Spring 2014 Marches Access Point’s Open day Following extensive building work to the Old Police Station in Kington, a superb new community facility has been provided at Marches Access Point (MAP). The work has created an enlarged and improved training and meeting room, which will enable more training courses to be delivered for the local community and will also be Kington Town Councils’ new chamber. Due to this work MAP now have new computers in the Online Centre with Microsoft Office 2010 these are much faster than the previous Online Centre computers. MAP had an open day on Friday 7 th February to celebrate the new training room and Bill Wiggin MP cut the ribbon to announce the official opening of the room. Over 40 people attended including Kington’s Mayor, Mr Bob Widdowson. Council members both from Kington and Herefordshire Council also attended. The work that has been undertaken was greatly admired by all who attended the event and holds great future prospects both for MAP and the community of Kington. Marches Housing 2 Kington Town Council 3 Lady Hawkins’ School 4 Kington Festival 5 Kington Medical Practice 5 Kington Community Orchards 6 Kington Walking Festival 6 Kington Community Shop 7 Kington Chronicle 7 March & April courses at MAP 8 MAP’s Volunteer 9 Kington Golf Club 10 Kington Chamber of Trade 12 Kington Neighbourhood Development Plan 12 Great War commemoration Group 13 Dragon Fire Club 13 Electric Cars in the Country? 14 In this issue Did you know: Bimonthly can mean every two weeks or every two months but biannually means twice a year and biennial means every two years The Kington Chronicle Melissa Townsend Editor
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Spring 2014
Marches Access Point’s Open day
Following extensive building
work to the Old Police Station in Kington, a superb new
community facility has been provided at Marches Access
Point (MAP). The work has created an enlarged and
improved training and meeting room, which will
enable more training courses to be delivered for the local
community and will also be Kington Town Councils’ new
chamber.
Due to this work MAP now
have new computers in the Online Centre with Microsoft
Office 2010 these are much faster than the previous
Online Centre computers.
MAP had an open day on Friday 7th February to
celebrate the new training room and Bill Wiggin MP cut
the ribbon to announce the official opening of the room.
Over 40 people attended
including Kington’s Mayor, Mr Bob Widdowson. Council
members both from Kington and Herefordshire Council
also attended.
The work that has been undertaken was greatly
admired by all who attended the event and holds great
future prospects both for MAP and the community of
Kington.
Marches Housing 2
Kington Town Council 3
Lady Hawkins’ School 4
Kington Festival 5
Kington Medical Practice 5
Kington Community Orchards
6
Kington Walking Festival 6
Kington Community Shop 7
Kington Chronicle 7
March & April courses at MAP
8
MAP’s Volunteer 9
Kington Golf Club 10
Kington Chamber of Trade
12
Kington Neighbourhood Development Plan
12
Great War commemoration Group
13
Dragon Fire Club 13
Electric Cars in the Country?
14
In this issue
Did you know: Bimonthly can mean every two weeks or every two months but biannually means twice a year and biennial means every two years
The Kington Chronicle
Melissa Townsend Editor
Page 2 The Kington Chronicle Spring 2014
Marches Housing Association in Kington
Welcome to the latest in our regular
bulletins, keeping you up to date with what
Marches is doing in Kington.
Welcome Back Lysette! Marches Housing welcomes back
Housing Officer Lysette Phillips, who has just returned to the Association after maternity leave. She has re-
joined Hannah Bragg as Housing Officers for the Kington area. We would like to thank Andrea Millichap who temporarily covered Lysettes
post whilst she was away and will now be returning to her role within the Repairs Team. You can contact your Housing Officers by phoning 01568 619607, or by e-mailing them at:
[email protected] and [email protected] Anti-social behaviour We’re very glad to say that, at the time of writing, we have no outstanding cases of anti-social behaviour. The
Association takes Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) very seriously which has been evident in our latest successful court action. Housing Officers spend a large part of their working week dealing with ASB which is an essential part of our service. It is very important to us that that all residents who live in our communities live without fear of:
Violence, aggressive or threatening language or
behaviour
Unreasonable amounts of noise
Harassment, particularly because of someone’s
race, colour, creed or vulnerability
Behaviour which interferes with residents’ quality
of life The general term Anti-Social Behaviour covers a number
of different types of behaviour that are considered unacceptable and which may affect the quality of life of others. These can range from garden nuisance, inconsiderate parking, noise and disputes between neighbours to domestic violence and criminal damage. We work with the Police and Environmental Health as well as other agencies such as Social Services to try to
resolve issues as effectively as possible ensuring
residents are comfortable in their communities.
Fly Tipping Fly tipping continues to be an issue at Passey Court. Various household items including a fridge-freezer and
other general waste were recently discovered but have now been cleared. The cost of removing and disposing of this rubbish continues to rise and is paid for out the Associations budget for estate improvements. For the year 2013/14 so far, the Association has spent a massive £6939.50 on clearing fly-tipping. So please don’t dump it! If you have large items you need to
dispose of, you can arrange for the Herefordshire Council to collect it straight from your home. The collection costs £20 for up to three items and any
additional items cost £5 each. To arrange a collection, you can contact the Herefordshire Council on 01432 260500 or visit the
Herefordshire Council website www.herefordshire.gov.uk . Items collected through the large item collection service, which are suitable for reuse, are kept by the Full House Charity and are made
available to those in need who have
very limited resources
Neighbourhood Walkabouts Lysette and Hannah will be walking around our estates as usual this spring. They would like to meet as many people as possible, to share ideas about how to improve
our estates as well as to discuss any problems that may have arisen. We have recently introduced a new way of carrying out Estate Inspections, focussing on the expectations of tenants, knocking on doors and asking you about the environmental standards you want to see when walking down your street
The Officers are often joined by local Councillors, the Police and staff from other sections of MHA and we would very much like our tenants to join us on the inspections. Whether you are a current Marches Housing Association resident or an interested community member, you are welcome to come and join them on the following dates in Kington:
This page has been paid for by Marches Housing Association
Lower Cross, High Street (1.30pm, meet at the communal gardens
Thursday 20th Feb Thursday 24th April
Passey Court, The Square, Church Street (2.00pm, meet at the car park in Passey Court)
Monday 24th March
Park Road, Park Green, Park View, The Crescent, Oak Plock, Churchill Road (3.00pm, meet at the Park Green)
Monday 24th March
Greenfield (2.00pm, meet at the play area on the following Thurs-days)
20th Feb, 20th March, 24th April & 22nd May
Hatton Gardens (2.00pm, meet at the entrance to the estate)
Thursday 08th May
Llewellin Road (1.30pm, meet at the corner of Llewellin Road out-
side no.2)
Thurs 13th Feb Thursday 17th April
Arrow View, Brunley Close, Bril-ley (2.00pm meet at the car park)
Monday 17th March
Victoria Court (2.00pm, meet at the entrance to the estate)
Monday 05th May
Aconbury Leigh, Wall Hills Close (2.00pm, meet at the entrance to the estate)
Thursday 15th May
Pictured:
Housing Officer
Lysette Phillips
Page 3 The Kington Chronicle Spring 2014
Update on asset transfer Following the last issue of the Chronicle, a public
meeting was held in December which
overwhelmingly endorsed the Town Council’s
proposal to continue negotiations to take over a
number of buildings and play areas from
Herefordshire Council.
Herefordshire Council has completed a major
refurbishment at the Old Police Station and the
building was formally re-opened by Bill Wiggin MP
on 7th February. The Town Council will move to
its new office in the Old Police Station shortly and
council meetings will now be held there on the
first Monday of the month.
The refurbishments have inevitably caused major
disruption to the work of Marches Access Point
(MAP) and we are grateful for the support it has
given during this period. With a newly refurbished
and much expanded training room MAP will be
launching a new series of courses for the coming
year.
A new home for the Tourist Information Centre
has been found in Church Street with support from
the Town Council and it is expected that the Mill
Street building will be vacated in early March. It
will then pass back to Herefordshire Council for
sale by them.
The Town Council is commissioning legal advice on
the best possible management arrangements of
the assets to safeguard them for the community in
the future.
Town Council precept 2014/15 The Town Council has agreed a budget of
£96,700 for 2014/15 compared to £73,910 in
2013/14. The increase includes £15,000 for
production of the Neighbourhood Plan which will
be covered by grants from other bodies, additional
support for the Tourist Information Centre and
legal costs for the asset transfer. The precept,
which forms part of everyone’s Council Tax
charge, has been increased from £64,000 in
2013/14 to £70,000 in 2014/15. For a Band D
property this is an increase from £64.11 a year to
£68.81 or 14p a week.
As this year we have one off costs such as the
legal costs, it is hoped that any increase in
2015/16 can be kept to a minimum but there is
some uncertainty about whether central
government funding (currently £11,139) will be
passed on by Herefordshire Council next year
when the rules governing this funding change.
The recent decision by Herefordshire Council to
increase the amount payable by people on low
incomes who had previously received full relief
from Council Tax puts added pressure on us to
keep any increases to a minimum.
Dog fouling There seem to be more dogs in Kington. It may be
just our imagination but what is real is that there
is a noticeable increase in dog fouling. Most dog
owners are responsible and clean up after their
dog but it is a pity that some are not.
Dog mess is not only an eyesore but a serious
health hazard. To request the clean-up of dog
mess, contact Herefordshire Council on 01432
261761
If you fail to remove your dog's feces, you may be
issued with a Dog Control Order. This could mean
an £80 fixed penalty notice, or even prosecution.
On the Council’s agenda Some of the issues we are currently dealing with
include:
• Withdrawal of the paramedic service at Kington
surgery
• Kington becoming a 20mph zone
• Cuts to the library service
• Loss of funding to the Leisure Centre
• Future of funding for the youth centre
• Control of dogs in public spaces.
Let us know if there are other issue you would like
us to look at.
Cllr Bob Widdowson Mayor
Kington Town Council
Page 4 The Kington Chronicle Spring 2014
Lady Hawkins’ School in Top 3
Schools of Herefordshire The recently published national Department for
Education School League tables report strong
results for the school. We already knew that our
2013 GCSE results were record results for the
school in several subjects, so we were confident
that we had made progress: 75% A*-C in
Mathematics, 72% A*-C in English, 91% A*-C in
Science. When the local rank orders are compared
the combined results put us in the top 3 schools in
the county. This is a fitting reward for all the hard
work put in by students, staff, governors and
parents.
Wizard of Oz Production Students from across the school are working hard
learning lines, songs and dance routines to put
together a production of the Wizard of Oz. There
are three performances Thursday 27th – Saturday
29th March at 7:30pm. Tickets will be available
from the school in March.
The last time Lady Hawkins’s School put on the
Wizard of Oz in 2003 Ellie Goulding was one of the
lead roles, the scarecrow, played this year by
Jasmine Woods in Year 9. Will Jasmine follow in
the footsteps of other famous ex-LHS students,
such as Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) or Ellie?
Photo: Alese Ray, Lottie Oliver, Jasmine Woods,
Rhiannon Williams & Rosie Beck
Careers Convention On Wednesday 12th March, 6-8:30pm LHS are
holding a Careers Convention to enable students
and their parents to speak with representatives
from many different careers, the Armed Forces
and further education and training providers.
Thanks to all those people who have offered their
time to help students. If you feel you could offer
Kington & District Community Shop When they first started the shop, Rita and Ron had
no idea that it would become so successful and
such a regular part of fundraising for local groups.
Neither did they realise just how much hard work it
would take to keep it going for all these years.
We are sure that they are really appreciated for
their dedication but few people know how much
effort they have put into fundraising “behind the
scenes” to keep the shop open, and FREE to use for
Kington Clubs and Societies. Rita and Ron are now
semi-retiring and it is time for this amazing
community facility to learn to support itself and
cover its own costs.
With the help of Helen Yeomans (REACH) we have
set up a small committee to help keep the shop
going. The shop is currently booked for this year.
However, any group can ask to be put on the
waiting list at Marches Access Point by the
wonderful volunteers in reception (MAP is located in
Market Hall Street).
Since January this year, each group is being asked
to pay £100 for their week in the shop. These
contributions will make just enough income cover
the shop’s running costs which include rent,
cleaning, insurance and electricity bills. They also
make a signed agreement to observe some simple
“house-keeping” rules and generally look after the
place while they are there. Most groups running the
shop take around £1,000 so paying 10% towards
costs still makes an excellent income to their funds.
It is obviously such a good idea that the Kington
model has been copied to set up “Community
Shops” in other towns and we are delighted to
announce that Leominster’s is now open.
We also think that this recycling and re-use of
unwanted “stuff” contributes to our local
“sustainable” economy, re-circulating money which
stays in Kington and also by reducing a lot of
needless waste.
Thanks for your support and understanding.
Ron & Rita Langford, Emma Phillips, Amber Baulch & Richie Cotterill
(The Kington & District Community Shop Committee)
The Kington Chronicle is delivered free to every house and business in Kington, and relies on
donations and paid advertising to meet the printing costs of each edition. In order to keep your newsletter free we desperately need to raise funds to meet these increasing costs.
The Kington Chronicle will be fundraising in Kington’s Community Shop between
Saturday 26th April 2014 and Friday 2nd May 2014.
We are looking for both volunteers to help with the shop and items to stock the shop.
Please donate anything you can to the Kington Chronicle for this week.
The Kington Chronicle is run by the community for the community and without your help it
wouldn’t exist.
If you could help in anyway or have items for us to sell please call in at Marches Access Point, The Old Police Station, Market Hall Street, Kington HR5 3DP or call: 01544 231771
Thank you for your support!
The Kington Chronicle
Page 8 The Kington Chronicle Spring 2014
March & April Courses at Marches Access Point
These courses are a collaboration between Herefordshire Council Community Learning and
Employability, Marches Access Point and the Skills Funding Agency
March
Manage your Computer Monday 10th March 2pm - 4pm
5 week course for £45
Introduction to Word 2010 Tuesday 11th March 10am - 12pm
5 week course for £45
New to Computers Tuesday 11th March 2pm - 4pm
5 week course for £45
Preparing Photos for Web
Publicity Tuesday 11th March 6pm - 8pm
5 week course for £45
Introduction to Digital
Photography Thursday 13th March 2pm - 4pm
5 week course for £45
Create your own Website Friday 14th March 10am - 12pm
7 week course for £67.50
April
Next Steps in Digital
Photography Thursday 24th April 2pm - 4pm
5 week course for £45
Getting to know your iMac Friday 25th April 2pm - 4pm
5 week course for £45
Introduction to Spreadsheets Tuesday 29th April 10am - 12pm
5 week course for £45
Introduction to Windows 8.1 Friday 29th April 2pm - 4pm