Many thanks to all who helped to make the day the success it was.

Stewards, Gerry Kimber, Phil Turner and James Jessop.
Traffic Management, Paul Turrell.
The shops and restaurants.
The residents.

And in particular the Cadets from Odiham DF, 2412 Squadron who joined us today to learn about traffic management and engaging with the public.
You did a fantastic job and we look forward to working with you again on other aspects of event management. NB. These young people are Odiham residents which makes this exercise most poignant.

Thank you all.

During the Saturday of the Odiham Fire Show, the 7th August, an electric scooter, often called a "go-ped", was taken from a trade stand. Whilst a similar shape to a child's scooter, this example has a small electric motor to propel the rider along, and a bicycle style saddle. The missing scooter is mainly yellow with some flame decals front and rear. The motor requires charging via a separate charger, which was not taken with the scooter, so the vehicle may well be useless and end up being abandoned somewhere. I would be grateful for any information that would help me to locate the vehicle and restore it to it's rightful owner. Iain TUNSTELL Odiham Beat Special Constable If you know anything then please email the Odiham Neighbourhood Watch - click here to send a message.

Britain’s rural villages are at risk of dying unless radical action is taken to secure their future, according to the “Rural Challenge” report published today.

A newly formed Rural Coalition, made up of leading organisations which represent rural interests, is calling on the Government to deliver on its Big Society vision by radically empowering local people to shape the rural places in which they live. The group is warning that without this action, rural services face meltdown as spending is cut, housing will out-price all but the wealthiest and rural wages will continue to lag as much as 20 percent behind urban averages.

The Rural Challenge outlines detailed proposals to give local people, entrepreneurs, community groups and councils the ability to bring about positive change that will ensure a thriving future for the countryside. The report is being billed as a blueprint for delivering the Big Society in the small places which are at huge risk unless action is taken now.

The Rural Challenge report sets out detailed propositions for taking on five key challenges facing the countryside – meeting rural housing need, building thriving economies, delivering good rural services, creating flourishing market towns and empowering local communities. The Rural Coalition, chaired by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, believes this can be achieved by letting communities seize the initiative.

Key recommendations of the report include:

* Urging the Government to give greater independence to local residents and councils to ensure that rural communities can continue to live and work, and therefore be the foundation of a beautiful and living countryside with a secure long-term economic future.

* Scrapping plans for referendums in the Government’s Community Right to Build scheme which would require 90 percent community support before new, small-scale development can go ahead in villages. The Coalition says the requirement could wreck the aim of the Government’s proposals and create long-lasting conflict within communities which brings local development to a halt. Instead, elected parish councils empowered by a community-led plan, should be able to initiate small community-led developments, within a reinvigorated and localised planning system designed to meet local needs in-keeping with the area.

* That town hall planners, local councils and communities should be free to come up with innovative solutions to the rural affordable housing crisis. By reforming the Housing Revenue Account and allowing councils to keep money from selling council homes, local authorities will be freed to help address the urgent need for new housing for young families and low-income households in rural areas.

* A call for the Government to take proper account of the impact of public sector funding cuts on rural areas before finalising the Comprehensive Spending Review in October. By allowing communities to share some of the savings the Government makes to public spending on services, communities would be empowered to develop innovative local alternatives through community provision - including community ownership of shops, Post Offices, pubs, broadband hubs, sustainable energy and local community transport.

* Pressing for a radical transformation of planning practice to give communities the lead in planning for thriving and sustainable new neighbourhoods when market towns need to grow. Too often market towns in urban areas have been ringed with endless suburban style housing estates and business parks, without any sense of rural identity.

The Coalition is made up of, and supported by, an unprecedented range of bodies from the private, public and charity sector including the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).

CLA Vice-President Henry Robinson said: “The needs of rural communities for better jobs, housing, transport, services and leisure are similar to those in urban areas. Yet many in the countryside feel they are not receiving the benefits of national economic growth, and that Government does not fully understand the relationship between rural businesses, rural life and the environment.

“The countryside is a mosaic of activities, each with a contribution to make to the whole. New businesses must be encouraged into the countryside to provide new sources of income and employment. Management of the countryside, the health of rural communities and provision of services are also part of the same picture and all depend on one another.

“Some rural communities have become unsustainable because of a negative approach to development. The planning system has been used as a brake on appropriate and much-needed development in the countryside in the misplaced belief that this supports communities and the environment. The system must be approached in a new way, as a positive, proportionate and flexible instrument to promote the long term sustainability of businesses, communities and environment that surrounds them.”

Chairman Matthew Taylor, who authored the Taylor Review of affordable housing and rural economies in 2008, said:

“On its current course, with no change in policy and no commitment to action, much of the countryside is becoming part dormitory, part theme park and part retirement home.

“We need a fundamental change of approach at both national and local levels to give rural communities a more sustainable future. The rural coalition believes the Government's commitment to localism and the Big Society opens the door to those reforms - but as yet there is a very real risk that in practice cuts will fall heaviest in rural communities which may lose services altogether, and opportunities will be missed to make rural communities prosper.

“For 50 years or more, policy has undervalued the countryside and failed to meet the needs of rural communities. The result is starkly apparent: rural communities have become increasingly less sustainable and less self-sufficient. Today we publish a blueprint for the Big Society in small places - if the Government is serious about localism, it should rise to the challenge."

(A copy of the report ‘The Rural Challenge: achieving sustainable rural
communities for the 21st century’ can be found here

Responses

Thank you for the opportunity Steve.

Rural communities must take more ownership for their destiny which means working together and formulating visions by being strongly cohesive with all groups. The Farmers, Parish Councils, Parish Churches, Womens Institutes, Pubs, Young Farmers' Clubs, Preservation Societies all play a huge part in the structure of the yearly calendar.

The County of Hampshire is a excellent example of people working together, for 10 years we have enjoyed the benefits of Farmers' Markets, Hampshire Fare and stimulated communities putting on their own events and the wonderful annual fetes which act as a proactive bond endorsing what living in the countryside is all about.

The calendar of the countryside is set in stone and let's make it very clear that anyone moving out of the city for a quiet life is in for a nasty shock ! Herein lie some of the problems, sustainability relies on simple factors like shopping locally not online, joining in with community happenings, realising that there might be straw on the road or combines working late into the night and accepting that this is part the rural calendar which will never change, some years are good, some bad, some early, some late, but all part of the rich pattern of rural life.

To be sustainable we must have a clear vision based on our rural calendar, work together, join in and communicate, and above all use our local resources.

We are most fortunate to live in a proactive and forward thinking County but always keep in mind the rural calendar which will never go away.

Work together and support what you have as much as you can.

Peter Fountain
Odiham Town Manager
Supporter of Sustainable Rural Life.

Sent to Stephen Lloyd,Fleet Online - stephen.lloyd@fleet-online.co.uk 18/08/10 in response to the above Press Release

Hello Stephen, good to hear from you.

Here in the south east of England, rural businesses are apprehensive about the effects of the demise of the Regional Development Agencies. SEEDA has been a useful foil to the negative attitude to business espoused by local authorities, in an area where wealth creation is considered by many to be something best done elsewhere, and the countryside an aspirational location for living and bringing up children.

Rural businesses enhance the daytime population, which, in turn, support the local services which are so treasured. However for many rural residents, any evidence of business activity is unwelcome, and this is reflected in democratic representation and policies.

Rural businesses are at the forefront of local food production, and will be playing a major part in the energy and waste recycling sectors. The message to local politicians is clear: you can chase these businesses away, but they might end up further away than you think (i.e. outside the UK). In the end economics will prevail over politics, and it will be interesting to see whether the putative Local Enterprise Partnerships will take off. Right now they probably represent our best chance of maintaining a vibrant rural economy.

Robert Benford

Update

On August 19 I attended the launch of a bid fronted by Basingstoke & Dene and Rushmoor to pitch for Local Enterprise Partnership status for an area billed as 'North Hampshire and M3 corridor'. The bids have to be submitted to HMG by September 9. They are competing with a bid from HCC for the whole of Hampshire to become an LEP. I am firmly of the view that the more local LEP would be better, but am concerned that so far there appears to be no vision for how this LEP might function, and worse, that there is no plan for either including the rural communities or excluding them. This is history repeated for those of us who wasted years talking about sub-regions. Much of the funding for rural businesses and communities starts life in the RDPE, which, up to now, has been administered by SEEDA, so this does matter.

Robert Benford

Please comment, this is important to communities like Odiham and we want to know what you think. (if you aren't already registered with the Odiham Community Website just register for an account and you'll be able to comment on any of the posts) To register go to create an account on the home page or just click here.

Dear All

In June of this year, Thames Valley Police raided a second hand shop reasonable close to the Hampshire border, and recovered a large amount of property, believed to be stolen. Some of the second hand items include garden equipment such as lawn mowers, strimmers, hedgecutters and tools. A number of victims of non-dwelling burglaries and thefts from vehicles found their stolen items listed on eBay being sold by the shop.

The attached document lists items still to be identified, which has been edited to remove some identifying marks. Although there are approx 500 items, it is worth scanning through to see if you think any of the items could be identified by you. Apologies for the quality of the description of some of the entries - it's not my work, and has purely been copied from the list provided!

The Thames Valley officer dealing with this matter will be holding an 'open day' in due course, for victims of crime to look at the property to see if they can identify it. In the meantime, please contact me in the first instance, and I will advise if there is any more information against the item in question, to positively match it against any reported stolen property. Before items are returned, we will need supporting documentation to confirm ownership. For example, I have kept IMEI numbers of mobile phones on the list, which can then be checked against any remaining paperwork a victim may have.

Please e-mail me your contact details, and full details of your stolen items (including the police reference number when you made your report, if available). I will then contact you if we believe there may be a chance the item is yours, with further information about what to do next.

Please feel free to forward to anyone who you know has been a victim of crime where such items have been stolen.

Andy

PC Andy Reid

andrew.reid@hampshire.pnn.police.uk

Look out for two Spitfires and two Hurricanes between 1200 and 1340 as they pass over RAF Odiham as part of their tour of the British Isles to commemorate the Battle of Britain 70 years ago. They complete their tour at RAF Northolt. Please stand awhile and remember those that piloted them in combat on our behalf, should you be fortunate enough to see and hear them.

Odiham High street will sound and smell nice this Bank Holiday Monday when we welcome Hampshire Farmers' Market to join with us at the annual Food Festival. Live music will accompany the day.
The event commences at 1000 and closes at 1400 with plenty of parking, just follow the signs.
Come and join us in this historic High street for a relaxing few hours.

Any queries, please call me on 01256 702128 / 07973 933832 or email me,
PtrFount@aol.com

It has come to the attention of Hampshire Trading Standards Service that a security company are currently telephoning residents offering to come out and survey properties for security purposes, i.e. burglar and smoke alarms.

It has been suggested that this company use high pressure sales and may offer the equipment for £1 but only if customers sign up to a costly monitoring agreement.

Please be on your guard about these types of cold callers either over the telephone or on your doorstep. If you have already arranged for a visit by a salesman and/or require any assistance concerning this or similar cold calling matters please do not hesitate to contact our Quick Response Team on 01962 833666

Hampshire Trading Standards Service operates an approved trader scheme called Buy With Confidence which includes security companies. Information about this scheme is available online at www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk or by telephoning Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.

English Heritage Open Days
11th and 12th September 2010

Saturday 11th September 2.00 – 5.00 p.m.
The Cross Barn, Palace Gate Farm

Sunday 12th September 2.00 – 5.00 p.m.
All Saints Church in the Bury
the Pest House in the churchyard rooms in The George Hotel

Entry free. Odiham Society members on hand for information. Look out for the blue and pink balloons!

My next book signing will take place at " The Frame" gallery in Odiham, Hampshire on 2nd September 2010 at 5.30 p.m. There will be a new collection of watercolours on view at the gallery as well as cards and originals from my book "How to Paint Colour and Light in Watercolour".

This will take place in the form of a celebration of my becoming an author for the first time so if you would like a copy or have one you would like me to sign please come along to this brilliant new gallery and meet Jan the owner as well as myself.

"The Frame" is a terrific new gallery that boasts original work by Paul Banning RI and many other fantastic artists. My collection there has dwindled over the last few months due to its popularity but some exciting new paintings are about to be on show so please pay a visit if you are in the area.

Jean Haines.

"How to Paint Colour and Light in Watercolour" is available on Amazon.co.uk

N.B the Frame will be closed on August 20th, 21st, 23rd and 26th.