Village News

Friends of Blakedown Playground AGM
(15 Oct 05)
The AGM will be held at Blakedown Scout Hut, behind the Parish Rooms, at 8 pm. This is a Public meeting where comittee members may be elected.

BENEFICE AWAY-DAY 2005
(05 Oct 05)
Following the success of last year's away-day, another has been arranged for Saturday, 22nd October at the Franciscan Retreat House, Glasshampton, near Great Witley. This should prove to be an exciting and interesting day for members of all three congregations.
Please let Gerry (700748) or Mary (700776) know as soon as possible if you are able to come.

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY, 13TH NOVEMBER
(05 Oct 05)
This year the United Service Remembrance Day Service will be attended by the Royal British Legion and take place at Blakedown Church. Members of the community are invited to join with the Legion at the railway station at 10.30 a.m. and parade to the church for the service starting at 10.50 a.m.
There will be no 11.00 a.m. service at Broome this year.

Village Handyman

Mark Jones has been appointed the new Village Handyman for Churchill and Blakedown Parish, working one day per week, under the direction of the Parish Council.

Following the Parish Council meeting held the 13th July 2005, I invited Mr Griffiths to write a short piece for the Village Website that would clearly state the intentions for the land off Station Drive and provide a response to the Express & Star Newspaper report linked to in earlier versions of this site.

After reading the article below I would like to invite all comments to be sent to the Webmaster. I will collate all responses and pass them on to the Parish Council.

And now for Mr Griffiths statement.......

As a number of you may already know Marmaris Investments own the land off Station Drive next to the railway station. Representatives of Marmaris (Colin Griffiths of Satnam Investments) had the pleasure of speaking to the Parish Council and a number of local residents recently in respect of our initial thoughts for the development site.

Clearly, we accept from the outset that the site is within the greenbelt and that without an "exceptional" need for the release of the site, probably nothing will happen. That having been said, we are aware of the problems associated with vehicles parked on the grass verges and roads in the vicinity of the station, which is causing problems locally and (via the Local Authority) the lack of affordable housing within the rural areas and villages of Wyre Forest, including Blakedown.

We wish to investigate therefore, with the village and its residents, whether there is a desire and a need locally to bring forward a limited development scheme on the land at Station Drive to provide the following:

1) a car park for users of Blakedown Station (circa 30 spaces)
2) approximately 20 affordable houses - a mixture of rented and shared equity purchase - via a housing association for those in local housing need
3) a limited amount (again circa 20) of a range of houses for sale, which will provide the finance for the above elements of the scheme

The scheme would, of course, be properly planned, landscaped and carried out, so that visually it was an asset to the village.

In association with the railway car park (which we would hope would then be transferred to the Parish Council with an appropriate sum for its future maintenance) we would propose road traffic orders to bring in residents parking schemes on the roads in the vicinity of the railway station to reduce the amount of on street car parking.

The affordable housing would be provided by a housing association and a legal agreement would prevent its extension and limit the resale of the shared equity homes to prevent resale at full market value in the future.

Clearly, the proposal would conform with all relevant technical and highway requirements, including any financial contributions to local facilities, such as schools and open space.

We would appreciate the views of as many local residents as possible so that we may then consider whether there is, in principle, sufficient support for us to move to the next stage of preparing detailed plans and working with the Parish Council on a local housing needs survey, to establish what form of affordable housing (if any) is required in the village.

We would be grateful for your views by September 1st 2005. You can email your response,if you wish, to admin@satnam.co.uk or by post to :

Colin Griffiths
Satnam Investments Limited
17 Imperial Square
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 1QZ

Announcing a new local history publication, Schoolday Memories From Blakedown
(23-03-05)

It began as a makeshift school in a temporary building. But in 1885, Blakedown School was officially founded on a plot of donated land next to the village church. Over the decades thousands of children have passed through its doors. For many, in the earlier days, it was the only education they would receive. For others, it was the important foundation that prepared them for secondary school.

Read the full article here.

Blakedown Children's Playground
(23-03-05)
The Friends of Blakedown Playground, a small group set up to maintain and improve the children's playground on the Sports Field behind Blakedown School, is asking for some practical help this month.

They're organising a Work Party on Saturday 9th April from 1pm to do some light maintenance work at the playground eg painting, ground levelling and general maintenance.

Offers of help would be very much appreciated, to smarten up this much-used village facility. If you can spare an hour or so, please contact one of the group (numbers are below).

Please note that for safety reasons the playground will be closed during the afternoon, and volunteers are asked not to bring young children with them.

Contact numbers: Jim 700994, Vince 700540, Trish 701208, Stuart 700874

Fax Machine
(02-03-05)
There is now a fax machine at the Post Office. This has been donated by the Parish Council. The Parish Council feel sure that in its new home it will be well used and be of benefit to residents.

A Pictorial History of Churchill and Blakedown
(02-03-05)
As it's title states this book gives a graphical account of the history of the villages from early days up to later parts of the 20th century. It comprises 140 pages of photographs, pictures and maps. It was edited by Peter S Legat and sponsored by the Parish Council
Copies can be obtained from Roger Gurney, the Clerk to Churchill and Blakedown Parish Council, priced £5.50 including postage and packing. He can be contacted at GurneyRD@aol.com, or on 01905 830756, or at 56 Malvern Road, Powick, Worcester, WR2 4RT.

Annual Parish Meeting
(02-03-05)
This is the one meeting of the year for the electors of the Parish to discuss matters of interest or concern about the Parish. If present, the Parish Council Chairman presides, but this is a meeting of the Parish, not the parish council. The Meeting will be held on Wednesday 20th April 2005, at 7.30 pm, in the Village Hall at Churchill. Speakers on local matters of interest are being invited to attend.

Old House at Home
(02-03-05)
One of our Village pubs has recently been sold by Spirit Group.

This change of ownership though does not appear to have a detrimental effect upon our amenities in that the Old House at Home has a new licensee with strong ambitions to provide a good local service for villagers and other visitors.

There have been some changes already with a different range of beers and a new menu.

Churchill and Blakedown Website wish them success.

Sent in by A. Cairns