8 April 2020 - Food donations, jokes
A reminder about the request for any food you can donate for the a Littlemoor volunteer network to distribute in Preston and Littlemoor. Tony Ferrari would welcome any contributions - fresh, dried, tinned, whatever you can spare. He will put out food collection box by the Village Information Centre (that’s the conservatory like structure opposite the Cart Shed) this coming Sunday, 12 April, for you to add your donation. Everything, however small, will help.
A number of villagers have sent me jokes, songs, pictures and videos to help cheer me up in these lockdown days. Thank you for those, but some are a little disturbing. One, for instance, has lockdown words substituted into a parody of ‘It’s not unusual’ by one of the greatest singers in the history of music, Tom Jones. Like me, Tom comes from Pontypridd in South Wales, and in his childhood he spent a long time in bed with a debilitating illness. My bus home from school used to pass his bedroom window. You can see how close we were, so to hear this great singer, the Pavarotti of the coal fields, treated disdainfully brings tears to my eyes. Then there are the jokes about sheep. What I must ask, coming from Wales as I do, is how would you feel if members of your family were ridiculed? Jokes about llamas are fine, but not sheep, please
Only 15,846 more Newsbites to my free coffee morning.
Stay safe and positive
Best regards
Chris
6 April 2020 - Path, thoughtlessness, thoughtfulness
Dear everyone,
After my grumbling about the state of the path up to Margaret’s Seat, Mike Haine told me that he had seen some resurfacing work going on. So I went to see for myself. Not via the footpath through Hunt’s Timber Yard/the new houses, but along to the end of White Horse Lane and left after the second gate onto the bottom of the track. Mike is absolutely correct, the path has been flattened and resurfaced all way to the top, even past Margaret’s Seat and on to the pond. It’s a great job, and we should all be very grateful for the hard work and time that went into the improvement. Peter Broach farms the land so a very big thank you to him - many of you will know Peter from last year, when he was guest speaker at the SP Society AGM. A long time ago now, he opened up his fields for camping overlooking the sea, and the day after that first season finished there was not a scrap of litter anywhere. The coast path was absolutely pristine. In Navy terminology he runs a very tight ship, so it’s up to us to return the compliment by sticking to the footpaths, keeping our dogs on leads around livestock, clearing up after them, closing gates and generally following the Countryside Code.
Some comments have come in about youngsters not obeying the social distancing rules, and holidaymakers from other parts of the country in local rented properties. This is possibly because of ignorance, stupidity or a complete absence of feeling for other people? Perhaps all three in some cases.
In these difficult and worrying times it’s often the little things that mean the most, so when someone – they know who they are – dropped by with a home baked gift it quite made my day. Thank you very much.
Stay strong and safe
Best regards
Chris
5 April 2020 - Sad news
Dear everyone,
Some sad news to impart which you may not have received in these times of lockdown. A stalwart of the village, Tony Bugler has passed away, not long after the death of his beloved wife Pat. Tony and Pat were long-time residents who always had the best interests of the village at heart. Hilary Davidson, Chair of the SP Society says “They were our next door neighbours for 28 years and he was such a familiar face in the village, until very recently seen walking up Puddledock Lane. He was a leading light in the Sutton Poyntz Society for many years , a wise man with a lovely sense of humour and interest in everything and everybody.” He might even have been a founder member of the Society, but he was certainly a supporter of village events and meetings for many, many years and although his mobility meant he could not get out much in his later years, his contribution was immense. He and Pat will be sorely missed.
Yours sadly
Chris
3 April 2020 - Water Works, date correction, thanks
Dear everyone.
Hannah Sweeney, a Treatment Project Manager for Wessex Water, told Andy Hohne that work at the Water Treatment Centre, which paused in response to the coronavirus outbreak, will resume on Monday 6 April. Water and sewerage personnel are designated as key workers on construction projects that are necessary to maintain water or sewerage services. The £3.7 million upgrade at the Water Works definitely falls into that category as it is critical to maintain water resources in the area. The work is now expected to be finished by October this year.
I checked the date above carefully, because in a recent newsbite Tony Ferrari asked for donations of food that you might be able to spare for Louis O’Leary’s volunteer network to distribute. He asked you to put your donation in the box by the VIC (ex-Telephone Box) on Sunday 11 April. Geoff contacted me to point out that 11 April is a Saturday, but I’m sure that Tony meant that he will put the box out on Sunday 12 April.
Thanks to Richard Backwell for supplying me with the two lovely routes around the village which avoid the problems with boggy ground and the deeply rutted track up to Margaret’s Seat. I’ve passed these on to a number of people - not too many, so you should be easily able to keep 2 metres apart.
Stay safe and well
Chris
1 April 2020 - Home delivery, food needed, footpath
Hello everyone,
I’ve mentioned this before, but just in case you missed it, here’s a reminder. Barbara Clements from her award winning Spar shop on Preston Road is offering a delivery service in the local area. I’ve known Barbara for many years, and she has always had the interests of the local community at heart, and been very generous to local organisations such as, and I remember it well, The Preston Pantomime Group. Her delivery service is one more example of her concern, so if you would like to avail yourself of this, contact her on at
Tony Ferrari tells me that Louie O’Leary, Councillor for Littlemoor, is organising a volunteer network who collect medicine and deliver food to Preston and Littlemoor. Initially they received lots of food from places like the Harvester who donated their stock which could not be sold. However that’s all gone now and he is desperate for more. Tony proposes to reinstate the food collection box by the Village Information Centre (which surprisingly looks just like a telephone box) on Sunday 11 April. It will be collected on Monday morning. Tony says that although it is too early for fresh veg - although those with well-established asparagus beds might nearly be there (I wish) - he would welcome any food, fresh, dried, tinned, whatever you can spare.
Thank you to those you contacted me after my moan at the state of the path up to Margaret’s Seat. My actual complaint was not that it was muddy – it’s dried out now, but must be awful when wet – but that the huge ruts in the path made it very difficult to walk on. Liz made the point that the farms are working businesses and we should be grateful that we can access them. Correct, of course, but I’ve been using that route for nearly 50 years and it’s only very recently that the problems have emerged on this public footpath. Brian had trouble lower down – as did I, but my boots helped me here – at the stile at the top of the field above White Horse Lane. The exit is an extensive deep bog! Richard had an answer to all this by suggesting some nice alternative routes above the village. If you would like a copy of these, let me know.
That’s enough for now. Only 16,997 more to my free coffee morning.
Best regards
Chris
28 March 2020 - Garden Waste Service
Dear all,
Be warned, Dorset Council have suspended all Garden Waste kerbside collections until further notice. Tony Ferrari tells me that this is due to high levels of staff absence so the priority services i.e. food waste, general refuse and recycling are being prioritised with the garden waste staff being used on these. They are also transferring some of the highways staff onto waste to keep the service running. The website has lots of advice on how to cope with this change, mostly of the ‘teach your granny to suck eggs’ variety, but if you want to read it for yourself it’s at Garden Waste kerbside bin collections to be suspended - Dorset Council news
I was taking some exercise yesterday and walked up to Margaret’s Seat. The way to it up the side of the hill was once a smooth grassy path about 2 yards wide. Now it’s a deeply rutted farm track, 4 yards wide and most unpleasant to walk on. More like the entrance to a building site. Can’t imagine what has been going on. Anyone have any idea? On the way back I was able to stroll down Coombe Valley Road with hardly any bother from the few cars passing. Quite took me back to the mid-70s, when I used to safely run – well, jog – up Coombe Valley Road and back down Plaister’s Lane.
Hope you are bearing up well under the self-isolation regime and all is as good with you as might be hoped.
Best regards
Chris
25 March 2020 - Situation Updates
Dear all,
There has been some surprise that I am still sending out Newsbites after my notice of retirement. Well, that was to happen at the AGM, which hasn’t occurred yet, and anyway, who could resist the offer of free entry to a Coffee Morning after only 17,000 more Newsbites? I’m pleased to say that this was unanimously decided by the committee after only four hours of heated semaphore debate.
I’ve had an update from Tamzin regarding her and, of course, her other volunteers, initiative in posting flyers through doors offering chat and help if needed. So far she says that she has had no requests for help/chat but lots of offers of assistance if needed. It’s nice to know we are pulling together, but remember, if you do need anything, contact Tamzin.
Some more info from Dorset County council about refuse collection. All the tips have now been closed until further notice, so you can’t take stuff there, but household collections continue, so separate your rubbish and recycling as normal. If you think you may have symptoms, double bag your waste and keep it for 72 hours before putting it in your black bin. Squash/flatten items before binning them, but don’t squash down in the bins themselves, as this can make them hard to empty as everything gets packed too tightly. Only put out your glass box when it is full.
And one last thought for our essential service workers who are soldiering on. They deserve a salute and big thank you.
Regards
Chris
21 March 2020 - Buses and a new information stream
Dear all,
Apologies for yet another newsbite, but it’s the only way I can reach my target. For every 100 Newsbites or one million words, whichever comes first, I am credited with tuppence. This means that that after just seventeen thousand Newsbites I am allowed free entry into a Mission Hall Coffee Morning. I’m sure you agree that’s worth aiming for.
But I digress.
As from Monday, 23 March, First Wessex will be operating a Saturday service across all routes on Monday to Fridays until further notice. This means of course that there will be no buses into the village as from Monday.
Also Tony Ferrari contacted me to say that the council publishes local information and he wondered if some of this might be useful via Newsbites. I already receive some data from the Council – don’t know how, must have signed up for it years ago - and you may get the same. But for people that don’t I’ll precis (as the Council can go on a bit) what they and Tony send me and let everyone know. The latest relates to bin collections, but it merely says that they will do their best to keep up the present service, but that the strict recycling rules may be relaxed in the near future.
And that lot probably earned me a sip of tea!
Stay safe and well
Chris