SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2015 EVENTS IN FEBRUARY 2015 Monday 9 February History Group Meeting Apple Tree Inn Tuesday 24 February Community Plan Steering Group Meeting Village Hall FORTHCOMING EVENTS Thursday 12 March Parish Council Meeting Shoscombe Village Hall Sunday 29 March Litter Picking SHOSCOMBE HISTORY GROUP The next meeting of the History Group will be at the Apple Tree on Monday 9 February starting at 8pm. 2015 is the 70th anniversary of VE Day and to acknowledge, and celebrate this, the History Group will be investigating what remains of the World War 2 defences in our locality which were known as ‘The Green Stop Line’ or ‘The GHQ Line’ We will also be discussing a program of events for 2015. Please join us at the Apple Tree if you would like to be involved with our new project. If you are unable to attend but would like to be kept informed, please email Derek [email protected] or tel 07778740628 Hello! On Sunday 1st March I will be running the Bath Half Marathon to raise money for Foxcote Church. Shoscombe Community Plan 2015 We’re now at the stage where the Questionnaire is being finalised. We must make sure that the right questions are asked so that everyone’s views on all aspects of living here are taken into account when the Community Plan is drawn up. There will be a series of discussion groups in March and April so you and your neighbours can hear more about the Plan. Look out for dates and details in the Newsletter. In the meantime, please do come along to the Steering Committee meetings and keep in touch with how things are going. The next one is at the Village Hall, starting at 8.00pm on Tuesday 24th February 2015 To contact Shoscombe Community Plan Steering Committee telephone: I will be coming round the village trying to collect as Carolyn Keating 434103 at 61 Shoscombe many sponsors as I can . If I don't see you, and you Tricia Wastvedt 434805 at 43 Shoscombe want to sponsor me please email me your details at [email protected] Events planned in aid of new classroom at Many thanks! Rachel Holland Shoscombe school LITTER PICKING We are planning to hold another litter picking session on Sunday morning, 29th March. Please put this date in your diary and come along to help make our community a better place to live in. More details will be given in the March edition of the newsletter. Fred Chaytors and Ian Meadows have compiled a list of events which Ian will lead. APRIL- A Saturday or Sunday - “A heritage Walk around Weymouth” (This is a popular NT walk) MAY- "Stonehenge and the area", which will include Durrington walls. An evening in early OCTOBER at School "Medieval Food and Drink" Dates and more information will be given in the next newsletter. SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2015 CHURCH SERVICES AT ST JULIAN’S DECEMBER 2014 DATE TIME LEADING & PRAYING PREACHING READING February 1st 4th A er Epiphany 10.00 Family Service Dick Beath Jo Vening Bob Goode February 8th 2nd Before Lent Ma hew Street Margaret Coles Holy Communion February 15th Next before Lent No Service February 22nd 1st of Lent Holy Communion Ma hew Street ———————‐ —————— —————‐ Richard Fothergill Richard Fothergill C.Stevenson ‘Resisting Temptation' by Matthew Street, The Vicar, based on Genesis 39:6-10 Joseph was fine-looking and attractive, and in time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, 'Make love to me.' But he refused and said to her, 'I need to consider my master. He has no worries concerning the affairs of his household, having entrusted its administration into my hands. My authority here is second only to his, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, since you are his wife. How, then, could I repay him with such wickedness, and sin also against God?' Although she made insinuations to Joseph every day, he refused to lie beside her or even to be with her alone Genesis 39:6-10 Temptation comes in many shapes and forms. For some it is sex, for others money; for some drugs, for others power. All of us have our Achilles' heel - a vulnerable spot where temptation unerringly strikes - and though we may resist for a time, it is hard not to succumb when faced by temptation's repeated assaults. The same must have been true for Joseph, faced by the flirtatious advances of Potiphar's wife - he would have been less than human had he felt no stirring within him. Yet however attracted he may have been, he did not succumb, because he knew that to do so would be to compromise everything he believed. Sold into slavery he may have been, rejected by his own brothers, and faced with an uncertain future in a foreign land; it didn't matter - the principles that underpinned his life and the faith that sustained these still held good. For Joseph, the all-important factor was not what he desired but what God required. It is a principle that all of us, faced with temptation, do well to follow. With my best regards Matthew Vicar: Rev. Matthew Street The Vicarage, Church Road, Peasedown St John, Bath, BA2 8AA Tel: 01761 432293 - Email: [email protected] - Website:http://www.stjsgroup.org/ Church Wardens: Bob Goode (01761 418884) and Margaret Coles (01761 433184) Church Administrator: Hywel Carr: 07881 921018/[email protected] Friends of Foxcote Church Thank you to all who attended the Candlelit Carol Service & Festival of Light at St James the Less Foxcote . A truly uplifting and magical beginning to the Christmas Festival. The Friends would like to thank:Mrs Rorison and the children from Shoscombe School for their lovely posters, the procession of St Lucia and the their beautiful clear readings. Mrs Ulrika Meller for providing the Crown of Light. Grant, Lee and assistants for creating the sight of the Church bathed in light which could be seen throughout the valley, the refreshment gazebo and the floodlit car park. Alan & Karen Bazely for providing the mulled wine. The bakers, Joy Schneiderman, Christine Ross, Sue Vaughan, Sue Feather, Aunt Gloria, Carole Stevenson. Hazel & Dave Jones and Margaret Coles for the soft drinks. Bob Goode for the music and rehearsing the children Mr & Mrs Holmes for parking facilities. SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2015 CLEANER REQUIRED FOR SHOSCOMBE SCHOOL Salary Grade S £13,500 pa pro rata (£7.00 ph) 15 Hours per week 38 weeks Term Time plus 2 weeks during School Holiday Required from Monday 13th April 2015 Ref: NT We are looking to appoint a versatile and competent person to ensure the school’s facilities are cleaned to a high standard. Come and join our friendly school team. The primary purpose of the post is to undertake a range of duties, including:  Responsibility for the cleaning tasks set out in the cleaning specification.  Responsibility for general tidiness and safety of cleaning materials and equipment.  Responsibility for maintaining cleaning stock levels including ordering of items. To ensure compliance with all relevant security, health & safety regulations including COSHH.  You must be fit enough to carry out all aspects of the post and reliable. All cleaning vacancies are subject to proof of right to work in the UK and satisfactory references. Our school operates a safe recruiting policy to ensure child protection and welfare. Shoscombe Stretch and Breathe Exercise Class at the Village Hall Please note this class is now held on Tuesday afternoon 2.30- 3.15pm (no longer on a Monday Morning) £5 per session to include refreshments This exercise class is aimed at anyone who would like some gentle exercise tailored to individual needs. A series of gentle warm up exercises, followed by more specific stretches using the breath to encourage movement, suppleness and flexibility. Can be done sitting on a chair if necessary. Either just turn up, (bring a mat if you have one) or if you want to find out more ring Jill Lambert 07828 286665 / 01225 833875 An application pack will be sent on request. Please contact Mrs Sally Kettle, School Administrator. Visits to the school are welcome. Closing date: Friday 20th February 2015 Interview date: Friday 6th March 2015 IRISH SET DANCING CLASSES AT SHOSCOMBE VILLAGE HALL 8 -10pm (7.30 – 8pm Steps Practice) Tuesday Feb. 3rd &17th . £3 tea /coffee/biscuits included Graham & Ann Hunter 01761 435204 TABLE TENNIS CLUB Shoscombe Table Tennis Club meets Sunday evenings 7-9pm and Tuesday mornings 10-12 noon in the Village Hall. £2 a session to include refreshments New members are very welcome. All enquiries to [email protected] SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2015 FREE RANGE EGGS FOR SALE £2.50 a dozen DELIVERIES TO VILLAGE SATURDAY MORNINGS ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE APPLE TREE SHOSCOMBE & THE GATE AT SHARPMEAD FOR DETAILS PLEASE RING AMY ON 07595 279126 SHOSCOMBE VILLAGE HALL 100 CLUB RESULTS December 2014 1st £100 - Sue & Adrian McDonald 2nd £50 - Mr & Mrs Russell 3rd £40 - Mr & Mrs Hampton January 2015 1st £100 - no 167 - Alan & Brenda White 2nd £50 - no 86 - Rina Richards 3rd £40 - no 26 - Helen Craig-Jones FREE TICKETS! I have two ckets for the “ Works on Paper Fair” produced by Hanga Ten ‐ Contemporary Japanese Prints. They are for Wed. 4th February to Sun. 8th February at The Science Museum in London. Anyone interested please phone 01761 433810. Hall Bookings Please contact the booking secretary Ali Taylor 01761 437522 [email protected] Details about the hall can be found on the village hall website www.shoscombevillagehall.co.uk HOLIDAY LET SPAIN Self catering accommodation in rural Andalucia Traditional Spanish townhouse available for holiday let - sleeps 8 For more details please contact Graham and Ann Hunter 01761 435204 YC PET SEVICES It’s hard walking your dog in darkness and not very enjoyable for you or the dog. Give yourself free time to get the other jobs done around the house. Get a dog walker! Or, if you’re thinking of a winter get-away, why not get a house/pet sitter. No vaccination updates, stress free for the dog and yourself, peace of mind knowing your house is occupied while you’re away. For further information please contact Yazmin Curley on 07432 105970 or email [email protected] SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2015 Since the delivery of our leaflet there have been some recent developments. Falling property values The Government commissioned a report in 2014 on Shale Gas: Rural Economy Impacts. It was written by DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ) and the Government has retracted 63 sections from the report dealing with the effects that fracking will have on house prices. They say it will never be published in full. The Government paper Shale Gas and Fracking ‐ Parliament UK states clearly that compensation for the loss of property values cannot be claimed through the courts. UK Methane holds the licence for this area. They have stated their intention to drill 2000 wells. They are unable to guarantee that our water supplies will not be contaminated. Their licence to drill expires in 2039 Yes, 24 years from now! [See DECC(PEDL227‐EDU Deskbooker)]. Health and quality of life Lancashire County Council have been advised that their best grounds for rejecting a Planning Application by Cuadrilla to drill will be made by objecting to the noise factors. Their Planning Officers conclude that there would be “a severe increase in HGV traffic” and drilling would lead to “a significant increase in night-time background noise levels with significant adverse effects on the health and quality of life for residents.” The environmental impacts We live in a rural area where the environmental impacts would be widespread and all detrimental if fracking were to proceed. We have a film about fracking which anyone can borrow. We will have a public showing of this film in the Village Hall at a later date when we can debate these issues and decide how best to resist this threat. Finally, we will be writing to all Parish Councils included in this affected area to canvas their views on fracking. We will report those views to you. If you have received the newsletter early, we hope to see as many of you as possible at the Public mee ng in Midsomer Norton Town Hall on the 29th January Many thanks, Chris Upton, on behalf of the rest of the Frack Free Shoscombe Group SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2015 PARISH COUNCIL NEWS Happy New Year to everyone. We held our first meeting of the year last Thursday and, amongst other things, discussed our precept for this forthcoming financial year. After much discussion it was decided we would increase this by 5% (an average of approximately £2.00 per year for households). This will allow us to continue to maintain and possibly upgrade the play area near the village hall, purchase some new much needed office equipment and install 2 new notice boards in the village. Even though agendas and minutes etc go onto our website, sometimes things need to be seen in paper format and the board near Shoscombe Vale needs repairing with the one near the Apple Tree in need of re-siting so it can be more accessible. I have also been in touch with Steve Simmons regarding pot hole repairs with a special mention of the road going up to the Mercedes garage. The large puddle is back requiring people to move towards the middle of the road to avoid it. He has replied very promptly just this evening saying this will probably not have any major works undertaken on it this year but will be repaired as and when need be. Neil Butters is also aware of our concerns. The visibility curve up at the Braysdown/Green St junction was also reported to Highways and has now been cut back. Thank you to Martin Young for this. We will keep an eye on this area as turning right can be difficult. Issues with noise at village hall events before Christmas were discussed as many residents were kept awake until the early hours, in fact until 5.00 a.m. one morning with what can only be described as a ‘rave’. The noise limiter, even after repair, could be disabled. It goes without saying that the bookings were taken in good faith but the committee are going to be more rigorous from now on and we also asked if they could increase their deposit, which would be non-refundable, should damage occur. This, we feel, would act as a deterrent. We are very grateful for all the hard work the village hall committee put in and would not want to appear critical but understand that all the complaints could not have been easy for them to deal with either. The village/community plan is progressing well with all questionnaire responses having been collated and merged. There will be focus groups and it is hoped parishioners will feel able to contribute their ideas and suggestions to Carolyn Keating/Tricia Wastvedt, joint Chairs and the steering group. Both Alistair Colston, who helped compile Wellow’s and Peter Duppa Miller, Combe Hay’s clerk have offered their considerable expertise. As a council, we were asked for our comments on the proposed re-routing of footpath BA23/28 near Dairy Cottage. Carolyn Keating and Joy Schneidermann both walked this with Neil Butters. The new route is one which is regularly used and is, in fact, more preferable than the existing one. New gates will be installed and the mud issue will, hopefully, be addressed. I have submitted our comments to Public Rights of Way. We have also received some paperwork which provides the opportunity for an application to be made for consideration to be given to altering our current housing boundary. However, as we are ‘washed over by green belt’ the application would need to be very detailed and would be carefully scrutinised. There are currently no outstanding planning applications which would require such an application so we will not be submitting any requests to change the existing housing boundary. Many thanks to Lisa Price, who lives in Single Hill, for her offer to take on the website. She has already met with Nick Gates for updates and handover. Our next meeting is on 12th March at 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall. Editorial Please let us know if you would like us to include any family announcements in future issues. 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 SHOSCOMBE NEWSLETTER has a monthly circulation of 250 copies, delivered to every home in the village, by volunteers from our community. Items for the March 2015 Newsletter to: letterbox at 46 Single Hill, or [email protected] by 21 February 2015. N.B a copy of this newsletter and the calendar for the village hall bookings can be found at www.shoscombevillagehall.co.uk and at www.shoscombeparish.org.uk