Community Association

Remembrance Sunday, 8th November 2020 – how to commemorate safely

~ bacaadmin

Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day will be a little different this year, but there are still lots of ways you can get involved while following social distancing guidelines.

Our own St John’s Church will incorporate the two minute silence into their weekly service posted on youtube as always, the link will be available on bellingdon.com from Saturday night, and there are some lovely ideas from the Royal British Legion:

Pause for the Two Minute Silence on your doorstep

With many unable to take part in Remembrance services and events this year, you can still play your part from home and take part in a moment of Remembrance by observing the Two Minute Silence at 11am from your doorstep.

Download a poppy for the Armed Forces community

Download a Remembrance Poppy poster to display in your window this Remembrance Sunday and donate to support the Armed Forces community

Download and donate

Watch on TV/social media

Although there will be no March Past the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, a National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph will still take place.

The closed ceremony will be broacast live on BBC One and you can tune in from 10.15am as representatives of the Royal Family, the Government and the Armed Forces lay wreaths at the Cenotaph.

You will also be able to watch a live stream of events from the Cenotaph on our Facebook page.

Virtual Field of Remembrance

During these challenging times it’s important that we still join as a nation to remember the sacrifices made by our Armed Forces. That’s why we’ve created a virtual Field of Remembrance where you can leave a personal tribute.

Post a tribute

Festival of Remembrance

On Saturday you can watch the Festival of Remembrance at 9.10pm on BBC One. The socially distanced programme was pre-recorded in October and features an interview with Captain Sir Tom Moore, as well as tributes from TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

What we’re remembering this year

In the year that marked 75 years since VE Day and VJ Day, we are celebrating the contribution of every member of our Armed Forces who stepped up to defend our way of life then, and those who continue to do so today, whatever the threat.

Whether it be watching the Remembrance Service on television, or pausing for the Two Minute Silence at your doorstep or front window, we are encouraging people to pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of our Armed Forces in new ways.

To show your support for the Armed Forces community you can download a Remembrance Poppy poster to display in your window this Remembrance Sunday

You can also check out our list of other Covid-safe activities and teaching resources to help you get friends and family involved in Remembrance this year.

Virtual AGM Report – 23/7/20

~ bacaadmin

On Thursday 23rd July we held our first ever Virtual AGM, via Zoom, and are pleased to report that attendance was increased on the previous year!

Two trustees stepped down and four new trustees were elected, including one who had joined mid-year — read the Chair’s statement and minutes below for the full story…

In his summary of the year April 2019-March 2020, Chair Alf Field said:

I think it’s fair to say that this year has been slightly more challenging than the previous one! It started with the extremely hot weather forcing us to cancel the dog show at the 2019 fete and ended with the Covid-19 global pandemic, which has affected us all, one way or another.

Covid Response

We were ahead of the curve in closing the hall, which we did ahead of the official guidance to keep our hirers safe. Much of this is thanks to Helen Harding’s unceasing interrogation of official documents and government guidance – thank you Helen. We also applied for, and received, a grant from Chiltern District Council for support during the Covid crisis. We are continuing to follow government guidelines with regard to the reopening of the hall as and when this is feasible.

The good thing is that we pulled together and showed what can be done as a community when we all look after each other. I hope this one area where we can continue to make progress.

Therefore I would like to thank all those people who came forward and volunteered to help. Whether it be just keeping an eye on your neighbour or dropping off groceries or medicines. Thank you. You have shown what we can achieve as a community.

Following on from this we would like to explore the possibility of setting up a Good Neighbour’s Group similar to the one in Cholesbury, so if anyone is interested in leading this project could they please let us know.

Community and other events

Our Annual Fete continues to be successful, raising £1,440 in 2019. Unfortunately, due to the very hot weather we had to cancel the dog show. This means that our overall income was down from previous years but we took the decision, rightly, that animal welfare came first. Obviously the rest of the fete could not have happened without a huge amount of hard work from our dedicated volunteers, both before and during the event. The money raised will be used in our ongoing commitment to improve and maintain the hall facilities.

In the summer we organised Friday night football nights to entertain the U14s. This was great way of encouraging kids to mix and have fun. These were run by Gary Woodley who is an FA Qualified coach and were extremely popular, also bringing in a new “audience” to our monthly pub nights when the two coincided. Huge thanks to Gary for both coaching the football and manning the BBQ on several occasions.

For the fourth consecutive year, Forro Fest returned over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The event was again attended by nearly 200 people who camped out the field. The weather was fine and Brazilian-style dancing and events were enjoyed by all. This year it was also preceded by a smaller event called Rumble, run along similar lines. None of these events could take place without the hard work and effort put in by two of our committee. Therefore I would like to thank Gary and Hugh Griffiths for helping to make these events a success. We would also like to thank the hall’s close neighbours for their patience and understanding with regard to these larger events.

Throughout the year we have held monthly Pub Nights. These continued to be popular, prior to lock down. A couple were also transformed into quiz nights as well which I hope you all enjoyed. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we can organise another Pub Night where we can finally get together and catch up.

This was followed by the popular annual Christmas parties. The children’s party on the Saturday was attended by 36 local children. On the Sunday we held our Christmas Lunch for the seniors of our villages where 26 people attended. This was double the number of seniors from the previous year so hopefully we are doing something right. Both events were well attended and hopefully enjoyed by all. I would like to thank Natalie Brewer, Debbie Keen, Sally and Christina for organising these parties.

Pre-pandemic the hall and grounds continued to be used regularly by short-mat bowls, pilates, art, ladies’ club, archery and the horticultural society, newly merged with the Chesham branch, as well as a multitude of one-off hirers for birthday parties, wedding receptions and so on. We are working on helping as many of these to return safely in the autumn as we can.

Maintenance and special projects

On the maintenance front we have carried out the following improvements:

  • Replaced the Zip wire in the playground, and repaired the log walk. Fortunately we received a grant from Chiltern District Council to carry out some of these repairs. 
  • We have also repaired the subsidence to the rear corner of the hall. 
  • Removed the four large conifers from the playground. 
  • Installed a gas boiler to provide better shower facilities for the camping events.
  • Removed trees affected by storm damage.
  • Replaced broken goals caused by falling trees in the storms. Fortunately, we received a Football Foundation grant towards the cost.
  • Installed CCTV in the hall to improve security and safety for hall users, including number plate recognition. This proved useful within a week of installation.
  • Replacement of gutters and repairs to floor where a leak had occurred due to storm damage.
  • Completed a “Welcome to Bellingdon & Asheridge” information sheet for new residents which will be available to download from the website shortly.

So as you can see, much has been done to maintain and improve these facilities and foster community spirit. However, we are aware that more is needed and we have a list of improvements we would like to make in the future, including improvements to the car park and the main hall roof.

We hope to obtain grants for part or all of these projects and we’re ready to work with any residents of Bellingdon or Asheridge who have specialist knowledge or contacts that could help us.

Minutes-of-AGM-23.07.2020-finalDownload

Community roundup

~ bacaadmin

Well its been a different few months, to say the least! Shortly  after the last newsletter the country went into lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 and many people’s lives totally changed overnight. 

In our rural area, those with animals to keep and fields to farm may not have noticed too much difference (other than increased numbers of cyclists and walkers) but for others lockdown meant almost total isolation. 

Thankfully the community sprang into action and quickly organised a rota of volunteers to pick up shopping and medication for those who were not able to leave the house: our thanks to Don Baker for coordinating and to the many people who volunteered to help. In the end we didn’t need everyone who volunteered: what a neighbourly bunch we all are. 

Lockdown meant the cancellation of our village pub night so an enterprising regular set up a well attended pub quiz via Zoom (thanks Peter!) which was repeated for a few weeks until Zoom fatigue kicked in. 

Even more ambitious was the Virtual Race Night on 1st May. Huge thanks to Gary Woodley for organising and running this. It raised £160 for NHS Charities! 

There’s been a noticeable increase in walkers and cyclists around our lovely villages enjoying the peace and quiet, seeing nature at its very best and for some, perhaps, fully appreciating their surroundings in a way that our busy lives don’t often allow. We would encourage everyone to adhere to the countryside code – particularly with reference to keeping dogs under control, leaving gates as you find them and not cycling on footpaths. 

Also its been good to see the recreation ground at the hall being used for daily exercise – including some very intense training sessions by several very committed athletes! 

Unfortunately someone saw fit to ignore the newly-installed CCTV cameras at the hall and has sprayed graffiti over the pavillion at the far end of the field, not once but twice! This has been reported to the police. 

The weekly “clap for carers” has now ended but a good amount of clapping and banging of saucepans could be heard every Thursday night in support of NHS doctors and nurses – plus all the lovely rainbows drawn, coloured or painted by our amazingly resilient younger residents. There’s even a front lawn with a rainbow and “NHS” etched into it. 

While the official VE Day celebrations were postponed until mid August it was fantastic to see so many flags and bunting go up anyway, an amazing spitfire flyover, and some managed to have a socially distanced toast to those who gave their freedom so we can have ours. 

Friday night kids’ football

We were hoping to start up Friday night football for U14s again after May half term, but unfortunately we can’t now do this. Hopefully it’ll be able to restart later in the year. 

Village hall playground

The playground is currently closed as per government guidelines. We will update the signage as and when the guidelines change and the playground has been checked for any potential hazards that might have occurred during lockdown.
 
If you’re interested in helping us to keep the playground safe we’re looking for a volunteer. It takes about half an hour once a month, using a checklist provided by ROSPA, who carry out our annual inspections. You then would report your findings in to the committee who will action any necessary repairs. Please contact us if you can help with this! 

Great British Spring Clean

The #gbspringclean has been rescheduled to 11-27 September 2020 because of the COVID-19 lockdown. Please contact Don Baker nearer the time (we’ll also provide more information in the Autumn Newsletter/on the website). 

In the meantime, why not pick up a bag of litter while you’re out walking anyway? Don’t forget your gloves and be sure to practice appropriate hand hygiene – or use a grabber if you have one.  

Fête 2019: Raffle prizes

~ bacaadmin

As always we’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our residents in donating raffle prizes to support the fête (see below).

You can get your raffle tickets on fête day (29th June), but our volunteers will be going around the village on Wednesday 19th June from 6-9pm, calling at each house in Bellingdon & Asheridge to give you your FREE fête day programme and the opportunity to buy raffle tickets to be in with a chance of winning one of these amazing prizes:

  • Two Premium tickets to a Rugby International at Twickenham
    (kindly donated by Conlan Associates)
  • Priests Ford Car Service to the value of £125
  • Fastbreak Sports voucher for £50
  • Family Pantomime ticket for The Elgiva
  • Boden voucher for £50 (kindly donated by Paul O’Leary)
  • Christmas Tree voucher, Christmas Tree Farm
  • England Rugby Jacket (kindly donated by Steve Valvona)
  • Photoshoot at Venture Studios, Eton
  • £20 Voucher Tring Brewery
  • Delta Force paintballing vouchers
  • Canapease – cookery class voucher for one
  • Bottle of whisky (kindly donated by John Conlan)
  • Selection of wine, kindly donated by residents.
  • And many more…

If you have additional prizes you would like to donate either in advance or on the day please contact Jill.

If you’ll be unavailable on 19th June but would still like to donate, please contact Liz in advance or use the contact details on the flyer we will leave on the evening.

Thank you – we couldn’t do it without you.

Volunteers’ Week 2019

~ bacaadmin

Volunteers’ Week is a time to say thank you for the fantastic contribution volunteers make.

During the week, hundreds of events and celebrations take place across the country, saying thank you to volunteers and recognising their invaluable and diverse contribution to UK society

So what would we have missed out on without volunteers? Well London 2012, for a start, featured 70,000 voluntary Gamesmakers – the Games simply couldn’t have happened without them.

On a more local level, there are hundreds of thousands of volunteers making the little things happen – volunteer drivers, carers, guide/scout leaders, football coaches, and community building management teams to name but a few. Almost all of us will benefit in some way from someone volunteering their time free of charge.

And it’s great for the volunteers themselves – learning new skills, meeting new friends, it’s a fantastic way to enrich your own life at the same time as helping others, and is an important foundation of our society.  

Inspired? How can you help?

Our village hall provides a crucial locaiton for villagers (especially the elderly and vulnerable) to meet through Ladies’ Club, Hort Soc and various exercise classes during the week. We also run several social events a year including the extremely popular seniors’ Christmas lunch and children’s Christmas party. We fund much of the upkeep of the hall by hiring it out for children’s parties, weddings and other celebrations.

We need someone to commit a couple of hours a week to support our trustees and bookings secretary in ensuring that our facilities are maintained to the standard expected by our hirers. The role consists of checking the hall and grounds each week to make sure, for example, lights are all working, nothing is broken, no hazards to report. If anything does need flagging you would raise it with the committee so expenditure can be approved.

We’re also looking for a secretary (this is a Trustee position). You’d prepare an agenda for our monthly meeting plus take, circulate and keep a record of all minutes at the meeting. There may be a small amount of additional correspondence.

Finally we’d love some help with our online presence (website, facebook, twitter and monthly email) and quarterly newsletter. This would suit a sixth former or student looking for some experience in digital and print marketing and communications. You’d assist with writing and possibly layout and proofreading of the quarterly newsletter and monthly email, plus making sure all digital channels are kept ticking over and assist with targeted campaigns for particular events (for example the annual fête).  

If any of this is of interest please do get in touch: contact@bellingdon.com or speak to any of the committee.