| The older hands will know all about this, but it may be helpful for some people. The National Trust office in Coleshill will issue free parking permits for the main NT carpark on White Horse Hill to residents of Ashbury, Baulking, Uffington and Woolstone. They will issue up to two permits per family and new residents can also ask for a book of guest permits. The permits will be valid until 31 December 2016 and they review this policy annually. Call the NT office on 01793 762209 and if you get the recorded message leave your name, address, telephone number and car registration number(s).
Watermill theatre in Uffington - 8 April | The Watermill Theatre will be at the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall on Friday 8 April, performing
ONE MILLION TINY PLAYS ABOUT BRITAIN Doors open 6:45pm Curtain up 7:30pm
Tickets £10 and £8 from Uffington Stores or 01367 8220385.
Licenced bar and nibbles. All proceeds to Hall improvements
see the poster here: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/c90a1a7b6d1f693a28c947f92/files/Watermill_theatre_8_April.pdf
2016 Uffington Cycling Group | Come and join us:-
Meets on the 2nd Wednesday in the month - March to October.
Wednesdays - 9th March, 13th April, 11th May, 8th June, 13th July, 10th August, 14th September, and 12th October. At 9.30am in the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall Car Park for a 2 hour gentle cycle ride with coffee break.
Helmet and high visibility top advised. You will also need:
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/c90a1a7b6d1f693a28c947f92/files/Cycle_poster.pdf
Further information:
Pamela Preene Parrottspreene@aol.com
Lilly Dunkerly lilly@newhaven4.co.uk
Verity Cavanagh verity@cavanagh1000.plus.com
White Horse Garden Club | The March meeting of the White Horse Garden Club will be on: THURSDAY 3rd MARCH AT 7.30PM IN THOMAS HUGHES MEMORIAL HALL, UFFINGTON, SN7 7RA TALK: MAINTENANCE AND MANICURE OF THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME. Lawns: weeds, pests, moss and diseases plus how to scarify, spike and lay a lawn from seed and turf.
BY: Jon Mason, Director of Highfield Garden World, Gloucester.
Plants for sale.
Members £10 per year. Visitors £2.50. Raffle £1.
Please do come along and bring your friends, neighbours and relatives.
National Trust - news and information from the Hill | I just thought I'd drop a line with some news and info from the Hill.
1) The car park railing repairs and associated improvement work, including removal of barbed wire fencing from the picnic area, are now complete. New pay and display machines have been installed after the most recent attempted burglary earlier this year left one machine totally destroyed and the other put out of order.
2) Three men were arrested, again last month, following a police operation up at Ashbury Folly car parks. They are all serial offenders driven by gambling addictions so whilst they may be facing a spell ' inside ' , it is likely they or their like will return to plague us in the future. We are working closely with the police to combat this unsavoury and distressing behaviour in the future.
3) The approach to the car park up Woolstone Hill Road has been our focus for winter work where the hedge needed cutting back from the roadside. We're nearly done and we're hoping you'll find it an improvement.
4) Regarding upcoming events on the Hill, we will be hosting an Easter Egg Trail in conjunction with Cadbury's much the same as last year which was a great success. I'm putting up posters/fliers for it this afternoon so keep your eyes peeled! The date is Saturday 26th March so we'd recommend arriving early to avoid disappointment. After much consultation, we have decided to decline the District Council's request for the hosting of a beacon fire on the Hill to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday. The reason being we are pursuing a different theme known as 'Clean for the Queen' which is taking place in Coleshill. We were also concerned about at this time of year, the impact of many visitors on the Skylark population of the Hill with ground nesting conditions required for this bird which is so iconic of the Hill. We hope not too many are disappointed with this. However, we will be hosting a kite festival on the 29th of May which will be geared towards a family fun event and not a display by power kites or clubs/professionals. Again, more info nearer the time.
5) Chalking of the Horse has been moved back to July 2nd and 3rd to hopefully allow for warmer / better conditions for the event and chalkers! The head and neck are currently roped off to try and deter visitors from walking in that area or turning in the eye which is causing so much mess and damage. We suspect half term visitors are the culprits here. However, it's not something we can't fix and the Horse appears to be in a relatively good condition for the time of year, even though grasses and weeds are trying to take hold in February!!
6) The fire damage at Wayland's Smithy has been put right and we are consulting with English Heritage about concerns over a slump at the southern end and how we can attend to this. Easy if there wasn't so much red tape!
Please feel free to share with all your parishioners via your newsletter. I hope this will keep everyone up to date with the Hill and I look forward to seeing you all up there or at the Parish Council meeting on 11 April.
Andy Foley
Ranger
White Horse Hill and Ashdown Park
| The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group would like to thank all those who turned out for the first consultation meeting with the residents of all three villages participating in the Uffington, Baulking and Woolstone Neighbourhood Plan. This took place on 21 January in the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall .
The purposes of the meeting were, principally, to seek your views on the Steering Group's draft Vision and Objectives for the NP, and more generally, to provide an introduction to the NP process. The Steering Group was pleased to see over 70 people there and is grateful to everybody who submitted comments. The draft Vision and Objectives have been revised as a result and can now be seen on the UBW Neighbourhood Plan website, here: http://www.ubwnp.net/creating-the-plan/vision-objectives/ The Steering Group would like to encourage residents to visit the site regularly; there is a lot of information there which we think will be of interest, including the agenda and notes of Steering Group meetings, which currently take place about every 4 weeks. The notes of the last four meetings are there and those for future meetings will be uploaded once they have been approved. Should you have queries or wish to make a comment, the website explains the ways in which this can be done. The Steering Group looks forward to hearing from residents! | | | |
The weekend of 5 and 6 March | There is a lot happening over the weekend of 5 and 6 March:
Saturday 5 March
This is "Clean for the Queen" day,including the Spring Jubilee Field tidy. We will be joining other villages locally and around the country to clean up before the celebrations for the Queen's 90th birthday in June. Please assemble at the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall at 10.00 am on Saturday 5 March, and bring your own gloves hand tools etc; hi-vis jackets will be provided for those working on the roads. Further information can be found on the website at: http://www.cleanforthequeen.co.uk/home/2365
Sunday 6 March
This is Mothering Sunday and there are still some places left for The Friends of Saint Mary, Mothering Sunday Lunch in the THMH. Tickets are - adults £12 children 11 or under half price and under 5's free.
Contact Geoff 01367 820668 or Ray 01367 820242.
Stile on FP 4 on the north side of the railway line | It is good to be able to report that the stile to the north of the railway line has been repaired.
It has taken two years, but thanks go to Dave Cavanagh and to Arthur McEwan-James of OCC's Countryside Access Team for his persistence in persuading Network Rail to admit ownership and then complete the repair. This repair makes possible the following walk:
From Uffington Village Hall, walk North to cross the railway line (sight line is not perfect so listen carefully for trains), then on reaching the road at Moor Mill Farm, turn right to go back over the railway via the "new" road bridge. To return, enter the wood before reaching Station Road, leaving the wood at the bottom and walking briefly along the road before entering the Matthews fields on the right and following the diagonal footpath that crosses two fields before arriving at the Lower Common end of "Jack's Lea."
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