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Village news from Helen Price - 20th Feb 2020

As sent to The Mercury

Wednesday Club

Our speaker in February was Michael Wetson author of “A Life of Two Halves.” Michael’s book is a personal account of his experience of living with bi-polar disorder and other health issues. Michael, a resident of Kings Bromley, was born in Lichfield. He talks in his book about some of the struggles he has faced during his life and the ups and downs of living with bi-polar disorder admitting, “It sounds quite gloomy but there is humour in it!” Ruby Wax and Frank Bruno are among several well-known personalities who have openly discussed their experiences with bi-polar disorder and Michael has met with both of them.
Michael was a founder member of “The Open Door of Hope” a self- help group based in Lichfield. It was established to cater for the needs of mental health service users in Lichfield and surrounding areas. It opened in October 2011 and continues to offer help and support to those with mental health issues, their families and carers.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday March 4th when our speaker Marian Baldwin will be sharing “Memories of School Days.”

New 2 U

The “New 2 U” sale of good quality, second hand clothes, soft furnishings, shoes, handbags and costume jewellery will be in the Village Hall at 2 pm on Saturday 4th April.
Please start looking out items you could donate. We need items that will appeal to women, men and children, perhaps items in your wardrobe hardly worn, or unwanted gifts. It would be appreciated if you could iron anything that needs a spruce and bring to the hall on the morning of the 4th between 9.00 – 11.30 am. We will also accept books and DVDs in good condition.
If you could help in the morning (but more especially in the afternoon from 13.45 till 15.30, Peter Gee would love to hear from you. Also let Peter know if you have items which need collecting, just call 472157.

Australian Fire Relief Fundraising Event

£1000++ was raised on Saturday when hundreds turned out in force on a very wet and windy afternoon to support this worthy cause at the Village Hall. The Kings Bromley Harmony choir opened the event with some old Aussie songs to get everyone in the mood.

Many items were on sale, plus a silent auction, tombola, raffle etc and the WI, as usual, provided some delicious cakes together with tea and coffee.

Congratulations to Tracy Allanson-Smith and her team, the WI and of course our choir. Thanks to all who contributed with donations and their time. All proceeds will be donated to the Australian Fire Relief fund.

Village news from Helen Price - 13th Feb 2020

As sent to The Mercury

Australian Fire Relief Fundraiser, Saturday 15th February
We will be raising money for Australian Fire Relief in Kings Bromley Village Hall on Saturday 15th February between 2.00 and 4.00 pm.
Kings Bromley Harmony Choir will open the event at 2.00. The event includes a Tombola with amazing raffle prizes, Children’s colouring-in competition, Nearly new clothes, Bric-a-brac and Craft Sale. Tea, coffee and cakes provided by the WI.
If anyone wants to help or donate items, please get in touch with Tracy Allanson-Smith (0771 5678905). Every penny will be donated to https/www.wires.org.au to help animals, fauna and fire rescue volunteers in Australia.

Kings Bromley Gardening Guild
The Chairman, Allan Howard, welcomed everyone to the meeting on 20th January and gave the talk on 'Kings Bromley in the Best Kept Village Competition'. He showed slides of the village's history in the competition, starting from its inauguration in 1956 to the present day. Allan went on to look at the judges' comments for 2019 which showed how important community participation is in the outcome. Organisations and businesses, individual adults and their houses and children all play a part.
The audience made comments and gave suggestions, including the need for more volunteers to help with the churchyard team who meet every Wednesday morning around 10-11.30am, to mow the grass and tidy up. Duke of Edinburgh volunteers were also invited to help with the churchyard or tidying up the village and every household was encouraged to put up a Best Kept Village notice in their window. Volunteers were also asked to monitor and 'look after' a particular road or area in the village, particularly with regards to litter. It was agreed that people could do more to stop grass verges and hedges growing over the pavements and to take down signs which are for out-of-date events.
In conclusion, all those who do so much to keep the village beautiful and tidy were thanked.
A suggestion was made to co-ordinate the Best Kept Village, Open Gardens (13-14 June) and the Ironman event (7 June this year), with decorated old push-bikes around the village. The WI will be yarn bombing the village and putting up knitted wreaths.
The next meeting is on 17th February when Byron Lewis from Lichfield Garden Centre will talk about 'Early Spring Showcase', bringing along a range of plants.

Kings Bromley WI

The ladies of the Women’s Institute celebrated a late Christmas meal at the Royal Oak on 6th February. We are very grateful to our village pub for hosting this for us. We have grown in members over the year and forty ladies enjoyed a good meal, and a merry time was had by all. We enjoyed fun and laughter with the waiting staff who worked so hard and kept us all amused. The evening ended with a splendid raffle.

The next meeting on 5th March will be our AGM and will start at 7.30pm at the village hall. This will be an opportunity for our members to hear the reports from last year’s activities and also to vote on the committee for the following year.

Village news from Helen Price - 6th Feb 2020

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley Historians

Richard Stone, a regular guest speaker on local history, came to talk to the Historians group on the subject of Stained Glass at our first meeting of the year. The fourth Century was the earliest that stained glass appeared in England as it was wholly a Christian art form. At that time, the glass was coloured using metal oxide and urine (this today being replaced with oils). The tools used were very simple ones, quills and brushes of various sizes, and have altered little with the passing of time.

The stained glass windows were used to tell a story from the bible or commemorate an event, such as the plague window in Eyam church. They were also commissioned by individuals to celebrate a life or occasion.

Both Winchester and Lincoln Cathedral had their windows smashed during the Civil War but in both cases the local parishioners collected the broken glass that remained and rebuilt them, maybe haphazardly, but with love.

There was a great revival of stained glass in the 19th Century, partly due to the Pre-Raphaelites. Philip Webb the architect and artists such as Rosetti, Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox-Brown, together with artist and entrepreneur William Morris all created beautiful windows.

A popular subject was ‘Labour of the Months” which depicted the twelve seasonal tasks on the land. Many windows in Lichfield Cathedral were created by Charles Kemp 1838-1907, whose ‘signature’ was a wheatsheaf. Wychnor has four beautiful windows of the four seasons. The spires of the Cathedral and the River Trent are shown.

Allan Howard thanked Richard for a very interesting talk which gave us plenty of ideas for a trip planned for later this year. Next month Byron Lewis from Lichfield Garden Centre at Curborough will present a talk on Early Spring Flowers and bring along a variety of plants to see and purchase.

Village news from Helen Price - 30th Jan 2020

As sent to The Mercury

Gardening Guild

On 17th February the Gardening Guild will welcome Byron Lewis from Lichfield Garden Centre at Curborough to give a presentation on ‘Early Spring Showcase’ . This will be an opportunity to see (and buy!) a wide variety of plants, with advice given on how to grow them - a good way to get into a New Year of gardening. Members and visitors welcome, meeting starts at 7.45 pm in the Village Hall.
Please make a note in your diaries that Kings Bromley Open Gardens will be on the weekend of 13th and 14th June. There will be a meeting about this in March , but have a think about whether you would like to open your garden to the public this year. The more, the merrier!

Australian Fire Relief Fundraiser

We will be raising money for Australian Fire Relief in Kings Bromley Village Hall on Saturday 15th February between 2.00 and 4.00 pm. Every penny will be donated to https/www.wires.org.au to help animals, fauna and fire rescue volunteers in Australia.

There will be a tombola, children’s colouring-in competition, tea and cakes, clothes, bric a brac, craft for sale, jumble items, great raffle prizes and an auction at 3.00 pm.
Kings Bromley Village Harmony choir will be performing for us to launch the event so come along and help us to raise much needed money for our planet.
If anyone wants to help or donate items, get in touch with Tracy Allanson-Smith (0771 5678905)

Tiny Tot Tales at Richard Crosse C of E Primary School

We invite you to come and join us as we explore the exciting world of story and rhyme. All Sessions £5.
Toddler Sessions 1.30 – 2.30 pm Feb 5th, March 4th and 18th, April 1st
Baby Sessions 2.00 – 2.30 pm Feb 12th and 26th , March 11th and 25th, April 22nd.
Tel: 01543 472245 or visit richardcrosse.sch.uk/news and events/News for more info.

Going Cashless

A letter from LDC

Read more here going cashless (62.1 Kb)

Village news from Helen Price - 23rd Jan 2020

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley Wednesday Club

Our first meeting of 2020 was a “Bring and Share” Tea in the Village Hall. Tea was preceded by a Beetle Drive which involved thirty minutes of intense dice shaking accompanied by cries of “I’ve got a feeler but no head,” “I only need a leg” and “I haven’t even started yet” – interspersed with much scrabbling to retrieve lost dice!! After all the scores had been totted up, we then sat down to enjoy our well-earned tea!

Our programme for the coming year includes talks on a variety of subjects and topics including Recycling, The Dog’s Trust, A Photographic Miscellany, Memories of Schooldays, and “Smile Please, Say Cheese,” There will also be outings to Wolseley Garden Centre and Staffordshire Wildlife Centre in May, Trentham Gardens in October as well as a Cream Tea in July.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 5th February: Speaker Michael Wetson - “A Life of Two Halves.”

KINGS BROMLEY WI

For our first meeting of 2020 it was a welcome sight to see so many members present. After the evening’s business, our speaker, Victoria Ann Spencer-Kibble, began her presentation, the theme was “Therapy- What can it do for us”.

Victoria began by giving an insight into her life since moving to Kings Bromley. It involved personal tragedy, the death of her first husband whilst diving and she went on to describe all the consequent stress she has had to cope with. For several years, as the mother of a young family, she faced one battle after another while dealing with her grief, including financial and emotional stresses, and a feeling of total devastation. All of which she eventually overcame. The experience gave her focus and a wish to be able to help others who face stressful situations in their lives and who struggle to find a way through. Victoria trained as a therapist and now runs her own business to support individuals through very difficult times by helping them develop the appropriate techniques to win through.

Victoria received personal tuition from Marisa Peer, whose type of therapy is known as “Rapid Transformational Therapy’ and is endorsed by various international bodies. The therapy involves hypnosis, regression, cognitive behavior therapy and neuro-linguistic programming. Victoria in her consultations will ask her clients to go back in their lives, trying to get into the subconscious where all the secrets are, with the aim of helping them to let go of the negatives preventing them from taking control and changing their emotional and mental processes into positives. RTT is she believes, a relatively quick but effective way of ‘flipping’ the mind and gaining belief in oneself and effecting change.

It made us think about how we can help and support others – lots of people suffer from stress, anxiety and depression. Young children and adults are all vulnerable in different ways. Victoria cited various types of stress that can affect behaviour. All involve the mind and understanding its power to heal and change physical, mental and emotional reactions is totally beneficial. Victoria’s presentation was thought provoking and well received.

There will be no WI meeting in February in the village hall as members will be at The Royal Oak on the 6th enjoying their post-Christmas supper.

Village news from Helen Price - 16th January 2020

As sent to The Mercury

Bowling Club Whist Drive

The weekly whist drives resumed in the New Year on Tuesday 7th January. These take place in the Village Hall starting promptly at 2.00 pm. Everyone is very welcome.

WI Drop In Café

Please feel welcome to pop in for a chat with friends over a cup of tea and cake at our monthly Drop In Café at the Village Hall on Thursday 14th January. We gather every third Thursday of the month from 1.00–4.00 pm, and the cost is just £2.00. For more information please ring Sue on 01543 473518 or Pauline on 01543 472045. All ages are welcome.

Kings Bromley Neighbourhood Plan. Call for volunteers.

Neighbourhood planning was introduced by the Localism Act in 2011.

Neighbourhood planning was introduced by the Localism Act in 2011. The idea behind localism is that decision-making be passed to a more local level, from national or local government to local communities. Parish and town councils or neighbourhood forums (in unparished areas) can produce neighbourhood plans for their local areas, putting in place a strategy and policies for the future development of the area. Parish Councils that have Neighbourhood Plans can a) influence the planning and development decisions made by the District both through their Local Plan and in one-off decisions, b) get larger CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) payment from developments and c) demonstrate that they have involved their parishioners in the important issues concerning the future of their community.
Kings Bromley Parish Council has decided to produce such a Neighbourhood Plan. The intention is to complete the process in the 2020/21 financial year. A small working group consisting of councillors Charles Cole, Jack Burkinshaw and Allan Howard has been set up carry this out.
If any parishioner would like to join, or advise, this group please get in touch with Allan Howard on 472720. What would be useful to us is expertise in planning, environmental issues etc. and also in drafting professional documents on software such as Publisher.

Allan Howard, Chairman, Kings Bromley Parish Council.

Illegal parking

Instances of illegal parking near the Co Op

... have been report to the parish council. Vehicles have been seen parked on the zig zag lines next the pelican crossing or on the adjoining footway. If you see any vehicles parked in such a manner please take a photo on your phone or other device and mail it to the parish council or chairman or the local police. Email for the chairman is
alan.how8@btinternet.com

Felling of trees

A warning from LDC and a £5,000 fine

Recently LDC has made a successful prosecution of a Burntwood resident who felled several trees without first seeking planning permission. It is worth bearing in mind that many trees, particularly in the conservation area in Kings Bromley are also protect by tree preservation orders. Before taking out the chain saw please contact Gareth Hare, LDC's tree officer to make sure that any trees are not affected by such an order.

Co-op present cheque for Village Hall refurbishment

Report and images below

On 23rd Nov. the Co-op presented a cheque for £1833.24 to the Parish Council's Village Hall refurbishment fund, which had been chosen as one of their local charities for last year.

The Kings Bromley Harmony Choir sang carols to mark the event. They also sang at the turning on of the Christmas Tree lights on Nov. 30th - thanks to all those who donated for the new lights in the collection box in the pub and who helped put up the tree and lights.

Village news from Helen Price - 19th Dec 2019

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley WI

The Women’s Institute continued their year of celebration for their 90th birthday with a splendid Christmas party on 5th December. The evening started with a seasonal talk and slide show from Kate Reynolds on ‘Tis the season to be jolly ‘, a look back in time at Christmas. Kate helped the ladies recall their childhood with Christmas memories, using props and photos, funny stories and memorabilia from decades past. We looked at Christmas cards and decorations to festive traditions and special toys. The ladies joined in with a few Christmas carols too. Merriment continued with a buffet provided by the members.

The newly formed Drop In Café at the Village Hall was very successful in November and will continue on 19th December and the third Thursday of each month from 1pm, for everyone in the village to enjoy.

The ladies have a post Christmas meal on 6th February at the Royal Oak and the meetings start in our 91st year on January 9th, a week later than usual when members are reminded to bring their subscriptions.

A Happy New year to all from the WI.

Kings Bromley Village Harmony Choir

The choir will be singing for the residents at Kings Bromley Care Home on Saturday 21st December. This will be followed by another seasonal performance at the Royal Oak at approximately 3.30/4.00 pm. All are welcome.

Kings Bromley Bowls Club Whist Drive

The last whist drive of the year will take place in the Village Hall on Tuesday 17th December and re-starts 7th January – 24th March 2020. All are very welcome, £2 includes light refreshments.
Teresa Woodward 01543 473058

Kings Bromley Gardening Guild

Allan Howard gave the talk at the November meeting on 'Tudor Cottage and George Manners'. George used to live in Tudor Cottage in Alrewas Road, but moved to Yoxall around 15 years ago. Allan started with some of the early history of the house, which used to belong to the church and could have been used as a parsonage at one time. As George was a prolific winner of trophies at the Show, Allan explained the different cups which George had won over the years, including the trophy George himself donated: the Triple Bean Shield for runner, French and broad beans. Then a number of photos of the front and back gardens were shown, which highlighted George's expertise at growing flowers in a cottage garden style and a range of vegetables and fruit.

The annual Christmas lunch at the Boar's Head at Sudbury was enjoyed by everyone who attended on 2nd December. The first meeting of the New Year will be on Monday 20th January at the Village Hall when Allan Howard will talk about 'Kings Bromley in the Best Kept Village Competition'.

Village news from Helen Price - 12th Dec 2019

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley Historians

Kath Reynolds brought back some happy memories at our last meeting with a talk and slides about sweets, many from our childhood. As some of us are of a ‘certain age’, we could remember rationing and, more importantly, when sweets became ‘off ration’ in 1953. The ration was 12 oz. sweets per month; other than that it was a carrot impaled on a stick and a lot of imagination.

Bertie Bassett was a trader in sweets in 1899, which he sold in various varieties. When he dropped his tray of samples the sweets became mixed and resulted in his Liquorice Allsorts. We could all remember smoking sweet cigarettes and liquorice pipes and feeling very grown up and sophisticated! It was surprising how many sweets were produced in the 19th century such as Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles 1881 and Gums 1893, still familiar to us today.

Kath was an entertaining speaker and made it a very enjoyable evening. A week later we enjoyed Christmas lunch at the Royal Oak, which was a very convivial occasion. We will be enjoying our usual post-Christmas walk on 30th December, and the first meeting of the New Year brings us Richard Stone’s ‘Painting with Light’, a talk on stained glass, at the Village Hall on Friday 31st January at 8.00 p.m. All are very welcome.

Kings Bromley Harmony Choir

The choir performed their third annual Christmas concert to a full church on Saturday, providing a lovely start to the festive season. The programme was interspersed with solos on the flute, piano, clarinet and saxophone.

Thanks were given to Gill and Glen Wright for arranging the event and supplying refreshments, to Kathryn Pretty-Hopson for her leadership of the choir and Linda Rich for the piano accompaniment. Cash donations were divided equally between the All Saints church and Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital Renal Unit.

Branston Golf Club and Lichfield Morrisons store completed a trio of fund-raising performances by the Kings Bromley Harmony choir this weekend.

LDC info - keeping your home warm in winter

See link

Cosy homes (60.7 Kb)

A38 southbound works extension

See document detailing this work

A38 works timetable A38 / HS2 works (505.8 Kb)

Village news from Helen Price - 5th Dec 2019

As sent to The Mercury

Harmony Choir Concert in Church

It is two years since the village choir gave their first public performance in church and we are delighted that they will be back to give another concert in All Saints Church on Saturday, 7th December at 4.00 pm. It will consist of carols and a variety of songs both Christmas and non-seasonal. There will be an interval halfway through and cups of tea and mince pies will be served. There will not be an entry charge but there will be a retiring collection.
Everyone is very welcome to come along and support the choir.

Kings Bromley Care Home Christmas Fete

There will be a Christmas Fete at Kings Bromley Care Home, Manor Park from 3.00 – 5.00 pm on Saturday 7th December. We have Craft stalls, Tombola, Raffle, tea, cakes and hot food plus Entertainment.
Everyone is welcome – please come and support your local care home.

Kings Bromley Bowls Club Whist Drive

Join our Whist Drive which takes place each Tuesday at the Village Hall, starting promptly at 2.00 pm. All are very welcome, £2 admission includes light refreshments.
For further details please ring Teresa Woodward on 01543 473058.

Village news from Helen Price - 10th Oct 2019

As send to The Mercury

Kings Bromley Historians September Outing

Although we had arranged to meet in the coffee shop at Sharpe’s Pottery Museum, Swadlincote, we were split into two groups on arrival – no time for coffee! Group 1 were taken upstairs to the ‘Magic Attic” which volunteers had opened just for our visit as they are normally closed on Fridays.

The archives there were amazing. The collection of documents, books and newspapers, mostly relating to the pottery industry or the locality filled two rooms. The oldest collection of newspapers dated back to 1725. A lot of the documentation was already computerised and still an ongoing project.

The groups changed places and we were given an introductory talk in the kiln by a pair of very knowledgeable and enthusiastic volunteers. They explained the process of production of the pottery and the labour involved. The average life expectancy was 46 years, children were employed from the age of 8 and worked a 12 hour day. We were then taken to the exhibition room with examples of their products and those of other local potteries. It was really interesting and we would have enjoyed spending more time there but were booked for lunch at the Bull’s Head Repton!

After some impressively huge lunches, we still managed to walk around Repton church and descend into the crypt where some of the Viking burial stones survive. It was a very varied and enjoyable day out.

Our next meeting is on 25th October when Catherine Cartwright will speak of her “Research on World War 1” in the Village Hall at 8.00 pm. All are welcome.