Compton Martin Blog

Sometimes, I feel that God is teasing me, he knows I’m a big Kylie fan, I’ve seen her in concert a few times, I have a lot of her stuff (all CDs bought legally…Ms Minogue! Honest!!) – I’m still struggling with the concept of mp3 downloads etc and still buy CDs… anyways, back to God testing my faith! How could I miss this? The Ring O’Bells is a short walk from our place and then the Princess of Pop rocks up at “the Bells” for a few songs….no doubt you’ve seen the Youtube clip already!

Anyway, news gets out, here are a few links highlighting our humble yet beautiful village with the Kylie connection this past week!

Kylie Minogue & Tinie Tempah – MTV

Excellent news article at THE SUN

Image courtesy of “The Sun Newspaper group”

Kylie’s 1st Pub Gig – SKY NEWS
“The Manager of the pub told Sky News ‘Kylie had about a half an hour rehersal, then had a hamburger and chips before going on stage at 10:30pm’.”

OMG MUSIC’s Review

& another from Americanidolising

As I missed the princess of pop, may I suggest to EMI that they send us Katy Perry soon for a staff get together at the pub? Just mail me in advance and I promise to keep schtumm

I was asked about this the other day when someone with breathing difficulties had to stay indoors because of an impromptu bonfire. This also covers what do you do if your neighbour is one of those that continually burn rubbish or innapropriate rubbish as well. I have heard several complaints and there is valid reasons for complaining if they fall into the categories below. Here are the guidelines, and of course if your neighbour, wherever you are, continues to burn household waste then this can be reported immediately as this is a hazard to health and the council WILL act on it!

Use this link below as a rough guideline to start with, it’s from the Govt advice line.

CLICK HERE

Laws about nuisance caused by bonfires
There aren’t specific laws against having a bonfire, or when you can have one – but there are Acts that deal with the nuisance they can cause.

Burning domestic waste
It is an offence to get rid of domestic waste in a way likely to cause pollution or harm to human health, including burning it.

Burning plastic, rubber or painted materials creates poisonous fumes. These can have damaging health effects – particularly for people with existing health problems, like asthmatics and people with heart conditions. Anyone caught burning these will be prosecuted and the best way to catcth them is take photos and/or film footage!

This is covered under the Environmental Protection Act 1990

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As  a last resort, if there are those that you can not talk to or your neighbour doesn’t give a damn about others well being by lighting up more than just the odd bonfire then you can complain to BANES Council. I stress this is a last resort but I do know that there are several people who have been reported, don’t think the council won’t ignore your please, no matter how trivial you may think it is! You have a right to breathe fresh air and not have a continual nuisance from smoke that causes ash fallout on your peoprty, cars driveways not to mention the upset it causes when you can not enjoy your own garden outdoors!

Complaining to your council about bonfires

If speaking to your neighbour fails, contact your local council’s environmental health department. In most cases, officers from the council will try to deal with the problem informally. To be considered a nuisance, bonfires need to be a regular occurrence and seriously interfere with your well-being. If the bonfire is only occasional, eg a couple of times a year, it’s unlikely to be considered a nuisance in law.

If the council considers a bonfire to be a nuisance, it can issue an ‘abatement notice’. This notice may mean your neighbour must stop having bonfires completely. If they do not stick to the notice (‘comply’) they face a fine of up to £5000 and a further £500 for each day they don’t comply.

Call the Enviromental Health Officers for BANES on 01225 477555

Finally, under the Highways Act 1980, anyone lighting a fire and allowing smoke to drift across a road faces a fine if it endangers traffic. Contact the police if this is the case.

Thinking of burning garden waste? Please consider alternatives and give your neighbours notice, it’s only fair! The above links also show the alternative ways to compost or recycle garden waste rather than cause pollutants and contaminents, and it is also more considerate to your neighbours at this time of year! Thanks.

Please pass this around to everyone you know and be vigilante! Once again, there have been reports of thefts from unattended vehicles, in one instance keys were taken from one car to pilfer from another vehicle parked in the same drive. Thieves will operate in more isolated areas and I know that more and more residents now have CCTV so to any would be thieves, we are aware of your selfish actions, we are talking about it and we will get you caught on cams sooner or later! I also know that neighbours are watching out for each other and have been discussing the latest thefts!

This is a longshot, I know – but this is the latest report:

Between 2300 hours on Friday 11th and 0900 hours on Saturday 12th June 2010, unknown offender(s) have gone into the driveway of a property in the village.  They have then entered an insecure motor vehicle and removed keys to another vehicle which they have also entered and have removed items from within. 

If you have any information regarding this incident please contact the Police on 0845 456 7000. Alternatively you could contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

It is important that you ask for the call to be tagged ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ and quote Ringmaster Message Bath number 194.

Visit the Force website on www.avonandsomerset.police.uk where you can also sign up to receive local news and alerts, Crimestoppers appeals and job details, direct to your inbox – on http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/Interactive/

If you have information about any crime, phone the police on 0845 456 7000 or you can call anonymously to the independent charity CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111.  For general information about Neighbourhood Watch nationally see the www.mynhw.co.uk website.

Each year this fete seems to get bigger and bigger, let’s hope the weather holds out and is glorious to help make it a great day! I’m sure many of you don’t need reminding what will be in store, I intend to take a load of pictures and post it on the website this year, so I hope it’s sunny!!!

Here are some images from the past fetes that were given to me by Nicki Henderson (thanks Nicki…some of these were on the old website, I think…anyways, happy memories, I’m sure!)

these go back as far as 2003!!!

OK, so you get the idea! The Compton martin Church & Village Fete will be held on Saturday June 19, starting 2PM at The Ring O’Bells pub. All welcome.

This year there will be the following:
Bottle Stall – Treasure hunt – Cakes – Plants – Unwanted Gifts – Toys & Books – Raffle – BBQ – Games & Competitions

Hi everyone,
The Chairman of the Chew Valley Twinning Association (Steve Ward) wrote to me earlier with a request whcih I’m only too happy to oblige. I’m sure many of you know that the valley has enjoyed a vibrant link for the past few years with Vern-sur-Seiche, a village of some 7,000 people just south of Rennes in Brittany. Now that population equates more or less to the total population of the villages in the Chew Valley. Several members of course who live in Compton Martin.

VIEW THE LARGER INTERACTIVE MAP HERE

Now I’m not sure how many of you are aware of Googlemaps, but there has been a transformation where you can view virtually any area from a satellite area view and also the new “Street View” which has caused some controversy in the past and this has been done for both Compton Martin and Vern-sure-Seiche (click and drag the little fellow in orange on top left to anywhere that is highlighted on the map and you’ll get the street view.
Double click your mouse and it will zoom in on the map or use the scale on the left to pan out.

Type in Compton Martin on Googlemaps.com and pan in and use the street view option – if you see your house and you don’t want it there, I believe there’s a report function so they can block it out, luckily for me, the lazy car couldn’t be bothered to go up the small drive, but the French car went down every alley as you’ll see! It can be addictive viewing (as I discovered nosing out various ski resorts and the hairpin bends in the Alps!!!)  :)

OK, the Official Vern-sur-Seiche website IS HERE

It even has a McDonald’s nearby (I discovered this on googlemaps)  ;)

OK, here is some information that Steve Ward provided for me:

Chew Valley Twinning Association

 
An informal group of people of all ages from across the Chew Valley (including Compton Martin) who have a common interest in France and the French way of life. We have enjoyed a formal link for the past 6 years with Vern-sur-Seiche, a village in Brittany just south of Rennes. We are not a formal organisation, and our over-riding aim is to enjoy ourselves. There are several of us who can’t speak French.

Activities
There have been several very successful official visits from the Chew Valley to Brittany, and vice versa. We intend to take a group to Vern every other year, and the French will pay us a return visit in the intervening years. 

The next such visit will be to Vern from Saturday 23 October to Tuesday 26 October 2010. The cost is likely to be around £110 per adult and £60 per child under 16. There would be no further meaningful outlay, as our French hosts pay for everything while we are there. If you are interested – or if you would simply like further information – then please do let us know. Contact details below.  

We are encouraging other groups around the Valley (schools, music, youth, sports, historical, church etc) to liaise closely with their French counterparts – indeed, our Breton friends are also very interested in contacting any choirs in the Chew Valley, and any groups of young adults who perform traditional local music / folk / dance, with a view to arranging exchange visits. The primary schools around the Chew Valley are in touch with their counterparts in Vern with a view to establishing pen-pal exchanges.

Aside from the visits, we aim to have lively social activities throughout the year – we have enjoyed quizzes, skittles, barbecues, Murder Mystery nights etc.

Membership and meetings
There is no formal membership, there are no subscriptions, and there are certainly no age limits. Meetings are ad hoc. There is a formal AGM every February.

Contact: Steve Ward
Tel: 01275 333708

A group of English & French youngsters bonding nicely in Vern (Oct 2008)

I received this notice off John (M) regarding the forthcoming production from The Compton Martin Players, it’s a farce by the comedy playright Ray Cooney called “Caught in the Net”
If you’ve missed the update on the front page, then CLICK HERE or on the image below of 2 very pleasant fellas!

Looking good…Opens for 3 days from April 22-24th. Should be a good giggle!

This is a little way off on March 6th but I have been asked by email to mention if anyone would join up with Barbara & Peter Wakeling to form a team.

Copy of mail below:
As the quiz is a village Hall initiative to benefit the appeal I wonder if it would be easier if you advertised the event and added my request. I am simply trying to reach the populous with this request without putting pressure on just a few for whom I happen to have  an e-mail address. So your second e-mail would apply.
Tel. 01761 221540 or email HERE

 There are of course other events coming up which people might ask you to advertise.

Maybe we need to think about separate accounts (Barbara is referring to this blog so ANYONE can write here under their own account).
Would you filter comments in case someone is likely to upset the apple cart? (I most certainly would, all comments need to be approved by me anyway, it also stops any spam etc.)
 Would an e-mail be sent to those signed up when there is an addition? (not sure what you mean, do you mean when there’s a comment approved? Possibly…but then you lead onto the next subject).
What is the status of the old Google group? (as far as I know from Nicky it’s no longer around)

I feel we have lost the habit of using and visiting the website and the facility of the Google group we had going where members could freely chat. Maybe because of the problem we had with a Round Robin before, people will be hesitant; despite the fact that the Round Robins were not connected to either the web site or the Google Group. I feel maybe if we are  to be offered a’ village chat room’  in the form of a more interactive Blog, it needs to be widely advertised otherwise I will be talking to myself !!

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Right this is up to anyone that is really interested!
I can look at the possibility of setting up a dedicated Forum, however, I’d need a moderator for that as unfortunately I can’t always check what is on there due to my own busy work commitments.
Otherwise, if anyone wants to set up a Yahoo or Google Group themselves, please feel free, contact me with the address and then just mail as many people and advertise this to make it work. I will ensure this is prominently displayed on the FRONT of the website with linked access to that group, I have no problem with that at all (I’d just place a disclaimer it’s not run by me.)

Please feel free to leave comments BELOW or contact me by mail or phone on 221385

Ok, Barbara has raised a few good points, let everyone know about what you all would prefer re a Google or Yahoo Group/Forum etc…
Regards
Ivan.

January has been a wierd month, some biting cold temperatures in the village, really heavy snowfall which I reckon surpassed last February and then rain  which has saturated the surrounding fields. Global warming? pah! Not in Compton Martin!

I thought I’d share a few images from our recent snow-fest, it felt like there was more snow here than in the Alps when we had recently returned from a short ski break!!!!

Brrr, I just get cold uploading these pics!
I’m sure many of you have bird feeders, but during the harsh weather it’s nice to leave something for the vulnerable ones, as a bonus we’ve had many grateful Robins, Blue & Great Tits enjoy the peanuts and fat balls that have been hanging from our Bird Table and the branches of trees. If I’m not careful I’ll be off to the lakes next…twitching!!! )

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera that evening and only my phone (without an intrusive flash) so the images below are poor, but to those who were there, maybe this brings back the sense of the evening. An excellent concert by the very talented “Mendip Voices” performed in 2 parts, the 1st part being a nautical theme and after the interval some classic and cleverly arranged Christmas carols.

Judging by the thunderous applause at the end, I think we all enjoyed their efforts!

Taken from the song “HMS Pinafore”

From Blue to Red for the Christmas Section

12 days of Christmas – the alternative version

Mendip Voices will be back at Nempnett Thrubwell, February 6th next year.
You can check out their website for more info HERE

A big “thank you” to the Friends of St Michaels who organised the event and also a fitting occassion to celebrate Tony & Joyce Marks 80th (hmm, Tony, aren’t you 81?) 

As Christmas is fast approaching and on-line shopping is becoming increasingly popular, the Police want to warn residents about a postal scam that has been used in various parts of the country. If you get a postcard through the door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) claiming that they were unable to deliver a parcel, DO NOT call the telephone contact number! The phone number this company is using is 0906 6611911 – if you ring this number you will be charged £15 for the call. Beware of any telephone numbers that start with 09 as they are charged at premium rates.

If you receive a card with these details, please contact the Royal Mail Fraud Office on 02072396655 or the Premium Rate service regulator, ICSTIS, at www.icstis.org.uk

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In something similar, I have also received news about something sweeping the country involving Bogus Security Firms using HARD SELL Tactics on their cold calls. they are essentially making people pay for a high cost assessment home visit. Telephone sales people have told victims that crime was high in their area and claimed to be working with the police.

The police DO NOT WORK WITH PRIVATE HOME SECURITY COMPANIES and NEVER cold call members of the public! Please be on guard of these tactics and of course, guess who are being targetted, yes, the elderly and those vulnerable so these people may feel intimidated into booking an appointment. Please warn elderly relatives of this scam who may feel pressured into buying expensive products!

Ensure they NEVER give their bank details or part with cash over the phone or at the door, no matter how genuine the person may seem. A genuine company will not object to you checking their details or coming back at a later date.

Remember you can always call the police on any crime you know about on 0845 456 7000 or call anonymously to CRIMESTOPPERS on 0800 555 111

Or you can click on the Police badge on the right hand bar for more doorstep advice from the police.

Let’s all have a crime free Festive period.
Ivan.