February 1999
Although the Dacorum Borough Plan strictly limits the amount of new development within the village, there is nevertheless the possibility of quite a number of new properties and extensions to existing ones being allowed in the core of the village over the coming years. The Parish Council is concerned that whatever new developments are allowed should be sympathetic in their design and materials to the existing buildings. The Countryside Commission has recently introduced the concept of a Village Design Statement as a summary produced by a cross-section of a village community setting out the essential geographical and architectural features of a village and what guidelines should be set out to help ensure that future developments are sympathetic to them. Once these guidelines have been agreed within the village, they can be adopted by the local Planning Authority to supplement the local planning policies.
The first step in the process is to have a small team interested in the village to prepare the ground for a public consultation on the subject. It really needs a good cross-section of people, which willl probably widen out as the project advances. At the initial stages, we envisage that six or seven people, prepared to work together on ways of defining and preserving Chipperfield’s character, could set the ball rolling.
If you would like to volunteer to help with either of these tasks or would like more information about them, please contact John Pringle on 01442 822704 or David Nobbs on 01923 269480.
GARDENING FOR GOD?
After many years of faithful service Sid King, the churchyard gardener, has died and our sympathies go to his widow who lives in Croxley Green. Sid will be greatly missed and St Paul’s js now looking for someone to take his place, to do the mowing, strimming and other tidying of the churchyard on a regular basis throughout the year. This is a paid job which will obviously involve more work in summer than in winter and at its peak may mean working for two to three hours a week. If anyone is interested please contact Graham Holt on 01923 262704 or Angela Butler.
ART GROUP
The next meeting is on 10 Februar, shen our speaker. a newcomer to the group. Dee Davies. will give a demonstration of water colour painting. Mrs. Davies is a well- known artist and teacher in the Watford area. As usual ‘.e look forward to a good attendance of members, and visitors are very welcome. We meet in the Youth Club at 8pm. If you wish to know more about the group. Mrs. Rita Musk will be pleased to talk to you on 01923 263525.
EVENING W.I.
At the February meeting at 745pm on Wednesday 17th in the Village Hall. Vice-President Leslev Edwards will be describing the ork of G.A.P.. the international organisation which provides a year out for the young, 18 year olds between school and university (Please note:
Ideas for Dinner Parties, the talk announced in the programme has unfortunately had to be postponed).
In April the Evening WI. will be holding a Spring Fair. and if anyone in the village is turning out drawers and cupboards next month and has any bric-a-brac. books. oddments or bits and pieces (no clothes please!) they want to get rid of. please contact secretary Ruth Hare (01923 266053) or any member of the Institute and we will arrange to collect them for the sale.
AFTERNOON W.I.
Our meeting is on Tuesday 16 February at 2.l5pm. Our speaker was housekeeper to King Khalid of Saudi Arabia. She will tell us about her job and experiences.
Stall: Getting ready for Spring’.
The Community Development Agency for Hertfordshire has been funded for a further three years for its rural housing work.
It aims to identify the need for affordable housing in rural areas by working with local communities and Parish Councils. It will work to produce small scale affordable housing schemes (usually to rent) to meet those local needs. It is also seeking the co-operation of Parish Councils in identifying long term empty properties within or close to villages which may be brought back into residential use.
POCA CHARLES (CHARLIE) HAROLD BALDWIN RN
The funeral took place at HMS Drake. Plymouth. of Charles Harold Baldwin on Thursday 26 November 1998 after a prolonged illness. Charlie. or Chaz as he was known in the Navy, was married to Joanna with two daughters, Emily (5) and Melissa (4). He was the youngest son of Arthur and the late Kathleen Baldwin of 8 Croft Field. Chipperfield. born on 15 January 1959 in the military hospital at Tidworth, Wiltshire. where his father was serving in KM Forces before returning home to Chipperfield on 28 February 1959 on completion of service,
He received his primary education at the village C. of E. school and his secondary education at Kings Langley Secondary Modern school.
Always wanting to join the Royal Navy, he enlisted immediately on completion of his education, completing his basic and trade training at the famous Royal Navy training ship of HMS Ganges at Shotley. Essex. as a chef.
During his long career he served with distinction in many famous ships. HMS Scylla, HMS Battleaxe. HMS Hermes. HMS Alacrity and HMS Diamedes amongst others, and at shore establishments both at home and overseas, including 3 years with NATO in Naples, Italy, culminating with his joining the newest ship in the the Royal Navy. HMS Ocean, before his being taken ill in June 1998.
He was a very popular member of the Royal Navy, making lifelong friends wherever he went. His outside interests were numerous, one of his passions being a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, where he had already climbed the first step to higher things.
Due to his popularity, a great many of his friends travelled to Plymouth to attend the funeral, which was conducted with full military honours by the Royal Navy. The address was given by the Reverend Ian Eglin, RN (Chaplain to Derring Ford Hospital, Plymouth), the reading by P0 Steward George Luke and the tribute by P0 Communication Yeoman George Dolan in an extremely emotional service followed by cremation the following day, 27 November 1998.
It is hoped to hold a memorial service here in the village at a later date to allow all his old school friends, neighbours, RAOB members and family who were unable to attend the funeral to pay their respects. The date has yet to be arranged.
His widow Joanna and father Arthur wish to thank all those who attended the funeral, and also all those who donated to the ‘Yealm Ward Cancer Appeal’; as donations are still coming in from naval establishments around the world, the final total has yet to be announced. We would also like to thank everyone for their cards of sympathy and condolences.
JASMINE SAFETY TRACK TRUST NEWS
We hope you are enjoying riding our grass safety track at the Bucks Hill Road and admiring our monument and brass laminate plaques dedicated to your special horses. To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of The Chess Valley Bridleways Association, we have now reduced the cost of these plaques from £35.00 to £25.00 for one and £46.00 for two, for a period of time. Anyone wishing to apply for one will find application forms in the boxes placed at each end of the track. 4JJ money collected goes directly towards the fencing. maintenance and purchase/rent of the Jasmine Tracks, so if you feel your horse deserves a special ‘thankyou’ for the pleasure he gives or has given you, remember, if you buy him a plaque you are also contributing to yQ riding pleasure and safety. Many thanks go to the customers of The Boot, Tower Hill, Kimblewick Feeds, Kings Langley Riding School, and Rose Hall Farm for the generous contributions to our collection boxes, raising approximately £100 in all.
A major project which was completed this autumn was the re-surfacing of The Narrows Jasmine Track by Benson’s Contractors of Cholesbury. As already mentioned it is the Silver Jubilee of the CVBA, and they have very kindly donated a large amount of money and their time to help with raising the very generous donations from local
businesses - Land Rover, Chipperfield, N. C. Engineering, E. H. Smith, Taylors Tools, Tower Hill Garage, Olivers Agricultural Supplies, Dorothy Heathcote Florists, Parish’s, Great Westwood Equestrian Park, OBH North Pony Club, Chandlers Cross Riding Club, and of course many riders. We have raised a considerable amount of money, but a small amount is still outstanding. It requires everybody’s help and support to raise the balance. Anybody wishing to donate to this, to order a plaque or to help with fund-raising in any way, please contact me: Tina Robinson, on 01923 267519, We do hope you are pleased with the finished track and we look forward to hearing from you.
The great thing about our British Weather is that it’s never boring! The first week in January, and I have been gardening in my shirt sleeves. One of the warmest January days on record has also made the blackbirds feel it must be spring and time to mark out their territories. There have been numerous fights on the front lawn this week, with 3 or 4 males trying to stake their claim. One of them is a youngster from last year; his bill still a sooty black colour instead of the mature bird’s bright orange. I am always surprised by just how many blackbirds there are in the garden, and it seems as if they work shifts as we rarely see more than one on the lawn at a time until spring.
The song thrushes have been singing to us each morning, competing with the mistle thrush, or storm cock as they are often known, who perches in the topmost branches of one of our Christmas trees and sings at the top of his voice, often swaying about in the breeze. Mistle thrushes always sing throughout the winter but it’s been a treat to hear the song thrush so early. Despite all the doom and gloom one reads in the national press, we seem to have a good number of thrushes in the garden, at least three pairs, and we are still able to see and hear skylarks in the fields around Chipperfield. Long may this continue, and I will avoid using the little blue slug pellets again this year, even if a few of our plants suffer as a result. Whenever I am indoors I usually wish I was outside, and while doing my chores I can’t help looking out of the windows (I was just the same at school!). Most of the time I enjoy the view, but a couple of mornings ago I looked up from my dusting to see one of the biggest foxes I have ever seen leap gracefully over the electric fence and into the new orchard where the bantams ‘free range’. I dropped the duster and raced down the garden, but I was too late, and Bertie, our pekin cock bantam, had been decapitated. The fox was a most magnificent creature, quite a dark chestnut colour with a large white tip to his tail. No doubt I shall see him again, I expect he will soon come back for the two hens. The Good Life has its ups and downs!
Wendy Bathurst
CINDERELLA
Oh how difficult to review a pantomime! All those corny old jokes! Boom! Boom! Chipperfield Theatre Group didn’t do themselves a favour when they decided to present David Swan’s (up-dated) version of Cinderella. The cast and production team deserved a much better script. Having said that, they certainly gave it their all.
Congratulations to Maria Strong for choreographing dances to fit on to the Village Hall postage-stamp sized stage, no mean feat (feet?!) and to the dancers who performed with such zest and such smiles. Katherine Iles in particular danced with every fibre of her being with great panache. Pianist Pat Baxter and percussion player Adrienne Ansell kept the whole thing going with aplomb.
Buttons has a difficult job, often speaking directly to the audience to get them to take part in the action. Once he got going, David Smith rose to the occasion and after the interval had all the children in the front of the audience enthusiastically involved. One young man almost climbed on the stage, he was so carried away! A criticism though - I do wish Buttons’ costume had been smarter and had fitted better!
There were some lovely production details including the witches’ brooms with ‘L’ plates and headlights, the ugly sisters’ wonderful boots that matched their outrageous dresses and their amazing wigs, mascara and nail polish.
A special mention for Pongo the pig, played by Ross Compton. Not an enviable part - no words and you could only see his eyes as he was covered in pig outfit, including his nose! He seemed a little diffident at his first entrance but quickly gained confidence and performed an excellent chase gag with Trick and Treat.
It was obvious that all involved in the production, front and back stage, had put in a tremendous amount of hard work. A good script would have made all the difference.
LUNCHEON CLUB
On behalf of the 25 regulars who go to the Luncheon Club, I would like to thank Dr West and her team of helpers for the magnificent Christmas Lunch. Served by cheerful friendly ladies, it was a lovely atmosphere, the table decorations were superb, Father Christmas visited us with gifts for everyone, and to finish we listened to carols sung by our local schoolchildren.
Why not join us - anyone on their own or couples, please come: it’s fun to chat while eating a meal. We meet every Thursday at 12noon for 12.15 lunch. Dr. West would be delighted for more to come: ring her now on
01923 260688.
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
This issue of Chipperfield News will be dropping through your letterbox just after the Society’s AGM.
One of the items on the agenda will be that of membership fees. We have been charging £1 per person per year since Methuselah was a lad in short trousers and your committee will be recommending an increase this year to help cover our ever-escalating costs. However, you can be sure that whatever the final decision is, your membership will still be excellent value for money. It entitles you to generous discounts at several local garden centres and nurseries and free admission to our shows. So look out for our intrepid collectors who will be doing the rounds later on in the month. It also provides the opportunity to purchase horticultural supplies at bargain prices at our Saturday morning shop, which is situated behind the Village Hall. The shop will be re-opening on Saturday 6 March and, although we have a regular band of enthusiastic helpers, we would welcome some extra support. The work is not particularly arduous and it only takes a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. Most of our volunteers cover about six Saturdays a year and any offers of help would be welcome. Please give me a ring on 01923 268852 if you feel you might be interested.
Incidentally, if our collectors call when you are out, don’t forget that it is also possible to renew your membership at the shop as well.
Our first show of the season will be taking place in the Village Hall on Saturday 27 March. This is always a colourful affair and signals a cheery farewell to all those cold dark wintry days with all the daffodils and other Spring flowers. Do come and see the display - better still, whey not join us in exhibiting? Don’t worry if you can’t tell your trumpet from your perianth, just pick a selection of your best daffs and come along where you’ll find plenty of people willing to help you sort them out.
John Hopkins
HAVE YOU ANY NEWS?
A new year, and an old plea! The Editors are hoping to give the News even more of a local flavour that it has at the moment, and to this end we are hoping that if you have any personal news (new baby, weddings, individual successes, house moves etc), you will let us know! We are often asked by readers to include more of such items and we would be delighted to do so - just let us have the details.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Is there any support in the village to declare Chipperfield a ‘Millennium Free Zone’?
(Name and address supplied)
LOOKING BACK
We read recently that cheaper housing is going to be provided in Chipperfield. However, this is nothing new, since this was the objective of Hugh Aronson in the early 1900’s. He was responsible for the first council houses built in Chipperfield in 1911.
He was Chipperfield’s representative on the Hemel Hempstead Rural District Council at that time and pushed the Council into building a row of seven Council houses in Tower Hill. For those of you that remember Hugh Aronson who had the fruit farm at the rear of Boundary Cottages in the 1940’s, this Hugh Aronson was his father.
The houses were known at the time as 1 to 7 Council Cottages, now known as 46 to 58 Tower Hill. My grandmother and grandfather were the first Council tenants of Chipperfield to take occupation in 1912 and probably one of the first in Hemel Hempstead Rural District Council area.
The houses had all the mod-cons of the time: a coal burning black leaded kitchen range with an oven at the side for cooking, an internal brick built copper for boiling and washing clothes, a fireplace in the bedroom and of course a sink with cold running water. Just across the footpath at the back was a large timber shed which contained the loo (a bucket under a timber bench seat) and another area to keep the coal in. No electricity or gas, of course: they arrived some years later.
Hugh Aronson, having pushed the Council into building these houses, now found it difficult to get people to take occupation, due mainly to the high rent of 4s 6d (22 l/2p) a week, so to avoid any embarrassment for himself, he talked my gran and granddad into moving in so that he could prove they were needed and were being let.
They were living in Chapel Croft paying 2s 6d (12 l/2p) a week rent at the time, so to get them to move, Hugh said he would pay the difference in rent for them of 2s a week (lop), so Sarah Daisy and George Charles Timberlake moved in with their four children to no. 1 (now 46) Tower Hill. I do not know how long this payment went on for, but it is believed to be several years, since money was very tight in those days and earnings were low, and of course this was all kept very hush-hush.
Turp Woods moved in the other end of the block into no. 7 (now 58) a month or two later, and I do not know if Hugh subsidised his rent in a similar way, but at a guess I would say he did, since the other houses remained empty for several months.
I cannot see John Nicholls having to put his hand in his pocket for any future housing projects in the village since letting won’t be a problem, so there is no need to lose any sleep, John!
For those of us who take for granted hot water, flushing toilets, baths, gas cooker, electric lights, central heating, washing machines, dishwashers, hoovers, radio and television, just think what life would be like without them. Not many of us could cope for a day, let alone for years. So next time you switch on the light or turn the gas cooker on, just consider how lucky you are to be living in this era.