Bordon woman missing

Hampshire Constabulary would like our help.

Help us find vulnerable missing woman Susan Armstrong, age 48, from Bordon. She is driving a blue BMW 328 index V228 JCE. Call us on 999 with any info

UPDATE: stop looking, she's been found in Kent.

Kingsley Parish Council - Thursday 28th

Kingsley Parish Council will meet on Thursday, 28th November 2013 in the Kingsley Centre at 7.30pm.

AGENDA

1. Chairman’s Opening Remarks
2. Apologies for Absence
Cllr C. Pearson

3. Declarations of Personal/Prejudicial Interest

4. Public Question Time
Public Questions: Consideration of agenda items which will be open to public participation

5. Approval of Minutes of the Meeting held on 24th October 2013
6. Matters Arising
7. Planning Applications
Applications ongoing:
21066/026 Bakers Farm Nursery, Main Road, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NJ
Removal of occupancy condition imposed under S52 agreement to 21066/001

22495/008 Burninghams, South Hay Lane, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NW
Two storey extension to the rear

54941 Land South of Main Road, Kingsley, Bordon
Change of use of land for stationing of a mobile home for residential purposes for a single gypsy pitch with creation of new access off main road, track and associated hard standing, treatment plant and amenity block (FUL)

Enforcement Appeal EC/51617/002 Land West of, Sickles Lane, Kingsley, Alton

Enforcement Appeal EC/37724/011 Land at Dean Farm, Main Road, Kingsley, Bordon

52258/002 The Old Piggery, Main Road, Kingsley, Bordon
Two detached dwellings with covered parking, new access. landscaping and associated works

20136/045 LMC Sleaford Garage, Fanham Road, Bordon, GU35 0QP
Two storey extension to rear/side following removal of detached storage buildings and containers

New application:
22732/019 Sandyfield Farm, Main Road, Kingsley, GU35 9NG
Retention of fixtures and fittings and use of part of building as a kitchen/rest room and office for the existing stable yard

Sita: Restoration of land at Bridges sand quarry.

Groomes Farm: new entertainment centre.

Provision of affordable homes in Kingsley.

8. St Nicholas Cemetery & Cemetery Chapel
To receive an update from Cllr Pearson

9. Transport, Highways and Road Safety
To receive an update from Cllr Lazenby

To consider the continued funding of the SLR deployments

10. Commons, Village Greens and Rights of Way
Upper green: To receive an update from Cllr Lazenby
Lower Green: To receive an update from Cllr McCorkindale
Rights of Way: To receive an update from Cllr Lazenby

11. Community Resilience
12. Environment and Biodiversity
13. Sports, Recreation and Leisure
14. Kingsley Village Forum   
15. Parish Plan 
To receive an update from Cllr Rigden  

16.  Housing, Business & Commerce
17. Communications
Website: To receive an update from Cllr T. Scrivener

18. District Councillor
19. Procedures, Finance and Payments
To agree the budget for Year 2014/15

Payments to be made & Accounts to accept

    Date of Next Meeting of Kingsley Parish Council -
       Thursday 23rd January 2014 - 7.30 pm at the Kingsley Centre 
      

Nutting

Nutting as we referred to it, was of course, our annual nut collecting activities. These fell into two different areas, on the one hand Hazel nuts and on the other Chestnuts. Each had its own location and different method of collection. Hazel nuts were collect, for the most part, from the north and north west of the village. The edge of Alice Holt Forest, the woods known as Stephenfield Copse and its surrounding hedge rows, the hangars at the northern edge of Kingsley Nurseries and the hedges to the right and left of the old lane at its top end towards the junction of the road which goes back through the nurseries towards the Straits. All of these areas had large numbers of Hazels in the woods and hedges and many of the trees were large and, no doubt, quite old. As with most crops, the nut harvest varied from season to season but some years there were huge amounts of nuts to be collected. 

The trick was to judge when the nuts were ripe but not too ripe. If they were over ripe they dropped out of their husks and fell into the grass, ditch or brambles, which ever happened to be around. On the other hand there were some areas with little or no vegetation beneath the trees where it was possible to shake the branches vigorously and pick the nuts from the ground. But for the most part it was better to pick the nuts from the trees before they began to drop. This could be achieved by grabbing a branch and holding it down as low as possible whilst the nuts, still within their husks, could be picked. Since our nut picking activities were usually conducted in small groups we had enough people to share the branch bending and picking without a problem. In some cases,where branches were high and well loaded with nuts, it was worth climbing up a tree and along the branch in order to swing it down to enable the nuts to be reached. This was done in a similar manner to our Birch tree swinging activities but care had to be exercised as the Hazel was not nearly as pliant as the Birch. 

There were two other problems associated with this activity which were gypsies and squirrels. On the one hand the gypsies would strip a whole area of its nuts and the squirrels would empty large numbers of husks of their nuts thus making it pointless going to the trouble of swinging down branches. I imagine the gypsies sold the nuts in local markets as they did snowdrops and wild daffodils when they were in season. But, none the less,it was a complete pain to arrive at a favourite nutting place only to find the gypsies had beaten you to it and all of the nuts had gone. As far as the squirrels were concerned they were less of a problem but even they could make a considerable dent into a nut crop. It is worth noting, that during my early childhood, there were still Red Squirrels in the area. But with the introduction of the Greys they soon disappeared. 

By contrast, chestnutting took place to the south of the village in Oxney woods and to the right and left of the Bordon road where the road, which crosses from Fir Hill, and the A325 meet at the top of Broxhead Common. There were large numbers of Chestnut trees in that area but the size of the nuts they produced varied greatly. There were only three or four that produced really big nuts and,of course, they were the ones which received the most attention from us. Unlike the Hazels, the Chestnuts could not be swung down to enable picking. They were both far too big and far too brittle. A Chestnut branch will snap quite easily and without much weight. It was, therefore, necessary to apply a different method of collection. This took the form of a large broken branch which was thrown into the branches where the nuts were. The branch in question had to be as big as could be thrown into the best of the nuts and long enough to cover a reasonable sized area as it hit the branches containing the nuts . If the aim was right large numbers of nuts could be dislodged in this way. The only minor problem was the fact that one stood beneath the branches which were targeted and what goes up has to come down. Too many enthusiastic branch throwers, more intent on hitting as many nuts as possible, and not very concerned as to where their branches would fall to earth, could make things a little bit hazardous. I don’t remember any serious injuries as a result of this activity, the odd bruise being the usual outcome. 

Having got the nuts to earth they then had to be extracted from their prickly cases. This we did either by using a stick to force the casing apart of by pressing the complete case into the ground with one foot and scraping the sole of the other foot across the trapped case which would, if done correctly, result in the case coming in half and revealing the nuts inside. Although the squirrels had their share of the Chestnut crop the gypsies didn’t seem to bother with them. I can only imagine the effort in obtaining a worthwhile haul was just not worth the trouble. The generally accepted wisdom, passed down to us, was that the chestnuts were better when they had been through, at least one frost. This, it was said, made them taste much better. You pays your money and takes your choice !

The other bonus in collecting the chestnuts from the area mentioned was the presence of the mushroom Bay Boletus. Also known as Boletus Badius or Sticky Bun, this mushroom is a chestnut to deep brown in colour and has a sticky top. When cut the flesh turns a dark blue colour and whilst this may not look very appetizing, it is a delicious mushroom to eat. In my opinion, it has a musky flavor not dissimilar to the Truffle. In the days of which I write it was possible to fine quite large numbers of these fine fungi all around the Broxhead area. 

Email scams

There is almost always one or more email scams going on and this one, highlighted by Mary Herbert, is fairly typical:

I received an email this morning purporting to be from DHL Delivery Services saying that they had attempted to deliver a package to 'the shipping address'. I didn't open the attachment but contacted DHL directly. They have a warning about such emails on their website and their Customer Services Dept. confirmed that the email I had received was indeed a scam.

 Any communication from DHL would not have been by email but by text and would have had a 10-digit shipping number: also a card advising me of non-delivery would have been put through our door. Their company is already working to try to prevent these scams.'

I confess to having been unsure as I am in fact expecting a package but the wording of the email was a little strange.

Email is not the secure, private, communication channel that many believe it to be and we should all always treat incoming emails with a degree of scepticism. Do NOT assume that because an email comes from a known correspondent it must be safe. If there is anything "strange" about it at all you should assume that it is unsafe until you have good reason to trust it.

PCC webchat

Hampshire's Police & Crime Commissioner, Simon Hayes, will be hosting regular hour long webchat sessions with the first at 3:30pm today

Use this link to watch or ask questions.

Lindford 30s and 40s

Hampshire County Council proposes making a Traffic Order as follows:

1) Reduce existing 40 mph on B3004 Broxhead Farm Road to 30mph.
2) Extend existing 30 mph on B3002/B3004 Lindford Road / Headley Road / Mill Lane.
3) Proposal to introduce a 40 mph speed limit on B3002 Lindford Road.

Full details here (PDF)

Objections must be sent in before 13 December 2013

Sandyfield Farm, Main Road, Kingsley

This application, 22732/019, seeking permission for

RETENTION OF FIXTURES AND FITTINGS AND USE OF PART OF BUILDING AS A KITCHEN/REST ROOM AND OFFICE FOR THE EXISTING STABLE YARD

is open for consultation until 4th December.

Crimestoppers November

The clocks went back recently, and the extra hour in bed was very welcome! What a pity that then leads to dark evenings, dark mornings and Christmas! As the darkness can make life so much easier for would-be thieves, motorists are being reminded to avoid leaving any valuable items in their vehicles.

Even though they are cheaper than ever, SatNavs are still a villain’s favourite – and especially with Christmas just around the corner. The tell tale circle on the windscreen left by the plastic sucker may be enough to have the car broken open.  Even a plastic bag on the back seat can be tempting. It may only contain your children’s school things and leftover packed lunch, but the villain does not know that until he breaks in.

Cars are now far more hi-tech than ever. However, glass will still break just as easily as 30 years ago, so it only takes seconds to get in and out of a vehicle. Loose change, sunglasses, a forgotten mobile phone, or a nice jacket on the back seat are all an open invitation to the would-be thief. Laptop and notebook/tablet computers are all getting smaller and lighter, and very easy to forget and leave in a car by accident.

You may have got a nice new phone as a free upgrade from your provider, however a replacement handset can actually cost several hundred pounds if you don’t have it insured and your contract isn’t due for renewal.

Please look after your valuables and take them out of your vehicle whenever possible. Thieves know that handbags are often concealed under the front passenger seat, so don’t be surprised that ‘your’ hiding place has been compromised! It is also possible for a thief, given enough time and inclination, to get into the boot of a car. Although using the boot will slow a would-be intruder down, leaving valuables overnight in a vehicle is not ideal.

If you have a works van, which simply isn’t practical to empty every night, please consider additional heavy-duty locks, a good alarm system, and security mark your tools so they can be traced if the worst should happen.

Remember, replacing your glass can be an expensive job as insurance excesses have increased over recent years. Your contribution to the cost of a broken window (if this is covered on your insurance policy) could be as much as £100 – a lot of money before you’ve even started replacing your stolen items.

If you’ve information about any crime, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111, or log on to www.crimestoppers-uk.org and remain anonymous. You can also follow me on twitter @HantsCrimestopp for regular updates.