BROAD TOWN NEWS – FEBUARY 2023
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
CHRIST CHURCH
To everyone who came to the Church Christmas coffee morning in the village hall we give a huge “Thank You”. You raised over £770 for the Church which was a remarkable achievement and has helped to swell the coffers.
Services 5th February Communion 10:30am - 26th February Evening Service (Lay led) 5pm
VILLAGE HALL
Free WiFi is now available in the hall. Gigaclear have very kindly provided this Community Hub for a 12 month period and this will be reviewed taking into consideration demand for this facility so please make use of this generous offer.
BROAD TOWN HISTORY
Call Malcolm on 01793 731567 if you have any photos or stories that you would like to share on the Broad Town history website https://www.broadtownhistory.com/
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
The coffee mornings in February will be on Wednesdays 8th and 22nd from 10 – 12 noon in the Village Hall. A big thank you to everyone who attended our Christmas Coffee Morning on December 14th, and a huge well done to all the children from the village pre-school who sang an assortment of seasonal songs to make our coffee morning especially festive! The £130 raised at the coffee morning was later donated to the Pre-School, and we know that they are extremely grateful for this boost to their funds. One of the new cherry trees planted in the churchyard in December was donated by the Community Coffee Mornings in remembrance of HM Queen Elizabeth II, and a brass plaque will soon be added to mark this occasion. Thank you to everyone who helped to decorate the Christmas trees in the village shelter opposite the churchyard. The ‘Coffee Morning Tree’ was festooned with coffee morning themed decorations, the vast majority being homemade, and all the trees looked amazing! We look forward to seeing you on the 8th and 22nd for our usual tasty offerings of delicious homemade cakes, teacakes, sausage rolls, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. If you haven’t been to a village coffee morning before then why not give it a try, you are assured of a warm welcome!
CHRISTMAS 2022
Thanks to the Parish Council and Jason and Vincenza Bayliffe and family for providing the trees for Broad Town Church and Churchyard. Thanks also to the Good Energy Fund, the Social Club, the Village Hall Committee and Community Coffee Morning for sponsoring the 5 trees and lights for the shelter. The trees were imaginatively decorated by BT Pre School, Community Coffee Morning, Broad Town School and Bumps & Beyond. There was an enthusiastic team of villagers who helped decorate the shelter and erect/decorate the Churchyard tree and although too many to mention by name – you know who you are – and we are very grateful for your continued support.
PARISH COUNCIL
Budget & Precept for 2023/24 Despite increases in both the Clerk’s salary (dictated by the Local Government Association pay agreement) and the cost of grass-cutting for the playing fields the Parish Council has been able to limit the precept increase to 0.62%. This means that the annual budget will be set at £10,096 and the annual amount requested from a household in tax band D in the village will increase slightly to £36.53 from last year’s £36.31. The Parish Council precept forms a small part of the overall annual Council tax requirement which will be communicated by Wiltshire Council direct to householders.
Government Emergency Alerts system live soon You may have seen in one of the Parish Council weekly emails that the UK government’s new Emergency Alerts system will be live early this year, and you should expect to receive a test message. The system will enable people to be contacted via their mobile phone when lives are in danger. It will be used to warn you in the event of emergencies, such as severe flooding. Emergency Alerts are sent to all compatible mobile phones within an area of risk. They don’t track your location, need your phone number, or collect personal data. Only the government and the emergency services will be able to send them. If you don’t have a mobile phone, you’ll still be kept informed through other channels. If you get an Emergency Alert on your phone, you’ll hear a loud, siren-like sound. A message on your screen will tell you about the emergency and how best to respond. You’ll be able to check an alert is genuine at gov.uk/alerts. If you receive an alert, read the alert carefully and follow the instructions. You can opt out of receiving emergency alerts; for more information on how to opt out please go to gov.uk/alerts. To find out more about Emergency Alerts, visit gov.uk/alerts. The next Parish Council meeting will be at 6.30pm in the village hall on 13th February. All are welcome and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
FOODBANK
Thanks to everyone for your generous donations. Thanks also for your continued support throughout 2022 The next village Foodbank Collection will be on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February at the Village Hall - 9am to 4pm
BROAD TOWN NEWS
Is your neighbour new to Broad Town or do you know anyone who relies on smoke signals to find out what is going on in Broad Town? If so then why not let them know that they can easily subscribe to the BT News by e-mailing BroadTownNews@gmail.com
WHAT OUR S.I.D. SAW LAST MONTH
20,325 vehicles passed the SID located at Chapel Lane measuring the speed of traffic travelling to RWB from mid-Dec to mid-Jan. 2,413 (12%) vehicles went through the SID doing more than 35mph
106 vehicles were logged by SID travelling at speeds deemed dangerous by Wiltshire Police 3 idiots went thru the village doing more than 55mph in the 30mph part of the village.
SOCIAL CLUB & DIARY DATES
The Community Carol Singing and the New Year’s Eve party were both successes and it was lovely to have friends and neighbours together in celebration. Thank you to everyone who attended and for helping to raise £134 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance and £46 for the Salvation Army. Thanks also to all those who helped organise these events and to Food for Thought for the donation of some rather delicious homemade mince pies. We are back in full swing again now, and the Social Club is open as normal on Fridays from 8pm – 11pm with the usual array of (very reasonably priced) drinks and snacks and of course lots of banter at the bar! We are also now able to benefit from the recent refurbishments to the Village Hall of new heating, lighting, and driveway, plus we have new wi-fi and can take payment by both card and cash. Get yourselves down here to check it all out. Members - don’t forget to renew your membership for 2023! Princely sum of £2.
FISH FRIDAY DATES Food for Thought Fish and Chip trailer will be in the Village Hall car park on the dates below. The Social Club opens at 5pm on these dates so please come on in with your takeaway, enjoy the warmth and have yourself a drink or two to wash it down with. Friday 24th February & Friday 24th March (with charity pub quiz from 8pm). Details to follow in next month’s newsletter and on the various community Facebook pages. Go to https://www.facebook.com/FoodForThoughtSwindon for details of the full menu and how to beat the queues through pre-order. We look forward to welcoming one and all.
King Charles III Coronation Friday 5TH – Monday 8TH May 2023
Calling all Broad Town residents! Once again, we have a Royal event to celebrate in true Broad Town style, with a weekend of fun activities and social events. We are looking for new ideas for events for our young people and children. We also need volunteers to organise or attend events in the run up to the weekend (e.g., village litter pick, decorating the shelter, making scarecrows etc) and then to help with events over the weekend itself (e.g., children’s event, afternoon tea party, evening dance, scarecrow competition, village walk and so on). Don’t panic, you won’t have to get involved in all of these (unless of course you want to!). It’s a great opportunity to meet new people and get involved in the fun side of village life. If you have any ideas for events and/or want to get involved, then please contact Anne Granger in the first instance via anrichar4@aol.com
Time for us to tidy the pad, get creative have some fun, eat drink & be merry.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Sunday 5th February Christ Church Communion - 10.30am
Wednesday 8th February Community Coffee Morning - 10-12am
Saturday 11th February Foodbank collection
Sunday 12th February Foodbank collection
Wednesday 24th February Community Coffee Morning - 10-12am
Friday 24th February Fish and Chips Village Hall
Sunday 26th February Christ Church Evening Service (Lay led) 5pm
Friday 24th March Fish and Chip Village Hall Pub Quiz night
April 22nd or 29th (date to be confirmed) Litter picking for the Coronation
May 5th to May 8th (to be confirmed) King Charles III coronation weekend
NEXT EDITION
Please forward articles for the news to the following email address: - BroadTownNews@gmail.com
The deadline will still be the 22nd of each month
Any queries, please contact Ray Manley - raymanley1@icloud.com Tel: 01793 731564