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Christmas Giving – Gift Hampers for local households

Can you help? Godalming Minster is collecting goodies to make up gift hampers for local individuals and families, some of whom are supported by the Foodbank at Franklyn Road year round, and some who appreciate a little help at this time of year. We also receive requests via our local church schools (Busbridge Juniors and St Mark’s and All Saints) and The Cellar Camino Café too.

We aim to make the hampers a real treat and show of love and generosity to those who might not be able to enjoy the nicer things at Christmas. It is especially appreciated if the items are from the luxury range rather than value range.

Shopping List
To share the buying, we’ve divided the shopping list into smaller lists of 4-6 items. You can pick one up
from church, or download the pdf with all six .

Donation Drop Off
From now-15 Dec
There are collection points for donations at all Godalming Minster locations: Hambledon Church, The Yew Tree Café at Busbridge Church Brighton Road, St Peter & St Paul’s Church Street as well as St Mark’s Franklyn Road.

Get involved
We sort and pack on Mon 15 Dec at Godalming Minster Brighton Road and everyone is invited to come and help at 7pm.

Make a request for someone you know
If you know of someone that is in need of help this Christmas, please get in touch with the office to request a hamper on their behalf e: [email protected]. We also have a Minster Family Support Fund for financial support.

For more info see godalmingminster.org/christmas

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Hambledon Easter Events

Please take a look at the Easter page on godalmingminster.org for everything happening at St Peter’s Hambledon, and across Godalming Minster over Easter. As well as observing Easter with reverence, there’s several more inclusive and social ways for everyone to get involved.

Highlights at Hambledon include An Hour at the cross at from 12-1pm on Good Friday, before the trekkers arrive from Busbridge for tea and hot cross buns at the end of the Hot Cross Bun Adventure. If you want to join them, please meet at Godalming Minster Brighton Road at 2.30pm.

Messy Easter on Sat 30th is a real treat for younger ones. Meet at the Village Hall at 10am for a walk up to Hambledon Common where there’ll be games and an egg hunt on the sandpit.

Then come along to church at 10am on Easter Day to celebrate Jesus is Risen!

There’s no morning service on 7th April, but do please join us for the Spring Choral Evensong at 6pm (with thanks in advance to the very accomplished pop-up choir!).

The Hot Cross Bun Adventure – a 5km walk from Busbridge to Hambledon, or vice versa!
Messy Easter games on Hambledon Common

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Hambledon Nursery School is “Outstanding”…Again

Hambledon Nursery School has entered 2020 in a mood of celebration after receiving an “Outstanding” grading following its latest Ofsted inspection.

Kate Walford, the head teacher, said that she, her staff and parents were all delighted with the news. The school, at Rock Hill, was judged Outstanding in all four categories; quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

She said: “I feel so very proud of the team of fantastic individuals with whom I have the pleasure of working with. This outcome is only achieved with the collective hard work, drive, passion and commitment of all staff members.” Kate, front row in green jacket, is pictured below with her staff.

The report is extremely complimentary about all areas of school life. It can be found here:

https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50138477

Ofsted – the Office for Standards in Education – is a non-ministerial body that carries out official inspections and regulation of schools and other places of learning. After visiting a school, usually with very little notice, it then issues it with a grade: 1. Inadequate, 2. Requires Improving, 3. Good and 4. Outstanding.

The nursery school was last inspected in 2014, when it was also given an “Outstanding” rating.

In summary, the latest report, carried out in December, said:

* The head teacher and her extremely enthusiastic staff succeed in achieving their strong ethos, which they describe as providing a highly stimulating environment ‘where skills to last a lifetime are taught and lifelong memories are made.’

* Children demonstrate exceptionally high levels of confidence and security in the setting.

* Children have immense fun as they learn. They behave impeccably.

* Staff demonstrate exemplary teaching skills through which they provide children with wonderful opportunities to use critical thinking skills and to extend their thoughts

* Staff have an extensive understanding of each child, their interests, abilities, cultures and backgrounds. They ensure every child has the best possible opportunities to meet their full potential.

Kate added: “The level of support from the parents was overwhelming. Their positive feedback and testimonials, shared with the inspector on the day of the inspection, was mentioned as being especially unique to the nursery when she delivered her feedback.

“We are very lucky to work with such inspiring young people and their families and we will continue to strive to provide the very best possible early years’ environment that we can as we look to the future and continue with the very important task each day at the nursery…. of having plenty of fun!

  • The school was originally the village state primary school. When it closed in the 1980s residents were determined to see it remain at the heart of the community as a place of learning.  A campaign led to the acquisition of the Victorian school house complete with playground and its reopening as a nursery school run as a business by a charitable trust. It caters for children aged 2 to 5 and retains its strong links with the village, the church and the parish council.
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Christmas Celebrated, And New Year Greetings

Hambledon’s festive celebrations concluded with community carol singing outside the village shop on Christmas Eve which an estimated 200 people attended. It just gets bigger every year!

Following on from the equally-successful carols in the Merry Harriers and the Christmas Dance at the Village Hall (see earlier news item), it was then left to St Peter Church to bring home the Christmas message with midnight communion on Christmas Eve and a Family Service on Christmas Day.

Now all that remains is New Year’s Eve. There will no doubt be many private parties around the village and the Merry Harriers has live music and a buffet, beginning at 9pm and going on until 1am. Midnight will be celebrated with complimentary bubbly.

Finally, from all of us at the Hambledon Village Web Team, we wish you the very best for 2020.

We leave you with some photographs taken by David Edmiston of the Village Shop carols and our thanks to all those who organised and participated in a wonderful Christmas community gathering.

 

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Training offered in Hambledon for use of life-saving defibrillators

Training in the use of defibrillators (AEDs) is being offered to residents following the installation of one inside the former telephone kiosk at the Hydestile Crossroads.

This takes the number of defibrillators in the village area to five; outside the village shop, on the exterior wall of the Merry Harriers, at St Peter’s Church, at Hambledon Football Club’s ground at Badger Park, and now at Hydestile.

Alison Martin, a Busbridge Parish councillor who helped arrange for the AED (automated external defibrillator) to be installed in the traditional red kiosk – which has also undergone renovation in the process – has arranged for a training session to be held in the meeting room at St Peter’s Church, Church Lane, Hambledon, on Saturday September 28th.

The training will be given by an expert from the London-based Barts City Life Saver organisation, a charity that teaches life saving skills and originated from St Bartholomew’s Hospital. The session begins at 11am with basic life saving training, then AED training at 2pm followed by baby and child resuscitation at 3pm. Participants can opt to attend the whole session, or part.

AED’s are used on people suffering from sudden cardiac arrest and, along with Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, can greatly increase survival rates.

Training will be free to the Hydestile volunteers on the Busbridge Parish Council-sponsored rota, but to all others there will be a nominal cost of £20 per person to cover the costs of the trainer travelling to and from London and a donation to the charity’s work.

Anyone in the village can register to attend. Please contact Alison Martin at email [email protected] or by phone on 01483 893619.

If you would like to know more about the work of the charity please visit www.bartscitylifesaver.org

 

 

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A New View Of An Old School

Hambledon Nursery School has a strong association with residents of the village. Many helped turn the former Church of England state primary school, which closed its doors in 1983, into what it is today.

Their initiative and enterprise led to the purchase of the Victorian school building and playground in the lovely rural setting of Rock Hill. And they were responsible for its transformation into a  nursery school for two to five-year olds, administered by a charitable trust.

Today the school is a popular choice for parents in Hambledon and beyond. Its strong links with the local community remain in place. Trustees are drawn from the village and include representatives from St Peter’s Church and the Parish Council.

So villagers may like to take a look at the school’s new website which can be found at www.hambledonnurseryschool.co.uk This is beautifully and colourfully illustrated with photographs of the school, including an interesting aerial view. You will find photographs of staff and of children, at work and play.

Continue reading →

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Parish Magazine Pays Tribute To Two “Great Lives” in July Edition

The families of Mic Coleman and Pat Williams have expressed their gratitude to the people of Hambledon following the funerals of both, held in the past month.

They were much loved and respected residents and both contributed enormously to life in the village.

Mic’s funeral was held at Guildford Crematorium, followed by a gathering at the Merry Harriers. In a message afterwards, his family said: “We would like to thank all those who attended the service at the crematorium and those who sent condolences and thoughtful messages”

Pat’s funeral was held in Hambledon at St Peter’s Church and her sister Margaret Romney said that the love and friendship in the village had been “overwhelming”.

The lives of both have been celebrated in earlier articles on this website. The July edition of the Parish Magazine carries the tributes paid to both at their funerals. It will be on sale at the village shop from tomorrow (Saturday June 29th).

                                                               

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Tuesley Farm Grant Gives Green-Fingered Benefits To Nursery School

Kate Walford, head teacher of Hambledon Nursery, reports on how a grant from the Hall Hunter Foundation has helped transform the school’s vegetable garden and pond.

The work was carried out by volunteers from the local Hall Hunter-run Tuesley Farm, growers of soft fruit.

“Thanks to a very generous donation from the Hall Hunter Foundation we have been able to revitalise and enhance the outside space at the nursery.

We are thrilled to have been able to gain raised beds in our vegetable garden. A working team visited the nursery over the Easter holiday and set about laying paving slabs and building up the beds out of large wooden sleepers. A huge lorry arrived delivering enormous bags of soil and the team filled the wooden beds ready for use as soon as the nursery returned for the start of the summer term.

The nursery staff and children were so excited to see the results and we have already planted potatoes and pumpkins into the space.

In addition to this project, the team from Tuesley Farm made us a pathway around our two ponds in our environmental garden which will help the children to access the area for pond dipping and bug hunting more easily.

Finally, we received a new wooden picnic bench for our playground from which to serve drinks in the warmer summer months. The nursery now eagerly awaits a delivery of a large collection of wooden blocks that we can use to build enclosures and dens that the Hall Hunter Foundation have so generously purchased for the nursery.

We are so grateful for the work carried out and for the awarded fund that we have been able to use to further improve and enhance our beautiful outside area at the nursery.”

The Hall Hunter Foundation was set up in 2011 and raises funds in support of good causes which are then donated to a range of local charities.

Hambledon Nursery School, a registered charity, is a thriving nursery school for children aged two to five and was formerly the village primary school at Rock Hill, Hambledon Road. When the school closed in the 1980s a village-led initiative secured its Victorian classrooms and playground for the benefit of local families and it reopened as a nursery several years later.

 

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Merry Harriers Installs Defibrillator To Pub Wall For Use In An Emergency

A defibrillator has been installed on the external wall of the Merry Harriers pub and is available for public use in an emergency.

Danielle Montgomery-Page, pub manager, said that it had been decided to provide the potentially life-saving device as the pub now caters for an increasing number of guests staying in its accommodation as well as local customers, cyclists and walkers.

Our photograph shows the defibrillator in position secured to the pub’s front wall, on the left side of the building.

Defibrillators, also known as AEDs (Automated External Defibrillator), are used on people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, a major cause of premature death. The device detects the heart’s rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electric shock (defibrillation) to re-establish the heartbeat.

They are increasingly common, in places of work and in public. In Hambledon there are already defibrillators available on the wall outside the village shop, at St Peter’s Church and at Hambledon Football Club’s ground at Badger Park.

It is expected that another will soon be installed inside the decommissioned red telephone kiosk at the Hydestile Crossroads, which is currently undergoing renovation.

Although the devices are easy to use and instructions are given when it is activated, courses are also available and a number of villagers have already received basic training in their operation.

Further information can be found here

 

 

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Annual Village Meeting Will Hear From Police Commander And Discuss Speeding

Hambledon’s Annual Village Meeting, hosted by the Parish Council at the Village Hall this Thursday evening,  is to be addressed by Inspector Gary Smith, Waverley Borough Commander for Surrey Police.

He will give an overview of policing in the borough as well as deal with concerns about speeding traffic in the village.

The Parish Council has been exploring various road traffic initiatives and has held meetings with police and Surrey County Council highways engineers in recent months. However, it has been made clear that no traffic calming measures are likely to be introduced.

Budget restraints and a lack of statistical evidence to indicate that Hambledon has a speeding problem have been cited as reasons why the village can expect little in the way of new measures. The council had been exploring a proposal for a 20mph speed restriction in the centre.

The Annual Meeting will provide an opportunity to ask questions of our borough commander as well as hear more about what the Parish Council has been trying to achieve.

There will also be an opportunity to consider whether Hambledon wants to set up a Community Speed Watch where volunteers, with police training, use detection devices to check on the speed of vehicles in the village. Those caught above the limit are sent warning letters.

This would also be a means of determining whether speeding is a real issue and not just anecdotal and would help reinforce the case for traffic calming measures.

The scheme would have to be run by villagers and without sufficient volunteers it will not happen.

Those interested in taking part will be asked to sign their names at the end of the meeting, which will also hear annual reports from the Parish Council and village clubs and organisations.

Refreshments will be served from 7.30pm and the meeting starts at 8pm. (See previous news item for more information)

Details will also be given about taking part in the annual village clean-up, which takes places on Saturday (April 27th) followed at around noon by a parish barbecue outside the village shop.

All are welcome at the Annual Meeting, the clean-up and the barbecue.

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Annual Village Meeting and Parish Clean-Up and Barbecue – All Welcome

Hambledon’s Annual Village Meeting takes place on the evening of Thursday April 25th and all are welcome to come along.

This is an opportunity to hear a round-up of the past year’s activities from all of the village organisations, clubs and groups as well as a report from the Parish Council, which hosts the meeting.

Refreshments including wine, tea and coffee will be available from 7.30 and this is a chance to chat to village friends and neighbours before the meeting itself starts at 8pm at the Village Hall.

There will be a short presentation concerning the efforts made by the Parish Council to address concerns about speeding in the village and other local traffic issues.

Residents may like to consider whether they want to form a Community Speed Watch Group. A minimum of six volunteers would be required. Speed detection devices would be provided by Surrey Police together with appropriate training.

Full details of this scheme can be found here: www.communityspeedwatch.org

Further details will be provided at the meeting. Mary Grove, a parish councillor, can be contacted in advance for those who wish to register at [email protected]

Although the parish council can make the necessary arrangements with Surrey Police and register the speedwatch group, it is for villagers to step forward and volunteer if they want this initiative to succeed.

Despite widespread concerns across the village about speeding, both Surrey Police and Surrey County Council Highways engineers have stated that there is no gathered evidence to support this belief. It is highly unlikely that any traffic calming measures can be introduced in Hambledon until there is data to support the proposal. Community Speed Watch is one way in which such evidence may be gathered.

The Village Meeting is followed two days later – on Saturday April 27th – with the parish clean-up ending with a community barbecue outside the Village Shop at noon. Volunteers are asked to collect litter in designated areas for which they can register at the Village Meeting. Bin bags and litter grabs will be provided and all rubbish will be removed by the local authority.

 

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HAMBLEDON CHURCH – CAN YOU HELP SECURE ITS FUTURE?

If Hambledon is to have a new vicar and secure a future for its village church then money must be raised with the help of the local community and its residents.

The challenges facing St Peter’s Church and its continued ministry to the village were outlined by Simon Taylor, rector of the joint benefice of Busbridge and Hambledon, and Andy Dunn, treasurer of Hambledon church, at a packed meeting at the village hall on Thursday evening (March 7th, 2019).

In a rallying call for financial support, Andy said: “We are appealing not just to members of the congregation but to those who value the presence of a church in our village, but who may not wish to attend there regularly.”

Hambledon has not had a vicar since Catherine McBride moved to a new parish in October 2017. Although it was intended that she would be replaced, several obstacles stalled the process.

Mervil Bottom, the church house in the village, suffered severe water leaks when empty during the following cold winter and required major repairs and renovation. And the parlous state of the church’s finances meant that the Diocese of Guildford questioned whether it was feasible to appoint a new minister.

It costs £120,000 a year to fund St Peter’s with a vicar, but the income is currently just over £80,000.

The biggest single outgoing is £30,000 that St Peter’s has to pay to the Diocese. Second is the £28,000 salary to the vicar, which rises when tax and pensions are added. Then comes maintenance of the church, churchyard, Mervil Bottom and insurances.

Money raised from events such as weddings goes directly to the Church of England and not to the parish church.

The only money that comes to the church is from the Sunday collection plate, Gift Aid, standing orders and donations from generous benefactors and a small grant from Hambledon Parish Council.

In asking for people to consider making financial pledges, Andy said: “If we want to recruit a vicar, we must find £120,000 a year which is significantly more than our current income. The Diocese will only appoint a new minister if we can demonstrate that we can afford it now and for the next five years.”

Continue reading →

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Julie Flenley Takes Up Post As Hambledon Parish Council Clerk

Julie Flenley, the newly-appointed clerk to Hambledon Parish Council, has attended her first meeting, having taken up her appointment on January 1.

She replaces Caroline White, who resigned after serving as clerk for a year following the retirement of her long-standing predecessor, Jane Woolley.

Julie brings a wealth of experience in the public sector to the job and said she was looking forward to working with the seven elected Hambledon parish councillors and for the benefit of the village.

Julie was born and raised in County Londonderry, in the north west of Northern Ireland. After school and college at Limavady she left Derry to study business at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, where she obtained a degree in travel and tourism management.

She then moved to Manchester where she worked for what was then the Countryside Agency (now Natural England), the statutory body with responsibility for the rural environment.

She went on to join English Heritage, a non-departmental government body responsible for the protection and management of more than 400 historic monuments, buildings and places.

Julie’s work included assessing grant applications and she had a particular involvement in managing funding in relation to secular historic buildings and places of worship. Her duties required her to make financial needs assessments and also brought her into regular contact with local authority planning departments. This experience should stand her in good stead as she takes up her role as clerk to Hambledon Parish Council.

Julie said: “I think my background makes me suited to the job of clerk and I am looking forward to it very much”.

During her time in Manchester she met and married her husband Richard, who works in the legal profession. A move in his job resulted in them relocating to the south of England, with Julie taking a career break. They have lived on the outskirts of Chiddingfold for seven years. They have three sons, Joshua, William and Oliver, aged 12, eight and six who are, or were, educated at St Mary’s Primary School in Chiddingfold.

Julie and Richard are regular distance runners and frequently compete in local and national events. Julie said: “It would be wrong to call me an avid runner as I think I am a reluctant runner. But I am competitive and determined.

Last year she was part of a team of “mums from St Mary’s” who competed in the Three Peaks Challenge, which involved climbing the three highest peaks in England Wales and Scotland. Between them they raised funds for the school and a mental health charity.

“This year I will be taking part in eight half marathons and my husband will be undertaking two back-to-back full marathons.”

Her passion over many years has been horses and horse-riding. “My horse died last year so I am currently between horses, but it is something I love and will return to.”

Julie was welcomed to her first meeting as clerk on Wednesday (Jan 9th) at Hambledon Village Hall by chairman John Anderson and his councillor colleagues. Already very active in village and church life in Chiddingfold, Julie will now be closely associated with life an Hambledon as well.

  • The clerk is a salaried position, councillors are unpaid. Julie’s contact details, and those of councillors, can be found on the village website under “Organisations” and “Hambledon Parish Council”, and in the Parish Magazine on the “Useful Information and Telephone Numbers” page.

 

 

 

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VILLAGE HALL QUIZ – A GREAT NIGHT OUT

(Please also see news item below this, posted by Hambledon Village Hall Committee)

A packed Village Hall saw residents and friends pit their brains against each other as 14 tables, comprising 84 participants took part in a fund-raising quiz on Saturday (November 17th).

Thanks go to the Village Hall Committee and its team of volunteers who organised the evening, staffed a well-stocked bar, cooked and served home-made cottage pie and rounded-up an impressive selection of donated prizes for a raffle.

What was particularly rewarding was the cross section of villagers, old, young and everything in between, who took part and made the evening a great success. They included people from all aspects of life in Hambledon; the shop and its volunteers, Merry Harriers pub regulars, its Bridge team, the church, the cricket and football teams and, of course the Village Hall itself.

The questions were well set and divided into 10 themed rounds. The winning team,” Here, There and Everywhere”, comprised Christine and Ron Baker, Duncan Watson, Charlotte Gray, Mary Burrows and Stewart Payne.

However, it was a close-run contest and several teams just missed out on the top spot, having answered a few more questions correctly but not used their “multiplier” as effectively.

All profits from the evening go towards the upkeep of the Village Hall, which has recently been undergoing an extensive refurbishment with new chairs and curtains.