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 we will be holding a dowsing day. Hats not obligatory. The location and details will be posted on the history website, ‘history.inkpenvillage.co.uk’ nearer the time. 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!

Inkpen Pop-In Café - The longest day and mid-summers day.

It’s hard to believe how quickly this year is going. The summer feels like it’s here as does a hose pipe ban. Our gardens need refreshing, and so do we. That’s why the Pop-In café is here on June the 5th and 19th of June, 10 till 12:30 at the Inkpen pavilion. If it’s too hot, we have air conditioning to bring the temperature down to a refreshing level. And if that isn’t enough, you can meet up with friends once more on the 3rd and 17th of July. Same place, same time. It’s always the first and third Thursday of the month.

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 and make friends whilst enjoying a slice or two of cake and a cuppa. We look forward to welcoming you.

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 is on the 20th June at the Inkpen pavilion/playing field. Further details will be displayed 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 £15 a year. We look forward to welcoming you.

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 a few weeks 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.