CORVEDALE NEWS THE CORVEDALE COMMUNITY MAGAZINE
£7.00 per annum
Nordy Bank at sunset Charlotte Hart
June 2020 Healthwatch has three main priorities during the Coronavirus pandemic: 1. Information We are focusing on supporting the health and care systems to get clear and accurate information and advice out to communities. Our website www.healthwatchshropshire.co.uk has the main links for national and local sources of help and information. Our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook feeds supplement this with trusted and up-to-date information from the sources. www.facebook.com/HealthwatchShropshire www.twitter.com/HWShropshire www.instagram.com/healthwatchshropshire
2. Signposting and Networking Our enquires phone line remains open and in operation Monday to Thursday 9.00am to 5.00pm. We have been able to signpost people to a variety of services, for example a local food bank organizer was having difficulty contacting health visitors because of staff changes and we have had multiple discussions about anxiety over prescriptions which we have shared with the medicines management team at the Clinical Commissioning Group.
3. Gather health care and social care service user feedback One of our key functions is collecting feedback from the public anonymously and sharing it with service providers, the Clinical Commissioning Group and members of the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, including Shropshire Council, and we continue to do this. With so many service changes it is more important than ever to give people the opportunity to share their views and comments to highlight what is working well and pinpoint where there are difficulties which can be addressed. One of the ways we are doing this is by running an online questionnaire. We are independent of the NHS and social care but asked for their input on designing the questions to make sure the feedback we receive is as useful as possible. People can complete the questionnaire on our website or by phoning us directly and a member of the team will go through the questions with them. The questionnaire takes about 5 minutes to complete and can be completed more than once by a person over the coming weeks if their situation changes. www.healthwatchshropshire.co.uk/health-care-and-wellbeing- services-during-covid-19-pandemic
Ditton Priors Morning/Evening
Not Mon/Wed/Thu
YOUR LOCAL PARISH COUNCIL IS HERE TO HELP Help is on hand from your local parish councillors. If you or anyone you know of is in need of help or wants to help during the current Coronavirus crisis, please contact your local parish councillor who will initially try to coordinate help. It is not going to be a short crisis and obviously as time goes on and the Government/Shropshire Council adapt and legislate, things will change.
COUNCILLOR LOCATION CONTACT NO Gary Trim Abdon and Heath 07977 431112 Rowland Price Abdon and Heath 07974 972364 Chris Yarwood Abdon and Heath 07977 912322 Chris Snow Abdon and Heath 07791 851515 Lee Durnall Abdon and Heath 07496 227557 Mike Woodhouse Bache Mill 01584 841265 David Hedgley Bouldon 01584 841068 Stephen Povall Corfton 01584 861623 Jacki Watts Culmington 01584 861473 Andrew Pike Culmington 01584 861361 Tom O’Boyle Diddlebury village 01584 841690 Amie Watson Diddlebury village 07486 414742 Robert Povall Seifton 01584 861284 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Corvedale News - Meet the Team
This month we thought that you might like to ‘meet the team’ behind your Corvedale News. Laurie Robinson - Chair and photographic manager I am the newest member of the team, only joining the more established members in September 2019. My role in the team is to be custodian of the historical archive of photographs that has been provided over the years and to collate these, together with any new submissions, to propose both the picture for the front cover and any photographic features that are to be included in the body of the magazine. I also sub-edit any proposed contributions to the magazine that relate to children and their education. I recently took over from Kath Worthington as chair of the committee. Now retired, I originally trained as a Mechanical Engineer before working for many years in general management within a corporate setting. I finished my working life, teaching MBA students at the University of Worcester. My wife and I have lived in Middlehope, since 2005. In my picture I have just finished driving a locomotive on the Severn Valley Railway, an experience that Iwould recommend to anyone! Sara Thompson - Editor and advertising manager I took on the role of advertising manager in the summer of 2018, having retired from my work in a private accountancy practice at the end of 2017. I became editor of the Corvedale News in July of last year. The role is quite different from the world of numbers which I was used to! Being editor involves issuing monthly reminders to our contributors; receiving copy in and forwarding it to our team of sub-editors; approval of final copy for print and liaising with our printers: Craven Design and Print. My partner Ian and I moved to Diddlebury village in 2007 and love living in this beautiful area. As we are both now retired, we have plenty of time to indulge our hobbies of walking, cycling and gardening. Martin Jones - Treasurer Since 2004 I have been the treasurer of the Corvedale News and, in the last year, an assistant to Sara in her work as Editor along with other members of the team.. I was born and bred in Gloucestershire but spent most of my working life as a chartered surveyor in Yorkshire before retiring to the Corvedale nearly 20 years ago. Since coming to this area I have had spells as clerk to both Diddlebury and Munslow Parish Councils and am currently secretary to Diddlebury Parochial Church Council.
Mary Kirkby - Secretary I am the minutes secretary for the Corvedale News. Also, I help with the monthly collation and distribution of the magazine to the individual distributors for Peaton and Bouldon. Since moving from Peaton to Ludlow I deliver the four copies to those Ludlow residents who have moved there from the Corvedale. Geoff Neden - Subscription manager My role in the team is to coordinate house to house deliveries of the monthly printed copies by our army of loyal, local and volunteer distributors of whom there are now 20. Each distributor (whose individual number of deliveries range from 5 to over 40) has a list of subscribers which is kept up to date. Distributors also have the task of collecting annual subscriptions. Without these volunteers, we would be unable to run the magazine. I am a Civil Engineer who spent around 40 years living and working in various African countries. I am married with two children who both live near London with their children. My wife Beth and I retired to this delightful part of Shropshire in 2012.
As always, the Corvedale News Team is very grateful to all its contributors, volunteers and distributors without whom the magazine could not be published. The Corvedale News Team 1 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 Copy for July 2020 Magazine
To make sure your contribution is included in the July 2020 magazine, please send by email to [email protected] by WEDNESDAY 17th JUNE 2020 at the latest. ADVERTISEMENTS. If you would like to advertise in the Corvedale News or amend an existing advertisement, please contact our Advertising Manager by WEDNESDAY 17th JUNE 2020 at the latest for inclusion in the next issue: [email protected]. All adverts must be in electronic format and sent in either jpg or Word format. PICTURES. We are always very pleased to receive high quality pictures of scenes or events around the Corvedale to add to our library for use on the front cover. Email to [email protected]. EDITOR’S NOTE. If anyone knows of other events taking place within their immediate area in the next few months, could they please let the Editor know so these may be included in the Dates for Your Diary.
OUR DOMESTICS DON’T FORGET. If you are aware of anyone who does not receive the Corvedale News in your area but would like to, please have a word with your distributor. FINANCE. If you have an outstanding subscription, please pass it to your distributor. If this is not possible, you can contact our Treasurer (giving your name and address): Martin Jones, Yew Tree Cottage, Corfton Bache, SY7 9LE.
DISCLAIMER. Views expressed in this paper are those of the relevant authors and not necessarily those of the Corvedale News team. We reserve the right to edit or omit any material submitted for publication. No liability is accepted for loss or damage arising from any omission of copy or advertising, and the appearance of advertisement does not imply endorsement or recommendation. The Corvedale News is published and distributed entirely by volunteers, with production costs defrayed by advertising and subscriptions. OUR MAGAZINE is designed, set and printed by: Craven Design and Print, Email: [email protected] Unit 1, Stokewood Road, Craven Arms Business Park, Craven Arms, SY7 8NR. Tel: 01588 673972
Information for Subscribers - List of Distributors and Their Areas
Name Address Area Served Name Address Area Served Garage Cottage, Yew Tree Cottage, Corfton/Corfton Mrs P Baynham Westhope Mr M Jones Westhope Corfton Bache Broadstone, Rowe Mrs B Bowers Hungerford Culmington Court, Lane, Hungerford Mr D Jubb Culmington Part 2 Culmington Holdgate Mrs N Brentnall Pool Farm, Brookhampton The Moors, Mrs S Lewis Diddlebury Part 1 Brookhampton Diddlebury Mrs M The Old Rectory, Abdon Buckingham Abdon 6 North Sutton Ms C Morgan Sutton Peaton, Peaton Cottages Mrs D Clinton Sunnycroft, Peaton Strand Diddlebrook Barn, Corfton, Pedlar’s Mr G Neden Diddlebury Part 2 Mrs C Crowther Corfton Lodge Diddlebury Rest Coneybury, Mrs C Roberts Munslow, Mrs C Evans Aston Munslow Aston Munslow Munslow
Broncroft, Baucott, Millichope Lodge, Beambridge/ Mrs F Sutton Mr I Hankinson Broncroft, Broncroft Balaam’s Heath, Beambridge Millichope Tugford Sparchford Cottage, Culmington Part 1 Mrs J The Moors, Mrs V Hardwick Bache Mill Sparchford Woodhouse Diddlebury Mr D Hedgley/ Bouldon, Wynett’s Mrs K Upper House Farm, Bouldon Middlehope Mrs M Holt Bank Woodhouse Middlehope
2 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 Community Contacts
SOUTH SHROPSHIRE CITIZENS ADVICE PHILIP DUNNE You can access information and advice at our South Member of Parliament Shropshire Bureau by calling into the Ludlow Youth for the Ludlow Constituency Centre, Lower Galdeford, Ludlow: 54 Broad Street, Ludlow SY8 1GP 10am - 3pm Monday, Wednesday, & Thursday tel: 01584 872187 or by ringing the Countrywide Telephone Advice Line: fax: 01584 876345 03444 991100 email: [email protected] 54 Broad Street, Ludlow, SY8 1GP 10am - 3pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday and Tuesday 10am - 6pm or www.adviceguide.org.uk DIDDLEBURY PARISH COUNCIL Patients of Shrewsbury Road Doctors’ Surgery in Craven Arms are able to book appointments directly with the existing CA ENVIRONMENTAL MAINTENANCE outreach by contacting the surgery. OFFICER Diddlebury Parish Council has a contract with a local resident, Mr Gary Trim. He is our EMO (Environmental SHROPSHIRE UNITARY COUNCILLOR Maintenance Officer) and carries out minor maintenance FOR THE CORVEDALE work around the parish, excluding along the B4368. Cllr. Cecilia Motley If you are aware of any ditches which need clearing, Councillor, Corvedale Division vegetation which needs to be cut back, road signs, bus shelters, noticeboards or bridge railings which Portfolio Holder, Rural Services need cleaning, repainting or repairing, please let either & Local Communities the Chairman or the Clerk know, so that instructions Shropshire Council can be passed on to the EMO. 01588 672192 Chairman - 01584 841068 Clerk - 01568 770741
CORVEDALE COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP The Corvedale Community Environmental Group usually meets monthly at The Swan Pub at 7.00pm on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. Anyone interested in discussing environmental issues in a friendly atmosphere is welcome to come along.
Church Contacts
Church of England Catholic Church Methodist Chapel Rev’d John S Beesley Canon Christopher Walsh Craven Arms: For service St Michael’s Rectory St Peter’s RC Church times and ministers, please Munslow Henley Road, Ludlow contact the Shropshire SY7 9EU SY8 1QZ and Marches Circuit Office tel: (01584) 841488 tel: (01584) 872906 tel: (01743) 874923 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
3 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 Church News
evenings - they will be uploaded to the YouTube channel each Wednesday and will remain there for you to access whenever you might like. These online services are open to everyone - you don’t have to be a regular church goer to join us or to access the YouTube services. We may not be able to gather in the church buildings to worship together but the church is still here for the whole of our communities, as it always is. Please feel free to get in touch if I, or the church community, can help in any way. Rev’d John Beesley Easyfundraising In more normal times this edition of the magazine would have been filled with adverts for events happening throughout the parishes – some of which would have been to raise funds for the running of the Corvedale Churches. As time goes on more and more of these are added to the ‘cancelled’ list. At the same time the lockdown means that more of us are shopping online than usual and so we would be extremely grateful if you could help us by signing up to the ‘Easy Fundraising’ scheme which raises a small donation each time you shop online, if you register with the site. There are over 3,300 retailers involved selling books and music, groceries, clothes, travel (if only!) and more. It won’t cost you anything extra - but it will help us. Each donation may be only a few pence but so far, the scheme has raised almost £100 in about 18 months. It’s amazing how it Church Services all adds up if enough people are involved – and it all helps! As I write this there has been no change to the situation for To find out more and to sign up please look at: churches that I wrote about last month. We have been told to www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/thecorvparish/ expect further guidance round about the beginning of June – if it makes any difference to what we can do we will put Thank you! Rev’d John Beesley notices up as soon as possible to let people know. I am not expecting that we will be allowed to re-start public services. Letter from the Rectory As the church locally we continue to gather to worship, I’m writing this in mid-May at a time when we even though we cannot come together in one place. Services are being told to ‘stay alert’ and restrictions on movement are available each week online (look on YouTube for The are still in place. A phrase I am hearing a lot is ‘When Corvedale Churches) and by the time you read this I should things get back to normal?’ Of course in many ways that is have posted material to people who aren’t online and have something we all long to see, but it brings questions with requested it – if you’d like a copy please let me know. it, many of which I can’t answer. Some of the questions are Services this month will be: round the timescale: we cannot yet say when it might be safe for restriction-free movement to resume or for people Sunday June 7th - 9:45am to gather in large groups, things which inevitably have an Common Worship Morning Prayer (on YouTube & Zoom) effect on what we can do with our families and our friends Sunday June 14th - 9:45am – and which affect what we can do as churches. For the Holy Communion (on YouTube and by Zoom) answers to such questions we probably need to rely on Sunday June 21st - 6:00pm those who have a real understanding of how the virus Evensong (on YouTube) is transmitted and controlled. There are other types of questions however which we should perhaps be thinking Sunday June 28th - 9:45am about. When we ‘get back to normal’, do we want it to Holy Communion (on YouTube & Zoom) be the normal we knew before all this started or are there In addition, the services of Compline continue on Wednesday ways in which we could use this time to improve aspects
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Church News (continued) June Wordsearch
of our lives individually and corporately? As just one example, and thinking about my own diary as it is usually, I wonder if I have to travel to so many meetings. Now that many of us have learnt how to work various conference- call websites could some of the meetings (not all of them, but some) be done online with consequent saving of travel time and reduction in emissions? Looking out from the Rectory I can see trees and houses in the distance much more clearly than ever before, so even here lockdown has had an effect on air quality. It can be very easy to think of ‘normal’ as ‘unchanging’, but looking across the valley and watching as crops grow, the apple blossom falls and the seasons change we are reminded that life inevitably involves change. At this time of year the readings we hear in church services remind us of this too. June begins with Trinity Sunday when we will hear of Jesus on the mountain telling his disciples what they were to do after he had returned to heaven: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Matthew 28, 19-20). For the disciples the old normal was over and a new normal was waiting to be worked out. That new normal wasn’t the same as the old, but it wasn’t necessarily not as good. So it could be for us. ADSTONE NORTONCAMP In what ways could our new normal be better than the one BROWNCLEE RAGLETH that we have lived up until now – for us and for the world in which we live? CAERCARADOC ROMANBANK Rev’d John Beesley CALLOWHILL TITTERSTONE From the Registers ERCALL WILSTONE HALFORD WREKIN Funerals HELMETH 23rd April John Edward Jones Diddlebury LONGMYND 2nd May Margaret Pauline Gibbs Diddlebury NORDYBANK 5th May Dick McNally Culmington
Dick McNally
Judy would like to thank everyone for their support over the last few months during Dick’s illness. Sadly, Dick passed away on 20th April at home with his family all there. Judy, James and Stuart would also like to thank you for your kind messages of sympathy which have helped them through this very difficult time. They were overwhelmed that so many people came out to say farewell to Dick on 5th May when they drove through Culmington on the way to the crematorium, which was a great comfort to them. When we are able to socialise again, the family plans to hold a memorial service in Culmington Church. Judy McNally Inquisitive alpacas at Westhope - Ian Davies
5 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 Bird Quiz
This quiz is free to all, therefore, there is no prize. But if you have enjoyed doing the quiz a donation to NHS Covid-19 appeal would be appreciated. You can donate online at www.justgiving.com/campaign/NHScharities-COVID19URGENTAPPEAL By kind permission of Mrs Jean Drakes ALL ANSWERS LOOK OR SOUND LIKE BIRDS
1 Granny, reef or sheepshank 31 Thousand in stitch 2 Deprive not out 32 Palm climbing plant 3 Fog the French infection 33 Grey brown chain part loses tail 4 Gallivant divider 34 Mechanical smoother and fish 5 Bog plane 35 Distorted narrow bit 6 Brazil is born 36 Unit edge 7 Italian river with Swiss beet 37 Unripe shin 8 Cowardly striker 38 Shiny two under par 9 Lifter 39 Out of breath 10 Egyptian hat insect 40 Finished rap 11 Immerse for each 41 Completely dark cover 12 Home of Mr Clunes perhaps 42 Smaller albumen gullet 13 Period of darkness container 43 Rapid 14 Short period of work 44 WRNS member 15 Wild fruit picking 45 Irregular or bumpy 16 Silicone outer layer 46 Coarse kind of cut tobacco 17 Prop against wall and frolic 47 Grumble 18 Rosy amphibious truck 48 Metal mouthpiece obtain income 19 Succeed familiar talk 49 Discharge comb 20 Range of view range of food 50 Ban shadowed idol intelligence 21 Copse male lobster 51 Pool northern annual holiday 22 Sharp blade poster 52 Cutlery item account 23 Extra domestic fowl 53 Humpty’s perch in a pig 24 Greedy person 54 Inverts pitch 25 Dance party nitrogen 55 Dubbing by monarch and beer 26 Oak stout pole propel boat 56 Shaver Mr Clinton 27 Informer silo trilling singer 57 Chess piece 28 A circuit and an Air Force unit 58 Pat stirred with margin 29 Mass of spectators loses 500 59 Rinse around 30 Fiftieth centre of hurricane 60 Muffle city loses sea
6 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 The Corvedale Kitchen
‘Real’ Welsh Rarebit Serves 2
Ingredients 100g mature cheddar – grated 1 level teaspoon of English mustard powder 40 ml milk Freshly ground black pepper 4 small slices bread Method 1. Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl and fork into a paste 2. Leave to stand for 15 minutes 3. Lightly toast the bread on both sides under the grill 4. Spread the cheese mixture over the bread and grill at a high temperature until the cheese just starts to brown. 5. Remove any slightly burnt edges from the toast 6. Serve immediately with HP sauce or your favourite relish!
Ian Davies
Don’t forget If you have any favourite recipes you would like to share, do email them to [email protected]. Please don’t include anything that’s tricky to make, has too many ingredients, or contains anything we can’t spell, pronounce, or buy locally!
Corvedale Choir and the Corvedale Folk Club Blue Hills Choir at The Sun Inn, Corfton Singer’s Night 3rd Friday each month PLEASE NOTE PLEASE NOTE 8:15pm All rehearsals of the Corvedale All rehearsals of the Corvedale PLEASEFree entry NOTE Choir and the Blue Hills Choir Weall meetingslook forward of tothe another group good are are cancelled until it is safe suspended untilnight furtheron notice. to meet again. 17th April All welcome!! Contact Ian on 01584 841331 for any Ros Crouch, [email protected] 01584 841053 further information.
Corvedale Footpath Maintenance Group Working parties are usually on the 4th Wednesday of the month and the following Friday and Sunday, beginning at 9.30am. Please ring Jenny Vine on 01584 841596 to confirm work location. Also, if any local walkers in the Corvedale notice stiles or steps in poor condition, please report back to Jenny. April Wednesday 22nd Friday 24th Sunday 26th ALL FUTUREMay WORKING WednesdayPARTIES 20th SUSPENDED Friday 22nd UNTIL Sunday FURTHER 24th NOTICE.
7 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Corvedale Book Group
Why be happy when you could be normal? the word ‘hap’ as being related to chance, fortune, one’s by Jeanette Winterson lot in life). The book is appalling in places, sad, funny, Our second Zoom book group discussed Jeanette tragic and heart-warming. There was some affection for Winterson’s quest for her birth mother. Her first novel, the adoptive parents, some tales of positive shared and ‘Oranges are not the only fruit’, is a semi auto-biographical humorous experiences, Christmas, summer mission events account of her upbringing as a young girl adopted by in big tents, daily dramatic bible readings, her mother wall Pentecostal parents. This ‘stream of consciousness’ papering, as well as an overpowering anger and distress at account elaborates on that story and she began writing it the lack of fairness, love and understanding about how hard when recovering from severe depression. Initially, it feels it is to love and be loved. It is a tale of searching for truth a bit disjointed and disconnected, but she writes extremely and love and a reconciliation, which has only partly been well and coherently about a childhood where she felt she achieved. She was able to care for her father in his later life. was never able to meet her adoptive parents’ expectations The latter part of the book covers her search for her birth (it transpires later in the book that they had hoped to adopt mother and family, and their first three meetings. It was a little boy and had been very disappointed to get a little a quest she was able to finalise, but she had perhaps not girl, who screamed solidly for two years, so dressed her in thought through what might happen when she found them the clothes they had already chosen for him). and the place they might play in her life thereafter. The story then recounts childhood and teenage memories Group members appreciated her resilience and writing of her years in Accrington, the abuse she suffered and skills but some found her hard to like. The narrative is how she left home. It also recounts how, in a house where written from her point of view, with her philosophical books other than the bible were effectively banned, she musings on the impact on her, and we felt that the parallel found the written word to be a way out of a traumatic stories of both mothers would have also been interesting to situation, as she read her way through the A-Z of English recount to help her understand herself further. It is so hard literature in the public library, and discovered imaginary to stand in another persons’ shoes and see things from their friends and situations which enabled her to cope with life. point of view, and appreciate why they made the decisions When the books she bought with her Saturday earnings they did at the time they made them. were discovered under her mattress and burnt she decided to memorise huge passages of them. She loved myths and It is a book that raised many questions and much discussion, legends, in particular the quest for the holy grail, and this we could have continued for longer. book is her quest to find a magical answer or righting of Our next discussion on Thursday 11th June at 7.30pm, will wrongs. ‘We always think the thing we need to transform cover Lionel Shriver’s Property: a collection. everything - the miracle is elsewhere, but often it is right Cath Burley next to us. Sometimes it is us ourselves’. An early encounter with T.S. Eliot triggered her love of poetry and helped her to explore emotions that had been too difficult to put into words ‘I needed words because unhappy families are conspiracies of silence. The one who breaks the silence is never forgiven. He or she has to learn to forgive him or herself’. Her adoptive mother Mrs Winterson darkly commented, ‘The trouble with a book is that you never know what is in it until it’s too late’. She eventually went to Oxford to read English and became an author. She spoke at the winter Hay festival last year and some of us had enjoyed hearing her read there or on the radio. The theme of the book is how hard she found, and still finds changing the course of her life. Her early years caused major issues for her with making secure attachments and many of her early relationships foundered because, as her current partner, Suzie Orbach commented, she was able to give love but didn’t know how to receive it. She tended to distance herself and found joy in living alone, in a rural area, gardening, splitting wood, walking. She describes how the pursuit of happiness is transitory and elusive, Roscoe at Wolverton Wood - Jayne Husband as happy times pass too. (She describes the derivation of 8 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Readers’ Photos
Here and throughout the Corvedale News you will find a range of lovely pictures sent in to us by readers of the magazine.
Please let us have any pictures which you would like us to consider for use throughout or as a cover photo of the Corvedale News. Please send all photos to: [email protected]
VE Day Diddlebury - Geoff Neden
VE Day Diddlebury - Geoff Neden VE Day Diddlebury - Geoff Neden
Flags from the Queen’s coronation - Ian Davies Bluebells on Middlehope Hill - Laurie Robinson
9 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
What’s On in the Dale
PHOTOGRAPHS WANTED MILLICHOPE PARK GARDENS WELCOMES THE CORVEDALE COMMUNITY! Open daily Monday 8th – Sunday 14th June between 9.00am – 4.00pm Parking in the park A new feature from this month – we would (enter from B4368 via cricket pitch gate) love to receive your photos for the July No admission fee. Honesty box provided - magazine on the subject of donations to charity GARDENS Picnics and dogs on leads are welcome! Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we are We will have a different theme for unable to provide refreshments or toilet each month for the duration of the access. Map with suggested one-way digital print of the magazine. circuit routes up at park gate, please Also, please let us have any pictures which follow the arrows. you would like us to consider for use as a Contact us with any questions at cover photo of the Corvedale News. [email protected] Please send all photos to: or telephone 01584 841 077 [email protected]
CORVEDALE GOOGLE GROUP For the past 7 years there has been a ‘Diddlebury Parish Google Group’ which runs alongside the Diddlebury Parish Website – www.diddleburyparish.co.uk. Over time, the coverage of the group has expanded so that it now includes members from several neighbouring parishes and further afield. With the Corvedale News being issued electronically via the group for the duration of the pandemic, it seemed a good time to reflect this expanded coverage with a name change and accordingly, the Group has been renamed ‘The Corvedale Google Group’. The Google group is a fast and efficient way of getting information to a large number of people. It is particularly useful in circulating information during times of crisis such as flooding or the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is run by volunteers and is not for profit. It is free to use. In the past the group has been used to publicise community events such as the Corvedale Show, activities at the village halls, local road closures, pub quiz dates, relevant information issued by Shropshire Council and last-minute changes to/cancellations of events. Anyone who wishes to inform the local community of similar items is welcome to do so, by contacting me. Membership of the group has increased by 60% in the last month. If you think you would find this Google group useful or know of anyone whom youthink might benefit from membership, please ask them to send an email to me and I will add them to the distribution list. My email address is: [email protected]. No unsuitable material will ever be sent. You will not be bombarded with emails and can opt out at any time. Your email address will not be disclosed to any third parties. Geoff Neden
10 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
What’s On in the Dale
PUBS AND RESTAURANTS
Did you know that a number of local pubs and restaurants are setting up take away services in their local areas?
This way you can still enjoy your favourite pub / restaurant meals in the comfort of your own home.
Using these take away services is also a good way of supporting local businesses during this difficult time for them.
The Corvedale Artists ABDON Abdon Village Hall Coffee Morning
Last Saturday each month We are a very friendly group that meets on 10.30am until 12.30pm Tuesday mornings, 10-1, in Beambridge Club Room, Munslow, and in various other outdoor venues during the summer. PLEASEDrop in and enjoy NOTE a chat In the Club Room sessions we have a portrait Thewith Village a cuppa Hall and is closed a cake! and modelPLEASE and a still life, or you NOTE can bring your own allwork. meetings Tuition is of given the as group required. are We lookall coffee forward mornings to seeing are you... If yoususpended have joined until us before further and we notice. have not Moresuspended details until from further Margaret: notice got your contact details, please phone for a programme: 01746 712296 01584 841460 (Ann) or 01299 832603 (Juliet)
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12 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Craven Arms Ludlow 01588 672728 01584 875207
Shrewsbury Lettings 01743 272710 01743 272720
Looking to move? Property to Rent? Consult the experts. www.samuelwood.co.uk email: [email protected]
YOUR LOCAL VEHICLE Corfton Bache | Craven Arms LEASING EXPERTS Ludlow | Shropshire | SY7 9LE All makes of car or van Office 01584 861 468 HP, Lease, Contract Hire etc Mobile 07753 824 855 Email [email protected] 25 years experience Web www.dda-architects.co.uk Phone Peter 01584 841416 peter@border-contracts www.border-contracts.co.uk
FIXED FEE WILL SERVICE During these unprecedented times, it is more important than ever to ensure that your affairs are in order. If you don’t have a Will, your spouse may not inherit all of your estate and cohabitees have no right of inheritance whatsoever – the “common law spouse” is a myth.
If you would like to make a Will, please email us or visit our website for details of our Fixed Fee Will Service: [email protected]
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13 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 NORMAN JONES BISHOP’S CASTLE Domestic Appliance Repairs Same Day/Next Day Service where possible
PETE...07971 252 069 Washing Machines NORMAN... 07816 875 233 Dryers Or please leave a message... Cookers Hobs 01588 638 677 Ovens
14 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
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15 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
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Discounts for orders for weddings For more details and other functions. Beatrice: To discuss your requirements 07770759932 and to order please contact: Richard or Jill 01584 841021 (or at The Walled Garden, Delbury Estate, Email: 01584 841222 when open from March–September) [email protected] or Ian 01584 841331.
16 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Chairman – Cllr. David Hedgley • Tel: 01584 841068 Clerk – Mrs J de Rusett, No 1, Pipe Aston Barns, Pipe Aston, Ludlow SY8 2HG Tel: 01568 770741 • email: [email protected] • Website: www.diddleburyparish.co.uk NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF DIDDLEBURY PARISH COUNCIL’S ANNUAL PARISH MEETING, ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND ORDINARY BUSINESS MEETING
All of which were scheduled to take place on Wednesday 27th May 2020 Following legislation and regulations made by the Secretary of State due to the Corvid 19 pandemic, the parish council has been obliged to cancel the above meetings. The reports normally delivered at the Annual Parish Meeting will instead be posted in the Corvedale News. At the Annual General Meeting the Chairman and Vice-Chairman would normally be elected. In accordance with the regulations, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman will continue in office until the next Annual General Meeting which will be on 17th May 2021 or until the council decides otherwise. All other business normally dealt with at the AGM will be postponed to the next available meeting. The next meeting of the parish council is on Wednesday 24th June 2020. Please check on our website for any notifications about whether the June meeting will proceed or not.
The Parish Council continues to function, albeit without face-to-face meetings. Planning applications are being considered and dealt with. Parishioners can go to the “Planning” section of our website to discover current planning applications and can then examine the applications on Shropshire Council’s planning portal and leave comments on that portal. Equally any concerns parishioners may have about planning matters (or any other matters) can be discussed with the Chairman or the Clerk by telephone, post or email. Jean de Rusett - Clerk to Diddlebury Parish Council - 11th May 2020
Diddlebury Parish Plan Steering Group
Report to Diddlebury Parish Council May 2020 was obtained by the Flood Action Group. It is now 7 years since the Diddlebury Parish Plan was The Steering Group continues to respond in the consultation refreshed and most of the action points from the plan have programme for the Shropshire Local Plan Review and also been implemented. contributes to the review of affordable housing provision The Steering Group has continued to monitor the in the Parish. development of the proposals set out in the plan and Funds held by the Committee remain at £778. maintains an ongoing action plan update. The Group reports Ian Davies to the Parish Council with an update of the action points. Chair - Diddlebury Parish Plan Steering Group A long-standing recommendation - the provision of road safety equipment - is now set to be actioned. The Steering Group has just taken delivery of a portable speed camera - courtesy of the Parish Council grant applications and funding. The establishing of a volunteer group, training and trials will take place once the Covid–19 restrictions allow. Flooding risk was a key concern in the Parish Plan consultation. The Diddlebury Flood Action Group was set up and a series of water flow attenuation measures have now been implemented in key areas of the Parish catchment and in the wider Corvedale. A team from Cardiff University is now undertaking a study to scientifically measure the impact of the measures. Storm Dennis caused severe flooding problems in the Parish and valuable data Bluebells in Wolverton Wood - Ian Davies
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Shropshire Councillor Cecilia Motley’s Annual Report for the Corvedale Division April 2019 – April 2020
This has been a weird and turbulent year. Nationally, the My workload falls roughly within four areas: Brexit deadlock at Westminster led to an almost complete Environment: I sit on the Shropshire Hills Area of legislative stasis until the switch of prime ministers allowed Outstanding Natural Beauty Policy and Partnership Boards, a short period of progress until after the December election. which finally saw the publishing of the Glover report into January 2020 saw the departure of the UK from the EU; National Parks and AONBs in September. Glover strongly then a mild winter was followed by two storms of Biblical recommended that AONBs should receive increased Defra proportions in February with serious flooding consequences funding as well as statutory consultee status on planning for much of Shropshire, hotly followed by pestilence in the issues. We live in hope, although all decisions are stymied form of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown. The old adage for the time being. The AONB is currently concentrating that fact is stranger than fiction could hardly be more apt. on the challenges presented by climate change. The legislative logjam caused by Brexit has continued Scrutiny: I chair the Communities Overview Scrutiny to affect Shropshire. The new Government’s continuing Committee and sit on Performance Management and failure to tackle ballooning social care costs has left our People Scrutiny as well as a number of working groups authority with a growing deficit of upwards of £10m in the arising from these. They have all been busy. I have reported social care budget and we have had to raid other budgets previously on the Communities Overview work, but I to support the service. Decisions on both the Fair Funding also chaired a Youth Strategy working group on behalf Review and the Comprehensive Spending Review remain of the People Committee which recommended greater unresolved, so once again we are pegging along on a concentration on the needs of vulnerable young people to rollover annual budget. This makes forward planning very counteract the pernicious influence of serious organised difficult. crime. I sit on the Financial Strategy Task/Finish Group Although the Covid-19 crisis saw a welcome loosening which spent time perusing the budgets/expenditure of of the governmental purse strings to help local authorities different Council service areas and discussing issues with to put the necessary measures in place to support their senior officers. communities and businesses we are really concerned about Planning and Housing: including the South Planning survival once the crisis has abated. Committee, and the Supervisory Board of the new Looking back over the year: April 2019 saw us struggling Shropshire Housing Company, Cornovii, which has two with the deplorable state of the roads in the Division. We development sites identified in Shrewsbury and the north were dogged by very slow response times in responding on land owned by the Council. I have warned them they to problems, poor communications and a confused will have to take a different approach to providing housing reorganisation of the highways department which failed to in the south of the county: the Council owns very little deliver a good service to south Shropshire’s hundreds of land there so it will have to acquire development land. miles of lanes, most of which are in poor repair. Furthermore, the pattern of settlement in the south differs Budget constraints forced the suspension of the clearance from elsewhere in the county and needs to be respected. programme for roadside culverts, ditches and gullies. As I am a member of two working groups overseeing the a result, when Storms Ciara and Dennis struck, excessive review of the Local Plan and studying the type and surface water flooding further damaged already potholed affordability of housing in the county, as well as working roads. Before the Covid-19 lockdown I took two senior with our Place Plan Officer and Housing Enablement highways officers on a tour of some of the damaged officers on the development and rollout of housing needs Corvedale roads. That we spent 2½ hours bouncing over surveys to the Corvedale parishes. Latterly, I was asked potholes and still only covered half the Division speaks to join a group looking at the distribution of Community for itself, but they promised speedy remediation of our Infrastructure Levy. This has not worked well and has also problems. Since lockdown, and with little traffic, repair been an ongoing frustration for a number of Corvedale work is at last proceeding more quickly. parishes which are keen to get on with improvements in Despite the difficulties in Westminster, Shropshire Council their areas. has had a busy year – and so have I. I decided to tot up Culture, Leisure and Communities: I have worked with the number of Council committees and working groups I these services particularly in devising a Cultural Strategy sit on and surprisingly found they number 17, excluding which has been sorely lacking in Shropshire to date; with my external work promoting rural interests through the Portfolio Holder Gwilym Butler in promoting a Community Rural Services Network and Division work supporting the and Rural Strategy, based on RSN’s own efforts in that Corvedale parishes and residents. area; and also sitting on the Great Outdoors Partnership.
18 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 Other work included chairing the LEADER Local Action changes which might come forward over the next couple Group which distributed funding in excess of £1m amongst of years. It is good that so many parishes have opted to local businesses in the south of the county. The European carry out housing needs surveys: it gives a useful steer on Social Fund is still considering its final applications and where the housing need actually lies within the Corvedale it will then complete its work and be wound up. These and Apedale. funding sources will be sorely missed, particularly in the Rural crime is a constant worry and many of the parishes rural areas. have also got involved in West Mercia Police’s ‘We don’t Rural Services Network has had a very busy year promoting Buy Crime’ initiative, which enables whole parishes to its template for a Rural Strategy to Government and through buy into a scheme for delivering Smartwater pens, stickers various events, including regional roadshows. We had two and posters to residents so they can mark their valuables. successful sessions in South Lakeland and Chichester, It has proved very effective in other areas in deterring with more lined up until Covid-19 stopped us. I chaired opportunistic crime from properties, and I am very keen the Annual Rural Conference in Cheltenham in September that we all join the scheme and help drive rural crime out on the theme of Creating Vibrant Rural Communities. The of the Corvedale. keynote speaker was Lord Foster of Bath who chaired the As a response to the challenges of Covid-19 Shropshire House of Lords Select Committee on the Rural Economy, Council has set up a number of Community Reassurance and is an enthusiastic supporter of our work on the rural teams around the county to help and advise local people who strategy. Gratifyingly, we had the largest turnout ever. have set up local support schemes for vulnerable people in Unfortunately some promising discussions on rural needs their area. If anyone needs help or support from the team that we started with the Treasury ground to a halt with the the best way to contact them is either 0345 6789028 or, change of government: this is on the agenda for revival by email, [email protected]. This post-lockdown. will, I am sure, be a useful source of help and advice and, I have attended as many parish councils as possible over the of course, please continue to let me know of any way I can year, and was pleased that we managed two joint meetings help to get us all through this extraordinary period. of the parish council chairs and clerks. At these meetings Finally, please look after yourselves and stay safe. I look we discussed housing needs surveys and the Place Plans forward to meeting up with you all before long. with our new Place Plan officer, Vicky Turner, and how the Cecilia Motley Corvedale should approach any potential parish boundary April/May 2020
Diddlebury Charities
I have set out below the accounts for the Diddlebury Charities for the year ended 31st December 2019 for the Parish Council to consider. If there are any concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. Diddlebury Charities Account - For the year ending 31st December 2019 Income Expenditure
B/fwd: £445.63 Grants to Parishioners: £200.00
Dividend Income: £442.03 Contribution towards Louisa Powell’s Almhouses £100.00
C/Fwd £587.66
Total: £887.66 £887.66
Note: There is £18.64 in the Business Account. There is also a cheque to Louisa Powell’s Almhouses for £100 that has not been presented. David Francis - Secretary to Diddlebury Charities
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Diddlebury Parish Council – Chairman’s Report 27th May 2020
There have been no changes in the membership or structure recent spate of burglaries, that the parish council should of the council but next May there will be full Council purchase 160 SmartWater kits at a cost of £1,500. This Elections. There have been two Extraordinary meetings this would produce a Precept for 2020/2021 of £6,952.00, an year: for a planning decision and changes to the banking increase of £1,400.00 on last year’s precept to cover this. authority for signing cheques. The normal meetings in It equates to a rise of around £5.00 per house on last year’s March and May have been cancelled following coronavirus precept. advice from the Government. They were replaced by Planning delegating powers to the Parish Clerk with her consulting Nineteen planning application have been received this year, with the Chairman and Vice Chair and other councillors as all of which all bar three were supported. This compared to necessary. The decisions made and reports submitted are 21 with three not supported last year. Of the 19 applications published in the Corvedale News and on the Diddlebury four related to tree work. One pre-planning enquiry was Council Parish website. Planning can be viewed on the made. Three enforcement enquiries were lodged, none of parish website or Shropshire Council’s planning portal. which saw any further action by SC. This was similar to Further decisions on the format of meetings will be made last year. as Government advice rolls out. Responses to Consultations Main Issues Shropshire Housing Needs Survey 1. Liaison with Diddlebury Village Hall committee over Transport Consultation Passenger Travel Group the funding of the upgrade of car parking facilities to meet community needs through the input of Community Post 19 Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds. At present we are still Outdoor Playing Provision in negotiations with Shropshire Council over accessing BT redundant telephone boxes these funds. Due to Health and Safety concerns some External Meetings attended. funds have been drawn down from parish funds set At Shirehall with Cllr Motley re Corfton’s request to aside for this to repair parts of the car park. become Open Countryside. 2. A Portable Speed Indicator has been purchased using South Shropshire Planning Committee re a Corfton CIL funds and a grant from the West Mercia Police planning application. Commissioner. We are still pursuing the purchase of a A Community led Housing Presentation. mirror for traffic emerging from the Bache Mill turning. Meeting with representatives of other parishes and Cllr 3. Following the initial planning application for housing at Motley over boundary changes. The Moors site we have engaged with Shropshire Council (SC) in a Housing Survey of Needs within the Public Session parish and have investigated Community Housing Smart Water Crime Prevention Presentation Projects. Sample of other topics arising. 4. Following a petition from Corfton residents the council Problems with SAMDEV in Seifton re planning applications engaged with SC Planners to get Corfton’s designation which lie in Culmington parish. as a Community Cluster changed to Open Countryside. Ditches being cleared, road collapsing, potholes. This was supported at a South Shropshire Full Planning Erection of a railing by the church steps. meeting but awaits formal alteration in the Place Plan. Severn Trent alarm going off. Precept Supporting planning applications. Following consideration of an initial draft budget at the Over the last year the parish council has yet again continued November meeting a further draft was circulated to all to work closely with the Flood Action Group, Diddlebury members, which contained some new items including the Village Hall Committee and the Parish Plan Steering Group. purchase of defibrillators for the parish and the possible The advent of Covid-19 has caused the need for a lot of purchase of SmartWater kits. adjustments to be made this year to meetings. As Chair, I The Precept budget was considered at length and it was would like to thank my colleagues for the work they put in agreed that the purchase of defibrillators should not be within a voluntary role and the extra work our Parish Clerk included in the 2020/2021 budget: maybe during the has had to absorb, as well as Councillor Motley for her 2020/2021 financial year grants can be investigated or unstinting support. public fund-raising events may enable defibrillators to be D Hedgley Chairman purchased. It was, however, agreed, bearing in mind the
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Smile Stones
Diddlebury’s very own ‘Banksy’ has been hard at work painting these miniature works of art on small loose stones and placing them around the village. Some of the messages have changed over time and really do bring a sense of joy to all who see them. Although the identity of the mystery artist is unknown, we would like to express our thanks for lifting our spirits in these difficult times Pictures from Ian Davies & Jayne Husband
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Poetry Corner
A new feature this month. We thought we would like to share Michael Rosen: These are the hands with you a few poems which we feel are appropriate for these Written for the 60th Anniversary of the NHS times. If you have any poems you have written and would like to see them featured in future editions of the Corvedale These are the hands These are the hands News, please send them to [email protected] That touch us first That fill the bath ~ Feel your head Mop the floor Find the pulse Flick the switch A. E. Housman: Loveliest of Trees (1859-1936) And make your bed. Soothe the sore Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Burn the swabs Is hung with bloom along the bough, These are the hands Give us a jab And stands about the woodland ride That tap your back Throw out sharps Wearing white for Eastertide. Test the skin Design the lab. Now, of my threescore years and ten, Hold your arm Twenty will not come again, Wheel the bin And these are the hands And take from seventy springs a score, Change the bulb That stop the leaks It only leaves me fifty more. Fix the drip Empty the pan And since to look at things in bloom Pour the jug Wipe the pipes Fifty springs are little room, Replace your hip. Carry the can About the woodlands I will go Clamp the veins To see the cherry hung with snow. Make the cast This poem is in the public domain. Log the dose ~ And touch us last. Harry Baker: When this is over (a lockdown poem) Harry Baker was born in Bath in 1992, but grew up in ‘These are the Hands’ by Michael Rosen © Ealing, west London with a love of words from a young age. In 2012, at the age of 20, he became the youngest ever The poem is published in ‘These Are the Hands: Poems winner of the World Slam Poetry Competition. from the Heart of the NHS’ edited by Deborah Alma and Dr Katie Amiel. All proceeds from this book will go to NHS In 2014 he began performing as a speaker for TED Talks Charities Covid-19 Urgent Appeal. Reproduced by kind (Technology, Entertainment, Design), an American, not- permission of United Agents on behalf of the author. for-profit, media organization which posts talks online for ~ free distribution under the slogan ‘ideas worth spreading’. Michael Pooley: News His talk ‘A love poem for lonely prime numbers’ became a huge internet hit. Your news was our headlines for weeks filled our talk, rippled out; In December 2014, a collection of his own poetry ‘The Sunshine wherever we were Kid’ was published by Burning Eye Books and in 2015 he you were never far. graduated from Bristol University with a maths degree. He performed, ‘When this is over (a lockdown poem)’ as Perhaps we had always known part of a recent BBC Radio 4 programme “Sunday” and you would come? Whose invitation you can watch him performing the poem here: we had planned, rehearsed, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIseouW2FE8 in the dark sown, ~ saw our waiting a preparation, Charles Sangster: The Swallows your silence, then your signs and messages, to be sung, I asked the first stray swallow of the spring, and all our months of contemplation “Where hast thou been through all the winter drear? turn to longing… Beneath what distant skies did’st fold thy wing, From a collection of poems entitled ‘Sung Notes’. Since thou wast with us here, Michael Pooley was born and grew up in Birmingham. His When Autumn’s withered leaves foretold the passing year?” poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies, And it replied, “Whither has Fancy led and he has written several books on diverse topics such The plumy thoughts that circle through thy brain? as cidermaking, and the history of public walks in the Like birds about some mountain’s lofty head, Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire where he lived. Singing a sweet refrain: Reproduced by kind permission of Pam Sheldon. There, without bound, I’ve been, and must return again.” This poem is in the public domain. 22 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 M & J LANDSCAPES / GARDEN SERVICES Mowing Garden Clearance Decking Hedge Cutting Drain Clearance Fencing Strimming Log Splitting Mole Control Planting Drainage Pressure Washing Local, Reliable and Friendly Service Hourly and Day Rates OAP Discount Insured References Available 07803 321911
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Munslow Parish Community Speed Watch
We are pleased to announce that the Speed Watch Team has don’t need to be diverted from their efforts to protect us been given the green light by West Mercia Police to restart from Coronavirus. our Speed Watch sessions in Munslow. As with the rest of Road calming engineering: Unfortunately, lockdown the population, we have to strictly observe Government restrictions have seriously delayed the Aston Munslow site and Police procedures regarding personal protection and meetings between Barbara Archer (the leader of Munslow social distancing. Parish Council), Cecilia Motley (County Councillor for Unfortunately, some drivers have been taking advantage of the Corvedale) and Shropshire’s Highways and Road the emptier roads during lockdown, to speed even faster Engineering Departments. Their purpose is to assess along the B4368. I often hear heavy lorries, especially, the need for, and cost of, installing more road calming rushing into Aston Munslow only to brake heavily as they measures. reach the bend outside The Swan. Dash cams: just a reminder that your dash cam photos or We may, at the moment, be a small group but we are trying footage of: to do our bit to raise road safety awareness. We hope our • Someone using a device behind the wheel presence may remind people of the need to adhere to speed • Driving without due care and attention restrictions as they return to the roads after lockdown. • Disobeying traffic laws. West Mercia Police speed campaign: This will be running can be sent to www.westmercia.police.uk/operationsnap. in Shropshire from May 18th – 7th June. We hope that everyone can support this Police initiative to keep our In the meantime, keep safe on our roads. roads safe and free from accidents. Our support services Rebecca Bull ([email protected])
Kath Worthington
As you will have seen earlier in the magazine, Laurie always felt a bit as if I were intruding on a female preserve! Robinson is the new Chair of the Corvedale News Having stapled up and counted all of the magazines they committee, having taken over from Kath Worthington. were then ’bagged up’ for the individual distributors. Kath is a long-time resident of Diddlebury and has a lengthy Now, of course, the Corvedale News is printed, collated record of community service in a variety of rôles. She has and stapled by our excellent printers, Craven Design and chaired our group with a light but firm touch since 2016, Print, but the work of ‘bagging-up’ still has to be done but has been involved for very much longer than that, both and Kath assists with this and keeps an eagle-eye on the as a distributor and in the work of collating the magazine. numbers. Long may she continue to do so. It feels like a long time ago now, but until quite recently So, thank you Kath, for all that you have done and, the magazine used to be printed on individual pages, and hopefully will continue to do. groups of ladies – including Kath – would assemble in Our new Chair is Laurie Robinson who, we are sure, will the Church Room to make up the 400-odd copies which help to guide us into the future. were then stapled. I say ‘ladies’, but occasionally they Martin Jones were forced to draft in male assistance: when I was there I
Update on Diddlebury Parish Website - 2020
The Diddlebury Parish website has been well established advertising in the Corvedale News. A disclaimer is included for over four years now and continues to provide a valuable on the website page to the effect that the listing does not community resource. The website is an extremely effective imply any endorsement or recommendation by Diddlebury way of getting information quickly to a large group of Parish Council. people, especially during the current Covid-19 pandemic The ‘Google Group’ which was set up to run alongside the and during the flooding events earlier this year. website and is run by Geoff Neden continues to grow and A reminder that the Parish Council will need to fund the annual now has 136 members (2019 - 77 members). It was felt costs and hosting fees after the end of the financial year. that with this much expanded membership now was a good The website now includes the directory of local business time to reflect this with a name change and accordingly, the services. The list simply shows the name of the business, group has been renamed ‘The Corvedale Google Group’ the type of service offered and the relevant contact details. Sara Thompson - 19 May 2020 The list comprises those local businesses who pay for
26 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020 Corvedale Past and Present Thinking about Villages We may take villages for granted. Those of us who live in areas and small paddocks. One characteristic thing that has the countryside live in or near a village large or small. If you been noted many times is a church within the oval. are sensitive to the past, you may wonder how and why, and in what form or by which processes villages came about. We are told that in our dim and distant past people had a wandering or semi-nomadic way of life, perhaps in a family or tribal grouping. It makes sense to believe, therefore, that at some stage people started to come to live together in permanent, fixed communities in which their neighbours were not necessarily relations. As you might expect, there are people who spend their whole lives researching and thinking about such things, though you might argue that this is a process that has not been especially well applied to our area. Some historians of our countryside use what I think is a lovely expression, the ‘village moment’ when this happened. Most currently believe, as far as England is concerned, that this was in the 8th century A.D. So, this might be the time our English villages started to appear in something like their It just so happens that Puxton has been much studied: present form. In this part of South Shropshire, this might for instance, analysis of soil samples has given lots of also have been the time when the ‘Saxon’ folk started to information about the early occupation of this site. With make big inroads, controlling what had previously been very little ‘creativity’ the ovoid at Puxton can be seen on a ‘Welsh’ land, and bringing with them this new-fangled idea. Google hybrid satellite picture (north is top). This village concept was probably much later here than in By contrast, Heath is relatively very little studied, and the counties further east or in even adjacent large river valleys next bit, whether or not you find it of interest, is speculative. like the River Severn. So what did the prototype village look like in our part of the world? How can we possibly know? Surely it is too long ago for us to have much idea? Fair enough, but here is where some really fascinating research may come into play. Not all ancient English villages started life all this time ago, (8th century A.D.) for one simple reason; a huge amount of England was wetland at the time and not suitable for villages. But it turns out that after the Norman Conquest (1066 A.D.) the marshes and fens which had made up so much of the land started to be drained for farming (especially by powerful abbeys) and space appeared for villages in virgin territory. Now, this is much closer to our own time and therefore more likely to be the time when the original At Heath, again with creative use of an electronic pen, there village structure has become ‘fossilised’. is what we might call an ‘ovoid’, here in red on the map. The One area which has been studied is the Somerset Levels, exact shape is debatable, but it is interesting that it contains where land was extensively drained by Glastonbury Abbey the church and what is assumed to be the former manorial and others in the 12th century A.D., and one such ‘new moated complex. For a large part this shape is defined by village’ is Puxton, North Somerset. Like so many villages distinct lumps and bumps in the present ground surface, of the same type it has a curious feature, an oval enclosure referred to as ‘earthworks’. which is several acres in size. I believe if you want to enclose All this is, of course, just a possible narrative for the early any land, say with a ditch or a hedge, the way you get the years of the village. There is a great deal more to speculate biggest area of land for any given length of built perimeter about and research to tease out a later story. is by making an oval. It is may be why this shape is used Peter Cornah over and over again both in the past and even now. Inside P.S. look out for oval shapes: they are all over the place this oval, which we may now think of as a ‘proto-village’, from hill-forts like Nordy Bank to modern stadia. was the community’s core: houses, workshops, horticultural
27 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
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28 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
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TUGFORD FARM HOLIDAY COTTAGES, B&B & LIVERY
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Schools and Children’s Activities
Corvedale C of E Primary School “Love learning, Love life” explore. discover. inspire. Diddlebury SY7 9DH Tel: 01584 841630 Places available, email: [email protected] www.corvedaleprimary.co.uk visits welcome Serving the Corvedale by providing an education of the Brockton, Much Wenlock, TF13 6JR highest quality rooted in Christian faith and practice, within a caring, stimulating and trusting environment. 01746 785 671 [email protected] Headteacher: Mr. J. Brough
HIGH QUALITY FULL TIME CHILDCARE FOR AGES 2-11 8AM-6PM 5 DAYS A WEEK Shipton Village Hall TF13 6JZ Full or part time, after school & holiday care and Exciting activities including cooking, Brockton C of E School TF13 6JR gardening, forest walks and creative play. Ofsted registered. ‘Stimulating indoor and outdoor play in a warm Come and visit our wonderful setting. and nurturing pre-school setting.’ PLAYGROUP & NURSERY For our prospectus or further information please contact: Kate Castle tel: 01746 785 018 / 01746 785 671 Tel: 01584 841 707 or 01584 841 630 email: [email protected] www.corvedalecentreforchildren.co.uk
Little Acorns of Rushbury Pre-School Corvedale Brownies have now joined Morning, afternoon and all day sessions Craven Arms Brownies and meet on available five days a week for children aged one Saturday a month at the 2 years to school entry. Discovery Centre, 10.30am until 1pm. Contact Elaine on (01694) 771677. Please contact Catherine Crowther for dates: www.littleacornsrushbury.org.uk. 01584 861276 We are very proud of our outstanding Ofsted [email protected] report and our high adult/child ratio.
31 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
June Crossword - by Artemonas
ACROSS DOWN 1) Heard it was neutered in the garden (5) 1) Distrust someone in the police cell? (7) 4) Maybe have someone inside who acts properly (7) 2) Beware naturists in the theatre (5) 8) Newcastle’s shepherd? (7) 3) Man sounds very keen (7) 9) What you have done here is change animals (5) 4) Polish up on French water ministry (6) 10) Hitler’s mistress from Germany. I miss this (5) 5) Ghost arrives on part of plant (5) 11) Nags it a bit in opposition (7) 6) Small girl’s article on church drapery (7) 13) Some is purely an incentive (4) 7) Winter falls in Carlisle, etc (5) 15) Motto revised to include a vegetable (6) 12) Most of boat overturned following smash (4) 17) Concurs to spreading the grease around (6) 14) Chooses place to halt anagrams for vessels (4) 20) Instrument ends with you, Bob, Anna (4) 16) Copying as 2 x 1001 shed a tear (7) and no more 18) Maybe dangers in these green spaces (7) 22) Rot down company representative (7) 19) His glen could be full of little stones (7) who’s no saint 21) Has difficulty speaking. (6) 24) I’d air several spokes (5) Without godly one – speaks! 26) Ran best in road (5) 22) Scare maybe, then looks after (5) 27) Levelling after 6 pm? (7) 23) Magazine from the past? (5) 28) Sounds like why lasses become quieter (3,4) 25) I’d lay down very often (5) 29) Holy man turns English cathedral into (5) something fashionable
ANSWERS TO MAY CROSSWORD: Across: 7) Pullet; 8) Rigour; 10) Remains; 11) Alert; 12) Vent; 13) Leafy; 17) Scope; 18) Tile; 22) Oread; 23) Traffic; 24) Dynamo; 25) Feeler; Down: 1) Approve; 2) Clement; 3) Tepid; 4) Giraffe; 5) Boxer; 6) Broth; 9) Osteopath; 14) Academy; 15) Pitfall; 16) Mercury; 19) Toddy; 20) Meant; 21) Ravel
32 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Tour of Britain and Ireland Quiz - ANSWERS
Hope you have enjoyed the quiz and are safe and healthy.
1 Slam alternative Bangor 36 Little Edward in chartered town Edinburgh 2 Flushed dyke Redditch 37 Insipid for 500 meeting place Blandford Forum 3 At this place cross water Hereford 38 Large cask crossing water sources Tunbridge Wells 4 Back mat value Tamworth 39 Choose a circle Pickering 5 Bottom of all frequently Lowestoft 40 Small bay with headless entry Coventry 6 Stroll spin on cue ball Ambleside 41 Climbing plant and card game Ivybridge 7 Searching university teacher Huntingdon 42 Organ pond Liverpool 8 Employment dunk Worksop 43 Rock place of refuge Stonehaven 9 Bark stopper Cork 44 Counter swan with poor actor Chippenham 10 Strip covering Peel 45 Cowardly weapons Craven Arms 11 Swift club Fleetwood 46 Belgian battle and French city Waterlooville 12 Travel to and from opening Plymouth 47 Pressure applied Preston 13 Paddle cue support Wadebridge 48 Sterilizer has northeast in openers Milton Keynes 14 Entrance plus monarch Dorking 49 Large rocky peak call weight Great Torrington 15 Cook properly Bakewell 50 Rubbish container weight Skipton 16 Tree and hay stack Limerick 51 In short trade unionist Richard Brodick 17 Slackening hill Easingwold 52 Add fuel to fire on river Stoke on Trent 18 Possess insect Havant 53 Runless over top Maidenhead 19 Circle timber Ringwood 54 Roar of stag abstain from food Belfast 20 Pay the bill Settle 55 Beloved weight Darlington 21 Put on some sugar Doncaster 56 Very steep headland Sheerness 22 Colliery top Minehead 57 Lion church Leominster 23 Mute variety and mature Swanage 58 Summit pretence Topsham 24 The Spanish spirit Elgin 59 Transport ruin at that time Carmarthen 25 Place for rest with beer Bedale 60 About model old car Retford 26 Cast skin Slough 61 Possess a crossing compass point Haverfordwest 27 Liquid for 500 Waterford 62 Dull grey-brown home for horses Dunstable 28 Achieves town Gainsborough 63 Childrens small wood Kidsgrove 29 Herb put on Basildon 64 Prohibit very loudly Banff 30 Pack offer for sale Stowmarket 65 Farm store strike lightly the French Barnstaple 31 Guards pull behind Padstow 66 Society former US President Guildford 32 Unit of pressure and trap Barnet 67 Liquefy on cut down cry Melton Mowbray 33 Counterfeit meadow Dudley 68 Angle protector Fishguard 34 Date on groceries Selby 69 Very dark char Blackburn 35 Fail to pay kitty Welshpool 70 Tin blow Cannock
33 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Parish Councils
DIDDLEBURY PARISH COUNCIL During the suspension of council meetings, Diddlebury Parish Council has carried out the following actions during April and May 2020. In due course these actions will be incorporated into the Parish Council’s Minutes.
Planning: 20/01412/FUL - an application for the erection of Expenses for the financial year 2019/2020 has been circulated to a two-storey rear extension and the erection of a new entrance councillors. The parish council’s records have been prepared and porch at 12, Corfton, SY7 9LE. Councillors agreed to support the delivered to the auditor. It is hoped the auditor’s report and the application subject to two caveats: that the comments submitted AGAR document (Annual Return) will be available for viewing by the Flood Action Group be conditions of approval, and that on the website within the next few weeks. the new extension should blend with the original, which is stone Annual Parish Meeting, Annual General Meeting and faced. ordinary business meeting scheduled for 27th May 2020. Three applications are being considered by councillors: Due to the continuing restrictions on the holding of meetings, 20/01563/FUL - retrospective application for the installation of these three meetings have been cancelled. Reports which would a wood pellet boiler system and a flue to provide hot water and normally be delivered at the Annual Parish Meeting will instead heating at holiday cottages at Sutton Court Farm, Little Sutton, be published in the Corvedale News and on the parish council’s and 20/01564/LBC - Listed Building Consent for the above website. works as they affect a Grade II Listed Building, At the Annual General Meeting the Chairman and Vice-Chairman 20/01717/FUL - Application under S. 73A of the Town & are normally elected. Under the emergency regulations they will Country Planning Act 1995 (retrospective) for the conversion both continue to hold office until 5th May 2021. All other business of barn from one dwelling to two dwellings, reinstate existing normally conducted at the AGM and the May ordinary meeting access and installation of package treatment plant at Barn B, will be deferred to the next meeting of the parish council. Hale Barns, Diddlebury. Mobile Speed Monitoring unit: The unit was delivered on 15th Parishioners can go to the “Planning” section of our website to May 2020 and is currently being assembled by Ian Davies, for find current planning applications and can then examine them which we thank him. on Shropshire Council’s planning portal and leave comments on Meetings: The next meeting is scheduled for 24th June 2020 at that portal. Equally, any concerns parishioners may have about Westhope Village Hall. Please check on our website and notice planning matters (or any other matters) can be discussed with the boards to see whether this meeting will take place, failing which Chairman or the Clerk by telephone, post or email it is hoped we will meet on 22nd July 2020 at Diddlebury Village Finance: A Finance Report for April and May 2020 was approved Hall. by the councillors and cheques totalling £979.18 were signed Contacts: If parishioners have any queries or concerns, please by the Chairman and Cllr. O’Boyle, who also verified the bank contact either the Chairman or the Clerk. statement/cash book reconciliation. A schedule of Income and
Agendas and full copies of the Minutes can be viewed by visiting the Diddlebury Parish Council website at: www.diddleburyparish.co.uk or obtained from the Clerk, Mrs J de Rusett, No. 1 Pipe Aston Barns, Pipe Aston, Ludlow SY8 2HG. Tel: 01568 770 741. email: [email protected]
MUNSLOW PARISH COUNCIL Full minutes are available on the website. Clive Leworthy, Clerk, Munslow PC • 07528 164345 • email [email protected]
CULMINGTON PARISH COUNCIL Full Minutes available upon request from Jayne Disley, Clerk/RFO - (01584) 861 387 Email: [email protected], or online at www.culmington.org.
ABDON AND HEATH PARISH COUNCIL
ABDON & HEATH PARISH COUNCIL (www.abdon.org.uk) Including: Balaam’s Heath, Baucott, Brookhampton, Holdgate & Tugford Wendy Richards - Parish Clerk: [email protected] Tel: 07813 271 274
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Contact Numbers for Local Services
(Phone numbers are on the 01584 exchange unless otherwise noted)
Contact Phone Email Local Services and Emergencies Electricity Problems/Power Cuts Western Power 0800 6783 105 Water Supply Problems Severn Trent Water 0800 783 4444 County Flood Management Shropshire Council 0345 678 9006 [email protected] Diddlebury Parish Flood Geoff Neden 841815 [email protected] Action Group Ludlow Minor Injuries Unit Community Hospital 874297 (out of hours 111) Shropdoc (out of hours service) Doctors Co-operative 111 Ludlow’s Doctors’ Surgeries Station Drive 872461 Portcullis 872939 Craven Arms Medical Practice 01588 672309 Police (non-emergency) West Mercia Police 101 [email protected] Voluntary Car Scheme Craven Arms Good 01588 673732 (9.00am to 12 noon weekdays) Neighbours Clubs and Societies Abdon Wildlife Group Penny Unitt 01746 712530 [email protected] Blue Hills Choir Ros Crouch 841053 [email protected] Corvedale Artists Juliet Hole 01299 832603 Ann Hankinson 01584 841460 Corvedale Badminton Club Val Fotheringham 841331 Corvedale Book Group Cath Burley [email protected] Corvedale Choir Ros Crouch 841053 [email protected] Corvedale Community Rebecca Bull [email protected] Environmental Group Corvedale & District Autumn Show John Woodhouse 07980 207253 Corvedale Folk Club Ian Fotheringham 841331 Corvedale Garden Group Cath Burley [email protected] Corvedale Footpath Jenny Vine 841596 Maintenance Group Munslow Parish Community Rebecca Bull [email protected] Speed Watch Diddlebury Dancing Group Sally Woodhouse 841265/ [email protected] 07813 019010 Westhope Clover Club Mary Hall 873387 [email protected] Continued...
35 CORVEDALE NEWS June 2020
Contact Numbers for Local Services
(Phone numbers are on the 01584 exchange unless otherwise noted) Contact Phone Email Parish Clerks and Websites Abdon & Heath Parish Wendy Richards 07813 271274 [email protected] Council Clerk Culmington Parish Council Clerk Jayne Disley 861387 [email protected] Diddlebury Parish Council Clerk Mrs Jean de Rusett 01568 770741 [email protected] Munslow Parish Council Clerk Clive Leworthy 07528 164345 [email protected] Diddlebury Parish Website: www.diddleburyparish.co.uk Corvedale Google Group: This is a free service and issues purely local information such as road closures, flood warnings and so on to its members on an occasional basis. It also alerts members to new items appearing on the DPC website. If you would like to join this service, send an email to: Geoff Neden - [email protected] Village Hall/Club Room Bookings Abdon Village Hall Penny Unitt 01746 712530 [email protected] Beambridge Club Room Frances Sutton 841654 Culmington Village Hall Jeff Williams 07561 838271 [email protected] Diddlebury Village Hall Sally Woodhouse 07375 326381 [email protected] Diddlebury Village Hall website: www.diddleburyvillagehall.org Diddlebury Church Room Tonya Greene 841493 Westhope Village Hall Betty Manley 07860 447397/ [email protected] 861617 Children’s and Youth Organisations Corvedale Brownies Catherine Crowther 861276 Corvedale Primary School Jonathan Brough 841630 [email protected] Playgroup & Nursery Colin Jones 841707/841630 Women’s Institutes Diddlebury & Westhope WI Jane Cockburn 841483 [email protected] Munslow WI Jenny Rose 841251 [email protected]
If you represent a local Corvedale group and would like it to be considered for inclusion in this list, please contact the Editor.
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