“Whether we who have heard the tragic news of the untimely death of Jack Bland have a Christian faith, a faith in this life but not in anything further, or are among those who are unsure about any of this; we nevertheless share in common the real and overwhelming sense of loss at the death of a loved one. Many people in Odiham will have their own experiences of Jack’s life and death, with different memories and different feelings of love, grief and respect, and yes perhaps even anger that the life of one so young has been tragically taken, in such devastating circumstances. The sudden and tragic death of Jack has stunned and shocked our local community. Of course there are none more devastated than Jack’s closest family, Lorraine, Tim and Josh. The abrupt departure of Jack has created a deep void in the lives of these his closest relatives. Those who mourn need our support and consolation, and I am proud to say that the people of Odiham have shown their support of Jack’s family in such a positive way. Our community has really pulled together to provide the care, comfort and practical support a family needs in circumstances such as these. Whilst my heart breaks for Jack’s family at this shocking event, it also fills with pride at what a wonderful community Odiham is, and I feel blessed to be serving in this place as Vicar.

Whilst I do not wish to presume that everyone will be able to contribute, after all we are in difficult financial times; I think it would be good if we as a community could perhaps show our support of the family by having a collection in memory of Jack. Of course we don’t want to cause the family any embarrassment, and I think discretion in this matter is vital.

If you would like to make a donation, however big or small, could I suggest that you pop it in an envelope either with or without a card and post it through the Vicarage Letter-Box?

Thank you for being such a caring community, and thank you in anticipation of your continued kind support of Lorraine, Tim and Josh; I know they appreciate everything that everyone is doing for them.

With Every Blessing,

Gary MW Keith

The Reverend Gary M. W. Keith RN (Rtd.)

Community groups in Odiham are set to benefit from The Southern Co-operative Community Support Card scheme which is now being launched at The Co-operative Odiham.

The scheme works by The Southern Co-operative donating money to a fund every time customers have their special green community cards swiped when they shop.

The bid application period for the scheme is currently underway and is due to end on 12 August. Application forms are available in store for local organisations that wish to be considered as the beneficiaries.

The target to be raised over the coming year for the chosen group(s) in Odiham is £10,000, and a maximum of two organisations will be selected by a panel of local people - with the percentage split decided at the time.

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.

Do you have a camera and enjoy taking pictures?

Do you often take pictures of Odiham, the people, the places, the events?

You may have noticed the flickr badge at the top of the page showing pictures of Odiham - would you like to add your photographs to it and have them seen on the Community Website?

If you're enthusiastic about taking photographs no matter what camera you have or what level of skill you're at flickr is an addictive way of sharing your photographs with the world.

If you want to join the Odiham flickr group...

1. Sign up for a flickr account (it's all free for a basic account, no one tries to sell you anything and you only have to upgrade if you really want to)

2. Join the Odiham Group

3. Show us your pictures of Odiham.

If enough people join there's lots of scope for getting together and taking photographs as a group, sharing techniques and tips and creating a social group for photography enthusiasts in the village.

If you have any questions about flickr or the use of your pictures on the Odiham Community Website please feel free to drop me an email at cathy@postalgifts.com

Most people when they reach a "big birthday" and are
due to become grandparents for the first time, celebrate with a party-not us.

We have just learnt that we have been selected to join the Band of Brothers Bike Ride to Paris in May.

This is to raise money for Help the Heroes, a charity
that raises money for our wounded servicemen/women

The ride has been timed to link with the anniversary of the allies liberation of France in 1945. It will begin in Cherbourg and take in the Normandy invasion beaches to Pegasus Bridge then SW to Villers Bocage then to Falais ending in Paris, a challenging 50-70 miles a day! The ride will end along the Champs Elysse laying a wreath at The Arc de Triomphe,
followed by a ceremony on our return to London at the Cenotaph.

We are both passionate about the need to support our servicemen/women and the pain we may feel is nothing compared to the sacrifices they continue to make.

We realise that this is a tough time as the credit crunch is biting hard.

We need to raise £4000 between us and £1000 by March 1st. If you feel you could sponsor us please visit www.justgiving/gillreeve or call me on 01252 850788. We sincerely hope that Odiham being home of the RAF
can dig deep and help us to help them.

Thank you Gill and Geoff Reeve

The Odiham & Greywell Cricket Club is open to Members from Monday to Saturday 4pm to 8pm and Sundays 12pm to 6pm although the club stays open later during the Cricket Season which starts in April.

We can also cater for special occasions such as Birthday Parties, Anniversaries, Engagement Parties etc.

For a Membership or Hire of Pitch/Clubhouse Forms please drop in between these times.

I hear that the Stop The Odiham Parking Scheme petition was presented to the Parish Council at their meeting on Monday.

Incredibly, over 800 people have signed this petition in a very short time. This number includes over 70% of residents living in the central zone who will be hit by taxes and restrictions, over 300 retail and business owners, staff and customers, and 300 living just outside the zone but fear being overwhelmed with more people trying to park outside their houses.

With this level of response, I can't see any reason the Parish Council can possibly have for continuing with this scheme rejected by the community - unless their real plan is simply to raise more revenue through taxes using permits, fines and parking charges!

Personally, I congratulate John Fletcher, Gordon Wrenn and Brian Fleming for their hard work on STOPS - and hope that it stops the PC wasting more of people's time and public money on this. There are real solutions out there!

A DTI SBS agency report was recently published in October confirming that the parish of Odiham has almost twice as many businesses per resident as the national average - and one of the strongest results outside central London.

There are over 200 businesses in Odiham parish generating over 2,000 jobs. If we add in RAF Odiham (never mind the schools, hospital etc etc), there are many more adults employed in Odiham than actually live here. We are certainly not a 'dormitory village!'

Less than a quarter of the businesses are made up of retail and hospitality companies. We also have oil & gas companies, pharmaceutical and logistics companies, property & financial companies, agricultural amd engineering companies, etc. But the largest grouping is in sales & marketing and technology - strong and growing sectors.

Local businesses have always been an integral part of the parish community - however far back in history you can go - and it is important for all of us that this balance is maintained.

The draft Village Design Statement will be in the library for you to see and comment on during December.

The aim of the VDS is for people who live here to provide a guide to the features of local building design that they most value. The guidance is designed to help householders, builders, architects, property developers, Hart planning officers and others involved in new building work and alterations to appreciate what makes the parish attractive and special.

The project is co-ordinated by a core group of volunteers from the local community (led by Hugh Sheppard) - so this consultation is very different from recent local council ones because your views are important and will be taken account of.

More details shortly.