Mountfield

THE VILLAGE VOICE: We have written the Village Voice for over five years now and, for various reasons, would like to hand it over to new custodians. We took it on in 2013 having been upset to learn that we, like several others in and around Mountfield, had missed the news of Reg Langley's passing and funeral. No-one was to blame '” the family always have enough on their plate in these circumstances notifying family and close friends and making all the arrangements. The problem was that there was no Village Voice. We both therefore actively searched for a possible replacement for Ruby who had been our Village Voice since the village reports were introduced over 25 years ago. When that failed, we took it on ourselves, albeit with considerable reluctance given constraints of time, health, family, work and voluntary commitments.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Jul 2018, 06:00 BST

265 columns later — and counting — we would be pleased to talk to anyone who is interested in taking the job on. It doesn’t have to be a single person — we have found it helpful to do it jointly. And there are other ideas such as a joint column with Brightling who have no Village Voice of their own. The world is changing and we have had a lot of new neighbours moving into the village so the Village Voice has an ever greater social role to play, also in conjunction with The Messenger.

We shall be sad to leave the Voice behind. We have made friends. We have particularly enjoyed the sheer goodwill with which our efforts have been met — often from far beyond the parish boundaries. It has always been a particular pleasure to hear from former Mountfield residents or, when we have met them, to hear that they have been following local events through the Village Voice. First though, we need a new Voice. We’d love to hear from anyone interested.

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SOUTHERN WATER NEWS: Peter writes: There is no news really as we are waiting for the Southern Water meeting in September when we hope the funding for the treatment plant will be (re-)authorised. The designs for the the actual plant itself and the construction specs both need to be finalised but the project manager is confident she can have these in place for September. So we just have to wait for now though we have not relaxed the pressure on Southern Water with our MP and the Consumer Council for Water both still active on the case.

THE FLOWER SHOW: The final countdown: Mountfield’s annual Flower Shower takes place on Saturday, 28 July from 2.30pm at Mountfield Village Hall. There will be a raffle and games, along with refreshments of tea and cake! If you wish to enter, please collect a schedule from either Celia Morris or Rachael Craddock.

DALLINGTON FOREST: Peter writes: I promised a brief account of the walk, led by Dallington Tree Warden, Doug Edworthy, in Dallington Forest. We met at the triangle up at the Mount and then made our way in scalding heat into the forest where Doug showed us many wonders. The Forest has some of the most extraordinary ancient trees and hedgerow trees including the POW tree (I am not going to completely spoil the punch line). Doug was also able to show us some of the very worst forestry practice before finally cheering us up again with some of the very best.

A NEW COUNCILLOR: We are delighted to report that Mountfield Parish Council have filled the vacancy left by Peter’s resignation. Sandra Taylor put her name forward and was duly co-opted. Sandra’s ties with the village go back a very long way as one of her forbears — a Wicks — started the bakery business at Riverhall, so she now lives all of twenty yards from her roots — and there have probably been Irelands in Mountfield ever since. We wish Sandra the very best in her new role.

CONTACT: We can always be contacted on 880614 (if no reply, just leave us your details on the answerphone) or via [email protected]. We always welcome contributions and feedback.

Related topics:Southern Water