The area board meeting was held at St Michael’s C of E Primary School in Aldbourne. There was an interesting debate about speeding through the villages and the area board agreed to support the parish forum to investigate ways of addressing this issue. If you would like to see the full minutes of the meeting, please click here.

The condition of Wiltshire’s roads matter a great deal to local residents and the council encourages you to contact us to report potholes and other road and highways problems using CLARENCE.

From a Wiltshire landline number, call 0800 232323.

From all other numbers, including mobiles, call 01225 777234.

The Warm Front scheme provides heating and insulation improvements to households on certain income-related benefits living in properties that are poorly insulated and/or do not have a working central heating system.

Qualifying households can get improvements worth up to £3,500 (£6,000 where oil central heating and other alternative technologies are recommended).

For more information householders can apply to Warm Front by Freephone 0800 316 2814 or www.warmfront.co.uk.

If you and your family are going on holiday in Europe, this matters to you.

If you’ve ever been on holiday in Europe, you may have had an E111 form to entitle you to free or reduced-cost health care, if you get ill or have an accident. The E111 form was replaced with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) in 2005. You can apply :

by completing the online form (your card will be delivered in seven days),
by calling 0845 606 2030
by completing a form in the post office

Every family member needs their own card. You can apply for an EHIC for your spouse/partner and any children up to the age of 16 (or 19 if they are in full-time education) at the same time as applying for your own. Before you apply, you need to have the name, date of birth and NHS or national insurance (NI) number of everyone you are applying for.

The EHIC lasts for 3-5 years and allows UK nationals, resident in the UK, to receive free or reduced-cost emergency healthcare when visiting European Economic Area (EEA) countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The Department of Health website explains where the EHIC is valid. The treatment will be free or at a reduced cost, but private treatment is not usually covered.

If you do have to pay, it is a good idea to claim for a refund from the relevant authority in the country where you have been staying. Should you need to make a claim once you return to the UK call the Overseas Healthcare Team (Newcastle), 0191 218 1999 (Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm).

If you’re going to a European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland, it’s also important to make sure you have private health insurance. This is because the EHIC may not cover all the costs of your treatment, and never covers the cost of getting you home (repatriation) if you are seriously ill.

For more information on the EHIC see the Department of Health’s advice for travellers or call the EHIC Enquiries Line on 0845 605 0707.

Weblink: http://www.ehic.org.uk

Before you fall over …

It’s only 1 mile between The Inn with the Well and Bytham Farm (Ogbourne St George). So, if we can get 100 people to walk from The Inn with the Well to Bytham farm - we will have achieved 100 miles!

Seemples!

With a barbecue at the end we hope that this will be an event that attracts everyone in the village, we’re hoping to hold this towards the end of September. (Date to be confirmed - watch this space)

Contact Colin Stribling or Nicky Irwin - 07973 210048

Please help us repeat the success of the Barbury International cakes stall (£1170 raised over 4 days)

We have another event on 13th and 14th August. We need cakes - whole cakes, tray bakes, cup cakes, savoury snacks and people to man the stall.

As with Barbury International, stall proceeds will be split between the churches on a pro rata basis.

All offers of help will be hugely appreciated:
St George - Nicky Irwin 07973 210048
St Andrew - Sue McNally Mills 01672 841361

Go on, call now!

We had a special stand at the Barbury International Horse Trials (8th - 10th July 2011).

We raised £1170 selling cake!

Without both the volunteers who manned the stall, and all those who put on their aprons and picked up a wooden spoons to make cakes and snacks to sell, we could not have managed this.

Special thanks go to the emergency bakers who provided a second massive batch of cakes on Friday/Saturday and to the Mother’s Union for sending their cakes to us on Saturday afternoon. The proceeds will be split between the churches on a pro-rata basis, reflecting the volume of home baking and the number of hours spent on the stall.

Around 70 people gathered with their picnics to enjoy White Horse Opera’s wonderful rendition of The Pirates of Penzance on 3rd July 2011 in Draycot Foliet.

As the heat of the day escaped with the light, the warmth of White Horse Opera’s rendition of this Gilbert and Sullivan favourite helped the audience forget the slight chill that had crept into the air. Our thanks to White Horse Opera and all their support team for making this a magnificent evening.

A huge thank you for all those who helped to make the 2011 Ogbourne St George Fete a fantastic day. Both to helpers and visitors and of course to Andrew and Tracey Tuckey for the use of their garden once again.

As reported in the Gazette and Herald (page 25 - Marlborough edition), the magnificent weather helped to attract over 340 visitors to the Gardens of the Manor House, where a wide selection of traditional stalls, summer lunches and a dog show raised just over £2,400 (once all the receipts were counted).

We have received a number of very useful comments and will take these on board for next year.

Why not grab your chance now to help make next year’s Fete bigger and better? Contact Nicky Irwin - 07973 210 048

With the school holidays upon us, it is time for children to get out and about, and sample the delights of sun and fresh air, away from their computer games. Parents! Why not steer them to the nearest golf club, where a whole new sporting adventure awaits?

Many Wiltshire Golf Clubs are now GolfMark accredited – meaning they are Junior friendly and have rigorous child protection policies in place. Most offer a mixture of free, subsidised and group coaching conducted by experienced PGA Professionals – and a Junior Organiser arranges regular events through the holidays.

Many boys & girls now receive basic golf coaching at school. The Summer Holiday period is the perfect time to put that work into practice – and in an environment in which they will make quality lifetime friends while getting much needed fresh air and exercise.

For the more competitive, most clubs also arrange their Junior Open during this holiday – when many boys & girls from around the county converge on a single club for a golfing bonanza. The following selection may be useful:

Thur 28 Jul - Marlborough
Wed 3 Aug – Broome Manor
Mon 8 Aug – West Wilts
Wed 17 Aug - Chippenham
Thur 18 Aug – Manor House
Fri 19 Aug – Kingsdown
Sat 20 Aug – The Wiltshire
Thur 25 Aug - Bowood
Thur 27 Oct – North Wilts.

The price for most of these is £5 – 10, including food. The EGU Golf Central or Wiltshire Golf Partnership websites will guide you to much more information on these, as well as Entry Forms. Also, if you are away on holiday in England, the EGU Golf Central website will help you discover what is going on near your holiday destination.

With luck, you may find you have a budding Rory McIlroy on your hands. You will also be helping to keep Wiltshire at the top of the English golf tree. You might also like to try the game yourself – golf is a great family game offering real quality time together, and one of the few that you can enjoy as a player when age or injury rule out other sports. Further help on any of these matters is available from Wiltshire Golf Partnership’s Development Officer, Joe Goulding, on 07789 813268 and 01249 248983 and at wiltscdo@live.co.uk

Our Ogbourne Downs Golf Club also has junior membership and trial lessons. Contact Keith Burke or Mike Cowan. Tel: 01672 841327