HVRA Home Page

12th May 2008 The Football Club are having a Family Fun Day on Sunday 1st June.

7th May 2008

 A number of travellers have parked on the Property Spy field at the bottom of Cryer's Hill and Valley Road.  Maybe unrelated, but a break-in has been reported at a local farm.  The police are aware as are Wycombe District Council, who are trying to contact the owner of the land.  It is likely that legal proceedings will take a week to complete, so do not expect an early departure.  In the meantime, please report any suspicious sightings to the police.

I hope you like the new image for our home page. It is a painting sent to me by Jill Graves, who runs the Hughenden Art Group and was painted by Helen Wilson. It makes a change from the photos I keep taking!

There is to be a Parish Annual Meeting on 20th May at Widmer End School, Estcourt Drive, Widmer End at 8pm. All parishoners are welcome to attend, so if you want to know more about what the Parish Council does for you, want to complain or maybe even compliment, then come along.

5th May 2008

It is that time of the year when summer has shown its face and thoughts turn to Village Day. Some preparation will increase the enjoyment on the day, so here are some suggestions from Stuart, Chairman of the Village Day Committee. Costumes sound good - could we get a critical mass of people in costumes to make it look like Merrie England?

Village Day – Saturday 19 Jul 2008 – Are you ready?

What can you be doing now?

1. Put the date in your diary.

2. Save up your Tombola offerings and pass to Road Reps, if you haven’t done so already.

3. Think about your costume on the theme of ‘Merrie England’ should you feel the urge to dress up.

4. Start to get a team together for the ‘It’s a Knockout’ event.

I have put a few new pictures into the Photo Page (see navigation on left) as I have been told that ex-residents of the Valley like to see how it looks these days. If you don't like them, I am prepared to publish any that are of interest from any source, so get clicking!

29th April Sorry for the delay, but the Village Day minutes are now available. See the Village Day link on the navigation bar on the left. Please take time to read these - they show just how much work and organisation goes into this event. So far, just a few people have been involved, but they have been working not only hard, but efficiently (and of how many other organisations can you say that?) As time gets nearer, you will no doubt want to do something ourself to help. Rest easily - there will be opportunities to help and have fun!

9th April We now have an anti-graffiti kit to remove the mindless daubings of idiots with spray cans. Having spent some time addressing the bus stop at the Harrow, I can confirm that the idiots who do this are not even artistic. The bus shelters in this valley are excellent, especially the one opposite the Village Hall. They are beautifully constructed and a visual pleasure and it is a crime when those who are devoid of any talent feel the need to abuse the products of those with talent. Please report anybody defacing the bus shelters, or any other surface, to Paul on 562638. We will then bring prosecutions if we can amd will remove the daubings with our new kit. It is shameful that we have such vandals in our community.

6th April Snow! See the new photos on the photographs page and above.

I have included a link to Special Trees and Woods of the Chilterns as a particularly interesting and well-produced site. Do take time to browse it.

3rd April I was looking at the statistics for this site this morning to see if everybody had been deterred from visiting by the paucity of content and was heartened to see that some 200 people per month visit the site, making an average of one and a half visits each and looking at five or six pages each. In order to be able to give you what you want, it would be useful if you could take a moment to contact me and tell me what you like about the site and what you would like to see on the site. If you don't, then you will get more of these ramblings!

I see that the congestion round the Eden roundabout seems to have lessened (or is that not your experience?). I did notice that the queue into town this morning just before 9am was back to Cryer's Hill. Is this normal?

I see that the first tulips are out - warmer weather is coming in!

The new bus passes have also come out. If you are over 60 then you should get one. The new bus station is right next to the Eden project and if you want to do some shopping in Frogmore, it is easy to catch the bus back from outside any of John Hearn's, Butlers or Morrisons. No need to go back to the same car park. They are valid from 9am to 11pm in Bucks and from 9:30am to 11pm in the rest of England. Valid all day at the weekends. Some National Express routes have been designated as 'local' so you get free travel on those as well. The A40 goes to Heathrow Central Bus Station, which makes getting to the airport free. Please share your experiences with me and I'll set up a separate page for bus freaks. I heard on the radio that there is at least one man planning to go round England on local buses. Contact concessionaryfares@wycombe.gov.uk for details. You have to have a passport photo and fill out a form and it will take some time at the moment as there is a backlog with the new passes.

Paul, our Chairman of the Residents' Association, planted half a sack of daffodils round the Village Hall verges. The daffodils were donated by the Parish Council. Well done Paul now that they are flowering.

If any village organisation needs publicity, please contact me. This is a village website for villagers, so please make use of it.

23rd March 2008 The snow was just starting to fall this Easter Sunday and now it is thicker and settling. This should make Easter look more like Christmas. How will parishoners feel going to church at Easter in the snow when the service is all about renewing life? I hope the service is just as lovley as you expect.

I think that most people must have been to see the Eden project by now. Very impressive it is too! Some confusion over how to get to the car park, but we have some spare signs in the valley that they can recycle in Wycombe. I am a bit bemused by the way that it is now advertised as Eden House of Fraser. Perhaps M&S are not part of Eden; perhaps they have been taken over by House of Fraser? The only downside at the moment is that a lot of shops that were located at the High Street end of town seem to have moved to Eden and left empty shop premises. It is to be hoped that there is enough traffic in wycombe to ensure that new shops can open and prosper in the old town centre and the Chilterns. This will add to the traffic because there is not enough population in Wycombe to support all of these shops.

I am still getting emails from residents about issues in the valley. Keep them coming in so that this site can reflect your views. Some emails from people approving the proliferation of signs would be welcome, if such people exist. At the moment it is all one sided, with residents against the signs.

17th March 2008 I went into the mailbox this morning to find an email commenting on the proliferation of road signs now that there are posts to hang them from. You all know the ones - the new seat belt sign is the latest - the chrome yellow ones being the resident eyesores on their new shiny crash-crumpling posts that blend in so well with the trees and hedges of our valley. Well the good news is that the Parish Council is writing to the appropriate authorities to get them removed as this was raised by at least two councillors at the last Council Meeting. The yellow signs were apparently required for 'legal' reasons. Draw your own conclusions.

15th March 2008 Village Day minutes now posted. See link on the navigation bar to the left.

Stuart gave a presentation to the Village Hall Committee on Monday at which he outlined progress towards Village Day (July 19th). First Prize in the raffle is an afternoon's service of a photographer to take photos of anything or anyone you like. Stuart says that he had this and got some fabulous family photos at various locations. This service is being provided by local professional photographer Jonathan Hilder. This is extremely generous. If you are considering hiring a photographer, then please at least talk to Jonathan. He can be contacted via his web site at Piers Photo Jonathan has agreed to take photos of the day and for us to be able to use the photos as we wish. It will make my DVD of the last Village Day look very amateurish!

26 Sept 2007 While most people are very good at trimming their trees which overhang the pavement, some might not have noticed that the warm weather and wet summer has provided a faster growth than normal. If you have trees that overhang a pavement, please check that there is sufficient room for pedestrians to pass underneath. Seven feet from the ground is what should be aimed for, as they tend to swing lower in the breeze. Many thanks for those who keep theirs in check.

15 Sept 2007 Should you wish to attend the Parish Council Offices, please be aware that they are only open to the public on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday between 9:30am and 1:00pm. The Clerk and her assistant have work to do outside the office, so will only open between these hours. We could have longer opening hours, but then the cost goes up and ratepaykers complain! Needless to say, the offices are closed on Bank Holidays.

3rd August 2007 There is now a Neighbourhood Watch area of the website (see bar on left). If your road does not have a scheme, then it should. See the page for details of how to start setting one up.