Complaints About QEII Park Plans
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council planners want to retain an access route to potential new housing sites, this has upset many involved in the campaign to have the park recognised.
Although the Knowlings Field site is not included in the current plan for housing, the council officers are taking the step to protect access should the situation change, for instance for "Rural Exceptions for Affordable Housing", see below. The changes to the park plans involve a 20m wide strip to the south of the park area and a 5.5m strip to the west; you can see the plan here.
B&DBC will be debating the issue on March 6th.
More Winning Ways 
Whitchurch United beat Ludgershall Sports 7 - 0!
The Jam Boys dominated the match from the start and were rewarded after just over a quarter of an hour when Nick Jupp found lots of space to score. Luke Walker made it 2 - 0 with a very well judged lob over the keeper which left him no chance. On the half hour a foul on striker Paul Coventry in the box meant that Luke had the opportunity to score his second from the penalty spot, which he took. The second half continued as the first with Ollie Bridges narrowly missing in the opening minutes. Twenty minutes into the half, Nick Jupp set up Paul Coventry for a well taken cross and soon after Nick was in the right place to bury the ball in the net after a good shot from Dan Shaughnessy was blocked by the Ludgershall keeper. Dan's speed allowed him to score a further two goals, the last on 90 minutes to leave United worthy winners.
This means that the Boys are in the semi-finals of the Andover Open Cup, where they will play Broughton at home; they are already in the semi-finals of the Basingstoke Senior Cup and play New Inn, again at home, on 27th March. On Friday evening, 2nd March, the Under 12s take on Verwood under floodlights with a 7.15 kick off at Longmeadow. The First Team is home on 3rd and 6th March against Petersfield and RIngwood, kick offs at 3pm and 7.45pm respectively.
United Back to Winning Ways
Whitchurch United beat Wessex League leaders, Team Solent 2 - 1 away from home. The goals came from Nick Jupp and Paul Coventry, Nick could have made it 3 - 1 but missed a penalty. The result lifts the Jam Boys 2 places to 8th, ahead on goal difference of local rivals, Andover New Street.
After some hard midweek training, Jim Macey says the team is playing with restored confidence following disappointing results against Tadley and Stockbridge. They are now in a great state of mind for Tuesday night's Andover Open Cup match, which starts at 7.45pm.
There's plenty of football coming up at Longmeadow, with the ground being chosen by the North Hampshire League and the Testway Youth League for several finals - keep an eye out for the details here!
New Royal Family Selected
Whitchurch Festival Queen, Princess and Attendants were selected on Friday evening. All the girls are pupils from Whitchurch schools and 10 entered the competition. The judges had a difficult choice to make and are very pleased with the final decision. Both the judging panel and the festival committee hope that those not fortunate enough to have been chosen this year will try again next year, as all were worthy entrants.
Those elected were:
- Carnival Queen - Natasha Saunders
- Queen's Attendants - Katherine Woodman and Beth Wiltshire
- Carnival Princess - Summer Coughtrey
- Princess' Attendant - Madison Coughtrey
Throughout 2012 the girls will be involved in all the Whitchurch Festival Association's events. You will first see them being crowned at the May Day Celebrations on 5th May. Their schedule includes
- Starting the Great Whitchurch Pub Race on 6th June and presenting the awards to the winners
- Leading the Carnival procession on 7th July to the fete - this will be part of the QEII Field Day
- The new Happy Circus at the Primary School on 30th September
- Lighting the bonfire on 27th October
- Serving at the We’ll Meet Again Supper
The royal family are rightly royally supported throughout the year by Cindy Dunlop and Pauline Williams who manage their activities as organising the May Day Celebration. As part of this they hand make the beautiful dresses that the Queen, Princess and attendants wear. Each dress is tailored made to fit the girls perfectly, all of which takes many hours. The dresses for 2012 will be unveiled for the first time at the May Day Celebrations.
Calling All Golfers
A fund raising golf day has been arranged to raise funds for Whitchurch Sports Trust. The Trust runs the Longmeadow Sports complex which hosts 3 sports clubs, football, both senior and junior, squash and bowls, together with the social club. As with many organisations that were part funded by a bar and fruit machine, habits have changed, so fund raising is required to keep the facility running.
This year will be the first Golf Day, to raise money for changing room maintenance. The emphasis is on a competitive but fun day for all the teams. Dummer Golf Club has been chosen for its location, excellent facilities and the ability to have a 9am shotgun start. The 6th June is in the half term holiday week for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration so hopefully a quiet week at work and juniors are welcome.
The format will be teams of four (£140 per team) which includes coffee and bacon roll on arrival between 8 and 8.45, the 18 holes of golf, followed by lunch. The Trust invites you to support this event by entering a team of friends, customers, work colleagues, etc. If you can’t raise a team but would like to support the event please get in touch and the Trust will try to find a team for you to join.
There will be separate competitions for teams who hold official golf handicaps and those who do not. Prizes are also to be given for 'nearest the pin' and 'longest drive' competitions.
You can download the entry form and return it along with your cheque. If you don't want to play but would like to support the fund raising efforts you can sponsoring a hole or one of the competitions, donate araffle prize or indeed just cash, there's space on the form and the Tust will be very grateful.
For more information contact Mike Strong on 07766 111444 or 01264 738866.
Glass Recycling
Basingstoke & Deane BC is bringing in roadside collection of glass jars and bottles in Whitchurch. The scheme will start in Whitchurch on 16th April and coincide with the fortnightly recycling collection.
You will receive a delivery of a free 40 litre plastic box in the next 2 weeks. Jars and bottles without tops or corks should be left in the box alongside your green bin. There's no need to wash them or remove labels but no other glass items, such as sheets of glass or light bulbs should be left in the box (take them to a recycling centre - see the recycling page for details).
There's much more on recycling in Whitchurch on the recycling page, B&DBC's website or ring 01256 844844.
Once Again the Cheapest Around
Whitchurch's butcher, Philip Langley, is once again offering the cheapest eggs in the area. His free range eggs are now only £1 for 6 and he has daily special offers of meat that is traditionally butchered and as tasty as you'll find. His specials are listed in the board outside his shop at 9 Winchester Street and change daily.
Philip is offering a service that other communities have lost. Whilst thinking about what new housing we need, please think about what else we need keep Whitchurch a community, not just a dormitory town. Support your local shops!
Festival Money on Offer
Committee is asking for ideas on how to spend £600.
Whitchurch Festival Association is very pleased to announce that it has £600 to dedicate to charitable awards and projects. The Committee is inviting its membership and the general public to submit proposals for the best use of this money. Criteria to be used in selecting projects are:
- Will the money be used within Whitchurch, Hampshire?
- Will the money be used to support residents, groups or charities in Whitchurch?
- Will the money support areas that improve education and welfare in Whitchurch?
The money does not have to be donated specifically to an external entity detached from Whitchurch Festival. If a proposal involves putting on a new charitable event in Whitchurch, like “We’ll Meet Again”, then the proposer would be invited to work with Whitchurch Festival Association and to bring the proposal to life.
The closing date for proposals will be 4th March. The successful proposals will be presented at a Special General Meeting on 18th March. An agenda will be sent 1 week before this date to allow the Membership time to consider.
The next festival event is the on February 17th at the Gill Nethercott Centre in association with Chill2 This youth club.
Your Chance to Comment on Future Plans
Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council is looking for comments on its plans for house building up to the year 2027. The Local Development Plan is now available on-line. It includes the building of ~150 houses off Bloswood Lane in the near future.
A recent Liberal Party flyer states that this will meet the need for new homes locally for six years. This calculation relies upon a "zero net migration plus" policy, which allows for newcomers to only fill houses vacated by those leaving the Town. Given the attractive nature of the Town, this could be optimistic.
The flyer refers to those who can't afford to buy, of which there are some 100 registered with B&DBC; this number is likely to grow. It assumes that the development plans for Bloswood, not yet produced, will include some 60 affordable homes. The shortfall could to be met by a "Rural Exceptions for Affordable Housing". This policy is explained on page 59 of the Pre-Submission Core Strategy. It allows for additional building outside the areas covered by the plan but requires developers to provide a minimum of 80% of a development as affordable housing. Again this may be optimistic.
B&DBC; officers will be available to answer your questions on the plan at Overton Community Centre between 2 and 8pm on Thursday 23 February. You can comment at that event, in writing or .
Last Chance for Free House Insulation
The offer of free cavity wall insulation and loft insulation ends soon. If you don't have cavity wall insulation and/or have less than 60mm (2½") of ceiling insulation you can have it professionally installed at no cost. The scheme is being run by Hampshire County Council and local borough councils, including Basingstoke & Deane, using funding from ScottishPower. Savings for the average home are estimated at £300 per year if both are installed. The offer is subject to a free technical survey.
If you already have 60mm of loft insulation you can still get additional insulation to bring you up to the recommended 270mm for £49 (up to a maximum of 100m2).
Details are available on-line, with an application form, or you can call 0800 952 0037 but the scheme ends on 31 March 2012. If you know of someone who may benefit, please pass on the message.
BBC Digital TV Problems
Those using the Hannington transmitter (your aerial points north or north east) may be having problems receiving BBC TV channels. BBC1, 2, 3, 4 & the BBC News Channel are all suffering from a weak signal - don't panic or dash out and buy something new - it will be fixed.
Another Shop Opens
 The shop on London Street is no longer empty. Ryan Dickinson has taken over 7 London Street as an office and showroom.
After several weeks' work the shop will open on 18th February at 9.30am and be open until 7pm for you to have a good look around.
Ryan is long established in the Town as a plumber but now he also has "a shop window" to show his wares.
Another Successful Potato Day
The 14th Hampshire Potato Day started with long queues of keen gardeners waiting to get in. By the time the doors opened at 10am on 28th January around 100 eager gardeners were anxious to get started.
Altogether just under 2,000 visited the 2 days, slightly down on last year's record of 2,200. There was still the largest collection of seed potatoes available to amateur gardeners in one place in the world, around 140. Many of the seeds were heritage varieties, available for the first time as individual tubers. For the organic gardeners, 31 of them were also available as organically grown seed.
The 5th Whitchurch Seed Swap, organised by Hampshire Organic Gardening Group was a very popular attraction as were, judging by the stall holders' comments the other stands which offered a mix of local and gardening produce.
 Children were well catered for with an activity centre run again by the ladies of FOWPS and free potatoes handed out by expert, Taffy Tattie, aka David Chappell. Other expert advice was delivered in his usual entertaining style by Chris Bird of Sparsholt College. Chris, Taffy Tattie and Richard Stevenson were on hand throughout the event to offer advice.
Much of the success of the day is down to the work Richard and his wife, Ruth, of Charlton Park Garden Centre put in to sourcing and preparing the amazing selection of varieties for sale.
There's lots more pictures on the Potato Day's own website, and the date of next year's event. |
