Coleshill Village News

Welcome to news pages of the Coleshill Website - keeping you up to date with all that is going on, in and around Coleshill. If you have any events or information that you would like included on these pages,
please click here to contact us.

Latest News:































Village Show
The Village Show is on Saturday 6th September 2008
Click here for an Entry Form and Show Schedule

Parish Council Meeting
The Parish Council Meeting was be held on Thursday 10th July 2008

Click here for the agenda
Click here for the draft minutes of the 22nd May 2008 meeting

Police Open Day

Village Fete


The Village Fete was a splendid event - the best ever - many thanks to Marion Davies and Kim Richardson and all of the many helpers.
Click here to see images of the 2008 Fete

Coleshill Mobile Library
Did you know that the mobile library visits Coleshill every other Friday? It stops beside the pond – very picturesque – and is there from 2.20 to 2.35pm. It’s only a short window of time but is WELL worth a visit.

It’s stocked with a wide range of books, including large print, and has a special children’s section with little seats – two year old Molly O’Boyle is a regular visitor. There are videos, DVDs, talking books – and the librarian can even sell you stamps!

Although most of us can get to the main library in Amersham, this one is so special. Unlike the main library you’re not overwhelmed with choice, but the selection of books changes from visit to visit. Somehow there’s always one you never thought you wanted yet there it is in front of you and is just the thing! Books etc taken out from the mobile library can be returned to the main library and vice versa and/or renewed online – all very convenient.

Currently it’s woefully under-used by villagers – so if we don’t use it we shall lose it! Come and have a look – you will not be disappointed.

Next visits are on Fridays 11th July and 25th July (and fortnightly thereafter). The dates will be on the village notice board to remind you.
Please support this new initiative for the village.
Click here to see the full timetable for the mobile library Coleshill is on Route 25.

Planning News - Latest info
Click here to see the latest planning news

Coleshill Common Working Party
New dates have been set for the work parties starting in Spring 2008.
Click here for details

Neighbourhood Policing
I am PC 1701 Gavin McVeigh, I am the neighbourhood officer for the parish council areas of Coleshill, Seer Green and Penn. One of my responsibilities is to engage with the local communities I police. Due to this there is attached a police survey form in this newsletter.
click here to download a survey form
This survey allows the local residents to inform the local police of issues/problems that are affecting the area.

There is also a version on the website which can be completed and
These forms are voluntary, but I will not be able to deal with issues if the problems are not known to the local police. The forms will be confidential and will used to look at areas where problems exist.
Please do complete the enclosed survey form, and take it to the following locations for collection. Place it into the box below the parish information board, outside the village hall or the village school. Rr it can be e-mailed or faxed to me.

I will collect the forms from the locations on Wednesday 5th December 2007. Thank you! Gavin McVeigh
Email Gavin.McVeigh@Thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Fax. 01753884253 Tel. 07800703188 or 08458505505

Village Hall - availability
Monday and Tuesday mornings are available for hire this summer. It is not often that vacancies arise.

Village Newsletter - Summer 2008
Click here to download a copy of the latest Village Newsletter (Warning large file broad band users ony)

Morris Men at the Red Lion

See the Red Lion page for more pictures

Coleshill Local History project
For latest news on the History project click here
Members of the Coleshill History Project have now been meeting for over a year. The group meets monthly at the Village Hall to exchange information and to discuss new lines of enquiry. A huge volume of information has been amassed and the themes which will feature in the proposed history of the village are now emerging. The group had a stall at the recent Village Fete where lots of locals and visitors to the Coleshill enjoyed the display of maps, power-point presentations and photographs of the village.

Two particular topics have recently assumed more importance within the group than at first thought. The first topic is Coleshill’s water supply. Two members of the group recently visited the water tower and were impressed with its original construction and its recent conversion to domestic use. The tower was built in 1915 by German prisoners of war for the Amersham, Beaconsfield and District Water Company, but the original scheme to supply water to the area via a reservoir at Coleshill is older. The Company was formed in 1895 by shareholders including local tradesmen, professionals and the leading gentry families. The engineer was E.A. Sandford Fawcett, of Roughwood, Amersham, whose sisters, the Misses Jane and Annis Fawcett lived at The Rosary, Coleshill. Fawcett’s scheme depended on pumping water from a 300 ft well on Amersham’s London Road up to a reservoir at Coleshill, high enough for water to be piped to houses right across the district. Had it not been for the efficiency of the scheme, completed in 1897, the new suburbs at Amersham on the Hill and Beaconsfield New Town could not have been built.

The other fascinating topic was the hamlet of Larkins Green. There appeared to be no early deeds to the two houses there, the Victorian public house formerly called the Magpies and a timber-framed cottage which is now the home of project member Peter Brock. The owners’ only title to them had been copies of the court rolls of the years in which they had purchased or inherited the properties. Changes in ownership were meticulously recorded in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Stockbury, one of the Amersham manors belonging to the Drake family of Shardeloes. When a copyhold house was sold, it was ‘surrendered’ to the lord of the manor and the new owner ‘admitted’ on payment of a fine at the manor court. If a copyhold tenant died, the lord of the manor took a prized possession, usually a cow, as a heriot and only admitted the heir on payment of a fine, usually a year’s rent in advance.

There are entries for the Magpies and the nearby cottage in the earliest surviving court book of the manor of Amersham which commences in 1728. These early mentions to the houses describe them as being at ‘Stockbury Beeches’, alias Larkins Green.

I am pleased to announce that ‘Awards for All’ have awarded £5,000 to the project from the ‘Big Lottery Fund’. Our obligation now is to commission and publish a book on the history of Coleshill and to develop a web site to hold a major archive of all the research material covering every aspect of the history of our hilltop village and its people.

The project was launched at a meeting in May, attended by over 50 residents. It was agreed that members should meet each month to exchange information, report on their individual research, and share the documents, photographs and interviews for the village archive. The members appointed Julian Hunt, author of several histories of Buckinghamshire towns and a former manager of the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies in Aylesbury, to supervise the project. Julian has attended each monthly meeting, introducing material relevant to topics such as farms, cottages, industries, and gentlemen’s houses.

In July, Project members visited the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies to see the old maps, property deeds, court rolls, voters’ lists, rentals and rare books in the County archives. It soon became apparent that a great deal of information was still in local attics and solicitors’ basements.

Already, some patterns are emerging from the work done so far:
1) The common land at Coleshill Green and Winchmore Hill were vital to local farmers, not only for grazing cattle and sheep, but for providing raw materials and fuel for making bricks, tiles and pots.
2) There was also domestic employment in chair-making and in lace-making.
3) The enclosure of common land in the parish of Amersham provided several building sites at Coleshill Green and Winchmore Hill.

I am pleased to acknowledge some good help provided to us by the Buckinghamshire Family History Society. They have digitised the whole 2000 pages of the daily log book of Coleshill School covering all years from 1866 to date. This is now available to us on CD. In addition they have provided an indexed version of the 1851 census for Coleshill which is now entered electronically into our database. Very many thanks to BFHS and thank you to Jenny Earp, Head of the School for giving her kind permission.

Our future meetings are scheduled as follows:
15th July, 16th September, 14th October, 11th November and 9th December 2008
All meetings start at 8.00pm on Tuesday in Coleshill Village Hall and conclude by 10.00 pm. Newcomers are cordially invited. Any questions or queries to Peter Lawrence on 727207or tispml@tiscali.co.uk

Parish Council elections
Following the election on Thursday 3rd May 2007 the following councillors have been elected to the Parish Council
Frank AUTON
Peter CLACKETT
David HALL
Colin LAMBERT
Kim RICHARDSON
David SMITH
Richard (Dick) WARE

As there were only seven places and eight candidates it was inevitable that one of the candidates was not able to be elected and we say thank you to Lee Parker for all his work on Planning during his time on the parish council.

Village Pond - Consultation
The Parish Council recently commissioned an independent expert study of the pond as a guide to planning what to do over the next five to ten years to maintain the health and life of the pond.
The report is attached and all are requested to read it and send any comments to the clerk of the Parish Council. the report will be debated at the May Parish Council meeting
Attached - Village Pond Consultation document

Neighbourhood Action Group
Overall a quieter time of year as everyone is away on holidays and there is perhaps a little less non-residential activity in or through the village. School runs also stop for the best part of two months.

Speeding remains one of the top issues being addressed by NAG and there will be a further Speed Enforcement Day coming up shortly. Not allowed to release the actual date, but it will be this year!

We had a fantastic response from the children at the Village School who came up with some very lively and imaginative posters for a speed safety campaign. These were exhibited at the Horticultural show recently and many enthused over their presentation. The intention overall is that we should bear in mind how vulnerable the young and innocent are to any vehicle exceeding the speed limit. We shall be examining the possibilities of placing the winning entries in strategic positions throughout the village. A special vote of thanks to Sarah Parker for seeing this through and also to Jenny Earp for giving the programme wholesale support within the school. Thanks also to Gavin McVeigh from Thames Valley Police for his unstinting enthusiasm.

In the previous newsletter, it was said how lucky we are in terms of rubbish and fly tipping in comparison to many, and this remains the case overall. That said, small villages with fields and gates are always attractive dumping grounds so we should be alert to such traffic.

Please remember that NAG is a community imitative, instigated by the residents or a good number of us anyway. Your support is welcome at all times. The first anniversary of NAG is fast approaching and we shall be holding a special meeting in the Coleshill Village Hall on Thursday 4th October. As many as possible are welcome to hear what has been achieved and to what we aspire. We want to hear from you and would ask you to come along and join us. The meeting will start at 19:00 hours and we shall have representatives from all quarters.

For more information please contact please contact Sarah Parker, Dave Smith or Ian McCallum.
NAG details can be found on www.chiltern.gov.uk/neighbourhood.

Planning Applications
Click here to see planning applications

A memento of an Evening With Charles Pusey, Louie Edwards, Ruby May and Syd Ware - Coleshill Branch of NSPCC
The attached document was prepared following an evening of oral history with the above residents of Coleshill - some sadly no longer with us.

Does anyone know who wrote this up and when the evening was?

The evening was a series of questions and answers with people who had all lived in Coleshill for many years. This report illustrated with many historical pictures of the area makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the local history of Coleshill.
Click here to view 'An Evening With' Caution this is a large file and best suited for broadband users

Coleshill Girl Guides
Thank you to Sylvia Dollemore for the following information on this photo loaned to us by Bill Dean:-

The photograph supplied by Bill Dean in the Easter Newsletter was taken in January 1940, and shows 'old' members of 1st Coleshill Girl Guides celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Company. The venue is the hut attached to the windmill, used as Guide H.Q. I am not sure, but the nearest girl on the right may be Carter (her daughter was Janet) and the nearest left one of three sisters whose surname escapes me, but one was Louie, who was Kate Barber's mother. The person standing on the left at the end of the table is Ruth Howard, the Captain. She lived at Windmill House with her parents and two brothers. She started the Company in 1930, her father having 'sold' her the windmill for sixpence. The Company was very active for some years, but in the late 1940' s the number of girls of Guide age in the village dwindled. Ruth was invited by Mrs. Nancy Strode, the District Commissioner, to take over 2nd Chesham Bois Guides, which she did in 1948/9, taking the few remaining Coleshill Guides with her each week. I was a member of 2nd CB at the time, sometimes camped at the windmill, and as I grew up Ruth became a good friend. She died in 1968 aged 64, and I took over 2nd CB. I have the original logbooks of Coleshill Guides, with many photographs, and would be happy to show these to anyone interested.

 


New Playground Equipment Installed
The new playground equipment - much discussed - is now installed and ready for use. Special mention must go to Councillor Jan Atkinson for championing the new play equipment.

Planning in Coleshill
Click here to read the Parish Council explanatory note on Planning

All Saints news
Click here to view the latest news from All Saints

Rushymead bomb scare pictures
Bill Dean, who grew up in Coleshill 80 years ago, has kindly loaned some photographs showing a worrying time in Coleshill during the last world war. (Bill went into the army in March 1941 and returned home in September 1945, so missed all this drama at home).

The staff of Price-Forbes, Lloyd's Underwriters, moved to Rushymead (the home of Mr Forbes) at the outbreak of war in 1939. Most of the large rooms downstairs were offices, the upstairs were bedrooms for the young female staff and two huts were put up in the chicken run for more offices. The buildings where the lawn mowers and other machines were kept became a cook house and kitchen, and the large lawn in front of the house was dug up to grow vegetables for the kitchens.

On the cricket field, an Army Searchlight Unit arrived. In October, 1940, a German plane was caught in the beam. It is thought to be on its way to Slough but, instead, dropped several incendiary bombs around Rushymead. Then, a month later, the same thing happened but this time a large bomb was dropped in the grounds of Rushymead. With good fortune it did not explode! You will see what a difficult task it was to get the bomb up and remove the explosives to make it safe, by some very brave men of the Bomb Disposal Unit.

The Bomb Disposal Unit worked for several weeks to reach the six foot bomb, weighing 1400kgms, at the bottom of the 36 foot deep shaft. On the crane was Spr. Hunt, and round the shaft, Sgt Kenna MBE, Dvr. Webber, Spr Wood and Spr. Whitehead.


Many thanks to Lindsey Haubner and Bill Dean for this insight to wartime Coleshill.