The Bulletin
Get your copy of the latest Bulletin, click
here.
CPRE
The latest
Campaign to Protect Rural England
newsletter is available
here.
The Hungerford and Kintbury Ward news can be found
here.
North Wessex Downs National Landscape
The North Wessex Downs National Landscape management
plan consultation, finished on the 30th of April. Nevertheless,
the management plan is still visible on their website at:
https://www.northwessexdowns.org.uk/our-work/management-plan/management-plan-review-2025/
A lot of this is perhaps a bit dry, but please have a look at
it, and at the policies at the bottom of the webpage. There are
numerous policies that we should perhaps be aware of and know
where to find them in future. They affect planning,
biodiversity, our local history, nature and the environment.
These policies will be signed-off by the government in November
this year, so they are not to do with some marginal pressure
group, they are government agreed and driven targets. They
affect You.
Switching off your Outside Lights
The North Wessex Downs NL ask people to switch off their outside
lights when they’re not absolutely necessary. Wildlife groups
ask the same. Neighbours living next to someone that keep their
outside lights on at night want the lights to go off and the
police tactfully suggest that leaving outside lights on simply
helps burglars. Switching off your outside lights helps the
environment and saves money.
Any suggestions about how to incentivise people to switch off
unnecessary outside lights would be gratefully received. Email
inkpen-climate@outlook.com.
INKPEN HISTORY SOCIETY
The next meeting will be in July on Friday, the 18th at
7:30pm at the Inkpen Pavilion. The topic for the talk is
‘Community through the centuries’, starting with news clips
(court rolls) from the 14th century and following through to the
present day. You might be surprised at how community in Inkpen
has changed.
A week earlier, on Saturday the 12th July we will be holding a
dowsing day.
Our dowsing location and details are posted on the history
website, ‘
history.inkpenvillage.co.uk’.
All are welcome but you will need to bring your boots or wellies
and a smart phone with My GPS Location app (or similar)
installed if you can please.
A building outline has already been mapped out along with the
position of a well. This is your chance to see if you can detect
these ancient foundations. At my last attempt, I mostly found
spent bullet cases though the well is relatively easy to find.
Entry is £5 per couple and the £5 includes a set of our dowsing
rods. This is a very different way to spend your Saturday
afternoon and a rare opportunity to dowse! Come and give it a
go! The history group will also be represented at the Inkpen
Fete, at the Inkpen playing field, on the 5th July. Come and
talk to us there.
HEATWAVES ARE HERE.
Want to keep cool? The Pop-In Café has advanced air conditioning
helping you to keep cool and relaxed. Play a game of chequers,
dominos or simply come for a cuppa and a chat with friends.
Opening times are the
3rd and 17th of July, 10 till 12:30 at
the Inkpen pavilion and the
7th and 21st August.
In addition to our normal range of hot drinks, we are able to
offer a limited range of cool drinks.
The café is for all. It is also dementia friendly, carers or
sufferers, and we will do all that we can to make you feel at
ease and relaxed. If you haven’t already tried the Pop-In café,
then do give it a go. ALL are welcome and it really is a chance
to have a natter, make friends and chill out, whilst enjoying a
slice or two of cake and a cuppa. We very much look forward to
welcoming you.
Inkpen and district Stargazers
The last couple of months have provided us with a great
opportunity to star gaze, and we’ve captured some beautiful
images of extremely distant galaxies and nebula. Having been
able to do this, using our Seestar S50, it’s made us want to do
more and get better and better images. But, to go further, we
need a higher quality telescope.
The Miss Lawrence Trust, which has supported numerous projects
in Inkpen, has given us the means to get those better images by
allowing us to purchase a Vespera Pro. This and the Seestar S50,
will enable us to involve more people in astronomy, including
schools. This is a major step forward for us and we are
immensely grateful to the Miss Lawrence Trust for its support
and sponsorship.
Inkpen is most fortunate for being in one of the UK’s darkest
sky areas, so the opportunity to stargaze is at its best. If you
would like to join us in the adventure of seeing and imaging
those amazing deep sky objects, then please get in touch. Email
us at
inkpen-climate@outlook.com.
On the 5th of July, at the Inkpen fête, we will have a stall
displaying some of our astronomical equipment and images. More
importantly, someone from the Inkpen stargazers will be at the
stall so that you can come and talk to us directly.
Our next group meeting at the Inkpen pavilion/playing field will
be in September and advertised on the group website,
stargazers.inkpenvillage.co.uk.
All
are welcome to attend our meetings. By popular demand, we
are moving from infrequent meetings to regular monthly meetings,
with an annual subscription fee of just £15 a year. We look
forward to welcoming you. Come and get excited!
Going for a walk
If you want a breath of fresh air and some exercise, check out
the Inkpen
walks,
but keep your distance from others, that's at least 6 feet apart
in old money. If you feel that you should wear a face mask when
outdoors, then checkout the design given on the
News page.
On the news page this month there are a number of updates
including from the Inkpen Primary School and pre-school, from
the Playing field trust and Village Hall, and there's this
months Police Report .
Local Climate Group.
We have a newly formed climate group. The website is
http://climate.inkpenvillage.co.uk.
If you have a look, you’ll see that we have collected data on
moths, trees, bird sightings and beetles, as well as data on the
weather. This data enables us to see what changes are taking
place locally and the pace of those changes. If you have any
data, new or historic, on local climate related events or know
of someone with an interest in this, then please get in touch
with us.
We want to bring all local data together in one
place and make sure that it doesn’t get lost. Email us at
inkpen-climate@outlook.com.
In September, we’ll hold a meeting so that all of you that are
concerned about climate change can meet and help us to get
properly organised. Keep an eye on the website. Thank you.
Please give us a hand – Oak Trees in Inkpen
We need
your help to measure oak trees. Measuring tree
girths helps us to evaluate changes that have taken place in
Inkpen and enable future researchers to
evaluate the effect
of climate change on tree growth and distribution. This is
work of real value, be part of it. Go to
inkpenhistory.uk to find out more.