Sherfield

Christmas Eve: There was a fantastic atmosphere on Christmas Eve in Bow Grove when Martin Turvey provided the music: carols and Christmas songs, from 5-7pm. With folks out in their gardens, garages, front lawns and keeping their distance, there was mulled wine and a great way to start Christmas. Thanks Martin and all who helped with organization.

2020 was certainly a very different year with some changes in the village; the village hall has seen some refurbishment, we were very lucky that in spite of the sad news that House Twenty8 closed, the Coffee Shop opened in its place and we also had the Post Office saved from permanent closure. There were commemorations for VE and VJ day with socially distanced “street” or “garden” parties for VE day. Village activities were severely disrupted but among the positives, there were some successful charitable events including the Macmillan Coffee Morning, Pink day at the Coffee Shop and a pop up poppy stall raising funds for the British Legion poppy appeal. Ken and his team did a fantastic job at The Shop keeping things running smoothly for shoppers and continuing to provide a delivery service for those who couldn’t get out. And thanks too to all those who took part (and continue to do so) the local volunteer service, under the sterling stewardship of Judith Sullivan for food shopping, prescription collection and telephone befriending.

Finally: thanks to all who continue to keep Sherfield a friendly and safe place to live. Please keep me informed of your activities and let’s hope that 2021 will be kinder to us than 2020 was.

Chris Horton

Hatch Warren and Beggarwood

Real Christmas trees: if you have a real tree that you would like to dispose of for free, knowing that it will be composted and recycled, you have a choice of nearby drop-off sites. The Hatch Warren Community Centre, Homebase and the Gershwin Road sports pavilion are three of the nearest. Alternatively, if you subscribe to the Borough Council’s garden waste collection service, you can leave the tree out with that. Please make sure that all decorations have been removed.

The citizens advice bureau does valuable work throughout the year and they have published their report for 2019/20. It contains a useful breakdown by ward of the issues they have encountered. In Hatch Warren and Beggarwood they helped with 490 cases and the top categories were Benefits and Tax Credits, Debt, and Relationships and Family. It serves as a reminder that even in our comparatively affluent area, there are people experiencing difficulty in their lives. We should be grateful for the work that the CAB does.

Beggarwood’s cafe in the park re-opens on Saturday 2nd January for its very popular lunchtime take-away service.

Spare laptop computer? If you, or someone you know, has a spare laptop now, St Mark’s school can put it to good use supporting children at home. It doesn’t need to be new or quick. The school will blitz it and install the software they need to support its new use for home learning. If you can help, please let the school know via e-mail.

Happy new year: I hope that the roll-out of the vaccines will give our communities chance to get back to normal over the next few months and once again wish you a happy and, above all, a healthy new year.

Stephen Reid

Chineham

So this pretty horrifying year is almost over. As nearly everywhere else, life in Chineham has been modified quite considerably as a result of the pandemic.

Some aspects of life have undoubtably improved, like less traffic and more people walking, whilst rather more have unfortunately been severely damaged like the many local activities normally being reported in this column. It would be nice to think that things are now going to – gradually – get better, but the speed of the recovery will now depend mainly on how we all behave!

One special bonus for Chineham is that one of the biggest vaccination centres in North Hampshire is right in our parish at the Hampshire Court Hotel.

Despite expressions of concern by the neighbouring Great Binfields Primary School, the activities so far appear to have been fairly subdued and traffic generation only very modest.

Talking of traffic, next week there are roadworks scheduled to commence both in the link between Reading Road and the Binfields Roundabout and in the link section between the junction of Hanmore Road and Reading Road which joins up to the Crockford Roundabout. This was originally planned to happen last November and may yet suffer further delays.

One thing which will not be delayed is the New Year and I wish all readers a better year than we have experienced in 2020 and in particular a good start of the New Year tomorrow.

Fiona Biermann

Silchester

CHURCHES our Parish Church continues with the Zoom services at 10.00am each Sunday... The Christmas Eve Service and Christmas Day at managed to get into double figures and it was appreciated that these services were able to be held in our Church .The Methodist service starts at 10.30am on Zoom next Sunday as usual. There will be a Communion Service for the New Year on January 3rd at 8am in Church.

SILCHESTER CAROL SERVICE it was a joy to see our Church and several members and friends taking part in our Carol Service via You Tube... Thanks to all who read the Christmas story, sang well known carols, especially Mollie’s solo, and to the children of our school who “signed” one of the carols. The opening picture of St Mary’s from above was a winner and readers used different parts of Silchester as backgrounds to their readings. Well done to you all and to those on the technical side who were responsible for the production.

SPECIAL CAROL Silchester has new personal carol! Words, music and orchestration by Robin Scott who lives in our village. World Premiere was at the Community Choir evening a few days before Christmas and can be listened to on Facebook.com/Silchester Community Choir.

PANTO did you tune in to the Silchester Panto on the radio – another first!! Listen on www.hher.org.uk (Basingstoke Community Radio). “Dick Whittington” is the Panto; hear the sounds of Bow Bells ringing out! The date was 27 December and time 2pm.

WORKNG PARTY will be on January 16th from 9.30am outside the Calleva Arms.

COVID take care everyone as Christmas will be very different for most of us this year. None of us would have thought, last spring, that the pandemic could have possibly lasted so long. So many of us will not see our families but we keep them in our hearts all the rime and hope they, and us, can have a small celebration and remember “Jesus is the reason for the Season”. Happy New Year and may 2021 see the end of the dreaded Covid and all who need the vaccine have been given it.

Many thanks to the PHOENIX CLUB leaders who managed to take a Christmas Gift to all our members. Quite appropriate at Christmas as our gifts were delivered in a pram!!!

Nancy Jones

Cliddesden

Cliddesden is all a-twinkle with Christmas lights and, walking around, there is no shortage of good cheer, despite everything else that seems to be conspiring against its presence. COVID and Brexit loom like spectres, with not much anyone can do about either.

Still, we are very lucky to live within such a supportive community and to be surrounded by beautiful, unspoilt and accessible countryside. Had it not been for these two things this past year would have been a sight more difficult for many residents to endure.

On the subject of our wonderful surroundings, enjoyed by so many runners, walkers and cyclists from further afield as well as the residents of Cliddesden, a huge number of responses were received by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council regarding the local plan and the Upper Swallick proposed development.

Many people, both Cliddesden residents and others, have purchased the STaNHD banners, the proceeds of which go towards paying for the services of professionals who can help advise and oppose the proposals. There are still a few banners left, so if you are interested in buying one please contact: alanbtyler19@btinternet.com.

These are difficult times for many people and it is disappointing that we find ourselves now having to think about further outlay in order to protect something so fundamental to the wellbeing of generations, from its very custodians.

Rachel Beresford-Jones