Hambledon is facing a weekend of disruption – along with many other parts of the UK – following the high winds that swept across the country yesterday.

Some parts of the village were without power this morning, including Upper Vann and houses on Vann Lane in the direction of Pockford. Some households have power but are awaiting the energy supplier SSE to send teams to deal with trees leaning against power lines.

SSE reports that it is extremely hard pressed, having to deal with a huge number of outages, and it has been inundated with calls to its 105 emergency help line. An alternative contact is 0800 072 7282.

If you know of someone without power – and therefore may not have access to this website at present -please let them know of the above two contact methods, just in case there are unaware.

A glance at SSE’s Twitter feed indicates there are many customers frustrated at the lack of response from the supplier, but others full of praise for its engineers restoring their power. Patience will be required for many. If you know of someone without power, particularly if they are vulnerable or infirm, please call round and check how they are doing. 

Hambledon Parish Council can coordinate any local help that is needed and please contact Stewart Payne on 07831 393561 in the first instance.

Several local roads remained blocked by fallen trees, including Station Lane at Enton, between Hydestile and Milford level crossing.

The tree fell right across the road, taking a power line with it. Police were in attendance overnight to ensure public safety and a team of workmen arrived this morning to begin the clear-up. The road was expected to reopen this afternoon.

At Hambledon Church a tree fell across the entrance to the field parking area, blocking access. Vicar the Rev Simon Willetts is advising worshipers attending Sunday service to allow more time and to find alternative parking.

On all roads in and around Hambledon there is debris, branches and undergrowth protruding on to highways and trees in a dangerous condition, including one leaning low over Tuesley Lane. As gusty winds and rain are forecast for the remainder of the weekend, caution is required.

The Met Office today issued a Red warning of dangerously high winds across a wide area of Southern England, including Surrey.

A Red warning means that significant disruption and dangerous conditions are expected, with a danger to life. Flying debris, damage to buildings, power lines and trees, and severe travel disruption will occur.

The area was already under an Amber Alert for Storm Eunice, but this morning this was upgraded to Red, an extremely rare occurrence, and the advice is for people not to travel. 

The winds, sweeping in from the south west, remained high all morning but conditions were expected to ease throughout the afternoon. The Red warning applied from 10am to 3pm.

For information on Hambledon’s emergency plan arrangements and contact information if in need of assistance, please read the earlier news item below.

In Hambledon, the shop and pub remain open. However, several trees have been brought down by the wind, temporarily blocking roads, all of which are strewn with debris from snapped branches. There have been several power cuts, most of them brief.

Our photos below show some of the damage Storm Eunice has brought to the village. The first shows a tree lying across Vann Lane, just beyond Cricket Green.

This tree, below, partially blocked Hambledon Road near the village hall.

A small tree came down outside the Old Coal Yard, taking the fence with it.

The tree below briefly blocked Rock Hill beside the nursery school until local volunteers cleared it.

And our final photograph shows a large tree down on the bank above Hambledon Road. It has fallen away from the highway, onto the garden at Pound House.

Derek Miller has asked the village website team to share details of his wife Cynthia’s funeral, to which all are welcome.

Cynthia passed away on January 30th at the Royal Surrey County Hospital after spending several months at the Surrey Hills nursing home. She was 84. Her funeral will be held at St Peter’s Church, Hambledon, on Thursday 24^th February at 1pm.

Derek and Cynthia moved to Hambledon in connection with his work. They fully expected to return to their native Yorkshire on his retirement, but by then had fallen in love with the village, and the village with them. “We never planned to stay here but it is such a lovely place with such lovely people that we never left”, said Derek.

Both became active members of the community. Cynthia was one of the first volunteers at the village shop when it became a community venture. Her home-made carrot cakes were legendary and sold out almost as soon as they reached the shelves.

She remained a volunteer for many years and it was fitting that, on behalf of all the helpers, it was she that received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service when it was presented to the shop in 2015.

She was instrumental in running the Wednesday Afternoon Group (WAGs), described as “a friendly gathering of ladies” who met every third Thursday of the month for teas, talks and outings.

Both Cynthia and Derek were active members of the village church, where Cynthia was on the flower arranging rota. Derek was for many years a Hambledon Parish councillor, edited the parish magazine, and one of the original web team that helped set up and run this village website.

And, for a long while, a Friday night at the Merry Harriers was not complete unless Cynthia and Derek and their close friends Arthur and Sue Blackman, Ron and Ann Vickery and Mic and Sylvia Coleman, were not seated at the usual table near the fireplace.

We send our sympathy to Derek and his family and will remember Cynthia with great fondness and lasting respect for all that she has done for the village where they made their home.

Hambledon Parish Council is looking to appoint a new clerk.

This part-time salaried position would be ideal for someone living in, or very close, to Hambledon and with a commitment to helping care for the village and its many community activities.

Training can be provided if necessary, so the candidate is not required to have previous experience although a knowledge of finance, administration and IT skills would be an advantage.

The position has become vacant following the resignation of Julie Flenley, who takes up a new role with the parish council at Chiddingfold, where she lives.

She departs next month with the thanks and best wishes of Hambledon Parish Council. Julie said: “I have sincerely enjoyed my time with Hambledon Parish Council and wish it every success in the future”.

Julie will remain in post until early February. It may be necessary for the parish council to appoint a locum clerk in any interim period.

In the meantime, the parish council has started the process to find a replacement. The clerk undertakes an important and responsible position but the job is not especially onerous to anyone with organisational skills.

The clerk is the council’s paid professional, who provides advice and assistance to the elected village councillors, ensuring council business is conducted correctly. The job involves preparing agendas, attending monthly parish council evening meetings, taking minutes of proceedings, and overseeing budgets, as the clerk is also the Responsible Financial Officer (RFO).

The clerk is the point of contact with local authorities, receiving local planning applications from Waverley Borough Council, and submitting councillor responses. He or she is also the contact for the general public.

All decisions are taken by the councillors, who are elected to office but are unpaid and volunteer their services, with their clerk providing them with objective, independent advice.

Currently the council employs its Clerk for 10 hours per week. The job comes with a contract of employment and pay and conditions in accordance with national rates for the size of the council. Hambledon Parish Council is small – just seven councillors – and does not have an office, so the Clerk would work from home.

Council meetings are held once a month, starting at 8pm at the village hall, usually on a Tuesday, and generally last less than two hours.

The post will be advertised locally, including in the February edition of Hambledon Parish Magazine and on village noticeboards, in accordance with professional guidance from the Surrey Association of Local Councils. Closing date for applications will be Monday February 28^th, 2022.

To register your interest, and for further details, please contact Stewart Payne, the parish council chairman, on [email protected] or by phone on 07831 393561.

Natural England, the Government’s statutory adviser on natural landscapes, is currently consulting on extending the boundaries of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Almost all of Hambledon village is within the current AONB including the majority of homes, the cricket green and village shop, church, nursery school, St Dominics, village hall, Feathercombe, Lane End, Upper Vann and most of Hydestile.

The only areas not within it are land between Hydestile crossroads on the western side of Hambledon Road (looking towards Enton and the West Surrey Golf Course) as far as the Merry Harriers, and on the eastern side of Vann Lane between Vann and Pockford. These areas are now included in the formal boundary review.

The Surrey Hills AONB was one of the first in the country and was designated in 1958. It has not been reviewed since then.

Local knowledge is being sought and the opinions of Hambledon residents do matter, as AONBs provide additional protection to the countryside as well as having implications on planning.

If you would like to know more, please go to:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/surrey-hills-area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty-needs-you?mc_cid=00003035f2&mc_eid=ea725c4e1a

There you can read about the review and then follow the links to the pages of Surrey Hills AONB for more background information, maps of the areas under consultation and to take part. You have until January 31^th to take part.

Hambledon Parish Council is also considering commenting on the review and is seeking the opinions of local people before doing so. Please email the council on [email protected] before January 25^th in order to give councillors time to consider your responses.

Hambledon Parish Council have been notified of the following planned road closures between now and mid-February:

1. Church Lane, road closure for resurfacing by Surrey County Council Highways Department for 1 day on 28th January 2022
2. Rock Hill, traffic controls, (road will be open but expect delays) for resurfacing by Surrey County Council Highways Department for 1 day on 28th January 2022
3. Bridleway 131 from Potters Hill. Closed on 9th February 2022 for BT Openreach works.
4. Station Lane, road closure by Network Rail on 16th and 17th February 2022.

Please be aware that Hambledon Parish Council are not given advanced warning of emergency works, just planned works. All information can be found on Surrey Highways interactive map, including emergency closures, with diversion information. The map can be found here > Roadworks – Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk) .

If you require any further information, please contact the Clerk on [email protected], Thanks > Julie (Clerk).

Hambledon Parish Council is due to meet tomorrow evening (Tuesday 4th January) in the village Hall at 8pm. The relevant agenda is available in the parish council section of the website and available on the village notice boards. Please note that facemasks must be worn – the hall is covid compliant and will be sanitised before and after the meeting. Thanks > Julie (Clerk).

With no new Covid restrictions added – but with the variant still prevalent- Hambledonians will celebrate the arrival of 2022 with caution, but surely with optimism that the New Year will be better then the last.

Many will no doubt celebrate quietly at home or visit friends and neighbours. Others will meet at the Merry Harriers to see in the New Year where measures are in place to ensure that the evening can be enjoyed outside in the garden as well as inside.

Villagers have loaned fire pits and gazebos following an appeal from manager Mikey Coleman. These will supplement the pub’s own fire pits and marquee to add to the party atmosphere and to ensure that all may celebrate safely.

A small bar is being set up in the rear garden and a band will play by the doors leading from the dining area to the rear patio, so that music can be heard outside as well as in.

The garden is large, so there is plenty of space, and masks should be worn when entering the pub.

Our picture shows manager Mikey Coleman and Richard Payne taking a tea break from setting up.

The pub is open all evening until beyond midnight. The forecast is for a dry and mild night.

However and wherever you celebrate, we wish you all a Happy New Year.

The Christmas Eve Crib service at St Peter’s takes place today, outside in the church yard, at 4pm.

This reminder is to correct an error in yesterday’s news item, which erroneously stated it was to be held on New Year’s Eve.  Sorry about that, and the article has been corrected.

And to recap, the Midnight Communion service at Hambledon tonight has been cancelled but all are welcome to celebrate Christmas Day at the 10am service at St Peter’s tomorrow, which will be held outside. For full details on village activities over the Festive season please see the previous new item.

For the second year running Hambledon, as elsewhere, is facing a disrupted Christmas as a result of Covid-related restrictions. Nevertheless, our little village will do its best, and there is no reason not to wish everyone a Happy Christmas on behalf of the village website team.

Sadly, as you may have read in the previous post, the Church has made the difficult decision to cancel the traditional Christmas Eve 11pm service at St Peter’s. Given the late hour, this service was to have taken place inside the church but this was considered unwise in the current situation.

Happily, the Christmas Eve Crib Service will go ahead at 4pm, as will the Christmas Day family service and Communion at 10am. Both will be held outside so wrap up warm and remember to wear your protective face mask.

Fortunately the Carol Service did go ahead last Sunday in the church yard and our photograph shows some of the hardy souls, of all ages, who gathered under the glow of the Chancel windows to share carols, readings and some mulled wine and mince pies.

The village pub, the Merry Harriers, will be monitoring the situation throughout the Festive period, adapting to any new rules that the Government may announce over the coming days.

As things stand, the pub will be open until 11pm on Christmas Eve and between 11am and 6pm on Christmas Day. Manager Mikey Coleman has said he will have fire pits blazing away in the back garden for those who prefer to be outside. Boxing Day hours are 12 noon to 8pm, and curry meals are on offer until 6pm, including vegetarian.

A band is booked to play on New Year’s Eve and it is intended it will perform from the dining area and with space for dancing, but this is under constant review and there is an option for the band to play outside, with additional lighting and more fire pits.

The Village Shop is open today until 3pm and tomorrow, Christmas Eve, it opens at 8.30am and closes at 2pm. Sadly the shop carols singing, scheduled for noon tomorrow, has been cancelled.

After Christmas its hours are: 

The traditional Sunday before Christmas Carol Service at St Peter’s will now take place outside in the church yard due to current concerns over the new Covid-19 variant.

All else remains the same. The service will start at 7pm tomorrow (December 19th) with familiar carols, bible readings from villagers and a chance to share a special time with family and friends. All are very welcome… although we cannot promise a snowy scene like the one below, taken in December 2010.

The following is from Simon Willetts:

“Please be advised that due to the increased risk posed by the Omicron covid variant, the St. Peter’s Church Hambledon 7pm Carol Service tomorrow night (19^th December 2021) is now going to be held outside in the church yard. We are hoping to live stream it too – please follow this link 
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bhc+godalming

Please can you also remember to bring a mask, a torch and a chair if possible. Don’t forget to wrap up warm!

The nursery school car park is available for parking for this service.

Thank you in advance for your understanding 

Rev. Simon Willetts”

Hambledon Church COVID Update: Tonight’s (Thursday) Carols at the Pub will now be sung outdoors in the wonderful open air of the Merry Harriers beer garden!

The bar will of course be open to get drinks before and after, but please do join the band outside from 7.30pm for some favourite carols and one or two Christmas songs. Thanks to the Merry Harriers for hosting once again, and making arrangements for outside – it will be a great setting for this annual village tradition!

Also, for the traditional Candlelit Carol Service at church on Sunday 19 December at 7pm: face coverings are legally required during the service, and refreshments (mulled wine and mince pies) will be served outdoors in the churchyard afterwards. 

ADDITIONAL PARKING is available in the Hambledon Nursery School car park for all Christmas services, and recommended for those that can manage the short walk up the footpath between the pub and nursery carparks.  

For Christmas events and services, and any updates, see: www.bhcgodalming.org/christmas

The words above were spoken by the Rev Simon Taylor, Rector of St Peter’s Church, Hambledon, at the funeral of long-standing and much-loved village resident Edna Atkins.

However, he used them in a wider context, reflecting that Hambledon was witnessing the passing of several notable residents who have done so much to enrich life in our small village.

The same church will soon see villagers pay their respects to another stalwart who leaves a substantial legacy across Hambledon. The funeral of Muriel Campbell will take place at 2.30pm on Thursday December 9^th.

Much that younger generations can take for granted is testament to Muriel’s love of Hambledon and its people. She has been active in many areas of village life, most notably in helping spearhead the campaign to keep the former Church of England village school as a place of learning after it closed as a State-run primary in July 1983.

She was central to the campaign to acquire the Victorian classrooms and playground at Rock Hill, rather than see it sold off as a private house or for development. Out of this initiative grew the flourishing Nursery School that is so popular today. It is run by a charitable trust and Muriel was one of the early trustees.

Muriel was also a member of Hambledon Parish Council between 1987 and 1995 and her husband Ion was, for many years, its chairman.

Muriel and Ion have also worked hard to maintain their family home at Feathercombe, which was built in 1910 for the celebrated author, journalist, broadcaster and naturalist Eric Parker. Muriel is his grand-daughter.

Muriel’s funeral is expected to be well attended as she had a large extended family as well as a great many friends. Village mourners are requested to walk or share a lift to the church if possible. There will be a reception afterwards at Feathercombe.

Hambledon sends its sympathy to Ion and the Campbell family.

• A fuller tribute to Muriel and her contribution to Hambledon is expected to appear in the January issue of the Hambledon Parish Magazine.

Caroline and family warmly welcome everyone to Edna’s funeral at St Peter’s Church on Thursday 25^th November at 11am and afterwards in the church rooms.

Wear something red!