Monday 29 July 2019

Flower Festival - 5/6th October

Date for your diaries....


Thursday 25 July 2019

Oxford Cambridge Expressway (OCE) Update

Following the update from the Parish Council on 18th June, the OCE was discussed again at the recent Parish Council meeting on 15th July.

In addition, the Chearsley OCE Working Group met on Monday evening (22nd July) and Chearsley PC were represented at a meeting organised by the No Expressway Group on Tuesday evening (23rdJuly) to explore ways in which local PCs might benefit in ‘joining forces’ to deal with the major challenges presented by this new development.

It is vitally important that all Chearsley residents appreciate the potential impact on our community of the building of an Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, as well as the possibility of a massive housing development programme, which may include the construction of 64,000 new houses in an area designated ‘East of Oakley’, just a short distance from our own village.

There are already several campaign groups opposing the development who have detailed information on their websites – have a look at some of these links:

The No Expressway Group:
https://www.noexpressway.org/

The No Expressway Alliance:

The Expressway Action Group:

Bucks Expressway Group:

There are also a number of government departments and other organisations who support the broad principle of an Oxford-Cambridge Expressway from an overall economic perspective, as evidenced by the following links:

National Infrastructure Commission:

Highways England:

England’s Economic Heartland:

In the near future, the Parish Council will launch a formal consultation with the whole of the Chearsley community to determine its views and from which it will be able to develop a public position.

In addition, the Parish Council is arranging a meeting at the Village Hall on the evening of Monday 9th September, to which a range of experts will be invited to brief us on their own perspectives on the OCE project and its potential impacts. 

In the meantime, Ian Houseman, a longstanding resident of Chearsley, with an extensive background in agricultural and environmental matters, has kindly agreed to prepare a report on behalf of the Parish Council, documenting the ‘assets’ of our village under the following headings.
  • Landscape
  • Cultural heritage
  • Nature conservation
  • Geology & soils
  • Road drainage and the water environment

If any parishioners feel able to make a contribution to Ian’s report, please contact him at ian.houseman@btconnect.com

For any further information on the OCE project and related issues, please contact Councillor John Howard at jnh@dbmc.co.uk

Wednesday 24 July 2019

Chearsley Village wins the Dashwood Trophy.


In 2019, Chearsley entered the Bucks Kept Village competition for the first time in several years and won the Dashwood Trophy for the Best Runner-Up in the smaller village category, with populations between 500 – 1500 inhabitants.

The judges awarded Chearsley 97 marks just one point behind the winner Hedgerley and level with Cuddington. Although we were level with Cuddington, the trophy must go to a village that has not won an award in the past five years.

Arrangements are currently in hand for the formal presentation of the Dashwood Trophy and we will also receive a full report from the judges.

The marks were awarded across a wide range of criteria:

Commons, greens, playing fields, children’s play areas
Nature conservation areas
Village hall, community centre, church hall
General environmental features (hedges, verges, ditches, pond, stream, pump)
Areas around shops and pubs
Bus stops and bus shelters
Notice boards
Cemetery, graveyard, war memorial
Overall appearance, lack of litter and evidence of community effort

“We are delighted with this result,” said Parish Council Chairman, Nic Brown “I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all those who have gone the extra mile in recent years in making our community the very special place that it is – not least the hard-working team who accomplished the task of seeing through the building of our fantastic new Village Hall.”

“As regards the future, there is, of course, much to do. In addition to caring for all our community assets, I know that we must all work harder to demonstrate our concern for the environment. The Parish Council would welcome any ideas and new thinking from our residents in this vital area.”

Friday 19 July 2019

Bucks County Council Transport Survey


Dear Villagers,

Bucks County Council are conducting their annual survey to collect individual road users’ views on traffic matters and the condition of roads locally.

If you would like to pass on your own views directly, in addition to the representations made on your behalf by the Parish Council, please complete the BCC questionnaire by clicking on this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BCCtransportsurvey2019

According to their information, it takes “a few minutes” and the deadline for responding is Monday 30th September 2019.

Wednesday 17 July 2019

Poorly Parked Vehicles in Chearsley

By Mark Gillis.

"Last Thursday morning, the 11th July, I found a Thames Water van parked on the pavement as shown in the photo below. I could just about squeeze past, but I’m aware that that is the route for a number of people to go to CHUFS and would therefore have meant that mothers with toddlers or pushchairs would have been forced into the road. Similarly any elderly or infirm pedestrians would have not been able to get past the van and would have ended up in the road too.

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the traffic issues in Chearsley and recognise that that bend in the road (just below the Chestnut tree on the way down to Cuddington) has a constant stream of traffic, particularly in the morning, including heavy goods vehicles and drivers who do not recognise the 30 mile an hour limit as applying to them. Not an ideal stretch of road to be forced onto on foot.

I wrote to Thames Water and they have told me that the driver in question will be “dealt with accordingly”. That wasn’t my intention, to be honest; I only asked that Thames Water ask their drivers to park with consideration and not use pavements.

If anyone else comes across this sort of parking, from Thames Water or any other company, I’d recommend taking the same course of action; take a photo if you can, email the company and do let your Parish Councillors know ( ChearsleyPC@Chearsley.comso that they can keep a log of similar incidents"


Thursday 11 July 2019

Damage to No Entry sign at the top of School Lane 

John Howard of the Parish Council is asking for any information about the latest example of bad driving manoeuvres in the village when the No Entry sign near The Horse Chestnut Tree was recently hit and damaged.   If anyone witnessed this incident or accident or has any information about it, please contact John at jnh@dbmc.co.uk.  The matter will be included in a report to Transport for Bucks as yet another incidence of traffic problems in Chearsley. 


Wednesday 10 July 2019

Village News  July 10 2019  by Margaret Morbey 01844 208913  email margmorb@mail.com
Chearsley.com    There is now a new webmaster of Chearsley.com.  The Parish Council are delighted that Keith Turnbull, recently co-opted as a Parish councillor, has agreed to take on this job from Leif. The PC would like to give heartfelt thanks to Leif for the truly wonderful service he has given to the village for many years. Leif initially established, then maintained and improved the website and blog to provide immediate village news, details of events and other important information for Chearsley villagers. 
Chearsley Peakers  This weekend, Saturday July 13,  5 walkers from The Bell plan to walk 50km for charity in the Peak District, as part of the Peak District Ultra Challenge event,  aiming to complete this in 12 hours or less.   Taking part are Sharon Woodford, Nicola Harrison, Chris Morbey, Jay Gibson and Terry Gadsby.  The chosen charity of The Bell for this year is Alzheimer’s Research UK.  An easy and secure way of donating to this very worthy cause is via their Just Giving Page, https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chearsley-peakers1  where the money goes direct to the Charity. The team have raised over £1,500 to date by this means, well on the way to their aim of £2,000.  All the best to them all and hopefully  the weather won’t be too scorching as it was for last year’s walk.   
The Bell   During August,  things can go a bit  quiet in the village with school and family holidays and with no special  village events planned, waiting to get going again in September when  the monthly Bingo and Sunday Quiz at The Bell restart and  Chearsley Show and  the Classic & Vintage Fun day are held.  However, The Bell will continue to be open all day at the weekends; also still offering a burger and a pint for £12 on Wednesday evenings; coffee and cake for £4.50 on Friday mornings followed by the Find The Joker game in the evening at 8.30pm and the weekly Sunday Meat Raffle at 3pm.
Chearsley Show   Saturday September 7  More information and schedules for this  will soon be delivered to everyone in the village, offering a wide range of categories, not only for flowers, fruit and vegetables but opportunities to show off photographic, art and craft and baking skills. Plus a special section for Children with, this year for the first time, a Children’s Show Stopper Cake.  
Chearsley Village Classic & Vintage Fun Day   The 8th year of this great village day takes place on Sunday September 15  from 11am to 5pm at Chearsley Cricket Ground. A wonderful family day out with free entrance and parking.  Attractions for the whole family including classic and vintage vehicles, “Best in Show” competition, RAF fly past, arts and crafts, fun fair, trade stands, children’s entertainment, live music, classic coach rides, live music, BBQ, fish and chips, teas and coffees with homemade cakes and the .   Classic and commercial vehicle owners, trade stands and other enquiries, please visit ccvfd.co.uk or facebook.com/Chearsley Classic FunDay or contact Andy Yorke on 07775 824408 for more information.
Chearsley Cricket Club  Both the 1st and 2nd XI teams are doing well this season. They welcome spectators and supporters to cheer them on at all their games.  This Saturday, July 13, the 1st XI are away to Westbury and the 2nd XI are at home to Shipton. The game starts at 1pm. Saturday,  July 20th the 1st XI are at home to Horley, start at 12.30pm. Come and support them and enjoy some refreshment from the bar. 
Parish Council Meeting   Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend the next meeting of the Parish Council on Monday July 15 at 7.30pm in the village hall. There will be no meeting during August.
Cuddington Matinee cinema  Monday July 22  will be screening  “Finding Your Feet “ a feel-good romantic comedy released in 2018 featuring a colourful group of defiant and energetic Third agers, starring Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Joanna Lumley and Celia Imrie. The film starts at 1.30pm with doors open at 1pm at The Bernard Hall, Cuddington.  Tickets cost £5 to include refreshments during the interval and can be bought on the door or reserved by phoning 01844 291526 during office hours.
Trustees  needed for CHUF   Chearsley and Haddenham Under Fives (CHUF) is an Ofsted registered Pre-school operating in both Haddenham and Chearsley villages. CHUF has over 50 years of experience in providing a fantastic Early Years education within a stimulating, safe and caring environment for 2 to 5 year olds.  Chearsley CHUF was established in 1968 and Haddenham in 2003.
CHUF is now in the process of establishing a new charity status which will continue to aspire to enhance the education and development of children and young people in the community through the provision of high quality childcare.  Until now CHUF has been run as an unincorporated charitable organisation, but is now changing to Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) status.  The CIO structure allows charities the limited liability of a company combined with the flexibility of an unincorporated charity and will provide CHUF with increased stability going forward.
As such, CHUF is now looking for Trustees for the charity. The Charities Trustees are in charge of running the charity and making decisions regarding its management in order to achieve its aims. Why volunteer? Are you interested in learning new skills? Would you like to meet new people? Would you like to share your skills, time and ideas with others? Are you passionate about the development and education of your children? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, we would love to hear from you and provide you with more information about becoming a Trustee. Please email info@chufpreschool.co.uk.
CHUF Sessions  Sessions are available at both our settings from September 2019. In Haddenham, sessions run from Monday to Friday 9.10am to 12.10pm for 2,3,and 4 year olds) and 12.10pm to 3.10pm for 3 and 4 year olds.  In Chearsley, sessions run from Monday through to Friday 9.10am to 12.10pm for 2,3 and 4 year olds and 12.10pm to 3.10pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 3 and 4 year olds.  CHUF offers two year old funding for those eligible as well as 15 hours of Universal funding for all 3 and 4 year olds. CHUF in Chearsley also offers part of the Extended Funding offer that some 3 and 4 year olds are eligible for (currently 24 of the 30 hours).  Haddenham CHUF is currently looking at providing extended funding in the near future. Chearsley offers a breakfast club and we are looking to roll this out in Haddenham from September 2019. More information regarding CHUF can be found on our website : www.chuf.co.uk or to join our waiting list please emailinfo@chufpreschool.co.uk.
Services at St Nicholas Church:
Sunday July 14   9am  Holy Communion
Sunday July 14   4pm  Messy Church in the Village Hall
Sunday July 21   10am  Chearsley Praise    
Sunday July 28   6pm  Evensong
Diary Dates:
Saturday July 13        Chearsley Peakers 50km walk
Sunday  July 14          Bucks Emergency Services Day at Quainton Railway
Monday July 15          Parish Council Meeting 7.30pm in the Village Hall
Monday July 22          Cuddington Matinee Cinema  1pm “Finding your Feet” in The Bernard Hall 
Saturday September 7    Chearsley Show including Scarecrow Parade
Sunday September 15     Chearsley Classic and Vintage Fun Day  starting at 11am
Saturday November 16   Chearsley Cricket Club Dinner and Dance at The Oxford Belfry

Tuesday 9 July 2019