Whiteparish is an attractive small to medium-sized village centred on the A27, in South-East Wilts; surrounded by farming country and woodland; and near to the border with Hampshire. Population is about 1500, and the nearest towns/cities are Romsey, Salisbury, and Southampton. Click here for more about the locality, and here for more about Whiteparish's history.

Nowadays many villagers work in the nearby towns or further afield (commuting to London or to Bristol, for example). However, there are also several local employers within the village; and quite a few one-person businesses. Click here for a list of local businesses.

We have a church (C of E); a village shop/Post Office; a go-ahead primary school; a flourishing and forward-thinking medical practice; a village hall; a filling station (at least we used to—it's currently a car sales business); many village clubs, societies, and organisations; sports clubs; and a large recreation ground with a childrens' playground and facilities for tennis, football and cricket. Last, but definitely not least, there are three pubs.

SELECTED NEWS ITEMS

BAT WALK !
Wiltshire Council Environmental Services have organised a Bat Walk ("looking and listening for bats; bat detectors will be provided") to take place in The Copse, Highlands Way, at 8.45pm on Friday 24th May. The cost will be £2 for adults, and £1 for children and concessions; under-fives are free. Those attending should have appropriate clothing and footwear. Please note that booking is essential, and you can book or find out more by contacting: Wiltshire Council, Environment Services, Rights of Way & Countryside, County Hall, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 8JD, by post (presumably) or telephone (01225 718647) or email (countryside@wiltshire.gov.uk). Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS.
Councillors John le Quesne and Malcolm Adams are stepping down from the Parish Council in early May 2013 by not seeking re-election. For Councillor le Quesne it marks the end of 18 years service, some as Vice Chairman. As noted at the Parish Council meeting on 18th April, Cllr le Quesne’s wealth of knowledge serving the Parish Council and the community has been very much appreciated. Both councillors were thanked for their input and support.

Consequently, there are two vacancies on the Parish Council which will be filled by co-option. If you are interested, please contact the Parish Clerk. For her contact details, and a summary of other topics covered at the 18th April meeting, click here to see the meeting notes.

Change of AGM Date: Please note that the Parish Council AGM, originally scheduled for 23 May 2013, will now be held on 9th May, in the Village Hall. Also that from then on, until the new Memorial Centre is built, Parish Council meetings will be held in All Saints Church.

SWAB BRIEFING PAPER ON CCGs
Richard Britton and Tom Bray of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board (SWAB) have put together a question-and-answer briefing paper about the new medical Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). If you want to find out more about this important recent development in the structure of the NHS, this briefing paper might be a good place to start: click here.

ANNUAL MUSIC FESTIVAL, April 2013
The inaugural Whiteparish Music Festival, including three separate concerts held in All Saints Church during early April, was evidently a great success both in terms of the quality of the music presented and the funds raised, which amounted to over £2000 to help with church running costs. For a fuller account, click here.

ELECTIONS.
On May 2nd 2013 there will be local elections for Wiltshire Council and Parish/Town Councils. If you are interested, please have a look at the Elections page on the Wiltshire Council website: click here.

SWAB INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNITY GRANTS.
Tom Bray of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board (SWAB) has written to invite applications for grants for community projects in Whiteparish. According to Tom you can now apply to SWAB "in a few clicks", using their new online system. To view Tom's email, which includes links to further information on this and other SWAB programmes, click here.

ANNUAL PARISH MEETING REPORT.
The Annual Parish Meeting was held on 7th March 2013, and you can read the meeting notes by clicking here.. It was immediately followed by a regular Parish Council meeting: click here for the notes.

AND THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION? At the time of writing (end-March 2013) we don't know when or even IF Whiteparish will be included in the much-trumpeted rollout of fibre connections (or faster ones, anyway) for rural exchanges in Wilts and Gloucestershire. Whiteparish is among a big cluster of phone exchanges in south Wilts and neighbouring areas of Hampshire (including Romsey, to which our exchange is connected via a "spur"), that are in BT's “NC” category, meaning “Not Currently in Rollout Plans”.

If your house is more than about half a mile from the Whiteparish exchange, you're probably already dissatisified with download speeds, and not being able to watch video clips etc without having to wait during buffering delays. Even if your broadband speeds seem fast enough for your current needs, they soon won't be.

We don't want Whiteparish to be left behind, or left out altogether, once BT get their act together. They need to know that there's a lot of demand here for up-to-date broadband speeds. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE click here to go to the relevant BT web page, where you can find out the latest situation by entering your Whiteparish postcode. And then folllow the links on the page to REGISTER YOUR INTEREST. As BT say, "If we get enough demand in your area it might mean that we can add it to the rollout plans.": Registering your interest costs nothing and doesn't carry any obligation, but it just might help Whiteparish to start to catch up with the high broadband speeds that are already commonplace in some parts of the country.

BRITISH SUMMER TIME BEGINS . . .
 . . . officially at 2.00 am on Sunday 31st March, so don't forget to put your clocks forward an hour on Saturday night !

NO SPECIAL RECYCLING/WASTE REARRANGEMENTS FOR EASTER
Guess this counts as a non-story (!) but although it's a four-day bank holiday weekend, Easter this year apparently has no effect on the Friday collections, which will take place on the scheduled Fridays throughout March and April.

MEMORIAL TRUST PAGE
Following the merger of the old Memorial Ground Trust and Village Hall Trust, and the consequent creation of the new Memorial Trust, the Memorial Trust now has its own page on the website, accessible via the "Organisations" submenu or by clicking here.

ALL SAINTS SCHOOL VISITS THE MEMORIAL CENTRE SITE. On Tuesday March 5th, the youngest class at Whiteparish All Saints Primary School visited the Memorial Ground to see the site of the new Memorial Centre, where they were joined by some interested grown-ups (including Memorial Trust members and Parish Councillors) for a few photos to be taken by Salisbury Journal photographer Tom Gregory . Work was soon to recommence at the site after a day or two's delay (due to a problem with the digger), and a couple of days later the work of demolishing the remainder of the old pavilion had been completed, and the rubble all removed.

Tom Gregory's photo appeared on the front page of the 7th March 2013 issue of the Journal. For some other pictures of the visit, click here.

MEMORIAL CENTRE FUNDING.
Just a reminder: If you'd like to make a donation towards the cost of the new Memorial Centre, click here for an explanation of why donations are needed, and a printable donation form. More information about the project can be found on the Memorial Centre page: click here.

NEW SWAB-AREA WEBSITE
A new website has been launched, apparently under the auspices of (or with connections to, anyway) the South Wilts Area Board (SWAB), called the "Southern Wiltshire Our Community Matters blogsite". It seems to be intended for sharing information about matters of interest throughout the SWAB area, and includes an interactive notice board. To take a look, click here.

COMMENTS WANTED ON DRAFT POLICE AND CRIME PLAN
Claire Woods of Wiltshire Police has written on behalf of Angus McPherson, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, requesting views on his draft Police and Crime Plan. Unfortunately there's not much time left, because the closing date for comments is Sunday 10th March. (Our fault—Claire's first email about this somehow disappeared from our mailbox.) Anyway, to quote Mr McPherson, the plan: "is an important document and I strongly encourage people to log on to [our website] to read the draft plan and leave comments." To go to the plan, click here.

GOODBYE OLD FRIEND . . .



. . . . At least, that's how many villagers must feel (including us) to see the old pavilion on the Memorial Ground coming down, to make way for the new Memorial Centre. Photo was taken on Saturday 23rd February 2013, so presumably the building will have been completely dismantled by early the next week.

"TREASURE ISLAND" PANTOMIME PHOTOGRAPHS
The Galleries section of the website now includes photos of the Pepperbox Players' recent brilliant staging of "Treasure Island", taken during the Friday 1st February performance. We hope to have more to say about this thoroughly enjoyable evening soon, but in the meantime if you'd like to see the photos (of the last panto to be staged in the old Village Hall), click here. There are also some cast photos on the News and Events page.

This year we've also provided a page where you can display the panto photos in an extra-large format, for people with big computer screens. You can go to this page by clicking here; or you can try out both pages to find which format is best for your screen. (There's a link towards the top of each page to let you switch to displaying photos in the other format.)

LOCAL FOOTPATHS INITIATIVE
Activity days are planned over the next few months for local volunteers to help with footpath improvements in several surrounding villages: Winterslow, Downton, Alderbury, the Grimsteads, and West Dean. (There's no mention of Whiteparish in the info we've seen so far, but perhaps we'll be added to the programme later?) Anyway, to find out more, click here, or call Tom Bray on 01722 434252.

POLICE CRIME REPORTS FOR DECEMBER 2012 AND JANUARY 2013
Accompanying the latest crime reports, PC Clissold of our local Neighbourhood Policing Team writes: "A quick glance [at the reports for January] will reveal further reductions from last month, this month does show some criminal damages in the Alderbury area, having looked at the incidents they do not appear to be linked from the investigations carried out.

Please do continue to report suspicious vehicles seen around our villages, help us build a picture to crack down on these individuals.

The snow didn’t cause us too many problems, the only advice I try to pass to motorists to have a safe journey during the ice and snow is anticipate, anticipate, & anticipate!"

For the December crime reports, click here. For January's reports, click here.

FARMWATCH NEWSLETTER FOR JANUARY 2013
For the latest newsletter from Wiltshire Police's Rural Crime Team, with some interesting advice, commentary, and statistics for recent rural crimes in the county, and some year-on-year comparisons between 2011 and 2012, click here.

SWAB NEWS
The last scheduled meeting of the South Wilts Area Board (SWAB) before the elections in May will be held in Winterslow Village Hall on 31st January, at 7.00 pm, so it will be a good chance to catch up on the progress of the Area Board and hear about important issues in Southern Wiltshire. For the full agenda on the Wiltshire Council website, click here. For the latest SWAB newsletter, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL: ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Villagers are invited to attend the Annual Parish Meeting at 7.30 pm on Thursday 7th March in the Village Hall. The public of Whiteparish are welcome to raise any village matter at this meeting. If you are unable to attend but wish to raise any village matter, please inform the Parish Clerk or any councillor.

For notes of the Parish Council meeting held on 17th January 2013, click here.

WHITEPARISH MEMORIAL TRUST AGM.
The Memorial Trust AGM and a follow-on meeting were held on January 19th in the Village Hall. For a report of the proceedings, including the make-up of the trust and the officers elected, click here.

The next meeting will be held at 7.30 pm on Thursday January 31st, in All Saints Church; members of the public are welcome to attend.

TALK ON CLARENDON PALACE.
The History Society have scheduled a talk that should be of particular local interest for their 21st February meeting (7.30 pm in the King's Head), where Dr Cindy Wood will be speaking about The Royal Palace of Clarendon Park—a Recent History. Non-members £3 on the night. For notes on the History Society's page about some other talks presented during the past year or two, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS.
At the 6th December meeting of the Parish Council, Peter Kidman was co-opted as a new councillor. Other items discussed included problems with Common Road, Dean Lane, and ongoing improvements to Miles Lane. For more information on these and other topics covered, click here. For an updated list of councillors, see the Parish Council page.

WASTE AND RECYCLING COLLECTIONS, CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR.
As a result of the 2012/2013 Christmas and New Year holidays, waste and recycling collections are rescheduled as follows:
Household waste (black wheelie bin): Monday January 7th; then back to normal fortnightly Friday collections as from Friday 18th January.
Black box recycling and blue-top wheelie-bin recycling: Monday 31st December; Saturday 12th January; then back to normal fortnightly Fridays as from Friday 25th January.
Garden waste collections (if applicable): No January collection until Friday 18th January; then back to normal Friday fortnightly collections.

CRIME REPORTS FOR NOVEMBER 2012 .
PC Henry Clissold has sent the latest monthly crime reports (another quiet month, happily), and writes: "As you will see another good month for the area, the number of reported crimes has fallen again although there is a slight rise in the number of incidents attended.

Some news that may not have reached everyone yet, Sgt Dean Garvin has been successful in his promotion to substantive sergeant and has moved on to a new position in Salisbury Custody department, He has been our sergeant for two years and will be missed greatly and I am sure you will echo my thanks to him for his time with us. He will be replaced in January by Sergeant Dave Lennane who will take the reins of Alderbury and Wilton stations, I will ensure Sgt Lennane joins us at some Parish Council meetings and coffee mornings so you will get a chance to meet him."

To see the November reports, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS.
The report of the 8th November Parish Council meeting includes two items relating to the new Memorial Centre: the election of three trustees for the Whiteparish Memorial Charity; and the Council's planned application for a loan clearance from the Public Works Loan Board, just in case there is a funding shortfall. For more on these and other topics covered, click here.

FASTER BROADBAND (sometime, maybe . . .)
As you may have read elsewhere, Wiltshire has joined with South Gloucestershire in a joint initiative to introduce faster broadband technologies, and on 9th November 2012 the two authorities announced that British Telecom has been chosen as the preferred bidder in "one of the country's most advanced broadband developments". The rollout of the new technology under this programme is due to be completed by 2015. What still seems uncertain is which communities will get what kinds of improvements (if any), and when, within that timeframe.

From a telephone enquiry to Wiltshire Online, it seems that BT will be largely responsible for formulating initial plans about who gets what, and that they will be giving a first indication of the results of their deliberations during the first quarter of 2013. According to the Wiltshire Online website, "The aim is for a minimum of 85% of premises across the GWB area (90% in each local authority area of Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire and Swindon) being able to access superfast broadband, over 24Mbps, by 2015 and all other premises to have a minimum access line speed of 2Mbps."

So will we in Whiteparish be among the lucky 90%? Looks like we won't know until early next year. But if you're keen that we get 24+Mbps broadband here as part of the rollout, it wouldn't do any harm to contact Wilts Council or BT from time to time to enquire how plans are progressing. We don't want BT to be able to claim they'd had no indication of interest from Whiteparish, and to use that as an excuse for leaving us behind !

SUCCESSFUL 2012 FIREWORKS DISPLAY.
This year's display, held on the Memorial Ground as usual, made a creditable £5400 or so for Whiteparish All Saints School. For more about this, and some photos, click here.

SWAB HAVE MONEY TO GIVE AWAY (again).
The South Wilts Area Board are once again looking for applications for small funding grants from groups or projects working with young people in the area. The next deadline for applications for this "Youth Money" (their phrase) is 3rd December (but a little confusingly the latest SWAB newsletter also mentions a deadline for applications on 7th January—this may be for a different kind of grant?). Anyway, you could probably find out more by going to the next SWAB meeting, at Coombe Bissett Village Hall, 7 pm, on the 29th November. To see the current SWAB newsletter, which has more about this, plus footpaths and kissing gates, and volunteer awards, click here.

LOCAL CRIME IN OCTOBER 2012.
It seems October was another quiet month for crime in Whiteparish and our neighbouring areas, at least as far as the crime categories that appear on our Neighbourhood Policing Team's latest report are concerned. (Certain categories of crime, such as domestic violence, are not included in these lists.) Some of the items stolen make sad, puzzling reading, though: a weather vane, an ornamental cat, horse jumps? Do the thieves take this stuff for their own use, or to sell at car boots or down at the pub? And if it's the former, what satisfaction can there be in displaying an ornamental cat that you've nicked? Oh well, for the full report, click here.

ASH DIE-BACK DISEASE.
The Forestry Commission have written to the Parish Council with advice about how to identify ash die-back disease (chalara), and what to do about it. The main symptoms are: dead branches; blackening of leaves which often hang on the tree; and discoloured stems, often in a diamond-shape, where a leaf was attached.

If you see these symptoms, please double-check them at the website (www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara); and report them to the helpline: 08459 335577.

To help stop the disease spreading: before visiting other places, clean mud and leaves from footwear, pushchairs, bikes, cars, dogs and horses; and do not remove leaves, plants or wood from this area.

DODGY EMAILS Pretending to come from Vodafone.
There is currently a rash of infected emails being distributed which appear to come from Vodafone, with the subject line "you have received a new message", and starting with the text "You have received a picture message from mobile number +44[some numbers]. To save this picture, please save attached file."

DON'T try to save the attached zip file, or open it. It contains a malicious .exe file (for details from the Cisco website, click here). Spammers are getting very clever at creating plausible-looking "malware" that looks as if it came from a reputable source, and can find its way past spam filters. The only safe approach to dealing with unexpected emails containing attachments is "if in doubt, delete". If you're not sure, paste a line or two of text from the suspicious email into google. More often than not that will bring up a load of hits confirming that the email is spam, a hoax, or malware.

FLOWER SHOW EXHIBITS.
We've added a photo gallery showing entries in most of the classes in the 2012 Flower & Hobbies Show. Sorry about the delay in getting this onto the website, but hopefully better late than never . . . To see them, click here.

HALLOWEEN PRECAUTIONS. Wiltshire Police have sent out a package of information concerning %quot;dos and donts" for enjoying Halloween safely. For the full text of the accompanying press release, click here. For a poster like the thumbnail on the left, to place near your front door if you don't want to be "trick-or-treated", click here. And for a poster suitable for shops, click here.

LOCAL CRIME IN SEPTEMBER.
Happily things seem to have been quieter on the crime front in our area during September 2012, compared to the previous month, which must have been a relief to our neighbours in Alderbury and Laverstock. Four reported crimes in Whiteparish, though. For the full report from our Neighbourhood Policing team, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS
At their 27th September 2012 meeting, one item covered by the Parish Council was that the bidding process for the Village Hall site had been carried out and a bidder selected; the sale was in the process of being finalised. For the full notes, click here.

WILTSHIRE CORE STRATEGY.
Proposed changes to the Wiltshire Core Strategy Submission Document will be available for viewing via the Wilts Council website until the 1st November 2012. If you want to view and/or comment on these, you can register on the Consultation Portal: click here.

LOCAL CRIME IN AUGUST.
According to the local crime reports for August 2012, received from our local Neighbourhood Policing Team, Alderbury and Laverstock were worst hit, with two burglaries and a case of criminal damage in Whiteparish. For the full report, click here.

ARRGGHH—WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE CRICKET SQUARE?!



Answer: it's just being moved a wee bit closer to the MUGA area, and rotated by 90 degrees, to allow room for the new Memorial Centre. Work started on 10th September, and by the 13th, the new area had already been grass-seeded. For some more photos, click here.

NEW POLICE NON-EMERGENCY NUMBER.
Hannah Barclay of Wiltshire Police has written with new information about the police telephone number we should ring for non-emergencies: 101. This replaces the old 0845 408 7000 number which will cease operation as from the end of September 2012. In a non-emergency, you should dial 101 if:

• You want to report a crime/issue that does not require an immediate emergency response
• You or someone else are not in immediate danger
• You would like to speak to your local police officer
• You want to provide information about a crime.

However it is important to emphasise that 999 is still the number when you want to contact the police in an emergency. To read the police press release on the subject, which gives more information about what constitutes an emergency, and some background about the change, click here. For a mini-poster in pdf format that you might like to print and keep or put by your phone (), click here. Alternatively, for a small reminder-type picture you might like to stick on the wall near your phone, click here.

FIRST BATCH OF FLOWER SHOW PHOTOS.
We've added some "people photos" taken at this year's Garden Club Flower & Hobbies Show, most of them kindly contributed by Keith Hobbs, to the Galleries section of the website. To see them, click here. Some shots of this year's exhibits will be joining them soon (sorry about the delay).

FOOTBALL CLUB WEBSITE.
Whiteparish FC now have their own website, which you can find by clicking here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS.
At the 16th August meeting of the Parish Council, councillors heard a presentation from Julie Stubbs of the New Forest Land Advice Service, which covered the Blackwater River and its tributaries and the problems caused by invasive Himalayan Balsam, as well as a Community Wildlife Project for which Whiteparish villagers would be welcomed as volunteers. Other topics covered at the meeting included a proposed new Right of Way from the A27 to Clay St, a possible loan to help with financing the Memorial Centre, and a Red Gateway (presumably not a real gate, but a road safety measure?) to be installed on the A27 at the "Romsey End" of the village. For more information, click here.

SWAB GIVING AWAY MONEY AGAIN . . .
 . . well, not exactly giving it away, perhaps, but the South Wilts Area Board (SWAB) are looking for local projects that would be eligible for some of the £20,000 of funding they apparently have available at the moment. They also have a small fund available for helping projects concerning younger people, and this will be one of the subjects to be discussed at the next SWAB meeting, which will be at 7.00 pm on 27 September, 2012, in Pitton Village Hall. To find out more about what SWAB are up to, you can read their latest newsletter, including various links, by clicking here.

FIRST RESPONDER NEWS.
Although the Whiteparish Community First Responders had a relatively quieter period in July 2012, by the middle of August they had already attended 60% more emergencies than in the whole of August last year! They ask villagers to remember that if you call an ambulance and either a First Responder arrives, or the ambulance authority directs you to the Public Access defibrillator on the wall of the Parish Lantern pub, AN AMBULANCE IS ALREADY EN ROUTE. For more, click here.

FINAL FOLLOW-UP RE "PRODUCED IN WHITEPARISH" SALE.
Gill Bray writes to say "Well done, Whiteparish!  I am very pleased to announce that the ‘Homemade/Homegrown sale’ on 4th August, raised the amazing sum of £861.97, which has now been handed over to the Memorial Centre fund. A really big thank you to all who made or grew things to sell, to those who helped on the day and before (too many to mention but you all know who you are), and especially to all who came to buy and enjoy a friendly occasion."

HISTORY GROUP PROGRAMME FOR COMING SEASON.
The Whiteparish History Group have what looks like a very interesting programme of talks etc at their monthly meetings from September this year to April 2013, with the usual well-chosen mix of subjects concerning our immediate area, our region, and more general topics. First up is a talk on September 20th (7.30 pm in the Kings Head) by Lt Commander Brian Witts MBE, about Whale Island in Portsmouth Harbour and its importance in the development of the Royal Navy from the 19th century to the present day. The full programme through to next spring is on the History Group page; to see it, click here.

WESSEX WATER AWARD FOR MEMORIAL CENTRE WORK.

The New Memorial Centre project has gained a "Wessex Watermark" award and a contribution of £450 from Wessex Water, for work on safeguarding the pond. The photo shows Parish Council Chairman Trevor King receiving the cheque and certificate from Sophie Crew, Area Scientist, from Wessex Water. However, Trevor was by no means the only villager present. For another photo of the presentation showing (almost) all those who were there, and for a brief project update, click here.

LOCAL CRIME FIGURES FOR JULY 2012.
A very quiet month in our area, evidently, with the crime list half the usual length, and just a single burglaary in Whiteparish, with happily nothing stolen. For more detail, click here (note that some crime categories are excluded from these bulletins).

"PRODUCED IN WHITEPARISH:" Follow-Up.
This event on August 4th, one of a series of fundraisers for the new Memorial Centre, was well supported both by villagers contributing crafts and preserves and by those who came to buy. But best of all, the event has already raised at least £734 (a small part of this being gift aided, with some more still to come). A really good result.

FLOWER AND HOBBIES SHOW COMING SOON.
The Garden Club's annual summer show will be on Saturday 25th August in the Village Hall, with exhibits open for viewing from 2.30 pm. At the time of writing there's still plenty of time to get something ready to show. Entries will be accepted on the morning of show day; though to save time, you can collect entry cards between 6.00 and 7.00 pm on the previous evening from the Village Hall.

For the handicraft, art, and children's section categories, click here.

DAVID EAST DAY: Sunday August 19th.
Whiteparish Sports Clubs will be remembering the much-missed David East, also Doug Dugard, on Sunday, August 19th, with two specially arranged sporting fixtures. At 12 noon, there will be a soccer match between Whiteparish FC and Whiteparish Sunday FC, for the David East Trophy. This will be followed at 3.00 pm by a cricket match between Whiteparish CC and Sherfield English CC, for the Doug Dugard Shield. In this period when the cricket season is starting to wind down a bit (alas) and the soccer season hasn't got fully under way (and the Olympics are over), this sounds like an excellent day of local sporting entertainment!

Dr ESSIGMAN LEAVING COMMON RD SURGERY.
Sadly, Dr Martin Essigman has announced that he will be leaving his work as a GP and partner at Whiteparish Surgery this autumn to increase his involvement in the training of doctors. He writes in Steeple & Street: "It has been a privilege for me to be allowed to look after you and I have enjoyed the many encounters and consultaitons. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to work in such a friendly and supportive environment and it is going to be very hard to say good-bue to you all."

MINERALS SITE ALLOCATIONS SUBMISSION LOCAL PLAN.
We have received an email from Wiltshire Council saying that the above-mentioned plan will be available for viewing and comment from early August 2012 to the end of December 2012. But to do so you have to be a registered "consultee". For more info, click here.

The WCC email said that information in it (in the email, that is) was confidential and should not be disseminated. However this warning seems a bit silly because there's nothing in the email that one couldn't find out by going to the "Consultation Portal" on the WCC website and registering there—so we've ignored it.

AREA BOARD DISCUSSING FOOTPATHS.
The next meeting of the South Wilts Area Board (SWAB) will be on 26th July at 7.00 pm in Alderbury Village Hall. The main theme will be "The next steps to improving our rights of way . . . ", as well as presentations and/or discussions on involving volunteers in improving residents' digital literacy, community grants, community safety, and a chance to have your say about local issues. For the full agenda, click here to go to the relevant SWAB web pages.

"PRODUCED IN WHITEPARISH" SALE, AUGUST 4th.
Don't miss the sale of home-grown and home-made products in the Village Hall, starting at 10.30 am on August 4th. There's more information on the event poster, which you can view/download by clicking here. All proceeds go towards the new Memorial Hall.

If you would like to contribute some produce or handicrafts to the Sale, you can bring them to the hall on the morning of 4th August from about 9.00 am, or leave them with Colin & Gill Bray, or Colin or Gill could collect if necessary. If you have any questions about the event, phone Gill on 884882.

CHAT WITH TOP COPS ON 23rd JULY !
We have been asked by Claire Woods from Wiltshire Police to publicise a public online chat scheduled for Monday 23 July 2012. On that day, Chief Constable Pat Geenty, Deputy Chief Constable Mike Veale and Police Authority Chairman Chris Hoare will be logged on from 7pm to 8pm to answer your questions.

At the last chat, topics raised included anti-social behaviour, traffic highways agency officers, Royal Military Police assisting Wiltshire Police as well as recruitment and career opportunities within the police service. For more information, including details of how the chat will be run and what type of questions will be approved, click here to visit the wiltshire police web site.

CHARITY COMMMISSION'S PROPOSED SCHEME FOR NEW TRUST.
The Charity Commission has sent a notice to the Whiteparish Village Hall and Memorial Ground Trusts about the the "scheme" (a legal document) for the new Whiteparish Memorial Trust that it is proposed should be formed by the merging of the two first-named charities. The notice gives details of how to access the scheme document on their website, where there is also a form for comments. To view or download the Charity Commission notice in pdf format, click here.

2012 FETE A REAL SUCCESS—CONSIDERING . . .
This year's fete, held on 16th June, took place in unpromising circumstances. Although it was mid-June, it was cold, weather forecasts on preceding days had threatened downpours, and even the forecast on the morning of fete day suggested we'd be lucky to escape at least some rain. And on top of that, the Hog Roast and Bands Night on the previous evening, always a heavy fund-raiser, had clashed with one of England's Euro 2012 matches. So it was very gratifying to have so many people turn up to these events despite these unpromising omens. We gather that the Whiteparish Week events together raised over £4000, with maybe some more still to come. A very good effort in the circumstances. (As it happened, the rain did arrive on fete day, but not until right at the end !)

For some photos of the fete, click here.

FIRST RESPONDER NEWS.
The Whiteparish Community First Responders (CFRs) have been very busy recently, attending a host of medical emergencies in and around the village. In addition, they were delighted to see a community public access defibrillator (cPAD) for the village installed outside the Parish Lantern, which was officially commissioned on 21st June. For photos of the commissioning, and other CFR news, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING, 28 June 2012.
At their June meeting, the Parish Council saw a presentation by Steve Ibbetson of Wiltshire Council Environmental Services. And it seems they are looking at the possible installation of more "kissing gates" on footpaths around the village. (In case you're hazy about what these are, Wikipedia says: a type of gate which allows people to pass through, but not livestock.) For more information on the topics covered, click here to see the meeting notes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, "SPOTTY"

Happy actual birthday, we mean, because it was his "noughth" birthday, having been born, just within the parish boundary, early on June 27th. The photo was taken in a neighbour's field on the same afternoon, and he's already trotting round happily with Mum. Don"t know what his real name is, or will be, but he is spotty.

LOCAL CRIME FIGURES FOR JUNE 2012.
Only a couple of reportable crimes in Whiteparish in the latest bulletin from PC Clissold. Something of an epidemic of shed thefts elsewhere in the area, though, and a smashed window in the Alderbury Police Station (a bit foolhardy, one would have thought!). For more detail, click here (note that some crime categories are excluded from these bulletins).

POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER INFORMATION WEBSITE
We have been asked to include the following text on the website:

An information site about the election of the first ever Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire has been launched. The Wiltshire Police Authority's website now includes details about the role and responsibilities of the forthcoming Police and Crime Commissioner and how they will be scrutinised. The site also includes a timeline highlighting key dates in the transition from Wiltshire Police Authority to the Police and Crime Commissioner, details about the election, a news section and links to useful documents and other websites for potential candidates. To visit the site, click here.

Much like the existing police authority, the Police and Crime Commissioner will be responsible for overseeing Wiltshire Police on behalf of all residents in the Force area. They will represent people living across Wiltshire and Swindon. Elections for Police and Crime Commissioners take place on Thursday 15 November 2012. There will then be a formal seven day transition period before the commissioner takes office on Thursday 22 November. The Wiltshire Police area Police and Crime Commissioner will replace Wiltshire Police Authority, the group of 17 councillors and independent members who currently oversee Wiltshire Police.

WASTE SITE ALLOCATIONS.
The Consultation Period for Wiltshire Council's proposed waste site allocations ends on 19th July 2012. If you want to see supporting documents, and/or register in order to make representations about the "soundness" of the proposals, you can see the relevant Consultation Portal page on the Wilts Council website by clicking here.

2012 BEST-KEPT VILLAGE COMPETITION.
According to the Parish Council 2012 AGM notes, Whiteparish has again been entered into this competition. And judging is imminent ! So take special care to try to keep the village spruced up and tidy !

PARISH COUNCIL AGM, 24 May 2012.
At the Parish Council's AGM for 2012, the Chair (Trevor King) and Vice Chair (John Le Quesne) were re-elected to their roles, and councillors were re-elected to various roles within the Parish Council. Among several other topics covered there was also a discussion, raised by a villager attending the meeting, about safety concerns re children walking or being driven to All Saints School, and about the condition of Common Road. For more information, click here to see the meeting notes.

JUBILEE BEACON EVENT.
To help commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the Clarendon Team churches organized for a Beacon to be lit on Dean Hill on the evening of 4th June (by kind permission of David and Juliet Seal). This well-attended event was a lot of fun, and was co-ordinated with the lighting of similar beacons all over the country. For some photos, click here.

JUBILEE PICNIC AT ALL SAINTS SCHOOL.
Despite the not-very-promising dull, damp, and cool weather, there was quite a good turn-out for the "Celebration, Praise, and Picnic" at Whiteparish All Satins School on 3rd June. There's a smashing group photo of the event, taken by Roger Elliott, in the June 7th edition of the Salisbury Journal, and a few somewhat less professional snaps that you can see by clicking here.

LOCAL CRIME FIGURES FOR MAY 2012.
A small upturn in the local crime figures for May, compared with the previous month, according to the latest list received from PC Clissold. Only a couple in Whiteparish, though. For more detail, click here (note that some crime categories are excluded from these bulletins).

LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS CONCERT.
This very enjoyable concert, in the Village Hall on Saturday 19th May, raised a magnificent £1403.55 towards the new Memorial Centre ! ! So a big thank you for everyone involved: performers (the Millstream Orchestra, with All Saints' Church Choir and Music Group), organisers, and audience. There are some photos on the website, which you can see by clicking here. You can also get a flavour of the evening from a video clip of Whiteparish's rendering of "Land of Hope and Glory", by clicking here. (Sorry about the poor quality of the sound—we're currently trying to sort this out.)

LOCAL CRIME FIGURES.
Happily, April 2012 seems to have been a pretty quiet month in the local area. According to the latest bulletin from PC Clissold, there was nothing significant to report in Whiteparish or in many of the other neighbourhood areas covered; perhaps the cold weather kept the bad guys at home? Anyway, for more detail, click here (note that some crime categories are excluded from these bulletins).

MEMORIAL GROUND TRUST UPDATE.
For the highlights of the recent meeting of the Memorial Ground Trust, held on 30th April 2012, click here.

MEMORIAL CENTRE UPDATE.
The 4th of May saw the first focus group working for the Memorial Centre project hold their first meeting. For more information, and some photos of the good folk taking part (kindly sent to us by Linda Palmer), click here.

PRINCE PHILIP DROPS IN ON FIRST RESPONDERS.



During the visit of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Salisbury, on 1st May, the royal couple toured a number of community area displays laid on in the Cathedral Close, and the Duke met some of the Whiteparish First Responders in the Southern Wiltshire Community Area section. Later the royal party left the Cathedral Close (see photo) via the High Street on their way to the station, with enthusiastic crowds lining the whole route.

Protocol prevented the First Responders taking any photos of the Duke of Edinburgh visiting their display, but for some other shots taken on the day, see the First Responders' page by clicking here.

MEMORIAL CENTRE/DRAFT CONTRACTOR CRITERIA. The two local trusts (Memorial Ground Trust and Village Hall Trust) who have joined forces to work on the Memorial Centre project, held their first joint meeting on April 4th. (For a diagram showing the structure and "staffing" of the working groups for the new project, click here.) To go to the Memorial Centre page on the website, click here.

Local businesses who might be interested in tendering for the work are encouraged to look at the draft list of criteria that has been drawn up for selecting contractors who will be invited to tender; click here for more details.

NEW YOUTH GROUP OPENS. The new Whiteparish Youth Group opened its doors for the first time on official opening day: 13th April 2012. You may well have seen the nice photo of the event that appeared in the Salisbury Journal and the Romsey Advertiser in the following week, but Suzanne Rendell has kindly sent us two more photos taken on the opening evening. To see the photos, and a little more about the Youth Group, click here.

BROWNIES HAVE FUN PAINTING EASTER EGGS. We've added a new mini-gallery of photos showing the 1st Landford Brownies at Easter 2012 who hung their delicately painted eggs on a tree. They each painted an egg with colourful nail polishes, and Russell Sach came along to photograph them all. (Thanks to Russell for taking them, and to Chris Ellis for sending them.) To see the photos, click here.

OPENING NIGHT FOR NEW YOUTH GROUP. Whiteparish's new Youth Group will be having an opening night in the Villlage Hall on Friday 13th April, from 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm, for Year 7-to-10s who live in the village to see the club and "join up to join in". Annual membership is just £10. Current Whiteparish Year 6s are also invited to come along, enjoy the evening, and sign up for their start date in July.

REPORT OF MEMORIAL CENTRE PUBLIC MEETING, 20 MARCH. Linda Palmer has kindly sent a fuller report of the recent Public Meeting in the Village Hall. To see it/download it as a pdf file, click here. (Yes, we have a link to the same thing in the panel above, but we didn't want anyone to miss it !)

ANNUAL PARISH MEETING. The Annual Parish Meeting (APM) was held in the Village Hall on 1st March, immediately followed by a regular Parish Council meeting. As usual a number of topics were discussed at both meetings but two items that caught the eye were these. (1) The Fete Committee are really short both of committee members and volunteers. They need more support, so if you're interersted in helping please get in touch with the committee. And (2) no person or organisation had come forward with regard to possible Jubilee celebrations in the village, so at the time of the APM nothing had been planned. For the full notes from the APM, click here. For the full notes from the regular PC meeting that followed, click here.

MEMORIAL GROUND AWARD FROM SPORT ENGLAND. Sue King writes that Sport England announced officially on 21 March that Whiteparish has been awarded a legacy status for the Memorial ground as part of the Diamond Jubillee celebrations and the MGT have got £35880 for the new cricket square—this includes one years' maintenance money. Sheila Campbell has quotes which make her confident that, together with some R2 money, we have enough for the new square. Great news - particularly in the same week as the vote for the new centre!

AND, ALAS, SOME MEMORIAL GROUND VANDALISM. A sad point from the report of the 19th March meeting of the Memorial Ground Trust (MGT): "Trustees were very sad to discover the Air skier equipment has been damaged beyond repair. PLEASE LET SHEILA CAMPBELL KNOW IF YOU SEE ANYTHING UNTOWARD ON THE GROUND – HELP US TO KEEP OUR EQUIPMENT SAFE FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF ALL. The items we provide cost hundreds of pounds and this mindless vandalism saddened us all." For the rest of the meeting highlights, click here.

Tennis Coaching on the MUGA. Tennis coaching starts again after Easter on the MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area, on the Memorial Ground). Early booking is essential. First sessions are on Sat 21 April at 2pm and 3pm and will continue until July with a break at half term. To book contact James Kirkpatrick on 07748 483639 or info@puretennis.co.uk; or contact Sheila Campbell on 01794 884837 or spcam48@btinternet.com. James will also do private adult or childrens’ coaching if you contact him.

MUGA membership is still available in various packages. Annual membership can be as little as £30. For info click here or visit the shop. The MUGA is available free of charge for one evening per week for an adult tennis club. If you are interested let Sheila Campbell know which nights you are available.

The Memorial Ground Trust is always interested in new ideas for the use of the grounds or equipment – contact Sheila Campbell if you have any thoughts.

SUCCESSFUL SWAB MEETING. Tom Bray of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board has written to say that the Community Planning Event held in Downton on 6th March went well, with a "fantastic turnout" of 70 people. For more information about the subjects discussed and the actions identified, click here. The next SWAB meeting will be at Morgan's Vale Village Hall at 7.00pm on 5th April.

Apparently SWAB works closely with the Charities Information Bureau, whose website you can see by clicking here. The Bureau can help with advice on other, non-SWAB, sources of funding for local projects. So if you're trying to drum up funding for a local project, it might be worthwhile getting in touch with them.

PANTO PHOTO GALLERY NOW ON WEBSITE. There's a full set of photos of "Red Riding Hood" in the website's Galleries section now, taken at the Friday evening show. To see them, click here. There's at least one shot from every scene, and at least one shot for each combination of cast members within a scene. We're also hoping to add a few "out-takes" to the site soon.

LATER START TIME FOR 19 MARCH MGT MEETING. Please note that the regular meeting of the Memorial Ground Trust (MGT) on the evening of Monday 19th March in the Fountain Inn will start at 8.30 pm, not at 7.30 pm as previously stated.

VERY ENJOYABLE "RED RIDING HOOD" FROM PEPPERBOX PLAYERS



Red Riding Hood (Izzy Ashworth) and Robin Hood (Mike Coulished) join the rest of the cast onstage at the end of the show

2012's panto from the Pepperbox Players was great fun, as usual. There was a very enthusiastic audience for the Friday performance on 10th February (which we went to)—and we're sure the Saturday shows were just as well received. Strong performances from all concerned, whether "old stagers" or relatively new to the company (and it was nice to see Jimmy Goodland back on the boards). Our apologies for the delay in getting a set of photos up on the website's galleries section. We're working on them, and hope to have them on the site "real soon now" (ahem . . .) (Actually, in case you miss the follow-up paragraph above, the photos are now on the website, and you can see them by clicking here.)

RASH OF LOCAL THEFTS FROM VEHICLES. PC Henry Clissold writes to warn us that within 72 hours, very recently, there were six separate thefts or attempted thefts from motor vehicles in the Southern Wiltshire NPT area. A number of these involved the theft of handbags or sat-navs left in plain sight in the vehicle.

He asks that we please follow this simple timely advice:

• Don't leave anything on display, even an old coat or plastic bag can be tempting for a thief.
• Don't leave property in your glove box, leave it empty and open.
• Remove your stereo if possible.
• Lock the doors and windows of your car no matter where or how long you are leaving it for.

Don't make it easy for the thieves!!!

SWAB COMMUNITY PLANNING EVENT.. The Southern Wiltshire Area Board (SWAB) is hosting a special Community Planning Event on 6 March 2012 (7pm) at Downton's Trafalgar School where statistics about the area will be discussed. Interested residents are urged to come along and take part in the debate about how the area board should tackle these issues. This really important special event will present interesting Statistics about the area for consideration alongside our Community Plan 2010—15.

The initial presentation, from Maggie Rae, Director for Public Health and Public Protection, will cover Health and wellbeing, Economy, Children and young people, Community safety, Housing, Transport, Environment, and Resilient communities. This will be followed by the debate, with the meeting scheduled to close soon after 8.50 pm.

If you want to attend, you need to notify the organisers; either email Tom Bray by clicking here, or use the short online booking form. To view the Joint Strategic Assessment for our area, which contains many of the statistics that will emerge during Maggie Rae's presentation, click here.

Finally, for an interesting Google map showing the locations of SWAB grants made since 2009, click here.

FIRST RESPONDER NEWS. Latest news from the Whiteparish Community First Responder group includes the fact that they attended as many as 101 incidents during the past year, news of the proposed community access defibrillator, and photos from a trip to the Air Ambulance facility at Devizes. For the full report, click here.

WHITEPARISH ALL SAINTS' CHURCHYARD. The PCC wishes to give notice that work will be carried out to the North East area of the graveyard during the early part of 2012 to level and re- seed a number of graves.

A few of the existing headstones are tilting and need to be made safe as they could be a hazard to those who visit or tend graves.
This exercise will also enable the area to be kept mowed and tidy, especially if they are not visited and cared for regularly.

If you have any concerns or require further information, please contact
Ros Claydon Tel: 884 500 or Jane Legat Tel: 884 600.

WHITEPARISH MULTI USE GAMES AREA (MUGA). We are lucky to have such a wonderful resource in the village. Do come and use it. Application forms for membership are available on this website (click here to go to the MUGA page, where there's a link for downloading the form); and in the village shop.

Annual membership lasts for a year from receiving your membership card. If you have any questions about membership or other comments about the memorial ground, contact spcam48@btinternet.com.

EXTRA MEMORIAL GROUND TRUST MEETING. The Memorial Ground Trust are holding an extra meeting at 7.30 pm in the Fountain Inn on 13th February, to discuss the documents etc for the proposed merger of the Village Hall and Memorial Ground Trust charities. For the agenda, click here.

MEMORIAL CENTRE PLANNING APPLICATION. The amended planning application for the new Memorial Centre is currently with the Wiltshire Council planning dept. The public consultation period for this application ends on 23rd February 2012, with a decision expected before 13 March. Villagers who wish to view the application or to submit comments on it can do so online on the Wiltshire Council website by clicking here.

BROWNIES ACTIVITIES. To judge from the past year's review just received from "Little Owl", our local Brownies had another very full and interesting programme in 2011. To read all about it, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. The Parish Council meeting held on 19th January 2012 covered gritting of the A27/Common Road junction, progress on the mooted new youth club, a rights-of-way survey (see also next item) and more. For details, click here.

The next Parish Council meeting will be the Annual Parish Meeting, to be held at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall as usual on 1st March.

FOOTPATHS MAP. We are pleased to have recently added a very useful rights-of-way map, provided by the Parish Council, to the website. This shows footpaths, byways, bridle-ways, etc within the parish, plus some of the footpaths etc of other adjoining parishes where they run near our parish boundary. To go to the new footpaths page, where there are download links for the map, click here.

Hopefully the map will be interesting to villagers wanting to get better acquainted with "deepest Whiteparish" and anyone else interested in exploring the village and surroundings.

NEXT SWAB MEETING. The next meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board will be held at 7.00 pm on Thursday 2nd February in Winterslow Village Hall. There are several interesting items on the agenda, including "What should the Area Board be doing in 2012/2013", Fortnightly Waste Collections, and the allocation of SIDs (Speed Indicator Devices for temporary installation in villages). For the full agenda, and instructions for getting to the venue, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. It seems the Parish Council are considering adopting a telephone box! For more on this and the other topics discussed at the 8th December 2011 meeting, click here.

WASTE & RECYCLING COLLECTIONS DURING CHRISTMAS PERIOD. For household waste and recycling bins, only one collection date has been rescheduled over the Christmas/New Year period: the collections that would "normally" have happened on Friday 30th December will be made on Saturday 31st December. Similarly there is just one rescheduling for garden waste: the collection that would otherwise have happened on Wednesday 28th December will be made on Thursday 29th December. (If you're lucky enough to live where your garden waste is collected, that is !)

LOCAL CRIME IN NOVEMBER. To judge from the latest bulletin from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team, November 2011 was a relatively quiet month for crime in Whiteparish. (Though we have to remember that not all categories of crimes are listed in these regular reports.) Plenty going on elsewhere, though, including three successive thefts of fuel from aircraft at Old Sarum aerodrome (haven't seen that category before), and a Royal Mail postbox and a wheelie bin nicked in Landford (??) To see the full report, click here.

MEMORIAL GROUND TRUST NEWS. For the highlights report of the MGT meeting held on 21st November, and for the hire fees and membership fees applicable from 1st February 2012, click here.

SWAB NEWS. The December meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board will be at held in Trafalgar School, Downton, at 7.00 pm on Thursday 15th December 2011. Among the items being discussed is an application from the Whiteparish Community First Responders (CFRs) for funding assistance for a publicly accessible defibrillator for the village. Out of interest, applications from Whiteparish seem to have been very rare. SWAB have prepared an interesting google map showing the locations of projects where funding help has been granted, and although there are apparently loads of approved projects in Alderbury, Landford, and Downton (and quite a few elsewhere), Whiteparish has had just two. So if you are involved with a community project that needs funding, it might be worthwhile to try applying to SWAB. To see the map, click here.

To see the agenda for the December 15th SWAB meeting, which includes links to various supporting documents, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. To see notes from the meeting held on 10th November 2011, when quite a range of topics were discussed including a proposal from the Whiteparish First Responders (CFRs) for a public access defribillator for the village, plans for setting up a youth club, and a "red gateway" on the A27, click here.

LOCAL CRIME IN OCTOBER. Two burglaries in Whiteparish last month, unfortunately, plus what seems to be the most recent in a series of thefts here of copper wiring from transformer poles. To see the full list from the Alderbury & Laverstock Policing Team, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. Malcolm Adams is a new co-opted member of the Parish Council, with responsibilities for Environment and Transport. For a full list of Councillors, their responsibilities, and Parish Council meeting dates until the end of 2012, click here to see the Parish Council page. For notes from the September meeting, click here.

PUMPKIN AND HALLOWEEN FANCY DRESS PHOTOS. Many thanks again to Keith Hobbs for the nice photos of the Garden Club's annual Pumpkin and Halloween Fancy Dress Competitions, held on October 27th, which we've added to the website Galleries section. To see them, click here.

2011 FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR. The Annual Fireworks Display (sponsored and staged by Pains Fireworks for the benefit of All Saints School) will be held on Saturday 12th November on the Memorial Ground (reserve date for bad weather: Friday 18th). Gates open at 6.15 pm, and the display itself starts at 7.00 pm. Advance tickets will be available from the School Office and the Village Shop until 12.00 on the day of the display: adult £3.50, children 4—16 £2.50, under 4s free, family tickets (2 adults + 2 children or 1 adult + 3 children) £10.00. On the night an adult ticket is £5.00, children £3.00 each; no family tickets will be available on the gates.

There will be a barbecue, refreshments, tea, coffee, beer and mulled wine on sale, sith fairgound rides for younger children. It's always a terrific show so do try to come and support the school! However, for insurance reasons the organisers (All Saints Primary School PTA) ask that you don't bring sparklers to this event. And remember the fireworks code: keep all pets indoors. If there are any updates to the arrangements, they will be included on the PTA's Facebook page which you can access by clicking here.

COMMENDATION FOR WENDY. Unfortunately, Wendy Hedley has been forced by ill health to retire from her position as coordinator of Whiteparish Community First Responders. On 12th October, Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust Locality Director, Paul Birkett-Wendes and Community Response Manager Julia Doel presented Wendy with a Commendation from the Service’s Chief Officer. All members of Whiteparish Responders were present at the ceremony, along with Wendy's daughter Lara and son-in-law Lee.

For larger pictures and the text of the commendation, click here.

COMMUNITY FIRST RESPONDERS. Whiteparish Community First Responders (CFR) Group are looking into the possibility of using donated funds to install a community access defibrillator at a central point in the village. For more on this and the rest of the September news from the CFRs, click here.

NEW NON-EMERGENCY NUMBER FOR WILTS POLICE. Wiltshire Police has changed its non-emergency number to 101. The 101 number is being introduced nationally in phases and on 19 September it was launched across forces in the South West, including Wiltshire. Although 999 is a well recognised number to report emergencies, the 2010 British Crime Survey found that only half of the public knew which number to call if they wanted to speak to their local police about policing, non-urgent crime and anti-social behaviour. For more on the background to this change, click here.

LOCAL CRIME. The September 2011 Crime list from the Alderbury and Laverstock police team (covering crimes in August), shows more crimes listed for Whiteparish than for any of the other local communities, which is an unwelcome change. For more details, click here. (Sorry that some of the information in the bulletin is a bit out of date now; we're trying to catch up after a holiday.)

SWAB NEWS. The October meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board will be at held in Pitton Village Hall at 7.00 pm on Thursday 6th October 2011, when Concillor Jane Scott, OBE, the Leader oof Wiltshire Council, will be giving a short presentation and then taking questions. To see more on this and other items covered in the latest SWAB Newsletter, click here. (The link will take you to the new SWAB online discussion forum, which also includes the newsletter.)

DOGS ON THE MEMORIAL GROUND—AND WHAT THEY LEAVE BEHIND. The Memorial Ground Trustees are concerned that some dog-owners are ignoring the notices warning that dogs are not allowed on the Memorial Ground (see longer message above and/or on the MGT page), and the trustees emphasise the health and safety implications. For other Memorial Ground news noted from the trustees' 12th September meeting, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. The Parish Council Notes for the meeting on 18th August 2011 contain several items of interest, including the latest state of play in trying to get the surface of Dean Lane improved. For more on this, and othet items covered, click here.

FLOWER & HOBBIES SHOW. As already mentioned, we hope to be able to publish a list of prizewinners soon, but in the meantime there's a selection of photos in the Galleries section. To see them, click here.

RESCHEDULED WASTE COLLECTION. The Household Waste Collection that would normally have taken place on Friday 2nd September is rescheduled to Saturday 3rd September due to the August Bank Holiday.

FLOWER & HOBBIES SHOW. The annual Flower aand Hobbies Show organised by the Garden Club took place on Saturday 27th August, and seemed to be pretty well-attended. A list of prizewinners, and some photos, will be added to the website soon.

NEXT LOCAL SWAB MEETING The August 25th meeting of the South Wilts Area Board (SWAB) will be held in Alderbury Village Hall at 7.00 pm. Among the items discussed will be the new recycling collection arrangements that will start in March 2012, and a presentation from Wiltshire Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Protection Services, Cllr Keith Humphries.

Also on the subject of SWAB, they are currently conducting a survey about Area Board activities. If you'd like to contribute to this, the survey closes on Friday 12th August, and you can complete it by clicking here.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE 2011 FETE. This year’s committee held the usual “round up “ meeting to take stock of the events. We were extremely pleased to be able to agree two very large cheques be issued to the school and the church for £4,400 each. This leaves a small working balance for next year’s committee to pay deposits in the autumn for the loos etc.

We are very conscious that generous sponsorship helps us cover our major expenses and letters have gone to those donors, not all of whom live in our village. It was particularly nice to see some different things this year and our grateful thanks go to two local small businesses, El Visage (Karen Gunning) for the nail decorating and Oakley Build and Design (Trevor Oakley) who procured the dunk tank at his own expense and generously donated the proceeds.

Comments were received about there not being a tractor heading the fancy dress procession this year. This was because The New Forest Plonkers expressed a wish not to ride around the village. However we acknowledge that the general feeling is that people feel safer when a tractor leads the way, so some arrangement will no doubt be made to include the use of one next summer.

Please put a note in your diaries that the next village fete will be on 16 June, 2012 and the autumn inaugural fete meeting will be on Thursday 6 October.
Sue King

JULY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING. The notes from the Parish Council meeting held on 7th July include the good news about the first round of the "Best-Kept Village" competition (see elsewhere) and the fact that there is currently a vacancy for a parish councillor. For the full notes, click here.

MORE ON THE 2011 FETE. Sue King of the Fete Committee has written to say that this year the Fete and other Whiteparish Week activities raised a magnificent £8800 to be shared between the church and the school!! Well done to all involved! For the whole of Sue's report, including a breakdown prepared by treasurer Langdon Nichols, click here.

MEMORIAL GROUND TRUST AGM. The MGT's Annual General Meeting, followed by a regular business meeting, was held on 20th June 2011. For the meeting notes, which include the names of officers and trustees for the coming year, click here.

WHITEPARISH WEEK HORSE SHOW. Now that the Horse Show hosted by Brympton Riding Stables is becoming a regular feature of Whiteparish Week, it was disappointing this year that rain prevented it being held on Sunday 12th June as originally scheduled. Never mind, it was put back a week and quite a good turnout enjoyed the rescheduled event on Sunday 19th June, 2011. There was even some sunshine ! For some pictures, click here.

FETE AND CARNIVAL. For the nth year running, the sun shone on fete day, though unfortunately some of the other Whiteparish Week events were affected by rain. We hope to have more material about the fete and other events in due course, but in the meantime, to see photos of the fete, click here. And for some excellent photos of some of the participants in the carnival parade, by Salisbury Journal chief photographer Roger Elliott, see p22 of the June 16th issue of the Journal.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM FIRST RESPONDERS. In the report of their Open Evenings (23 May, 2011), the Whiteparish First Responder Group ask all residents as follows: "Please ensure that house name and numbers are visible from the road, and that all foliage is cut back so it can be seen clearly. Precious minutes can be saved if the team and ambulance crews can find the house quickly, which may mean the difference between life and death." For more about the Open Evening, click here.

LOCAL CRIMES DURING MAY. The local crime reports for May 2011 from the neighbourhood policing team show most of the crime hereabouts to have been in Landford and Laverstock, with Whiteparish getting off fairly lightly. For details, click here.

MGT AGM SCHEDULED FOR 20th June. The 2011 Annual General Meeting of the Memorial Ground Trust will be held in the Pavilion at 8.00 pm on Monday 20th June, immediately followed by a special meeting to elect officers for the coming year and to conduct the business of the trust. To see the AGM notice and agenda, click here.

FIRST RESPONDERS. The Whiteparish Community First Responders have been chosen as one of the three groups for the Green token scheme at Waitrose, Romsey, during June 2011; so if you're a Waitrose customer, please drop your token into the First Responders "bin" this month. Any funds raised will go towards the 24/7 defibrillator access scheme for Whiteparish, and we understand that you can use tokens from the Salisbury Waitrose in the Romsey branch.. We now have a First Responder page on the website, which we'll hopefully add to over the next few months: click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. The report of the 26th May Parish Council meeting includes an updated list of Parish Councillor responsibilities, so if you want to know which Parish Councillor(s) to contact about particular problems, or anything else discussed at the meeting, click here. Not everybody knows this, but the Parish Council page also has links to a collection of PC meeting reports going back to 2005—to access these, click here.

WHITEPARISH WEEK EVENTS PROGRAMME. For anyone who didn't get or see the programme provided with the June issue of Steeple & Street, the same info is available on the website's Fete page by clicking here. If you want a print-friendly (pdf) version, click here.

MUGA AND MEMORIAL GROUND HIRE. Please note that the Memorial Ground Trust have revised the hire fees for the Memorial Ground and for the Multi-User Games Area (MUGA) within it. For details, click here.

SWAB NEWS. The latest bi-monthly newsletter from the South Wiltshire Area Board includes some results from a survey about which issues local residents feel are important, and which of them SWAB should be concentrating on. There are also reminders about applying for community awards, and several other stories. The May newsletter hasn't found its way onto Wiltshire Council's website yet, but you can read it by clicking here.

JUST A FEW DAYS LEFT . . . to complete the Wiltshire Council survey for Rural Broadband users (that's us). The last day for completing and submitting this important online survey is 3rd June. For details, see the panel further down the page.

IT'S VERY NEARLY FETE TIME AGAIN. The Fete Committee and stallholders had their final meeting on May 5th, and everyone's getting ready for the Fete on June 11th and the other scheduled events during Whiteparish Week. Don't forget to mark your diary, and let's hope for good weather ! The committee have put together a sort of Q&A for volunteers, donors, and people who want to take part in the various activities, which you can view by clicking here.

MGT COMMITTEE MEETING, 16 MAY 2011. For the highlights of the most recent meeting of the Memorial Ground Trust, held in their "summer venue" of the Pavilion, click here.

LOCAL CRIME IN APRIL. The summary of crimes in local villages recently received from PC Henry Clissold shows quite an outbreak of vandalism in our near neighbours Alderbury and Clarendon, but happily a fairly quiet month in Whiteparish which included two instances of bicycle pump theft (why ? !). For the whole list, click here, but remember that some categories of crimes involving issues of confidentiality are intentionally omitted from these summaries.

ROYAL WEDDING TEA PARTY. On the afternoon of 29th April, to mark the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, 153 children plus some grown-ups enjoyed a celebration tea party on the Memorial Ground, and received souvenir mugs. Sue King, one of the volunteer organisers, describes it as "A wonderful afternoon". For more on this, click here. For a small gallery of photos, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. Among the items in the notes of the latest Parich Council meeting (14th April 2011) are the appointment of a new co-opted councillor, a reminder that Whiteparish has been entered into the 2011 Best Kept Village competition (so please do your bit and help keep the village tidy and well groomed!), and news of tennis coaching, to start on 21st May. For more on these and the other subjects discussed, click here.

MORE ABOUT BROADBAND. Sorry, we do keep banging on about this, but getting faster broadband in Whiteparish is so important for the village . . . Here's a notice from Wiltshire Council about the questionnaire they're running as an early part of their scheme to improve broadband performance in rural areas like ours. Please use the link below and complete the questionnaire, if you haven't already done so. Whiteparish needs to tell the council loud and clear that we don't want our village left behind!

MORE ON THE CUP FINAL (see last item). Whiteparish won 3-1 !

WHITEPARISH IN CUP FINAL. Well, not THAT Cup Final, but A Cup Final . . . On Good Friday, Whiteparish Football Club play Alderbury in the final of the Norman Court Cup, at Downton, so Good Luck to our local team ! Kick-off is at 11.00 am. Why not go along and support them?

BROADBAND NEWS: An Important Questionnaire. According to the Salisbury Journal, 14th April 2011, Wiltshire Council is aiming to invest £10 million in projects which, with extra funding from government grants and industry, should make superfast broadband available to up to 95% of premises in the county by 2015. For more information on the Wiltshire Council website, click here. From 26th April, there will be an internet questionnaire on that same link—please complete the questionnaire and help to reinforce the need for faster broadband in Whiteparish.

SWAB NEWS. The Southern Wiltshire Area Board have invited residents to participate in an online survey about how they should spend about £40,000 that's available for projects in this area. The deadline is midnight on April 24th, so if you want to take part, click here, soon! The next SWAB meeting in these parts is on Wednesday 20th April, at Winterslow Village Hall, with a 6.30 pm start. The meeting is billed as being about "Big Society and Localism". For more details, click here.

LOCAL CRIMES IN MARCH 2011. According to the latest list of local crimes from PC Clissold, there was only one reported crime in Whiteparish during March, though there seems to have been a bit of an outbreak in Alderbury. For more details, including some information about merging of the two local police teams based at Alderbury, click here. A police surgery is scheduled for 20th April 2011 at Whiteparish Village Store.

BANK HOLIDAY WASTE & RECYCLING ARRANGEMENTS On Good Friday (22nd April), the waste and recycling collections will take place as normal. After that, collections that would otherwise have happened on Fridays are rescheduled as follows:
Friday 29th April (royal wedding): collection rescheduled to Saturday 30th April.
Friday 6th May: collection rescheduled to Saturday 7th May.
Friday 3rd June: collection rescheduled to Saturday 4th June.

ALTAR GUILD NEEDLEWORK DISPLAYED. At a Thanksgiving Service during March, some beautiful examples of the work of the Altar Guild were displayed in All Saints Church as tribute to the late Mrs Edna Fenwick, who had masterminded the production of most of the items shown. Dawn and Langdon Nichols forwarded us some photos, taken by Dr Peter Claydon, so thanks to all concerned. To view the photos, click here.

ROYAL WEDDING PARTY UPDATE. Plans are coming together nicely for the Royal Wedding Party, planned to be held on the Memorial Ground at 3.30pm on Friday 29 April.

This will be free to anyone in the village who would like to join in – young and old alike. The Parish Council, the Village Hall committee and the Memorial Ground Trust are supporting the event. Several kind folk have been in touch with offers of providing the food needed and I’m sure there will be enough hands around at the time to help serve!

If you would like to dress up on the day, then please do so to add to the fun – but remember we shall only be in the Village hall if it’s raining – so thermals might be needed!
There might be a prize for the best outfit and the prettiest wedding hat!
The children whose names were supplied by 25 March will be presented with a memento of the day.

If you have offered help, you will be contacted before the event. If you would still like to offer, then please contact:
Sue King – Secretary to the Memorial Ground Trus, 884374t

MEMORIAL GROUND TRUST MEETING, 21 MARCH 2011. For notes of the meeting, click here

FETE DATE NOT FAR OFF NOW . . . In just a couple of months (and a bit) it"ll be Whiteparish Week again, culminating in the Fete on 11th June. The notes from the March meeting of the Fete Committee, have important info about how to book a craft/sales table; also pleas for gazebos, and for all stallholders to come to the next meeting on 5th May. For more details, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL: Annual Parish Meeting. The Annual Parish Meeting was held on 3rd March in the Village Hall, where each councillor gave an overview of the past year's activities on their area of responsibility. For notes of this meeting, click here. The Annual Parish Meeting was immediately followed by a regular Parish Council meeting; for the notes of the regular meeting, click here.

VISITING OWLS. Many thanks to Keith Hobbs for sending us some photos of Chrissie Harper's talk to the Garden Club's February meeting, all about owls (with some real ones on hand—literally !). To view Keith's photos, click here.

ROYAL WEDDING 2011. The Memorial Ground Trustees invite the use of this village facility to hold a tea party and games on Friday 29 April at 3.30pm to celebrate the Royal wedding. The Village hall will be the alternative venue should the weather be inclement.

The Parish Council have offered to support this occasion, which will likely translate into a memento for each child attending. A decision will be made after 25 March as to whether this event takes place, dependent on the number of people showing an interest.

Please put your child’s name in the book in the village shop or let the school know. I should also be grateful to receive names from anyone who would be prepared to help with offers of sandwiches, cakes etc. This could be a village event to remember !!!!
Sue King – Secretary to the Memorial Ground Trust; 884374

2011 PANTO PHOTOS. "The Canterbury Tales", presented on February 10th—12th by the Pepperbox Players, was the usual hilarious romp from our talented local troupe! We went on the Friday, and everyone in the close-to-packed Village Hall had a great time. For a bit more info and the list of cast members, click here. For some photos in the website's Galleries section, click here.

2010 PUMPKIN-FEST PICS. Photos of the Garden Club's Halloween Pumpkin and Fancy Dress Competition, from 28th October 2010, have just reached the galleries section. Many thanks to Keith Hobbs for supplying them. (And apologies for the delay; they apparently dropped into a hole in cyberspace, back in November, somewhere on their way to the website . . . To view them, click here.

2011 FETE—MORE VOLUNTEERS (AND TUG-OF-WAR-ERS) NEEDED. The fete committee are urgently seeking some volunteers to run or help with some of the planned activities for the fete itself and the preceding Friday night Hog Roast etc. If you'd like to help run the bar or be a marshal on the Friday night, or sell ice cream, or enter a team in a Tug of War competition, do get in touch with the committee. For more about this, and the notes of the most recent committee meeting, click here!

MGT NOTES; NEW HIRE CHARGES. The notes from the January 31st Meeting of the Memorial Ground Trust are now available on the MGT page, where you can also find the hire charges for Memorial Ground (and MUGA) facilities for the 2011/12 financial year. For details, click here.

POLICE NEWS AND CRIME REPORTS. The latest Neighbourhood Policing Newsletter forwarded to us by PC Henry Clissold includes items on FlyTipping and apparent success in combatting antisocial behaviour in Alderbury. Perhaps there's some connection between that and the fact that in the January crime list included in the same newsletter, Alderbury had no reported crimes whereas unfortunately Whiteparish suffered several thefts from vehicles and premises and one case of criminal damage. For more on these, click here, but note that some categories of crimes (crimes of violence or domestic disputes, for example), are omitted from these local lists for confidentiality reasons.

CANTERBURY TALES Panto


Don't miss the Pepperbox Players' latest production "The Canterbury Tales", running at the village hall between Thursday 10th Feb and Saturday 12th Feb (when there's a 2.30 pm matinee as well as the 7.30 pm evening performance). Tickets were selling fast, but if you hurry there might be some left—available from the Village Shop or on the night (if not sold out) for £5 per adult, £3 for children and concessions. (Many thanks to Simon Walworth for the photo above, taken at a dress rehearsal.)

3rd FEBRUARY: SWAB MEETING. The next meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board (SWAB) will be held at 7.00 pm on Thursday 3rd February 2011, in Winterslow Village Hall (so fairly local for us), and all residents are invited. Included in the agenda are:

- Parish Councils' Emergency Planning - Community Resilience
- Face to Face - Customer Access to Council Services
- Partner Updates – including a Police Authority update, Youth Service update
- Local Issues
- Street Light Switch Off Proposal
- Usual items including Community Issues, Updates from Partners and Parish Councils, and Community Area Grants.

For the full agenda, click here.

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS. Following the sad news of the death of that very active and hard-working Councillor Dave Boakes, there is a vacancy on the Parish Council. For a combined report of the Parish Council meetings of 16th December 2010 and 20th January 2011, click here.

ARCHIVED HOME PAGE ITEMS

By late 2009, and then again in late 2012, the home page had grown to a ridiculous length (because we'd simply been adding to it for eight years). So there is a separate archive page for older material, which you can view by clicking here.

Forthcoming News and Events:

Click here for our Forthcoming News and Events list, or see the diary sections for individual organisations. To suggest an event to be featured on the website, email us at events@whiteparish.co.uk.

If you want to find out more about Whiteparish and what's going on here, whether you live within the village or elsewhere, we hope that this website will be useful and informative. If you find any errors or have any suggestions for improvements, please let us know by emailing us at comments@whiteparish.co.uk.