horndeanmatters

A New weekly youth drama group is starting at the end of October for young people aged 12 – 14 years who want to explore the fun of drama and theatre.

The group will meet on Friday evenings between 6pm & 7.30pm and will be run by 4 community drama enthusiasts who have years of experience treading the boards at Merchistoun Hall.

The emphasis will be on performance but also a chance to explore and learn about all the areas of theatre during the weekly workshops that help to make a production using its base at Merchistoun Hall as the venue to showcase their first performance

‘This is a real community based group for the community by the community’ – said Brendan Charles – Association Manager and Programme Development Officer. ‘All children are invited to come along – even if this is their first time experiencing drama’.

We are so pleased to have secured four such wonderful, willing and enthusiastic local drama enthusiasts to help run this group. ‘I have known them for a number of years and they are a great bunch!’ – said Brendan

Meetings take place during term times starting at 6pm with the first meeting to meet the team being Friday November 2^nd  In preparation for their production of the comedy The Axe of Albion

The play itself is about King Arthur who is having a bad day! He has lost his crown and the round table and now the Axe of Albion, which protects the Kingdom, is missing.

The Knights set off on a quest to recover the Axe and to restore peace within the Kingdom but can King Arthur trust his Knights?

Will King Arthur be double crossed? Will the Kingdom be doomed? This was chosen by the team as an ideal play to start the group with

As well as the play there are other performance related events where the young people can get involved in other seasonal events at the hall each year – seasons such as Halloween and Christmas for example.

The group are also seeking local and not so local sponsors to help the group flourish. If anyone is interested in supporting this new venture for young people in Horndean then please contact Brendan. Funds secured will help towards purchase of plays, performance licences, props, scenery and promoting the productions and events themselves.

Charges are set in 12 weekly blocks £30.00 – which equates to just £2.50 per week. For anyone interested in finding out more about the group and grabbing a part in the production call Brendan on 023 92587114 or email b.charles106hca@gmail.com

From L – R : The new Youth drama group leaders:  Rosie /Verity / Kelly & Val

Fly Tipping – A miserable and nasty habit from some of the lowest people in our society who think it is ok to dump their (or waste they have been paid to take away) in laybys or even in the middle of the road.

Photo: Pyle Lane Sunday 14th October by a local resident.

Sadly this is the type of criminal activity that is usually the tip of the iceberg of other illegal activities and tax evasion from the same people. Personally I would lock them up when caught and the country would be a much cleaner, safer and respectful place.

With cars having dashcams and everyone carrying at least one device able to take pictures, any information that leads to the prosecution of any fly tipper will be gratefully appreciated – And I will give them £250 from my own pocket.

Sadly in this wet society putting cameras up to catch them is difficult as it invades privacy.

If you have any information that could help with this, or any other fly tip incident the please contact Sonja Reames at EHDC on sonja.reames@easthants.gov.uk as we actively investigate tips and prosecute where possible.

From the local resident: “So sections of the great British public continue to demonstrate utter contempt for everyone else. This was blocking Pyle Lane at 17:00 today. I wonder how they would have felt had they been trying to rush a loved one to hospital!!! Honestly it beggars belief”

PCSO Robert Earl and the team would like to welcome you to the next Police Surgery at Five Heads Road library on Friday 26th October. As always all are welcome!

Age Concern have launched a new scheme locally to help with local services, access to advice at Age Concern and also HCC’s support services – details below.

Karin is also holding a surgery at Merchistoun Hall on the 12th November 10:30 to 12:00 and is looking forward to telling people about the ole and helping out.

The South Down Group have their next meeting on Weds 17th October and all are welcome as always – Details below.

You will probably recall a period about 5 years ago when we received a barrage of planning applications for land across Horndean, Clanfield, Lovedean, Blendworth and surrounding areas. We were able to successfully navigate a way through this and direct our local needs to Land East of Horndean (about which I will post an update shortly).

Well, we are required to update our local plan every 5 years so it is ‘up to date’ which means we can identify where development takes place (inside our Settlement Policy Boundary). if we allow this to lapse, or can not generate sufficient building permissions then developers are allowed to submit applications for land that is not in the local plan provided it is a ‘Sustainable’ development – a topic for another day…

Every year we do a ‘Call for Sites’ which is asking land owners to submit details of land they would be interested to develop, and these are sifted. Sites of special scientific interest, sites in flood plains, sites with harmful visual impact are several other categories are removed. the short list is then filtered and with input from parish councils, neighbourhood plan groups, residents associations and individual commenters are filtered further to get the final list.

You can register on the EHDC Website for updates on the local plan and how to make your own representation.

Please note that The South Downs National Park has its own local plan and this applies to areas outside of the park.

For more info tel:  023 9278 5800