http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/ en_us Copyright 2003, www.pitstone.co.uk Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0100 http://backend.userland.com/rss phpBB 2.0.22 : CMX News Mod admin@ivinghoe.co.uk admin@ivinghoe.co.uk 60 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:10:52 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=651
Back in April Bucks County Council stated their preferred alternative route for HS2 was along the West Coast Main Line. They weren't too clear whether they meant upgrading the existing line, or following one of the HS2 alternative routes that swept through Pitstone Green business park and on to Cheddington. Either proposal was equally unacceptable to me and I proposed, and lost, an amendment to a motion at the County Council requesting that this preference be deleted from their submission to HS2 and that all routes through the Chilterns AONB be opposed equally. After the discussion several Aylesbury Vale Conservative Councillors told me they supported me but had not been able to vote for me on party lines.

Many people have subsequently pressed the County Council to come round to this view, including our MP, the Chilterns Conservation Board, and local individuals. At a meeting in July with the cabinet member for transportation Val Letheren, hinted to me that the County were now re-considering their position as expressing a preferred alternative could weaken their overall case - exactly the point I made at Council.

My opinion is that the West Coast Mail line option is so impracticable and expensive it was rightly discarded in the first place by HS2 as a viable alternative; but that the County Council should not have suggested damaging one part of the County in order to protect another 'more valuable' part. Val Letheren in debate said that 'their' Chilterns AONB was 'more valuable' than 'ours'.

The government are currently reviewing the whole thing to see if it can link in Heathrow Airport .

Changes to Adult Social Care Services

Changes have already begun in Bucks and elsewhere so that people needing social care (to enable them to live in their own homes for example) are able to decide for themselves what services they need, through spending their own personal allowance. Eventually everyone eligible will receive their own budget. This means people will need very good advice and information on choices available to them, and a much more diverse range of services will have to be made available to people. As part of these changes the County Council are looking at day care services. They have begun to talk to individual users of day care centres and to the wider public on how the current service might be provided in the future. In Aylesbury Vale they are proposing a new super-centre in Aylesbury, with a subsidiary centre in Buckingham, and a network of community facilities where users can choose to go in the day. The detail on these community facilities has not yet been filled in, nor how people will be supported in choosing what to do if they don’t want or are not able to attend the new day centre. I am expecting a lot more information on which to make a judgement after the consultation has been completed and people’s preferences have been heard, the financial aspects have been looked at and the full plan proposed. Naturally current users and their carers have been very unsettled by this. However it is very early days, and although it is expected day centres will be closing, there are no dates, and changes for people will happen on an individual basis.

Friends of Ivinghoe Library needed to be applied for.

There are NO PLANS TO CLOSE IVINGHOE LIBRARY. But how it is run MIGHT change. We need a re-formed Friends of Ivinghoe Library to meet that challenge when it comes.

The Government comprehensive spending review in the autumn is expected to lead to budget cuts in local government. The libraries are always vulnerable. As it is, nearly all BCC’s library resource has been poured in to the new library at High Wycombe, and it’s still unable to open on Mondays. In the past the County has always closed down what it cannot control. In the last round of library cuts everything was taken out of the affected libraries; computers, books, shelves, even the kettle. The community libraries that were set up in their place started with nothing. The two in the Chalfonts have been so successful that the County are considering a re-think whereby the county could partner a community library. In other words they could call on the community to support a much depleted service, while still providing the building and the IT for example, but leaving the community group to find the books, and even the staff. This would be bad news for Ivinghoe, and I would do all I could to prevent it, but closing the library would be even worse. To help stave off the day when we might be faced with this please contact me about becoming a Friend of Ivinghoe Library


Great Gap Circular Walk grand opening September

This project began as a long held aspiration for a safe footway to link Great Gap to Ivinghoe. A bid put in by Ivinghoe parish Council was supported by other Parishes in the Local Area Forum, and developed in to a circular walk right up to the canal at The Brownlow. The path will open in September once the nesting season is over and it becomes possible to breach the necessary gaps in the hedges. This project, made possible only by the vision of the BCC rights of way team in seizing an opportunity, and the hard work of Jackie Wesley, BCC Local Area Forum Co-ordinator and Ivinghoe resident, in bringing grant funding bodies and landowners together, has so caught the imagination that not only has the BCC cabinet heard all about it in great detail, and sanctioned the grand opening, but BBC Radio is supposed to be making a programme about it ( and may have already done so).

Cheddington High Street and Footpath to Cooks Wharf

The High Street is going to be resurfaced in August, Hooray. The final length of the footpath project has been awarded funding from the Local Area Forum and the Comma Fund and can now be completed too the benefit of three parishes, Marsworth Pitstone and Cheddington.

Community Car Scheme and trial Freight Quality Partnership

These two new projects are being initiated through the Local Area Forum - where the County and District meet the Parish Councils and interested members of the public. The initial car scheme meeting is planned for 14th July and it is intended that two schemes will cover the villages of the Ivinghoe County Division along the lines of other successful schemes throughout the country.

The Freight Quality Partnership is a piece of work that will look at how villages in other parts of the country have worked with local and national businesses to promote mutual understanding of the needs of the haulage industry and residents, with the aim of reducing the impact of freight on the rural environment. Although the County’s emerging transport plan had this as a priority, everything is on hold until the government’s spending plans are known(!) so the Forum has agreed to support the preliminary work by the community in setting up a partnership . Anyone interested in finding out more baout either of these please contact me acdavies@buckscc.gov.uk. or jwesley@buckscc.gov.uk

The Local Area Forum has a delegated budget to spend on priorities put forward and decided on by the members, and is able to attract additional funding for nearly all it does.

Community Leaders Fund

The first call on the fund for this Division this year was to ensure the Great Gap Circular walk didn’t fail ‘for want of a nail’. Subsequently it has been able to pay for deer alarms (that broadcast radio4) for the new Pitstone allotments and benches for the Cheddington School orchard. These small sums have all been little nails completing bigger projects, and there is still a bit of money in the pot.]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=651 Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:57:00 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=644

Do you wish that Pitstone had a skate park? or a tennis court? Would you like to see more facilities for the elderly? or a youth cafe? Should we consider more housing or has Pitstone expanded enough? Perhaps you would just like to see some more flowers planted.

Whatever your thoughts, we would love to hear them!

now is the time to tell us what you would like to see happening in Pitstone over the next 10 years

Please come along to the first Parish Plan meeting to find out about this exciting project. Your views are very important to us.

7pm on Tuesday 13 July 2010 in the meeting room at the memorial hall

Laurie Eagling
Clerk to Pitstone parish council]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=644 Sun, 25 Apr 2010 09:14:25 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=622
However, Bucks County Council (BCC) think differently.

It is suggesting that the high-speed railway should come right through our area, alongside the existing West Coast Main Line, right next to Pitstone, and Cheddington.

BCC wants to keep the line out of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) around and to the south of Wendover, and move it east towards us. The matter came before BCC on Thursday, April 22, and local county councillor Avril Davies tried to make the Conservative administration see sense. Astonishingly, the county council seems to have overlooked the fact that the same Chilterns AONB sits just south of our villages too, and would be equally devastated by the new railway. In the end Avril's amendment, for the county to come down in favour of no route in particular, was voted down. Avril has pledged to keep up the fight.

Before you despair at the prospect of HS2 tearing past our villages, remember that BCC's alternative route has no status whatsoever. HS2 Ltd deliberately chose a single route, the one west of Aylesbury, rather than a selection of four or five (as happened when the Channel Tunnel high-speed line was proposed through Kent) in order to avoid blighting numerous properties.

However BCC appears to be suggesting that this part of the county is somehow less important than the western part, south from Aylesbury and Wendover, around Great Missenden, Amersham and the Hughenden Valley. That the AONB areas there are more important than the parts of the very same AONB here. They're trying to soften the blow with a proposal for a new station in the high-speed railway at Milton Keynes.

Read Avril's blog here http://avrildavies.blogspot.com/

See this Pdf to see where Bucks CC would prefer the line to go http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/assets/content/bcc/docs/transport/high_speed_2.pdf
Bucks CC statement on HS2 http://tinyurl.com/2vv4xxs (Note point 6 after "This County Council believes:")

See official route map www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/route/
HS2 Ltd website www.hs2.org.uk]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=622 Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:24:30 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=619
Other groups include Unite Against Fascism (UAF) are also planning events at the same time, to express opposition to the EDL.

There has been violence at other recent EDL protest meetings, within the EDL, between the EDL and UAF, as well as against the police.

Thames Valley Police are bringing in extra resources, the cost of which amounts to around £300,000. They believe that several hundred EDL supporters may well be arriving, in addition to those of the other parties. Many pubs and shops will be closed during the protest, and may also choose to close at other times during the day. There will be road closures and diversions in place. Thames Valley Police are requesting that no-one travels into Aylesbury Town Centre to spectate. They also advise that during the time of the protest, the town is not a good place for children and they should be accompanied by an adult if they need to be there.

They will be issuing updates on both the following web sites, if you require further information.
www.thamesvalley.police.uk
www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk

Laurie Eagling
Clerk to Pitstone Parish Council]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=619 Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:32:29 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=596
Music supplied by Leighton Linslade Concert Band. There is to be a demonstration of backward cooking by the Scouts. Also String Trail and
Treasure Hunt for children (accompanied by a responsible adult if under 10 1/2).

Teas, Coffees and biscuits available.]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=596 Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:45:03 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=612
The bill includes Northern Ballet Theatre's Swan Lake, the musical Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in concert, Calendar Girls, starring local lady Lynda Bellingham, funnyman Rhod Gilbert, and family pantomime, Cinderella.

The season includes:

Tue 12 - Sat 16 Oct
Swan Lake - Northern Ballet Theatre.

Mon 18 - Sat 30 Oct
Evita
Starring Abigail Jaye as Eva Peron

Tue 9 - Sun 14 Nov
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Thu 16 Nov
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Gala concert featuring Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor

Mon 22 - Sat 27 Nov
Calendar Girls
Amazing star cast including Lynda Bellingham, Jan Harvey and Ruth Madoc

Fri 10 Dec - Sun 9 Jan
Cinderella
The Waterside Theatre's magical £1million family pantomime]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=612 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:55:49 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=611

Monday 3rd May 2010 will be a very exciting day for the villages of Pitstone and Ivinghoe, as Windmill Pre-school host the first "Windmill Festival" event.

To be held at Pitstone Memorial Hall and the recreation ground from 11:00 a.m. onwards, the Festival aims to celebrate the iconic feature of the two villages, as well as creating a fun filled day out for the family.

Everyone is invited to make a model windmill and enter it into the Windmill Festival Competition. There will be three classes to enter, with a prize for each category:

•Family and over 12 yrs
•Schools/Clubs/Church/Associations
•Children under 12
Visitors to the Festival will then be given the opportunity to vote for their favourite model.

The event promises to be a great day out for everyone, with BBQ, Bar, music, Morris Dancers, face painting, a bouncy castle, craft and trade stalls and lots more. Competition entry forms will be shortly available but in the meantime put the date in your diary and start planning your Windmill!

Visit http://www.windmillpreschool.co.uk/latestnews.asp?newsid=13 to find out more and book a stall.]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=611 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:54:20 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=606 http://twitter.com/ivinghoeents
Feel free to follow us.

This will serve as a rapid way to issue news about this year's
Summer Festival events over the weekend of June 25 - 27th.

We'll start by updating you on news of ticket sales, and hope to build up with other news about the Festival week-end.

We also have a Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=263634467350]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=606 Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:29:29 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=599


Summer Ball – Friday 25th June

We are holding the price for the Ball on Friday 25th at £55, the same as last year, and have already engaged the services of a band by the name of InDefinately to provide the music.

Catering will be prepared and served to us by the professional ‘Cuisine Excellence’. The doors open at 7.00pm, with a fully licensed bar including real ales, and of course dancing until 1.00am. The Committee will once again be selling an excellent selection of quality wines at reasonable prices with a wine waiter service to your table. Join us for what will be another fantastic night.]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=599 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:13:08 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=592
But with temperature changes, and rain, they are likely to reopen at any time. Best advice - be aware.

Post youir own sightings on www.fixmystreet.com]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=592 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:49:54 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=587
You may not know what your parish council does, or ever considered getting involved in the running of your village. We asked a couple of parish councillors to tell us how they got involved and what being on the parish council means for them. You can see their comments in the attached document.

Please feel free to contact me with any queries.

Laurie Eagling
Clerk to Pitstone parish council]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=587 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:36:30 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=581
Here are some web sites to help you.

For road and traffic news - http://www.bbc.co.uk/travelnews/local/buckinghamshire.shtml

For schools closed in Bucks - http://apps.buckscc.gov.uk/eforms/schools/closure_list.aspx

You may also want to look at the two council web sites -

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc
See also www.avdc.co.uk

For more on school closures and traffic look at (or listen) to www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties.

And www.mix96.co.uk/news]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=581 Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:13:07 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=569
This is a big problem, at a number of different levels.

Firstly it is a serious road safety issue. About 12 people are killed annually in the UK in vehicle-deer collisions. Secondly it is distressing for deer which are struck and not immediately killed, and for the occupants of the vehicles involved.

The deer have been here - on the National Trust Ashridge estate, which extends now to the edge of Pitstone and Ivinghoe. -- since the 1500s, when this was royal hunting land. They have no predators and their population is controlled by trained marksmen culling deer to achieve the correct population balance.

The only other control, and one nobody wants, is on the roads, with several dozen deer killed in accidents throughout the estate every year.

In recent months (Nov and Dec 2009) 2 deer at least have been killed around the villages - on the B488 near the Silver Birch café, and on Northfield road just after the roundabout on the way to Tring Station. We are not aware of which vehicles were involved, and possible injuries and damage sustained.

There has been work to research the problem, and possible mitigation measures have been tested – read about the National Deer-Vehicle Collisions Projecton www.deercollisions.co.uk. Ashridge has been involved in this.

However measures taken, which include flashing lights activated by crossing deer, and measures to deter the deer from crossing, have not proved very successful. (Cutting back bushes and scrub at the sides of roads has some promise, to improve visibility.)

The best solution still seems to be for drivers to reduce their speed. And be aware that the deer could dart out from anywhere, at any time of day.

The deer problem is not going to go away. They will continue to be abundant locally (and the sight of them in the woods brings pleasure to many), and technology to control them, and make roads safer, may not work.

The best you can do to stay safe is be very aware - particularly at night - and expect the unexpected. And slow down if you can.

Problem areas are the whole of Northfield Rd, between Tring Station and the roundabout at the top of Castlemead on the B488 (particularly the "corridor" with dense tree cover on both sides just after the roundabout) . Then much of Vicarage Rd, Pitstone.
And the B488 itself, from the roundabout all the way to the Windmill car park. And anywhere in Ashridge.]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=569 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:48:03 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=557

Elaine Thorogood , known to her fledglings as Brown Owl, was the inaugural winner of Pitstone's 'Volunteer of the Year' for 2009.

Nominations are now invited for next year's award. The only rule is that nominees are or have worked on a voluntary basis with an organisation within the village of Pitstone. Entries are also invited from members of organisations based in Ivinghoe which serve both villages.

The closing date for entries will be the 15th January 2010. The successful candidate will be chosen, from a list of nominees, by Pitstone Parish Council prior to the Parish Council's Annual Assembly for 2010, where an award of £50.00, will be presented to the person chosen.

Nominations can be made by anyone living in the village, age is no barrier, so please post your nominations to our Parish Clerk, Laurie Eagling, along with your name, address and telephone number, with similar details for the person you wish to nominate together with the organisation they represent and the reason why you think they should be considered for special recognition. The Parish Council would like to encourage under-14's to write in with the name of someone they feel makes life better for the youth of the village.

Please feel free to put a name forward

The intention of this award is to recognise the hard work of all volunteers that support and run the various clubs and societies in the village. Thank you for all your effort.]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=557 Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:01:44 +0000 portal.php?topic_id=534
The famous old pub had been closed for some time and there were very real fears for its future, until Alistair and Tracella bought it.

The inside has been totally made over, with a new bar, lots of mirrors, pine, leather armchairs and smart white walls and a slab floor. Everything in the upstairs restaurant area is new too. The builders have done a magnificent jobs and rejuvenated old pub deserves to be seen.

Mr Speaker Bercow, the local MP, gave a short speech in which he praised local facilities like this pub and the enthusiasm of local people to make it happen. The first pint was then drawn and long queues built up of people waiting to be served.

The Rose and Crown is now firmly back in the fabric of our villages serving real ale, a wide selection of wines and food. It is now up to us all to support this magnificent new asset to. www.roseandcrownivinghoe.com

And let’s remember that the villages have two other pubs, the Bell (opposite Brookmead School) and the Duke of Wellington at Cooks’ Wharf – just beyond the railway bridge on Cheddington Rd.

They both try very hard to make people welcome, serve good beers and food and deserve our support.]]> http://www.pitstone.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=534