Hambledon Superfast Broadband Survey – Last Chance

nosurfingsignThe survey and Expression of Interest concerning superfast broadband provision in Hambledon will only be available online for a few more days.

The survey can be accessed by clicking here, it only takes a few minutes to complete. We are particularly interested in finding out more about existing broadband speeds in the residences around Rock Hill, Church Lane, Roundals and Vann Lane.

Many thanks to all of those who have already completed the survey.

Reminder – Superfast Broadband Survey

The response from residents to the recently circulated survey regarding Superfast broadband provision has been excellent. But there is still time to respond, if you have not so far done so.

Paper forms can still be returned to the Village Shop or you can complete the form on-line here at the village web site.

The form will take less than a minute to complete and is available by clicking here.

Winter Weather Precautions for Hambledon

A major cut of trees close to power lines was completed this year by Scottish and Southern Energy in an effort to reduce the frequency of electricity supply disruption to Hambledon.

SSE has also upgraded and refurbished power lines into the village and promised better communications in the event of outages.

Nevertheless, it is wise to take precautions in a rural area that has suffered from extensive power failures in recent years, usually caused by trees and branches falling onto cables during high winds.

003SSE has provided the Parish Council with a quantity of telephones that do not require a power supply to work, wind-up radios, battery-operated magnetic lamps, safety lightsticks, compact foil blankets and heat packs for warming cold hands.

If you, or someone you know, would benefit from any of these items they are available free for collection from the village shop.

It is important to remember that many modern phones require power to operate so a stand-by phone that simply requires a connection to the telephone line is an essential.

Stock up on batteries for torches and radios.

In extreme weather electricity and telephone lines may fail as may mobile phone networks.  Snow or fallen trees can isolate the village. Although such an outcome is rare it has happened. The Parish Council has an emergency plan in place to help cope with such an event.

It is worth remembering that the phone kiosk at the village shop will continue to work in a power failure. The pay phone no longer accepts coins but you can dial 999 for free. You can also dial 100 for the operator to make reverse charge calls.

If you, or someone you know, may be considered vulnerable during a power cut, you can register with SSE’s Priority Services Register on 0800 294 3259. There is a leaflet in the shop explaining this service.

The following telephone numbers and addresses should be kept handy.

SSE – Scottish and Southern Energy (power cuts and emergencies): 0800 072 7282.

Surrey County Council (for on-line updates and advice): www.surreycc.gov.uk/winter.

Latest travel information: https://twitter.com/SurreyTravel

Waverley Borough Council: For general information, refuse collections etc, go to www.waverley.gov.uk adding the word weather to the search bar if your inquiry relates to this issue. Also, for latest news and emergency updates from the borough go to www.twitter.com/waverleybc

Radio updates will be broadcast on BBC Surrey on 104.6FM and on Eagle on 96.4FM

Hambledon village website will also carry updates: www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk

In the village, the Hambledon Emergency Team is:

Stewart Payne – 07831 393561, Tim Coleman – 07838 763767, and Nick Watson – 07770 553686

In the event of severe disruption and communication failure the emergency team will be on hand around the village, centred at the village shop.

Hambledon Village Shop Needs Your Help

Hambledon Village Shop is run for the benefit of the village and relies on volunteer help. We need people to help out on weekdays and weekends so if you can spare a few hours each week, every other week or on weekends, please get in touch with Gill, our Shop Volunteer Coordinator by clicking here and using the contact form.

shop smallThe more people that get involved, the less everyone has to do. We are particularly short of volunteers on weekday afternoons from 3pm to 5pm and Saturday mornings.

Working in the shop is a great way to get involved in village life, meet your neighbours and contribute to our thriving community.

Superfast Broadband – Equal Access for All

The Parish Council is asking all residents of Hambledon to complete a short survey concerning superfast broadband provision.

If you live in Hambledon, a paper form will be put through your letter box in the next few days. However, it would help considerably, if those who are able, complete the form on-line here at the village web site.

The form will take less than a minute to complete and is available by clicking here.

A Warmer Winter Ahead For Village Nursery School

Hambledon Nursery School will be a warmer place this winter, thanks to new windows in its two classrooms.

The nursery, formerly the village primary school, dates back to Victorian times and is a listed building. Its original wooden-framed windows were in an advance state of decay but the school had to replace like-for-like to comply with planning regulations – a costly business.

Thanks to a £4,000 grant from the Hall Hunter Foundation – a trust set up by the owners of nearby Tuesley Fruit Farm – and a dip into the nursery school’s reserves, the money has been found to pay for the work, which was carried out over the summer holiday.

new windows Blue Room

Nicola Collett, head teacher, said:  “We are delighted with the Hall Hunter grant and very grateful. It enabled us to give the go-ahead for the work and we now have new windows on the southern elevation of the classrooms which were the ones in most urgent need of replacement.”

“They are structured to the original design with wooden frames but are double-glazed. I am actually looking forward to winter this year because the staff and children will be nice and warm and nestled in the classrooms with no drafts to contend with.”

She added: “I suppose the saddest part of the project was actually watching the old windows come out.  But remarkably the Hopper style openers and some of the frames have been donated to The Brooking National Architectural Museum in Cranleigh, because they were of significant architectural interest.”

“The next phase will be along the Eastern side of the building restoring and replacing the old original stone bay window.  The final phase will be to replace the old Crittall windows in the flat roof extension.”

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Charity Quiz -Friday 23rd October

 

Screen Shot 2015-10-20 at 19.47.20Many Hambledon quiz goers – particularly those who have participated in the South West Surrey Pub League – may remember David Hopkinson, who has died of cancer.

David was a long-term member of the Witley Legion A team – now the Fosters Club – and a charity quiz is to be held there this Friday (Oct 23rd) in his memory and to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

The Fosters 1883 Club, of which David was vice chairman, is on the Petworth Road, just beyond Witley Recreation Ground, on the left when approaching from Hambledon, and just before the White Hart.

Please just turn up on the night at 8pm if you wish to take part, as individuals or as a team. Organisers will be on hand to make up teams of up to six people.

Stewart Payne

Hambledon’s newly re-vamped community website

DSC_2774

You may have noticed a new look and layout to www.HambledonSurrey.co.uk.  This is the look of the re-launched website after some substantial changes to the platform that underpins the workings of the site.  The Website Development Team, along with a new volunteer from Hambledon resident Jon Petersen, have been working on migrating the website to a new design and publishing system. After 7 years the old Joomla software was not able to be updated and was proving difficult to keep secure and efficient.  We have now migrated to WordPress software which is a popular and more modern platform.

It brings significant benefits –

It is more intuitive and easier for residents to add content, articles, events, photographs

It has a greater flexibility for design changes to the look and function of the site

It integrates well with Twitter & Facebook.

It allows residents to Subscribe – they are sent emails when News is added.

Residents can add Comments to many articles.

It is easier to upgrade to combat potential hackers.

It has a number of added functions such as galleries, forums, and Twitter feeds

Finding volunteers to help contribute to the site may be easier as WordPress is a popular platform.

Over the next few weeks we will be showing how these new features will work.  In addition we will be offering one-to-one training to  residents who have expressed interest in adding articles and updates to the site.  In the meantime, take the first step by following us on Twitter or Facebook or Subscribe by email – see the blue buttons and options in the righthand column.

For a video overview:

The Web Development Team

Village Fete planning meeting

A meeting will be held in the Village Hall at 7.30pm on Thursday,19th November to decide on how we run the fete on June 18th 2016.The Dinner/Dance has already been decided with Sue Blackman saying she would like to take the helm again,for a final time,but shadowed by helpers for the future.

This means we shall be having a large marquee over the whole weekend.This will also be used for a function on the Friday evening and the Church will take it over on the Sunday morning.

So we are left with the fete to organise for the Saturday afternoon.For this we need helpers.By the end of this meeting we need to know who these are,and which organisations will participate.If unable to attend please contact me by e-mail beforehand at:

[email protected]

Superfast Broadband in Hambledon

Screen Shot 2015-10-11 at 18.41.44In 2012 Surrey County Council awarded a contract to BT to ensure a superfast broadband service to all Surrey residents and businesses.  Those living adjacent to the Hydestile Crossroads have already discovered that there are limits to the coverage;  but it was hoped that the up-grading of the BT cabinet at the A283/Lane End Crossroads at the end of 2013 would enable everyone with an 01428 telephone number to connect to superfast.

Yet again this is not delivering in practice and a group of concerned residents is therefore trying to create a picture of where the service drops off.

To enable the group to put pressure on Superfast Surrey to install another cabinet to serve those on the edges of the village (excluding Hydestile/Feathercombe Lane which are being dealt with by a separate campaign) data is needed from as many residents as possible to create a picture of available speeds.  In theory, those living within 2 km. of the Lane End cabinet should be able to access superfast but not all of them can and those living outside that radius almost certainly cannot.

Some villagers will have already received an e-mail from Louise Rhodes asking them to carry out speed tests.  If you have not heard from her, do please get in touch ([email protected]) so that she can let you know how to do the tests.  The more information she receives, the more likely it is that Hambledon will get good superfast coverage – and remember, even if you don’t want superfast, your successors certainly will!

Jane Woolley, Hambledon Parish Council Clerk