ASHWELL YEARBOOK 2020 Published March 2020 by Ashwell Parish Council Distributed free to householders and businesses in Ashwell The thirty first year of production 1 The Power to Surprise First Class Service From a firm you can trust • Parts • Sales • Service With 100 years of outstanding customer service, Mantles is the place to come to for all your service needs • Friendly, knowledgeable staff • Highest quality standards • Wide choice of products/services • Independently owned and run, and it shows... This makes the “Mantles Difference” Opening Hours: Mantles Royston Monday-Friday York Way, Royston, 8.30am - 6.30pm, Hertfordshire SG8 5HJ Saturday 8.30am - 5pm, Tel: 01763 244 244 Sunday 11am - 4pm UK Dealer of www.facebook.com/Mantles www.twitter.com/MantlesGroup the Year www.mantles.co.uk 2 Welcome to the 2020 edition of the Ashwell Yearbook he Yearbook celebrates yet another year in the life of our Contents Tvillage. I hope it will bring to mind the good things that have gone on around us in the past twelve months and inspire you to take fullest advantage of what Ashwell has to offer, now and in Ashwell Parish Council 2 the year to come. It should be a good read too! Community Groups 14 I would like to thank all the members of the Yearbook Working Education 24 Group and contributors for their hard work in producing this Sport 28 quality publication. Many do this year after year and it is their Youth Organisations 33 efforts that ensure it is of such a consistently high standard. This group includes parishioners as well as parish councillors. Charity Groups 36 This edition has been led by Norton Mahy. I would also like to Young Ashwell 40 acknowledge the work of David Short who previously led the Weddings 46 Yearbook Group for many years. Thanks to him, by the time he retired from the Parish Council in 2019, the Ashwell Yearbook Anniversaries 48 had become and has remained a publication of which the whole Gallery 50 community can be proud The Bill Family 52 What is more, in Ashwell we are lucky to have a range of Clubs and Societies 56 businesses, many of which have supported this Yearbook’s Church and Chapel 62 production by taking adverts in it. We would like to thank them From Our Registers 67 for this and to remind you, the reader, that they rely on your custom. As the saying goes, ‘What you don’t use, you lose’. So Events 70 please bear in mind, if you fancy some personal pampering, are Ashwell Weather 79 looking for a special gift or just need something fixing up, there Those we have lost 82 could be just the thing for you right here. Other Local Services 85 Classified Directory 87 Yearbook Team: Mark White Norton Mahy, Team Leader, Parish Council representative, Chairman, Ashwell Parish Council Clubs and Societies reports Gill Field, Production management Margaret Budgen, Photography Annual Parish Meeting Laura Brooks-Payne, Advertisements Madeleine Legg, People reports and Directory 25th March 2020 - 8 pm at the School Julie Darts, Sports reports, Young Ashwell (big hall) All Welcome Julia Mitchell, Education reports Agenda Eileen ten Hove, Church and Chapel reports 1 To approve the minutes of the 2019 Kay Hoskins, Charity Group reports Annual Parish Meeting Debbie Toombs, Proof reader 2 Matters of report from the 2019 Cliff Jenkinson, Events and Community Groups reports and Annual Parish Meeting General Editor 3 Chairman’s Report 4 Financial Statement Disclaimer 5 Reports from Parish Council including Any views expressed in this publication are those of the working groups authors and are not to be taken as representing the views of 6 Reports from others the publishers, Ashwell Parish Council. 7 Parish Affairs Signed Front Cover: Ashwell Village Museum, newly restored, November 2019. Photo: Margaret Budgen Mark White Chairman, Ashwell Parish Council Yearbook Design: Parkes Print and Design 01767 603 930 Please remember to bring your copy of the 2020 www.parkesprintanddesign.com Ashwell Yearbook with you. (Background). Photo by Peter John Gates 3 Ashwell Parish Council Chairman’s Report Parish Councillors Elected May 2019 I will begin with a comment about Parish Council numbers and it seems to be becoming a bit of a tradition. Though there should be twelve members, there are now only six – down by one in comparison with last year. What is more, two are newcomers to the job. Fortunately, enthusiasm compensates to some degree for lack of numbers. However, rather than staying constant, our workload seems to be increasing. To a large extent we must thank the Clerk and her Deputy for taking on many, if not all, of the day-to-day Mark White Martin Hoffman tasks involved in Parish activities. CHAIRMAN VICE-CHAIRMAN 33 West End Spire Furlong, 3 Newnham Way ☎ 07977 099951 ☎ 742567 Fortunately, we are also lucky in the support we get from ✉ [email protected] ✉ [email protected] parishioners as volunteers or Working Group members. The Group that produced this Yearbook is a good example, though I have to say that support often comes from the ‘usual suspects’. They are greatly appreciated and we could not do without them but new faces would be very welcome. I hope the articles here might inspire you to get involved if you are not already. Council meetings are your chance to find out what is going on and may give you ideas about how you can join in. They are every first Wednesday of the month at 8:00 pm in the Parish Rooms. Graham Lee David Sims Spade Acre, 59 Ashwell Street 92 Station Road Looking ahead, we want to make Ashwell a still better place ☎ 743126 ☎ 742151 ✉ [email protected] ✉ [email protected] to live, work in and visit. So, in addition to encouraging our usual activities and events to go from strength to strength, we have the long-term project to replace the Pavilion. It is an ambitious and admittedly costly project but it will provide a more versatile building that will meet our social and recreational needs much better in the future. We expect the Neighbourhood Plan to go to North Hertfordshire District Council in the coming year. Once it is passed over, the final stage can go ahead and, if that is successful, our Plan will become part of the District’s policy. The version we pass over will incorporate lessons learnt in Gemma Allan Norton Mahy Chain Cottage, 50 Gardiners Lane 40 Silver Street dealing with recent planning applications and the advice of a ☎ 07779 266191 ☎ 07740 923338 specialist consultant, so it should be a tool to give us some say ✉ [email protected] ✉ [email protected] in how new development happens in Ashwell. Finally, a reminder about the defibrillator in the telephone Clerk: Jane Porter box next to the Rose and Crown. Using it does not need any ✉ [email protected] training and the instructions provided are simple and easy to follow; the machine tells you what to do. All that is required Deputy Clerk: Laura Brooks-Payne is a clear head. ✉ [email protected] Cllr Mark White The Parish Council Office is at Chairman, Ashwell Parish Council 6a Back Street, Ashwell, Herts SG7 5PE ☎ 743706 www.ashwell.gov.uk 2 Ashwell Parish Council Information about the Parish Council Parish Council Meetings in 2019 o access current information concerning the Parish uring 2019 the Parish Council met every month on the TCouncil and the Ashwell community, or to sign up to Dfirst Wednesday of the month in the Parish Room. Parish receive regular email updates on specific items of interest, Council meetings are open to the public and parishioners please visit the Ashwell website: www.ashwell.gov.uk attending were invited to contribute during the agenda item ‘Parish Affairs and Open Forum’, timed to be held at 8:00 pm. Alternatively, contact the Clerk, the Deputy Clerk, the Reports relating to other local bodies, including the Village Chairman or individual councillors. Council meetings are minuted as soon as possible after they have taken place and Hall, the Museum and the School, were heard during these draft minutes are put on to the website: www.ashwell.gov.uk. open sessions, as well as anything concerning matters such An archive of approved past minutes can also be found there. as local policing and youth facilities. Every month a summary of the Parish Council meeting appears in the ‘Parish Council Matters’ section of the Ashwell Village News. Copies of this summary are also displayed on Local Government Responsibilities the main Parish Council notice board by the Rose and Crown and on the small Parish Council notice board in the bus shelter in Station Road, opposite the War Memorial. Who does what and whom to contact If important issues arise newsletters are published and he three tiers of local government – Parish, District and delivered to every household. TCounty – supply most of the services provided in towns and villages. For details of services provided by Ashwell Parish Council please see pages 2-10, for North Hertfordshire District Council and for Hertfordshire County Council please Parish Council Responsibilities see page 85. Reports from our County and District Councillors and Reports appear on page 12. Planning Minutes of the Ashwell Annual Parish Meeting arish councils, by statute, have to be consulted on all planning Papplications even though their recommendations do not have he minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting, held on to be followed. All planning applications received by Ashwell TWednesday 27th March 2019, are available on the Ashwell Parish Council are discussed, where controversial, at an on-site website – www.ashwell.gov.uk - or from the Parish Council meeting of the Planning Committee when the applicant and Office, 6a Back Street, ☎ 743706.