The Bulletin
Get your copy of the latest Bulletin, click here.

Updates from West Berkshire Council
As you will know, the government requires the abolition of district councils and their re-organisation into larger councils. The proposal for West Berkshire Council is laid out here. Also, the new Local Plan Review Adoption Statement is viewable here and the Sustainability Appraisal / Strategic Environmental Assessment relating to the Local Plan is here.

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

During the summer break, Chris Sears has been taking a closer look at how St Michael’s church was altered during the restoration, at the end of the 19th Century, and what influenced those changes? Come and join us at St Michael's church on the 4th September at 7pm to find out more. Make a note. We might even be able to show you a little of what’s under the church!

Using an endoscope, we peer through a small hole, into the space under the church. The right-hand image shows an end wall, to the right, supporting the vaulted ceiling - top left.

Later in the season, we’ll be taking a look at the Butler family and their role in Inkpen’s past.

And we’ll be telling you more about the finds from our dig site near the crossroads above the church.



We’re looking for evidence of buildings associated with Inkpen’s 13th century manor house. Maybe there was a gate house. So far, most of the finds look much more recent but slowly, bit by bit, we’re getting an impression of the people and activities that used the site.

The dig is expected to last over the summer and autumn months. It’s not too late to join the group, just email us at ihjarchaeology@gmail.com. Follow us at history.inkpenvillage.co.uk. Alternatively, if you would like to help us with our work on the Crusades, and specifically, Inkpen’s role in them, please do get in touch at enquiries@inkpenhistory.uk.

Archaeology is fun. And it’s worth remembering that every area of Inkpen that was scanned by archaeologists back in 2022/2023 showed buried archaeology.

YOUR POP-IN CAFE

This month we’ve made a £100 donation to Chain on your behalf. Chain is a Hungerford based charity that can help you get to your appointments; Doctors, Dentists, Chiropodists, Hospital and more. The CHAIN Office is open Monday Tuesday Thursday and Friday, from 9 to 11am, and office volunteers are there to help you with any bookings or other queries. The phone number is 01488 683727. There’s an answerphone when the office is closed. The Chain drivers collect you from your home and take you to the appropriate clinic, stay with you and then take you back home afterwards. How brilliant is that!

Please help us, the Pop-In Café, to make a difference. Come visit us, make a donation if you want. Otherwise, just come for a cuppa, some cake. You’ll find plenty of others happy to have a chat. That’s what community is all about. We’re at the Inkpen playing field pavilion on the first and third Thursdays of each month and open between 10 and 12:30. The September dates are 3rd and 17th and in October we open on the 1st and 15th. Please support us at the Pop-In Café so that we can continue to support you.

The Café is a great place to meet, greet and make friends. There’s plenty of car parking space available, and there’s a disabled toilet and all of the usual facilities.

You can help us too. If you know of someone near to you that might appreciate a bit of company, a friendly chat over a cuppa, then bring them to the Pop-In Café. Apart from the obvious need to choose between tea, coffee, cake etc., there are no demands. We all need to socialise, it’s what keeps us functioning.

If you’re a carer or someone being cared for, you are just as welcome. Stay as long as you like. We look forward to seeing you.

INKPEN AND DISTRICT STARGAZERS

We had a really good turnout for the eclipse on the 12th August. At maximum the light faded to a golden glow and a noticeable cooling accompanied it. Apart from telescopes we had a pinhole camera and several people brought colanders. A great time was had by all.

It may seem like a bit soon to say it, but the evenings have started to pull in again. That means we can re-start our night time observing. In October we will begin the next year of our stargazers group, so it will probably start raining again and the clouds will cover the sky – but we just might get a chance to see some of the amazingly colourful spectacles in deep space. If you fancy a look into deep space, why don’t you come and join us. Our website is http://stargazers.inkpenvillage.co.uk/ and we’ll be posting the dates of our meetings on it, starting with the second Wednesday of October, the 14th, at 7:30 at the Inkpen pavilion.

We have already restarted our sky quality measurements. These are fed into an international database which tracks pollution, including light pollution. It is just one way in which our little group can make a real difference, helping with the measurement of, and tracking of, climate change. In the autumn we’ll be installing a static light quality meter in Inkpen. If you can help with the building of a concrete base, please get in touch.

Perhaps it’s now obvious to everyone that our climate is changing - want to come and help us? Email us at climate.inkpen@outlook.com or just come along to our next meeting in October (14th). Remember, keep an eye on our website for the dates of all meetings!

Come and join our group.  It's just £20 for a year, or £3 per meeting. Join us and help make a difference.

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 the autumn, 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.

THE NORTH WESSEX DOWNS
To see the latest news and events, click here.  Gill Haggarty, Chair of our Council of Partners, took Ben Prater from BBC Radio Wiltshire on a tour to help raise awareness of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, and encourage more people to visit. This week features a light hearted introduction to Wilton Windmill with volunteer John Herbert - listen in at around 8.50, or catch previous episodes talking to farmer Josef Bowles near Chiseldon from March 9th at around 8.20.

Over the Christmas break, the Inkpen History Society put together a set of descriptions of the historic environment for each, and hopefully every, parish within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. These are temporarily held at nwd.inkpenvillage.co.uk. Please have a look and if you find any errors, notify us at climate.inkpenvillage.co.uk. Your help in getting these historic environment descriptions right in every detail, is important and much appreciated.

Work continues to relate each parish to all the others, in terms of terrain and historic highlights etc. so that we can clearly see how the landscape influenced the different historic eras. This work will also be added to this website.

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.