OPEN GATE NEWS THE LOCAL NEWSLETTER FOR ARDENS GRAFTON, , EXHALL, BLACKCLIFFE, HILLBOROUGH & CRANHILL

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020 79TH EDITION

Temple Grafton Parish Council DIARY DATES AT A GLANCE Wed 12 Feb 19.30 TG WI The Temple Grafton Parish Council. held their first Wed 26 Feb 19.00 Exhall Rural Cinema meeting of 2020 on Monday 13th January in the vil- Mon 2 Mar 19.45 Temple Grafton PC lage hall; there were no visitors at the open forum. Tue 3 Mar AM TG School clothing collection D Cllr. Cargill was unable to attend but sent a report. Wed 11 Mar 19.30 TG WI The D Cllr. informed us that the planning application Fri 13 Mar TBC Exhall Skittles night for the Gas Station on Croft Lane will be going to Wed 18 Mar 19.00 Bidford HC Info Evening committee in March following more submissions of Sat 28 Mar 14.00 Jumble Sale supporting documentation. Sun 12 Apr TBC Exhall Easter Egg Hunt Wed 20 May 19.00 Bidford HC Info Evening The Stratford District Council budget proposals for Mon 25 May 19.45 Exhall Parish Council 2020 are at the proposal stages and under discus- sion, but it appears that they carry a hefty health warning. We were informed that S.D.C. now own the Exhall Parish Council Greig Hall complex in and intend to refurbish Exhall Parish Council Exhall Parish Council met on both buildings. This will be a wonderful amenity and is Monday 20th January at the usual time of 7.45p.m. designed to serve all residents in Alcester and all the The meeting was attended by District Councillor surrounding villages. Mark Cargill and 3 members of the general public.

The next meeting March 2nd. 2020. Open forum Mark Cargill stated that Stratford District Council 7.45pm. All visitors welcome. Robert Kemp was intent on cutting expenditure without reducing services and one idea suggested was to charge for the green bin emptying service.

Bidford Health Centre The attendees to the meeting were concerned that the drainage from the village was bad but Mark C. Information Said the recent rain was exceptional but he would ensure highways authority would clear all the gullies Evenings and drains and this would be done regularly.

Various planning applications were approved in- Wednesday 18th March cluding one for the demolition of two semi- 2020 – Pain Management detached houses to be replaced with two detached houses. Wednesday 20th May 2020 – Mental Health The meeting concluded and the next meeting was arranged for Monday 25th May in the village hall at Held at 7pm, Bidford Health 7.45p.m. Centre Keith Miller Book your place by ring- ing 01789 773372 between 10 am and 4 pm. Exhall Rural Cinema We are showing Downton Abbey on 26 Please remember to park considerately February. Doors open 7 for 7.30pm, £3 and enable the gritting lorries to get per person. Refreshments & ice cream through our villages in cold weather! available!

Contributions welcome! Editor: Ann Baylis [email protected]  07748 171882 Articles for the April /May edition should be with the editor by 20th March. 1/6th page adverts cost £60 a year / £10 for a single edition. Inclusion of Inserts cost £30 per edition. Temple Grafton School PTA Church Services St Andrew’s Church, Temple Grafton We begin the new decade and a new term here at 2 February 6.30pm Evensong Temple Grafton school by welcoming a new face to 9 February 8am Holy Communion our team. Miss Taylor has joined us as our new class 16 February 10am Family Service 2 teacher and we are pleased to report that she is 8 March 8am Holy Communion settling in well, thanks in no small part to the chil- 15 March 10am Family Service dren, who have been all too keen to offer their help and support, making sure St Giles’ Church, Exhall she finds her way around. 9 February 11am Village Praise 16 February 8am Holy Communion

1 March 6.30pm Evensong Panto season is still in full 8 March 11am Village Praise swing here at TG… oh yes 15 March 8am Holy Communion it is! Those of you passing St Milburga’s Church, through the village on Monday 27 th January may 23 February 8am Holy Communion have spotted an assortment of cats, princes, prin- cesses, dames, heroes and villains coming through 22 March 8am Holy Communion the school gates ready to enjoy our annual panto- St Peter’s Church, Binton mime day, which heralds the start of creative writing 23 February 10.30am Village Praise week at school. The children took part in a range of 22 March 9.30am Village Praise panto-themed activities before being treated to a 29 March 8am Holy Communion performance of this years theme show – Aladdin, by the wonderful M and M Productions. News from Exhall

Our Christmas started off with our annual Children's As always our PTA have some fantastic extra- Christmas party. We had a record number of Chil- curricular events planned for this term. For the first dren this year with Father Christmas having to time we will be supporting the ‘Rags2Riches’ scheme bring two sacks of presents! Other highlights includ- which collects and recycles unwanted clothes, shoes ed Carol singing around the Village that raised an and accessories. The school receives 50p per kilo of amazing £361 for the Children's Society and our donated items which we can use to buy new educa- Carol Service in St Giles that raised an impressive tional materials and equipment. So if you have any £135 for the Acorns Children's Hospice. It was lovely unwanted items from your post-Christmas clear out to see a full church with all children present picking please bag them up and bring them along to school chocolates from the Christmas tree. on Tuesday 3rd March 2020. We also had the traditional boxing day football match. Titty's Hill v Haybrook. This year the sides Calling all historians… This term our class 4 children were pretty even with 14 a side and watched by a are exploring the topic of transport through the ag- sizable crowd! Despite a heroic effort by Titty's Hill es, and at the end of January we will be visiting the Hay Brook were victorious and the game ended 4 -1 Black Country Living Museum. Their studies focus to Hay Brook! Thank you to our local farmer Phil primarily on the local canal network, but we would Careless for use of the field and to Julia and Steph- be really interested to hear from any Grafton area anie for the welcome refreshments and hospitality residents who may have images or stories relating afterwards. to transport in our area, and how it has changed

Forthcoming events include a Skittles Night on the 13th March and the Children's Easter Egg hunt on the 12th Heritage at Risk NATURE RESERVE UPDATE

St Andrew’s Church, Temple Grafton has recently been Oh dear, where to start? placed on Historic ’s “Heritage at Risk Register”. The wooden tiles on the spire (called “shakes”) have last- ed 150 years but are now falling off and need to be re- Nothing much to report as our `winter` weather is placed; other expensive repairs too are needed. The cost still the repetitive rain, wind and more rain that for all the works could be up to £500,000 and the church we`ve had since last September. What we need only has £15,000! For more detail please read the longer now are the longer dry days, article in the February issue of Heartbeat, the church night frosts and the sun. I am magazine. sure you are all wishing for the same as our gardens become bog gardens and public foot- Over the coming months we will be exploring paths become treacherously what options there are for this building muddy. Farmers, too, are facing by getting the views of the local com- munity through questionnaires, meet- a dilemma. ings and informal conversations, and we’d appreciate as much input from Nothing has been done since November and I the village as possible. The church is doubt it will suddenly change any day soon. Our here to serve the parish, so we want to Elm tree saplings are still in flood water. know what you want! Are there new ways we can use St Andrew’s which will benefit the whole community? Do you value this building? Do you want to As some species were struggling last year and see it deteriorate further? numbers overall were down, this year our moth counting nights, which have already been ar-

ranged, are leaving us feeling a bit nervous of the Whether you attend the church or not, or whether you just unknown - but you never know, nature has a funny way of showing we`re wrong sometimes and fingers crossed we Temple Grafton W.I shall find some hidden gems!

At our November meeting we were transported by Butterflies, ditto. Although the hot our speaker Julian Spilsbury to 1265 and the Battle latter part of summer we did have the influx of of when Simon de Montfort, Earl of butterflies from Europe -it just depends on over- Leicester, was defeated by Edward I. The battle wintering conditions for them, too. took place just off Greenhill and gives us some- thing to think about as we sit in the traffic jam which often forms approaching the town centre. Numbers and some species of birds are well

This month we listened to Fritha Middlemiss telling us about her 6 years as a prison chaplain at Long Lartin. She provided us with an insight into prison life and her work. Again we were left with some- thing to think about if we pass the prison or see the lights shining at night at the site not far away.

The next Binton Jumble Sale is on Saturday 28th Our forthcoming meetings are: March in the Village Hall at 2pm., raising funds for the February 12th church. Good-quality donations gratefully accepted! Please contact Barbara 01789 750535 or Janet 01789 Chris Buchanan - ‘Abbey Road and Before’ 750533 to arrange drop-off, or they can be taken to Join ‘The Graftons Residents’ Facebook group for all the very latest local news and discussion!

Other Facebook pages you may find useful:

Alcester Police - @AlcesterCops

Stratford Police - @StratfordCops

Bidford Fire Station - @BidfordFireStation

TG School - @TempleGraftonPrimary

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