Website “Sunday Reflections”

The popular “Sunday Reflections” village website feature – a gentle observation of life in Hambledon when under the Spring and Summer Coronavirus “Lock-Down” – has reached a wider audience, thanks to local MP and village resident Jeremy Hunt.

Jeremy provides a twice-weekly email update to subscribers across his South West Surrey constituency and beyond, reaching into the heart of Westminster where he is chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee.

During the current pandemic his experience as a former Health Secretary and party leadership contender has been widely called upon, both by the media and by his Parliamentary colleagues.

He has kept in touch with Hambledon Parish Council and the village website and readily agreed to contribute a foreword when it was decided to produce a printed version of the Sunday Reflections to record for posterity how our community faced up to the challenges of the pandemic.

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Lock-Down 2 – What is Happening in Hambledon

As Hambledon enters a second lock-down, here is a round-up of how the village and its various organisations will keep services going within the restrictions enforced across England from today  (November 5th, 2020).

There are a number of key differences – nationally and locally – from the first lock-down, which began in March and lasted for much of the summer months. It is planned that this lock-down will last for one month only, ending on December 2nd, and more businesses and activities can continue.

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Hambledon Parish Council Seeks to Co-Opt New Member

Applications are invited to fill a vacancy that has occurred on Hambledon Parish Council.

Mike Parry, a parish councillor since 2011, announced his retirement last month and the resulting vacancy was formally notified to the Electoral Services Department at Waverley Borough Council. It then published a notice of the vacancy and of a 14 working day period during which 10 or more parish electors could request that it be filled by holding an election.

No request was received when the deadline expired at the end of last week. As a consequence, the parish council can now co-opt a suitable candidate to fill what is called a “casual vacancy”.

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Warning After Rise in Local Covid-19 Cases

Waverley Borough Council has issued a warning to all local communities to be “extra vigilant” following a marked increase in Coronavirus cases in the area.

The new advice is regarded as an amber warning to ensure people follow all the latest safeguarding advice, and is not intended to suggest any need for alarm – just to be aware of the increase and the need for exercising due caution.

The new advice is available on Waverley’s Facebook and Twitter posts and on its website here: https://www.waverley.gov.uk/news/article/655/waverley_sees_rise_in_covid-19_case_numbers

SUNDAY REFLECTION

Life is slowly getting back to something like “normal”. But we know that many things will have changed forever. There is, therefore, some comfort in reflecting on the past. In this week’s Reflection, Jane Woolley reminds us that our little village has a rich heritage. On this website, and within the Heritage archive that Jane keeps at her home, much can be discovered.

Ever wondered what your house used to look like?   The chances are that it was one of Hambledon’s many small cottages, probably with no modern utilities, before it was “developed” to create a fair-sized family home complete with wi-fi and superfast broadband.    Ever imagined what the noise must have been like when the empty expanse of what is now “Nutbourne Park” was a thriving brickworks?  Ever been curious to know whether The Hydons and Hambledon Park always looked the way they do to-day?

Well, thanks to the Hambledon Heritage archive, it’s easy to find the answers to these and many more questions about the village, its activities, its inhabitants and its institutions.   By charting the development of the village over the best part of 200 years, the archive also demonstrates how much the Hambledon of to-day owes to the Hambledon of the past:  there’s nothing new about Hambledon’s community spirit.

The material in the archive has accumulated gradually over the last 60 or so years.  It’s a real social  history, in words and pictures, of families from all walks of life, their homes, their workplaces, their farms;  of the village hubs – the shop, the Post Office (they weren’t always the same thing and the village had more than one shop in the past), the Village Hall, the church and the pub;  the changing landscape; the sporting and social clubs, past and present;  and the institutions (including the Hydestile Hospital and the Hambledon Institute, the predecessors of The Hydons and Hambledon Park respectively – and the Institute was originally the workhouse). 

Disasters (from bombing raids to storms) are recorded;  so are successes such as winning best-kept village competitions and saving the village shop and the school (now the Nursery School).  Village fetes and celebrations of national events ranging from VE Day to jubilees are chronicled in detail.   There are scrapbooks, booklets written by villagers, photographic albums, press cuttings and numerous individual contributions.  On the whole they paint a picture of an ideal village – but don’t be fooled:  less than 10 years ago the Surrey Advertiser reported that “A village regarded by police as one of the safest places to live in Surrey has proved to be the ideal base for two cannabis factories” – which led to the arrest of six people under the Misuse of Drugs Act.   Never let it be said that the archive is a dull read. 

When my mother bought Cobblers, little did she (or I) realise that the two outbuildings that go with it were almost more spacious than the cottage itself.

  This means that I have been able to provide a home for the archive in the sun room.  Anyone is welcome to visit and browse.  You can find a list of all the documents with, in some cases, a list of their contents, on the village web site:  just click on history/historical village documents/the Hambledon heritage albums.  And do please consider whether you can add to this invaluable village resource:  although everything that happens now is media-recorded, that used not to be the case.  Our history is still dependent on paper documents and photographs. 

Updates, Monday March 30th

Updated Information From Hambledon Parish Council

  • All copies of the April Parish Magazine should have reached subscribers by now, but as several of the delivery volunteers were new to the job, it is possible some were missed. If you did not receive your copy please contact Stewart Payne on 07831 393561.
  • Some people do not subscribe, but buy the magazine at the village shop. As this is currently not possible, copies are available for purchase in the porch at St Peter’s Church beside a collection box. The cost per copy is 70 pence.
  • Government advice on taking exercise is to do so once a day, and in your own locality. For local families, it is understandable that you may wish to venture into the countryside around Hambledon where many fields and paddocks contain livestock. No matter how tempting it is, PLEASE DO NOT feed or make contact with animals and do not touch or sit on fences and gates belonging to private properties. Thank you.
  • The website team is keen to broaden the scope of what is on offer on the news pages. Updates, such as this, are important. But it would be good to have some variety to take our minds off our current “locked down” state. If you would like to contribute an article for publication this would be very welcome, and much appreciated by villagers. It could reflect how you are dealing with “lock down” or self-isolation, anecdotes about family life in the current circumstances, humorous or insightful observations…anything that takes your fancy. So come on Hambledonians, please let your creative juices flow and lift our spirits. If you have an offering please send it to web team member Paul Osborne.