British Heart Foundation Fund Raising Success

The St George's Day quiz with sausage and mash was a great success and £305 was raised.

Christine Brown would like to thank all those attended to make the evening go so well. Thanks also to Mark and Pauline of the Harvest Home for hosting the event.

Coffee Al Fresco in Whitchurch

The Shop Next Door is taking advantage of the new Town Hall frontage and the good weather. The café's excellent coffee and cakes can now be taken on tables under the tree outside Glass-foolery.

There is a vacancy for a roller skating waitress à la Martini advertisement, apply to the Glass-foolery management!

New Town Website

There is funding available in the SEEDA grant to the Town produce an improved (with respect to this one) site.

All the web design businesses which are listed in the business directory have been approached and to date 3 have expressed an interest in taking on the work. If any other business is interested please use the contact page to register an interest by the end of May.

Whitchurch Businesses in the Media

The May edition of the glossy Hampshire magazine commends 2 of the Town's businesses. The 3 page article includes pictures of the Silk Mill and some parts of the Town's history from the Domesday Book to the Salvation Army "Riot". Also mentioned are 3 of the Town's notable residents, past and present.

Praise is poured on 2 businesses for the nature of their offerings. The Old Paper Shop, because it is open from 5.30am and Emma's Ironing Service as the sort of facility that all towns should have!

The writer must have searched high and low to find detailed information like that (or did he/she just visit thewhitchurchweb?).

Whitchurch Welfare Trust

The Welfare Trust has made grants on nearly £10,000 in the last year and is looking for applications for grants.

The Trust has made grants:

• at Christmas to distribution to individuals and organisations £5,593
• £2,050 towards the costs of young people going to college or other training courses. 
• to individuals and local organisations for help with projects and other emergency costs totalling £1,810.

A full report and details of how to apply for a grant are here.

Belgium comes to Whitchurch

A Belgian rugby team made Whitchurch its home for the Easter weekend. The Rugby Club Hautes-Fagnes made the Parish Hall its home for the weekend whilst it took part in Overton Rugby Club's biennial Festival.

Faced with the problem of finding accommodation for 15 at a reasonable price over the Bank Holiday Weekend, Overton Rugby Club arranged for the hire of the Hall with showers being provided over the road in the White Hart.

Strangely the players seemed to enjoy evening visits to the town's hostelries and Club Chairman, Roger Filbey, said he was very pleased with the arrangement, which seems to have benefited Overton Rugby Club, Whitchurch and the visitors.

Best of Whitchurch

The selection of the Festival Queen, Princess and their attendants took place on Saturday night.

Mayor and Mayoress Peter and Pauline Williams, with organiser Michelle Gay selected Annabel Sankey to be the Queen, Rhianna England, the Princess, with Yasmin Mears, Ceris Brown and Francesca Dickins as their attendants.

All 5 will have dresses specially made for them ready for the crowing ceremony on the Milllenium Green at noon on 2 May. Immediately after the selection the ladies got down to the serious business of selecting the designs for the dresses (and a bit of disco dancing).

Best of British - Whitchurch Silk Mill

The most ancient of working silk mills in Britain puts the country town of Whitchurch on the map.

Thanks to funding from the Whitchurch Town Centre Improvement Programme, Whitchurch Silk Mill has just completed flying the flag at the Best of Britain and Ireland 2009 Travel Trade Fair at ExCel. The trade fair has just moved to ExCel, which is the home of World Travel Market, which means that our Silk Mill is capitalising on the trade and consumer marketing activities in the run up to the London 2012.

General Manager Stephen Bryer said "the team at Whitchurch Silk Mill work extremely hard to ensure that when visitors come they have a warm welcome and experience the full uniqueness of the silk weaving Mill. To have been able to attend the premier showcase of British Tourism and share the stage with other icons is a huge step in progression. We are extremely grateful for the funding from the TCIP."

The Mill's stand was very busy and had interest from both British and Foreign Tour operators. Just watch the Chinese coming to see how we weave silk in Britain!

..... and there's new exhibition just started - 'Smocks and Smocking: From Field to Fashion' - remarkable smocks from the Embroiderers' Guild Collection.

Bell Street is Looking Better

The old trees and shrubs have been replaced in Bell Street car Park and Great Lane. The works yet to be done are replacing the lighting, a new noticeboard on the toilet block, adding wooden planking to the recycling area screening (and moving all recycling containers into it) and making good the area currently being used by the contractor as a site store, this will increase the total number of parking spaces.

Community Awards

Last Wednesday the awards for citizens who had made significant contributions to the Town in 2008 were made. Mayor Pete Williams, supported by the Mayoress, Pauline Williams, presented certificates to 7 citizens.

Christine Brown is an extra-ordinary fund-raiser. She has supported the Boy's Football Club, the Parish Hall refurbishment, the local Razz 'm' Tazz Concerts, the Youth Project, the Rising Fives' Pre-School, Whitchurch Cricket Club, Leukaemia Research, Macmillan Nurses, to name but a few.

Rob Dunlop, for his leading the revival of the Town's Pubs Race and Carnival and for making the rock show, Twang, the major event in the town that it is.

Nikki Farley has run the Scouts for several years, giving unstintingly of her time and effort. In the early days, she ran the Section almost single-handedly, except for the help of a parent.

Maureen Lang received her Community Award for her tireless work for several local groups and charities, over many years. She is the local Secretary for the Samaritans, organises the Volunteers' Christmas Lunch, has been a member of the Friends of Whitchurch Silk Mill Committee for over fifteen years and is also an active Committee Member of the Towns Women's' Guild.

Andrew and Katya Reeves-Hall for their enthusiasm and involvement in many aspects of community life, but in particular for their efforts to promote family related activities in Whitchurch.

Keith Watts received his award for his consistent support of young people, first as Treasurer, then Chairman and now Project Worker of the Whitchurch Youth Project.