SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER

APRIL 2019

EVENTS IN APRIL 2019 Tuesday 2 April AGM, PCC Margaret Coles 7.30pm Thursday 4 April Easter Service, Shoscombe School 9 am residents welcome Tuesday 9 April Souper Tuesday, Village Hall Sunday 21 April Grand Easter Egg Hunt, Foxcote Church

Forthcoming Events Thursday 2 May Local Elections Thursday 9 May Annual Assembly of Electors and Annual Parish Meeting Thursday 9 May History Group meeting at the Apple tree Friday 10 May Trip to Malvern Flower Festival Saturday 18 May Annual Plant Sale, Village Hall

Malvern Flower Festival Special guests on Friday:

Monty Don and Carol Klein

Coach Outing from Shoscombe

Friday 10th May 2019 the plan is to meet at Shoscombe Village Hall Car Park

depart 9:00am, return 6:00pm for a full day from 11:00am to 4pm at the show

view show details: www.rhsmalvern.co.uk Cost for a coach (20 persons minimum)

- £22 per person - (this can be reduced to £13 pp if we can fill a 33 seater coach)

Tell your friends so we can fill the coach Cost for entrance to the show

£25.00 £22.75 RHS members

Please let Diana Aiken know if you are interested by Sunday 7th April in order to confirm the relevant transport.

01761 434272 / 07976 820655

SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019

Parish Council News Our last meeting was held on Thursday 7th March in the Village Hall 10 Minutes Public Participation – Rosemary Naish (ALCA) made reference to attempts to reclaim ownership of Miners’ Welfare land and alerted the council. The clerk has been in contact with the Land Registry who have confirmed the Parish Council are the Sole Trustees. Mr David Veale, who is running as an independent councillor, introduced himself. Other members in attendance were Mr Davidson and Mr Harrington, Mrs Harris and Ms Chalfont-Griffin. Mrs Harris and Ms Chalfont -Griffin asked the council if they would support a youth club on a Friday afternoon/early evening at the Village Hall and Recreation Field. This would be supervised. The council agreed, with the proviso that organisers would provide their own public liability insurance. Red Heritage Telephone Kiosk/Defibrillator- Mr Grant Thomas met with the representative of AED, the preferred defibrillator provider. Cost of the unit will be £2099.00 plus VAT and funds are in place; there is only a 7 day delivery on PAD 500P. Refurbishments of the telephone kiosk will be undertaken before the order is placed and an electrical survey will be completed. The unit comes well recommended and will ‘talk through’ procedures using the pads but it will also help with CPR and monitoring heartbeat and rate. Weekly checks will need to done. It was agreed training should take place approximately 6 weeks after installation and this would be for up to 100 people and last 2/3 hours. The postcode of the kiosk will be put in the newsletter and information cards will be sent out to the community. Councillor Vacancies/Forthcoming Election Paperwork - Local elections are to be held on 2nd May. A few people are already considering putting their names forward – Mr Clayton Davidson, Mr Glen Harrington, Ms Mel Chalfont-Griffin, Mrs Angela Smith together with Ian Cannock, Lee Crowther-Russell and Rosie Craddock who are considering standing again. The clerk will be forwarding nomination forms. There are still places available so let the clerk know if you would like to put your name forward and nomination forms will be sent to you .Guidance and nomination papers can also be accessed and printed off following this linkhttps://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/your-council-and-democracy/elections/parish-town-council-elections Nomination papers should be taken to The Guildhall between Tuesday 19th March and Wednesday 3rd April (10.0 a.m. and 4.00 p.m – Monday to Friday) Mrs Withers, Mr Thomas, Mrs Upton and Mr Bayley are all stepping down. Many thanks to them for all they have done. Planning - Weeks’ Planning application - 18/05318/FUL -Manure canopy (Approved) Weeks’ Planning Application reference: 18/05313/ADCOU –Prior Approval request for Change of Use from Agricultural Buildings to 5 dwellings (Use Class C3). – comments submitted. Home Farm Planning application - 18/05198/FUL (Withdrawn) D. Cradock application - 19/00138/ADCOU - 19/00137/FUL and19/00147/LBA – comments submitted NEW - Weeks’ Planning application: 19/00789/ADCOU – The council had no objections to this application. Clerk will submit comment accordingly Financial Matters: Cheques were issued to: David Cradock- Grass Cutting - £1920.00 ALCA – Training - £20.00 David Gillard – Play-area inspection - £85.00 Diana Aiken – Welcome Packs - £40.00 Dunkley’s – Payroll - £48.00 Grant Thomas – Village Hall refurbishments - £25.68 and £321.58 Janet Hall – Play-area sign - £50.40 Erwood and Morris – paint for Village Hall - £280.26 Cheques received were: Donations from Village Hall Management Committee £233.55 - £21.40 and £267.98 It was agreed, the Parish Council would accept Jane Robson’s (B&NES) quote (£238.77 plus VAT) for 4 play area inspections and an annual one for the forthcoming year 2019/20. The clerk will inform David Gillard and Jane Robson of the decision.

Thank You Joy and Brian ! The Parish Council would like to thank Joy and Brian for delivering the Shoscombe Newsletter to the 74 households in Shoscombe Village. They have been doing it in all winds and weather, up and down drives and steps, for the for the last ten years and have now decided to step down. Alan and Carolyn Keating will be taking their place.

SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019

Parish Plan Update – Mrs Upton has sent through an update on items completed on the Parish Plan and we are very pleased with what has been achieved. Many thanks to her and the Plan team for all their hard work. The update is on the website. Broadband – Gigaclear have had a hold up with their installations. Village Hall/Roof and Recreation Field – Following the inspection, the sign for the play-area is completed and will be installed by Grant Thomas, many thanks. There will also be further checks on any maintenance issues highlighted in the inspection report. Refurbishments have taken place in the Village Hall including painting many thanks to all who helped, black out blinds provided by the table tennis groups have been put up and new heaters installed. A lottery application has been submitted for a new roof and we should receive news with a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed! Communities, Transport and Environment Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel - Mrs Upton has a slot to speak at this meeting in the Guildhall and will be requesting a mandatory 20mph limits in the village. There have been some serious traffic incidents lately particularly in Hang Hill, Stoney Littleton and she will highlight these. Metal Detecting on Council owned land–Rina Richards chairman of the Shoscombe Local History Group sent a report through to the council and Mr Upton, a member of the group reiterated concerns over what procedure is in place if any items are found with regard to classification and record keeping. It was agreed a protocol needed to be in place before anything further is considered or decided with this issue. Highways issues The new Highways Inspector and clerk have driven around the lanes to note places needing attention. Potholes and erosion in Green Street, Shoscombe Vale, St Julian’s Road, Gullen , Hang Hill/Stony Littleton have been logged and some patching in these areas have already taken place. Montague Road and Applecroft will also need attention. The rut on Wellow Lane has been filled with hardcore and coned off to prevent accidents and a more permanent solution is being considered by more senior officers in B&NES. The council are changing contractors at the end of March and the new ones will begin at the beginning of April. Some of the work may have to wait until the summer months due to weather conditions. The next meeting is the Annual Assembly of Electors and Annual Parish Meeting on Thursday 9th May at 7.30pm in the Village Hall–you are all welcome to attend. Jean Fossaceco – Clerk 01761 431068

UPDATE FROM THE POLICE

There has been a spate of thefts from the allotments on Braysdown Lane close to Shoscombe. Thieves have broken into sheds and stolen fuel & tools. If you have an allotment with a garden shed, mark all equipment with your postcode & house number, don’t leave expensive petrol driven tools unprotected. Secure your shed, padlocks should be made of hardened steel. Buy close-shackled variety to prevent hacksaws or bolt croppers being used. Reporting a crime? Call 101 or 999 www.avonandsomerset.police.uk Next beat surgery in the Appletree is on Wednesday 3

rd

April at 7pm look forward to seeing you! Louise Jones, Police Community Support Officer

SHOSCOMBE CLEAN UP WEEKEND Many thanks to the children at Shoscombe School and the volunteers who helped with the litter picking–all areas of the parish have now been cleared and it was pleasing to note that the amount of rubbish collected has reduced. On Sunday morning 24 March the cinder path was scraped and brushed in less than one hour due to the number of volunteers who arrived to help. Thank you to all who helped.

Shoscombe has had a good Spring Clean ! Jackie Withers & Grant Thomas Shoscombe Parish Council

Unfortunately, dog poo is again an issue in some areas–please do not let you dogs wander unattended in residential areas or on the well used footpaths.

Fix My Street This is an app that you can have on your mobile which enables you to report any local street problems to the council responsible for fixing them such as graffiti, fly tipping, broken slabs or highway issues, potholes etc. Please use it if you are ever aware of any of these problems in the parish. There are two pairs of litter pickers available for use if a build up of litter is noticed . Please contact the Jackie Withers if you would like to borrow them at any time.

Shoscombe Ramble As the date of the next ramble falls on Easter Sunday, a ramble will not take place this month. Next ramble will be on Sunday 19 May.

ShOSCOMBE LOCAL HISTORY GROUP The next meeting of the group will be on Thursday 9 May at the Apple Tree at 8pm. All welcome . In March , a group of ten members had a guided tour of the roof of Wells Cathedral, an area few visitors are able to see which gave a fascinating insight to the construction of the building.

CHURCH SERVICES AT SHOSCOMBE SCHOOL CHAPEL 7th & 14 APRIL 2019

SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019

Date Service Time Leading Preaching

7th April 5th of Lent 11.15 am Morning Praise & Annual Parochial Church Meeting

TBC TBC

14 th April Palm Sunday 11.15 am Holy Communion Derek Smith Derek Smith

21 st April Easter Sunday 11.15 am Holy Communion TBC TBC

28th April 2nd of Easter 11.15 am Morning Praise Dick Beath Dick Beath

CHURCH SERVICES resume AT ST JAMES THE LESS FOXCOTE 21 & 28 APRIL 2019

'I am the vine, you are the branches, if you remain in me, you will bear much fruit'. John 15.5 Last week Storm Gareth had the barefaced cheek to blow our garden fence down, exposing our back garden to the world. His rampage was merciless. Not only did he split the fence posts, but he tore a small tree from the trellis attached to the fence so that it now droops mournfully with nothing to hold it up. The big bully. Actually, I have been thinking about trellises recently, as you do. At St Julian's and Shoscombe schools we have introduced a key metaphor from the Bible that we think underpins the values in both schools: 'I am the vine, you are the branches, if you remain in me, you will bear much fruit'. As I was reading around this topic, I came across an interesting correlation between the trellis that holds up a vine and the 'rule of life' that the desert fathers and mothers of the 3rd - 5th centuries used to shape their lives around. I had always assumed that the 'rule' that these saintly desert hermits established was connected to the word 'injunction' or 'precept', as in 'you must obey my rule'. Not so. The word comes from the ancient Greek word for trellis, which is of course a tool that enables a grapevine, or any plant, to get off the ground and grow upward, becoming more fruitful and productive. In the same way, a Rule of Life serves as a trellis that helps us 'remain in Christ' and become more fruitful spiritually. So, what might a 'rule of life' look like? The early church in the book of Acts gathered around a rule of life with habits that enabled them to shape their lives around the lifestyle of Christ. They were things like prayer; reading scripture; making time for sabbath rest, spending time in silence and solitude, gathering together in community and breaking bread together. Simple, intentional living. In our hurricane paced, distracted age I wonder whether we need a 'rule of life' more than ever before, a series of habits - disciplines no less - that keep us close to Christ, so that we can withstand whatever Gareth and his blustering bullies can throw at us. Rev Tom Benyon April 2019

Foxcote Church Grand Egg Hunt on

Easter Sunday 21st April at 11.15. a.m.

Service to include a programme by Shoscombe School and will be followed by refreshments: Easter Biscuits and drinks.

Souper Tuesday

9th April at Shoscombe Village Hall 12.30 to 2.30 - Easter Theme.

Come and enjoy Home made soup, cakes, fruit, cheese and biscuits and a drink in convivial company

all for £3.50. There will be a raffle and quiz,a craft table and home produce to buy. Many thanks to our table tennis friends for help setting up and clearing away.

Meeting of the Friends

At the meeting on 6th March, the Friends decided that the main fund raising event for 2019 will be the 2020 Calendar. The topic will be Seasonal Garden/Wild flowers. These calendars have been a huge success with many people buying them as Christmas gifts. Flowers are a wonderful subject. Location and name of photographer may be included on the calendar if you wish. Coordinator: Janet Hall Email: bonz2be@hotmail.com Next meeting of the Friends of Foxcote Church will be 17 July 7.30pm at Shoscombe School.

Thank you !

Thank you to all who supported Margaret's Coffee Morning in March where the grand sum of £112 was raised for Foxcote Church. Also a big thank you to the people who braved the cold weather in March to help clear the Churchyard.

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FREE RANGE EGGS FOR SALE

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SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019

Shoscombe School

This term our children have had many opportunities to learn 'outside' the normal settings of their classroom. We marked British Science with daily science experiments linked to water. To further increase our children's knowledge of water and our environment, we were also visited by Wessex Water and our younger classes watched a show to help raise their awareness of plastic pollution. Science Week concluded with a Planetarium in the hall for the day. Each class was able to go inside to see and hear all about the stars and planets of our solar system and beyond. On 7th March we celebrated World Book Day; everyone dressed up as their favourite book character and we spent the day sharing books together. In the evening children returned to school in their pyjamas for bedtime stories and hot chocolate while parents had the opportunity to buy books. On 18th March we welcomed Jim Gump into school aka Running Man. He gave a very inspiring talk about his life and running before taking the whole school on a run. We are hoping that this will be the start of regular running opportunities at the school. As we head towards Easter our children are also preparing Easter songs and poems for our service on 4th April at 9am to which you are welcome. The service will be followed by our annual bonnet parade and egg-rolling. Before then we are also busy preparing for a whole school music concert and a special Mother's Day lunch. Busy spring! Ruth Noall, Executive Head Teacher

SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019

FOOD BANK ITEMS FOR EACH MONTH

As stocktaking for the Food Bank does not take place until the final day of each month, it will not be possible to request donation of the items needed in the Shoscombe newsletter as the newsletter is compiled and printed before the end of each month. Instead notices giving details of the monthly items needed will be shown on the website, on the Facebook page and on the village noticeboards—any donations to be left at Braeside, St Julian’s Road as usual.

BRING BACK THE VOLES There used to be a thriving population of water-voles on the Wellow Brook, but between the mink and changes in farming practice, they’ve been gone from our beautiful valley for some decades now. But there is an opportunity to bring them back. The Wellow Brook Fly Fishers Syndicate, of which I’m a member, has finally received some compensation money from the pollution incident when an upstream farmer’s slurry tank collapsed and thousands of gallons of raw cow muck ran down the river. This devastated the brook, killing many of its

aquatic inhabitants and threatening the survival of our club. We intend to spend the money improving the ecology and amenity of the river over the next few years. You may have seen that we’ve started work on the section upstream of Stony Littleton Bridge to allow a bit more light into the river, and promote an uneven age profile of bank-side trees and vegetation which is good for wildlife. We have been doing monthly Riverfly invertebrate surveys to monitor the health of the brook and can report that it is recovering well. One of the things we think it would be wonderful to achieve, with the support of both Shoscombe and Wellow villages, is to reintroduce the water-voles that should be there. We’ve consulted Derek Gow, the national water-vole expert, and he’s assessed the river and given us a plan of action. It’s quite a bit of work and may take a year or two, but if we can get a little help, we believe it can be done. What we would like to do, is to form a small water-vole group to make this happen. If you would like to help, or to know more about the project, would you please email me: Rod Humphris rod@burnthousefarm.co.uk www.watervoles.com www.wellowbrookflyfishers.co.uk/habitat-works/

New members needed!

The Rivers and Energy Groups began in February 2017. Thanks to Nick Glass for bringing people to-gether for that February workshop and for initiating discussion with BART (Bristol Avon River Trust). The current leaders are now looking for new people to join the groups and to elect new leaders for coordinating some exciting projects:

The Rivers Group Thanks to Max Aiken for all of his work including liaising with Ian Mock of BART and making contacts

with the national body researching the control of Himalayan Balsam. Thanks to Ray Dickson and Sue Baillie for surveying the brook. Thanks to Derek Withers for identifying the owners of the banks on both sides and producing a map of the brook. Our Parish Council is making links with Wellow PC to organise a talk by Ian Mock. Here, sharing of activities such as an annual Flora and Fauna survey along the brook could be discussed. Links have been made with Wellow Brook Fly Fishers who are clearing rubbish and monitoring water quality along their stretch of the Brook. They suggest extending this work along our stretch. Their work is also described on www.everythingshoscombe.org. and they are involved with the wa-ter vole project below.

The Energy Group Thanks to Chris Upton for leading the Energy Group, which began as ‘Frack Free Shoscombe’, and

then included research into renewables such as Photovoltaic solar power. Thanks to Tom and Paul Clark for their data collection on Air and ground Source heat Pumps and Wind Power sources.

All information is posted at: www.everythingshoscombe.org along with a summary of other energy related topics including renewable energy suppliers and recycling. These ideas are designed to be exploited locally for individual or village projects. The Group needs new members to elect a new leader to take renewable energy ideas forward.

SHOSCOMBE VILLAGE DIRECTORY Electrical, Heating & Plumbing - L E Services, Pippins, Shoscombe 433293 or 07714 327662 Decorator, Tiler , Plumber, General Builder - Colin Bell, 46, Single Hill. 01761 433810.

Piano Tuition, Linda Lethbridge - 01761 435656 - lindianajane@yahoo.co.uk

Life Coaching, Antonia Clews - Project Self personal change coaching - supporting you to make and manage change in your self and your life. antonia@projectself.co.uk, 07591104080, www.projectself.co.uk

Antiquarian and Secondhand Books Bought and Sold - Jo West, Woodborough Hill, 01761 434585, jo@bathandwestbooks.co.uk

Learn Spanish with a Spaniard (Daniella González) effective lessons that are tailored to all levels, goals and interests. Experience with children, Spanish for GCSE and A-levels, and teaching Spanish for business. Contact: danimgw@me.com

Please call Sue on 01761 433810 or email shoscombenews@btinternet.com if you would like the details of your business services to be added to the directory. Cost £10 for the whole year.

Editorial If anyone would like to place a commercial advert in the Newsletter, for a small donation towards printing costs, please let us know. There would be no charge for community adverts. The Newsletter has a monthly circulation of 250 copies, delivered to every home in the village, by volunteers from our community. Items for the May 2019 Newsletter to: letterbox at 46 Single Hill, or shoscombenews@btinternet.com by 21 April 2019. A copy of this newsletter and the calendar for the village hall bookings can be found on the village website www.everythingshoscombe.org

SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER APRIL 2019

SHOSCOMBE VILLAGE HALL 100 CLUB RESULTS

MARCH 2019 1st £100 - Mr & Mrs Russell (115) 2nd £50 - Mr & Mrs Kettle (31) 3rd £40 - Mark & Ailie Bryant (35)

For information about the Shoscombe 100 Club please contact Lee Cloutman 01761 434085

Shoscombe Village Hall Details for hiring the hall are on the village

website: www.everythingshoscombe.org or contact Suzanne for further

information bookings@shoscombevillagehall.org

Village Community Choir Wednesday evenings at Shoscombe School 7.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. Come and enjoy singing and friendship under the guidance of Bob Goode.

VILLAGE HALL BOOKINGS APRIL 2019

Mon 1 April 19:00 – 21:00 Monkey Mutts

Wed 3 April 15:30 – 17:30 Private Booking

Fri 5 April 09:30 – 11:00

Yoga

Sat 6 April 14:30 – 16:30

Sax Choir

Tues 9 April 12:00 – 14:00 Souper Tuesday

Mon 15 April 19:00 – 21:00 Monkey Mutts

Fri 26 April 09:30 – 11:00

Yoga

Sat 27 April 09:00 – 17:00 Yoga Event

Sun 28 April 16:00 – 18:00 Private Booking

WEEKLY BOOKINGS

Mondays 15:00 – 17:00 Village Hall Cleaning

Tuesdays 10-00 – 12-00 Table Tennis

Wednes-days

19:00 - 22:00 Band Practice

Fridays 09:30 – 11:00 11:00 – 13:00 15:00 – 17:00

Yoga Table Tennis Village Hall Cleaning

Saturdays 09:30 – 10:30

Pilates

Sundays 19:00 - 21:00 Table Tennis

RACE NIGHT POSTPONED UNTIL LATER THIS YEAR

WANTED URGENTLY!

Shoscombe gardeners are now potting up plants for the plant sale but are in desperate need of 6 pack trays and 3-4inch square or round pots .If you have any spare they can be left at Tanqueray, Single Hill (first house on right as you go down Single Hill from St Julian’s Road) and I will make sure they get them. Thank you. Jackie Withers