tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2008://279 2008-05-12T10:22:26Z Bucks Bloggers Movable Type 3.31 tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2008://279.46471 2008-05-12T10:17:41Z 2008-05-12T10:22:26Z

A woman I'll call Carol, flinches whenever a car races past her; three years ago her husband was run over and killed by a reckless driver. The driver was given a brief custodial sentence and a year driving ban, but...

Julie Voyce www.counsellingbuckinghamshire.co.uk ]]> tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2008://279.45778 2008-05-02T12:10:31Z 2008-05-02T12:12:41Z

RESIDENTS of the Chesham West neighbourhood have been urged to take part in Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) activities and make it an integral and essential part of their community. Speaking after the first NAG meeting in Chesham recently, the deputy...

Julie Voyce RESIDENTS of the Chesham West neighbourhood have been urged to take part in Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) activities and make it an integral and essential part of their community. Speaking after the first NAG meeting in Chesham recently, the deputy mayor of the Chesham Town Council, Alison Pirouet said: “I believe the NAG initiative is a good one, but the community must participate more to make it community-led with supporting roles from the police, local councils and other agencies.” The call was echoed by Tina Gatherum, who owns a business and lives in Chesham: “I do feel we need to get the community into this project and I am keen to identify some areas that we can work on. “If we can get people involved in putting right the small things the NAG can make a difference and it will be easier to get everyone involved in more key issues”. Annie Sweet, a local resident who represented Little Spring School at the meeting said: “With the right group and agencies involved this will work and it is what the community needs. Dealing with issues in the community is important so we all need to get involved.” The NAG has set its three the top neighbourhood priority as anti-social behaviour, speeding and drugs. At the meeting, the NAG set a number of actions and tasks which will be completed by nominated people from the community. They will be responsible for responding to issues that have been identified by the local community. A date for the next meeting has been set for Wednesday, May 21 at the Chesham Town Hall. The neighbourhood team, which is dedicated to tackling crime and quality of life issues in Chesham West, consists of Sgt Learie Bacchus, PC Gary Blackburn, Neighbourhood Specialist Officer, and Poilce Community Support Officer Charlotte Brand. The team can be contacted via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505. All communities in Buckinghamshire have dedicated neighbourhood policing teams – there are 57 across the county – who work in partnership with the local councils, fire service and community and residents’ associations represented on the local neighbourhood action groups. tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2008://279.44237 2008-04-14T14:39:27Z 2008-04-14T14:41:08Z

Dates For Your Diary From Little Acorns too many Oak trees grow! April 20 (Provisional Date. Time to be confirmed) - we are hoping to have a volunteer session removing some of the oak saplings from the upper park. Please...

Julie Voyce michael.rowan@ntlworld.com ]]> tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2007://279.30078 2007-11-12T10:41:54Z 2007-11-12T10:42:47Z

Open letter from the Chair of the Lowndes Park steering group To all of those people who donated money towards the restoration of the Elm Avenue in Lowndes Park. I have recently been sent a copy of a letter addressed...

Julie Voyce Open letter from the Chair of the Lowndes Park steering group To all of those people who donated money towards the restoration of the Elm Avenue in Lowndes Park. I have recently been sent a copy of a letter addressed to you all from the Chairman of the Chesham Society. The letter expresses sadness that this particular project is not to be taken forward and returns the money that you had previously donated. It also offers two options of how the money might be spent should you still retain the wish to donate the money. I realise that you must all be disappointed and I wish to assure you that the decision was not taken lightly. I do not know how wide the original consultation was for the planting of the avenue, but I do know that we asked for opinions on the planting or otherwise of the avenue in the current proposal and that the overwhelming view was against. As the Chairman of the Chesham Society points out in his letter, any sum that can be raised towards the bid will be increased by further 75 per cent if we are successful in winning the Heritage Lottery Bid. Lowndes Park desperately needs trees. It is important that trees are planted each year so that we can hand the park over to future generations to enjoy as we ourselves have enjoyed it. Failure to plant more trees will see an aging tree stock fall over at roughly the same time, bequeathing a park without trees to take over and provide a structure for the landscape. So if you could be persuaded to donate the returned money to the park it would be put to very good use for the enjoyment and benefit of many of the residents of the town. Whatever you decide to do, I am more than happy to discuss with each and every one of you how the final decision was reached and what the arguments were put forward. My contact details are available through the town council or from the Chairman and Treasurer of the Chesham Society Michael Rowan Chair of the Lowndes Park Steering Group and Friends of Lowndes Park ]]> tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2007://279.25304 2007-09-24T10:30:37Z 2007-09-24T10:33:43Z

By Michael Rowan Chair of the Friends of Lowndes Park TWO weeks ago Chesham Town centre was filled with young people, meeting friends, standing in groups and almost all heading to the park. And yes, I dare say that some...

Julie Voyce By Michael Rowan Chair of the Friends of Lowndes Park TWO weeks ago Chesham Town centre was filled with young people, meeting friends, standing in groups and almost all heading to the park. And yes, I dare say that some were spitting and swearing and being a fraction loud. There was nothing like this in my day (late 60s early 70's) we had to manage with a table tennis table and a record player from which we graduated to pubs and clubs, usually before it was strictly legal. I can remember meeting outside with groups of friends but cannot remember spitting or swearing, although that may be more to do with selective memory, from a time in which I was a model citizen bent on helping old ladies across the street and returning my library books on time. So I can only admire and offer my congratulations to the organisers of the recent rave in the park, for producing a well managed, well stewarded, and clearly appealing event. ]]> Yes, there were things that we could learn from, and improve on next year, but then apart from my perfect youth, where I did everything perfectly from the word go (just don't ask my parents to corroborate) who can't learn and improve? I say next year because I for one will be begging the organisers to come back and put on another excellent day for youth and begging the council to give it permission. I visited the event in the early afternoon and again for a couple of hours towards the end, as I wanted to see for myself rather than rely on others to form my view. I am told 500 young people visited the event, although I would put the figure closer to a 1000, mostly laughing and getting together with friends, and yes, enjoying themselves. I saw lots of people drinking alcohol and although I didn't see it myself would guess that some drank more than they should. Fortunately as a perfect person this has never happened to me (again please don't check with family or friends). I also saw young people trying to balance litter on top of an over flowing litter bins, going out of their way to do so, I saw self policing when one young boy climbed on top of portable toilets and was admonished by some older girls until he climbed back down. And yes I saw young people en masse being perfectly well behaved! I saw very young people perhaps, eight or nine years old, standing on the periphery finding out what it was like to be "cool", not quite in the midst, but joining in at their own level. I saw families sitting around as children made sorties into the various activities and then returning back to their families. I heard the lead singer of one of the band apologise for his bad language as he suddenly realised that he was not at Glastonbury or Woodstock but here in Lowndes Park in Chesham. The park, if it belongs to anyone, belongs to all of us. Dog walkers, bowlers, boating enthusiasts, families with young children and families without children, the young and the old, The beauty of the park is that it can be all things to all people, admittedly not on the same day. Those of us that enjoyed the Medieval Mayhem also had a great day but how much of Chesham's Youth did we see? My congratulations also to the Town Council or whoever it was that sanctioned the event. It is so much easier to say no, and not to take a chance on a new event, especially one run by youth. As I said at the outset there was nothing like it in my day, but I don't wear this mantra as a badge of pride. I would have loved to have had an event like this in my local park when I was young. In fact, I quite like having an event like this now in my local park. Now where did I put those flares? tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2007://279.23157 2007-08-30T18:33:29Z 2007-08-30T22:48:00Z

"I'll tell you when you're older". Or perhaps more frustratingly, "You will understand when you are older"! I am sure that we are all familiar with these patronising statements, all too whimsically thrown out by older brothers, sisters, friends and...

Mary Schwartz "I'll tell you when you're older". Or perhaps more frustratingly, "You will understand when you are older"! I am sure that we are all familiar with these patronising statements, all too whimsically thrown out by older brothers, sisters, friends and parents. But as we grow older, are we really enlightened? Do we suddenly understand and have all the answers to the uncertainty and tricky scenarios that life throws at us? I am beginning to realise that the answer to this question is a resounding no. So what does it mean to be an adult? Perhaps the most important ingrediant to a successful and convincing adulthood is either delusion (though probably not the recommended approach!) or the ability to create the impression of self-assurance and Dali-Lamar like wisdom. In this way, one can convince themselves and those around them of their capabilities. Those of us with younger siblings or children of our own probably hear a distant voice they recognise as their own, uttering the above loathsome statements, as a pitiful attempt to disguise ignorance or to divert attention away from an unwillingness to explain the subject at hand to questioning bemused faces. I wonder whether the world today places too much pressure on people to come up with flawless answers and solutions. Responsibility has always been coupled with age and married to a necessity for correctness. Fatal at worst, and bruising at least, consequences increasingly occur if someone of adult age makes a mistake or misjudgement. Surrounding brow lines crinkle as peers tut, "At their age they should have known better" or "You would think that they would have learnt their lesson by now". But when should this epithany occur? There is no clear-cut division between adolescence and adulthood, what is right or wrong and what is wise or unwise. Some believe that at eighteen we are enrolled into adulthood, whilst America believes this to automatically occur at twenty-one. Is it once you leave school, learn to drive, or in academic circles, when you graduate from university with some letters next to your name? Do you have to leave the parental nest, become self-sufficient, self-reliant or reach a certain level of maturity before it is possible to justifiably claim to be a sensible adult? Yet, maturity does not always correlate with age, and individuals are exactly that - individual and unique. How can we place oppressive sociological rules on the expectations of each age-range? There is no university of life that educates society in how to think and how to act at every age in every context ... thankfully! But I agree that there must be some understanding of how to behave to ensure that there is social order and harmony. A combination of schooling, family and the law must provide an understanding of decorum and respect, however varied school and home environments may be. However, I would say that the tredmill of exams and targets from the ages of five to retirement fascilitates an unhealthy and hostile competitive pressure-cooker of individuals eager to proove themselves superior and right. Hundreds of pupils have nervously awaited the August release of examination results, fearing disappointment will destroy their future ambitions. There is no freedom for children to explore and find their own answers. We become slaves to exam timetables and pressurising expectations, or we rebel against them. Those who fall short or "fail" increasingly seem to turn to other circles to try to prove themselves. The norm being to hit middle-age, change careers, change partners, students changing university and colleague courses or institutions, but most worringly, kids falling into the wrong crowd and gaining respect of peers by "achieving" an asbo next to their name, or flashing a gun in their baggy jean pocket. Too much pressure, too many expectations, too little freedom, or too few answers? Whatever the cause of our self-indulgent insecurities, there seems to be a necessity to always get it right, or else to horribly get it wrong. I have converted to believe the old saying, "To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid". By this, I interpret "stupid" to mean carefree and innocent, with the breathing space to make your own mistakes and to learn from them. This, along with the ability to admit when your wrong, I believe to be the most important ingrediants of adulthood, and the best way to avoid horrific rebellions, such as teenage gun crime, against elders and their rules. Only on these free-er foundations will we see frowns disappear and more adults, children and all the 'inbetweeners' smiling. tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2007://279.19619 2007-07-26T10:03:23Z 2007-07-26T10:04:50Z

Of course, I have heard of blogs before. It’s just that I have never actually read one. As a consequence I am not sure how this is going to turn out. Should it be serious and offer a sense of...

Michael Rowan Of course, I have heard of blogs before. It’s just that I have never actually read one. As a consequence I am not sure how this is going to turn out. Should it be serious and offer a sense of gravitas or should it be more light hearted and depict the fun associated with Lowndes Park? Time will tell, and as I understand it, people reading this will be able to feed in comments which I suspect will shape future entries. So already I am trying to get you to do the work and as people who know me well would say, "no change there!" Clearly the broad subject matter is Lowndes Park, but I am not averse to discussing other parks and their issues and of course as Chair of the Friends, this blog will concentrate on the development of the Friends of Lowndes Park. The Friends have made great strides since January when we first felt that we needed to set up a group. This was in response to the comments from the Heritage Lottery Fund, who having considered an outline proposal to fund a refurbishment of the park, stated that any bid would not be successful if it did not have an active community group devoted to the park associated with it. ie a Friends group. As I had worked with a number of Friends’ groups in the course of my career and had lived in Chesham for the last 15 years, a friend working on the bid, suggested that it was time for me to get off my backside and lend a hand. One of the first targets that I set, was that of a membership of one hundred and one. This was so that we could truthfully say that we had more than a hundred members and begin to sound like a serious organisation. Currently we are running in the high eighties and what in January seemed impossible now seems very achievable. This has been entirely due to the people of Chesham who clearly love the park and want to get involved. I have been very fortunate to get the support of some great people and together we are building an organisation that will help to shape the development of the park. Over the next few months I hope to introduce you to some of these people, and to encourage you to join the Friends of Lowndes Park. (I am not sure if we are allowed to carry out subliminal advertising in a blog – still nothing ventured etc) What has become clear as our membership has grown, is that people wanted a conduit to enable them to ask questions and make suggestions concerning the park. One member has raised the issue of the geese which she says are becoming aggressive and she has suffered several nips trying to keep them away from her daughter. Is this your experience? Are there too many and are they becoming a nuisance? We are looking into this and no doubt will be reporting back soon but I would be interested to hear your views on this or any other aspect of Lowndes Park. I think I am getting the hang of this blog thing now. tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2007://279.18193 2007-07-10T16:33:41Z 2007-07-10T17:15:34Z

Hello! Welcome to our blog, this has taken a while to get going but finally we've made a start! We mainly want to share our news and stories from around our area with anyone who is interested and hopefully we...

Alex Owen Hello! Welcome to our blog, this has taken a while to get going but finally we've made a start! We mainly want to share our news and stories from around our area with anyone who is interested and hopefully we will encourage more people of all ages and interests to take part and become a blogger! We live and go to school in Little Chalfont and so we imagine much of our attention will be focused on the villiage as we feel it doesn't get the recognition it deserves! However, the rest of the surrounding area is highly influential to us and so it will, no doubt feature in this blog a great deal. As we are some of the first bloggers we would be very open to any suggestions of information or material to include in our entries so feel free to contact us! tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2007://279.18177 2007-07-10T13:41:36Z 2007-07-10T13:42:49Z

Mary Schwartz is 21 years old and settling back into Chalfont St. Peter having just graduated with a 2.1 in Politics from the University of Southampton. Having made the most of university life, Mary is looking forward to making the...

Mary Schwartz Mary Schwartz is 21 years old and settling back into Chalfont St. Peter having just graduated with a 2.1 in Politics from the University of Southampton. Having made the most of university life, Mary is looking forward to making the most of graduate opportunities and is saving to go travelling in the near future. Mary has a passion for sport, particularly netball and is what one might call a typical 'Bucks girl', liking nothing more than going out with her friends. ]]> tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2007://279.17197 2007-06-29T11:55:19Z 2007-06-29T11:56:15Z

Welcome to our new bloggers Alex and Megan Owen - 17 year old twins who are in year 12 at Dr Challoners High School. Between studying for their a-levels Alex and Megan find time to play a musical instrument...

Alex Owen Welcome to our new bloggers Alex and Megan Owen - 17 year old twins who are in year 12 at Dr Challoners High School. Between studying for their a-levels Alex and Megan find time to play a musical instrument each, go to the gym about three times a week as well as being members of Little Chalfont Tennis club. Both enjoy an active social life and say much of weekend time is taken going out with friends. Since turning 17 in May they are also learning to drive.]]> tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2008://279.38023 2007-06-19T15:07:09Z 2008-02-07T15:16:04Z

Editorial Editor: Julie Voyce julievoyce@trinitysouth.co.uk The Vale, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks SL9 9ST Tel: 01753 888333 Fax: 01753 892855 bucksnews@trinitysouth.co.uk Advertising Advertisement manager: Ayse Ledger ayseledger@trinitysouth.co.uk Tel: 01494 792626 Fax: 01494 771996 advertisingchesham@trinitysouth.co.uk For all reader travel bookings and enquiries...

Lee Editorial Editor: Julie Voyce julievoyce@trinitysouth.co.uk The Vale, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks SL9 9ST Tel: 01753 888333 Fax: 01753 892855 bucksnews@trinitysouth.co.uk Advertising Advertisement manager: Ayse Ledger ayseledger@trinitysouth.co.uk Tel: 01494 792626 Fax: 01494 771996 advertisingchesham@trinitysouth.co.uk For all reader travel bookings and enquiries phone 0845 226 7747. www.travel-tms.co.uk]]> tag:www.bucksbloggers.co.uk,2008://279.38025 2007-06-19T12:07:56Z 2008-02-07T16:46:05Z

The Buckinghamshire Advertiser conforms to the newspaper industry's voluntary Code of Practice, administered by the Press Complaints Commission. If you feel we have made an error in a report, or have fallen below our usual high standards, please write...

Lee The Buckinghamshire Advertiser conforms to the newspaper industry's voluntary Code of Practice, administered by the Press Complaints Commission. If you feel we have made an error in a report, or have fallen below our usual high standards, please write in the first instance to: Julie Voyce, Editor, The Vale, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks SL9 9ST Tel: 01753 888333 Fax: 01753 892855. Email: julievoyce@trinitysouth.co.uk. The PCC code of practice, along with details of how to complain, is available from Halton House, 20/23 High Holborn, London EC1N 2JD. Website www.pcc.org.uk or email complaints@pcc.org.uk Telephone: 020 7831 0022 Helpline: 0845 600 2757. Click here to read the code.
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