News & Events

The Plough Reopens

The Plough at Winchmore Hill has recently been reopened by Raffaele Mercurio, an Italian born businessman with a long career in bars and restaurants. The pub has been refurbished and restored with an Italian twist here and there, including a wood burning oven shipped over from Tuscany in which fresh bread is baked daily and many other dishes are cooked including fish, roasts, pasta and pizza. The menu is not exclusively Italian though, it also features some British pub staples such as fish and chips, a gourmet burger and there is a range of real ales and a special selection of wines.
 
The meat is local, sourced from Stockings Farm and all dishes including desserts and cakes are handmade on the premises.
 
The pub is open all day, every day and serves breakfasts, coffee, cakes, lunches, afternoon teas and dinner.
 
The Village Shop has also received a makeover and stocks a variety of specialist Italian meats, cheeses and other gourmet goodies, alongside the daily essentials such as bread,milk, tea coffee etc. The shop is open from 8.30 until late - there's no specific closing time as the staff are always happy to help from the bar should the door be closed!
 
Telephone on 01494 259757 for reservations. Raffaele and his team look forward to giving you a warm welcome!

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 27 April 2012 09:24

Hits: 66

Village Hall Re-Opening

Following the recent flood at the village hall, repairs are now well under way and  are due for completion later this month. Therefore we can announce that the Large Hall is now taking bookings from 1st May onwards. The small hall is available for hire during the repairs.

Details

Last Updated on Sunday, 01 April 2012 15:40

Hits: 145

Diary Dates

If you have diary dates for inclusion in future editions of the newletter, please let the Editor know.

Details

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 April 2012 06:56

Hits: 253

Village Show 2012

Firstly, a piece of information for people new to the village: by living in Coleshill, you are automatically a member of the society, so please read on!

After much discussion we've decided that the date for this year's show will be Saturday Sept 1st. This does clash with the Chalfont St Giles show, but last year's date avoided such a clash and we had our lowest ever level of entries, so we can't win either way! Please put the date in your diaries and start thinking about what you might enter.

To help you with this, we've already publicised the classes for photography, but here they are again:

The adult and junior Photography classes will be:

• 'Jubilation', a photo of a Jubilee celebration (local or national) and
• 'Sporting Behaviour', a photo taken at a sporting event (amateur or professional – from Premier League football, to the Olympics, to a school sports day).

There will also be a category called

• 'Can you guess what it is?', an artistic photo of an everyday object taken from an unusual angle or perspective.

The Flower Arranging category will also include a Jubilee themed class:

• 'Majesty'.

In the Vegetable category, we're introducing a couple of new ideas:

• 'Bigger and Better' – the heaviest combination of 3 different vegetables.

And, for the 12 and under age group:

• 'Pots of Potatoes' – we will supply anyone in this age group in the village or the school with a bucket and a couple of seed potatoes (contact Susan Smith 724490 for these).
  On the day of the show, these will be brought to the Hall, where we will tip out all the potatoes that have been grown and the child with the heaviest haul will win £5.

There will also be a Jubilee themed plant class:

• 'Red, White and Blue' – a combination of plants in these colours (colours can be flowers and/or foliage) grown in a pot by the exhibitor for 3 months or more.

For younger villagers, 16 and under, there will be a category relating to the trees on the common:

• 'Common Trees?' - We would like you to produce a scrapbook of the different trees that you can find there (15 species at the last count), to include things such as pressed leaves, drawings, bark rubbings, photos and/or drawings of the trees or wildlife found living on them, or even poems.

The full show schedule will come out with the summer newsletter in June.

Finally, we hate to be doom-mongers BUT this really will be the last Village Show unless there is more support for it with more of you entering, and more of you coming along on the day. A lot of people put in a lot of time during the run-up to the show, and the show itself; it is not worth the effort if they have to scramble around at the last minute in search of things to put on display, and we still end up making a financial loss.

So - all offers of help gratefully received!

Coleshill Horticultural Society

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 16 March 2012 15:43

Hits: 129

HS2 Latest

Justine Greening announced in January that the government plans to proceed with HS2. This is in spite of the fact that the vast majority of responses to the consultation were against the proposal - of the c. 55,000 responses, approx 90% were against the proposals put in the various questions. A summary of the consultation responses can be read at:

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/hs2-consultation-summary/hs2-consultation-summary.pdf

The government has also published its response to the recommendations of the Transport Select Committee. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmtran/1754/175405.htm

In most cases it says that the issues are being addressed, but it is clear that they are still pressing ahead. For example, there are still substantial concerns about the feasibility of running 18 trains an hour. The Government says:

‘The reports do however identify the significant technical, operational and planning requirements underpinning achievement of 18 trains per hour, which will form the basis of design work going forward to confirm the ongoing achievement of this assumed capacity level.’

As you have probably read, some mitigation has been put in place locally. The line has been moved from the route under Old Amersham to a route under Gore Hill, and benefits from an extension of the tunnel which now goes as far as Little Missenden. Other local changes impact negatively on Great Missenden and Wendover.

 The Government also says:

‘HS2 Ltd will undertake a full Environmental Impact Assessment for the line of route. It will work with local communities along the line of route to consider local issues and discuss proposals to help mitigate impacts further wherever possible and appropriate.’

The groups opposing HS2, including Bucks CC, consider that there have been no significant changes to the proposal and therefore continue to fight it on a number of grounds (economic, financial, environmental, technical).

There are plans to take the decision to at least one Judicial Review, which will require substantially more funds than are currently available.

If you would like to know more, or contribute to the funds being raised, you can visit any of the websites such as www.hs2aa.org, www.chilternsociety.org.uk, www.stophs2.org.

Heather Auton

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 16 March 2012 09:45

Hits: 129

LEAF Community Meeting

Coleshill Parish Council's LEAF funded Community Energy Efficiency Initiative

COMMUNITY MEETING

Wednesday 14th March
7.30 – 9.00 pm
Venue: Coleshill Cricket Club

• Complimentary wine/beer
• Free to enter Prize Draw with great prizes
• Guest Speakers: Paula Owen, energy consultant, formerly with the Energy Saving Trust, and Andrew Ruxton, Registered Energy Assessor who is providing free energy audits to Coleshill residents
• Exhibitions and resources
• Artwork by pupils of Coleshill Village School produced for Climate Change Week

 Energy Efficiency Advice 'drop-ins' available:

• Monday 12th March, 9.30 – 12.30 pm
• Monday 19th March, 1.30 – 4.30 pm
• Monday 26th March, 9.30 – 12.30 pm (New Time)
• Monday 26th March, 6.30 – 9.30 pm

Small Hall of Coleshill Village Hall, tea and coffee provided. Please Note changed times due to building work in the main hall.

Free energy audits still available – contact Sarah

Details

Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 March 2012 08:07

Hits: 144

SuperHome week

Anyone wondering what they can do to improve the efficiency of their home should not miss SuperHome week. From Sat 17th to Sun 25th March super efficient home up and down the country will be open for free viewings.

Pioneering owners of some of the UK’s most energy efficient SuperHomes will be hosting Free Open Days between Sat 17th - Sun 25th March. SuperHomes are older homes renovated by their owners to achieve a carbon reduction of at least 60%. Guided tours will highlight the benefits and challenges involved in a major eco-refurbishment and give visitors actionable ideas to green their own home. Renovated Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian and post-war properties are amongst the 65 homes set to open to the public. Many of these have alternative heating sources and some produce their own energy. Finding a SuperHome with a green technology of special interest is made easy by the website. To find out more information, or to pre-book a place on a tour, visit www.superhomes.org.uk

Details

Last Updated on Sunday, 04 March 2012 10:32

Hits: 91

Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF)

• offering some householders a free 'home energy audit' conducted by a registered domestic energy assessor.  Householders will receive a £25 'thank you' for participating in exchange for sharing the knowledge obtained with some of their friends at a facilitated meeting, or at the community meeting (see below)
• the production of a commercial energy audit for the Village Hall and associated professional advice to the Hall committee on ways of reducing the running costs (energy) of the Hall
• an 'energy monitor' library scheme, where householders can borrow energy monitors to help them learn more about their domestic energy use
• a community meeting, to be held on Wednesday March 14th in the Village Hall with guest presenters and exhibitions (hopefully with 'freebies') and complimentary wine/beer and snacks (NB the venue may need to be changed because of flooding in the village hall)
• 'energy efficiency' surgeries or home visits to help villagers obtain local Chiltern District Council insulation grants, help with switching tariffs/suppliers to get the best deals, help and support for any questions they may have about their energy use - and the possibility of using domestic scale renewables, such as solar pv.

The money is to help householders in Coleshill and I do hope the community will get behind the initiative.

For further information see the article on the Parish Council Blog.

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 24 February 2012 09:46

Hits: 138

Walk4Life

Walk4Life is a free website that promotes health and fitness through walking. The site allows you to find walking routes nearby and to share your own routes with others. You can also monitor your progress by recording the distance you walk and your average speed.

To visit Walk4Life, click on this link

Details

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 09:37

Hits: 110

Reporting Potholes and Blocked Rights of Way

Bucks County Council now have a web page where you can report problems with roads and rights of way (footpaths). The web page has a map that you can zoom to specifiy the precise location of a problem, and a simple form that allows you to describe the problem.

Please use the page to report potholes in roads, blocked footpaths, etc. You can find the page at this link

Details

Last Updated on Thursday, 09 February 2012 09:18

Hits: 150

Stitch and Bitch Club

Details

Last Updated on Sunday, 05 February 2012 14:36

Hits: 157

Diamond Jubilee 2012

Many thanks to the group of villagers who responded to the article in the Newsletter, by contacting us or coming to the Red Lion to discuss celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in Coleshill.

It was clear from the discussion that Coleshill should certainly put on a celebration event over the long weekend of Saturday 2^nd - Tuesday 5^th June 2012. It was decided to focus our events on just one day – Monday 4^th June 2012. This leaves villagers to have their own Jubilee lunches on Sunday or watch the official celebrations.

The outline plan for the afternoon/evening of Monday 4^th June 2012 is as follows:-

• The road from the pond to the war memorial will be closed. The Red Lion car park will be closed to cars. The School playground will be available for parking. The closed road area and The Red Lion car park to be focal areas for activity.

•  A Children’s Fancy Dress Parade and competition will be held on the closed road if the weather is fine or in Village Hall if inclement. Games will be organised for children followed by a street party/afternoon tea for all.

• The Straight Eight show band has been asked to play a set in the late afternoon based in Red Lion car park.

• An exhibition will be mounted in Village Small Hall by the Village History Group.

• There will be a late afternoon/early evening Barbeque in the Red Lion car park.

• Straight Eight will play an evening set if they are available. The Red Lion will be open all day.

• A possible party will be held in the Village Hall in the evening if there is sufficient interest.

• A Jubilee Beacon will be lit – based in Richard Valentine’s field and viewed from the road by the pond as soon as it gets dark.

• The Parish Council will be approached for backing and assistance

The official Jubilee weekend events include –

Saturday 2^nd June

• Queen goes to Epsom Derby

Sunday 3^rd June

• Big Jubilee Lunch – co-ordinated national street party lunches

• Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant – 100s of boats on the Thames with Queen in Royal Barge

Monday 4^th June

• Televised concert at Buckingham Palace followed by lighting of national chain of Jubilee beacons

Tuesday 5^th June

• Service of Thanksgiving and carriage procession at St Paul’s Cathedral

There will be more details of the event in the Spring edition of the newsletter. Any other ideas and offers of help will be welcome

Frank & Heather Auton
431036

Details

Last Updated on Monday, 19 December 2011 11:26

Hits: 270

HS2 Report

The House of Commons Transport Select Committee has now published its report into HS2. You can read a summary of the report at this link.

The full report is on the House of Commons website at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmtran/1185/118502.htm

Details

Last Updated on Monday, 12 December 2011 16:16

Hits: 445

Coleshill Common News

The Chilterns Conservation Board has now started work on its Chiltern Commons project.

For Coleshill Common, the first phase involved the construction of steps and a new footbridge giving access to the common from Windmill Hill. 

Follow this link for information about the bridge and for a description of future planned work.

Details

Last Updated on Saturday, 10 December 2011 22:19

Hits: 280

Churchyard Gravestones

A new section of the website has been published that describes the gravestones and memorials in All Saints' churchyard, together with a location plan showing the position of each grave. To visit the section, click on this link.

Details

Last Updated on Saturday, 10 December 2011 18:32

Hits: 282

Common Cows

Five Dexter cows arrived today (Tuesday 20th September) to graze the common for the next few weeks. A rota of villagers will regularly check the cows and the state of the electric fence.

About half of the grassy area of the common has been fenced off for the cows. When they have muched their way through that, the fence will be moved to the remaining area for the cows' second helpings!

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 04 November 2011 09:12

Hits: 221

'Beating the Bounds' Walk

On 15th May, Christian Aid organised a traditional 'Beating the Bounds' walk around the historic boundary of Coleshill.

About 30 intrepid villagers and their friends set off from the Water Tower at 11.30am, of whom about 15 arrived back at the Water Tower nearly four hours later. The animation below from Google Earth shows the progress of their walk as recorded by a GPS receiver. The animation is speeded up 20 times so the circuit completes in about 10 minutes.

So whether or not you participated in the walk, please sit back and enjoy the action replay. It's almost as good as the real thing!

Beating the Bounds Photo Gallery

Rogation Day

Rogation Day was traditionally on 25th April or, if this was at Easter, the following Tuesday. There were in addition three minor rogation days on the three days leading up to Ascension Day (this year 2nd June). Rogation derives from the Latin "rogare: to ask" and the day itself was an opportunity to ask God and the Saints for blessing on the Parish and its lands.

The Church took the festival over from earlier pagan rites, used for similar purposes, and indeed pagan elements remained in medieval English Christianity. The processions and the associated "beating of the bounds" were an opportunity to whip (with switches of willow) devils and evil spirits out of the Parish. For this reason and also the frequent invocation of the Saints which formed an important part of the festival, Rogation processions were frowned upon during and after the Reformation, though they were still permitted for secular reasons (i.e. establishing and confirming boundaries).

To remind ourselves of the importance attached to the occasion 500 years ago, however, the following extract from Eamon Duffy's "The Stripping of the Altars" sets the scene:

There we are then! What more encouragement do we need to join in this year's procession and beating of the bounds.

Details

Last Updated on Sunday, 06 November 2011 16:18

Hits: 500

Talks about the Animals

He was very complimentary about the work already undertaken by Chris Wege and his team to provide opportunities for a wide range of species (possibly including the rare Purple Emperor butterfly) to find a habitat there, and explained how controlled grazing could enhance this.

Perhaps surprising to many of us was the fact that Dexters are considerably smaller than typical dairy or beef cattle, and even then, only 5 or so would be needed to keep the grass down and provide valuable natural fertiliser. Depending on the amount of rain we get in the next few weeks, and hence the amount of grass available, we may soon be able to see this idea in practice.

Robin was followed by a diversity of other speakers who informed and entertained us about their respective interests of keeping bees, Jacobs, chickens and alpacas – all of which are permanent residents in Coleshill.

Overall, a really enjoyable and memorable evening and our thanks to our speakers: Robin, Susie Gajadharsingh, Sharon Hall, Stephanie Prideaux and Krissie Streatfield, and to our helpers, who made it such a success.
Coleshill Horticultural Society

The Alpacas - During one of their regular excursions through the village

Details

Last Updated on Thursday, 07 July 2011 10:02

Hits: 328

Village Pond - Good news

The delayed work on the village pond started on 5th January.

The contractors arrived at about 9.00am and please do not worry about the fish or ducks. The contractors have experienced people on hand to take care of it all.

Photographs kindly provided by Paul Windsor, John Jefford, Colin Lambert, Richard Valentine and London Rock Company.

Note, this was not the first pond clean up. Here are a couple of pictures from an earlier exercise. Do you recognise the good looking young man in the second picture?

Details

Last Updated on Sunday, 06 November 2011 08:03

Hits: 305

Chuchyard Tree Felling

On 3rd March, an old oak tree was felled in the churchyard. This was necessary because the tree had died and was becoming hazardous. The work was quite delicate because of the tree's proximity to the church, the road, and to overhead power lines. For this reason, the tree had to be felled in sections and the individual pieces carefully lowered to the ground. The work was expertly carried out by Jamie Dyer and his team.

The following photo gallery records the event. Photographs by kind permission of John Jefford.

Details

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 March 2011 16:49

Hits: 372

Fibre Broadband Coming to Coleshill

Initially only a small number of service providers (ISP's) will supply the service. These include BT Infinity, IDNet and Zen. All full list is available at http://www.robertos.me.uk/html/isps_offering_fttc.html.

To confirm the availability of the service and for updates on the ready for service date, you can enter your phone number in the BT Wholesale ADSL checker at http://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html.

Details

Last Updated on Thursday, 09 June 2011 08:11

Hits: 333

Buses are Good for us!

Unless we make a conscious decision to do so, we rarely think about public transport when planning our travel. The default is simply to get in the car and drive. Fortunately, most of us in Coleshill have enough money to own and run a car and are not in that sense dependent on a public transport system. But this is by no means true of everyone in our local area and, from personal observation, it is quite clear to me that a large number of people in Amersham and around (many of them elderly or infirm in some way) rely entirely on the bus service to go shopping, visit their friends or whatever. They do not have the money to run a car or the ability to walk very far and, without a bus, would find themselves confined indoors a lot more. The bus, in a strange but heartening way, provides their social life.

I say all this because, in today's economic environment, local authorities find themselves having to make large budgetary cuts and the subsidy provided to bus companies for local bus services – a number of which will not pass a profitability test but still perform an essential social function – will undoubtedly be looked at extremely carefully. Routes carrying few passengers, which would include the 73 through the Village, may well disappear.

My plea, therefore, is for us all to consider using the service we have before it suffers the same fate as the local shop and Post Office and is forced to close for lack of custom. It is all very well to bemoan the loss of something previously valued but nevertheless not supported in any practical sense. Once the decision is taken to close something, it is usually too late to resurrect it. The 73 passes through Coleshill three/four times a day and the timetable allows a good hour's shopping time in top Amersham before returning. You can also go on to Chesham, though the timetabling for the return journey becomes slightly more complicated in that case. And venturing further afield (the world's your oyster), the A30 will pick you up once an hour from Amersham Station and you'll be at Heathrow in 50 minutes.

I haven't even mentioned the environmental benefits but this is probably enough of the polemic! It would just be good if we could all think more about the bus as a possibility when we want to go somewhere. Obviously, it will not always be a realistic option but, where it is, let's choose it more than we do at the moment. We might regret it if we don't.

Dick Ware

Details

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 2010 12:57

Hits: 281

Village Hall gets New Website

The Village Hall now has its own dedicated website at hall.coleshill.org. The new site gives a comprehensive description of the hall's facilities and you can check its on-line calendar for booking availability of both the large hall and the smaller side room. You can visit the new site by clicking the Village Hall link in the Main menu on the left.

Details

Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 August 2010 20:29

Hits: 346

Village School wins Prestigious Award

Coleshill CE Infant School is the first primary school in Buckinghamshire to be re-accredited with the prestigious NACE Challenge Award for excellence in provision for able, gifted and talented pupils, on the 11th June 2010.

Coleshill CE Infant School is the third school in the UK to achieve the prestigious award for a second time. Re-accreditation of the Award is given for sustaining high quality work by the whole school, teachers and governors, in challenging all pupils, including those with high abilities, to achieve their best over the last four years.

The Award is given by NACE: the National Association for Able Children in Education, a leading national education organisation and registered charity established for 27 years. The Association exists to help the daily work of teachers providing for pupils with high abilities whilst enabling all pupils to flourish. It provides advice, training and resources for teachers, including The Challenge Award Self-Evaluation Framework which Coleshill CE Infant School has used to audit and plan what it provides for able, gifted and talented pupils. Many thousands of primary and secondary schools are using The Challenge Award Framework to develop their work.

Assessors, who spent a day in the school, were impressed by strong leadership and management of provision which keeps the needs of more able learners at the forefront of the school’s work and the good support and challenge provided by the Governors.

Assessors judged the quality of the school’s work by observing lessons, interviewing the pupils, teachers, parents and governors and by looking at pupils’ work. To achieve the Award for a second time is most challenging and only given when schools demonstrate that they have sustained a high level of quality provision over the last four years and addressed any development points from their last assessment. Finally they will need to show that they can remain committed to continuing to ensure high-quality provision for able, gifted and talented pupils.

Details

Last Updated on Friday, 09 July 2010 13:49

Hits: 288