Latest Updates From Hambledon Parish Council, Friday March 27th.

• The April Parish Magazine will be delivered across the village this weekend, thanks to several of the existing volunteers and others who have stepped in to fill the shoes of those who are self-isolating. The magazine contains all the necessary contact details for key organisations and coordinators helping the community through this difficult time of Coronavirus restrictions, plus all the regular features. As some subscribers previously collected from the village shop, and the list for home deliveries may not be complete, please bear with us. If you are a subscriber and do not receive your copy please contact Stewart Payne/Mary Burrows on 07831 393561 and 07909 9284251.
• The Village Shop is continuing with its daily deliveries and its method of operation is approved by Waverley Borough Council’s Environmental Health officers. Please see the update from the shop sent out yesterday for more details: https://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=12556  Having your groceries delivered to your home involves less risk of contamination than visiting a shop or supermarket. Food packaging is not known to present a specific risk but, as an added precaution, some health experts suggest leaving goods for 72 hours before opening, or spray and wipe plastic or glass containers etc carefully with bleach diluted in water as directed on the bottle. (Source:  BBC News website).
• The shop is well-stocked and staff are emailing regular customers with a list of what is available, including a PDF version that can be printed out for future reference. If you receive this email and know of someone else in the surrounding area who may not have seen it, but would find it useful, please pass it on.
• Perhaps surprisingly, the 503 Hambledon bus to Milford, Godalming and Guildford, is still running to its usual timetable, three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The service is operated by Stagecoach and its website states that social-distancing is in force on all buses. You cannot sit close to another passenger, you must take newspapers and magazines home with you and, if possible, use contactless payments. The same rules apply to the regular 71 bus service along the Petworth Road.
• Volunteers continue to come forward and this is greatly appreciated. For the time being enough help is available to deliver the shop supplies and for distribution of the parish magazine, but all names are logged and may be called upon in the future. Thank you. In the meantime you may wish to enroll in the national NHS volunteer scheme. goodsamapp.org/NHS.

Latest updates from Hambledon Parish Council on Thursday March 26th.

• The Village Shop home delivery service is operating well, thanks to staff and volunteers, and yesterday more than 30 orders were delivered around Hambledon. Please remember the shop is not open to customers. Please order on-line if you can. Full details can be found here: https://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=12528
• Waverley Borough Council’s Environmental Health team has given a full endorsement to the way the shop is operating and the measures it is taking. It has encouraged the shop to continue in this way, stressing that it wants outlets like ours to remain open for business to stop people making journeys further afield and to spread the supply and distribution chain. Please check on this website for an update on this from the shop staff this evening, giving more details.
• We encourage you to subscribe to this website, if you have not already done so. This means you will receive an alert to let you know new information is available. To do this, simply enter your details on the “Subscribe to email news” boxes on the right hand column of the pages on this website, or in the Home menu and you will be kept right up to date in this ever-changing situation.
• Hambledon Village Nursery School staff and trustees have been working hard behind the scenes to assess the impact of its temporary closure and to have measures in place to best support staff and parents and to safeguard its financial future.  All schools were ordered to close, other than to provide facilities for the children of key workers.  Hambledon Nursery School parents have been contacted and none have requested key worker status, so the school will not need to offer this provision and it will remain closed.

Update from Hambledon Parish Council on Wednesday March 25th.

• Once again, the focus is on the community-run village shop and post office, which is doing its best to cater for villagers in very challenging circumstances. From today, the shop will only deliver to customers who place their orders online, or by phone if they do not have an email account. No customers can visit the shop, even to place an order or to collect from outside. Orders will then by made up inside the shop and handed to volunteers to deliver to homes across the village. For more details please see https://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=12463
• This new measure requires some explanation. The shop relies on a small number of part-time paid staff and volunteers, some of whom have specific responsibilities as shop management committee members. Many people in Hambledon, as elsewhere, are self-isolating. This will be for a variety of reasons; age, at risk through underlying health issues and – increasingly – because they or someone they are close to has become unwell and they feel they must self-isolate. The pool of experienced people available to manage the shop is diminishing. It is true to say that as much hard work goes on behind the scenes as that that is evident to customers. This not only involves managing stock and placing orders in very difficult circumstances, but enforcing stringent hygiene procedures and keeping up to date with ever-changing Government guidelines. The shop has also enforced strict social-distancing. Last night, with more staff and volunteers deciding to isolate, the shop committee felt it had no choice but to close all services, including the post office counter, at the shop premises and move to a delivery-only service. Its commitment is to maintain supplies to villagers, but even this cannot be guaranteed as time progresses.
• All Parish Council contacts and information relating to the current Coronavirus/COVID-19 situation, is now available on this website. Please click on the new link on the top right of the opening page entitled Coronavirus Essential Village Information.
• One of the few joys in the current situation has been the lovely, sunny weather, which is set to last for a few more days. Many people required to stay at home are taking pleasure at being out in their gardens. Please be considerate and DO NOT light bonfires on days such as these, and wait for a dull day and a time when people will not be outside.
• St Peter’s Church is, of course, closed but worship continues with services streamed on-line. The church has updated its page on this website, listed in the menu under “Organisations”, so please look there for more information.
• The Merry Harriers is also closed but the village shop would like to place on record its gratitude to Jake Andreou, manager, and Nick Ash, sous chef, both relative newcomers to the village, who have been volunteering at the village shop. The pub has also given all its fresh food to the shop to ensure it does not go to waste. All this is greatly appreciated, and very much in the spirit of Hambledon. 

Every household within the parish of Hambledon will receive a hand-delivered postcard asking if assistance is needed when self-isolating. The card lists contact numbers for parish councillors who can then arrange for help to be delivered.

This can involve picking up shopping or other supplies, collecting prescriptions, posting mail or simply making a friendly phone call.

The cards are being delivered by volunteers and it is hoped that this will be carried out by the end of this coming weekend. If you, or someone you know, does not receive a card, please contact Robin McKeith on 07886 463498 and Stewart Payne on 07831 393561.

Please keep the card in a handy location for reference if needed.

A large part of Hambledon is currently experiencing a power cut. The failure in distribution by Scottish and Southern Electric Networks occurred at about 9.30pm (Wednesday December 11th).

SSEN said it hoped to have power restored by midnight. Details of the outage can be found at www.ssen.co.uk/powertrack, assuming you are able to use a mobile device or computer, or by dialing 105 or 0800 072 7282.

The reference to the failure is FW0673. 

The power failure is an unfortunate reminder of the need to be prepared for winter power cuts, and full advice and contact details can be found in the previous news story on this website. There is also a link to this advice called Winter Weather Advice to found on the right of the opening page.

A small development of seven affordable and two market price houses at Orchard Farm, Wormley Lane, Hambledon, has been approved by Waverley Borough councillors.

The scheme, from the English Rural Housing Association, will provide an opportunity for people with Hambledon connections to apply to live in the new homes.

The planning application received unanimous cross-party support from members of Waverley Borough Council’s Central Area planning committee on November 13^th.

The approval came after members heard from John Anderson, chairman of Hambledon Parish Council, speak in support of the application which will provide two shared-ownership houses, five at an affordable rent and two market-priced bungalows.

Nick Hughes, regional development manager at English Rural, outlined the scheme, which is a scaled-down revision of a previously-rejected application for 17 homes, 12 affordable and five open market.

Jan Floyd-Douglass, who is a Conservative Waverley councillor representing Hambledon and Witley, was the first of the planning committee members to speak, saying she fully supported the scheme as it provided much-needed, genuinely affordable homes, and people with Hambledon connections in housing need will get first priority.

A number of Hambledon residents living close to the development site were in the public gallery to hear their objections presented to the committee by Richard Young.

But the mood of the meeting was overwhelmingly in support of the scheme, which has had a protracted planning history.

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The anticipated gas mains work along the lower section of Salt Lane from the Hydestile Crossroads has started and the road at this location is closed to traffic.

Vehicles must use the diversion along Clock Barn Lane to reach Salt Lane at Hydon Heath, close to the National Trust car park, to continue in the Hascombe and Dunsfold direction.

The work, to upgrade gas mains, is likely to take up to three weeks. This website carried an earlier news item alerting villagers and others to the road closure. The official notice is below the photograph.

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Station Road, between the Hydestile Crossroads and Enton Green, will be closed from Tuesday September 24th and will remain so for an anticipated five days.

This is to allow works to be undertaken by the gas distribution company SGN.

Please see the official notice below for further information.

Our local farmer, Peter Knight, expects to start harvesting in the next few days. He will therefore be passing through the village with his large tractors & trailers and heavy harvesting equipment. Please be considerate when parking in and around the village, especially near the Village Shop and by the Church, so as not to impede his vehicles. He will be very appreciative of your cooperation.

Currently Peter plans to be hauling grain back past the Village Shop on Monday and Tuesday. Please respect the new “No Parking” signs that will be placed along the cricket green side of the road outside the shop.

As harvesting is very weather dependent he is unable to give further specific future dates but will give more information when possible.