Wednesday, 29 April 2015

WW1 - John George Parfitt

John George Parfitt was born in Binsted in 1898, the oldest son of James and Louisa Parfitt. The family lived at 1 or 2 Rose Cottages on The Straits which was in the Civil Parish of Binsted though the children (John had two younger sisters, Alice Louisa and Dorothy and one brother, Henry James) would have walked from there to Kingsley School.

In the 1901 census his father is identified as a nursery labourer so he probably worked at the nearby Kingsley Fruit Farm.

John Parfitt enlisted as a private in November 1914 with the Dorset Regiment at Winchester (No. 5297), but was later transferred to the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment (No. 33832). It appears that he was only sixteen when he signed up and so would still have been under-age when he went to France in 1916. Recruits were supposed to be 18 before they could enlist and 19 before they could be sent overseas.

He wrote and signed an “informal will” on 2nd August 1917 in which he left all his property and his effects to his mother, Louisa Parfitt and he was killed in action, probably at the Battle of Passchendaele, on 4th October 1917, aged only 19. The regiment’s war diary refers to “Atrocious conditions : untold odds, very heavy shelling, appalling mud. A battle against pill-boxes and machine guns, with very heavy casualties.”

John George Parfitt is one of only nine men who are named on the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery at Ieper, West- Vlaanderen in Belgium which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens (Sp.Mem.4).
The cemetery contains “special memorials” which means he was known or believed to be buried amongst the 336 unidentified burials.

He is remembered on the Binsted War Memorial which was dedicated in November 1921 – but his name was not initially inscribed. His mother, Louisa, wrote a very poignant letter to Mrs Lucy Ogilvy, who was the treasurer of the War Memorial Committee :
I feel I must say how much it touched me…..and found my dear boy’s name wasn’t mentioned…….we made a lovely cross to put on for our son you can imagine how my feelings were hurt….”

The Parfitt family continued to live on The Straits until the 1920s when they moved to Wheatley and John Parfitt still has descendents who live locally.

WW1 - (Edwin /Edward) Charles Painting

Charles Painting was born in Kingsclere Hampshire in 1881 and married Sarah Odell (from Islington London) in Alton in 1908.
The house that has replaced the original Pear Tree Cottage.

By 1911 his parents and five brothers and sisters were living in Bentworth but he and his wife and his sister-in-law, were living in Kingsley, in Pear Tree Cottage at The Straits.

He is identified as a farm labourer, so he may well have worked at Kingsley Fruit Farm.
Charles enlisted at Alton at the beginning of the war, on the 12th September 1914, (though the Rev. Laverty notes it as 5th August) with the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment (No. 5813), aged 34. He must have been in the army previous to this date as he had already received two South African medals with three bars.

After re-enlisting he was only with his regiment for less than two months before he died from his wounds, received in action, at the Boulogne Hospital on 5th November and he was buried at the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery (IIIB.30). Charles was recorded in the Parish Magazine of June 1915 as one of “Our Defenders ….killed”.

He is also on the Bordon Roll of Honour (though the date shown is 26 September 1914).
His wife and sister-in-law must have moved from Kingsley to Headley soon after he died, as the Rev. Laverty wrote :
“…come to Tibolds no. 3 and there January 1915. Widow married 1906 (it was 1908!) of a soldier (Private) Edward Charles 1st Hants. who had served 20 years or more (Not exactly accurate as Edward Charles was only 34 when he enlisted!).He rejoined 5.9.1914 and died in Boulogne Hospital…..Her sister is Elizabeth O’dell.”

Mrs Painting subsequently married Frank Coombes of Headley but died in Park Prewitt in 1925.

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

WW1 - Alfred Edward Naunton

Alfred Naunton was born in London in 1881, married Louise Fairman in 1900 and joined the GPO in June1902, aged 20.
He, his wife and five young children moved down to Hampshire from Battersea in 1912 as he joined the newly-opened Post Office at Bordon Camp. Rev. Laverty wrote “A Bordon postman came January 1912 to Eashing Cottages (Headley) and moved on in 1912 to Elm Cottages, Lindford”.
At some time between 1915 and 1916 the family moved to The Straits and the children attended Kingsley School.
Alfred enlisted at Whitehill and joined the 5th Dorsetshire Regiment, (No. 18152), probably in 1914 and by his death in 1917 he was a Lance Corporal with D Company XV Platoon.
He was involved in the heavy fighting at the Chalk Pit near Beaumont Hamel during the Battle of the Somme in January 1917. His family heard nothing from him and it was assumed he had been taken prisoner, but in July 1917 a letter was sent to Mrs Naunton from the British Red Cross (via Susan Lushington) informing her that his name was not on any official lists of prisoners. And it was not until February 1918 that a further letter came from the Enquiry Department (at the Red Cross) for Wounded and Missing which said:
We much regret to say that not withstanding constant and careful enquiries, we have not been able to hear anything of L/Cpl. A. Naunton and have come to the conclusion that he must have lost his life at the time when he was missing. We have questioned all the men of his unit whom we have been able to see, both in English hospitals and at the bases abroad, and none of them has been able to throw any light on his casualty……….We wish to offer our sincere sympathy to the family and friends.”
Signed on behalf of the Earl of Lucan.
So for over a year Mrs Naunton, with her five children, would have heard no news about her husband.
Alfred is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing (Pier & Face 7B) which is dedicated to those who fell on The Somme and have no known grave and his name is also on the Bordon Post Office’s Roll of Honour and on the Bordon War Memorial.

There are several references to the Naunton children in the Parish Magazine and in the Kingsley School records. Alfred (aged 10) won a three-legged race in the Empire Day celebrations in late May 1916 and was collecting for the Red Cross in November 1916 and Rose and Alfred had plots in the school garden in July 1917, with Rose winning a prize. Alfred’s wife, Louise Naunton, is said to have played the piano at the Bordon barracks as entertainment for the troops.
One of Alfred’s grand daughters, Winnifred Evans, takes up the account :
After the war Gran (Louise) moved back to London and in 1919 the family, Gran and five kids, moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The children ranged from 18 to 8 years. We are still trying to understand why the family moved to one of the coldest places on earth….We wonder what kind of propaganda was being spread that Gran decided to move there instead of Florida!
All five of Alfred and Louise’s children stayed and died in Canada.

In 1921 Louise, now living in Edmonton, received Alfred’s Memorial Scroll and a letter from the king and later a Memorial Plaque (or Widow’s Penny). However probate for Alfred’s will was not granted until July 1923.

Footnote
In the 1960s one of Alfred’s daughters, Rose, visited Kingsley to find the house in the Straits where the family lived. She met with Mrs Taylor who lived there at that time.

Rose (nee Naunton) with Mrs Taylor and Mrs Taylor’s mother-in-law at The Straits
In 2013 Rose’s daughter, Winnifred sent me a tremendous amount of material ( including the 1960s photo) about her grandfather for which I am most grateful.

WW1 - Gerald Frances Mason

Gerald Mason was born in December 1897 in Agra, Bengal, India, where his father, the Rev. Charles Mason was a Diocesan Inspector and Indian Government Chaplain. Gerald was one of nine children.
His family moved back to England in 1908 and from 1916 to 1919 his father was the Curate of Binsted with Kingsley, living in the Vicarage at Kingsley.

Mrs Barnes, writing in 1985, noted that “he lived there with his wife, two daughters, a son, a governess, cook, houseman, housemaid and parlour maid…….There was good stabling and a governess cart was used by the ladies while the Vicar charged around the parish in a dogcart pulled by ‘Mustard’, a very frisky horse.
Once back in England Gerald was sent to Denstone College in Staffordshire, in May 1910 (aged 12). Whilst at boarding school he was a Prefect, obtained his XV Colours and was in the OTC.

He left Denstone in December 1914 and was gazetted to a commission in the Hampshire Regiment within six weeks of his 17th birthday, on February 3 1915. Within a year he was promoted Lieutenant. He then obtained a transfer to the Machine Gun Corps and went to France in September 1916 (aged just 18).
He was in much heavy fighting, particularly at the “push” at the Chemical Works at the Battle of the Somme on 3 May 1917 when he was wounded in five places. He convalesced at Menton where he wrote that he was “having an excellent time, being billeted in a first class hotel”. On his return to duty he was transferred to the Tank Corps but after being home on leave he was killed riding his motorbike on 1 September, at Virginia Water. He was returning to duty.
From the Hampshire Chronicle October 1917 :
On passing two push cycles his machine skidded on the tarred road rendered greasy by rain. As he was thrown off a motor car, driven by a RFC chauffeur, was coming along and Lt. Mason’s head came in contact with the mudguard of the car, causing a fracture of the skull and other injuries. He never recovered consciousness and died in ten minutes at Englefield Cottage Hospital.”

The full military funeral took place in Kingsley.
The body, in an ‘earth coffin’, provided by the London Necropolis Company, was fetched from Englefield Green Mortuary by a motor ambulance.
Opposite Kingsley Vicarage it was met by a gun carriage from the RFA, Bordon, the RFA band and a firing party from the Tank Corps…..
The Service at the Old Church and at the grave was taken by the Rev. C Mason, Curate in charge of Kingsley and father of the deceased officer.”
His Company Commander wrote to his father “……he endeared himself to his fellow officers as well as to the men, by his charming manners and good comradeship, while his skill and determination were most noticeable .”
Lt. Mason’s gravestone is located to the east of St Nicholas church and for many years was maintained by the War Graves Commission.


Monday, 27 April 2015

WW1 - Sidney James Giddings


Sidney Giddings was born near Andover in 1883 but by 1891 (aged 8) was living with his parents, William and Mary and two sisters at “Baker’s Farm” (ie one of the two cottages at Baker’s Corner) and he would have attended Kingsley School.
Baker’s Corner c 1970
 His father was a farm labourer and probably worked at Lode Farm (the cottages belonged to Lode).
Lode Farm
 However by 1901, when he would have been 18, he had moved away and in the 1911 census he was recorded as a gardener at Crawley in Oxfordshire.


Just after the outbreak of the war he married Kate Plumley from Kinson in Dorset in November 1914 and enlisted, for the duration of the war, at Banbury in December 1915 six months before his only child, Elsie May was born.
At that time he was gardener at Bodicote near Banbury, Oxfordshire. By 17 June 1916 his Approving Officer at Cowley Barracks attested that “he is correct and properly filled up” and appointed him to the Oxford and Bucks. Light Infantry ( as Private no. 24261).
His records show he was 6ft 0.25” tall, 140 lbs in weight and with a chest measurement of 37”.
However he transferred to the 3rd Battalion Base Depot (Camiers) Machine Gun Corps in November
1916 (as no.81712) and crossed to Boulogne February 1917.
He must have contracted pneumonia or pleurisy later that year as, whilst he was stationed at the base depot, Camiers, he was sent to the nearby hospital at Camiers, (which was next to Le Touquet, south of Boulogne) on 18 February 1917 and he died of Lobar Pneumonia there the same day.
He was buried at Etaples Cemetary (part 3 UK, XXI G10A).

By May 1917 his widow Kate was living in Winton, Bournemouth (perhaps to be near her own family) with her daughter Elsie May and acknowledges receiving Sidney’s personal effects. She was still there in May 1922 when she took receipt of his British War and Victory medals. Kate and her daughter received a pension of 18/9d per week from 27 August 1917. This is six months after her husband had died so she could well have suffered from severe financial hardship before then, like many war widows at that time.
Sidney is also remembered on the War Memorial at Bodicote in Oxfordshire.
His parents continued to live on at Baker’s Corner. A friend of Ena Mitchell’s mother, (Mrs Bayley), told her that she had “dressed a terrible face cancer on Mr Giddings’ face” and had nursed Mrs Giddings, whose will, after her death, was registered in 1936.

WW1 - Frederick Walter Fullick

Frederick Fullick was born in Kingsley in December 1889, to George and Jane (nee Burningham) Fullick.
His oldest brother, Harry had joined the Army Service Corps just one year after Walter’s birth and was finally discharged, having served in South Africa, in 1902. The 1911 Census shows Frederick living at Deane Bridge (below) with two of his brothers (though not Harry)
`
Deane Bridge c 1905
and sister, a nephew and a lodger. Both Frederick and his brother Thomas may have worked for Mr James Knight, at Dean Farm next door, as they are both described as “farm labourer” and “houseman on farm”  respectively.
Dean Cottages today
 Frederick enlisted at Alton on 1st November 1915 for “Short Service” (ie for the duration of the war), aged 24, as a Gunner and became 62612 Gunner Fullick with the 79th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He listed his oldest brother, Harry, as next of kin. His Enlistment Descriptive Report noted that he was 6ft. 0.25 inches tall. He would have embarked from Avonmouth on 27th April 1916 and arrived in Boulogne the next day. He never went home again.

As a gunner he would have been using heavy howitzers which sent large calibre high explosive shells in high trajectory, plunging fire and used to destroy or neutralise enemy heavy artillery. In March 1917 the 79th Battery was transferred to the 1st Army and remained with them until November 1918 and he was wounded in the back and on the leg on 23rd August 1917, probably at Paschendale in Flanders. On the 24th August he was admitted to the No. 9 Red Cross Hospital at Sangatte, Calais where he was making a good recovery until he was wounded again (probably by bombing at the hospital) and he died on 30th September 1917.

His sister Jane received three letters one when her brother was wounded the second time and another dated 5th October 1917, from the Duchess of Sutherland.
Dear Miss Fullick
I am very sorry indeed to have to tell you that your brother has died of wounds in hospital here. We did all we possibly could to make him comfortable, but he was very badly wounded. He has been buried in a little cemetery, just outside Calais, beside many more of our brave men who have, like your brother, laid down their lives so nobly for King and Country. Please accept my deepest sympathy in your great sorrow.
Yours sincerely, with many thoughts
MILLICENT (Duchess of) SUTHERLAND

A third letter, dated 16th October, was from, I suspect, his Commanding Officer, who wrote that he thought that Fred’s absence from the Battery would only have been temporary- so he expressed his shock at hearing of Fred’s death. 
This feeling, I can assure you, is shared also by all the men in the Battery, for he was respected by all. ………
But it must be remembered that all these happenings are witnessed by the eyes of the Maker, who does all things for the best.
I was in charge of the party of men who carried him to the dressing station and I can certainly assure you he was perfectly calm and collected. He was known as the coolest man in the Battery………….
G.COLLINS
These letters received by Jane Fullick, were subsequently printed in the Alton Gazette.
Frederick was buried in the newly-opened Les Barraques Cemetery (1C6) at Sangatte.

A letter dated 6th June 1919 was sent to Harry Fullick, c/o Rev. CA Mason at Kingsley Vicarage requesting information about his living relatives and eventually his effects, medals and memorial plaque and scroll were sent to his sister Jane.
His surviving siblings were Harry, aged 50 who still lived at Dean Cottages with Thomas and Jane, and Alfred, George, Eliza and Ellen who lived locally.
He is also listed on the Bordon Roll of Honour.

Sunday, 26 April 2015

WW1 - Harry Betteridge

Harry Betteridge was born in 1882 in Chipping Norton Oxfordshire, one of six children. He married Eva Hodges in Kensington London in 1904 and by 1911 was identified as a “Domestic Butler” at Grange Lodge near Banbury. At this time he had four children aged under seven. In 1913 the family moved to Hampshire as Harry became the butler at Headley Park. This was the home of the McAndrew family, Charles and his American wife Florence and his three sons.

Mr. McAndrew owned a shipping line and had purchased the estate in 1902.
Headley Park today
Harry was probably conscripted, despite being a married man with four children, after the Military Service Act extended conscription to married men in May 1916. He enlisted into the Hampshire Regiment, “C Company, 1st Battalion as Private 25069 and fought in France and Flanders, probably at Arras, in the 1st and 3rd Battles of the Scarpe.

He was killed in action, whilst an Acting Corporal, on 13 May 1917, aged 35. His young 19 year old master, 2nd. Lt. Charles Arthur McAndrew, who had also enlisted, had been killed just seventeen days earlier.
Presumably his family had to move from Headley Park – and appear to have rented or lodged in Kingsley.
The Rev. Laverty of Headley noted “He killed in the war – she went away to The Straits.”
Harry’s death is recorded on the Arras Memorial (Bay 6), he is remembered on the Chipping Norton Roll of Honour and he is also on the war memorial at Headley where the Rev. Laverty listed him, in a booklet he wrote in the autumn of 1919 as “one of our Soldiers and Sailors whom we lost in the Great War.

Writing in the Parish Magazine of June 1985 Mrs Winifred Barnes refers to Corporal Betteridge as “the first man from the village killed in 1WW – and that help for the family was asked for at that time.”
Beatrice Mary Betteridge, the six year old daughter, was admitted to Kingsley School in December 1917, with the parent listed as Eva Betteridge.

Ena Mitchell (nee Bayley) who attended the school between 1924 and 1929 remembers a Fred Betteridge who had no father. I can find no reference to the other two children who would have been 12 and 13 in 1917 – perhaps they found work elsewhere.
There is a reference in the Alton Gazette of 17 October 1917 to Eva Betteridge (a widow) being fined 5/6d at the Whitehill Petty sessions for riding a bicycle without a front light. Eva Betteridge died in Winchester in 1936 aged 50.
So although it would appear that Harry Betteridge never actually lived in Kingsley his family certainly did.

WW1 - Joseph Henry Allden


Joseph Allden was born in Headley on 31 July 1889 at Stream Farm where his father, William, farmed.

By 1907 he had moved with his family to Malthouse Farm, Kingsley. Malthouse was a large mixed farm, with a substantial farm house. It was known for its hops and would have employed many farm workers, with Joseph and his younger brother Samuel shown as "helping on farm" in the 1911 census.
(This younger brother, Sam, carried on farming at Malthouse until 1935 and had Monkswood built at that time).In late 1915 Joseph joined the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (The 24th Battalion)as a 2nd Lieutenant. His 22 year old younger brother, Samuel, appears to have enlisted before him, by November 1914 in the 2nd Batt. Public School Company - leaving none of William and Elizabeth’s five sons on the farm.


William, his wife Elizabeth and his daughter Ethel were very involved in village life during the war years. William was a School Manager and on the PCC. Strangely, though he and the Vicar, the Rev. Mason, BOTH lost their sons in 1917, no mention of this is made in the Minutes at that time.
Mr & Mrs W Allden
William, his wife Elizabeth and his daughter Ethel were very much involved in village life during the war years. William was a School Manager and on the PCC. Strangely, though he and the vicar, the Rev. Mason BOTH lost their sons in 1917, no mention is made of this in the Minutes at that time.

Elizabeth Allden was very active in war work – for example she was director of a working party that made and sent mufflers, socks etc. to the troops. She and her daughter were also involved with many of the activities at All Saints and Ethel was the Kingsley Guides’ leader.

I could find nothing about Joseph during 1916 but by early 1917 he is described by his commanding officer as "A new officer, Allden, in my company, also proved his worth about this time."

Joseph was involved in a raid named "Raid Fayet" near St Quentin on 28 April 1917. No. 13 Platoon, was led by Lt. Allden and his Sergeant, Kilby, both of whom were killed during fierce fire from the German machine guns -although the raid was hailed as a success, with two machine guns and one protesting prisoner being dragged back to the lines !

Joseph’s Commanding Officer wrote in his memoirs "Allden and Kirby were a serious loss to the fighting efficiency of D Company."

The vicar, in the June 1917 edition of the Parish Magazine wrote :

"A young man in the prime of his life taken, with many another, fighting for freedom and truth, buried amid the booming of guns in a foreign soil."

At Morning Prayer on 6 May a special hymn and the "Dead March" were added to the service. The Vicar commented "He made his Christmas Communion at this church . His life and character were calculated to commend the doctrine of God in our Saviour to those who knew him. The King and Queen’s telegram of condolence is much valued by the family."

Joseph Allden is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial and on a brass plaque in All Saints.

He is also named on the Headley War Memorial.

His family lived on at Malthouse until 1935, purchasing the farm from the Dutton estate for £8,500 in 1920. William Allden died in 1927 and his wife, Elizabeth in 1930 and are buried in Headley churchyard.

WW1 - Kingsley men

I have spent some time researching the eight men from Kingsley who died in WW1  the stories behind the men of Kingsley who died in WW1 – and their families and I have written up my findings for each of :-




Of Kingsley’s Eight Men who Died :

* Only one, Frederick Fullick, was actually born in Kingsley, though John Parfitt should be counted in too. Strictly speaking though , he was born in Binsted, as most of The Straits is not within Kingsley.

*  Three of them would have gone to Kingsley school  together, Frederick Fullick, John Parfitt and Sidney Giddings (who moved to Kingsley when he was 8).

* Two of them, Joseph Allden and Edwin Painting had moved to the village a few years before the  outbreak of the war.

*  Three of them, Gerald Mason, Alfred Naunton and Harry Betteridge, may never have actually lived in Kingsley – but their families did.



Friday, 24 April 2015

Manifesto human rights

I searched each of the party manifestos for the term 'human rights', this is what I found:-

GREENS - no mention of human rights.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
  • Protect the Human Rights Act and enshrine the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in UK law. 
  • We will take appropriate action to comply with decisions of UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights. 
  • Block any further attempts to limit the right to trial by jury.
  • Pass a new Freedoms Act, to protect citizens from excessive state powers.
UKIP
  • We will remove ourselves from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights: the Strasbourg Court whose interpretation of the European Convention of Human Rights has been known to put the rights of criminals above those of victims. Our own Supreme Court will act as the final authority on matters of Human Rights.
  • We will also repeal Labour’s Human Rights legislation. It has given European judges far too much power over British law making and law enforcement and prevented us deporting terrorists and career criminals and from implementing whole-life sentences.
  • Our human rights will be enshrined in law via the introduction of a new, consolidated UK Bill of Rights. This will complement the UN Declaration of Human Rights and encapsulate all the human and civil rights that UK citizens have acquired under UK law since Magna Carta. This new UK Bill of Rights will apply across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

LABOUR
  • Will stand up for citizens’ individual rights, protecting the Human Rights Act and reforming, rather than walking away from, the European Court of Human Rights
  • We will support human rights, always putting individual freedom and democracy at the heart of our foreign policy
  • We will appoint an International LGBT Rights Envoy to promote respect for the human rights of LGBT people, and work towards the decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide.
CONSERVATIVES
  • Will scrap the Human Rights Act, and introduce a British Bill of Rights. This will break the formal link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights, and make our own Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the UK 
  • Will stand up for the rule of law and human rights in Zimbabwe
  • Will promote reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka
  • Will ensure our Armed Forces overseas are not subject to persistent human rights claims that undermine their ability to do their job


Thursday, 23 April 2015

Free speech

This blog offers "news and views" from Kingsley, for the most part my news and views but that needn't be so. Since the beginning it's been made clear that anyone with a genuine connection to or interest in Kingsley can write on the blog and of course anyone at all can comment.

If you'd like to post articles on the blog fill out the form or contact me some other way and I'll setup credentials for you to post directly to the web. If you want to post but not using the technology yourself, email your articles to me and I'll post them for you. You can post under your real name or a 'handle' although in the case of the latter I'd need to know your real name. You're entirely responsible for your words so I'll need to pass on the writ if you get it wrong.

If you think that content posted here is biased or unfair you have three remedies:

1) Feel free to rebut anything you consider to be out of order. If you do that anonymously in a whingeing fashion, your complaint is likely to be treated with contempt.

2) If you work a little harder you might understand why you're wrong.

3) You can ignore it. Somewhere on the internet someone will always be disagreeing with you, sometimes that person will be me.


Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Human rights myth busting

The new rightsinfo.org project launched last night providing an entrance for laymen into the world of human rights legislation and practice.

One feature is its 14 worst myths visualization which explodes myths such as "Police give fried chicken to a buglar because of his human rights".

Another area builds a list of the top 50 human rights cases everyone should know about.

Monday, 20 April 2015

GE2015 - Alex Wilks

Alex Wilks, the Labour candidate, is the youngest at just 25 and also the only candidate who doesn't actually live in the constituency.

Alex responded fully and intelligently to my questionnaire; he anticipated some disagreement about human rights, inviting further engagement on the subject and he displays an excellent grasp of the major subtleties of software patent legislation; he also offers both a principled and practical approach to the various topics under discussion.

Youth, education and enthusiasm all work in his favour.

Sunday, 19 April 2015

Kingsley Parish Council - Thursday 23rd

Kingsley Parish Council will meet Thursday, 23rd April 2015 in the Kingsley Centre at 7.30pm

AGENDA

1. Chairman’s Opening Remarks
2. Apologies for Absence
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 26th March 2015
6. Matters Arising
7. Planning Applications
Applications ongoing:
55587/001 Land at and adjoining Bordon Garrison, Bordon
Proposal: Hybrid Application
-
(1) Outline (with some matters reserved) for the demolition of MoD buildings and redevelopment of Bordon Garrison and adjoining Land for: Up to 2400 dwellings, Town centre 23000 sq meters (Gross) commercial floor space to
incorporate a range of uses including shops/offices, cafes/restaurants, care/nursing home, transport
interchange, food store up to 5000 sq metres, swimming pool/gym of up to 3000 sq metres gross, secondary and Primary schools with sports pitches and parking areas.

22163/009 Ockham Hall, Gibbs Lane, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NE
Ash: On northern boundary 60 cms approx from house garages and play area of pub garden
Limb 4 to 5 metres long overhanging garage. Potential damage to building structure.
Canopy overhanging play area of pub garden. On grounds of proximity, remove limb and
raise crown by 2 metres to 4 metres. Sycamore: South side garages Nos 1 - 4, abutting Gibbs Lane. Split stem & rotten at base.
Low amenity value. Fell. Replacement inappropriate
.
26242/052 Dean Farm Golf Course, Main Road, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NG Detached
dwelling with garage and upgrading of access

27557/005 Detached dwelling
Greenbanks, Sandy Lane, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NH

56034 Grooms Cottage, Oakhanger Road, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NJ Listed building
consent - removal of window and replace with door

56031 Listed building consent - removal of window and replace with door 3 Bakers Barn,
Oakhanger Road, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NJ

New applications
:
53404/002 The Wood Yard, Main Road, Kingsley, Bordon
Open fronted wood store

27557/005 Greenbanks, Sandy Lane, Kingsley, Bordon, GU35 9NH
Detached dwelling (amended plans received 15/4/2015)

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 Rigden
10. Commons, Village Greens and Rights of Way
To receive an update from Cllr Rigden
11. Community Resilience
12. Environment and Biodiversity
13. Kingsley Village Forum
To receive an update from Cllr Pearson
14. Housing, Business & Commerce
To receive an update from Cllr McCorkindale
15. Communications
The correspondence received this month was listed by the clerk and circulated to all councillors
prior to the meeting.
16. District Councillor
17. Procedures, Finance and Payments
Payments to be made & Accounts to accept
To consider the process and date for the review of standing orders, risk assessment and Cemetery
regulations.
18. To consider the offer made on 15 April for the sale of Parish Council owned land to provide an
access for the Piggery Development (Note. members of the public will be asked to leave the
meeting as this item is commercially sensitive).

Date of Next Meeting of Kingsley Parish Council - Thursday 28th May 2015 – 8.00 pm at the Kingsley Centre
The Annual General Meeting will be held prior to the Monthly Parish Meeting at 7:30pm

My mate Tim

During my time working at Old Park Farm the boss engaged an agricultural student from West Sussex, I think Chichester University, in any event Tim arrived with us as a part of his journey to become an agricultural engineer. We quickly became good mates, due in no small part, to the fact that Tim was able to maintain and keep on the road, the series of old bangers which I drove in those days. In fact he even welded a large metal plate into my Vauxhall Velox when the rear right spring came through the floor as a result of advanced rust. This enabled the beast to remain useable for some time. There was, of course, no MOT test at that time !

Tim’s capacity to keep cars going never ceased to amaze me. As one whom had no interest at all in anything mechanical, he was little short of a Godsend to me. On one notable evening when the exhaust system fell from the vehicle, right outside Alton police station, he managed to ram it back together and secure our onward journey before we attracted any unwelcome attention from the cops. On another occasion, by means of a pair of stockings, (tights were not the thing then !!), he kept us going when the fan belt broke. Yet again he saved the day when an electrical fault kept blowing the car’s main fuse, he simple rolled up a piece of silver foil from a cigarette packet, slotted it into the place where the fuse came from and off we went.

Tim was a great supporter of The Young Farmers Club of Alton and attended most of their meetings which caused him rather a lot of problems. I imagine Young Farmers clubs remain pretty much today as they always have, and are noted for their capacity to provide and consume large quantities of alcohol. Cider being provided in particularly large amounts. This was unfortunate because Alton is located several miles from Old Park Farm and necessitated a drive home after each Young Farmers meeting, unfortunate because in most cases Tim was not fit to drive. The drink driving regulations we have today were not then in place and proving a driver was over the limit was very much a hit and miss matter which involved calling out doctors and all sorts of other methods. Walking along a white line, touching the nose with the index finger were just two of the methods used to establish guilt. It was, therefore, reasonably unlikely for a driver to be caught or convicted. In Tim’s case this was so as he was never nicked in spite of some rather hairy near misses. Turning his car upon its head between two steep banks of the road just west of East Worldham being one of them. Rather nearer to home, his regular confrontation with the hedge bordering Mr. Moore’s garden at the beginning of the drive down to the Old Park Farm house was rather more troublesome. The hedge became known as Old Moore’s hedge among the lads on the farm, and as a result of a number of rather unsporting complaints to Mr. Nicholson, the farm owner, by old Moore Tim often found himself on the carpet. The major problem, in spite of Tim’s vehement denials of any involvement with hedges in general and Old Moore’s in particular, were the very obvious signs to the contrary. In most cases a large piece of hedge had been removed from its rightful place, and more inconveniently, could be seen decorating some part of Tim’s car in the morning. I have lost count of how many times the unfortunate hedge suffered from Tim’s assaults, but suffice to say, things got to the point where a final warning was issued to Tim based upon Old Moore’s increasingly hostile complains. This resulted in Tim changing his parking place and, instead of parking the car by his flat in the farm house, he took to parking it in the farmyard. This avoided the turn past the hedge and the assaults upon it and the complaints dried up.

It was as a result of an invitation from Tim to accompany him on a visit to the nurses home at Alton Hospital, that I met my wife. We had gone out together for the evening and had our usual half pint of Red Barrel or Courage’s Tavern Keg in the Market Inn in Alton when Tim suggest we went to the nurses home to see if he could find a couple of girls to take out for the evening. Off we went, Tim disappeared around the back of the said nurses home, and after a short while reappeared with the news that we would be joined by a couple of young ladies shortly afterwards. This prove to be the case, and as a result of that meeting both Tim and I went on to marry the two girls in question. Sadly Tim’s wife Maggie died last year after a particularly nasty illness.

As a result of that fateful evening the four of us spent the next two or three years together in various parts of the country. Usually, when one of the girls went home for breaks or holidays Tim and I followed in some form of old banger which then doubled up as living accommodation whilst we remained near to our girlfriends. Great times and happy memories. After marrying and qualifying Tim and Maggie went to an estate in the West Indies for several years before returning home and settling near Devizes. Maggie remained in nursing until her final illness.

Friday, 17 April 2015

GE2015 - Peter Baillie

Peter Baillie, the UKIP candidate, was the first to respond to my questionnaire and his replies were prompt, concise and to the point.

His policy approaches were all quite reasonable, even for software patents which constitute something of an elephant trap, but he's sadly lacking in both knowledge and understanding of the human rights issue.

If elected, I believe Peter will make a conscientious and hard-working MP once the realities of government become clear to him.

Wednesday, 15 April 2015

GE2015 - Damian Hinds

Damian Hinds, the Conservative candidate, has of course been the serving MP in this constituency for the last five years and is an all round competent MP.

You can get a feel for Damian's position on various issues by examining his record at TheyWorkForYou.com.

Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Kingsley Parish Council - candidates

On 7th May we need to choose six members for Kingsley Parish Council from the list below:
  • CLAYTON Karin - Apple Barn, Oakhanger Road
  • COURY Richard Michael - Burninghams
  • GREGORY Robin Mark - 23 Churchfields
  • LOWE David - 28 Churchfields
  • MCCORKINDALE Linda Barbara - Greenbanks, Sandy Lane
  • PEARSON Carole Rosalind - 1 Sandrock Cottage
  • RIGDEN Christopher James - Prospect Cottage
Full details on EHDC website.

Monday, 13 April 2015

GE2015 - Peter Bisset

Peter Bisset, the Green Party candidate, would be a surprising winner in this campaign. I had to be patient and persistent to get a response by email and when it came it warned that "it would have to brief".

Peter appears to have had a relatively exotic life but one with limited experience of the various issues facing a modern British MP. Quite strong views about the House of Lords and Trident help him to stand out from the other candidates but I'm not convinced that even Peter considers himself a serious contender.

Saturday, 11 April 2015

GE2015 - Richard Robinson

Richard Robinson, the Liberal Democrats candidate, seems to me to be a fairly ordinary political candidate.

He responded in a reasonable time to my emailed enquiry and answered my questions directly. He understood the double-edged nature of the non-stun issue (animal husbandry/religious freedom) and addressed both points. He has a good layman's grasp of both the human rights issue and the software patent issue. He takes a sensible reforming view of the House of Lords and has sound understanding of the UK's major defence requirements.

I'm confident that, if elected, Richard would make a fine MP.

Friday, 10 April 2015

Local elections 2015

In addition to the enthralling General Election, May 7th will see elections to Kingsley Parish Council (six members) and for the Selborne ward of East Hampshire District Council.

I have no idea who's standing for the parish council or why it's not included in the list of uncontested parishes but the runners for the district are:

David Ashcroft - Conservative
Terry Cartwright - Independent
Lynne Ravenscroft - Liberal Democrat

Thursday, 9 April 2015

GE2015 - Candidate sketches

In support of my assertion that, round here at least, we should vote for a candidate rather than a party or a government I shall be offering sketches of each of the candidates exclusively based on correspondence with each of them.

I have written to Damian Hinds on several issues during his MPship: bishops in the House of Lords, prisoner voting rights and a few others and I asked each of the other candidates the same single question:

I wonder if you'd be so kind as to share your thoughts on the following topics:-

* non-⁠⁠stun animal slaughter
* withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights
* software patent regulations
* bishops in the House of Lords
* independent nuclear deterrents

Please don't cut and paste from party policy, I can do that all by myself; I am interested in you as an individual rather than you as party apparatchik.


My sketches will be based on the various insights gained from the responses. I won't be publishing the actual responses themselves because that would be unethical as I hadn't warned them in advance wouldn't it.

Monday, 6 April 2015

GE2015 - Impartial guide 2

Before moving on to the local candidates individually I'm just going to spend a few moments pondering the desirability of various outcomes at the national level. This might help some of you decide whether to pack your bags on May 8th.

Obviously the worst result would be a majority Labour government. Majority Labour governments have always been ruinous for the British economy, authoritarian in their approach and always lead to high unemployment; they keep saying they've changed, learned lessons, but they never do - they are to be avoided at all costs.

Second worst would be a majority Conservative government. Fortunately, this is unlikely under the leadership of David Cameron: couldn't win outright against the worst Prime Minister in living memory, hasn't done better than neck and neck with the most hopeless opposition leader in living memory. The current Conservative party has an insultingly hopeless justice minister, a weak Prime Minister and no real idea what it stands for any more. Plain packaging on cigarettes anyone?

This time though we have several minor players each capable of influencing the makeup of a minority government. Probably the best outcome would be more of the same: Conservatives + LibDem coalition. That would likely lead to a change in the Labour leadership so they might have a crack next time; the reverse is also true.

The Conservatives complain that they weren't able to do more over the last five years because they were held back by the wretched LibDems; the LibDems make similar complaints but I can't help thinking that they probably only achieved what has been achieved because they've had to compromise. A bit like out here in reality.

Saturday, 4 April 2015

GE2015 - Impartial guide 1

Having received a complaint (anonymous, unsubstantiated) of lack of impartiality I shall be careful to treat all parties and candidates with equal contempt between now and May. Anyone still not enjoying my approach is invited to make their own contributions, or shut up.

The runners and ride in this constituency have now been declared:- and they are, in no particular order (or perhaps there is!)

CandidatePartyNotes
Damian HindsConservativeRight-minded people, generally better off
Alex WilksLabourUp the workers!
Richard RobinsonLibDemsThe alternative, sullied by government
Peter BaillieUKIPOld men in a pub on Wednesday night
Peter BissetGreensGardeners, dreamers, peaceniks

So, thinking about the parties nationally, the Conservatives and Labour could actually form a government if they manage a majority of seats, the others would all cast about trying to figure out how this running the country malarkey actually works. On the face of it that narrows the choice down to the first two but this is England where we don't have the luxury of voting for a government anyway so let's just choose the best candidate. (Yes, I do realize that Damian is going to be re-elected, I'm not completely stupid, I've lived here long enough to know how things work)

I shall be offering thumbnail sketches of each of the candidates over the next few weeks and you can make up your own minds.