The newspaper for Nether Heyford & Upper Heyford, Northamptonshire, UK. Delivered free to every house since 1977.
May I express my sincere gratitude to Charles Kiloh and his team of helpers who arranged and delivered the food parcels so faithfully to the housebound during the first three months of the current coronavirus crisis.
I appreciated the goodies and their weekly cheerful visits.
Thank you.
Arthur Hanley
The Prattler is run by an active voluntary committee comprising of Sue Boutle, Christine Watts, Vicki Hamblin, Jez Wilson, Nick Essex, Richard Musson and Mary Rice. If you would like to submit articles or have any suggestions for future issues, please contact us.
The newspaper is supported by donations from the Parish Council, the Parish Church, the Baptist Church, Heyford W.I., Heyford Gardening Club, Heyford Singers, the Bowls Club, the Village Hall and Heyford Picturedrome as well as our advertisers.
Thanks are also due to the volunteers who distribute it every month.
Due to government regulations prohibiting public meetings the July 6th and Aug 3rd, 2020 Parish Council meetings were held online, using the Zoom platform. This is in line with national advice. At this time there is no indication of how long these conditions will persist, but it is likely that meetings will take place online for the rest of this year. Parishioners wanting to participate in the Public Session should check the Agenda on the Public notice boards, or the Website, for the meeting ID on Zoom.
Due to difficulties experienced by Councillors unused to using the internet, a reduced number of Councillors attended the online meeting, but a quorum was achieved and was supplemented by the District and County Councillors.
Illness and unfamiliarity with IT have meant that the number of Councillors at meetings has fallen, and the anticipated election in May was postponed until next year, and this may well have bought an influx of new Councillors. We are able to co-opt new members, subject to them being eligible. The Parish Council does need some active new members, preferably familiar with IT – so if you feel that is you – please contact me or the Chair.
Reports from the District and County Councillors.
Cllr Phil Bignell reported that the Forum has yet to re-open, and that Covid 19 was something of a problem in several wards in Northamptonshire. Further measures were being considered by Government, but action and advice by local health officers has averted this.
Lights.
The required 3 Quotes had now been received and an application made for funding from the New Homes Bonus; the result of that application is awaited.
Roads and pavements.
The jitties between Watery Lane, Middle St and Manor Walk have been cleared up, as has the one between the memorial Green and Church Lane.
The Green and Play Area.
Grass in good condition. Play area has been re-opened and one of the fixtures has been repaired.
Playing Fields. In good order. Tennis courts have been re-surfaced.
Youth Club will remain closed until at least September. Trees had been cut down adjacent to the Youth Club.
Planning. An application for land behind Denbrook was proving controversial and a report had been put in to the Planning Dept at SNC.
Reports on effect of Covid 19 emergency. Whilst there are still restrictions, the lockdown has largely been lifted and most people are back at work. The volunteer effort to distribute food parcels and prescriptions has been largely stood down. All those involved in that effort should take a bow – we can be very proud of them and that this village got its effort together very rapidly and effectively with a mixture of residents and Parish Councillors involved. Indeed, it was so effective that Heyford became a hub for other villages to collect from.
It may be that there will be no further need for such an effort, or we could just be in a pause period before there is a second wave of Covid 19. The Parish Council will look at the readiness of the village to cope with another potential lockdown at the September meeting. The Parish Council are grateful for the work of all the volunteers during this emergency and are proud of the community spirit that it has engendered.
Reporting Highway and Footpath Issues. The Clerk will report issues that Council is made aware of, but Council would encourage residents to use the FixMyStreet service to report issues themselves as there will then be no time lag and first-hand reports are almost always better than 2nd or 3rd hand reports. The service can be found here: www.fixmystreet.com It is easy to use; you can have your own account and can check up on any issues you have reported.
Parish Council meetings in 2020 will continue to be on the first Monday of each month, (unless a Bank Holiday) and start at 19:30. The next one is an online meeting Monday September 7th.
Clerk to the Parish Council: Guy Ravine, c/o Old Dairy Farm, Upper Stowe, Weedon, Northamptonshire, NN7 4SH
Telephone: 07935 931787
Email: netherheyfordparishcouncil@gmail.com
For further useful information about Nether Heyford Parish Council and full contact details for the clerk and the Councillors please visit:
Villagers, we are looking for help watering our flowerbeds at the entrances into our lovely village. If you live near one of the signs, it would be fabulous if you could water it a few days each week. Or if you are passing one, could you stop on the way and throw some much-needed water onto them, it will help them keep looking great. We are desperate for volunteers especially during this hot spell. If YOU can help us to keep these signs pretty, then please call me on 07912 971799. If you feel you want to take on a sign on your own as a little project, then also let me know. We are also looking for much needed plant donations. If any of you lovely villagers are thinning any plants in your garden or have bulb/seeds going spare then please let me know. I can collect.
I want to also thank our helpers who are already playing a big part at the moment, watering, planting, weeding and flattening those pesky mole hills, you are all amazing. We would not have come this far without you. However, we still need more people to make it easier all round.
Thank you all so much.
Jill
Update on our Neighbourhood Plan
Its been a little while since we were able to give an update – lockdown has understandably slowed down communications and the processes we need to push our plans forward. However, the cogs are beginning to turn again and we have been making the most of Zoom meetings with our colleagues!
An important next step is to organise a Strategic Environmental Assessment of our Plan. This SEA is a systematic process for evaluating the environmental implications of our proposed Neighbourhood Plan, providing a means for looking at any cumulative effects of our policies, and how to address them at the earliest stage of our decision making, alongside economic and social considerations. In these more enlightened times, the SEA can provide adequate responses to environmental and climate change problems, which can adversely affect our environmental and climate resilience, and offers opportunities to enhance low-carbon development. Although there are no major issues anticipated, our environment here in the village does determine whether areas of land identified for possible development could be used or not. For example, if the tract of land is in a flood zone from the River Nene or other waterways, the assessment clarifies that it would be unsuitable, or that it may not be cost effective to develop. We also have a conservation area and a number of listed buildings to consider.
It is useful to keep in mind the scope of the Plan. The latest housing needs assessment completed by Midlands Rural Housing (conducting an independent and objective survey), concluded that there is an identified need for 12 affordable rented homes, 6 shared ownership homes and some open market homes. 25 households identified that they would like to move home but remain in the village. 11 of these are deemed as suitably housed in their current accommodation. 17 of the 25 households would like to relocate to 2-bedroom bungalows. A number of respondents said they would be like to ‘self-build’ their next home. These have been included in the number that expressed a desire for open market housing.
On average, 21 market homes are sold in the village each year. The need identified through the survey for open market housing could be met through these sales without a requirement for new build development. This would of course be dependent upon the type of homes sold, and the type required, e.g. the sale of large family homes would be unsuitable for those wishing to downsize to single storey accommodation and vice versa. The full document will shortly be available to view on our website at: netherheyfordneighbourhoodplan.org.uk
Since our last update, there has also been an independent survey of the sites which were put forward as available to develop. More details on this in our next bulletin, as well as a revised timescale to completion following the impact of the Coronavirus. We are grateful to Tony Williams who has stepped up to become a member of our core group, bringing his knowledge of planning and local systems from his role on the Parish Council.
Tony Clewett, Tom Dodd, Tony Williams and the NHNPG Group
For more information on Nether Heyford Neighbourhood Plan visit the website:
Great British September Clean Up – Nether Heyford
The clean up of our village which was cancelled earlier this year will now take place on Saturday 19th September.
Litter Pickers can be loaned from Sunrise Cottage, 15 The Green. Disposable gloves are also available.
If people can let me know which location they are cleaning, we can ensure that the whole village is cleared. Also if you can let me know the number of sacks / bags you have picked up, I can notify the Keep Britain Tidy Group.
Sue Boutle – Editor – The Prattler – heyford_prattler@yahoo.co.uk
Please ensure that you follow the 2020 Coronavirus guidelines to make sure that everyone stays safe while doing their bit for the environment and being part of the pick.
For more information on this national campaign from Keep Britain Tidy visit the Great British September Clean website
Great news – the village hall is returning to life! Under the current Government guidance, we are planning to open the hall again on 1st September.
To bring us to this stage, a great deal of work has been done, thanks mainly to the tremendous efforts of two of our Management Committee members – Peter Squire and Pat Paterson – who have spent countless hours over several weeks to interpret the many directives issued by the Government.
To re-open the hall, we must demonstrate through Risk Assessment that the building can be ‘Covid-19 Secure’. This risk assessment highlights the mitigation’s required to exclude the virus from the hall. Some of these will be actions by the Management Committee to provide equipment etc., and others will be actions required by the users. The latter are set out in a Special Conditions of Hire
documents that will be supplied to all users.
Significant changes in the use of the hall will be to restrict the number of people in the hall to a maximum of 30, close the kitchen for the preparation of food and drink, and create a one-way system to access the washrooms from the main hall via the kitchen and back to the hall by the entrance lobby.
Entrance to the hall will remain unchanged but, to avoid people passing each other in the front lobby, exit will be via the front fire escape door.
Users and event organisers will be asked to hold a contact list of their members / guests, and to make that available if required by the Government’s Track & Trace system.
The Risk Assessment and the Special Conditions of Hire will be supplied to all regular users, in both the bookings and documents sections and are also on the website: www.netherheyfordvillagehall.org
If, as a non-regular user, you might consider hiring the hall but would like to know more first, contact Peter Squire on 01327 342167.
The Management Committee is committed to doing everything necessary to keep the hall as safe and Covid-19 Secure as possible but, if you see something that needs to be added, or could be done better, please let us know about it – on Peter’s number above.
And finally, when you return you will be welcomed to a newly decorated hall, in a fresh new colour scheme. We hope you like it.
Alwyne Wilson – 01327 340803
Chairman, Village Hall Management Committee
Our Court Refurbishment Project is finished !
Have you seen our three very smart and upgraded courts ? Throughout the last difficult months, we have continued to offer as much tennis as we can legally and safely to do so.
We offer:
We would love to welcome new players of any age and any ability – please contact us or just come along and see what our Tennis Club has to offer.
For further information – please find us on Facebook or contact Jo on 01327 349094 Email: jodickson@btinternet.com
Website: clubspark.lta.org.uk/NetherHeyfordTennisClub
Full facilities and location details can be found on our Nether Heyford Tennis Club page.
Bugbrooke and District Flower Society
We are really fortunate living in rural communities amongst some very pleasant countryside, so hope you have been able to make the most of the summer and enjoyed your gardens and maybe the local area.
We were saddened to hear that two former members had passed away during the summer – Chris Cooper and Dinah Anstead – both enthusiastic and loyal members for many years.
With the restrictions imposed on using village halls at present and the uncertainty of these difficult times we have, reluctantly, decided to postpone our meetings until the New Year, particularly as we do not meet in December. We can, however, make the most of the remaining good weather and use a few flowers from the garden to make some simple arrangements for our homes.
We hope all our groups/organisations will gradually get back to some sort of normality and in the meantime hope you get the best you can from these unprecedented times. We look forward to meeting up again with all our members and greeting new ones when circumstances permit.
For more information please follow us on Facebook.
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The Bugbrooke and District Flower Society meet every fourth Monday in the month in the Village Hall. Our meetings start at 7.45pm and usually take the form of a Demonstration when a qualified demonstrator will create several floral designs which are raffled at the end of the evening and lucky members take home the beautiful flowers.
Flower Society affiliated to the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies (NAFAS) promoting Floral Art. www.nafas.org.uk
Please note that Garden Club activities have had to be suspended until further Notice.
The year so far
Every year is different but this year has been more different than most. Following on from the conditions I have mentioned before, at the time of writing we have had a heat wave the like of which has not been seen for decades. The garden has stood up surprisingly well to all this, though I must remember next year not to have so many plants in pots to water.
The strange weather has caused some odd behaviour too, an honesty plant grew to 2m in height and still has flowers in mid August. Wild strawberries which really are a weed in the garden have actually produced a usable crop of fruit this year, which don’t seem to appeal to our resident blackbirds. These strawberries have also turned out to be an answer to a problem we had. We have an area of dry shade under some trees which is planted with bulbs and other spring flowers and looked wonderful until June after which it became bare and unsightly. Now ivy and strawberries have covered the ground and are keeping it looking green.
The roses and clematis have been particularly good this summer, and we have been pleased with some knapweed plants that we introduced that have flowered for weeks on end and attracted a vast number of bees, butterflies and hoverflies. One type of bee we have seen a lot of this year is the leaf cutter. These have a more qualified welcome as they remove neat sections from rose leaves to line their nests, always choosing the most precious varieties. The community orchard looked as if it might produce a small crop this year enough for a tasting at least, but none of the pears set in the end and sadly most of the apples eventually dropped, probably due to the spring drought. The only tree to bear anything at all is our damson, and these look to be ripening very early. However as the trees mature they should become more resilient to the vicissitudes of the climate, we shouldn’t expect too much from them at this early stage.
Things to do in September
1. Start planting spring bulbs
2. Collect seed from annuals and perennials to sow later
3. Sow seed of hardy annuals and hardy veg for early flower and crops next year
Mark Newstead
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For more information visit the Heyford Gardening Club & Allotments page
The Nether Heyford Prattler 