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MARCH 2021 VOLUME 27 NO.6 TTHEHE BBENSONENSON B BUULLLLEETTIINN © Ann Sayer - “The Watercress Beds” THIS MONTH –ParishCouncil Overview – Church and Village –Begone Goths –ABenson Diary – White-Winged Duck – Henge21 - Settlement – On The Plot – Watercress Beds Over 75 Local Advertisers Offering You A Rich Variety Of Services Distributed free to over 2500 homes in and around Benson 100% Recyclable CONTENTS Benson Volunteer EDITORIAL ............................................................................ 2 LETTER TO THE EDITOR ....................................................... 4 Helpline BOOKS PLEASE .....................................................................4 For assistance BEGONE GOTHS AND UTILITARIANS! ..................................6 with travel to and HENGE21 - SETTLEMENT ..................................................... 8 from medical BENSON TREFOIL GUILD ...................................................... 8 appointments CHURCH AND VILLAGE ........................................................ 10 A MESSAGE FROM ELISA AT DERRY’S DEN ......................... 10 Office open Mon-Fri 9-11am WHITE-WINGED DUCK .......................................................... 12 ON THE PLOT ........................................................................ 14 Call 01491 825992 COVID CANNOT STOP TALKING NEWSPAPER .....................14 WHERE ARE ALL THE BIRDS? ............................................... 16 To ask for help or to volunteer REACHING OUR RIVER ..........................................................18 Out of hours contact: SOUTH AND VALE CITIZENS ADVICE .................................. 20 Albert Bevan: HELP WITH DEBT .................................................................. 20 01491 282868 or 07758 746676 THE SUNNYSIDE PLAY AREA PLAN ..................................... 22 BENSON PARISH COUNCIL - AN OVERVIEW ....................... 23 BENSON PARISH COUNCIL NEWS ........................................26 THE FRIENDS OF EWELME CHURCH .................................... 26 The Talking BB BENSON NATURE GROUP .....................................................28 A BENSON DIARY ..................................................................30 PATIENTS PANEL ..................................................................32 A Free Service for BENSON MILLSTREAM CENTRE .......................................... 34 those who have difficulty SODC UPDATE .......................................................................36 reading MILL STREAM SURGERY ...................................................... 38 EWELME WATERCRESS BEDS .............................................. 40 Contact Keith Tibbs BENSON GARDEN CLUB ....................................................... 41 for more details THE BENSON WI.................................................................... 42 Tel: 01491 838689 BENSON COMMUNITY GARDENS ........................................ 44 THE BENSINGTON SOCIETY .................................................44 FROM THE RECTOR .............................................................. 45 Classifieds Page 43 BENSON & EWELME BOOKS ................................................. 46 Church Information Page 43 JOHN HOWELL MP................................................................ 46 Village Information Page 44 ADVERTISING To advertise in BB contact Christopher Swann at [email protected] or 01491 200965 HERE TO SUPPORT YOU! Please call 01491 352 524 EMAIL your letters/articles to email: [email protected] [email protected] or deliver/send them to BB’S DEADLINES Benson Parish Hall th Copy: 12 of month previous Volume 27 No 5 500 WORD LIMIT PLEASE Published by: The Benson Bulletin News CIC Advertising: Printed by: NP Design & Print Ltd, Wallingford 12th of month previous 01491 824827 BB 1 EDITORIAL Dear March - Come in - How out of Breath you are - How glad I am - Dear March, how are you, and the Rest - I hoped for you before - Did you leave Nature well - Put down your Hat - Oh March, Come right upstairs with me - You must have walked - I have so much to tell - Emily Dickinson Ah March the month when daylight goes further into evening and Spring lurks in the hedgerows. It is now almost a year since the virus strolled across the globe, laid us all low and destroyed so many hopes and dreams. Like Kenneth Grahame’s Mole most of us have been confined at home – for our furry friend an underground burrow – for what seems an eternity. Yet there is something in the air and trembling on our lips is “Hang spring cleaning.” The sun will give its warmth again and we will finally emerge blinking into its light, feeling as elated as Mole – “soft breezes caressed his heated brow, and after the seclusion of the cellarage that he had lived in so long the carol of happy birds fell on his dull hearing almost like a shout.” Soon our river, now in full flood, will wearily resume its banks and we will stroll to its side and sit and eat and drink and wonder what it was that happened and why this rebirth feels sweeter than we imagined - “Suddenly he stood by the edge of a full fed river … this sleek sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again.” To be caught and held again? The worst of this has been the lack of contact, or shooting the breeze over bubbles or wine, our sociability knocked into the long grass of tedium. But there has been joy as well. Nature struts its stuff in the deserted countryside and re-enters places from which it has long been banished. My hope is it isn’t pushed back again. There was, if you remember, a period in the summer, when eating in restaurants was allowed and we were all served by masked men and women who we could actually talk to. And the vaccination effort has been nothing less than extraordinary. For me a trip to the romance of the Kassam, a stadium more used to frantic crowds, where un-serried ranks calmly and relentlessly passed through this new rite of passage, surrounded by young helpers of such cheer and happiness it felt more like a maternity ward. Who would have thought a year ago that the brightest light on the horizon would be a needle in the arm? But so it goes. A thanks to those who matter most. Your Bulletin has been blessed through all these dark months with the talent and endeavour of the many who write the articles I hope some of you read. I want to give my thanks for their contributions and for putting up with my nagging. To Tom Stevenson, Fenella Galpin, Karen Washbourn, John Murphy, Sue Brown, Gillean Craig, Peter Clarke, Val Siddiqui, Geraldine Gault, Bridgid Hess, Dave Rushton, Linda Parkin, Pandora Huntingford, Keith Tibbs, Nikki Hulse, Andrea Powell, Liz Harrison, Patrick Gilday and to all those who have selflessly contributed to previous issues – huzzah! Without you this magazine would not exist. 2 BB Based in Benson See our work on Facebook and Instagram! BB 3 LETTER TO THE EDITOR ear Editor, D Many of us have been entertained recently with online footage of an outrageous Parish Council meeting which has gone viral, but we should not forget our own Parish Council can be good value too! Consider the last BPC meeting in January, where the Councillors had to choose two new Councillors from a short list to fill vacancies caused by resignations. Amongst the several candidates was Jon Fowler, an ex-Councillor who served many years some of the time as the Chair of the PC and hence is highly experienced in Parish Council matters and procedures. He is also highly skilled in IT, is a fair and open man and believes firmly in public transparency. Having led the team of volunteers of over fifty amazing Benson people, whoput together the Neighbourhood Plan so widely admired and highly approved by the voters, he has since led the Delivery Team attempting to put in place the ideas in that same plan. Tracking and supporting several different working teams throughout all this, he also chaired all the open public meetings and worked ceaselessly for the people of Benson. An outsider might perhaps think these qualities and skills would be useful to a community undergoing radical change? It would be easy therefore to imagine his offer to return to the Parish Council would be welcomed, but apparently not. The present Councillors decided they would prefer to appoint two brand new ones with no experience and little knowledge of the issues facing Benson just now. Presumably the Parish Council must already have all the skills on offer, or could there possibly be another reason why they did not wish to have Mr Fowler’s voice heard round the Council table? Whilst recognising that it is essential to have some new blood on the Parish Council – one of the main reasons why I stood down after 8 years – it would surely be sensible to have a mix of new enthusiasm and older experience. Apparently not to Benson PC. Hopefully at the next Parish Council Elections Mr Fowler can be persuaded to offer his services again and allow the people of Benson to judge who should represent them. In the meantime, I urge the people of Benson to question just what the Parish Council is actually doing - not least in respect of all the many projects which were in the Neighbourhood Plan and which seem to be heading nowhere slowly. Dave Rushton BOOKS PLEASE as anybody any books or puzzles in good condition to sell in the post office in Hthe Benson pavilion. Not cookery or
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