June 2000
2.OOpm - 5.OOpm on Saturday 10 June
We are looking forward to seeing all friends, guests and visitors to Chipperfield on Village Day. The Day will be opened officially by The Venerable Laurence Olyott who, as vicar of St. Paul’s from 1960 to 1968, instigated the first Village Day in 1964. There will be a vast variety of stalls, arena events, displays, exhibitions and refreshments on The Common throughout the afternoon. All local organisations will be represented and we look forward to meeting old friends and visitors of yester-year. A special exhibition “Chipperfield Within Living Memory” will be on show in the Village Hall throughout the weekend. It will feature photographs, documents and memorabilia recording Chipperfield’s history and changes to the village during the 20th century.
The Programme of Events will be on sale from the beginning of June and on the day, price 20p. Each programme has a lucky number which will be entered in a Prize Draw. First prize is for two seats on a helicopter flight to the Dome and back, worth £250, so roll up and take advantage of the offer! The draw will be made at 4.OOpm on Village Day and the flight booked from Elstree Aerodrome during the following few weeks. Second and third prizes are dinner for two to the value of £50 donated by The Two Brewers and £50-worth of garden vouchers donated by Garden Scene.
On 10 June there will be half hourly return flights from Chipperfield to the Dome (in a five-seat helicopter). Seats are £125 and most have been pre-booked. There will also be 3-4 minute flights over Chipperfield for young people at £16 per seat. These will start at 4.OOpm and be available on a first come first served basis. No pre bookings can be accepted.
The purpose of Village Day is a fun, not fund raising, day. All stallholders may keep the money they raise for their respective organisations. However, those who wish to do so, may make a donatation to The Village Chest, an independent fund which is used for local worthy causes at the discretion of its Trustees. Cheques should be made payable to Chipperfield Parish Council which will arrange for all monies received to be paid over to The Village Chest.
May I appeal to all villagers to WALK to the event as there will be limited parking spaces available.
I do hope that you will be able to join us and that the weather will be kind for our celebrations. It will be a great village occasion.
Richard A. Edwards Chairman, Village Day Committee
ROAD CLOSURE AND PARKING RESTRICTIONS
• To ensure safe access for visitors, particularly children, to the events and activities
to be held on The Common on Village Day, The Common between “The Two
Brewers” and Queen Street will be closed to traffic between 1O.OOam and 6.OOpm
with access restricted to residents.
• To enable essential vehicles (including an ambulance) to park, both the Church Car
Park and the Village Hall Car Park will be coned off with all spaces reserved.
• The Cricket Car Park will be reserved for use by stall-holders and groups providing
displays and activities.
• Public car parks will be clearly signed and there will be provision for Orange Badge
holders but it will be best to come on foot if you can.
“CHIPPERFIELD WITHIN LIVING MEMORY”
As one of the ways of marking the Millennium, Chipperfield Parish Council decided in 1997 to publish a book entitled “Chipperfield Within Living Memory”. As I had previous experience of recording people’s memoirs, I was pleased to be asked to lead such a project in the village. A team of people including Rita Forsythe, Lucy Williams and David Williams assisted me and, over a period of three years, more than 80 interviews were conducted and recorded. The baton then passed to Jacki Robson, who very kindly volunteered to audio-type all the material. From there, it has passed to Liz Holliday, who although wearing several different hats, is making time to edit the material ready for publication as a book in the autumn.
The spin-off from the interviews and publicity about the project has been the large number of photographs which have been lent to the interviewers. There are far too many for inclusion in the book, so in order to share them with the public, an exhibition of over 170 captioned photographs depicting all aspects of village life in the twentieth century has been prepared with the help of Dacorum Heritage Trust. The exhibition will be on show in the Village Hall on Saturday 10 June and Sunday 11 June between 10.OOam and 6.OOpm.
Do come and browse - and allow plenty of time! We are still trying to identify some of the people in a number of old group photographs, so if you have lived in the village for some time and feel that you could help to fill in the missing names, it might be worth bringing a magnifying glass and a pencil with you. Corrections of any misinformation will also be appreciated. If you have any photographs that you feel would contribute towards the village archive, please let me know. All will be carefully copied and returned. Mary Nobbs
NEW ARRIVALS
Three young lambs are playing chase round the sheep shed, four bantam chicks have just hatched in the vegetable garden, the dawn chorus is deafening - it must be spring! In fact it has been so warm today (9 May) that the lambs have spent most of the dày asleep in the shade and now, in the cool of the evening, they are full of energy and mischief. Although the twins are only three days old they can easily keep up with their 12-day old cousin, their age-old instinct to run from predators as strong as ever. Bunty, the oldest, was getting bored on her own. Her mother and the other ewes were not K1 to play and did not like being jumped on, but now the games are endless. I have moved their pen up close to the bungalow and a lot of time is wasted watching their antics.
It’s all happening on the other side of the bungalow too, as the new pond is full of newts very much engaged in the “joys of spring”! As a child I was always told that newts returned to the pond in which they were hatched but this has proved to be quite untrue as at least seventeen have arrived in a pond that was only built last August. The males of these smooth newts develop enlarged dorsal crests, black spots and a very bright orange stripe on their bellies, making it east to tell them from the much drabber females. The water is so clear that we can see the males performing their elaborate tail waving rituals before shedding their sperm capsules. Unlike frogs, with their large blobs of spawn, each jelly-wrapped egg is individually wrapped in a leaf and sealed up with a special fluid by the females. A long-winded process as she may lay up to 300 eggs. The eggs hatch after about a week and the tiny tadpoles will them feed on the Daphnia that abound in the pond. They will leave the water in August or September to join their parents. hiding by day in our old heap of bricks and rocks and eating small slugs and other garden pests by night.
The magpies have raided one of our robin’s nests and eaten all the youngsters and a bantam chick is missing from the vegetable garden. Wendy Bathurst
CHIIPPERFIELD INDOOR SHORT MAT BOWLS CLUB
The Chipperfield Indoor Short Mat Bowls Club was formed in January 1985 and has grown from strength to strength. It can be said, without fear of contradiction, that the Club has been one of the most successful local organisations, providing great interest and entertainment for local residents.
The Club has finished another most successful season and, at the time of writing this report, will shortly be enjoying the Annual Dinner being held at the Little Hay Golf Club. Our membership has remained strong and, although we lose one or two members each season, the vacancies are soon filled by local residents.
The Club Pairs Competition took place again during the season and the winners, Peggy Harpley and Alun Roberts, must be congratulated as must Ron Ray and Graham Breen, the runners-up. Friendly matches were held against local clubs and, in most cases, were victorious.
The Club meets most Tuesdays and Fridays from October to April and the meetings commence at 7.OOpm and finish at I 0.OOpm. Owing to the fact that we can only use two mats, our membership is restricted to 40. With regards to future vacancies, these will not be known until the end of October, but should any local resident be interested in becoming a member, please contact Richard Hughes at 84 Scatterdells Lane, Chipperfield. Tel no:
01923 262374.
CHIPPERFIELD 50+ SHORT MAT BOWLS
On Thursday afternoons another group of bowls enthusiasts meet in the Village Hall. Dacorum 50+ Short Mat Bowls group started over 14 years ago and now has 12-16 players meeting regularly throughout the year.
A team is entered for the Dacorum League and matches are played against some 21 other teams - we finished 8th this year. Special days are our friendly games with Chesham RNIB members who have quite amazing skills.
New players are always welcome. Just turn up at the Village Hall at 130pm on a Thursday and have a trial “roll-up”.
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
With all the recent sunshine and showers things are beginning to move in the garden - unfortunately it’s mainly slugs, snails and the neighbour’s cat. I potted up a dahlia tuber some weeks ago and not being able to find any spare labels, used a stick to impale the bag lid on the pot so I would remember which variety it was. Needless to say, the emerging shoots of the dahlia were quickly eaten by some unidentified pest but the stick is thriving and presumably will grow into a large tree in due course!
I am trying to be more organic these days but by the time you read this month’s copy of Chipperfield News, I shall probably have given up and reached for the sprays and pellets, not to mention something to throw at the cat. However, if your bedding plants and tomatoes have survived and and are now safely in their summer growing positions, don’t forget to feed them - we have a good selection of fertilizers available at bargain prices in our Saturday morning shop.
Also, please make a note in your diary that our Summer Show is due to be held in the Village Hall on Saturday 1 July. We are particularly keen to increase the number of rose and sweet pea exhibitors so if you are a grower and have never taken part in our shows why not come along and have a go? John Hopkins
CHIPPERFIELD YOUTH CLUB
The Youth Club provides a focal point for many of the younger residents of the village with about fifty members attending the Friday evening meeting. However, we do have difficulty in obtaining support for the Management Committee without which the Club could not operate. The Committee is a supervisory group who ensure that legal safety and insurance requirements are met, approve expenditure for equipment etc. and give support to the youth leaders. We meet, at most, only ten times during the year on the last Wednesday evening in the month, and would really appreciate some new members.
The Annual General Meeting of the Youth Club will be held on Wednesday 28 June at 7.45pm for 800pm in the Club premises on The Common. All parents and friends of the Club, and anyone prepared to join the Management Committee, are most welcome to attend.
Many residents will know of the proposed re-building of the present club premises, in conjunction with the Playgroup and the After School Club and the Management Committee would appreciate help guiding the Youth Club through this exciting development.
MAY DAY SHOW MOVED
On behalf of the Baptist Church in Chipperfield, sincere apologies to those who were disappointed at not finding our May Day Show on The Common as advertised. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to provide the activities as expected and the event had to be held at the church instead. We do thank all those who came to the church to support us.
There will be other events held in the village and we hope we can count on your valued support in the future despite this disappointment. Brenda Harpley
NEW PARISH COUNCILLOR
At its meeting on 8 May the Parish Council welcomed John Carter as a coopted member to take the place of Diane Butler, who resigned earlier this year. John, who lives at Cherry View, Megg Lane, has lived in the village for 9 years. Before becoming a Parish Councillor John had already been playing an important part in the Village Design Statement Team. He now joins the Highways, Road Safety and Public Transport Committee.
CHIPPERFIELD ART GROUP
We are a friendly gathering of artists and non-artists who get together at 8.OOpm on the second Wednesday every month at Chipperfield Youth
Club, at the entrance to St. Paul’s School opposite the church.
We invite artists to demonstrate a variety of painting and drawing techniques and this is followed by coffee and time for a chat. We welcome visitors and new members to join us. Details of our meetings are announced every month in Chipperfield News.
Our popular annual exhibition is held over the August Bank Holiday, showing paintings, sculpture, ceramics and silk painting.
Our annual subscription is just £8 - superb value for 12 meetings and an exhibition! Do come along and meet us.
Rita Musk (01923 263525)
VILLAGE DESIGN WORKSHOP
Pouring rain and cold winds did not deter a noble group of 25 or so people who gathered at the Village Hall on April 15 to help put together a picture of Chipperfield’s visual character and of those building and landscape features which go to enhance this and those which detract from it. They soon divided into four teams to go out with cameras to record these on film. Rapid processing over lunch provided prints for them to arrange and to help them relate the points they had observed. These included:
• The importance of buildings with gables and wings - box type buildings or those
with wide roof spans should be discouraged.
• The strong role that hedges play both around properties and along rural roads — their maintenance should be encouraged and new developments without well-
marked boundary lines would not be in keeping.
• In certain areas of the village there is a strong brick and flint emphasis, in others
one more of white rendering — these should be maintained.
• Measures to regulate parking are needed in the area of the Common to avoid
further degradation of its perimeter.
Before presenting their findings, the teams heard from Paul Jackson, a Principal Planning Officer at Dacorum Borough Council on how the Village Design Statement that it is intended to produce based on these findings, the questionnaire that had been circulated with the March Chipperfield News and further consultation could be adopted by the Borough as Supplementary Planning Guidelines. These would then have statutory force for any further development within the village.
With this end in view, an enlarged village design team have now started work on preparing draft guidelines. There will be an opportunity for everyone to comment on the draft they produce before it is submitted to Dacorum BC, but the team would welcome any input about visual aspects of the village at any time. If you would like to contact them for comment or with any questions about the process, please contact one