CHADRA

CHARFIELD BIG SING

[Graphic: Haaaah-lay-loo-yah!]

Can you Handel it?

11 and 25 February, 10am–noon, Charfield School Hall

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Next Copy Date – 6 April 2012

If you would like to write an article for the next issue, or make comments on articles published, please e-mail these to xxxx @ gmail.com

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Have you registered yet?

Saturday February 11 and February 25, 2012, 10am to 12 noon
Charfield Primary School Main Hall

“Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats singing !!!”

(With apologies to Kenneth Grahame and Ratty.)

In the first week of the New Year you should have received a blue flyer about this Big Sing – if not, then perhaps your dog savaged my hand as I attempted to deliver it, or perhaps yours is one of the houses with hidden letterboxes or impossible gates! – so we won't repeat all the details, which are on charfield.org if you need them.

As I write (11 January) we have 85 (that's EIGHTY FIVE!!!) singers registered of all ages, and there is a near-perfect ratio of men to women, so we shall be just dandy. This is a fantastic response, and proof that we'd all like to sing, given half a chance!

We can take more, so if you wish to register then please do – either by phone (01454 260877) or email (xxxx @ gmail.com). We can't cope with ‘walk-ups’ on the day, so you MUST register.

Please do as much preparation as you can, as suggested in the flyer and on charfield.org. Any problems, just contact the organisers (Julia 01454 26xxxx or Helen 01454 26xxxx).

So we'll see you on the 11th Feb – please arrive any time after 9.45 so that we are ready to start work at 10 on the dot (can't waste a minute!). Do bring your score, a pencil for notes, bottled water to keep your whistle wet, and some cash to donate to costs … thank you!

We are very grateful to Thornbury Choral Society for adopting this project as part of its outreach programme, and to the Primary School for its support.

Altogether now, starting on a nice chord of D major, and watching Dr Kings (our conductor) attentively:

HAAAAAH-LAY-LOO-YAH!

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The Doctor will see you now, Dr Zucker that is! As CADS bring you another home grown production. Dr Zucker is written and directed by local professional singer Steve Yeo! I won't give too much away only to say it's a dark comedy and defiantly not one for the children. We are holding open auditions at the Tune Valley music studios on SUNDAY 5TH FEBRUARY 1–4 PM for more information please check out our website www.####.co.uk

C.A.D.S are always looking for new members for on stage and behind the scenes to fill roles in 2 productions a year. All ages welcome. We are a purely self-funded group of local people, who enjoy having a laugh and putting something back into our village. We receive no funding from the village hall or parish council!

Charfield Memorial Hall Thursday 1st March

7.30pm Tickets are £8 and £6 for children and concessions

Bowjangles – the all singing, all dancing string quartet courtesy of Rural Arts Touring in Wiltshire and South Glos

Don't miss out on an opportunity to have an evening of fun and entertainment at the village hall. Come and enjoy the extraordinary Bowjangles, who combine fiery musicianship with energetic dance moves, vaudeville comedy and four part harmony singing in a dazzling stage show which will leave you spellbound.

Book early to reserve your seat, contact the village hall committee or Margaret Gargett direct. Make sure you get this date in your diary and enjoy live entertainment right on your doorstep.

I recently completed the Absolute Beginners Course (ABC) run by Thornbury Choral Society and rediscovered how much singing can lift your spirits giving you that feel good factor.

I hadn't sung really since I was at school; but going on this introductory course has re-awakened a forgotten pleasure. I know most of us think we can't sing, but just a few notes strung together when joining forces with other people in a choir can make a wonderful sound. I consider my voice somewhat shaky but being surrounded by others I know the overall sound is good.

Gareth Malone, choirmaster and broadcaster of the BBC programme The Choir, has made it O.K. for the ordinary person to join in with choirs. They can be fun, they don't have to be stuffy, and they can help you in many ways. They teach you how to control your breathing, how to strengthen your voice and how to project it. It teaches you a new skill, giving you confidence. There is the fun in joining in with others, cementing friendships, and 5there is that feel good factor you come away with. You just can't help yourself you have to smile.

I do hope you can come along and join in with the Charfield Big Sing in February. If you can't, go along and listen at some of the other musical evenings taking place in and around the Charfield district over the next few months. Like me you too could discover that feel good factor.

11 February 2012, St Mary's Parish Church Wotton

Mozart's Requiem, 1st Symphony and Thamos King of Egypt

Conductor Ben Hoffnung with the Choir of the Rinaldo Consort

Sponsored by Alderley plc. Tickets from 01453 52xxxx or www.####.co.uk

19 May 2012 St Mary's Parish Church Wotton

Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert

Divine Music for Trumpets and Voices from the Life of Handel

Conducted by Ben Hoffnung and narrated by Harry Enfield (tbc)

Sponsored by Alderley plc. Tickets from 01453 52xxxx or www.####.co.uk

Log onto our website or phone us for more details and to book your ticket. We look forward to welcoming you to our Concert Series.

Grand Jumble Sale

Sat 10th March At 2pm

Charfield School Hall

Proceeds To St Johns Church

St Johns Church, Charfield is holding its annual Jumble Sale, and all donations of jumble will be gratefully received.

Doorstep collections will be made during Friday 9th March.

Please leave any jumble out first thing (clearly marked !). You can also deliver jumble to the Church on that day, or direct to the school on jumble sale day from 10:00 am.

Your continued support is much appreciated.

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Poppy Appeal 2011

Once again what a wonderful result from the village this year. It exceeded my wildest dreams and you the villagers played your part in helping to raise over £3000.

This includes the church collection, house-to-house collections and the organisations etc that laid wreaths at the memorial on 13/11/11. The schools in the area also did very well this year as everyone went to school wearing red and paid £1 for the privilege. The monies the 3 schools made for this on 11/11/11 didn't go into our local total; this went into the Gloucestershire total that were hoping to make £90,000 for 2011.

Then the amount of people at the two minute silence and the service including the bugler you also need to feel very proud of yourselves. In finishing I want to say a very big thank you to you all for your support

Marion Smith
Poppy Appeal Organiser

Dear Charfielders

In case you didn't see the notice at Steve's Shop, at the 2011 Remembrance Sunday ‘brunch’ you raised £700 to go to Help for Heroes. The majority was generated by butty sales, and there were some very generous donations from those who couldn't attend on the day, which rounded up the sum nicely.

[Photo: Most of the Brunch Team – before the fray]

It was a ridiculously mild morning for November (T-shirt mild) and we were able to fling open the doors and enjoy the sunshine, eating and drinking al fresco. There was a large procession up to the War Memorial, which was deeply moving to be part of.

Thank you to those who wore their uniforms; thank you to the Parish Council for taking the event under its wing; thank you to everyone who attended or helped in any way.

Most of all, thank you Barbara for cooking all that bacon!

With the Christmas decorations now gathering dust in the loft for another year and spring waiting to burst just around the corner, it's a great time to make this year all about you!

But can I just say a very happy (if not a little late) New Year to you all ☺ I can't believe a whole year has passed since I began writing for you, and what a year it has been. Thank you for all the lovely emails I have received and to those of you who took advantage of my free Christmas gift.

7I really enjoyed sharing my personal techniques with you last year and this year will be no exception! I am going to take on my biggest challenge to date and guide you through the whole of 2012 and make this the best year of your life to date!

Don't worry if you have never tried anything like this before just begin with an open mind and I promise the rest will flow smoothly.

For us to get out of life what we want, we must first know what we want! Sadly for most of us we spend more time planning the weekly shopping list then we do our lives! But this is all about to change, we are going to make this year all about you! So let's stop thinking about what we want to happen and begin to make it happen.

Only the destination is written not the journey

In a minute I will share with you my personal technique I use for reaching my goals. But first I you want you to write yourself a letter, and in it write your biggest dream! It could be anything, the more out of the box the better. Perhaps you have always dreamed of writing a novel, starting your own cake making business, writing a Panto and performing in it in front of the village (yea that was one of mine last year) pop it in an envelope and date it to be opened a year from today!

Now let's give you a destination. Why?!? Because in order for good things to happen we must first plan for them and teach our unconscious mind how to get there. What I love about this technique is it's so simple and the results can be seen almost immediately. However I must ask you to read on with an open mind and have complete faith in yourself.

Step 1 Your time line!

A Time Line Is a mental destination we have in our minds of where our lives are taking us. Far too many of us (my old self included) go from week to week, year to year never actually looking past the coming weekend and then wonder why we have never got anywhere. By giving our mind a destination to aim for, we become 100 times more likely to arrive there then if we don't! simple.

Firstly I want you to imagine it's a year from now and you have had the best year ever, I'm talking career, relationships, and health!

Paint the picture for me; what's happening how it feels, what does it look like?

What have you achieved? I really want you to play with this make it as bright and loud as you can! Really see it out in front of you, now stamp it!!!! A year from today, Congratulations you have just made the first stamp on your time line, and set yourself a destination.

How you will get there is not your worry, life will take over now and bring situations. Chance meetings what ever it takes, in to your reality. If you begin to shift your focus on to how you are going to achieve the end result, that then becomes your goal, and this is why so many people fail!

Thanks for reading please feel free to email @ xxxx @ googlemail.com and don't forget to check out my new website coming soon ####.com.

In the last issue I mentioned the new benefice of Charfield and Kingswood with Wickwar, Rangeworthy and Hillesley, which is headed by Rev'd David Russell. Well, it's now up and running and bedding in nicely. We're all enjoying David's services and we're very grateful for the 8immense amount of hard work he's put in over the last few months. Rev'd Viv Kerner has now completed her term as part-time ‘House for Duty’ priest and she and Steve will soon be moving to their new home in the village. I know everyone will join me in thanking Viv for her fantastic work for this village and both Steve and Viv for being such inspirational members of the church community. We look forward to continuing to enjoy their company in Viv's new role, where she will still be licensed to take services as and when she feels able. We will shortly be advertising for a new House for Duty priest to assist David Russell in the benefice.

The Christmas services went really well this year, despite the major logistical exercise David had in trying to ensure we had ministers to lead all the relevant services. For me the two highlights were the annual candlelit carol service at the old St James's church on the Saturday before Christmas, and the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The former was David's first candlelit service and it was really lovely. Super carols and readings, accompanied by the silver band and also with participation from two talented young ladies visiting from Latvia. We kept up the tradition of breaking Glo-Sticks to glow in jewel-like colours and hanging them in the trees afterwards.

We had not originally been scheduled to have a Midnight Mass as there was no priest available, but our very own Viv felt able to take it and over 60 people attended. A moving Eucharistic service for many reasons.

Highlights of the spring months are:
EASTER! Easter Sunday is 8 April this year. Full details of Easter services will be on the notice boards around the village shortly.
The jumble sale, to be held in the School Hall on 10 March
The plant sale, to be held at St Johns in the first half of May – watch this space for firm details

Please note that baptism and wedding requests can be lodged with Julia, the benefice administrator, on Mondays and Thursdays between 12noon and 4pm or sent to xxxx @ gmail.com. The telephone number for Wickwar Rectory is 01454 29xxxx.

Whether you are a regular churchgoer, an occasional one, or have never been at all, you can be sure of a warm welcome at all our services.

Sue Thorn, Churchwarden and PCC member

I gently slid the door back into the cold loft space when a piece of paper slowly fluttered its way to the floor. On it was a magical message, which would transform our home into the sparkling delight for Christmas.

10 boxes and a can of balls!!!

Hello, Happy New Year. Yes the above was a reminder of how many boxes full of tinsel and lights there were and the plastic tube of 50 red “shatterproof” decorations.

Right then, news. Keith and I had a few days away in Wales, in the October half term, in our camper. We arrived in Aberystwyth and had planned a few hours on the beach, watching the sights before we had a bit of lunch. We were leaning up against the sea wall when we spotted a bird on the waters edge, tumbling over. It looked at first like it had caught something, when we realised something had caught it. Keith went 9down to the bird, it was a young gull, still with brown feathers and it was tangled up in fishing wire. He picked it up and we saw that the fisherman's lure had two hooks, one which was caught up in its beak and the second had pierced the gull under its wing and due to the barbs, could not be pulled out. Keith had to hold the bird tight as the more it struggled, the more the hooks were pulling against it. By this time, several people had turned up, but no one had the means to cut the wires and hooks. There was a Diner on the Promenade. Keith went to the owner for help but he said he'd be glad if all the gulls were got rid of. So Plan B. We walked into town and found a Tourist Information Office. The lady in charge rang a local vet and we waited, and waited. An hour later, a young vets nurse and a chap, came with a cardboard box and took the poor distressed gull away. We can only hope that they sorted him out. So after that we went off to a nearby café and had a great big all-day breakfast.

On one of my visits to Mum, last Autumn, it was still warm. We went up to Camden Market and then ambled along Regents Canal. By the lock was a woman “about my age”!! pulling against the lock gate thus enabling the water to force through and her canal boat to rise and then she could carry on with her journey. On the other side of the lock she moored up and I couldn't resist talking to her. I asked if the boat was her actual home. She replied that she had a house in Chester, but that she had left it in May and was travelling on the canals, by herself and was then making her way back. I had a look at the map when I got home so she must have started on the Shropshire Canal and then the Grand Union down to London. I'm not implying women aren't strong when and if necessary but I had to hand it to her. She was a delight to have met and to watch.

Sophie phoned at the weekend saying “Quick Mum, One of our dinosaurs is missing, is on BBC2.” Now this film was made in 1976, well before our two were born, but they loved watching it whenever it was on. I couldn't resist watching. In it there is a Professor who has a collection of butterflies. His secretary asks him if he is pleased with the collection. “Pleased?” he asks her. “Why I'm dotty with joy.” Wow, imagine waking up every morning, feeling just like that.

Feeling slightly dotty myself, I shall sign off, whiz this off to dear Isabel and send you all my New Year Best Wishes.

Love Maz xxx

PS Just to say, my computer is playing up. It's deleting by itself. I spelt whiz with 2 z's and off with 2 f's up above and they've gone!! Perhaps it's feeling dotty too. Keith's just shouted up, reminding me to tell you that we had a badger living in our garage. He's now moved, the badger, not Keith.

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[Graphic: Thornbury Choral Society]

cordially invites you to join them for their 2012

CHORAL WORKSHOP
Come, sing with us

Thornbury Choral Society cordially invites you to come and join them for an all day workshop to study Ralph Vaughan-Williams beautiful Mass in G minor on Saturday 18th February 2012. We shall be conducted by Steven Kings and accompanied by our excellent regular accompanist Robin Baggs. This will be Thornbury Choral Society's ninth annual workshop.

Venue: Thornbury Baptist Church, Grovesend, Thornbury BS35 2EG.

Timetable: Saturday 18th February 2012

Tea, coffee, squash, biscuits and cake at tea are included in the cost of the ticket/p

Scores: Available for hire for £2
Lunch: Available only by prebooking for £6.50, limited numbers available so book early!

For a booking form contact Jos Gregson
xx Willoughby Close
Alveston
BS35 3RW
Tel. 01454-41xxxx
email: xxxx @ xxxx.plus.com

or download a booking form for our website www.thornburychoralsociety.org.uk

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Charfield Congregational Church would like to take this opportunity to wish all the residents of Charfield and the surrounding areas a very happy new year!

A big thank you and well done to all who helped us achieve our Shoe Box target. Christmas 2011 we sent an excellent 200 shoe boxes to Eastern European countries, for underprivileged children and adults alike. Anyone who would like to get involved with Christmas shoe boxes this year, please let us know. It is a very rewarding experience.

This year we have 4 coffee mornings planned, 10am onwards and all donations received will be given to the various charities stated below. The dates are as follows:

January 21st – Shoe Box Appeal. Kate Morrison, from Blythswood Care is coming to give a short presentation
April 28th – Water Aid
July 28th – Macmillan Cancer
September 22nd – CRY Coffee Morning, with Ray Avent.

Our services are held every Sunday at 11am with tea/ coffee and biscuits afterwards, where a friendly welcome awaits. The first Sunday of every month is our family service and on other Sundays we hold our own Sunday School ‘King's Kidz’, where all primary school-age children are most welcome. The last Sunday in every month we hold our Communion service.

We have four lovely pine pews left for sale; please get in touch if you are interested. Pews are approximately 2.4 metres long and 1 metre high.

We look forward to seeing you sometime. For more information on any of our services, the ongoing Shoe Box Appeal or the sale of pews, please contact April on 01453 84xxxx or email xxxx @ hotmail.co.uk

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS
FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL AND MAY
TO BE HELD AT 7:30PM SPORTSMANS LOUNGE,
CHARFIELD MEMORIAL HALL

MEETINGS ARE HELD ON TUESDAYS

Full Council meeting 7th February
Full Council meeting 13th March
Full Council meeting 10th April

Annual Meeting of the Council 8th May

Annual Parish Meeting WED 16th May

Full Council meetings are normally the second Tuesday in the month (unless Easter / Public Holiday falls then)

The Annual Parish Meeting is a meeting of the electorate/village and not an actual meeting of the Council although it is advisable that Councillors attend since they represent the electorate.
Annual Meeting of Council – has to be held in May – and first order of business is to elect a Chair and other reps.
Extra planning meetings may be called by the Clerk and inserted into the above calendar if there are planning applications which (due to a strict time frame) need to be commented upon by the Council.

IF ANYONE HAS ANYTHING THEY WOULD LIKE TO BRING BEFORE THE COUNCIL THERE IS ALWAYS A 12CHANCE FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AT THE START OF MEETINGS – OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE ANYTHING INCLUDED ON THE AGENDA – PLEASE LET THE CLERK KNOW AT LEAST 7 DAYS BEFORE THE MEETING.

Hannah Saunders (01454) 29xxxx
Clerk to Charfield Parish Council
xxxx @ charfieldparishcouncil.org.uk
www.charfieldparishcouncil.org.uk

Time to get your wellies on!

As my winter garden tasks come to an end, looking around the garden I am reminded that spring is just around the corner as the first snow drop bells are just about to burst. In a few sheltered spots the fresh tips of my favourite spring bulb the Crocus, are just breaking through the soil.

February: It's about this time of year that I begin (like I'm sure most gardeners do) I really want to get out there and get my hands dirty! Won't be long now as spring slowly creeps in to the garden taking us in to …

March: is what my Gramp always calls the windy month, (I'm sure there is a saying to go with that somewhere) the sun often shines this month warming the soil causing the spring bulbs to come out in force and the weeds! I don't mean to nag but you don't need to be Alan Titchmarsh to see the signs. Let things slip this month you could be in trouble. But get on top of things now and the rest of the year will run nice and smooth beginning with …

April: spring is now officially here. Blossom is now out in full force on the fruit trees. The blackbirds are singing, the air is clear and the sun is warm, it must be summer lets get the bedding plants in! After all the garden centres are selling them!

Wait! Don't be fooled a sharp frost can still strike without warning killing newly opened leaves and buds. Save your money for a few more weeks there is still much to do.

• Give your borders a spring clean and feed hedges, trees and shrubs with a general purpose fertilizer.

• If you have spring bulbs and you can put up with them for about 6 weeks after flowering this will feed the bulb for next year.

• Give your lawn a head start and feed, look out for a weed and feed mixture if you can, if the weather is mild and it needs it give it a trim.

If you're thinking this is the year to enjoy your garden but just don't have the time give me a call.

Steve Picking

I am going to take this opportunity to confirm a few things about the village hall and maybe, or maybe not, shatter a few urban myths.

For example are you aware that the hall and playing field are a charitable trust? Are you aware that the trust is run by a completely voluntary committee of trustees? Are you aware that the trust receives not one penny of funding from anywhere or anyone and completely relies upon hall & field rental income, grant applications and fundraising to generate every penny needed to operate, maintain and improve the hall? Surprised? Thought so.

Those are all facts and it is with this in mind that I make this appeal – can you spare some time to join the trustees? We desperately need a handful of new 13trustees to swell our ranks, bring new ideas and take some of the work off of the existing team. All that is required is a few hours a month, a touch of enthusiasm and some commitment. In return you get the satisfaction of looking after and improving the one true community facility in your village. Please feel free to attend a monthly committee meeting on the first Thursday of a month at 7.30pm in the Sportsman's Lounge or contact myself to discuss how you can help make a difference.

Want to make a difference another way and just can't commit to join the committee? Please donate to the hall via our Vodafone Just Giving initiative. Details are elsewhere in this edition of CHADRA but basically you just text CHAR12 and the amount to 70070 and the hall gets the full amount – it could not be simpler!

Still not convinced, still want to find a way to make a difference to the hall? Well very soon a questionnaire will drop through your letter box or be hand delivered by one of the very nice people from the Village Plan. They want to know what you want from your village over the next 10 years and, in part, how you want that plan delivered. Can I make a final plea on behalf of the hall – please use the questionnaire to highlight the hall and playing field as one of the key areas for you over the next 10 years. This will allow the hall to become a focal point of the plan. The point of this being that this will help us secure the BIG grants that we need to drag the hall into the 21st century. Sources such as the Lottery will view our applications for funding much more favourably if they are backed by a plan showing that we have the support of the village. Please do what you can. Thanks in advance for your support.

OK, soap box put away and high horse stabled. So what about forthcoming events? We have another Rural Arts show, “Bowjangles”, on Thursday 1st March. Bowjangles are an all singing, all dancing string quartet who combine music, singing, dance and comedy into one great package. Details for the show time and tickets will be out soon but please put the date in your diaries so as not to miss out. Other forthcoming fundraisers at the hall may include a Curry & Quiz Night and a Pamper & Puddings Evening – watch out for further information.

I look forward to seeing you at the hall at one of our forthcoming events soon. Thank you.

Tim Hill
Chair

[Graphic: Charfield Memorial Hall]

Registered Charity 301482

JustTextGiving

As part of our efforts to raise funds for vital health and safety improvements and general repairs and refurbishment to the Memorial Hall facilities, we have registered for JustTextGiving.

All you have to do is text CHAR12 £2/£5/£10 (enter your chosen amount) to 70070 and the Memorial Hall will receive the full amount (all administrative costs are borne by Vodaphone)

It couldn't be simpler!

So, please act today … EVERY LITTLE HELPS!!

14Quiz & Curry Night at the Memorial Hall Saturday March 17th at 7.30pm

This is an opportunity to meet the Memorial Hall committee members and find out more about the projects we are fundraising for.

Perhaps you have been considering joining the committee or are willing to help at events but can't necessarily come along to the monthly meetings, come along to this social night and support your local Memorial Hall.

See posters nearer the date.

The 200 Club is a monthly lottery in aid of Charfield Village Hall. For £12 per year (that's only £1 per month!) you get the chance to win 1 of several cash prizes (from £10–£25) every month, with a bonus prize of £50 every few months, while also contributing to the upkeep of the village hall.

For your chance to win while helping boost the coffers of your local community facility, please contact John Russell on 0771155xxxx or Deb Field on 01454 26xxxx.

Winners last quarter:
Dec
Mr H Stake (203)
Mr J Hughes (128)
Mr Young (176)
Mrs J Barnes (223)
Mrs C Moneta (175)

Nov
Mrs R Berry (295)
Mr A Hyland (185)
Kathy (231)
Mrs B Cain (211)

Oct
Mr S Colla (291)
Mr S Yeo (245)
Mr N Herbert (105)
Mr D Moore (256)

Happy New Year to all CHADRA readers. I shall use this issue to publicise Avon and Somerset Constabularies up coming relaunch of the Horse Watch scheme in March. The scheme is free, voluntary and has a coverage that spans all of the constabularies force area. So what is horse watch and how does it work? It is primarily an information service in which the police will pass out relevant and local equestrian crime related to members, this could range from tack theft to horses loose in the road.

To join all you have to do is complete a form, which can be obtained by contacting me, or the watch coordinator Bridget Whittle at the address below.

Once on horse watch a member will receive messages via text e mail or recorded message of incidents in their area thus allowing them to adapt their own security measures or be aware of any suspicious vehicles. The second part of this scheme is the marking of tack by volunteers; this will be started in the 15springtime. For those interested the force website is a good reference (www.avonandsomerset.police.uk), with a link to face book.

If you have any questions regarding the scheme please contact me, details at rear of issue.

Bridget Whittle, Watch Coordinator, Police Community Safety, Staple Hill Police Station, Staple Hill, South Gloucestershire BS16 5LX. E mail xxxx @ avonandsomerset.police.uk.

Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne on 6th February 1952. Her coronation took place on 2nd June 1953. She celebrated her Silver Jubilee (25 Years) in 1977 and her Golden Jubilee (50 Years) in 2002. The only other British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria, in 1897. The main celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee will be from Saturday 2nd June to Tuesday 5th June …

To find out more about how the weekend will look for the Queen – please visit the following website

http://www.direct.gov.uk/####

And to contribute to the celebration / commemoration of this event for Charfield – please either attend the meeting or send suggestions to me.

I look forward to seeing / hearing from you … Hannah Saunders, Clerk to Parish Council

VILLAGE MEETING THE QUEEN'S DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS 2012

[Graphic: Queen's Diamond Jubilee]

Date – Wednesday 1st February 2012 Time from 7:30pm Place – Charfield Memorial Hall

ALL WELCOME PLEASE COME AND DISCUSS HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMEMORATE AND CELEBRATE THE DIAMOND JUBILEE LATER THIS YEAR … JUNE 2ND–5TH

If you have any queries – or would like to make a suggestion – but aren't able to make 1ST FEBRUARY then please contact me.

Hannah Saunders – Clerk to Charfield Parish Council. (01454) 29xxxx xxxx @ charfieldparishcouncil.org.uk

[Graphic: Queen's Diamond Jubilee]

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Once again a very busy year with lifts to Wotton, Bristol, Cheltenham , Gloucester, Emersons Green, Dursley, Berkeley, Tetbury, Cirencester and anywhere else you care to think of.

The scheme is there for anybody who has medical, dental, or ophthalmic appointments they cannot get to under their own steam. it has been running for a very long time now and was instigated by the Charfield Luncheon Club by people who listened to conversations over the monthly meal in the village hall. Luncheon Club is our umbrella organisation.

The scheme is made up of volunteer drivers who get petrol money for driving. So if anyone feels they need to use the scheme we are only a phone call away. Also maybe if anyone out there feels that they are retired or even have a few spare moments to offer driving skills, Marion would love to hear from you.

As I always say the more drivers I have the less often any one has to drive for me.

Further details from: – Marion Smith on 01454 26xxxx

Look forward to hearing from you whether you are a customer or volunteer driver.

[Graphic: CHARFIELD VILLAGE PLAN – LOCAL SOLUTIONS FOR LOCAL ISSUES]

Happy New Year from the Charfield Village Plan Team

The Village Plan Steering Group would like to thank the many hundreds of people that have participated in giving their ideas and suggestions during 2011, for better village life in Charfield in the future.

Phase 2 of the Village Plan process is to send out a survey/questionnaire to every household in Charfield to find out your thoughts on these ideas. We have a team of people who will be delivering your survey to you personally and collecting it from you about a week or two later. Please take some time to answer the questions, as they will affect the future of the village. We expect the survey to come out to you during February. If you have any questions please email xxxx @ gmail.com
Thank You

STOP PRESS … KLB Students have created an online survey for pupils to have their own say in addition to the ‘Household’ questionnaire above. This can be found at – www.surveymonkey.com/s/XXYJS8Y

A Happy New Year to everyone in the village from the staff and committee of the Out of School Club. We hope that 2012 proves to be a successful year for all our village organisations that work so hard to make Charfield such a great place to live.

The Christmas holidays were certainly a busy and successful time for the club. It was fully booked most days. The children had great fun doing lots of Christmas crafts games and competitions.

In October the club held its AGM. Unfortunately the turn out was disappointing and an emergency meeting had to be called on 10th November to fill the position of Secretary. Jill Fallows has now filled this post and Richard Trayte, Ian Wakefield, Fiona Palmer and Tim 17Skuse have joined as general members. Yvonne Kershaw and Jenny Dormer have remained in post as Chair and Treasurer. As a committee we are positive about working together and have many ideas about how to build on the success of previous years.

We would also like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to Anne Moore who stepped down from her role as Secretary for the club in October. The committee would like to thank her for all her hard work over the time she has been involved with the club.

Fundraising continues to be a priority for the club in these challenging economic times. The committee held a tabletop sale in November that raised £197. Thank you to everyone who supported this event. The committee also organised a jam jar sale at the school Christmas fair that raised £120. At the same time the staff organised a grand draw for a fantastic Christmas hamper. This was won by Millie Adams and raised £93.

The drive for fundraising is set to continue throughout the year. We are planning a jumble sale in March/April. Look out for our flyers and posters around the village. It's a great opportunity for a clear out!

On Fridays after school the club is offering an ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB until 4.30pm (alongside our usual session). This allows children to come and enjoy all the arts and crafts that our regular children enjoy. There is painting, making, dough, beads, you name it we have it! It costs £3.00 for the session, which will include a drink and a biscuit. We still run the session until 6pm, so don't worry if you wish to use us until then, we are still open.

We would like to repeat our offer to any volunteers from the local area who would like to help in holiday times, either by showing the children a specific skill or hobby they enjoy or even if they just want to get involved with the activities already offered at the out of School club. We would love to hear from you. All volunteers would need to be aged 18+ and prepared to undergo an enhanced CRB check as is required for all individuals who work closely with children.

Don't forget our club is open to all children attending school up to the age of 13. During term time we are open from 07:30 until the start of school and after school until 18:00. During holidays and In Service Training days we are open from 07:30 to 18:00. We are even open if the school is closed due to snow. Check out the school website for more details www.charfieldschool.org.uk and follow the links. Please give it a go, we are sure your children will enjoy it and you will be impressed!

Thank you once again to everyone who has used the club in 2011 or who has supported us with fundraising activities. Also a huge thanks to Pat, Georgina, Jo, Anne and Paul, our dedicated staff, who work so hard for the children at all times. We look forward to a successful 2012

The Out of School Committee

I last visited HMP Leyhill in 1997, taking advantage of an Open Day to have a look round, and I wrote a piece for the newsletter. As a large institution, it really is a quiet neighbour to Charfield. Even quieter now than 15 years ago, I believe. I haven't heard a searching helicopter at dead of night for years. Also, I haven't seen prisoners cycling through the village on their way back from work, which used to be a regular occurrence. 15 years later (gulp – where does the time go?) I thought it time to revisit HMP Leyhill and see what had changed, if anything.

18The Governor kindly invited me to attend an event for the families of Prison Officers; each department had prepared a display to explain their function. Andy Bees, Head of the Offender Management Unit, spent a good two hours or more answering my questions and showing me round the site. I have 15 pages of notes from this visit, but will try to pass on to you the most interesting bits!

What is HMP Leyhill?

It's an open estate prison for Category D prisoners for rehabilitation and resettlement. Prisoners are either ‘lifers’ (serving life sentences) or those on determinate (fixed term) sentences; they are serious offenders, usually not serving their first prison term. They have progressed through the system and are now assessed as low risk; low risk that they will attempt to escape, low risk to the public if they are at large.

The “lifers” will have been recommended by the Parole Board (and approved by the Secretary of State) for progress to Category D. Release is discretional, subject to their behaviour and progress and the decision of the Parole Board. If released, they are on licence; on completion of 10 years unblemished record, they can apply for the licence to be ended.

Those on determinate sentences will be within 2 years of their Parole Eligibility Date, and sent on the recommendation of their Category C prison.

Is it a Holiday Camp?

If it was, you'd ask for your money back. From the day of admission, the prisoners are constantly assessed, monitored, challenged. Leyhill offers the opportunity to the offender to prove he's worthy of release, and to the authorities to test the evaluation of the offender's behaviour. Risk assessment is a continuing process from arrival to release.

As soon as they have arrived and been processed, the work starts. The average weekly hours of useful activity at Leyhill for offenders is 42.1 hours (2010 statistics). The prisoner is constantly challenged, through education (obligatory, not an option), work experience etc., to give him the tools to enable him to lead a different life on release. For this the prisoner needs skills in the round; a work ethic, sense of purpose, personal responsibility, ability to make right choices, literacy, numeracy, vocational skills; life skills, hobbies and leisure interests. Also, the prisoner is helped to re-connect to his family, if he has one.

The prisoner starts with on-site work and training (gardening, vegetable production, catering, warehousing, laundry, print shop work, poultry management etc), and progresses to “Through The Gate” (TTG) work experience.

Stage 1 TTG is voluntary community work or outside education or training. Example – supervised work parties for conservation work, footpath clearance, etc. 40 working days are required, and commitment and punctuality a MUST.

Stage 2 TTG is paid employment outside the prison, full or part time. Examples: mechanics, dry stone walling, scaffolding. Currently, 125 (of the 500+) prisoners are working TTG.

Why don't we see prisoners cycling through the village any more? Health and Safety!!! Risk Assessments!!! They now have to be driven everywhere (or take public transport).

How many slip through the net?

There are no ‘escapees’, as such … we have ‘absconders’ and ‘temporary release 19failures’. Oh, the joys of semantics and jargon!

Absconders are those who go ‘over the wall’ leaving the prison site and missing roll call. They are immediately reported to the police and when captured are put straight back to higher category prison, without returning to Leyhill. They may have their sentence reviewed (increased), and the fact that they have an abscond on their record means they are unlikely to qualify again for Category D in a hurry, when next they are risk assessed, so absconding is not a wise move. The numbers in December 2011 for that reporting year's stats were in single digits.

The temporary release failures are prisoners who are outside the prison either working or training, or perhaps on a home visit, under strict licence conditions. If they do not report in when instructed, or fail to return when expected, they are ‘unlawfully at large’ and it is then a police matter. They will be picked up, taken to the nearest prison, and continue their original sentence. Again, this is not a wise move as it will set them back a long way in their prison progress.

Security

Although only a relatively small number of offenders are involved, there is a problem with alcohol and drugs, and the Officers are engaged in a constant battle of wits to address any rule-breaking. The imagination and inventiveness of offenders in their determination to find hiding places is quite something – if they'd apply these talents to projects within the rule of law, they'd do well!

Alcohol is the larger and more dangerous problem due to its mood-altering effect. It can be a very large factor in offenders' behaviour.

Mobile phones are against prison rules and now the law; supplying a mobile phone to an offender is a crime. However, it is one of the greatest challenges, to find the phones which have made their way onto the site.

A Prison Officer's lot

Among the offenders, “all human life is there”. From those prisoners who are genuinely working towards making something decent of the rest of their lives and returning to their homes and families, to those who are playing the system and going through the motions to achieve release, with no intention of leading a law-abiding existence. From those who are constantly seeking to circumvent the rules and manipulate, to those who are institutionalised and can't face the thought of return to civvy street because they have no community or family to return to, and actually undermine their own progress to avoid release.

Leyhill can only function with a high level of goodwill and co-operation between the offenders and Officers; the Officers strive to form a working relationship with offenders, but this requires constant vigilance.

The staff have a pressured and difficult job, and a never-ending one, working with prisoners who have committed in some cases truly appalling crimes, and with an uncertain view of their long-term success. It is not for everyone; it is vocational, otherwise no-one would stand the pressure. Andy Bees gets his job satisfaction from feeling he is making a difference to the prisoners, and to society's safety. Judging from the number of Officers who received a medal for 20 years of exemplary service at the Open Day, Leyhill has a dedicated staff.

Has anything changed in 15 years?

There has been a return to the ‘core’ business of the open estate prison, with the closure of the garden centre and café.

20There have been changes and improvements to methods and procedures, which are constantly under review with a view to improving the service Leyhill provides.

Does Leyhill succeed?

Leyhill is about prisoners taking responsibility for themselves, being set hard challenges, overcoming the fear of leaving the system, re-establishing contact with family or indeed facing up to the lack of family or accommodation or contacts outside, addressing institutionalisation, making good decisions and choices about their future.

Recidivism statistics are too complex to consider here – it depends on the background of the offender, the crime, the type of sentence, where they have served the sentence, but if Leyhill succeeds in improving the odds for a prisoner making a lawful and honest success of his future life by just a few percentage points, then we should all be very grateful for their efforts.

Julia O'Connor-Beach

Phew! Having just about recovered from a hectic Christmas term, we've hit 2012 head-on, and are looking forward to an amazing year. Not only are we celebrating the obvious national and worldwide events in a big way, but we also have a couple of milestones of our own to get excited about.

Firstly, huge congratulations to Debra and all the staff, who have been recognised by the South Glos Early Years Advisor as providing an “Excellent” level of childcare during a recent assessment. She congratulated them on their professionalism and all-round high standards. Debra has now been asked to act as a mentor for new Pre-School Leaders in the South Glos catchment area, and our Pre-School will be used as a benchmark for others to show how standards should be set. We're all very proud of what Debra and her team achieve with the children on a day-to-day basis, and are delighted that all their hard work is being formally recognised by the education authorities.

Secondly, February 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of our Pre-School being located in the Foundation Room. We'll be singing “Happy Birthday” to ourselves, and hope to organise a couple of special activities to mark the occasion … watch this space!

Our Christmas term seemed to fly by, stuffed full of festive activities. As well as our own Nativity (you may have seen our picture in the Gazette), we took a trip to the beautiful woodlands at Redwood Education Centre, near Slimbridge, for an outdoor nativity. This was a very special and memorable morning, with the children acting their parts and singing enthusiastically, followed by a session toasting marshmallows on a camp fire. What a way to kick-off Christmas!

In line with our development plan, our committee has submitted the first two of our capital and revenue grant applications to a variety of council organisations. We aim to press forward with improving the facilities at the Foundation Room, with particular focus on disabled access and facilities, and hope to hear some good news on grant funding in the Spring.

Finally, an update on our fundraising activities. We were delighted that our Santa Sleigh tour around the village on the 4th December raising a fantastic £450. Our Christmas raffle, and the Human Fruit Machine stall at the School fair were also very successful.

21We launched our 100 Lottery Club last term, and it is already proving very popular with our parents and also the wider Charfield community. For a monthly contribution of £5, each member is allocated a Draw Number and entered into the monthly prize draw. Everyone is welcome to join, and further details can be obtained by calling or e-mailing the Pre-School contact details.

Throughout January and February we will be repeating our campaign to collect unwanted CD albums and DVD films. We get cash for every donation, so why not de-clutter your shelves, create some space, & donate your old CDs and DVDs to help our fundraising? There will be a number of collection points throughout the village, so look out for posters with a magpie on them, or call into Pre-School.

On 3rd February we will be holding a Valentines Quiz Night at the Memorial Hall. Teams of 2–6 people are welcome, and the quiz starts at 8pm. Tickets are £5 per person, which includes a “hot lovers meal” …!! There will be prizes and a raffle, so get your thinking caps on and join us for a really fun evening. Tickets are on sale now in Steve's Shop. Alternatively call Elaine on 07891 73xxxx, or e-mail us on xxxx @ gmail.com.

SEE OUR ADVERT IN THE AD's PAGES, LATER IN THIS NEWSLETTER.

As always, all monies raised from these activities will be used to buy new toys & equipment for our village Pre-School children to enjoy, so we ask that you try to support as many of these activities as you can.

A very Happy New Year to all.
Katherine Edwards
Chairperson

February is a good time to …
Clear out your old CDs & DVDS to help our Pre-School!

During February, Charfield Pre-School is collecting your unwanted CDs & DVDs, to turn them into CASH!

Why not de-clutter your shelves, create some space, & donate your old CD albums & DVD films to help our fundraising?

All monies raised will be used to buy new toys & equipment for the children of the village.

Collection Points are:

Steve's Shop
Charfield Post Office
Charfield Pre-School (term-time only)

Just a couple of your old CDs will make a big difference, so please tell your friends.

Campaign ends 25th February!

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

Pre-School 100 Club Lottery

As you know, Charfield Pre-School is a charitable organisation that relies heavily on donations and fundraising to meet its objectives. As reported in the last CHADRA Newsletter, we have launched a ‘100 Club Lottery’. This is now in its third month, and is gaining in numbers month by month. We are looking for further members, and invite any persons who support the concept on an ongoing Pre-School in Charfield to join the ‘Club’.

How does it work?
For a single membership, we are asking for a modest contribution of £5 per month, and you will not only be supporting the Pre-School but also giving yourself a chance of winning a monthly cash prize.

For further information please contact us at xxxx @ gmail.com.
Many thanks.

22

[Graphic: CHARFIELD JUNIOR FOOTBALL CLUB]

JUNIOR FOOTBALL CLUB – ACHIEVEMENTS AND PLANS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Hello again from the Villages Junior Football Club. The Christmas break marks about the mid-point of the current season and a good opportunity to not only look at the achievements of the last year but also to look forward to what the New Year will bring.

Currently the Club has five teams ranging from Under 7s through to Under 10s as well as an Under 15 side. The Under 7s are a new addition in the last few months and are having great fun training under the guidance of our new Coach Andy Price. The Under 7s train alongside the Under 8s on a Saturday morning who themselves are enjoying their first season of playing together in the Cotswold Youth League.

Also playing in their first season of competitive football are the Under 9s who along with the Under 10s play 7-a-side games in the Mid-Glos Mini Soccer League. The Under 10s are enjoying their second season and have made it through to the quarter finals of the League Cup in which they will play Minchinhampton later in January.

My own team, the Under 15s, who have been together since they were Under 8s, are having their best season to date with being in second place in the League at the Christmas break as well as reaching the semi-finals of their League Cup.

As ever none of this would be possible without the support of the players parents in getting the boys and girls to training and the games; the Coaches and volunteers who help and run the teams, and the Clubs Committee who hold everything together and ensure that the players have the equipment and a safe environment to enjoy themselves playing football. A big Thank You goes out to one and all.

With regards to plans for the future we hope to hold a football tournament in the Village in the May/June timeframe inviting teams from the neighbouring communities. As ever this will take a lot of planning but we believe the benefits will make it worth it.

As always if you would like to join or help the Club in any capacity please, or require any information, then please contact me on 01454-26xxxx.

Thank You. Nigel Cloke, Club Secretary/Under 15s Manager

[Graphic: CHARFIELD SCHOOL]

Working together …
Learning for life

A very HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us here at the school. We hope your Christmas was an enjoyable one.

On the subject of Christmas …

Christmas in school is a very exciting time (but very busy for the staff!!) There is a lot to do and make whilst trying to ensure the children don't explode with excitement.

23Firstly there was the Christmas plays. The Infants performed ‘A Wriggly Nativity’ and the Juniors ‘Joy to the World’. Both performances were superb; the children were a real credit to us. Again I would like to thank all the staff for their incredible hard work in producing such magical performances.

Secondly there were the parties. Again the staff did a fantastic job with them and they were both a success. Can I say thank you to Steve Yeo for his work on the decks at the Junior party. The children loved his music!

Our talented musicians also entertained the luncheon club at their Christmas meal and received lots of positive praise. Well Done children!

Christmas Fayre
The Friends once again put on a great Christmas Fayre and tree sale. The fayre was visited by lots of people looking to buy gifts, try their luck on the games and enjoy the food! The Christmas tree sale was a great success. I would really recommend the trees to anyone next year. Mine didn't drop at all!

As always I would like to thank the whole community for their support of our school. If you can help the school in any way please drop us a line and let us know!

Best Wishes

Dafydd Lawday
(Headteacher)

I am delighted to be writing my first CHADRA article as the new chair of The Friends and would like to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year from all of The Friends.

I could not possibly write my first report without saying a huge THANK YOU to the outgoing chair, Rob Melville. The committee and everyone associated with The Friends would like to thank Rob for all of his hard work during his time as chairman. Whilst standing down as chair, I am delighted too that Rob will be continuing his involvement with The Friends as a committee member.

In addition to gaining a new chair following an AGM and subsequent EGM in the Autumn, The Friends have also welcomed four new committee members, Amanda Pearson, Milla Churchill, Lucy Culpepper and Jim Hilton – we are delighted that some more ‘fresh faces’ have joined the committee and thank them for all of the hard work and support they have already provided.

2011 has been a busy year for The Friends, especially in the autumn/winter months, starting with a brand new event – a Cinema Night. As a brand new event, no one really knew how this event would be received – as it turned out the evening was a great success with over 100 children attending to watch the film Tangled in their pyjamas – I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the helpers, including Mr Lawday who helped make this event possible. This event raised just under £250 and the feedback we received from parents and children alike means that this is definitely an event we will be running again soon – so watch this space!

November wouldn't be November without the Charfield School Bonfire Night – yet again the weather conspired against us but despite that it didn't dampen the spirits of the hardworking committee members and helpers as well as all of those attending who, yet again, got to see a fantastic professional fireworks display provided by CTS. I would like to thank everyone for their hard work in helping to make it such an enjoyable evening.

24I also wanted to say a huge thank you on behalf of The Friends to everyone that came and supported our Christmas Fair this year, helping make it a great success.

Thank you to everyone that helped out, especially in the organisation in the run up to the day, from all the hard working committee members to the merry band of parent volunteers who helped on the day and to those parents who also donated vouchers or products from their businesses for our raffle – your generosity was greatly appreciated. A big thank you to Pete De Clare for his help on the day of the Christmas fair and all the other times that he helps us out – too many to mention!

Last but by no means least I would like to say a big thank you to Adrian Fallows and all of the hardy souls who braved the cold to help set up and run the Christmas tree sale – our most successful yet!

Whilst The Friends have been busy raising money we have also been spending some of it as well, supporting various activities and initiatives which have included;

Cross Country Kit
Fire pit for the forest school
Juniors wet weather kit
School Christmas parties

As well as helping to fund the various requests received from the school, The Friends are looking to support the funding of a major project in the form of repairing and improving the school's adventure playground. The current playground is in desperate need of repairing, however, as well as maintaining what is there, the intention would be to improve the equipment – not a small challenge, but one that The Friends are more than up to!!

With the above in mind we have already received a generous community grant of £1,500 from Magnox Ltd. to put towards improving the adventure playground for which The Friends are extremely grateful. In addition we are also waiting on applications for a number of community grant and charity matched giving initiatives – whilst I appreciate we are experiencing tough times, if you work for a company that runs such a scheme and are stuck for a worthwhile cause to support then please do get in touch!

If you are reading this and want to get involved in The Friends then it could not be easier! Come along to the next committee meeting, you will be made most welcome, new committee members are always needed, but it doesn't matter if you can't help on a regular basis, there are always little jobs that can be done from home – it may even be a money raising idea you have, if so we would love to hear from you!

I look forward to keeping you informed of our future events, until then, once again, a very big thank you to everyone who has worked with and supported the Friends.

Tim Skuse
Chair – The Friends of Charfield Primary School
01454 26xxxx

Happy New Year, from all the Parish Council. I was sat in the Blood bus at the Memorial Hall at the end of 2011 when Maz kindly reminded me there was a CHADRA due and she hoped I'd written the Parish Council's article. I hadn't, of course. The festivities of Yule, Christmas and New Year had taken my concentration in entirely different directions, and a flooded bathroom and lounge (don't ask), blown washing machine motor and blown down garden fence hadn't helped one jot! Still, back to 25work and busy times – both with paid and Council work. Happily, Hannah and other members of the Council have their bits in here elsewhere, which takes the heat off me!

High on the list again is the burial ground, which finally opens for business in March. We'll be holding two open days. The first one will be aimed at the professional folk such as funeral directors, and that will be on the Spring Equinox – our official opening day. Then, on the following Saturday 24th March we'll be open to public visitors and we hope many of you will come up and share some time with us and see how the once lumpy-bumpy stone and clay has been turned into a gently sloping but level grass, shrub and wildflower burial ground. If you haven't walked along Churchend Lane for a while you will be surprised at the changes!

Something else that has recently changed is the burial ground web site at www.charfieldburialground.org.uk, which was upgraded over the Yule / New Year period from the construction to the operating web site. Do send your browser over there for the latest news. The operating rules and tariff were agreed at the December budget meeting and are now also available on the site. We've gone for clarity and simplicity wherever possible in the rules, and sustainability but not profit in the tariff. Dealing with death is never easy, but at least henceforth we will be able to visit our friends and relatives in a beautiful space and remember them in peace.

Working for the Parish as a Councillor is very satisfying and offers an opportunity to give something back to your community. It is a not insignificant commitment though, and sometimes it becomes difficult to manage in the face of changing circumstances. As such I've just found myself in receipt of a reluctant resignation and we'll shortly be seeking a new Councillor. Perhaps by the time you read this the post will have been filled, but please check out the Parish Council web site www.charfieldparishcouncil.org.uk for all sorts of reasons but particularly if you think you might be able to volunteer on the Council.

I'll leave you with a reminder that the Annual Spring Clean will take place on Saturday 10th March between ten and four, starting in the Memorial Hall (but don't let that stop you picking litter at any other time!).

Best wishes
Mark Rosher – Chair
Charfield Parish Council

Saturday 10th March 2011 10am–4pm

Refuse sacks, gloves, litter pickers all provided

Come along and help keep the village tidy – even a half hour helps!

Please Meet by Toddlers Play Area – adjacent to Memorial Hall.

[Graphic]

26

As we move into a new year I thought it may be appropriate to inform and update residents on some of the issues that are still current in the area.

2011 saw the construction of the roundabout on Charfield Hill, despite all our reservations the traffic flows through the junction with minimal waiting. There have been some problems with drivers entering and exiting Churchend Lane with one actual and several near miss collisions, this has been identified with some drivers entering the roundabout too fast and not indicating where they will exit. There will be some slight modifications to address this such as keeping the vegetation around the area clear and painting a white line around the inner kerb which is meant as an over run for large vehicles. The new speed limits that were out to consultation late last year will go to the advertisement stage soon before taking effect, this should also help to ease problems on the Churchend Junction.

The footpath currently under construction on the Tortworth Road will run as far as Pinford Cottage which is the first residential property past Elm Tree Farm and opposite Green Farm, this is as far as funding will take it at this time and is due for completion in late Jan/ early Feb. Both of these projects were funded by S106 agreements paid for by CEMEX. S106 agreements are triggered by the Council where developments or major planning applications affect the local area. Under Localism this will be known as the Community Infrastructure Levy. Localism gained royal assent in October 2011 and is now with us, whilst we have received briefings from South Gloucestershire Council we wait to see how it unfolds and affects us, I am hopeful that there will be a greater involvement for community groups and The Parish council on local issues such as planning.

Charfield has an industrious and energetic steering group, which is formulating a village plan. It is important that residents express their views on what they feel are the needs and wants for Charfield in coming years. One of those needs that have been identified is a second pedestrian crossing at the Longsview / Wotton Road area. We are all aware of the dangers to school children in this area but the funding for a pedestrian crossing is in excess of £50000 and is not available at this time Following an accident to a young person in this area in June 2011 I requested that it was placed on the capital grants programme for consideration. At the Severn Vale Area Forum on 7 December I was able to secure funding of £5000 for road safety measures. South Gloucestershire Council Highways engineers will use that money to look at ways to assist with crossing the road at this point. However the ultimate aim is to achieve a second crossing in this area.

One final note on recycling, if you failed to obtain the bag for cardboard recycling from the distribution point, telephone 01454 86xxxx where some are still available.

John O'Neill Councillor Charfield Ward.

For many months now, residents in Charfield have been complaining to their Parish Council about the mess left by dogs fouling the pavements. The problem is escalating despite the work of the Dog Warden, Clerk and Streetcare Teams. It appears that the worst of the fouling is being left in the late evening and / or early morning. This is clearly a health hazard 27but it is also dangerous as it means whilst children are being walked to school they have to avoid the messes by stepping into the road thereby risking injury to themselves from traffic …

The question is; who is responsible?
Clearly, as the dogs are under the control
of
the owners, THE OWNERS.

The owners can use the litter bins provided to dispose of their dog excrement. As well as those, there are dog bins provided specifically for dog owners to dispose of the results of their dogs fouling the pavements. If owners make use of these, this will significantly reduce the risk to the health / safety of the children of Charfield.

So, Dog Owners, it is up to you to do the decent thing and be a responsible dog owner by disposing of your dog's mess in the bins provided.

[Graphic]

THANK YOU …

If you have any queries – please don't hesitate to contact Hannah Saunders – Clerk to Parish Council.

xxxx @ charfieldparishcouncil.org.uk (01454) 29xxxx

[Graphic: Safer & Stronger Community Groups]

Do you care about your community?
Do you want to be heard and get things done?

Then why not come along to the next Safer Stronger Community Group (SSCG) meeting for your area? SSCGs influence how services are delivered locally, establish longer-term plans to improve areas, help prevent future problems, and deal with current local issues.

There are 20 Safer Stronger Community Groups across South Gloucestershire for residents to attend and raise local issues that concern them. They can give their views on possible improvements to further strengthen their communities and keep these safe places to live and work.

The meetings are also attended by partner agencies, including South Gloucestershire Council, Avon and Somerset Police, Avon Fire and Rescue Service, NHS South Gloucestershire, Town and Parish Councils and other local organisations. These organisations work together on the issues raised and often involve the community in implementing solutions.

Some of the issues raised and tackled have included creating positive activities for young people, anti-social behaviour, school crossing concerns, speeding and parking. Community grants through the Safer Stronger Communities Initiative Fund have helped support initiatives raised at the meetings, such as Community Speedwatch groups, community garden work, youth 28engagement activities, park improvements, activities for older people, and equipment for walking buses to schools.

The next meetings for the Charfield, Cromhall and Tortworth Group:

Thursday 8th March 2012 @7:30pm

Tortworth Estate Office, Tortworth, GL12 8HF

If you are unable to attend a meeting, or would like to read more about the work of your local group, each group has its own e-group page at http://####.southglos.gov.uk. Here, you will be able to view your group's annual report, minutes and agendas from past meetings, and find other useful information for your area. You can also become a member of the e-group which will ensure you receive the minutes and agendas directly via email. Alternatively, you can speak to a member of the Safer Stronger Communities Team on 01454 86xxxx, or email directly to sscg @ southglos.gov.uk.

Thornbury University of the Third Age continues to be a thriving group within the local community. The term ‘university’ may appear a little misleading as there is no accreditation or validation and there are no assessments or qualifications to be gained. It is purely a self help organisation for people no longer in full time employment that provides educational, creative and leisure opportunities in a very friendly environment. The list below shows the extremely varied nature of the groups on offer to members for the £6.00 annual subscription or £10.00 for two people at the same address. Members can join as many groups as they choose, although in some cases there may be a waiting list. They may also need to pay the costs, if any, of materials, a contribution towards the cost of refreshments and if required, the hire of premises. The majority of meetings are held during the day and some in the home of the group leader.

If anyone is looking for something to do in retirement, or semi-retirement, the U3A is a friendly, entertaining and supportive way to enjoy pursuing new activities or to continue with present ones. New members are always welcome.

29Further details can be obtained from the Membership Secretary, Penny Withers: 01454 63xxxx or email: xxxx @ 02.co.uk Information can also be obtained from the website www.thornburyu3a.org.uk

Review of 2011

2011 was notable in being our best fund raising year – with over £8750 being raised.

Towards the end of the year, we passed the milestone of having raising over £100,000 since we were founded. This may sound a lot and is commendable for a small rural branch with limited fund-raising opportunities (eg there are no major supermarkets or stores in our area). However, the daily cost of running the RNLI is over £335,000; thus our efforts over 19 years have provided funding for less than 5 hours at current cost! (On the positive side, the total hours funded has increased year-on-year).

Miranda Krestovnikoff was our guest speaker at a fund-raising event at Cotswold Edge Golf Club in November. She gave a very interesting illustrated talk about her experiences working on the TV series “Coast“, “The One Show“ and “Wreck Detectives”. The evening was a resounding success raising a total of £712.00 through ticket sales and a well-supported raffle. The money raised will go towards the cost of providing new life jackets for the crews of the lifeboats at Weston-Super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea.

Preview of 2012
This year will be the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Branch – starting with an inaugural meeting in the Pear Tree in Charfield. Our fund-raising has increased from £2000 TBC to over £8000 pa in recent years. We hope to celebrate this by raising even more money this year; it would be nice to be able to report that we raised over £10,000 – but this may be optimistic.

AGM
Our AGM will be held in March at the Star in Wotton-under-Edge (subject to confirmation). Anyone who is interested in knowing more about the RNLI or the activities of the local branch is very welcome to attend; please contact me for further details

SOS Day (Friday 27-January 2012)
SOS Day has become an annual event when the RNLI seeking schools, companies or other organisations to arrange a fun fundraiser to support for our volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards. It started as “Save Our Soles” – with pupils / employees paying a donation to wear trainers to school / work, but there have been many other S.O.S themes adopted since then. There is a particular theme of pirates this year (eg: Swashbuckling on Show).

It is not too late to get involved (either on that Friday or at a date more suited to you). Further information is available on at www.rnli.org.uk/sosday

House-to House Collection
Our annual house-to-house collection is our biggest fund-raiser; we collect throughout Wotton-under-Edge and the surrounding villages. The monies raised last year were down – both overall and particularly in Charfield – since there were not enough collectors to cover all areas.

We will be collecting again in early July; offers to help with the collection, particularly in Charfield, but also anywhere else, will be most welcome! Even if you can only offer a couple of hours, this could fill a piece of the jigsaw.

30Talks and education visits
I continue to give illustrated talks to both youth and adult groups. Planned talks include:

A visit to a school in Cheltenham to talk about Grace Darling, lighthouses and the RNLI (in support of a national curriculum project on Grace Darling);

A visit to a school in Bradley Stoke to talk about the RNLI and teach the children about different types of knots (for which I need to do some serious revision!).

Illustrated talks on the RNLI to adult groups in Dursley, Thornbury and Wickwar.

I would welcome requests to visit other schools, youth organisations or adult groups. If anyone is interested in a talk or simply wants to know more about the RNLI or the activities of the local branch – please contact me. If the talk is for a youth group or school, you may wish to go through the central RNLI Educational contact (e-mail: xxxx @ rnli.com).

John Barnett – 01453 84xxxx (Charfield)

Working in the goods shed at Charfield Station had its funny moments as well as its sad ones, in this little story I will try to tell of both.

In the early 1960's before Mr Beeching ruined a wonderful transport system, three lorries were permanently based at Charfield Station, one of them was an articulated Scammell, (I think that is how it was spelled) this lorry had just three wheels on the driving unit, a single front wheel did the manoeuvring, via the steering wheel of course. Two wheels a short distance behind provided the pulling power, the other two lorries were a Bedford and an old Dennis.

Two trailers were available for the Scammell, which of course was very handy, while one was out being used to deliver goods, the other could be loaded back at the station ready for action.

The driver of this strange looking vehicle was Bert, he was quite a tall chap and very strong. Strength was a necessary requirement when handling basic slag in hessian sacks, each sack weighted 2cwt, there were lighter sacks, but we always seemed to get the heavy ones. Basic slag was the residue from iron works and was more or less iron dust, a very good fertilizer and much used by farmers when I worked on the goods shed.

Like Big Pat, (as mentioned in a previous newsletter), Bert was a great chap to work with. If any heavy lifting was required in the goods shed he was usually around to give a hand.

Although Bert normally drove the Scammell, on odd occasions if one of the other drivers was ill or on holiday, Bert would drive their lorry. The Bedford and the Dennis were both much easier to drive than his Scammell, especially if a lot of manoeuvring had to be done.

On one such occasion the driver of the Bedford was out ill and Bert took over his lorry. His first delivery was a three ton load of basic slag to a farm in Kingswood, I went with him to give a hand. On arrival at the farm the farmer suggested that Bert could back his lorry into the large open ended galvanised store shed, this was to save carrying the fertiliser from the hard standing area in the front of the shed, and this Bert was only too pleased to do.

The moment Bert had successfully reversed his lorry into the shed the farmer signed the delivery note and then, very cleverly, disappeared on a tractor leaving Bert and myself to unload the fertilizer.

31With only a couple of sacks left to unload, we heard a strange squeaking and scraping sound. Not seeing anything amiss we proceeded to unload the last few sacks. As the last sack was removed, the squeaking and scraping sounds grew worse. Suddenly dust and all sorts of debris, including what looked like half a birds nest with two mummified chicks in it landed on the back of the lorry.

It was then that the awful truth struck home. Not only had we raised the roof of the shed by a couple of inches, but the cab of our lorry was well and truly jammed under a large beam.

We knew we had to get out of this predicament before the farmer came back. So after a quick discussion we decided to put a few sacks back on the front end of the lorry and let some air out of the front tyres. Knowing that if we could get free from the beam we were stuck under, we could get out hopefully before the farmer arrived back home. With great sighs of relief it worked.

We quickly unloaded the sacks we had put back on the lorry, and slowly drove back to the goods shed, on very soft tyres, a dent in the top of the cab, and hoping the roof had dropped back into place before the farmer noticed something was seriously wrong with his shed.

Weeks went by and we heard nothing from the farmer, so obviously we had got away with damaging what was in all probability a dodgy roof anyway.

With a thick piece of timber we had managed to push the dent out of the cab roof so no one ever knew of our little escapade. Bert and I had many chuckles over this eventful trip, but sadly there was no happy ending.

Bert decided to leave the railway to work on a farm, I can't remember if it was because of the Beeching threat of closures or not, but anyway he left. Sadly Bert lost his life in an accident with a tractor he was driving on the farm. This happened many years ago, but as the poem tells us “you can't run away from your memories”.

Before closing I would like to tell you of three young carol singers who entertained my wife and me during the run up to Christmas. We were sitting watching the telly one night when we heard someone at the front door. I went to investigate, and on the door being opened three lovely young ladies commenced singing. Their ages would have been around 10 to 12 years old, and they sang beautifully. There was no giggling or pushing each other, they knew every verse, their diction was perfect and every note was reached with ease. My wife and I were amazed at how well these young ladies sang. I asked them if they had been rehearsing, they said they had not, but the way they sang I found this hard to believe!

If you read this young ladies' – “please” – keep on singing.

Ken Parker

So there you have it, this quarters newsletter ended as it started all about the art of singing.

Enjoy your spring; can't wait for a bit of sunshine and the lovely daffs, tulips and so forth.

Keep warm and well and we hope to see many of you at the Big Sing or the panto or at the village hall Bowjangles evening.

Till next time – Yours the CHADRA team.

32

CHADRA INVITES YOU TO THEIR AGM

CHARFIELD & DISTRICT RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 23RD 2012 7:30PM

xx WOTTON ROAD, CHARFIELD

Agenda
Election of Committee
Appointment of Auditor
Amendments to the Constitution

The CHADRA team would like to invite Charfield residents to come along to the AGM meeting, find out how the association works, how to get involved, make suggestions for future work, or simply to meet the team.

If you don't have the time to be involved on a regular basis, how about coming along as and when, to help with collating. Collating usually takes place one day every quarter; we match up the printed pages and staple them all together. Not forgetting of course Joan makes us tea and coffee to keep our strength up, tempted, contact one of the committee for more details.

33

Advertising

[Advert for Greenline Tanks]

[Advert for Falcon Cottage B&B]

[Advert for Charfield Post Office]

[Advert for Eclipse Hair Studio]

[Advert for Bradley Garage]

[Advert for The Edge Health & Beauty]

34[Advert for Acucare]

[Advert for RK Aerials]

[Advert for Manor Garden Maintenance]

[Advert for PC Repairs & Maintenance]

[Advert for Probert electrical]

35[Advert for Charfield Memorial Hall]

[Advert for Plumbtec]

[Advert for Deborah Jayne Pringle]

[Advert for Oak Tree Nursery]

36[Advert for W.S. Franks]

[Advert for Pat Jeanes reflexology]

[Advert for Claire Saunders]

[Advert for Colin Lane Carpet & Flooring]

[Advert for Littles Curtains]

[Advert for T.W. Services]

37[Advert for Add Plant]

[Advert for Kopperz]

[Advert for Ashworthy Cattery]

[Advert for D.R. Vizard]

[Advert for Elcombe Firewood]

[Advert for Tree Care]

38[Advert for Steve's General Garden Maintenance]

[Advert for Barbara Daw]

[Advert for New Street Garage]

[Advert for Elite Financial]

[Advert for Relax-ology]

39[Advert for Bridge]

[Advert for Alan Hamer driving]

[Advert for Charfield Pre-School Valentines Quiz Night]

40[Advert for Cotswold Edge Carpets]

[Advert for At Home Curtains & Blinds]

[Advert for Evergreen Computing]

41

Charfield Memorial Hall Regular Events (SL = Sportsmans Lounge)

Diary Dates

February
01 Village Meeting – The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations 2012 7:30 pm Charfield Mem. Hall

03rd February Valentines Quiz Night at the Memorial Hall. 8pm Pre School event.

05 Sunday CADS are holding auditions at the Tune Valley music studios 1–4 PM for more information please check out our website www.charfielddrama.co.uk

11 & 25 Saturday, 10am to 12 noon Charfield Big Sing, Primary School Main Hall

11 February 2012, Wotton Concert Series St Mary's Parish Church Wotton Mozart's Requiem, 1st Symphony and Thamos King of Egypt
18th Choral Workshop Thornbury Baptist Church.

March
01st Rural Arts Performance Bojangles at Village Hall.

08th Meeting. Safer & Stronger Community Groups. Charfield, Cromhall and Torthworth Group, 7:30pm Tortworth Estate Office, Tortworth, GL12 8HF

10th Jumble Sale 2pm School Hall St John's

10th Charfield Big Spring Clean 10am–4pm

17th Quiz and Curry Night, Mem. Hall 7:30pm

24th Parish Council Burial Ground open for public visitors.

April
EASTER! Easter Sunday is April this year.

May
19 May 2012
St Mary's Parish Church Wotton Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert

CUT OUT THIS PAGE AND PIN IT TO YOUR NOTICEBOARD

42

If you wish to alter the entries below, please telephone Isabel on 01454 26xxxx
or email xxxx @ gmail.com

British Legion
David Millman (Hon Sec) 01454 26xxxx

Charfield Pre-School
Debra Davidson (Manager/Admissions) 07966 61xxxx
Email:- xxxx @ gmail.com
Katherine Edwards (Chair) 01454 26xxxx

Charfield Primary School
Dafydd Lawday 01454 26xxxx

Childminders
Hazel Stone 01454 26xxxx

Church – Congregational
Nicky Lanyi 01454 26xxxx

Church – St. John's

Council – Charfield Parish
Hannah C Saunders (Clerk) 01454 29xxxx
Email clerk @ charfieldparishcouncil.co.uk

Council – South Gloucestershire
Sandra O'Neill 01454 26xxxx
Email xxxx @ southglos.gov.uk

Cricket Club
Chris Shearwood 01454 77xxxx

Crimestoppers 0800 555 111

Friends of Charfield Primary School
Tim Skuse (Chair) 01454 26xxxx

Foundation Room
Bryan Grantham 01454 26xxxx

Junior Football Club
Nigel Cloke 01454 26xxxx

Keep Fit Club
Christine Parfitt 01454 26xxxx

Luncheon Club for the Elderly
Jane Higgins 01454 26xxxx

Memorial Hall
Bookings 07774 41xxxx
Email www.charfield.org
Chairman Tim Hill 01454 26xxxx