CHRISTMAS AND CRAFTS FAIR Saturday 5 th December, 2 5pm in the Village Hall. On sale will be hand-made decorations and gifts, home-made cakes, nearly new toys, and refreshments. There will also be a tombola and a Christmas Hamper raffle. Santa will be in his grotto welcoming children and giving out presents. We already have several stalls booked but if you would like a table at 10 for the afternoon to sell your crafts, please get in touch with Rachel on rachel26smith@hotmail.com or 07539 510256. Quote of the month
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS The next magazine covers two months, December and January. Please include information for both months, and get your information in by the deadline. Coffee and Cookies Christmas Joy Jones. BOOKS, BISCUITS & COFFEE St Leonard s Church, 21 st November, 10am 12. Special Pre-Christmas Booksale, with crafts. Brenda Boyd
Celebrating 50 Years of Blunsdon WI
News from St Leonard s CE Primary Academy We have settled back into a routine in St Leonards and are having a busy Autumn Term. We welcomed all our new children in Reception Class and several older ones too. We also welcomed Ms Campbell and Mrs Upton as Class One Teachers and Ms Baverstock, Ms Bowman and Mrs Higham, who are supporting pupils in Year 5 and Reception. We said goodbye to Mrs Duffin in July, when she retired after many years as a teacher at St Leonards, and to Mrs Hemns, who has been appointed as a teacher in another school following her successful training. On the penultimate day of the summer term, nspection (Statutory achieved Out team effort and the whole school community contributed to this result. The inspector, Mrs Morris was extremely impressed with the children knowledge of the curriculum, their behaviour, compassion and understanding of Christian values. At the end of the summer term we had a Welly Walk Day. The Year Six children organised various welly-related activities and cakes were sold to raise money for Farm Africa, a charity which helps rural farming communities in Africa boost their harvest. An amazing 1370.69 was collected. Donations were made to Water Aid as our Harvest offering. Years 2 and 4 visited Bristol Cathedral in October to take part in the organised by the Cathedral giving the children the opportunity to take part in lots of different art activities and experience the magnificence of the Cathedral. They also met children from other schools in the Diocese. As well as the Big A club which provides before and after school care, children are given the opportunity to take part in a variety of extracurricular clubs, including Archery, Multi-Sports, Hand Ball, Football, Dance and Art. These are proving very popular.
Next magazine: 28 November 2015 BLUNSDON SURGERY 36 Berton Close, Blunsdon, SN26 7BE Reception Monday Dr Khalid 3.10pm-4.40pm 3.00pm-6.15pm Tuesday Dr J Bestwick 9.00am-10.40am 8.45am-12.15pm Wednesday Dr S Stacey 4.00pm-7.10pm 3.00pm-6.30pm Thursday Dr K Helyer 9.00am-10.40am 8.45am-12.15pm Friday Dr S Bruen 9.00am-10.40am 8.45am-12.15pm BLUNSDON SURGERY- Tel. 01793 721254 EMERGENCIES Tel. 01793 762218 Health Visitors can be contacted Mon Fri between 8 & 10am. Tel. 762600. District Nurses, telephone 766234 weekdays and 541111 evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays.
Would you like to perform in a musical Nativity play and are available on the morning of Sunday 13 th December? Professionalism not required - just enthusiastic children and adults who are willing to join in with some fun acting and singing. Rehearsals will be Sunday mornings from 1 st November. For more information contact Rachel, rachel26smith@hotmail.com or 07539 510256.
PARISH COUNCIL NEWS FOR OCTOBER Redhouse Community Centre. We have engaged an administrator/manager and a caretaker for the centre and they will both be in post by the end of October. We are seeking a part-time weekend caretaker. We have also taken delivery of most of the furniture required. Planning News. If you have access to the internet then all the planning applications applicable to Blunsdon Parish can be looked at on-line at http://pa.swindon.gov.uk/publicaccess/ by entering the application number. S/14/1304 Is a re-submission of the application to build 69 houses on the field in the corner of High Street and Ermin Street. We have repeated our opposition to this application. S/15/0720 is the detailed application to build 57 houses with open space and allotments on the land behind 83 Ermin Street, already approved in outline application S/13/0364. We support this application. S/15/1352 Is an application for the demolition of existing commercial buildings and the construction of five detached houses on the site known as Lindsey s Yard off Turnpike Road. We have supported this application subject to conditions being imposed on future use of adjacent fields. S/15/1447 is for the demolition of an existing building at Fairview Kingsdown Lane and the erection of a new building for use as a canine care centre. We have raised a number of questions regarding this application and, at this stage, do not support it. S/15/0225 refers to the approved outline application S/13/1223 to build 61 properties in the area behind 99 Hillside Way (Hill s site) we have opposed this application as it does not allay our concerns regarding access to properties at the north end of the site, nor the proposed handling of surface water runoff. S/OUT/14/1243. This application to build 57 houses opposite the stadium entrance ( The strawberry field ) that we opposed was refused by the Borough. We are advised that the applicant is to appeal and we have re-iterated our objections. Brightening up the Village. We were pleased to hear that the Garden Club re-application to the Borough for a grant has been approved and that Hills are providing the services of a landscape designer to plan a village entrance garden at the top of High Street. This change of heart by the Borough followed intervention by our Borough Councillors, and the Parish Council under-writing the club s ability to maintain the proposed garden. Best Kept Village Competition. We have been notified of the result of our entry in this year s competition which, as we won the previous year s large village section, had us competing against the winners of all the size categories from 2014. We came fourth against all the other 2014 winners which was a commendable effort. The judges commented favourably on the entrance garden opposite The Coldharbour, the front gardens in High Street, the Churchyard and Burial Ground and other areas; indeed their comments were so kind that we wonder how we failed to win! So well done to all and let s see if we can win our category again next year. Speed Watch. We have now received written authority from Wiltshire Police to carry out speed checks on most of our desired sites and we have welcomed another two volunteers. You will see the team in action again soon. Village Hall. We have discovered wet rot in one of the kitchen window frames and are seeking quotations for repairs. Possible transfer of Borough Council Services. As reported last month, we are considering the suggestion from the Borough that we could take over some of the services that they currently provide. Cllr Stuart Boyd 12 th October 2015