Village Voice - 23rd December 2004
CHURCH SERVICES FOR CHRISTMAS
For those of you who wish to attend a “Midnight” Mass on Christmas Eve, services will be held at Badby (10.00pm) and Charwelton (11.30pm). On Christmas Day there will be a service of Holy Communion at Preston Capes church at 8.00am, with a united benefice service of Carols Around the Crib at Fawsley on Boxing Day, starting at 4.00pm.
VILLAGE CAROL SINGING
There is still one opportunity to go carol singing around the village. Meet outside the village hall at 6.45pm tomorrow (Friday) to entertain the High Street, Church Way and The City (all in aid of the NSPCC).
REFUSE COLLECTIONS
Don't forget that there is no refuse collection this Monday (27th December).
VILLAGE HALL LOST PROPERTY
A mobile phone (plus a small quantity of plates and dishes) was left at the village hall after the recent Christmas party. If you think any of these could be yours, please give me a ring on 01327-361656. (Crockery remaining uncollected will probably end up on the fete bric-a-brac stall!)
PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
A brief report on items of general interest from last week's parish council meeting.
Little Preston Noticeboard - A suitable site has been agreed and installation will take place shortly.
Water Pressure - Anglian Water have confirmed that the water tower has not been used since 1995 and that water pressure is now maintained by means of an electric pump. Concern was expressed about the possible loss of water supply during extended power cuts, and the parish council will contact Anglian Water to discuss the possibility of a back-up generator.
Highways and Footpaths - Mike Eves had recently attended a meeting of parish council highways representatives with NCC and Atkins. The current structure of the highways department and Atkins is changing, and further details will be supplied in the New Year. The Clarence helpline (for reporting road problems) is being discontinued, and will be replaced by NCC's own call centre. The new number will be widely publicised, and it will still be possible to report concerns via email. Potholes etc. in the parish will be temporarily repaired in January, with permanent repairs a month later. The Mantles Heath and Eydon roads are very low priority for repairs – potholes are allowed to be left for up to six months before repair is required. It is not possible to divert some of the money to be spent on the Maidford road to these areas as this is a completely different budget and the two are not interchangeable. The parish council had written to NCC expressing concern over the placement and cost of the two metal signs which have recently appeared on the Preston Capes/Charwelton road. Their reply had indicated that these signs were in response to requests for information on expenditure, and they will be in place for approximately three months before being moved to a new location. They advised that £28 million is budgeted to be spent on roads in the county over the next three years, but Councillor Eves pointed out that only around 25% of this total will be spent in rural areas, the majority being allocated to the major towns in the county.
The next parish council meeting will be held on Tuesday, 4th January.
And finally … may I take this opportunity of wishing everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!