East Garston

There is a lot happening in East Garston these days so come along to this Open Day to find out more about the exciting projects that are being run by members of the community for the benefit of the community. This proclamation came from the flyer advertising the day's event irresistible I thought so off I went. Approaching the village hall one became aware of the high level of "conversational buzz" coming from within. Once inside, an impressive array of stalls, display boards and wares greeted the visitor.

So, what was today all about? ~ Maria Carver explains; The open day was designed to promote the organizations within our community as well as allowing the community the opportunity to view the new village shop plans. It was decided that the 'shop stall' on the open day should be used to promote the local producers of meat, cheese, vegetables, bread and other 'deli' products.

The new Community Shop plans

The Cricket Club had on display a collection of trophies, including the "Stan Moore Trophy" and the coveted "Roy Hunt Trophy." Ambitious plans for a new cricket pitch were also on display. The working method statement illustrates quite graphically, the complexity of this undertaking. Below is just a brief summary taken from within the working statement.

The proposed development comprises of the stripping of topsoils and the cutting and filling with in-situ chalk. The overall scheme requires the excavation and placement of approximately 6000 cubic metres of soils and chalk.
Before work can commence the existing public footpaths crossing the site will need to be diverted around the periphery of the proposed playing area.

Following removal of soils the underlying chalk will be excavated from the upper slopes and directly placed in compacted layers on the lower areas of the site.
There is a sewer-main crossing the site as indicated on drawing HDA 424.1/02A. Ground levels above the sewer alignment will remain unaffected by the works and crossing points will be temporarily reinforced if required. No soil or chalk materials will be exported from the site.

French drains will be constructed at the foot of the two main slopes to accommodate exceptional surface run-off. Drains will be cut into the underlying chalk to provide free drainage.

Locally made hand crafted Jewellery and cards for all occasions

All Saints' Church displays, under the ever attentive care of churchwarden Sally Wright, and PCC member Elved Philips. The displays reminded us pictorially of the dramatic way in which the church has grown in stature within East Garston, and is a fitting statement to the way in which The Reverend Tony Cumberlidge has worked minor miracles in this area. Currently, Tony is convalescing from an operation, but if you do read this Tony, With all due respects to revs Martin Partridge and Nigel Sands, Get well soon, the parish is missing you.

At intervals throughout the day this website was projected onto a large screen by James Pryer via equipment that he had provided for the day. Interspersed with his presentations, James also ran through some of the old parish photos that were used in the Millennium Book titled " East Garston Past & Present" These precious images from a time long gone, produced a great deal of interest among residents. Colin Pounds told me that watching these with Cath Petty and June Crook had been a real trip down memory lane.

Among James' vintage pictures was this one of the Queens Arms taken in the 1930s. The Queen’s Arms itself appears listed in Kelly’s Directory of 1895. Charles Waterman was the publican in 1915, succeeded by Albert Baker who pulled the pumps in the 1920s and 1930s.

With all the vintage photos available to me, why? would I choose to feature a photo of the Queen's Arms. Well the reason was a topical one. As we all know, the Queen's Arms has recently acquired new owners and is, as I write, undergoing extensive refurbishment. Our local village inn now becomes part of the "Miller's Collection" A browse through the respective websites of the Miller's Collection of inns would seem to indicate that our dear old "Queens" has indeed, passed into the right hands. Matt Green-Armytage will be the Head chef and Licensee when refurbishment is completed, this is hoped to be achieved by the end of August. Matt is looking to open around the beginning of September.

Matt, accompanied by Lucy Townsend, attended the community open day and spoke enthusiastically to very many people about the plans they have for The Queens Arms. Lucy is Director & Owner of Miller’s Collection Ltd.~ the company that owns all the Inns. It was also a pleasure to welcome two other members of the team to our village. (above right) Luke M Luke can be seen in conversation with two local residents. (Above Left) The right index finger of Charlotte Day can be seen placing the Queens Arms onto the parish map. Charlotte will be coming to the Queens' to work as a waitress in due course.

Unfortunately our treble bell which is over 250 years old has developed a crack around its shoulder and around its rim – apart from spoiling the tone of the bell, the crack is getting bigger and the bell will eventually split. In addition, the fittings - which themselves have been in place for over a century - are also in need of some improvement. We need to raise in excess of £10,000 to get the bell removed from the bell tower and re welded and to carry out the other work. If you have any queries about bellringing or would like to join the band, please contact Mark Brock on 01488 648373 or e-mail ~ mark.brock@btinternet.com.

Hilary Reem (above left) displays a comprehensive and varied selection of hand thrown pottery. In addition to her pottery, Hilary also creates sculptures, all of which are produced in her workshop here in the heart of the village.

The Parish or Community Plan

The Rural White Paper provided communities with a fantastic opportunity to transform their local environment, in the form of a parish plan. The key to the success of the parish plan lies in its local implementation, giving a community the opportunity to interpret and present their output in a diversity of ways. Communities are growing and changing all around us. Most people have strong views on whether this change is for the better or the worse, but unfortunately for the vast majority of individuals this is as far as their involvement will go. Parish plans give everyone in the community the opportunity to influence the development of their surroundings.

Part of the process of developing a Community Plan is to make a model of the village. This is fun for the children but it is also a valuable tool in discussing what people like about their community and what new features they would like to suggest. On Saturday 28th June children at the Saturday Kids Club helped Sarah Ward from Community Action West Berkshire and Penny Locke paint the model. They mixed some lovely shades of green to paint the hills and covered the polystyrene boards with paper in preparation for the next phase of painting. The children really enjoyed themselves and pretty much most of the paint ended up on the model.

Initially, letters, together with a few questions on an attached sheet, were sent to all homes in the Parish asking for the views of all members of the household, not forgetting that children's views are also needed. From a total of 248 delivered ~ 76 replies were received back (31%).

Based on those 76 replies, The top five likes and dislikes appertaining to the parish are reproduced below

TOP FIVE LIKES	MMM	TOP FIVE DISLIKES
m		m
The People/Community spirit/Care/Friendly		No Shop or Post Office
The Quietness/No through traffic		Speeding through the village
Picturesque/Attractive village/Area		Poor Mobile Phone Reception
Open/Green spaces are well maintained		Dog Fouling/Speeding on Main Road
Racing and it's community/Stable open days		No Public House

Back at the 'Shop Stall' Julie Clayton hands over the reins to Maria Carver and Sarah Montgomery. Business was brisk with, I am told, all the bread items being sold by 2pm even though the prices were all substantially higher than the norm. Maria explained that the reason for the higher prices was simply that this particular collection of Bakery items had been supplied by a small family baker, who is a producer of high quality bread items. Yes they would indeed be sold in the shop but sold alongside the more commercially produced bread.

Prices were without doubt a frequent topic of conversation, with some residents pointing out that it would be difficult for them to support the shop fully if the prices they were looking at today were a true reflection on the shop as a whole. So on their behalf, I put these concerns to members of the shop committee.

Maria Carver:

There were two blackboards displayed at the open day, one itemized the products that would be sold in the new shop from household cleaning through to organic meat, the other blackboard was used to promote the additional services that the shop would provide e.g. free food box deliveries, E-top ups etc. Obviously there are concerns that need to be allayed. In short, the open day was to showcase the higher end of what the shop will eventually stock, and of course, the shop will also be supplying the everyday essentials e.g. bread etc. It was clear from the questionnaire that there was a need for local food and 'deli'style products. When the shop is open, these products will form a Small percentage of what the shop stocks, since the emphasis will be on everyday items, the weekends will be used to promote the high quality bread etc.

Julie Clayton:

I was asked a few times on the day about the prices. I did tell people that the goods for sale on 19th were the locally produced ones and that there had not been enough space for all the items. I also showed people the blackboards which did re-assure them (I thought). However I can imagine that many people didn't even see them as they were behind the stall. It would have been better to put them in a place that was obvious to the customers but lack of space made that impossible.

I must say the main comments I got were about the bread - for as many that said it was very expensive (to which I told them we were displaying the "speciality" range but there would, of course be, the normal lower priced choice as well) I had an equal amount who said how wonderful it was to have the lovely choice that was on offer on the day - one lady said it would be the reason she shopped at East Garston Community Shop.

Richard Brooks :

The shop needs to cater for a diverse community and we understand that. There is no point selling to the exclusion of one part or the other. It is understood that there are people who are worried because they must have reasonably priced staple items and the core of the products will be aimed to suit them. The same goes for services hence the sterling efforts made by Maria to maintain the Post Office. It is not a hobby project done for fun but a business that is there to succeed if at all possible. That means that it has to appeal to everyone in different ways and there is no reason at all why that cannot be done.

So there you have it, a concise and clearly defined mandate from the committee. I sincerely hope the replies given will help to dispel any lingering doubts. Thank you to Maria, to Julie and to Richard, for taking the time to explain in clear, and fully defined detail, the route that the new shop will be taking.

........

Photos : Ken Tarbox.
with much appreciated submissions from
Sarah Ward : Penny Locke : Colin Pounds and The Miller's Collection.
Text : Ken Tarbox compiled from Various sources.