Neal's 40th Birthday Bash
: Ireland's News : Village
Hall & Bar AGM : The Annual
Parish Meeting
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting
: The 2007 Cheltenham Review
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It
seems that East Garston is home to a new species
of tree, courtesy of a BT engineer.
I am told that he cleared the ivy thus far, so he
could repair a fault, only to find the fault was
actually on the next pole You can't miss it - its
at the village centre opposite the site of our old,
and sadly defunct village shop. |
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Neal Hawkins, one of East Garston's best known characters,
celebrated his 40th birthday on May the 26th 2007. The
Village Hall was heaving with Neal's guests all of whom
were hell were bent on enjoying themselves to the full.
Live music came by way of the group "Pot Luck"
fronted by Neal's brother Pete, The group played two sets
during the evening, the second featuring a raunchy female
singer whose name I believe is Carol-Anne.
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Bottom left and Carol-Anne belts out
the Guns & Roses hit "Sweet Child of Mine" - Bottom
right, Neal with Pete.
I think you will agree that the photos tell their own story.
Well done to Neal -(and to Tony & Jean of course). |
Catering for the party was very capably handled by Lambourn
based company "Bourn Catering". Full details of their
available services can be found by visiting www.bourncatering.co.uk
or by telephone on 01488-72010. |
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We in rural communities
depend heavily on trades people who deliver life's lttle essentials
directly to our front doors. The postie, the milkman and the
paperman/lady are an integral part of country life in the 21st
Century. Here in East Garston, we have been lucky in the quality
the services that have been - and ideed, still are on offer
to us all. |
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In the last eighten months or so we
have seen changes to these services. Chris Tonge, our former
shop owner and Milkman has retired leaving the shop in the capable
hands of Pom and Peter Jhuti and the milk deliveries with local
man, Jamie Wayman. For many years, Robin Cox delivered the newspapers
here in the village - he too has now retired. The delivery of
newspapers and magazines is now under the direction of Peter
and Cherie Ireland of whom it gives me great pleasure to introduce
here in Village Life. |
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I was invited
to tag along and take a few photos, which, as most
of you will know by now, is a request I find difficult
to turn down.
"The Irelands" operate out of Wickham
and have a customer base across the region that
currently exceeds 350. They are an efficient, friendly
team, highly regarded by those in the village that
already subscribe to their daily delivery service.
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Pete and Cherie have
asked me to remind all of their existing customers - and to
advise new ones - that they provide a magazine delivery service
in addition to newspaper deliveries. Nearly all magazines available
from a newsagent can delivered daily as part of
their existing service with no
additional delivery cost. The Ireland's can also deliver The
Newbury Weekly News as part of this service to all customers.
If you have any further questions or wish to place an order
please ring 01488-608 834 or mobile 07787-128 652.
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If you
prefer to use the post then the
address to write to is
28 MANT CLOSE, WICKHAM, BERKS RG20 8HN |
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The
village hall and bar AGM took place on Friday the
27th of April 2007. The meeting was chaired by David
Wallis.
Police Sgt. Caroline Harrison spoke about the known
crime issues within the parish, and about the forthcoming
introduction of community support officers to the
village. |
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| Friday
Evening also saw the Official Opening of the Newly fitted Kitchen
in East Garston Village Hall. Following a very successful Fundrasing
Appeal. The monies raised by Parishioners, Parish Council and
the “Millennium 2000 Committee” was matched by the
Vibrant Village project -a joint iniative run by West Berkshire
Council and the New Greenham Common Trust. |
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The Kitchen was
opened by Mrs. Hazel Wayman, maker of excellent tea,
and life long volunteer supporter of the Village Hall.
Alan Money (chairman) and Martyn
Donno (trustee) commented. “With
the help of villagers, we managed to raise the funds
to refurbish the kitchen very quickly. now we are able
to set about the redecoration of the Village Hall.”
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The Parish Council
The Annual East Garston Parish Meeting took place in the village
hall on Tuesday the 17th of April and was a very well attended
affair.The welcoming address from Chairman Chris Tonge - delivered
with just the right balance of fact and humour - was as always,
up to the high standard that has become synonymous with anything
Chris is involved with. The council extended a warm welcome
to Brian Gowans, a new Parish Councillor who will take over
the seat vacated by Peter Crofton-Atkins.
Apologies were received from Richard Benyon
(Con) who had been recalled to Parliament at the last moment.
From District Councillor Graham Jones (Con) who was called away
to deal with a family health emergency.
Also from John Davies (Lib Dem) who had a previously booked
social event to attend.
Speakers
in attendance were Matthew Thompson from Thames Water
and District Councillor Gordon Lundie (Con).
Matthew Thompson
outlined the reasoning behind the forthcoming Lambourn
Valley Sewer Network Improvements and afterwards took
questions from the floor.
Gordon Lundie gave a brief outline
on what he regarded as important concerns relative to
the Valley as a whole - and sounded out some initial reaction
towards the possible installation of a speed indication
device (SID) - on the main Lambourn road within the 40mph
limit that operates through East Garston
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Gordon Lundie |
| Comments were addressed
from the floor about the possibility of installing a new
post box outside the post office with a larger posting orifice,
necessary now as our available post office services have
been cut so dramatically.
Also the point was raised that as we only have about
10 hours of access per week to our post office, those
hours could be better utilized by swapping one of the
three morning sessions for an afternoon one.
Street Lighting was raised at the meeting – but
not for the village as a whole.
The lane from the Village Hall up to the main road was
the area singled out for attention.
Irresponsible and inconsiderate parking on the narrow
roads within the village were again brought to the fore
by a resident who had narrowly escaped a head on collision,
due entirely to the thoughtless abandonment of vehicles
on or near the village junctions. The main area of concern
being the stretch of Back Street - from the Village Hall
to the War Memorial and part of Front Street from The
Burfords to Downlands.
The evening closed with a presentation
of the village web site, www.east-garston.com . The
site, designed and maintained by Ken Tarbox was projected
onto the big screen courtesy of James Pryer who had set
up a temporary broadband connection especially for the
evening.
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| East
Garston Church
This was a well attended
occasion, when parishioners came along to show interest and
support for the church – a very healthy sign. The newly
formed Electoral Roll has now doubled to 42 people.
Sally Wright was elected
unanimously to serve another year as churchwarden.
The new PCC, elected at the meeting is, in addition to The Incumbent
and Churchwarden, Kevin Fiske – Secretary, Emma
Jones – Treasurer, Mary Lane, Katie Scott-Gall,
Janet Easterling, Betty Eley and Elved Phillips. Revd. Cumberlidge
welcomed Emma Jones and Elved Phillips as new co-opted members.
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Reverend Tony
Cumberlidge. |
Chris
has forwarded to me, the letter of thanks recieved from Joanne
Pettit on behalf of "The Injured Jockey's Fund"
Both Dawn and Chris have also asked me to reiterate their thanks
and appreciation to everyone who came or were actively associated
with the "Cheltenham Preview Evening"
please click the graphic to your
right - to read or download the letter. |
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On
Friday the 9th of March, East Garston Village hall once again
played host to the now traditional gathering known as "The
Cheltenham Preview". This event, organised by Chris and
Dawn Tonge, is where anyone can come along and listen to the
experts tell where best to put your money at the great National
Hunt festival at Cheltenham 13th - 16th March. |
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Over 100 people filed into the
hall, including one of my all time favourites- ex race
horse trainer Gay Kindersley.
The panel of experts included:-
Pat Murphy............Trainer
Ed James................Ex-Trainer
Carl Llewellyn.........Jockey / Trainer
Leighton Aspell.......Jockey
Colin Brown...........Ex-Jockey
Phil Smith...............Chief Handicapper.
In all £691 was raised for the Injured Jockey's
Fund, Dawn reports that this was the best ever and wishes
to thank all who supported the event.
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