Thursday 22 July 2010

Weather warning

Issued by the Met Office at 08:12 on Thursday, 22nd July 2010

Isolated torrential downpours could give more than 20 mm of rain in one hour locally, with overall totals perhaps exceeding 50 mm.

The public are advised to take extra care and refer to the Highways Agency for further advice on traffic disruption on motorways and trunk roads.

Valid from 10:15 on Thursday, 22nd July 2010 until 21:00 on Thursday, 22nd July 2010

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Village News

Fenella Tillier in "Finding The Lost Battalions"
Those of us in Chearsley who know Fenella and who watched Channel 4’s programme on Monday July 19th, felt very proud of  her  playing a major part in Channel 4’s programme and sharing her sorrow and sadness as she discovered exactly how her Great Uncle, Charles Phipps had lost his life.
“Finding the Lost Battalions” told the tragic story of Australian and British soldiers who died at the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916, using the stories of three of the soldiers who died there, told by their relatives. Fenella  was one of the three, reading letters from her Great Uncle, to his family at home in The Lee, and being filmed at the battle site as it was explained to her exactly how and where the battle had taken place.
Earlier that day, Fenella had joined a ceremony in Fromelles, attended by Prince Charles and Camilla, alongside descendants of soldiers when a coffin bearing the remains of an unidentified soldier was taken to the new cemetery in Fromelles.
Although three of the bodies found in the mass grave had been able to be identified using DNA tests, Fenella’s Great Uncle had not been one of them.

Mobile Library
This is next in Chearsley on Monday August 2nd from  12.10 until 12.45pm

Bingo at The Bell
There will be a break from Bingo during August and September, ready for a new start on the first Tuesday in October.

Chearsley Show
The lack of rain will not be helping entries of fruit and vegetables for Chearsley Show on September 4th, but don’t let this prevent you from taking part. It is the same for everyone. So remember to return your entry forms by 31st August.  It is a fun day for all the village to join in.

Keith Wright
Hopefully Keith is now well on the road to recovery and feeling well again.

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Going abroad?

Two things to think about if you are leaving our shores. Firstly, the banks seem to have started implementing differing degrees of security on use of their debit and credit cards in foreign countries, varying from nothing to a full block. The BBC News article "Telling your bank you are travelling abroad" gives some background information, but if you are going somewhere different this year, it may pay you to warn your bank in advance!

Secondly, a timely and topical piece from the Citizens Advice Bureau:

Know your rights when it comes to flights!

Hopefully, if you are going on holiday this summer, you will have a wonderful time and get the rest and relaxation you deserve. However, should your flight be subject to delays, it’s useful to know your rights.

The existing legislation applies to all flights departing from or flying to a European Union airport via an EU airline.

If your flight is cancelled or changed within 14 days of your journey, for reasons other than ‘extraordinary circumstances’ (see below), then you have the right to a refund or alternative transportation, as well as compensation. You can claim up to €600 depending on the notice of cancellation, your flight distance and how much delay you suffer. Since November 2009 you could also be entitled to compensation, as well as meals, drinks, two phone calls (or emails, faxes etc) and accommodation if necessary, if your flight is delayed.

If your flight is delayed or cancelled due to ‘extraordinary circumstances’ such as extreme weather, strikes or security risks, you won’t be entitled to compensation. The airline should book you onto the next available flight, or offer a refund if your flight is delayed by more than 5 hours, but only if you decide not to travel. You may be entitled to receive catering, communication and accommodation assistance if your flight is delayed for a number of hours or eventually cancelled.

If you are on a package holiday, the travel company must follow arrangements set out in the travel brochure to cover delays. If they don’t, you may be able to claim a refund and/or compensation.

The Civil Aviation Authority website offers more info at: www.caa.co.uk. If you believe you are entitled to compensation but the airline or tour operator denies responsibility you should see an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau, ( for Thame CAB, telephone 01844 217186).

Thursday 15 July 2010

Village News

with Margaret Morbey

Pub Lunch
The third Pub Lunch will be held on Wednesday 28th July at  12.30pm at The Bell – a chance to meet up with old friends and catch up with news. Please contact Ann Hooton on 208306 or Alan Mitchener on 208893 to book your place and choose your menu.

Festival of Flowers  at the Church
A lot of planning, thought and creative talent was apparent at St. Nicholas Church on Saturday and Sunday for  the Flower Festival resulting in many beautiful and clever arrangements depicting many Saints.  About £400 was raised from donations and teas from those  who visited, which will go towards the upkeep and preservation of our historic church.

Chearsley Cricket Club’s Midsummer Madness
Another successful fund-raising venture took place on Saturday 17th July, on a lovely warm evening, dancing to Hair of the Dog and enjoying a pig roast.  Novel entertainment was provided by several well deserving residents as they took their punishment for various offences in the stocks.  Onlookers had no hesitation in paying to throw wet sponges at them or to splatter them with cream! They were all good sports and well done to them.

Baby congratulations
Cricket Club Director of Fun and Games, John Howard is having a busy time lately, as he and Alicia have become first-time Grandparents to a grandson on July 8th. Congratulations and good wishes  to their son, John and Clair and new baby in France.

Footsteps
“Walking in the footsteps of Moses “is the theme for a day of fun on Wednesday, 25th August from 10am to 3pm.  St Nicholas Church invites all local children to a craft and drama fun day to be held in the village hall, around Chearsley and finishing up at the Church. Cost for the day will be £2 per child, with any profits going to Habitat for Humanity. Please contact Sharon Sampson on 208740 or email sharon@cloverdale.biz  for more information or to register.

Bouncy Castle For Hire
The Sampson family are hoping to raise more funds for Habitat for Humanity by renting out their small bouncy castle, suitable for toddler parties, grandchildren etc. at a cost of £10 per day. Please contact Sharon on 208940, or see this leaflet.

Recycling
Tuesday, 27th July is collection day for all recycling – cans, plastics, paper and glass.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Community Message

This is a Community Message from Aylesbury Watch Office on Tuesday 13 July 2010.

During the last week an increase in domestic burglaries has been reported in Aylesbury Vale, particularly in rural locations - including offences in Wingrave, Cublington, Dagnall and the Bedgrove area of Aylesbury.

Generally these crimes have occurred between 9am and 4pm on weekdays, whilst the occupant has been out at work. Entry has been via the rear of the premise and property taken included small electrical items, jewellery, cash and handbags.

Aylesbury Vale Rural Neighbourhood Insp Emma Garside is asking for residents to assist the Police in remaining vigilant and ensuring suspicious activity is reported immediately. She said 'We are particularly interested in sightings of a black Vauxhall Astra or Vectra which may be connected to these offences. The vehicle may have 'NL56', 'NL58' or '03' in the registration number and has been seen with three occupants.'

You can also make your property less appealing to a potential thief - if you have an alarm, use it. Consider leaving a radio on, tuned to a 'talk' radio station. Ask a trusted neighbour to park on your drive if you are regularly out during the day and keep an eye open for any suspicious activity in your road.

If you do sight anything suspicious, report it straight away - if possible obtain a description of any persons and the make, model, colour and registration number of any vehicle. If a crime is in progress dial on 999. Officers would rather check a report of suspicious activity and find out that all is Ok than not get the call and discover that a burglary has occurred.

If you have any information in relation to these crimes or witness anything suspicious in your area call the Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505 and state that you are responding to this Ringmaster Message.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Community Message

This is a Community Message from Aylesbury Watch Office, with an update from the Aylesbury Neighbourhood Inspector Omar Abu-Rish

Dear all,

I previously informed you about Operation Artemis (long term operation focusing on drug use and supply across Aylesbury Vale) that was running and explained that we had some excellent initial results. It has now concluded and ran for a total of 6 weeks with additional support from our Neighbourhood Police and Response Teams; we have now had a chance to count up the full results. Op Artemis is run by our intelligence team at Aylesbury Police Station and on a weekly basis uses officers from the Roads Policing Pro-active team - they will be better known to you as the officers regularly appearing on the tv show Road Wars.

The ability to bolster Operation Artemis with additional officers over this period enabled the team to deal with more work from arrest stage to full prosecution. In total 69 arrests were made during the operation, 41 for drugs possession and supply offences and 11 for serious acquisitive crimes (such as burglary and car crime) & 18 arrests for other offences. A total of 29 search warrants were executed (22 for drugs, 7 for theft & handling stolen property). These searches resulted in the dismantling of 7 cannabis factories, ranging from small scale set ups to organised criminal enterprises with a total of 2000 plants at a street value of £600,000 seized.

Two offenders travelling from London and High Wycombe to deal heroin and cocaine were prosecuted with one male given a 4 year prison sentence, and 3 more are on remand in prison awaiting sentence or trial. I am pleased to announce that in total £10,000 cash has been seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and in addition to the cannabis plants drugs with a street value of a further £10,000 have been taken off the streets.

Officers from the Priority Crime Team who deal with burglary, robbery and car crime offenders have charged 3 males from Ilford with an offence of conspiracy to burgle in relation to 10 house burglaries across the south of England where cars were stolen. Due to the modern technology in cars they need to get the keys in order to steal the car, hence breaking into the house first. One of these offences was in The Coppice in Aylesbury and one in another area of Thames Valley, 6 were in Hertfordshire, 1 in Surrey and 1 in Cornwall!!! These cross border offenders were identified and successfully prosecuted by our very own local officers after a great deal of work. The officer in charge of the case has told me that the case summary for Crown Court was 29 pages long!!

I can give you a further update on James Dean Howard who was charged and remanded with burglary and dangerous driving after knocking over PC Alix Daley - he has now pleaded guilty at court and we are awaiting sentencing. I very much look forward to updating you with his sentence and will be having a celebratory drink in the pub next door to the police station when I hear the news (off duty off course). Alix is still recovering from her injuries, she is walking slowly now but is still in pain and general discomfort but again asked me to thank everyone who offered their kind wishes after the accident.

We have just completed the Cop Card Sticker Scheme, the idea is for children in Year 6 from all the schools in Bucks to collect stickers (24 in all) and fill up their card. Each sticker can be collected by completing a different task or challenge, or by attending an event and is aimed at encouraging children to try out new activities and learn about their community. Schools in Aylesbury did extremely well this year and 1st prize of free tickets to Legoland for all of the Year 6 students were awarded to St Louis Roman Catholic School, a runners up prize of a session using a climbing wall awarded to pupils at St Mary's School. Ashmead School was awarded £250 for their commitment and contribution, one of their students also received a personal prize for his personal achievement while participating in the programme. Well done to all the Year 6 students across Aylesbury Vale, it was a close run competition but praise is well earned and deserved for everyone involved.

Despite the fairly large numbers given earlier on about Operation Artemis, Aylesbury Vale is one of the safest places and has some of the lowest crime rates across the region, especially with regards to more serious and violent crimes. I know we still have work to do but hope you can see that we are working as hard as we can to reduce crime and improve the standard of living across the Aylesbury Vale. If you have any specific questions or comments then please contact me directly. Don't forget that your Neighbourhood Team provide a more detailed monthly update about what's happening in your area on our force website www.thamesvalley.police.uk

Regards,
Omar.



Thames Valley Police logo

If you have any information in relation to this message, please contact Thames Valley Police on 08458 505 505
www.thamesvalley.police.uk.

CrimeStoppers logo

If you have information about crime but do not want to speak to the police, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Saturday 10 July 2010

Footsteps update

St Nicholas Church Chearsley invites all local children to walk in the footsteps of Moses at a craft and drama fun day on 25th August.

We will start off in the village hall making all sorts of exciting crafts to use as props during the day.  Most of them can be taken home at the end in your very own "party bag" which you can decorate yourself.

Then we will head off to Paul and Ann Persson's garden at the bottom of Lower Green Lane where we will float Moses baskets, make bricks, escape through the red sea and wander around the desert for 40 years !

We will all join together for a picnic lunch before setting off on more adventures.

The cost for the day will be £2 per child and any profits will go to the wonderful charity Habitat for Humanity.  We are attempting to raise £1,235 this year to pay for H4H to build one house for a family living in poverty.

If you would like to register, or need more information call Sharon Sampson on 208740 or email Sharon@cloverdale.biz.

Please note that you will need to bring a parent or carer with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wanted!
If anyone has any of the following, please can they pass them on to Sharon Sampson or drop them off at Cloverdale, Lower Green Lane:
A sheepskin pelt - it does not matter how old or what colour.  We will be cutting it into strips to make furry snakes.
Butter/margarine tubs - to make waterproof Moses baskets that we can float
Custard / cocoa / gravy cardboard pots with lids - to decorate and fill with ten commandments pebbles
Cotton wool - to make sheep puppets and a pillar of cloud
Blue card - to decorate with bright fishes and seaweed for the parting of the red sea
Gold paint - for making gold necklaces and bracelets
Double sided sticky tape - as we will not have time to wait for glue to set before using the crafts.

Thursday 8 July 2010

Les Rosbifs ou Les Bleus?

John and Alicia Howard's first grandchild arrived safely this morning in Beziers in the South of France. Congratulations to Johnny and his French girlfriend, Clair, who undoubtedly are in Seventh Heaven!
Young Charlie will have a major decision to make in a few years time – will he play rugby for England or France?

Village News

with Margaret Morbey

Chearsley W.I.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 20th which will be a Garden Meeting at the home of Pauline Parkes, their president, at The Rosary, Dark Lane. Visitors are welcome to come along. There will be a talk by a representative from Home Start, which is their  current charity.

Mobile Library
This will next be in the village on Monday July 19th from 12.20 to 12.45pm.

Fenella on TV
Don’t miss WW1 The Lost Battalions scheduled to be shown on Channel 4 on Monday July 19th at 8pm., which includes Fenella Tillier who has been filmed and interviewed at home and in France concerning her  Great Uncle, Charles Phipps who was killed at The Battle of Fromelles.

Chearsley Fayre
Warm,  beautiful  weather made the day and evening perfect for our Fayre on Saturday, 26th June. A steady flow of locals and  visitors made the occasion great fun for everyone and raised over £5,000. Thanks go to Clare Lazaruk and her helpers who made it all possible. The festivities carried on into the evening with a Pig Roast at The Bell and local band Silver and disco music  providing the music for dancing in the street until late. A good village do!  

Celebrity Wedding
On the same day as our Fayre, 26th June, our vicar, John Wynburne officiated at St Nicholas, Nether Winchendon for the wedding of Brendon Cole, Strictly Come Dancing celebrity and  Zoe Hobbs.      A photo of John (and a few other celebrities) can be seen in Hello! magazine.

Tea Dance in Haddenham
Another tea dance will be held in Haddenham Village Hall on Tuesday, July 20th from 2 to 4.15. The dance includes ballroom, latin and sequence. Entry costs £3.25 which includes tea and raffle.  Contact Mick White on 079507 98466 for more information.

Evaluation of GP practices
Would you be willing to join a group of responsible and interested people to help evaluate GP practices across Buckinghamshire?  It would involve giving a brief report on your observations of a visit to the practice as well as performing a few pre-visit tasks such as checking the practice website and phoning to listen to the out-of-hours message. Training and payment of £100 would be given on completion of the visit and report.  Interviews for potential assessors will be held at the end of July, with a half day training session in mid August.  People of all ages and from all backgrounds are being sought. Please contact Anne Ronan on 01494 555589 or anne.ronan@buckinghamshire.nhs.uk

Neighbourhood Police Team July Newsletter

The July 2010 Newsletter is now available for download here: July 2010 Newsletter

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Waddesdon Emergency Services: Open Day

This is a Community Message from Aylesbury Watch Office on Tuesday 6 July 2010.

Waddesdon emergency services open day is being held this year on Saturday 11 September between 10am and 5pm at Waddesdon Manor and everyone is invited to attend.

Waddesdon police station holds an annual open day with Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, and other organisations attending include South Central Ambulance Service, Buckinghamshire County Council and other partner agencies. The day is organised in a bid to offer residents of Aylesbury Vale information on their local organisations and the services which are widely available to them.

With it also being the National Trust's Heritage open day there is the added bonus of Waddesdon Manor being free to enter. An estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people are expected to attend the event, weather permitting.

Your local neighbourhood policing officers will be on hand talking about the role of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and the responsibilities the officers and PCSOs have. The Special Constabulary will also be available to talk to about their role and how other people can help and join the team if interested.

The Force helicopter will hopefully be making an appearance and the local Neighbourhood Action Group will also have a stall explaining their role and the good work they do in the local community.

For the children, a 'power slide' will be available and the Manor will be providing face painting, balloons and much more.

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), Antony Hurd, said: "This will be a great opportunity for everyone, young and old, to find out more about the emergency services and what we do in the area. It will also be a chance for you to meet your local neighbourhood team and highlight the issues affecting you.

"Please come along to this free event, not only to support the Manor but your emergency services too."

Monday 5 July 2010