News Stories
Selected excerpts from Parish Magazine news stories
The Eversley Village Hall AGM took place on 22nd January. Please see the draft minutes here.
Also please see the the following documents referred to in the minutes:
A full report of the meeting will be in the February edition of the Parish Magazine, available soon.
Wildfire can spread faster than an Olympic sprinter and leaves both the wildlife and the habitat of our precious heathland decimated. With the long period of dry weather and extreme temperatures, the risk due to the dry gorse, heather and grasses is even greater than in previous years, with the official daily Fire Severity Index issued by the Met Office (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/fire-severity-index/) reaching level 5 (Exceptional) for the past weeks. The Thames Basin Heaths are a unique natural resource, right here on our doorstep, but even more at risk than the Rainforests of the Amazon. Most wildfires, however, are preventable; caused by a stray cigarette butt or even a discarded glass/plastic bottle magnifying the sun’s ray. Some misguided individuals encouraged, no doubt, by the warm weather, even consider it safe to have a BBQ or camp-fire. Within just a few minutes, a wildfire can spread at an alarming rate. If you are out and about and see an unattended fire, please report it straight away (999 Fire and Rescue Service), don’t assume some-one else already has. I’ll leave you with a few images from the Thames Basin Heaths. Partnership, showing the devastation wildfires can cause. For further information, please see their website: (https://www.tbhpartnership.org.uk/wildfire/)
On 24th March at 7:45 the Annual Parish Meeting of the Electors of Eversley is to be held at Eversley Village Hall at 19:45.
Any local resident is invited to attend and contribute to their community.
Refreshments will be available. See Eversley Parish Council | Looking after your Parish
Home
for more information.
“Mum, I want to send warm hugs to the poor refugees from Ukraine” said 11 year old Ava to her mum, Nicky, on their walk back from Charles Kingsley School. “Ava, you can’t send hugs by post” explained Nicky, in that semi-patronising tone Mothers always save for their youngest daughters. “Mum, I know that” sighed Ava in that special patient tone that 11 year old daughters save for their parents who still treat them as if they were 5. “… But we could send them blankets to keep them warm as if we were sending them a hug, couldn’t we?”.
And so started a whirlwind of activity that has already resulted in 14.5 tonnes of aid being delivered to Ukrainian refugees.
Nicky’s eldest daughter, Emily,(16), had been researching the background to the war in the Ukraine and ensured that all her family watched the harrowing plight of the millions of refugees making their way from their war-torn homeland, and the heart-breaking images of families saying goodbyes to their fathers, husbands and brothers as they boarded trains to the ‘front’ in scenes sadly reminiscent of some of the worst images from WW2 newsreel.
Following that walk home from school, Nicky (37) sent out a message on FaceBook to ask local people to supply blankets and within a few short hours was inundated with offers from local people from Eversley, Bramshill and Yateley. A short period of on-line research put her in contact with Frimley Cricket Club who were co-ordinating deliveries to some of the depots in Poland. Further calls with Yateley Town Council and a conversation with the Mayor Gerry Crisp, resulted in being offered the British Red Cross Building off Monteagle Lane as a collection point.
In less than 24 hours Ava, Emily and Nicky had collected 14.5 tonnes of food, medicines, blankets and push chairs to send to the refugee camps being rapidly set up in Poland. “The people from Ukraine are being forced to leave their homes with literally nothing but the clothes on their back” Nicky explained to me. “So, we make sure that we carefully vet what we send over to ensure it is of the highest quality, Ava wants to send a message to each of the refugees that we care about them, that they are loved – a ‘Warm Hug’, so we invest our time to ensure everything is wrapped carefully, labelled in both English and Polish and above all is something that we would want to receive. Each of the 40 pushchairs were sent with a handknitted / crocheted blanket to re-inforce that message”
The army of volunteers are only too pleased to help, members of the Eversley based ‘Yateley Walking Football’ team who helped load the first lorry, included local resident Graham Bell, who explained, ”Giving your time and personally selecting the actual produce to send, makes you so much more invested in the cause than just simply donating a fiver, we really feel as though we’re sending our support personally”.
Nicky has drummed up support from local companies such as 500 logistics who have agreed to do the first 2 deliveries and donations from firms such as Citrix and BMW, who have heard her appeal on local radio and TV. “I’m normally so confident, but for some reason was a complete bag of nerves on the radio” Nicky explained.
However nervous she was it’s having a massive effect, pictures from the first delivery that have already reached the refugee camps have arrived and so Ava’s “Warm Hugs” have truly been sent by post to some of our European Neighbours most in need of them at this terrible time. And with a growing stockpile Nicky is confident of being able to send yet more Warm Hugs in the coming days.
If you want to contribute, please see the Yateley Town Council FaceBook page (https://www.facebook.com/YateleyTC/?msclkid=f87b8a1fa56d11ecb1e7883f046b9018 )or just turn up at the Red Cross Centre and ask to speak to Nicky or Ava.
After over 10 years of unstinting service to the local community Councillor Kevan Neville has had to stand down due to pressures of work. If you have some time to spare in the interest of the village, please contact the Parish Clerk, Julie Routley on 01252 876 924 or email clerk@eversley-pc.gov.uk
The Parish council are canvassing for ideas on how to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth this year.
Please contact the Parish Clerk on 01252 876 924 (or email clerk@eversley-pc.gov.uk) if you have any suggestions
The Chequers in Eversley Cross, Hampshire, has been officially recognised for the positive steps it has been taking to reduce its impact on climate change by being awarded a Three Star Food Made Good rating by the Sustainable Restaurant Association. The pub and its owners Peach were awarded the accolade for the action taken to be a more sustainable business in the way its food is sourced, its steps to reduce waste, how it looks after its people and the community and the environment.
To read the full article subscribe to the January edition of the Eversley Parish Magazine