting
A lively and well- attended meeting took place under the chairmanship of Nic Brown on Wednesday 21st April in the village hall with reports from Michael Edmonds, our District and County Councillor, commenting on difficult financial times at all levels, on the harsh winter which caused salt problems and shortages, the potholes with the programme set up to mend these. He spoke about new speed limits in the area which will be in place by the Summer, about support for the elderly, the new theatre and development at Waterside in Aylesbury, with the demolition of the old Civic Centre, carpark and old swimming pool. He answered criticisms about Chearsley’s lack of salt at the beginning of the snowy period, caused by mistakes by the Parish Council and AVDC and which will not happen again, the ongoing poor state of the roads into the village and gave assurances that the potholes in Chearsley will be mended by the Summer. Nic thanked Michael for all the help he gave to the Parish Council.
Sue Jones, our PCSO spoke that the main roles she dealt with were speeding, parking and criminal damage and vandalism. She did try to visit and walk round Chearsley frequently, and would try to increase her visits. We are fortunate in having had little crime this past year in Chearsley – 1 house burglary and 2 vehicle thefts. Staff at Waddesdon Police Station had recently been increased, so there was every chance of a call there being answered personally. Her mobile number is also available. Referring to the newly erected speeding signs, she volunteered to monitor their affect. We were all intrigued to hear about a naked man who had been seen in Chilton road recently and in the surrounding area. So, keep a watch out!
Nic Brown’s report emphasized the importance of the shop and the pub as the hubs of village life and how vital it is for Chearsley residents to support them actively. Jay and Sharon and Oli were thanked for their hard work in what they do. Thanks were also given to Jay for initiating and producing the monthly newsletter. Illustrating many achievements and occurrences throughout the past year , Nic mentioned the arrival of our new Vicar, John Wynburne, more allotments now made available , our excellent and much admired website, village snow clearing efforts, the Christmas tree and celebrations, tug of war against Cuddington,and Stockwell, where some work has been started. He is very concerned about reducing the speeding in the village, not only along the main roads but also by residents in the village, and invited us to challenge known speeders, as he had recently done. When plans have been put together about curbing speeding, a village meeting will be called. In the meantime, the new speeding signs had been erected, which brought some criticism from the audience, about clutter, distraction and wrong positioning. Other future plans also include erection of new salt bins, new teak benches on The Green and improvements to the footpath across The Green and more work to be done on Stockwell.
There were many comments from the audience about the roads during the snowy period, the lack of salt,and the ensuing potholes. The phone number of Highways on Call – 0845 2302882 is for reporting pothole problems.
Dog fouling was also discussed at some length and it was agreed that although the Parish Council had previously dismissed installing dogwaste bins due to the expense, they would look into this again. Awareness of this problem would be a subject for the Newsletter.
The H2 High Speed Rail was touched on and assurances given that these plans would be monitored by the Parish Council and the village would be kept up-to-date.
Reports were also given about the Village Hall and about the village car service.
