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.