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Village news from Helen Price - 21st March 2019

As sent to The Mercury

Spring Fete, Saturday 13th April 2019

Kings Bromley Nursing Home hold their Spring Fete on Saturday 13th April from 3.00 – 5.00 pm. Amongst the attractions will be a tombola, craft stalls, raffle and BBQ. There’s entertainment in the form of Sounds Familiar.

Entrance is free: do come along and support this local event to raise much-needed funds for activities within our local nursing home. Anybody wishing to volunteer their time and help at the Home, e.g. with activities such as knitting etc. or our garden project, would be warmly welcomed. Please ring Emma on 01283 576145 for further information.

Kings Bromley WI

The Women's Institute celebrated their AGM on 7th March with a fabulous cheese and wine buffet.

Sue Penfold was voted in for her 4th year as our president and we gained a new committee member in Sarah. Ladies enjoyed the buffet and wine celebration whilst taking part in a Fair Trade Quiz hosted by Teresa from the Co-op. The Co-op donated some Fair Trade wine for the raffle and displayed a stall with home made Fair Trade banana bread and coffee cakes for members to enjoy. The three winning teams all had Fair Trade chocolate as a prize. The members learnt a lot about the Fair Trade movement which incidentally was a cause originally supported by the WI in 1992, and continues to be a focus of their work.

We have grown in numbers this year and had several new members join us for our AGM. We shall meet again in April when we will hear from the Blood Delivery services, who will be our Charity for 2019.

Wednesday Club

Our March meeting saw us “Behind Bars” with Steve Geale. Steve an IT and Advanced Maths teacher had spent a total of 11 years “inside” - teaching first at HMP Stafford from 2002 – 2006 and then at HMP Featherstone from 2007 - 2014.
Steve began by explaining the different prison categories and the purpose behind custodial sentencing. He then outlined the many underlying reasons why people find themselves in prison including mental health issues, drink, drugs, greed and accident. The latter often related to Health and Safety regulations. He also outlined the high rates of re-offending with some 84% of prisoners re-offending within 4 years of leaving prison.
Steve went on to describe prisons as small towns with each cell being a residence. These “towns” have healthcare facilities, a shop, library, gym, workshops and an education centre providing inmates with opportunities for work, recreation and education.
Steve concluded by telling us of some of the people he had met during his career. Among others was the Oldbury forger who at his most prolific was producing £110,000 worth of counterfeit £20.00 notes per day. After serving a 7-year sentence he was employed by De La Rue makers of our paper money. The 26 -year old convicted for the production and supply of drugs. On his release he obtained a gardening job at a National Trust property where he cultivated the perfect conditions for growing cannabis! The prisoner convicted of GBH who used his 6-year sentence to gain a First-Class Honours degree in Maths and now works as a statistician. Finally, the prisoner who following his escape in December 2004 sent the prison governor a Christmas card! A tradition he continued until his recapture in 2008!
Next Meeting: Our next meeting will be on Wednesday April 3rd at 2.30pm at The Royal Oak when Kevin Reynolds will talk about Dragonflies.

Voluntary Transport Scheme / Kings Bromley Medical Transport

As part of their austerity measures, Staffordshire County Council

As part of their austerity measures, Staffordshire County Council will discontinue support for this scheme from 31st March. The scheme exists to enable parishioners to attend health centre or hospital visits where public transport cannot be used due to disability or inappropriate timetabling. The Parish Council believe this is an essential service and have decided to take over its support. Users will see no difference in the scheme, they will ring Jane Pollard on 473151 and she will arrange for a volunteer driver to transport them. Volunteer drivers will see a simplified set of rates for the journeys. To make it clear what the scheme is and does it will be renamed Kings Bromley Medical Transport. The Parish Council wishes to thank Jane for continuing to run the scheme, which she has done calmly and efficiently for around 25 years.

Jane has a pool of seven volunteer drivers which is barely enough. If you would like to volunteer your services please get in contact with Jane.

Allan Howard, Chairman, Kings Bromley Parish Council

Open Gardens 2019

Open Gardens Saturday 15th, Sunday 16th June

This year the proceeds from the Open Garden event will be split between the Church Restoration Fund and the Village Hall - for a new notice board and benches/tables on the play area.The Village Harmony Choir, Ryknild Rabble morris dancers and Jonathan Nason's will be performing, and the WI will be providing teas and Yarn Bombing again.

We have a good number of gardens already, but would welcome more. If anyone would like to open their garden please let Alison Howard know on 472720.

Allan Howard.

Ivy Butcher

Report as sent to The Mercury

Ivy Butcher, a much-loved villager, passed away after a short illness on the 3rd March at Hoar Cross Nursing Home at the age of 102. Ivy was born at Victory Farm, Kings Bromley, in 1916. Her father, John Jefferies, a farmer, had once been a coachman to the Lane family at Kings Bromley Hall and her mother was lady’s maid to the Hon. Mrs. Grace Lane. In 1928 the family moved to Eastfields. She attended the Richard Crosse School and left at the age of 15. Having been marked out as a bright girl, the wife of the headmaster had given her shorthand lessons and the vicar gave her the use of a typewriter and in 1931 she got a secretarial job with a subsidiary of the Selfridges company in London. She always said that it was Hitler who finished her secretarial career as she and her uncle, with whom she was living, moved back to Kings Bromley to avoid the air raids and because of his ill health. Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, she joined the Lancashire County Hospital as a nurse, a job she really enjoyed. Moving back to Kings Bromley after the war to look after her ageing father, she took a part- time secretarial post in Lichfield. David Butcher, a demobbed soldier, who was working at Woodshoot Nursery, lodged with the family and in 1952 Ivy and David Butcher married.
Ivy was a founder member of the Kings Bromley Historians and the Gardening Guild and for years was secretary of the Horticultural Society, which ran the Village Show, seeing it through some difficult times. She was also very active within the Church, the Parochial Church Council and the ladies’ group that looked after the flowers in the Church. She published six books on local history and in 2008 received The Local History Award for Personal Achievement from the British Association for Local History. She was able to establish contact with the descendants of the Lane family, who had left the Village and the Manor in 1928, and recovered from them huge quantities of archive material which is now held at the Staffordshire Record Office and the Kings Bromley Historians Archive. Ivy had a razor-sharp mind and memory right up to the end and was the go-to oracle for any information about the village.
Unfortunately, David died in 1993 and they had no children. It was a mark of the love and respect that the village had for her that in 2016 a celebration of her 100th birthday was held in the Village Hall, which was one of the biggest events that had occurred in the village for years. In January of this year Kings Bromley Historians had a photo taken of her by Simnetts of Burton, who had taken the one of her as a child nearly 100 years previously.
Allan Howard

Leap-Frog Trail play equipment and opening ceremony

See report attached

Leap-frog trail unveiled (431.7 Kb)

Village news from Helen Price - 7th March 2019

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley Historians
Maggie Slingsby began her talk on the History of Staffordshire Pottery at our February meeting with a brief early history. The beaker folk have left us with evidence of their pottery skills which were kept alive by the monks and farmers who made and used the pots to store grain. Butter was also sold in pots and in 1670 a Bill was passed stating that the pot should weigh no more than 6lb of the 14lb tub of butter.
Charles II’s wife, Catherine of Braganza, popularised tea drinking and imported china teapots via the East India company and so introduced porcelain. Burslem was the birthplace of the Staffs Pottery industry as the clay there was excellent for pot making.
In 1760, at the Dwight factory, Bradwell (the owner) was so secretive of his methods that he only employed “deaf mutes” and “simpletons” to work his clay. One of these “simpletons” was Twyford whose skills we still appreciate today. Probably the most well-known of the potters was Josiah Wedgewood, who became a master potter at 12. He was an entrepreneur, being instrumental in the building of the Trent and Mersey canal and also having a showcase in London to display his wares. Staffordshire pottery was shipped and known all over the world by the hundreds of small and large producers.
Maggie was very relaxed and entertaining in her delivery. Our next meeting has been brought forward to 22nd March (before building work on the village hall begins). Our April meeting is a trip to Tissington Hall.
Gardening Guild
Helen Harrison gave up work as a Home Economist to follow her interest and love of flowers. She became Chairperson of the Stone Chrysanthemum and Dahlia Society, for which she now raises funds by giving regular talks. For a few years dahlias were her favourite flower for showing, but then Helen turned her interest to snowdrops. The Gardening Guild enjoyed one of her talks on this subject at their February meeting.
Snowdrops are part of the Amaryllidaceae (Amaryllis) family and the bulbs have the same structure and basal cells as an onion. Helen drew our attention to the great variety of leaves, flowers, spathes and ovaries of a snowdrop. She demonstrated this by passing around several different shaped and textured leaves, plus around twenty different varieties of snowdrops. Apparently the holder of the National Collection has over one thousand pots of snowdrops and rare single snowdrops have been known to sell for over £1000! Snowdrops originated from Holland, Armenia and the Urals and may have come over to the UK with the Crimean war.
Janet Stubbings thanked Helen for a very interesting talk and reminded everyone that the next meeting of the Gardening Guild will be the AGM/Cheese and Wine evening on Monday 18th March at 7.45 pm in the Village Hall - all are welcome.
Live and Local Theatre Production
The Live and Local theatre group put on a ‘spellbinding’ performance of The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancashire in the Village Hall this week. They performed to a sell-out audience, combining theatricality, haunting capella singing and dark humour.

Village news from Helen Price - 28th Feb 2019

As sent to the Mercury

Kings Bromley Whist Drives

Tuesday afternoon whist drives in the Village Hall begin at 1.30 for a prompt 2.00 pm start. They continue weekly due to popular demand. If you have not been before how about giving it a try, we play friendly whist with a break for tea and coffee. Entrance £1.50 to cover the cost of hiring the Village Hall.

Dedication Event at Kings Bromley Village Hall

On Saturday 2 March at 2pm, there will be an event in Kings Bromley Village Hall to dedicate a new piece of playground equipment donated by a charity concerned with Motherhood, Loss and the First World War. Everyone is welcome to come along to join in the celebration which will include singing by the Village Harmony Choir and poetry readings from pupils of Richard Crosse school. Kings Bromley Historians will be putting on a display commemorating the 14 men from Kings Bromley who died in WWI. Refreshments will be provided by the WI. Entrance is free.

The newly revised Village Hall refurbishment plan will also be on display and the appointed builder, RJK, will be present to meet any village hall users. The Parish Council is pleased to announce that the refurbishment project starts on 25th March and will take about eight weeks.

Kings Bromley Open Gardens 2019

The Kings Bromley Open Gardens weekend will take place on 15th and 16th June. If you would like to take part in this and live within the village boundary, there will be an initial meeting for all those expressing an interest at 36 Alrewas Road on Tuesday 12th March starting at 8.00 p.m. Please ring Alison or Allan Howard on 01543 472720 for further information.

High-Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill

Letter from HS2 entitled 'High-Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill

Many residents in the village have had a letter today from HS2 concerning documents relating to the above. The Parish Council have copies of the documents and over the next few days will be going through them to look at any impact on the Village. Our major concern remains the closure of Common Lane during the
Construction Phase (lasting 5 years).

When we have looked at the implications we will up-date the Parish Council web-site and let you know what further actions the Parish Council need to take.

If any resident has specific concerns, then please contact Charles Cole on charleswcole13@aol.com or phone 07768 465044.

As always, we will try to keep all residents up to date with any developments.

Village Hall Refurbishment to start in March

The Parish Council is pleased to announce

The Parish Council is pleased to announce that the contract to carry out the refurbishment work has been awarded to local firm RJK Construction.

Work will commence on 25th March and will take about 8 weeks.

Every effort will be made to keep access to the main hall and upstairs rooms open, ask Julie Bamber for details concerning your particular meetings. However, assume that the kitchen and toilets will be unavailable during this period: Portaloos will be open outside.

The plans have changed slightly from those that have been displayed in the lobby for the last few months. The revised plans will be displayed in the Village Hall during the 'Motherhood and Loss' playground equipment launch event which will run from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday 2nd March. Representatives from the Parish Council Working Group and from RJK will be there to answer questions and canvass opinions.

For those who have not yet done so please 'Buy a Brick' as this work is only part of a continuing programme of refurbishment. We wish to thank those village organisations and individuals who have already donated to the Refurbishment Fund, which now stands at over £25,000. We would also like to thank 'Groundworks', the HS2 Community & Environment Fund, for their grant which has made this work possible.

The Parish Council leases the Village Hall from the Lichfield Diocesan Trust. We have received from the Trust the permissions to carry out this work and to obtain an extension to the current lease which expires in 2035. The secretary to the Trust writes "... we pass on our grateful thanks to the Parish Council for making this facility of enormous benefit to the local community".

Kings Bromley Parish Council.

Bins to be out by 6.30am from 25 Feb

Residents who live in Lichfield District

Residents who live in Lichfield District and Tamworth Borough will need to put their bins out by 6.30am on their collection day, starting from Monday 25 February.

Through the Lichfield and Tamworth Joint Waste Service, Lichfield District Council and Tamworth Borough Council are asking that residents from across both areas put their bins out 30 minutes earlier - by 6.30am rather than by 7am - on their collection day.

This is so bin collections can start earlier, to avoid peak traffic and finish rounds in the light by 3.30pm, which is safer.

Cllr David Leytham, Lichfield District Council’s Cabinet Member for Operational Services, Leisure & Waste, said:

“We’ve moved the start of our bin rounds forward by 30 minutes as our crews are getting stuck in traffic and have more homes to collect from as housing developments are built.

“Even if your bins are emptied later in the day, please make sure they are out by 6.30am as we may change our rounds when we’ve worked out the best routes.

“I’d like to thank everyone in advance for their help with this, however, as many bins go out the night before, most households shouldn’t notice the change.”

From 25 February, if your bin has not been emptied by 3.30pm, please report it as a missed bin online at www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/missedbins or call the team on 0345 002 0022.

To find out more about your bin collections, and what should go in each colour bin, visit www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/bins.

Press Release from Staffordshire County Council

Measures aimed at reducing impact of HGV traffic come into force

Experimental traffic orders which could reduce HGV traffic movement along sections of a main rural road in Staffordshire are set to come into force next month.

Communities living along the A515 have expressed concerns about increased use of the road by HGVs, rather than using the A38 and A50 trunk roads.

Local parish councils and residents took these concerns to the Staffordshire Freight and Communities Forum – which is made of a range or organisations aiming to address issues related to HGV impact on communities. The forum investigated how their concerns could be addressed in a practical and achievable way.

The issues mainly affect the villages of Draycott in the Clay, Yoxall and Kings Bromley and the experimental order scheme will be community-driven.

Phase one of the experimental orders scheme will see left and right turn bans for HGVs will introduced at three junctions on the A515 on roads which lead to the A38.

These are the junctions with the B5016 in Yoxall, the A513 in Kings Bromley and the C0183 Wood End Lane north of Lichfield. Signs have been installed to inform drivers of the new orders and businesses from across the area have been informed. Regular traffic flow reviews will be carried out to assess the impact of the orders.

These will be experimental orders lasting for a temporary period of 18 months. They will come into force in late February.

Phase two will see local roads reclassified. The county council is making the case for Wood End Lane to be improved through the HS2 construction programme, after which it can be reclassified as an A or B road. The A513 and B5016 can then be reclassified to lower status roads so that weight restrictions could be applied.



On the A515 speed limit buffer zones and gateways are being introduced in Yoxall and Draycott-in-the-Clay.



Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport Helen Fisher said: “We are pleased that the experimental traffic orders will finally come into force in February.

“We have worked closely with parish councils and other organisations through the freight forum to find practical and achievable ways to address some of the concerns raised by HGV traffic on the A515.

“It was important to everyone that we were able put forward measures that could be delivered promptly and with a relative ease. Experimental traffic orders do just that and mean that we can monitor their effectiveness during the temporary period. We can then make decisions on longer term measures or possible alternatives. If successful we can then look to reclassify some local roads to make the measures even more effective.

“It is also important to note that this is a community-led scheme and has been implemented in response to community concerns.

“We are confident these measures can make a difference and that we have managed to get to this stage as a result of our work with the parish councils and communities.”



The scheme is supported by the police who will carry out enforcement of the orders.

Village news from Helen Price - 24/1/19

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley Wednesday Club

Our final meeting of 2018 was a very enjoyable Christmas lunch at the Royal Oak. Our thanks to Gillian and the team for all their hard work.
Continuing on a similar theme (food!) - our first meeting of the New Year was a “Bring and Share” Tea and Quiz. Welcoming everyone our Chair, Lin, briefly outlined the programme for 2019 which will include days out to Stratford upon Avon in May and the Anderton Boat Lift - one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Waterways' - in September.
The “Bring and Share” tea and quiz then got underway. Papers were distributed and four teams competed against each other attempting to recall facts such as the number of Oliver Cromwell’s children – the only US President to resign from office and the identity of the historical figure known as Braveheart! Congratulations to the winning team who answered all but one question correctly and our thanks to Pauline for, once again, organizing the quiz. The afternoon was a great success.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 6th February at 2.30pm in the Village Hall when chocolatier Jacqueline Smith will talk about Luxury Handmade Chocolates. Samples unfortunately not guaranteed! If you would like to join us please come along - you will be very welcome.

Village news from Helen Price - 10th January 2019

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley WI

The Kings Bromley WI will be celebrating their 90th Birthday this year so we have lots to look forward to, including a village bake off and a big Birthday bash. We had some new members to greet from the neighbouring Alrewas WI who sadly closed after 100 years.

We started our meeting with the usual business and then had a visual presentation from Norman Rubines, a photographer with over 40 years experience. He owns and runs the Ruby Studios in Tamworth. He told us about how he started out as a newspaper photographer and now has his own studio. He had a fabulous display of photos to exhibit and showed us lots of images from photo shoots, alongside a little history and some funny stories. It was very engaging and easy to see how he was a prize-winning photographer. We saw a recent series of photos raising money for Prostate Cancer UK, called Men in Black (and white).

We held a raffle and then enjoyed some social time. The next meeting will be held at the Royal Oak with a meal on 7th February from 7pm.

Village news from Helen Price - 3rd Jan 19

As sent to The Mercury

Kings Bromley Whist Drives

Tuesday afternoon whist drives in the Village Hall will restart after Christmas on 8th January at the usual time, 1.30 for a prompt 2.00 pm start. They will continue weekly due to popular demand. If you have not been before how about giving it a try, we play friendly whist with a break for tea and coffee.
Entrance is £1.50 to cover the cost of hiring the Village Hall.

HS2 Community and Environment Fund Award

The Kings Bromley Parish Council and Village Hall Committee are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a contribution of £50,000 towards the Kings Bromley Village Hall Refurbishment project from the Phase One HS2 Community and Environment Fund.

The Fund supports local communities that are demonstrably disrupted by the construction of Phase One of the brand new high-speed railway which is being built between London and the West Midlands.

This means that, with the generous donations already received from village organisations and residents, we are now able to go ahead with the tendering process.

Following earlier consultation with members of the local community, the plans have been amended to incorporate suggested improvements. The project will include a major upgrade of the kitchen and toilet facilities together with improvements to the lobby area.

We hope you will all be as pleased as we are that we can finally give the Village Hall the ‘facelift’ badly needed and we shall continue with our fund-raising activities through the sale of bricks and approaches to other funding sources, so that we can hopefully also make some improvements to the main hall area.