April 2000
CHIPPERFIELD YOUTH CLUB
The Management Committee of the Chipperfield Youth Club, in conjunction with the St. Paul’s After School Club, are hoping to improve the present Youth Club premises or erect a new building on the existing site (assuming that all planning and financial applications are successful).
We would be interested to hear from any local organisations, particularly those involved with young people, who might consider using any improved facility.
To express an interest, or to obtain further information, please telephone Chris Coates on 01923 260626.
SPRING CLEANING?
Do you have any un-wanted gifts, ornaments, books, plants, etc. you wish to dispose of which could be sold at the Evening WI’s Spring Sale? If so, please bring them to the Village Hall between 1O.OOam and 1.OOpm on Saturday 8 April. (Please note: no large items, clothes, shoes, or electrical goods). All items gratefully received.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
The speaker at the Annual Parish Meeting on 10 April will be Phil Anslow, Neighbourhood Watch Support Officer for Dacorum. Mr. Anslow, a former Police Officer, will outline the increasing success of the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in Dacorum and its important role in new policing strategies. Perhaps his message may inspire the formation of new Neighbourhood Watches in Chipperfield, where coverage is rather patchy.
SPONSORED WALK
The indefatigable Gladys Taaffe, a mere 89 year old, and her dog, Jodie (who doggedly refuses to disclose her age!) will be undertaking another sponsored walk on Sunday 16 April to raise funds for the Chiltern Open Air Museum. The walk will cover seven and a half miles from Latimer to the Museum. Both Gladys and Jodie would welcome offers of sponsorship - please telephone
01923 262923.
CHIPPERFIELD CRICKET CLUB
To mark the millennium and coincide with the first cricket season of the new century, Chipperfield Cricket Club are holding a celebration Dinner Dance, to be held at the Club on the eve of ‘Village Day’, Friday 9 June 2000.
The event will be staged in a large marquee erected on the Common adjacent to the pavilion. Invitation is open to all members of the local community as well as Club members and tickets will be issued on a first come/first served basis. Tickets can be obtained from the Club Secretary Dave Bowen - tel: 01923 678708 - and are priced at £25 a head. This event promises to set the scene for the ‘Village Day’ celebrations to be held the following day, Saturday 10 June.
RECYCLING YELLOW PAGES
The new edition of Yellow Pages is due for delivery to every household in the next few weeks. What to do with the old one? Recycle it! For the first time Dacorum has been able to organise a recycling scheme to prevent adding more waste to landfill sites. The Parish Council have arranged for a designated wheelie bin to be placed in front of the Parish Council Notice Board by the School to collect all Chipperfield’s old directories. So please do not put your old copy of Yellow Pages out for the refuse collection, but throw into this special bin if you possibly can.
CHIPPERFIELD CARE A.G.M. 1st March 2000
It was the quietest year on record as far as number of calls was concerned, the Organiser, Muriel Samworth, said, but the busiest behind the scenes that she had ever known. She then went on the describe the numerous tasks that Chipperfield Care had acquired over the years that went on all the time. Visiting the lonely and depressed, cooking meals for the sick and their families, taking the elderly shopping, or shopping for them, contacting widows living alone to check on their welfare, lifts to social clubs, trips out for the housebound - the list was endless and ever expanding. She then described examples, some amusing, some exemplary, of the service given by individual Care members.
The Chairman, Donald Main, talked in his address of the general philosophy of Chipperfield Care which was, wherever possible, to accept any request for help on the grounds that if we have a willing helper then it is alright. He also mentioned the fact that Care was not set up for the benefit of any one section of the community. Help for the young, elderly, rich or poor alike, was always there. He described the wider effect of Care, saying that it provided another option helping people to stay in their own homes longer as age took its toll.
The Treasurer, Tony Rance, then gave his report showing an excess of income over expenditure during the year and a small nest egg in the bank. Tony then regretfully told members that, after 8 happy years, he found it necessary to resign but he would always be on hand to help. He was succeeded by Victor Archer who had kindly consented to become Treasurer.
The proposal that Sir William Stabb be elected our President was welcomed wholeheartedly. William had served as Chairman for 7 years until ill health made it no longer possible for him to continue. He had been a Chairman loved and respected by the whole community and it was with pride that his acceptance was acknowledged.
The meeting ended with a very interesting and informative talk on ‘Maundy Money” by John Ratcliffe, Wandsman, followed by wine and a delicious buffet provided by members.
DAVID RILEY
Dave’s wife Julia and his Mum wish to thank all friends for their support and kind thoughts over the tragic death of Dave. Especially David Bell, who was a tower of strength for us in the time of need. We would also like to thank everyone who attended the service in St. Paul’s Church, Chipperfield.
Mrs. J. Riley and Mrs. M. Riley
JASMINE SAFETY TRACK TRUST NEWS
Westwood Track Under Attack
A complaint was made recently concerning hoof prints on the footpath alongside the track. Since then we have been fighting to save the track. This has resulted in the horse track being widened, paying to erect new notices and £200 being added to our annual £400 rent. If we do not raise the £600 due in April, THIS TRACK WILL CLOSE. As it is an essential part of our network, running from the bottom of Jeffries Farm track up the hill to join Bucks Hill Road and then our Bucks Hill Monument Track, it would be a tragedy to lose it.
Riders - please ensure while riding this track that you stay off the footpath. Going up the hill, the footpath runs to the left and alongside the hedge at the top. Please make sure you stay on the RIGHT. If you abuse it, you lose it!
Please help save the track by either paying donations in to our JSTT boxes that can be found at Londis Chipperfield, Kimblewick Feeds or Tower Hill Garage, or sending a cheque made payable to “The Jasmine Safety Track Trust” to Tina Robinson, JSTT, The Birches, Megg Lane, Chipperfield WD4 9JW.
We are still offering plaques at a reduced amount of £25. If you would like one placed on the monument for your horse/pony, please speak to one of the Trustees: Tina Robinson 01923 267519, Carol Hannah 01442 833152, Rosie Thornton 01923 266449, Val Littlejohn 01923 826207.
STEP BACK IN TIME TO THE 1970’s
Isn’t it about time you cleared out your loft, or is it the garage where you store all those things you might find a use for sometime? Wherever it is you hide it all, you may be able to help Chipperfield Theatre Group.
Our next production ‘How The Other Half Loves’ by Alan Ayckbourn (May 11-13) is an hilarious tale of misunderstanding set in the early 1970’s. We are on the hunt for a number of genuine 1970’s items. We need a cylinder vacuum cleaner, copies of The Guardian, Times and TV Times (if only as a guide for us to make our own) and pictures of that era - ‘The little boy crying’ and ‘White horses running through the sea’ - I’m sure you know what we mean! If you can help please call Lisa Callcut on 01442 834653. Thanks!
SPRING WORK
Now that the area between the front and back doors has been turned into a pond and gravel garden, we decided to re-vamp the area on the other side of the drive, cutting back a berberis, some roses and a cotoneaster and put in a new path and have a general re-design. All was planned for a Sunday start, but a couple of little birds were also making plans. While gazing out of the kitchen window, waiting for the kettle to boil, I noticed a long tailed tit on the top of the cotoneaster. These are my favourite members of the tit family, always busily nipping from branch to branch, chattering to the other members of their flock, much more delicate and dainty than the cheeky little blue tits. In fact they are not truly members of the tit family at all, but must have been misnamed somewhere along the line, as they are relatives of the babblers of Asia and Africa. As I watched this dainty pink-breasted little bird, it flew down into the prickly berberis just as another long tailed tit flew out. Before I got round to making the tea, the pair had been in and out of the bush several times and one was gathering moss from under the cotoneaster so our overgrown berberis was obviously the ideal place for their nest.
I think these birds make the most fantastic nest of any bird in Britain, a wonderful elastic construction of moss and spiders webs, with an outer covering of lichen which makes them really hard to spot, and an inner lining of up to 2000 tiny feathers. As the baby birds grow, up to a dozen of them, so the nest is able to stretch and grow with them, even accommodating both parents who roost in the nest each night! Our pair seemed to be working overtime, constantly in an out of the berberis, whilst our work was postponed, but I always have too many projects on the go at once so we went to work on the bird cherries around the back!
Although long tailed tits are mostly in pairs now they are much more sociable than real tits and spend most of the year in family groups and small flocks huddling together for warmth on cold winter nights. Any unpaired adults will help feed the young of other pairs in the flock, such is the closeness of the group.
When I left the house on Monday morning, they were still to-ing and fro-ing but when I returned for our elevenses, work seemed to have stopped. I was rather surprised at this, as the books say that it takes 20 days for them to complete the work. But then as we went into the living room we noticed a tiny dead body on the terrace; one of the pair had tried to take a short cut and had flown into the recently cleaned patio windows. It still had a tiny piece of lichen in its beak. I may never clean the windows again! We have not resumed work at the front yet, just in case the remaining bird finds another mate and still thinks our bush, with its inch long prickles, would be a great place to nest, but a week has now passed with no return visits. Wendy Bathurst
DON’T FORGET THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT FESTIVALS IN APRIL!
How often do we make a mental reminder to ourselves about important occasions and then forget them? We have all suffered from this lapse of memory at some time or another. This results in upsetting a loved one and then feeling guilty that we have forgotten something we saw as important and no doubt the recipient did, too - normally a birthday, wedding anniversary, etc.
Very few of us, however, forget Mother’s Day. In England Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Lent, when mothers receive flowers, cards and other items of affection and some people make a special effort to be with their mothers, too. Celebrating this day goes back to at least the 1600s but the name ‘Mothering Sunday’ dates from the Middle Ages, when parishioners who lived in outlying hamlets or small village communities made an annual visit to their ‘Mother Church’ - normally the principal church of the parish - and on arrival would make altar offerings in thanksgiving to God.
Mothering Sunday was also a day when people were allowed to relax from the then strict disciplines of the Lenten season, when Christians gave up some favourite food or drink or some other pleasure. So it was with great enthusiasm that many people used to eat ‘simnel’ cake on Mothering Sunday. (The name comes from a Latin word meaning fine flour, which in the Middle Ages was a luxury reserved for special occasions such as this.) Also on Mothering Sunday domestic servants were given special leave from their masters to go home to see their families for the day and take them gifts.
How about reviving some of these old customs this year? How about giving up something precious for Lent - like an hour or so of your time, to spend with friends in church? We at the Baptist Chapel are privileged to be hosting this year’s Mothering Sunday service which will be a time of celebration and joint worship with our brothers and sisters from St Paul’s and to which you are all warmly invited.
The second event to remember, of course, is that of Easter. This is the most important festival in the Christian calendar, because we then celebrate the life, death and resurrection to eternal life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our celebrations commence as usual on Maundy Thursday evening, this year at St Paul’s. Let us gather together, worship and remember the one who on that day started the final day of His earthly ministry. In some European countries Easter is called by names which derive from the Hebrew word ‘pesach’, meaning Passover. Jesus had finished celebrating the Jewish festival of Passover just before He was arrested and sentenced to be crucified. Passover recalls how God rescued the Hebrew slaves from captivity in Egypt and Christians believe that Easter, like Passover, is a time of rescue. We believe that by His death and resurrection Jesus has rescued us from eternal death and opened the door to eternal life. Wherever and however you celebrate Mother’s Day and Easter, be assured of the love and prayers of all three village churches; we all belong to you,
because we belong to Christ. Pastor David
BAPTiST CHURCH
Anyone who wants to attend a Women’s Fellowship Meeting but has no transport should call Brenda Harpley on 01923 269574 and she will arrange it.