Our Fête in your Hands - Peter Cottingham

Book the date Saturday 26 June 1.00 to 4.00pm; invite friends for the weekend; prepare for some fun, because the Fête is back! Help us to raise £3000 to be shared between the school, the church and the new playground project.

The cricket field will be alive with traditional stalls and some new ideas for all the family. Be entertained, be involved, be fed by Frank’s lamb roast and relaxed by your Pimms, but above all, be there!

Everyone will be contacted in due course by a member of the committee, so please give your support. For more information, or to register your support, please contact: Peter Cottingham É851223; John DuckerÉ851524; Rosanna ArmitageÉ850005 or Liz AndersonÉ850141.

Annual Meetings:

Ampney Crucis

The Annual Ampney Crucis Parish Meeting will take place in the Village Hall on Monday 10 May 7.30. This is your opportunity to find out what the Parish Council has been doing over the last 12 months and to ask any specific questions you may have. It’s your meeting.

Ampney St Peter

The AGM parish meeting - Tuesday 27 April 6.30pm, Ampney St Peter Parish Church. This is an important meeting and we hope that as many people as possible will attend.

Ampney St Mary

Ampney St Mary annual parish meeting will be held on 10 May 7.30pm at The Hill Oak.

Find the Answers

Ampney Crucis village quiz will be held on Thursday 1 April 7:30pm in the Village Hall.

Teams of four £4. Names to Anne BridgesÉ652471.

WI Jumble Sale

Ampney Crucis Women’s Institute Jumble Sale, Ampney Crucis Village Hall 24 April 2.30p.m. Entrance free. Contact Sonja PayneÉ850267.

Cinema – Fran Huckle

Gerry Westmacott and all the regular film goers would like to thank Peter Payne of Ampney St Mary for volunteering as relief projectionist for the monthly film programme. Films are usually shown on the second Wednesday of each month in Ampney Crucis Village Hall. Tickets are a very reasonable £2.50 and refreshments are available, but do bring a cushion.

The next film, Wednesday 14 April 7.30pm, will be Love Actually starring Hugh Grant. The May film is yet to be chosen but will be shown on 12 May. You do not need to book but if you have any questions contact Fran HuckleÉ750788.

Pétanque Open Day- Martin Cridford

The new season will be launched with a bank holiday barbecue and ‘Have a Go’ day on Monday 3 May from 12noon to 4pm.

Everybody welcome, all ages, previous members, complete beginners, spectators etc, and with our new extended pitch more people will be able to play at once! Contact Martin CridfordÉ 851313 or Liz Anderson É850141 for more information.

Spring Tidy Up

The annual village tidy up will take place on Saturday 24 April, 10 to 12 noon. Last year, the turn out was a little disappointing but that was more than made up for by the excellent response to the autumn tidy up in the Burial Ground. This kind of help does save money in the long run so please do your best to help. There will be two meeting points – outside the Village Hall for the village patrol and the Burial Ground for the work force.

In the Spring…

…a young gardener’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of…bonfires.

With the fine weather almost here and gardens to clear up, bonfires will be making their appearance. Please be considerate about when and where you light a bonfire – it does no harm to warn your neighbours if you are planning one. The burning of garden refuse is one thing; the burning of household refuse is entirely different and a definite no-no which could lead to prosecution. Parishioners who have a problem with people burning household rubbish should contact Environmental ServicesÉ623413.

A Man’s Best Friend…

…can also be something of a nuisance, particularly if it is of the roaming variety. Some dogs are allowed out (or escape) and they can both make a mess and be something of a traffic hazard.

There have been some grumbles, particularly around the top of School Lane where the fouling of the footpaths is becoming an issue. It is very unpleasant for people attending the school to have to watch where they are putting their feet and it is also an offence. If your dog is the guilty one, please do something about keeping it under control.

The farmers also have something of a grumble with dogs let loose in fields. Please remember that dogs don’t have an automatic right to walk on footpaths and must be under control. Letting your dogs run into the crops is technically trespass.

The Local Plan

The draft local plan (which will govern planning applications over the period ending in 2011) is now at the enquiry stage. An inspector will be hearing all objections to the draft proposals and will then issue his findings. Within a short time after that, the plan will be approved and will become law. The Ampney Crucis Parish Council has raised some objections to the draft and will be represented at two of the discussion sessions during April.

A417 Petition – N. Simpson and N. Ferguson

The petition to downgrade the A 417 to a B road (now known officially as the ‘A 2 B campaign’) is now building up a good head of steam. At the end of February, the four principal players in the campaign (the District Councillors representing the local wards through which the A417 passes plus County Councillor Ray Theololou) held a public meeting in Fairford to officially launch the campaign. There has been a good deal of local press interest in the petition. The Standard and The Echo have both covered it and there has also been comment on Radio Gloucestershire.

The aim of the petition is to get the road removed from the principal lorry routes system as this affects lorry movements not only of UK based hauliers but also those from across Europe. Clearly, it will not remove all lorry traffic because there is a good deal of local lorry use. The hope is that it will divert long distance lorries from using a route which, particularly from the point of view of Poulton and Fairford, is simply not suitable for such traffic.

Road maintenance has been raised as a potential problem but there are no indications that downgrading will have a deleterious impact as maintenance is based on the state of the roads and not their usage. Cutting lorry volumes should extend surface life; the amount of wear and tear done by a heavy haulage lorry is estimated to be 100 times that of a car. Moreover, the changed status will alter minimum requirements such as dimensions and thereby should allow greater flexibility for other traffic management and risk reduction strategies.

The local petition kicks off in April and will run to the end of May. Anybody who is over 18 and living in the villages will be entitled to put their name to the petition which will subsequently be handed to Cotswold District Council.

Within Ampney Crucis, there are 15 volunteers who will be coming to your door and inviting you to sign the petition forms. For Ampney St Peter and Ampney St Mary, Mrs Rhonda Thompson will be the sole distributor. She will refer to the respective co-ordinators (Julian Selby-Rickards and Nicoll Ferguson) and will co-opt other collectors if appropriate. The co-ordinators will meet in early April to assess progress and to oversee the conduct of the campaign.

Find out More about our Roads

Do you know how to find out about current road works or how decisions are made about new speed limits? Because people in Gloucestershire have been asking more questions about traffic management and highway maintenance, the County Council has now produced very useful leaflets on both subjects. For your free copies contact Sharon JonesÉ 01452 425525 or email projectsandtraffic@gloucestershire.gov.uk

Pleydell Trust Grants – John Franklin

During 2003 the Pleydell Trust funded new equipment for the school, including computers and projectors; contributed towards the cost of school educational outings; and bought textbooks. In addition, it gave grants to eight further education students and the Ampney Crucis Brownie Pack.

Our school computer network has finally been established; by the next newsletter I should be able to report that it is working and trouble free! Thank you for the donations from the Friends of Ampney Crucis, the Pleydell Trust and also from members of the local community who have donated 'surplus' ICT equipment.

We would appreciate your Tesco computer vouchers – there is a box near the front door or just post them through the letter box.

Our India day was a great success. The children experienced clothing from India and information on cultural life from Mary Patterson who was a missionary for over 20 years in India. We also looked at art work and experienced a taste of India in the classrooms. Thank you to all who helped to make this a success.

Our older children are scheduled to go on a residential trip to Staffordshire on the 21st of March, a rare Mothers Day treat! The children will have opportunities for outdoor problem solving activities, climbing, archery and quad bikes as well as developing their ICT skills.

We are hoping to develop our outdoor education area for the early years children over the summer holidays. This will widen the learning experiences for the children and allow for more practical opportunities.

In English lessons, the children use a range of modern and more established authors to gain experience of different styles of writing. Our year 2 and 3 children looked at a well known poem and wrote their own versions, one of which appears below.

Monday's Child

Mondays child is full of tricks,

Tuesdays child likes to play with bricks,

Wednesdays child loves to run,

Thursdays child always wants his mum,

Fridays child enjoys to be wild,

Saturdays child is going very mild,

But the child that is born on the Sabbath day is usually the one who plays in the hay.

Anna Hardy, Year 3

Mobile Police Station Visits

The mobile police station, with PC Reuben Wyatt, will visit the Ampneys, at these times (approximately):

	A Crucis	A St Mary	A St Peter
10 April	12:45	13:00	14:00
20 April	12:45	13:00	14:00
2 May	12:45	13:00	14:00
18 May	16:45	17:00	18:00

É07734 068276;email egmps@gloucestershire.police.uk.

Calendar Girls – Anne Bridges

If you were one of the 65 people who came to February’s Film Night and enjoyed the film Calendar Girls why not come and try a real W.I. evening?

Ampney Crucis W.I. meet on the fourth Thursday of each month at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

To set the record straight we don’t usually sing “Jerusalem” and the speakers and topics are much more interesting than those at Knapeley W.I. You won’t be asked to make jam, you don’t have to make cakes and you certainly won’t need to take your clothes off!

Come along, you will be very welcome!

Crack Cancer Appeal Fund – Annie Kelly

I would like to thank all those who made delicious cakes, gave their time and support to a very happy Quilts, Coffee and Cakes day on 21st February at St Peter's RC Church Hall. The sum of £1003 was raised for the appeal.

More Tea, Vicar?- Anne Bridges

At the end of February, a very appreciative audience in the Village Hall was transported back to a gentler age, with songs and poems, most of them familiar, of life in middle England. From the set of an Edwardian sitting room we were treated to the professional musical and acting talents of Susan Flannery and Michael Lunts. They brought to life works by John Betjeman, Noel Coward, Ivor Novello and Joyce Grenfell, all of whom are renowned for their keen sense of observation. Gems such as “The Stately Homes of England”, “Old Tyme Dancing” and “A Bar on the Piccola Marina” flowed throughout the evening.

The Hall piano is rarely played so expertly and with such apparent ease, thank goodness it was in tune!!

Broadband: an Update – Christine Cridford

Broadband allows fast access to the internet and retains full use of your telephone for calls whilst you are on-line.

In order for BT to provide us with Broadband connections they have to upgrade the Poulton exchange and will not do so unless sufficient interest is shown. In The Ampney Times, we have been reporting the BT upgrade status for the Poulton exchange and this now stands at 141 registrations out of a target level of 250. It appears a campaign covering the whole of the Poulton exchange area is underway and you may have received a flyer from the organiser of the campaign pressing for as many residents as possible to register their interest with their internet supplier. Go to wwwgetonandgetit.co.uk or contact d_robertson@btinternet.com.

An alternative ‘wireless’ system has already been installed in Poulton, Meysey Hampton and Down Ampney villages by Cotswold Community Networks. They sponsored the last issue of The Ampney Times to promote their system, which only requires 6-10 households to sign up to make it viable. However Paul Pestille reports that, so far, the level of interest has been disappointing from the Ampneys and unless more people contact him it will not be possible to introduce it here.

So if you would like to register or to find out more contact www.cotswoldcommunitynetworks.co.uk or phone Paul PestilleÉ851976

Football – Phil Gearing

The football team are still finding it tough to gain positive results but have plenty of games left to improve!

We recently played away at Eastcombe, and put in one our best performances of the season, unfortunately losing 1-3.

We shall be playing plenty of evening matches this season and would welcome any support. See the local paper for our fixtures.

Cricket – Phil Gearing

The club has recently refurbished the wooden bridge between the ground and The Crown in order that the players can reach their refreshments without having a swim!

Thanks go to Dick Gearing and his "young" assistant Don Underwood who, armed with chainsaws and hammers, completed the task in record time!

The new season is fast approaching and any new members would be most welcome to join. Contact Dick GearingÉ851855 for further information.

Sixties Club

Meets Mondays Ampney Crucis Village Hall 2.00pm unless otherwise noted

5 April “Magic Show” by Brian Lintell

26 April Spring trip to Clarks Village, Street – pick-up 10.00am Pleydells

10 May “Antiques”, a talk by Bridgett Tubb

24 May Lunch in the Hall, 12.00 for 12.30pm; Quiz, with Alan Walters

Contact Paddy or Peggy ThompsonÉ851619

Whist and Bingo

Whist drives 13 April and 11 May 7.30pm, the Pop Inn, Cirencester

Bingo 7 April Bingo (in aid of Blue Peter Mencap Appeal) and 5 May,

Doors open 7.00pm, eyes down 7.30pm, Ampney Crucis Village Hall

Ampneys Gardening Club

Meets monthly, Thursdays, Ampney Crucis Village Hall, 7.00pm to 9.00pm unless otherwise noted

24 April, 10.30am-12.00noon, Coffee morning and plant sale, 33 Ampney Crucis, by kind permission of Mrs Kitty Gaden; spring flower competition

20 May “Colour and texture”, a talk by Mr D Combes

Contact Joyce Cutts É851540

Bookings for the Village Hall may be made through Paddy or Peggy Thomson É851619.

Mothers’ Union

Meets monthly at various venues and times; everyone is welcome.

1 April 2:30pm, Waterton Farm House, Chrissie Rose, “Youth work in the Deanery”

13 April 1:00 to 2:00 pm, “The wave of prayer”

6 May 2:30pm, venue to be announced, Rosemary Franklin, “The Mothers’ Union at the United Nations”.

Contact Rosemary FranklinÉ654282;

Ampney and District Royal British Legion Women’s Section

Meets every two months, Tuesdays, Ampney Crucis Village Hall, 2.00pm unless otherwise noted

18 May, 7.00pm, Supper evening with Annual Conference report

Contact Janet GibbsÉ851227

Women’s Institute

Meets monthly Thursdays Ampney Crucis Village Hall 7.30 pm

22 April ”Banners”, a talk by Joan King

27 May The Resolution and Beetle Drive

Contact Sonja PayneÉ850267

Youth Club

May 7 and 28 5.45pm to 7.15pm, Ampney Crucis Village Hall.

Open to all children in Ampney Crucis School years 2 - 6.

For further information and membership enquiries contact Rosanna Armitage É850005