In Hambledon, as elsewhere, there is a clear desire to do whatever we can to support the people of Ukraine.

Sometimes our expectations of what we can do cannot be matched by the harsh realities of getting aid to where it is needed.

So, in an attempt to focus our efforts into a practical and achievable response, several village organisations and individuals have come together to consider what can be done. The outcome of this is the establishment of the Hambledon Ukraine Appeal.

For the time being the Appeal will collect money for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). The DEC brings together 15 leading UK charities to distribute aid quickly and efficiently at times of crisis overseas.

 There are 3 ways in which you can give:

1. Online using the Hambledon Ukraine Appeal JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hambledonukraineappeal
2. Cash collection boxes at the shop, Merry Harriers and Nursery School
3. Using the church’s card reader at the shop

Cash and card donations will be transferred to the Hambledon Ukraine Appeal JustGiving account.

It is hoped that by using JustGiving we will all be able to share in the spirit of kindness and togetherness for which our village is known. People should feel free to make donations anonymously or post personal messages of support for the people of Ukraine. Updates will be posted here, on social media, and in the parish magazine.

We in Hambledon can make a real contribution. Let’s do it. Let’s be generous.  

The following news release from Waverley Borough Council may be of interest to Hambledon residents living on low incomes in hard-to-heat homes.

Waverley residents urged to claim green home funding

Householders in Waverley are being urged to act quickly to claim up to £10,000 which is being made available to improve home energy efficiency – one of the simplest ways of saving energy and combatting rising energy prices.

More funding has been made available as part of the central government scheme which will provide grants to eligible homeowners to improve energy efficiency in their homes, cut heating costs and help the environment.

The grant project is being run by Action Surrey on behalf of all Surrey local authorities and provides funds for cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and solar renewable technology.

Funding is available on a first-come, first-serve basis to those living in a hard-to-heat home and on a low income*. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2022, with installations completing by 30 June 2022.

To check if you are eligible, call Action Surrey for free on 0800 783 2503 or visit www.actionsurrey.org for more information and to submit an online enquiry.

Councillor Steve Williams, Waverley Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability, said: “The uncontrolled rise in energy prices hits the poorest in our community the hardest. If you are a resident struggling with your energy bills, this scheme can help you make your home much more energy efficient.  I do urge lower-income households to take advantage of this opportunity to make their homes warmer, greener and cheaper to run.”

Waverley Borough Council is working hard to cut back on its own carbon emissions and supporting the move towards being net-zero carbon by 2030.  To take a look at Waverley Borough Council’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, please go to our sustainability and conservation webpage. 

* Grants are available to those who meet the criteria and currently living within Surrey County. Action Surrey are the only organisation able to verify eligibility for the scheme.

* Action Surrey is an impartial energy advice service and has a network of trusted installers to deliver the installations. Action Surrey is managed by ThamesWey Sustainable Communities, a company wholly owned by Woking Borough Council

The Merry Harriers will be hosting a quiz night on Wednesday 9th March from 8pm to 10pm. Teams of a maximum size of 6, entry fee £1 per team member, winning team takes all (or gives it to charity). The quiz masters will be Andy Hinde and Jon Petersen, but don’t let that put you off.

Curry and a pint will be available for £15. Please call the pub on 01428 682883 if you’d like to reserve a table.

A busy time is approaching, and Hambledon and its parish council needs volunteer help for a range of activities including celebrations around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and assisting at our community shop.

In the past, many villagers have stepped up to keep village life going, reopening the shop and turning the former junior school into a thriving nursery school. The church, the cricket and football clubs, the fete and festival committee, village hall, alms houses, community fund, parish magazine, heritage society, community speed-watch and this village website have all benefited from village-led initiatives and volunteer help.

Much of our common land is cared for by a single village landowner.

The seven parish councillors are unpaid and, like many others, give up their time to attend meetings and represent the village and act in its best interests.

Sadly, many of the generation who were faced with closures and cuts to the detriment of village life, and who responded by seizing the initiative to ensure Hambledon remained a vibrant and caring community, are passing on or are elderly and infirm.

Increasingly organisations such as the shop are having to rely on a dwindling number of volunteers. Hambledon needs a new generation of helpers. Could it be you? In all cases hours can be flexible and could suit those who may have busy jobs, but can still find a little spare time to volunteer.

It is often remarked upon that Hambledon is a lovely place to live with a palpable community spirit. So much of this is down to people giving up their time to make it so.

Currently the Hambledon Community Fund is in need of a new coordinator, the shop and speed-watch require more volunteers, the parish council needs a new Clerk and the Heritage Society needs some new blood.

And, as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee approaches, the parish council is looking for a small band of people to promote and organise a village celebration over the extended Bank Holiday weekend of June 2^nd to 5^th. Ideas include participating in the nation-wide Big Jubilee Lunch on Sunday June 5^th, an open-air gathering where everyone brings their own picnic. Street parties, a beacon and maybe a commemorative bench or a telescope for the Hambledon Viewpoint are other ideas that have been put forward.

More information can be found here: https://platinumjubilee.gov.uk/get-involved-with-the-platinum-jubilee/ and in the March parish magazine.

The Festival Committee will be busy at this time arranging the Midsummer Festival just two weeks later, hence the need for a separate band of helpers.

If you can help, or have ideas on how we should celebrate, please contact Mary Grove, deputy chair of the parish council by phone on 01483 415815 or email at [email protected]. Please also speak to Mary if you are interested in joining the speed-watch team.

If you would like to volunteer at the shop, please pop in and have a chat with Gill Darbyshire or a member of her team.

If you are interested in becoming the Community Fund co-ordinator, please contact Mary Burrows at [email protected] or Jane Woolley at [email protected]  This would not be a time consuming position but an interesting one, co-ordinating the distribution of donated funds to worthwhile enterprises around the village.

More details here: https://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?page_id=30

The job of Parish Clerk is a responsible but rewarding position, salaried but part-time, currently ten-hours a week. Full training can be provided. The council has interim measures in place but is keen to appoint a Clerk as soon as possible. A deadline for applications has been extended beyond the original February 28^th, so please give it some thought. The Clerk is a crucial role in active and effective village administration.

More details can be found here: https://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=15666

If you are interested, or require more information, please contact Stewart Payne, council chairman, on 07831 393561 or by email at [email protected]

Finally, the council said farewell to its last Clerk, Julie Flenley, who left at the end of the February meeting. She was thanked for her service to Hambledon, given best wishes for her new job at Chiddingfold Parish Council and presented with flowers by the chairman.

The council’s next meeting is next Tuesday, March 1^st, at 8pm at Hambledon Village Hall. Each meeting begins with an allocated 15 minutes at the start so that villagers can raise or discuss issues and the whole meeting is open to the public. If you want to discover more about your parish council, please come along.

Volunteers from around the village have been hard at work clearing fallen trees brought down during Storm Eunice and in the gusty winds that followed, blocking roads, bridleways and footpaths.

This means that the church field car park is now accessible for those attending Cynthia Miller’s funeral tomorrow (Thurs Feb 24th) at 1pm. However, attendance is expected to be high and those villagers who are able to walk are asked to do so.

The same applies to the service for Chris Harrison on Wednesday March 9th at noon, where parking may also be at a premium.

Rev Simon Willetts, associate vicar for Hambledon, has expressed his appreciation to Jon Petersen, Deeg Gorrod, Gavin Clutterbuck, Ged Hockridge and Mike Parry in particular for clearing access to St Peter’s car park.

Elsewhere, members of the parish council have been clearing footpaths and bridleways, including BW 131 that leads up from Hambledon Road from opposite Potter’s Hill through the fields in the direction of Hydons Ball. Fallen trees made this popular walking and riding route impassable just inside the woods between The Tolt and Feathercombe. It has now been cleared.

The parish council is also aware of a large tree blocking BW 190, running below the Greensand Way at Burgate Hangar, between the top of Upper Vann Lane and Markwick Lane but this cannot be accessed by vehicle on public land.

A large oak has come down on public footpath 162 through the centre of West Surrey Golf Club, between Station Road and Potter’s Hill. This will no doubt be cleared in due course by the club. In the meantime it is possible to scramble around it.

If you know of any other paths or bridleways blocked by fallen trees or branches, and that can be reached by four-wheel drive on public land or with owner’s permission, please leave a message using the link at the end of this news item.

Finally, Hambledon Nursery School was concerned by the tree debris just above its entrance on Rock Hill, which is limiting traffic flow at a dangerous location. Surrey County Council highways engineers have confirmed to the parish council that the bank from which the tree fell belongs to SCC and not the school. SCC is aware of the issue but reports that it may take a few days before it can be cleared, as its priority following Storm Eunice is A and B classified roads.

In some areas of Hambledon and Hydestile residents have experienced fly-tipping close to their homes, and the issue has been raised with Waverley Borough Council.

The following is a response from the council’s environmental office. Please use the Comment link to let Hambledon Parish Council know your opinions on warning posters being placed in the village, as requested below.

“I am sure you have been made aware of the fly tips that have been occurring in Hambledon over the last few weeks of building materials, we have had 2 in Clock Barn Lane, 2 in Feathercombe lane and one at Hill Top.

I was hoping you would be able to help in making the residents aware of this and ask if it is possible they could be vigilant in reporting any suspicious vehicles they see loitering in the area that have building materials or look like they could have items that could be fly tipped.

We are very concerned that this is happening in Hambledon and want to do everything possible to prevent this happening again. I am happy to put some temporary fly tipping posters around the area but am also concerned that this is an area of outstanding beauty and it may not be in keeping with the area to have posters around, however if residents are happy to go ahead then I will put some up around the fly tipping areas.

Please feel free to pass my email and phone number to any residents if they have any information they would like to share, also if you have a newsletter that you would be happy to put a feature then that would be great.

I appreciate your help with this matter and please feel free to contact me if needed.

Tel – 07769 280866

With Regards

Mandy Jack

Environmental Monitoring and Enforcement Officer

Waverley Borough Council

The Burys, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1HR

Tel – 01483 523006

Email – [email protected]

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).