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Merry Harriers Installs Defibrillator To Pub Wall For Use In An Emergency

A defibrillator has been installed on the external wall of the Merry Harriers pub and is available for public use in an emergency.

Danielle Montgomery-Page, pub manager, said that it had been decided to provide the potentially life-saving device as the pub now caters for an increasing number of guests staying in its accommodation as well as local customers, cyclists and walkers.

Our photograph shows the defibrillator in position secured to the pub’s front wall, on the left side of the building.

Defibrillators, also known as AEDs (Automated External Defibrillator), are used on people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, a major cause of premature death. The device detects the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electric shock (defibrillation) to re-establish the heartbeat.

They are increasingly common, in places of work and in public. In Hambledon there are already defibrillators available on the wall outside the village shop, at St Peter’s Church and at Hambledon Football Club’s ground at Badger Park.

It is expected that another will soon be installed inside the decommissioned red telephone kiosk at the Hydestile Crossroads, which is currently undergoing renovation.

Although the devices are easy to use and instructions are given when it is activated, courses are also available and a number of villagers have already received basic training in their operation.

Further information can be found here

 

 

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Annual Village Meeting Will Hear From Police Commander And Discuss Speeding

Hambledon’s Annual Village Meeting, hosted by the Parish Council at the Village Hall this Thursday evening,  is to be addressed by Inspector Gary Smith, Waverley Borough Commander for Surrey Police.

He will give an overview of policing in the borough as well as deal with concerns about speeding traffic in the village.

The Parish Council has been exploring various road traffic initiatives and has held meetings with police and Surrey County Council highways engineers in recent months. However, it has been made clear that no traffic calming measures are likely to be introduced.

Budget restraints and a lack of statistical evidence to indicate that Hambledon has a speeding problem have been cited as reasons why the village can expect little in the way of new measures. The council had been exploring a proposal for a 20mph speed restriction in the centre.

The Annual Meeting will provide an opportunity to ask questions of our borough commander as well as hear more about what the Parish Council has been trying to achieve.

There will also be an opportunity to consider whether Hambledon wants to set up a Community Speed Watch where volunteers, with police training, use detection devices to check on the speed of vehicles in the village. Those caught above the limit are sent warning letters.

This would also be a means of determining whether speeding is a real issue and not just anecdotal and would help reinforce the case for traffic calming measures.

The scheme would have to be run by villagers and without sufficient volunteers it will not happen.

Those interested in taking part will be asked to sign their names at the end of the meeting, which will also hear annual reports from the Parish Council and village clubs and organisations.

Refreshments will be served from 7.30pm and the meeting starts at 8pm. (See previous news item for more information)

Details will also be given about taking part in the annual village clean-up, which takes places on Saturday (April 27th) followed at around noon by a parish barbecue outside the village shop.

All are welcome at the Annual Meeting, the clean-up and the barbecue.

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Annual Village Meeting and Parish Clean-Up and Barbecue – All Welcome

Hambledon’s Annual Village Meeting takes place on the evening of Thursday April 25th and all are welcome to come along.

This is an opportunity to hear a round-up of the past year’s activities from all of the village organisations, clubs and groups as well as a report from the Parish Council, which hosts the meeting.

Refreshments including wine, tea and coffee will be available from 7.30 and this is a chance to chat to village friends and neighbours before the meeting itself starts at 8pm at the Village Hall.

There will be a short presentation concerning the efforts made by the Parish Council to address concerns about speeding in the village and other local traffic issues.

Residents may like to consider whether they want to form a Community Speed Watch Group. A minimum of six volunteers would be required. Speed detection devices would be provided by Surrey Police together with appropriate training.

Full details of this scheme can be found here: www.communityspeedwatch.org

Further details will be provided at the meeting. Mary Grove, a parish councillor, can be contacted in advance for those who wish to register at grovemum@aol.com

Although the parish council can make the necessary arrangements with Surrey Police and register the speedwatch group, it is for villagers to step forward and volunteer if they want this initiative to succeed.

Despite widespread concerns across the village about speeding, both Surrey Police and Surrey County Council Highways engineers have stated that there is no gathered evidence to support this belief. It is highly unlikely that any traffic calming measures can be introduced in Hambledon until there is data to support the proposal. Community Speed Watch is one way in which such evidence may be gathered.

The Village Meeting is followed two days later – on Saturday April 27th – with the parish clean-up ending with a community barbecue outside the Village Shop at noon. Volunteers are asked to collect litter in designated areas for which they can register at the Village Meeting. Bin bags and litter grabs will be provided and all rubbish will be removed by the local authority.

 

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HAMBLEDON CHURCH – CAN YOU HELP SECURE ITS FUTURE?

If Hambledon is to have a new vicar and secure a future for its village church then money must be raised with the help of the local community and its residents.

The challenges facing St Peter’s Church and its continued ministry to the village were outlined by Simon Taylor, rector of the joint benefice of Busbridge and Hambledon, and Andy Dunn, treasurer of Hambledon church, at a packed meeting at the village hall on Thursday evening (March 7th, 2019).

In a rallying call for financial support, Andy said: “We are appealing not just to members of the congregation but to those who value the presence of a church in our village, but who may not wish to attend there regularly.”

Hambledon has not had a vicar since Catherine McBride moved to a new parish in October 2017. Although it was intended that she would be replaced, several obstacles stalled the process.

Mervil Bottom, the church house in the village, suffered severe water leaks when empty during the following cold winter and required major repairs and renovation. And the parlous state of the church’s finances meant that the Diocese of Guildford questioned whether it was feasible to appoint a new minister.

It costs £120,000 a year to fund St Peter’s with a vicar, but the income is currently just over £80,000.

The biggest single outgoing is £30,000 that St Peter’s has to pay to the Diocese. Second is the £28,000 salary to the vicar, which rises when tax and pensions are added. Then comes maintenance of the church, churchyard, Mervil Bottom and insurances.

Money raised from events such as weddings goes directly to the Church of England and not to the parish church.

The only money that comes to the church is from the Sunday collection plate, Gift Aid, standing orders and donations from generous benefactors and a small grant from Hambledon Parish Council.

In asking for people to consider making financial pledges, Andy said: “If we want to recruit a vicar, we must find £120,000 a year which is significantly more than our current income. The Diocese will only appoint a new minister if we can demonstrate that we can afford it now and for the next five years.”

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Julie Flenley Takes Up Post As Hambledon Parish Council Clerk

Julie Flenley, the newly-appointed clerk to Hambledon Parish Council, has attended her first meeting, having taken up her appointment on January 1.

She replaces Caroline White, who resigned after serving as clerk for a year following the retirement of her long-standing predecessor, Jane Woolley.

Julie brings a wealth of experience in the public sector to the job and said she was looking forward to working with the seven elected Hambledon parish councillors and for the benefit of the village.

Julie was born and raised in County Londonderry, in the north west of Northern Ireland. After school and college at Limavady she left Derry to study business at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, where she obtained a degree in travel and tourism management.

She then moved to Manchester where she worked for what was then the Countryside Agency (now Natural England), the statutory body with responsibility for the rural environment.

She went on to join English Heritage, a non-departmental government body responsible for the protection and management of more than 400 historic monuments, buildings and places.

Julie’s work included assessing grant applications and she had a particular involvement in managing funding in relation to secular historic buildings and places of worship. Her duties required her to make financial needs assessments and also brought her into regular contact with local authority planning departments. This experience should stand her in good stead as she takes up her role as clerk to Hambledon Parish Council.

Julie said: “I think my background makes me suited to the job of clerk and I am looking forward to it very much”.

During her time in Manchester she met and married her husband Richard, who works in the legal profession. A move in his job resulted in them relocating to the south of England, with Julie taking a career break. They have lived on the outskirts of Chiddingfold for seven years. They have three sons, Joshua, William and Oliver, aged 12, eight and six who are, or were, educated at St Mary’s Primary School in Chiddingfold.

Julie and Richard are regular distance runners and frequently compete in local and national events. Julie said: “It would be wrong to call me an avid runner as I think I am a reluctant runner. But I am competitive and determined.

Last year she was part of a team of “mums from St Mary’s” who competed in the Three Peaks Challenge, which involved climbing the three highest peaks in England Wales and Scotland. Between them they raised funds for the school and a mental health charity.

“This year I will be taking part in eight half marathons and my husband will be undertaking two back-to-back full marathons.”

Her passion over many years has been horses and horse-riding. “My horse died last year so I am currently between horses, but it is something I love and will return to.”

Julie was welcomed to her first meeting as clerk on Wednesday (Jan 9th) at Hambledon Village Hall by chairman John Anderson and his councillor colleagues. Already very active in village and church life in Chiddingfold, Julie will now be closely associated with life an Hambledon as well.

  • The clerk is a salaried position, councillors are unpaid. Julie’s contact details, and those of councillors, can be found on the village website under “Organisations” and “Hambledon Parish Council”, and in the Parish Magazine on the “Useful Information and Telephone Numbers” page.

 

 

 

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VILLAGE HALL QUIZ – A GREAT NIGHT OUT

(Please also see news item below this, posted by Hambledon Village Hall Committee)

A packed Village Hall saw residents and friends pit their brains against each other as 14 tables, comprising 84 participants took part in a fund-raising quiz on Saturday (November 17th).

Thanks go to the Village Hall Committee and its team of volunteers who organised the evening, staffed a well-stocked bar, cooked and served home-made cottage pie and rounded-up an impressive selection of donated prizes for a raffle.

What was particularly rewarding was the cross section of villagers, old, young and everything in between, who took part and made the evening a great success. They included people from all aspects of life in Hambledon; the shop and its volunteers, Merry Harriers pub regulars, its Bridge team, the church, the cricket and football teams and, of course the Village Hall itself.

The questions were well set and divided into 10 themed rounds. The winning team,” Here, There and Everywhere”, comprised Christine and Ron Baker, Duncan Watson, Charlotte Gray, Mary Burrows and Stewart Payne.

However, it was a close-run contest and several teams just missed out on the top spot, having answered a few more questions correctly but not used their “multiplier” as effectively.

All profits from the evening go towards the upkeep of the Village Hall, which has recently been undergoing an extensive refurbishment with new chairs and curtains.

 

 

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HOW HAMBLEDON REMEMBERED – ARMISTICE EVENTS IN THE VILLAGE

At a special Armistice Day service in the parish church; at a community sing-along outside the village shop and at the memorial to two brothers who died in the First World War – Hambledon Remembered.

On Sunday November 11th, 2018 – the 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War – villagers packed St Peter’s Church for a commemorative service during which the names of Hambledon’s fallen in both World Wars were read out and a two-minutes silence observed.

 

The service was led by David Mace, assistant vicar, with an address given by David Jenkins. There was time for quiet reflection as well as personal recollections from Sylvia Harrison who spoke of her grandfather’s gallantry in the First World War.

David Jenkins, assistant vicar with responsibility for Hambledon, spoke of the sacrifices made by many during both World Wars, on the field of battle and elsewhere. They served their country. He suggested that today we could all consider how we may also serve by becoming involved in charity and voluntary work to benefit others.

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