Chipperfield News

October 2002

Village Of The Year Success

Chipperfield has done it again! At a prize ceremony at County Hall on September 5, it was announced that we had won an award in the Hertfordshire Village of the Year Competition 2002, this time in the ‘Business category. The prize for our success is a commemorative plaque, a cheque for £50 and a framed certificate to be presented by the Lord Lieutenant on September 21 at Redbourn, the village winning the overall Village of the Year award.

In their summary report the judges said, ‘It is heartening to see so many villages managing to retain shops, whilst encouraging new businesses both at home and in converted farm buildings. The winning village not only has a comprehensive range of shops and services, but many businesses provide support for the community activities, such as the local football team, drama group and village events. There is a flourishing delicatessen in the village. Using local staff and, where possible, local ingredients, it is well-known for the quality of its products, which include full meals. It has already been awarded a Herts. County prize for its entrepreneurial skills. Well done to all concerned!

James Alexander Collins

St. Paul's Church was full on Sunday 1st September for the Christening of James Alexander Collins (first grandchild of Richard and Jackie Nice of Commonwood, son of their daughter Samantha and her husband Andrew). It was an extra special celebration, as James was born very prematurely on August 24th 2001 weighing just 1lb 12oz - less than a bag of sugar. He spent 4 months in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at Watford General Hospital undergoing treatment for numerous complications, and a further 5 months on oxygen at home. His fight for life has been an inspiration to us all - he has touched the hearts of so many people, not least the doctors and nurses in SCBU - we cannot thank them enough for their wonderful care and support. A special thank you also to Peter Hart for conducting such a beautiful Baptism service - a very moving and happy occasion. Richard and Jackie Nice

Chipperfield Horticultural Society

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our collectors did not visit a small number of members to collect their 2002 subscription. This oversight is very much regretted and we apologise to those affected. However, we now have a new membership secretary (Max Edney) who is in the process of ensuring that all members receive a visit in 2003. We thank those members who have undertaken to continue collecting subscriptions next year, but we are still in need of help for some roads on the Croft Estate. All that is required is to distribute our handbook and membership cards, and collect £1.50 subscription per member during the early months of 2003. In most cases your area would consist of just a single road. As a small "thank you" for your help your own membership will be FREE.

Offers of help from members or potential members with the Croft Estate distribution would be greatly appreciated, or if anyone has any queries please call me on 01923 264243. Max Edney

Adopt A Footpath

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A resident has kindly volunteered to pick litter from the footpath behind the hedge in Kings Lane and has suggested a scheme for residents to "adopt a footpath" to help keep the village tidy. All volunteers will be supplied with a litter-picker (no need to bend!) and will be insured while collecting litter. Please contact me if you would like to help. Liz Holliday (01923 267483)

Chipperfield Within Living Memory

Looking Back to 1909 Copies of St Pauls Church magazines have been deposited over many years with the County Records Office at Hertford. My son Andrew recently referred to a batch from 1909-14, which Lieut-Colonel "Bob" Morkill sent there when he was churchwarden. They make interesting reading and the following notes about 1909 are based on Andrews researches. For example, the magazine cost one penny and baptisms were conducted at 3 p.m. on the first Sunday in each month. Generally the times of services were not that different from those of today.

In January 1909, people were pretty confident that building work would have commenced on the new Church Institute (now the Village Hall) by the time that next months magazine was in circulation. Funds were being raised to cover the cost of the new building and details of amounts being given by subscribers were published on the back page. Mrs. Blackwell of the Manor House gave £100 and several people donated £10, but the majority of contributions did not reach double figures. A rummage sale raised £13 and a concert £5. A couple of months later, the magazine was saying that people had been deterred from donating because they couldnt match the sums that had already been given. It was stressed that donations of any size would be welcomed. Mrs. Machin, the vicars wife, was able to announce that a "Maternity Club" had been formed through the kindness of various friends. The benefits would be available to working-men of the parish and their families. By paying a small weekly subscription for six months beforehand, members would have free use of the maternity bag at the time required, a pint of milk daily for the first fortnight after the birth and a bonus of 2s 6d would be added to the money saved weekly. In addition, all offerings presented to the Church, at the ceremony of Churching women after the birth of a child, would in future be given to the funds of this club. In February it was reported that 140 children had enjoyed a Christmas tea party with a good supply of crackers, and that every child received one more cracker and an orange, when Mrs. Blackwell presided over the Christmas tree. There had also been a social gathering in the schoolroom on New Years Day, for 120 people. It was a very informal evening enlivened by dancing, interspersed with songs and recitations.

The March edition reported that Mr. Hudson, the headmaster, had suffered a breakdown in his health. (He lived in the School House, which was the left hand section of The Two Brewers) In April George William Bunyan was baptized. (In later years he ran the shop at the right side of The Two Brewers and at the end of Queen Street) The progress of the building of the Church Institute was being watched with interest. In June1909, the Church Accounts included: Income from pew rents ------£35. 10. 6. Expense of organ blower ------£2. 10. 0. …………..coal and coke ------£8. 18. 0. New Bell and Turret: Bell and hanging same ------£20. 10. 0.

Building Turret (E. Waterhouse) ------£27. 5. 6. Architects fees ------£5. 5. 0. Lightning Conductor ------£6. 2. 6.

(The new bell which was twice the weight of the old bell and carried sound further, had necessitated structural alterations) By July, the large room, of the Church Institute, was almost finished. Insufficient funds had been raised at this stage, to build the planned smaller room. Unfortunately, there wasnt a copy of the August 1909 magazine on file and so the opening of the hall passed by without mention, at this stage. In September, the committee met in the hall for the first time.

October brought Chipperfield Working Mens Club back into the news. There was talk of re-forming the club on a more extensive level.(See Chipperfield News, March 2002, for details about formation of club in 1901). Mr. Allen (presumably of Commonwood) donated a full sized billiard table, complete with accessories and lights, to the Institute. In the same month, the Harvest Festival was postponed until 14 October, due to a late harvest.

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As a final highlight, it was noted that in November, the Working Mens Club became Chipperfield Village Club. Mary Nobbs

Jasmine Safety Track Trust

The Trust was founded in 1994 when a much loved pony was killed on the Bucks Hill Road and is dedicated to buying or renting tracks of land for safe off-road riding. The tracks are funded by local businesses, borough councils, livery stables and individual riders and all funds raised go directly towards the purchase, rent, fencing and maintenance of the tracks. The Trust managed to collect the £700 required for the annual rent of the Great Westwood Track and would like to thank all those who contributed. It is a large amount to raise each year and makes us extremely grateful to the landowners at Whitedell Farm and Newhouse Farm who allow us to ride their land at their discretion.

As you may have seen from our notices, part of the Moonshine Farm Track has to be re-routed or we are in danger of losing it. Mr. Allen and Mr. and Mrs. Weil have kindly given us the option of a new route, which includes getting horses off the road at a dangerous bend in Bragmans Lane. The new track depends entirely on getting enough funds to pay for fencing and landscaping and the quotation for the work required is £2,350. Although we have some funds in the bank, most of the money for this project still needs to be raised and the Trust relies on donations from all riders who use the tracks. If anyone has any ideas for fund-raising and would like to help, I should be only too pleased to hear from them. Tina Robinson (01923 267519)

Kew Gardens Select Local Garden Company

The Garden Company, based at Wyevale Garden Centre in Chipperfield has completed a project for The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew when it was commissioned to construct 4 new show gardens entitled ‘Ideas Gardens as part of the Colour Sensations Exhibition. James Scott of The Garden Company said "Kew were absolutely delighted with the results and the public response has been extremely satisfying. It is a real feather in our caps and a great accolade to all who worked on it."

Mrs Eleanor Snow

(SNOWY) 1904-2002 Sadly, Mum passed away in Arden House on Thursday 29 August. The family were evacuated to Little Callipers from London in 1939. Mum fell in love with Chipperfield and consequently spent the rest of her life here, living in Nunfield for the last 45 years. I should like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. West and everyone at the Luncheon Club for all their kindness to Mum. I understand that nobody had the chance of a second helping of custard when she was about! I should also like to thank everyone at the Chapel for making Mum so welcome, particularly Peggy for all the lifts and extra care she gave to Mum; Kath who always phoned me when there was an outing so Mum didnt forget and Joan, who as a neighbour kept an eye on Mum and would phone me if she was concerned. Finally, thank you to all my neighbours and friends for their kindness and support. Pam Dawe

New

John Richardsons successor is to be The Venerable Richard Inwood, since 1995 , West Yorkshire. He is 56, married with three grown-up daughters and was ordained 28 years ago, serving in Sheffield, London, Bath and Yeovil. Before ordination he spent a year teaching in north-west Uganda and worked as a research and development chemist with ICI in Manchester. He says: ‘I hope, as Bishop, to be an interpreter, bringing a sense of God and his presence to places where there is little awareness of him. I would hope to open people's eyes to what the church is really for and what Jesus Christ is offering them. I also want to offer support

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and care to the clergy, who are under increasing pressure today. He will be consecrated by the new , the Most Revd Dr , at Southwark Cathedral on 7 March 2003 and will move to Bedford early next year.

Pea Soup And All That

Things in the wildlife pond have moved on a pace since my last notes. All ponds that are filled with tap water go through an "algal bloom" phase when the water turns green because of the chemicals in it. Ours turned into bright green thick pea soup after about a week and looked absolutely dreadful! Nature is a wonderful thing though and we need not of worried. The oxygenating plants soon got going and the water lilies shaded the water and now about six weeks after filling the water is quite clear. Water plants seem to grow at an amazing pace and the water lilies that we thinned out from our other ponds have produced masses of flowers and in some cases complete sets of new leaves. By using plants from established ponds we introduced water beetles, snails, and other pond creatures at the same time, sometimes as eggs on the undersides of leaves and sometimes just as little wiggly things caught in amongst the stems. Now that the water is clear one can see that it is teeming with life already. The heron is not the only water bird to visit, a couple of weeks ago at least five mallard ducks landed on the water. We could see them from the bungalow and were quite thrilled. This feeling did not last long though as by the time they had left at midday they had grazed our water starwort, one of the best native oxygenators, down to the bare bones! Fortunately it has just about recovered and we havent seen the ducks since. The dragon flies have been a real delight, with one beautiful blue male Broad Bodied Darter using one of our marker canes as a perch to dart off and catch passing midges. There are 27 species of dragonfly in the British Isles and most belong to either the darter family or the hawker family. The darters sit on a perch and dart out at passing insects, while the hawkers patrol a regular beat over the pond to catch their dinner. One or two like the Ruddy Darter, with has a red body, and the Broad Bodied Darter which has a short fat body, are easy to identify, but most of the hawkers seem quite hard to tell apart. Have we had a Southern Hawker, an Azure Hawker, or even an Emperor whizzing around our heads? They dont stop for long enough for me to count the spots on their thorax, and unlike the Victorians I am not going to kill one to find out. Wendy Bathurst

Kate Farrow 1913-2002

Kate died peacefully on 5th August, aged 88. She had lived at Brambles on the Common with her husband Stanley since 1976, having moved to Chipperfield after Stanleys retirement from the construction company established by his father. Kate trained as a photographer and worked as assistant to Norman Parkinson in the 1930s. She met Stanley at a party in Hampstead in 1935 and they married two years later. After the war, they brought up their family, Susan, Jenny, Sarah and Tom, in their home in Arkley. They never anticipated being able to find a home for their retirement of comparable charm. Their dreams were realised at Brambles. They were soon immersed in village life and enjoyed supporting the Horticultural Society, the Art Group, Meals on Wheels, and Chipperfield Care from whom Kate in turn received valuable support. They created a lovely garden which they opened to the public for the benefit of the Red Cross and which featured as an organic garden in the national press and on the BBC. Kate will be remembered walking her labrador Brandy or, more recently, Perry in the woods and sometimes driving around the village in search of him. She was also a keen collector of unwanted spectacles, sending over 7000 pairs to the African Medical Mission run by Jenny and her husband Chris in Umtata, South Africa. Always cheerful and optimistic, she was devoted to her family. She is survived by Stanley, their children, 17 grandchildren and a growing number of great-grandchildren.

At The Other End Of The World – Or At The Gate Of Heaven

This is how Fr Terry Cantwell, Fr Dess brother, describes his varied feelings about the Salvatorian Mission at Chingulungulu, where he has served most of his 40 years as a priest – an anniversary which he celebrated in April this year. The Mission was established in 1958 in a remote southern corner of Tanzania, trapped between the Mozambique border in the south, a huge game reserve and mountains to the west, and to the north the vast flood plain of the Rufiji river. For half the year the river is an impassable barrier, as a bridge more than 10 km long would be needed at the narrowest point to secure a reliable route north to the capital, Dar-es-Salaam. Despite all this the lure of the rich soil of the coastal plain continues to bring people into the area in ever-increasing numbers,

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so that today there are between 15 and 20 thousand souls in the straggling subsistence farming communities served by the Mission and its dispensary. Immigration in such numbers of native Tanzanians as well as refugees from Mozambique and other war-torn states has inevitably made its mark on both the fragile tropical ecology and the community; gone is the rule by the local village chieftain and in its place is an elected committee and chairman responsible for local law enforcement; gone too is the near total dependence on Europeans for authority and progress. Fr. Terry talks with obvious pleasure of his native Parish Council, of the three native priests ordained from his parish in 2000, and of the native nurses and teachers, all doing work that he and others like him did almost alone forty years ago. One tradition that survives is that the priest holds the modest savings of his parishioners, although a few of the better-off do now use the bank in Masasi. The new baked mud brick and corrugated iron roofed houses replacing the older wattle and mud huts show there is a little spare money about. All of the goods we have sent by container load from Chipperfield have been well used: tools equip trainee carpenters and mechanics, bringing a second source of income to hard-pressed families, sewing machines buy time and independence from premature and possibly unsatisfactory relationships for the younger girls. Bicycles are the only alternative to walking, but soon need to be adapted and strengthened locally to survive both the loads they carry and the battering meted out by the potholed, unmade tracks that are the local roads. The Chingulungulu community faces challenges of continuing growth through immigration and development of the area when new roads are laid west of Masasi. Fr. Terry emphasises the key role of the dispensary and the never- ending need for medicines of every description. It is education, however, that is the focal point of action to prepare the people for an uncertain future, when subsistence farming plus occasional cash crops may prove insufficient to sustain the population. Continuing support is vital to pay teachers a sufficient salary to keep them at the village schools and to provide copy-books and other teaching materials for the children. "At the other end of the world – or at the gate of Heaven"? Whichever it is – or both - our prayers and support continue to be vital for Fr Terry and his flock.

www.chipperfield.org.uk

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