NEWS ARCHIVE 2003

Work on the Village Hall disabled toilets is progressing nicely.

Click for larger image.

Yet again Southern Green is suffering from low water pressure due to burst water main.  The one by Youngloves Cottage has been there since before the 9^th October and the one outside Thistledown since the 21^st  October 2003.  The road surface is now lifting and being undermined and could be a danger to traffic.  Once again Three Valley Water is failing us.  

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Harvest Festival at St Mary's Rushden saw a full and beautifully decorated church. Norman Keys was the Master of the Barbecue and our usual gallant band of helpers led by JoAnne cleared up afterwards. Particular thanks must go to Jean Chalk for all her hard work in organising the day and making it such a success.

He says "I can´t send you a photo of myself as I don't have a scanner, however the attached photos of Leblon should be OK. Rio is a big city of some 10 million people, surrounded by hills, mountains, beaches, greenery, downtown city life. Mavis has been here, if I am not wrong I think she has a photo of Ipanema beach. We went up to the Amazon. 2/3ds of Latin America is Brazil and 2/3ds of Brazil is the Amazon jungle, basin, tributaries, etc.

Click here for some old photos of Leblon sent by John.

Some people in Rushden are having problems walking at the moment because of the dog poo on the paths, particularly along the wood edge overlooking Julian's. We all know that your dog has to go, but if you could please push it to the side rather than leaving it in the middle of the path, everyone will be a lot happier and walks a lot more pleasant.

The Dogs (Fouling Of The Land Act) 1996

This Act applies to land in the open air, including covered land, which is open to the air on at least one side and to which the public has access with or without payment, for example, all footpaths, flower beds, parks and play areas, sports fields and cemeteries.

6 September 2003

It was good to see Penny Boot's sons at the service in celebration of her life and her two granddaughters. Joan Woodcock was also there looking very well. A delicious tea was served afterwards at Jean Chalk's.

The policing for the area is being reorganised with more emphasis being put on police presence, with more local police officers and local phone numbers. We hope to put these on the site shortly. D.I David Partridge, already known to French Conversation people, is the new coordinator for the area. He talked about automatic number recognition, which means we can phone in immediately we see a vehicle acting suspiciously and it can be checked against stolen/ criminally owned vehicles. He also mentioned the increased use of DNA as opposed to fingerprinting and improved results.

Crime in the villages remains low with most of it being committed by people who live within the county and frequently one person can be the cause of repeat disturbance, often over a hundred on one criminal.

Our PCSO Constable Paul Marina is happy to hear from us regarding any police related problem in the villages.

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Rushden's young and ex young certainly seem to be doing some exciting things at the moment. Tom Wylie who was to have climbed Mount Kenya for charity, but due to the political problems has had to change his plans. He will now be walking the Inca Trail in Peru. He's already started training.

Tom's fund raising Quiz was a great success. We are still waiting on the final profit but can announce that the winning team consisted of Richard Vicar of Therfield and Christine ably supported by ex Rushdenites Jonathan and Eileen Rose among others.

Tom's trip will be this October and the charity is the Macmillan Cancer Appeal.

Sunday 20 July 2003 Nearly 70 people came to hear Dan Pinnock talk about George Orwell and the Wallington connection on Sunday 20 July. The talk started at his house, which had also served as a general stores and then wandered around the village via the Church where Orwell married and ended in the Village Hall with an exhibition and teas served by the W.I. It proved so popular that people are asking for another one.

Click here for some photos of the Fete

Slow Fooders enjoyed a wonderful meal at Mary and Filipo's on Saturday 7th June. Drinks and canapés were served in the sunshine of their garden and then fantastic nibbles too numerous to mention. Unfortunately several of us went overboard on these, not leaving enough room for the rare breed meat to follow, steak and what was described by many as the most delicious pork they had ever eaten. The lemon cake and tiramisu had several asking for the recipes and the cheese board was outstanding. If you missed it consider coming along next time. It's well worth it.

Lucy Thompson has now raised £700 for the Garden House Hospice and donations are still coming in. If anyone else would like to make a donation, please get in touch with the webmaster.

The result that everyone has been waiting for; the Word Quiz made £365 for the Church. Many thanks to all who came, to Eric, Dulcie and Emma for working so hard and congratulations to the Hills and their friends for winning by a very narrow margin over Tony and Daphne and Joyce and Linda.  

Several ex Village Voicers were able to attend Malcolm's Funeral and were very glad they went as we were treated to a feast of his music from Procession of Palms to Requiem for a Tribe Brother sung by the Joyful Company of Singers conducted by Peter Broadbent. It was wonderful to get a chance to hear his music and to appreciate how talented he was.

Rushdenites, old and new, will be thrilled to hear that Jean Chalk has been awarded the High Sheriff's Award for her work for the community. We cannot think of anyone who more thoroughly deserves it. 

Two years ago, the Mayor of "the other Rushden" came to open our fete. Now it is our turn to visit them. In June St Mary's Rushden (even the Church name is the same) will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the installation of its ring of eight bells. On Sunday 1st June at 10.30am there was a special Holy Communion to which everyone from our four parishes is warmly invited. The afternoon was  devoted to bellringing with ringers from the Church, local parishes and those of Wallington, Sandon and of course Rushden. In between, the Rushden Tower Captain is organising a pub lunch for visitors from our parish. Those who would like to go please contact Ken Parker on 01763 288306 for more details. The other Rushden's ringers will continue their celebrations by an annual outing to our area and will be ringing at our St Mary's. Watch this space for details.

The Bellringers' Grand Mystery Outing has been fixed for Sat 20th September. The coach will leave the Green at 8.30am sharp the only known part of the day!

Lucy got into Southampton at 2pm on Thursday 1st May and her first words to her Mum were "I'm glad to be home. I'm never doing that again. It was a wonderful experience but I've never been so frightened in my life." Poor Lucy had particularly bad luck with the appalling weather conditions and for a beginner sailor did incredibly well. She says how well the crew got on and how thrilling it was to see the Northern Lights. We are looking
forward to seeing some photos of the her on this site.
(Click for larger photo of the team).