Future of the Parish Hall

The hard work being put in to revitalise the Hall, see below, for the benefit of all, may be wasted if a plan to buy it for use by the Youth Project comes to fruition.

The Hall's landlord informed the committee that he had been approached about the Town Council's buying the hall for use by the Youth Project. As neither the Council's representative nor those Hall trustees associated with the Youth Project had mentioned this at Hall Committee meetings, the Town Council were asked about the matter last night.

The Mayor, Vince Bradbury, said that a decision had not been made and a bid had not been put in. It is hoped that the matter can be cleared up in time for fund raising and other plans can put in front of the AGM on 10 June.

Parish Hall Events

The Parish Hall is moving up a gear in the number of events it is hosting. Thursday's second bingo session attracted new members and Saturday's plant sale, previously run by the Gardens' Association, was as popular as ever. There are few plants left over and they will be available at the Friday Market.

The newly (part) refurbished frontage now shows the forthcoming events, which include two new, hopefully regulars. There's a youth disco on Thursday 4th - disco provided by Craig - and a table top sale on Sunday 7th in the morning. Music at the Parish Hall is on again on Saturday 6th when Second Time Around will provide the music, tickets from John Dennett's butchers shop.

The committee have even bigger plans, including a week long art exhibition in August, so why not come along to the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 10th at 7.30pm to hear all about them, and have your say?

Door to Door Clothing Collection

Flyers have been put through letterboxes in the town from a company which doesn't appear to be very popular up and down the country. The flyers, from a company called SHC Collections Ltd, contain several spelling mistakes and advertise the collection of unwanted clothing for distribution to the Third World. Members of several internet fora around the UK have discussed the company and none seem impressed, recommending that unwanted household goods are given to local charities instead.

Pub Race Success!!

Glorious weather, 28 teams, the Carnival Queen, Princess and her Attendants, the Town's pubs, the good folk of Whitchurch, the Mayor and Rob Dunlop together produced another fantastic event and raised over £2,700 for local groups.

The race started at The Prince Regent and competitors raced, walked, strolled, danced or sung (depending on their inclination) their way to The Railway Inn, The Bell, The King's Arms, The White Hart, The Red House, The Harvest Home and finished at the Sports and Social Club where presentations were made by the mayor, Vince Bradbury, and the Carnival Queen, Princess and attendants.

The teams had the chance to win prizes in 4 categories and the results are below, but the main winners were all those who took part or watched.

More pictures here, if you have more that we could publish, please use the contact form.

Junior Footballers Wanted

Whitchurch United Youth Football Club is looking for members for its under 14's team. Are you interested in playing football next season, 2009-10 for a new Whitchurch boys team at age group U14? The team will be playing in the Testway Youth League on Saturday mornings from September 2009.

Interested players - who are just finishing current school year 8 only - please get in touch with Steve Allen. If anyone fancies helping to run the team Steve would also be delighted to hear from you!

Contact Steve Allen on 01256 896463 (evenings & weekends)

Bingo Returns to the Parish Hall

The first bingo session in the revitalised Parish Hall was held on Thursday. Using a computerised system with information displayed on a large screen, over £30 was raised for the refurbishment funds and those at the event said they enjoyed it so much they wanted it repeated. Gill Webb thanked all those who attended and helped in any way.

So high tech Bingo is back in the Parish Hall on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each money - the Snowball wasn't won at the first event so it now rises to £30 - and the tickets are only 10p!!

Abnormal Load Expected

An abnormal load is was scheduled to pass through Whitchurch on Monday 11th May. The likely date has been put back until the end of the month.

The abnormally wide and high load will be travelling along the old A34 (Winchester Street/Road and Newbury Street/Road). All parked and unattended vehicles need to be moved from both sides of those roads. No waiting cones will be placed on the evening of 10th May and any vehicles found parking at 8am on the 11th will be removed at the owner's expense.

If you have any questions please contact Whitchurch Police Station on 0845 045 45 45.

Annual Town Assembly

Many of the town's community groups, the police and the Town Council presented reports to the Annual Town Assembly last Wednesday.

Reports available on-line to date are from:

• The police
• Working4Whitchurch
• Millennium Green
• Whitchurch Arts - but it appears to produce reading errors on some versions of Adobe Acrobat
• Whitchurch Welfare Trust

If you have any of the other reports please use the contact page to let thewhitchurchweb know so they can be published for those who couldn't make it on the night.

Minor Incident Lower Evingar Road

PC Paula Deering would like everyone to know that there was no serious incident in Lower Evingar Road at the weekend. A male tripped over and knocked himself out after he had consumed too much alcohol. He has been seen by Police and confirmed this. He has been released from hospital, fit and well, but for a few cuts to his face.

Financial Crisis - What Financial Crisis?

Sales of properties in Whitchurch are moving apace at the moment, despite stories of financial crisis and a slump in the housing market reported in the national media.

As can be seen from the photo, almost all the Whitchurch properties in Brockenhurst's windows are marked as sold.

Brockenhurst's staff are very anxious to contact anyone who has a property to sell, they have a long list of waiting buyers.

Police appeal after car fires in north Hampshire

Police are appealing for witnesses after a series of arsons in Whitchurch and Overton during the last two weeks.

Between 5pm on Monday, April 27 and 7.30am on Tuesday, April 28 a white Peugeot 106 was set on fire while it was parked in the car park of the Gill Nethercott Community Centre in Winchester Street, Whitchurch.

The car was seriously damaged but nobody was injured following the fire. A Ford Focus was set alight in the early hours of Monday morning while it was parked in Station Road, Whitchurch. Again damage was caused but nobody was injured. On Tuesday, April 14 a Nissan Almera was set on fire while it was parked near to Overton Railway Station.

PC Adam Pink, of the Whitchurch targeted patrol team, said: “We are keen to hear from anyone who witnessed any of these incidents.

“Fires like this are extremely dangerous and it is fortunate that nobody has been injured. “We are taking all three incidents very seriously and would urge anyone with information to contact police as soon as possible.”

Can you help?

Southern Crimestoppers

Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Pink at Whitchurch police station on 0845 045 45 45 or call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111. Mini-Com users can call 01962 875000.

Help needed to complete improvements

The Town Centre Improvements Programme's Steering Group needs some help in minuting its meetings for the next 12 months and is offering the job to residents of Whitchurch.

The Group meets for a couple of hours each month between 5 and 7pm and needs someone to take the minutes. The work will be paid at £10 - £15 per hour (for attending the meeting and the time to write up the minutes).

Please call 07825 112677 if you're interested.