September and early October is proving to be a busy period..
The Town clerk has been busy preparing the documentation for the transfer of the Library to our volunteer group, lead by Jeff Mogg. Not a straight forward task by any means when dealing with leases and lawyers etc. a potential minefield.
Concern is still being shown by residents of Fairfield as their ‘estate’ is used by youngsters as a cut through to Willowbed field. As the first original resident of that enclave of Fairfield in Jan 1972 I can remember the surrounding fields. Whilst I am sympathetic to their concerns, we are attempting to reduce the temptation to take a short cut across by doing the opposite ie leaving the long grass in the field. This piece of land will be developed once the Youth Club is incorporated into the Willowbed hall, fencing would be an expense that is not justifiable. Perhaps parents could help in discouraging their children to take this route. Thank you
At last the play park has all its equipment up and running. Now we are going to plant a commemorative willow tree to ‘Chickerell at Play’ (Thank’s are due to Mike Jolliffe for acquiring the tree and nurturing it ready for the planting.)
Solar panels are being fitted at this very moment on Willowbed Hall, and having had a very poor energy performance survey we must improve the hall’s insulation. Savings in electricity can then be used to invest in the hall.
Sue and I have attended some very interesting Civic Days, the most recent took us to Kingston Maurward College, where we learned that almost 150 students attend from Chickerell. I had not realised the extent of their facilities nor the size of their land. The village of Buckland Newton also captured my imagination as they have built an affordable housing development via a Community Land Trust, whereby after paying off the loans, the Community will have an ongoing income. Sounds the way to go to me !Having visited three garden centres in our tours, I have done well to limit Sue to the one Orchid to add to her collection.
We are also looking at the idea of a skate park in the area of the Echo building, off the Wessex roundabout. This would be a joint venture with Southill and Westham communities on W&PBC land. In order to progress this we have for the mobile skate park to be at the fire station from 1030hrs till 1530hrs on Sat 27th with experts in skate parks on hand to discuss ideas. We need to have a good turnout of both users and parents to drive this forward as a project for the foreseeable future.
Councillor Robbie Dunster
Mayor of Chickerell
