Times Summer 2020 Issue: 9 Funded by Englishcombe Parish Council. Welcome to the ninth edition of the Englishcombe Times!! Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this edition of the Englishcombe Times will ONLY be avail- able ONLINE on the Parish Website : englishcombe.net . If you could make sure that your friends and neighbours are aware of this, as I know not everyone is on the Parish Council email list. What a lot has happened since the last edition of the Englishcombe Times. Lockdown be- cause of the virus caused all events in the Parish to be cancelled. Roads were completely empty of people and traffic. No planes flying in the sky. But the wild life seemed to flourish with the birds seeming to be chirping louder. One of the essential requirements has been mobile and broadband services, for all the on- line ordering and school work. At present the different areas of Englishcombe Village do not get the same levels of broadband speed. Everyone is getting the service fed across the valley from the top of the Hollow, a distance of at least 1400 metres to the closest hous- es. During Lockdown the first phase of feeding fibre cables around the village has begun. Most telephone posts now have a reel of cable taped to them, or two connection boxes at the top of the pole. This system is not yet live , but when it is will provide a “fibre to the door” connection with download speeds of 100mbps to 200mbps. At present you are on a “fibre to the cabinet” connec- tion which if you are lucky gives a 20mbps download speed, and if you are unlucky only 2mbps, which is just fast enough to stream TV & Videos (but may buffer!). If you would like to check your broadband speed go to: http://www.speedtest.btwholesale.com As we gradually appear out of lockdown, village events will start again, and when they do they will be advertised on the parish website and parish council email list. The library still requires your unwanted books for when it re-opens. Please leave any books in the LIBRARY BIN which is in the doorway of the Old School. Visit the Parish Website: englishcombe.net 1 Englishcombe School Year 1960. Can you identify any of the children in the photo? It was taken 60 years ago in 1960. It would be interesting to know if any of them are still in the Parish. If you can, please send the names to the Times email address: [email protected] VE Day in Englishcombe May 8th 1945. VE Day signifies the day when the Second World War in Europe came to an end May 8th 1945. Villagers in Englishcombe thought it would be a good idea to have a bonfire on the village green to celebrate. The village green at the time was just a tri- angle of gravel. All did not go well for the festivities as the residents of Albany House com- plained that the bonfire would damage the paintwork of their doors and windows. Sadly the idea had to be abandoned, but those who still wanted to celebrate climbed to the top of Roundhill for a bonfire and sing song. Various events had been arranged to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day this year. The Bank Holiday being changed from a Monday to a Fri- day. Alas along comes COVID-19 and stops all gatherings and celebrating. Not to spoil it completely, the bunting still went up with small tea parties and barbecues between family members. 2 A Swarm Spring Englishcombe Orchard has certainly been a hive of activity. We apologise to anybody in the vil- lage who may have had several thousand un- wanted, buzzing visitors in the past few weeks. This year has seen an unprecedent- ed number of swarms across Bath. We have lost at least three colonies to swarms but we are not the exception. According to Matt McCabe, there has been an ex- traordinarily high level of swarms, so the mass of bees you have seen in your gar- dens and on your rooftops might not have come from the orchard. It might have something to do with the particularly warm spring we recently experienced. There is a plus side to this; we might finally get a good crop of honey this year. The orchard is still a labour of love but unfortunately one of the older apples trees and a new tree has died. The old tree it seems was diseased but why the new tree, not even 10 years old, should die remains mystery. However, the blossom this year was spectacular and there should be a good crop of apples. Look out for ‘apple juice for sale’ sign in the autumn. The wildflower meadow we planted last year is just coming into bloom. There is a variety of over 20 wild flowers including musk mal- low, corn poppies and yellow rattle. Hopefully the summer sun will encourage an array of colour that can be enjoyed by bees and anyone who takes a stroll through the orchard. Matt & Janewish you all a happy blue sky summer. 3 West of England Falconry. Many of you reading this may be familiar with the farm shop at our neighbouring village of Newton St Loe; but how many of you are familiar with the West of England Falconry which is located just behind the farm shop? Run by Jay and Naomi, the falconry is a registered charity and licensed zoo which provides rescue & reha- bilitation for birds of prey. They are also involved in educating the public about birds of prey and the an- cient art of falconry. For a small fee you can visit their owlery which is home to a wide range of owls, many of which have been rescued, and see some of their mag- nificent hawks. Visitors can also have the unique and incredible experience of flying owls or even a hawk (pre-booking essential). The money from visits to the owlery and these experi- ences help to fund their valuable work. Like many small charities the coronavirus has been challenging for them. With no visitors there is no income yet they still have the daily cost of feeding and looking after their birds. Unlike big museums and galleries, they do not get the same level of support nor media cov- erage. They have a JustGiving website to help support them during these times and they are currently just under 50% of their target. The British people have been great at supporting local businesses during the pandemic so if you would like to support a small local charity on your door-step, then this is the page where you can make a donation: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/WestofEnglandFalconry Alternatively, on their website they offer the possibility to sponsor one of their birds – a unique gift perhaps for a loved one: https://www.westofenglandfalconry.org.uk/sponsor-a-bird The work they do is fantastic and we are incredibly lucky to have the experiences that they offer on our doorstep. I was impressed enough to build one of my Bath tours around them! Watching peoples’ faces light- up as a hawk lands on their glove is one of the reasons I set up my busi- ness of offering private tours in Bath and the surrounding area. To help support them during these times I recently sponsored the latest mem- ber of their feathered-family: a Little Owl chick who appropriately for Bath has been called Sulis! You can see a recent photo of Sulis at just 12 days old. I am looking forward to introducing future guests to Sulis on my tour. Next time you are in Newton St Loe be sure to check them out. They hope to re-open as soon as Government advice permits them to do so. In the meantime if you can help financially with a donation or sponsoring a bird, I know it will be well received & used Daniel Previous resident of Englishcombe and Founder of Bath Insider Tours (www.bathinsidertours.co.uk) 4 The World of Now: Health and safety in a time of shielding How are you? I’m fine. Am I really? I don’t know. I’m scared. I’m calm. I’m strong. I’m vulnerable. I’m positive. I’m inert. I’m mindful. I’m distracted. I’m relaxed. I’m watchful. I’m lucky, blessed, privileged, loved, supported. I work. I walk. I talk. I eat. I try not to drink. Nature, family, chocolate bring joy; dogs uncomplicated physical contact. I enjoy my small world but yearn for its expansion. But I deny myself thoughts of the bigger world, the future world, the unlocked world. Because when will the world be a place of safety? Where will that place be? How even with this new world be? Everyone is uncertain. Waiting for instructions. But instructions don’t help if you’re vulnerable. You can go out, but will you? Your health and safety are in your own hands. Your future a series of personal micro-decisions. Risks assessed and managed with every action, every interaction, every gate post touched, every parcel delivered, every stranger approaching, every thought of gathering again. So, unanchored, indecisive, uncertain, distanced, we focus only on the Here and the Now. With no safety in numbers for the vulnerable, no net to catch those around us keeping us safe, no blanket to envelope us, no pair of pristinely clean hands to help us put safety first, can we allow ourselves to look to the future? We must pass through an uneven world of the safe and the shielded; safe spaces redefined.