The Roadside BBQ for helpers after the successful Litter Pick event on 13th Nov
Contents
AGENDA for 17th Jan 2012 Parish Council meetingLive Band NightSummer Garden Party SuccessA338 Speed Limits New WebsiteThankyou for your considerationYouth Evening SuccessFriends of Friendless ChurchesAllington and Boscombe Village FundThe Good and the BadEnvironmental GroupFirst Time Bonfire NightAllington and Boscombe Village Get-together raises £2,400Closure of Allington ChurchBattery Recycling Scheme LaunchedAllington and Boscombe in the PictureNewton Tony Post OfficeBourne Valley Alliance of
Parich Councils
AGENDA
FOR THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
to be held in Boscombe Social Club on Tuesday 17th January 2012 at 7.30pm 1. Apologies.
2. Declaration of Interest.
3. Approve and sign minutes of December 6th meeting.
4. Matters arising; a) Discuss and vote on grass cutting contract.
b) Speed-Watch Consultation – responses.
5. Report from Unitary Councillor (if in attendance).
6. Report from last BVAPC Meeting.
7. Crime Report update and appointment of Police Liaison Councillor.
8. Discuss any Planning Applications.
9. Monthly financial report and cheque signing
10. Correspondence received.
11. AOB.
12.Confirm date of next meeting.
Live Band Night
A large crowd of 162 residents and friends and
family of residents were entertained by Identity Crisis on Saturday 17th September 2011 in the Garden of The Old Rectory, Allington. By popular request 'Identity Crisis' the live group that entertained us at the recent Garden Party was back for a 3 hour swinging 70's 80's and 90's live music evening (Rock, Blues, Pop and Disco).
Dispite the stormy weather of the day, the evening did stay dry although turning colder didn't dampen the spirits of the crowd.
Great music, with a BBQ and wine and beer available and to end the evening with fireworks on the last few songs ended the excellent evening enjoyed by all.
The evening made £222 profit (after costs, including the band) for the Allington and Boscombe Village Fund and £225 of tickets were sold for the Christmas Raffle that will be drawn on Saturday 17th December.
Summer Garden Party Success
This year’s Allington and Boscombe Summer Garden
Party was held at the Old Rectory, Allington on Saturday 9th July with some 500 residents and friends enjoying an afternoon in the sunshine. Traditional stalls of Plants, Cakes, Bottles, Produce and Crafts were complimented by a Coconut shy, Tombola, China smashing, Hoop-la, Bottle fishing, Golf, Treasure hunt, Bouncy castle, Paintballing, Pony rides, Football game, Ferret racing, Splat the rat, Stocks, a Kiddies corner and an Alpaca display.
Afternoon teas, a Hog Roast, The Old Inn Bar, an Ice cream van, a 10 prize raffle and a live band kept visitors entertained through until 6pm.
After expenses, funds raised for the Allington and Boscombe Village Fund topped £2,200.
Thanks to all the stall helpers, organisers, scout helpers, band, The Old Inn and of course a big thank you to all the villagers and friends for coming along and making our Garden Party such a success.
A338 Speed Limits
Allington with Boscombe Parish Council have successfully applied for Wiltshire Council (Traffic and Network Management) to reduce the A338 speed limit to 30mph at the north end to Allington. So when is it going to happen? The Wiltshire Council have advised the Parish Council that,
“In terms of the speed limit changes, Wiltshire Council have put together a two year programme for the delivery of all the changes proposed. This covers 120 locations across the County. These have been placed in 28 batches and prioritised for action on the basis of collision rates. The A338 at Allington is included in Batch 22. I can confirm that this project will not be lost and there is considerable activity taking place overall on delivering all the speed limit changes agreed. Allington is programmed but has to wait its turn. Given current progress on the earlier speed limit batches, I would expect that we will make contact with Allington
Parish Council within this current financial year.”
So, we have to wait our turn – but it will happen. In the meantime, the Village Transport Committee have also been successful in having Wiltshire Council Highways Department replace and renew the reflective warning posts on the long bend from the Old Inn up toward The Old Rectory. The Committee, together with the Parish Council, continue to pressure Wiltshire Council to reduce speed limits from Bourne View on down to The Earl of Normanton. However, the current situation is that this stretch of road has insufficient homes on the road frontage to meet Council requirements for speed reduction (current requirements are 6 home frontages on the road, every 100 metres, for a minimum of 600 metres). Highway rules and regulations relating to speed limits may change in future – so the Parish Council is keeping up the pressure.
New Website
Allington
and Boscombe have a new village website where you can view all the latest news from the Parish Committees, Parish Plan and Parish events and a contact section to join our mailing group or have your say!
www.allingtonwithboscombe- parish.co.uk
Thank you for your consideration
Last year the incidence of complaints about dog fouling in the open spaces of Allington (Playground, Ford, East Farm Track, Chalk Pit, Churchyard and Wyndham Lane) were at an all time high. The Village Environment Committee and Parish Council have taken this issue seriously and new signage, together with comments on our village website and in the parish magazine has had the desired effect.
Though incidence of dog fouling has declined in recent months, there are still some residents that need to be reminded of their responsibility to ‘pick-up’ after their dogs and place it in their waste bins at home. The Wiltshire Council fine for dog fouling
is £70 or £1000 for persistent offenders. Thanks for your consideration!
Youth Evening Success
The first Allington and Boscombe ‘Fun and Activity Evening’ for children from 3-16 years, was held at The Boscombe Social Club on February 22nd. About 30 children came to this event. There was pool, table football, air hockey, skittles and darts, as well as colouring competitions, a play/toy area and pass the parcel. The pottery painting was a great success with ceramic horses, monkeys, dragons, crocodiles and puffer fish being given a make-over, as well as aeroplanes and money-boxes. This was provided by Lorraine of Clever Clogs Ceramics (info@cleverclogsceramics.co.uk) who did a brilliant job for us. Food and drink were also provided. The whole evening was funded by the Allington and Boscombe Village Fund (ABVF) — just the kind of event the fund was set up to support. We received donations on the evening of £20
which has been credited to the ABVF. Tesco of Amesbury has donated a new table-tennis table to the Youth Committee. This will be a brilliant addition to the activities we can offer our youth and the Youth Committee is grateful to Tesco for their support.
The Youth Committee is hoping to have a disco before Easter in the Boscombe Social Club and plans to organise two trips in the near future — one to Delta Force Paintballing, near Romsey (for 10 years and over), and the other to Snowtrax ski centre, near Christchurch (for 5 years and over). Call Ruth Harris (01980 610660) for more details.
One of the main aims of the Youth Committee is to get a Youth Club up and running. The Boscombe Social Club has been, and continues to be very supportive of the Youth Committee activities. They will allow us to use the Club, including their equipment, on a regular basis, for nominal charge. A very big thank you to them.
If anyone is interested in
being involved with this project, or in attending the Youth Club, please contact John Hill (01980 610911).
Friends of Friendless Churches
In early 2010 the Allington Church was closed for public worship. We are delighted to confirm that a national charity, Friends of Friendless Churches, has taken over the church and from now on is responsible for its upkeep and maintaining it as a national monument. The charity plans to undertake ongoing repairs and maintenance of the church and are keen that Allington residents know about their future plans.
Resident’s concerns that the church could fall into disrepair, or one day to be the subject of unwanted development, are now passed – and we should all be very thankful.
Allington and Boscombe Village Fund
Money raised from village events is held in the Allington and Boscombe Village Fund (ABVF) administered by the Community Partnership. Successful fundraisers in
2010 included the Garden Party and Bonfire Party evening that now sees the fund with £2700 at bank. So what’s the money for? This is not a charitable fund – its more a project fund to support activities and the work of the Village Sub Committees to deliver on the Allington and Boscombe Parish Plan.
Future projects requiring support or funding could be large or small – ranging from funds to help toward a future village hall to bulb planting on the verges through the villages to improve our environment. It also provides the initial funding of future fundraisers that will swell the coffers for future investment.
A full set of ABVF accounts will be available for inspection at the end of December 2011.
The Good and The Bad
As part of the preparation work for the Allington and Boscombe Parish Plan 2011- 2016, it became obvious that the most significant issue for residents was the traffic speed on the A338. Following
an appeal from the Parish Council, Wiltshire Council has now confirmed that a reduction in the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph will soon be implemented through the northern end of Allington. This is the GOOD news
The BAD news is that the new speed limit does not extend through the other end of Allington, Bourne View and on through Boscombe that will see the limit remaining at 40mph.
Environmental Group
As part of the village Parish Plan (2011-2116) Allington and Boscombe have formed an Environmental Group, made up of residents that meet 4 times a year to discuss ideas on environmental topics including: Tubs/Planters Dog Fouling Planting Trees in remembrance Maps of local walks Litter Seasonal ideas Competitions and engaging the village to assist the committee.
The Group is committed to increasing the
awareness of environmental issues and improving the appearance of the village. Their first event was a Litter Pick on 13th November 2010 which was a great success. Some eight black sacks of litter were collected, together with two footballs, a bicycle wheel, a sofa and an armchair! Thanks to all that came and to Mike and Fiona Brunton who provided a roadside BBQ for the helpers.
Others from the Environmental Group planted a variety of bulbs (Daffodils, Narcissi and Bluebells) around the village open areas in late November. The village should look pretty in the spring and the hope is that people driving through our village will take more care. There are plans to have planters/tubs around the village too.
If you have ideas or comments, or would like to help the Environmental Group, then please email:
ab.envirogroup@gmail.com
First Time Bonfire Night
Over 180 residents and friends attended the
Allington and Boscombe Bonfire Night celebrations on Wednesday 3rd November at The Old Rectory. This was the first time that the village had enjoyed their own bonfire and fireworks party, organised by the Village Life and Youth Committees.
Dave Willis and John Hill had spent many weeks building and preparing the bonfire that was almost 30ft high! A Best Guy competition resulted in seven Guys atop the bonfire with a £25 gift voucher going to the best — won by Shirley Willis and her grandchildren.
Residents arrived on site from 6pm onward — welcomed by the aroma of mulled wine, hot dogs and soup. After the bonfire and 20 minute fireworks display, funds for future village development (part of our Parish Plan) were boosted with a raffle. Including donations, the evening raised £632.
For photos of the event, see new page "Bonfire Night"
Allington and Boscombe Village Get-together Raises
£2,400
It’s been some seven or eight years since Allington and Boscombe last hosted a Village Fete. Earlier this year, in the course of preparing the 2010 Parish Plan, it quickly became apparent that residents were keen to re- establish a summer village residents’ get-together. Unsure of the viability of a traditional fete in these uncertain economic times, the Parish Plan Steering Committee decided on a village residents only Garden Party, held at the Old Rectory on Wednesday evening (5.30- 8.30pm) July 28th. Traditional tombola, cake, plant, bottle, bric-a- brac and book stalls were complemented by the Old Inn bar and a twelve prize raffle — top prize being a laptop computer.
An historic photographic display of the village in years past, ferret racing and a fascinating birds of prey demonstration put on by Jim Chick were the highlights of the evening that was followed by a Hog Roast — free to all. Children’s
entertainment included football, a bouncy castle, paintball target shooting and golf.
The warm summer evening saw some 400 residents and children attend — resulting in a better than expected turnout that raised £2,400 toward village funds.
General consensus was that it was great fun and a unique opportunity for residents to meet up with old friends and make new acquaintances — village life at its best.
For photos of the Village Get-together - see NEW page "Fete 2010"
Closure of Allington Church
Residents of Allington will no longer be able to use their village church when it closes its doors for good on 1st February 2010. St John the Baptist Church, built in the 1800s has been used by the community for hundreds of years, but has suffered from a dwindling congregation and a lack of funds. Following lengthy consultation with the community and the diocese, it was decided it was not viable to keep it
open, meaning churchgoers will have to travel half a mile down the road to Boscombe to worship.
Team Rector, Reverend Vanda Perrett, described the situation as a sad one, but said having two churches in the parish was just not sustainable. “As a priest, I would never want to be involved in closing a church building, that is not what I am about,” she said. “But I am also not about forcing the folk who go to church into driving themselves to exhaustion trying to maintain two buildings and all the work involved in raising funds and managing the building. It is such a sad, sad time and I know the last couple of services we have had there we have left the church with tears in our eyes. It is not something we wanted to do but the other church in the parish at Boscombe has got a large congregation and is a bigger building.”
Once Allington Church closes and is signed over to the diocese’s board of property, meetings
will be held to decide what will happen to the building in the future. Rev Perrett said two options have been discussed, one of which involves turning the building into a community space in the village. “We are not quite sure what the future holds but it is not a decision which is taken very quickly,” she said. “I think that if it could be a space which could be used by the community, that would be a wonderful thing.”
Extracted from Salisbury Journal, 21st January 2010
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