Deadline for the June 2024 newsletter is 25 May
Preston Village Hall
Many residents will be aware that Preston Nursery School will be closing in July. This means that the Village Hall will be available for bookings every day, including evenings, from September 2024, following the removal of nursery equipment and redecoration.
The Hall can be booked on either a regular basis or for a one-off event by Preston residents or organisations. Organisations and individuals from nearby areas are also welcome to book the Hall. A regular basis could be weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
Hire costs are £7 per hour for Preston residents and organisations and £10 per hour for individuals or organisations from outside the parish. The hire costs include the use of the kitchen.
Anyone who would like to express an interest in a regular booking from September or who requires further information should contact:
Ita Leaver, Secretary to the Village Hall Committee by email: 
Anyone wishing to book the hall up to 31st August should contact Carol Bowden by email: 
Temple Dinsley: Drop In Sessions To View Plans
The Preston community will be able to view the plans for Temple Dinsley (PHC) and talk to the design team at drop in sessions in the village hall on:
Thursday 30 May from 6.00 – 8.00 pm
Saturday 1 June from 10.00 – 12 noon.
Booking is not required.
Preston Parish Council
The Annual Parish Council meeting will be held on Thursday 23 May at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.
The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Thursday 23 May at 8pm in the Village Hall. Annual Reports by the Chairman of the Parish Council and Local Organisations will be given at this meeting.
Anyone who would like to attend these meetings should register with the Clerk.
Clerk to the Parish Council, Lisa Lathane 
Preston Parish Council Survey Into Proposed Community Facilities
Preston Parish Council would like to thank the community for the time taken to consider and respond to the survey to make it an effective record of their views on this proposal. There was a 90.46% return which is rewarding and justifies the time spent.
The survey was conducted to find out how much support there was for new build facilities and how many people supported these on the old tennis court so that we could provide that figure to Russell Prince. Back Lane was added as an additional location. The Parish Council will be considering the outcome of the survey very carefully as it contemplates its next steps.
The Parish Council, which has acted in good faith throughout the lengthy process of considering these proposals, prepared the survey based on the information available to it at that time.
Last Thursday, 18 April, the Parish Council was informed by the Working Group that, following advice from NHDC, it had engaged a planning consultant to look at all possible locations for the proposed facilities and that as a result, it was no longer considering either of the locations in the survey.
The advice from the consultant is to convert the brick built barn at Pond Farm, which is on Charlton Road, to become the shop and coffee house because this is easier to achieve in the Green Belt than new build facilities. Richard Pilkington has agreed to this and the Working Group is now having ongoing discussions with the Pilkington Farm Partnership.
The change of use from an agricultural building to a commercial one is made possible by Class R of the General Permitted Development Order and in this instance the commercial use is a community shop, coffee house and 15 parking spaces. Because the barn is less than 150 square metres, the only requirement is that NHDC is informed of the intended change of use. No prior approval or planning application is required although a full planning application is required for operational development but this cannot be refused. Operational development is the details and design of the conversion. The Working Group has informed NHDC of its intentions.
The Parish Council will consider the outcome of the survey and the latest proposal at its next meeting on Thursday 23 May and will decide whether and how, or not, to support a shop and coffee house in the village, or whether to maintain a neutral stance.
Anyone with any queries or comments about this issue should contact Margaret Trinder at: 
St Martin’s Church and All Saints’ Church Services
| Sunday 5th May
|
9.30am
11.00am
|
St Martin’s Holy Communion
Acts 10:44 – end John 15:9 – 17 All Saints Holy Communion |
| Sunday 12th May
|
8.00am
9.30am
11.00am |
All Saints Holy Communion (BCP)
St Martin’s Holy Communion Acts 1: 15 – 17,21 – end John 17: 6 – 9 All Saints Sunday Praise with Baptism |
| Tuesday 14th May | 9.40am | Informal prayers and quiet time followed by coffee |
| Sunday 19th May
Pentecost |
9.30am
11.00am
12.30pm |
St Martin’s Family Service
All Saints Holy Communion Acts 2: 1 – 21 John 15: 26 – 27, 16:4b – 15 Baptism at St Martin’s |
| Sunday 26th May
Trinity Sunday
|
9.30am
11.00am |
St Martin’s Holy Communion
Romans: 8: 12 – 17 John 3: 1 – 7 All Saints Holy Communion |
| Tuesday 28th May | 9.40am | Informal prayers and quiet time followed by coffee |
Team Vicar of St Paul’s Walden with Preston:
Letter From The Vicar
Dear All,
After Easter this year we went to Malta for the first time. We were impressed by the beauty and the history of the island. It was great to be reminded of St Paul’s influence there, and to see the bay named after him and the church of St Paul’s Shipwreck in Valletta.
Malta was just one of the islands and territories that Paul visited in his journeys spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ powerfully throughout the Mediterranean. These journeys, and the letters he wrote to the Christian communities he formed, are the mainspring behind the growth of Christianity and its eventual spread worldwide.
Each of us, I like to think, is on a journey of some description and sometimes that journey is tough and sometimes it is unimaginably wonderful. I believe that God is with us on every part of this journey – whether in the good times or the bad times, though in the good times we may not feel it necessary (‘Do I need God?’) or in the bad times we may not think it credible (Where is God, then?)
I would like to encourage each of us to trust that God is always with us – powerfully through his Holy Spirit, whose coming we celebrate on Sunday 19 May in the feast of Pentecost. At that service we will again remind ourselves of the Holy Spirit’s purpose when we say Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love.
As ever, you will be most welcome to join us at our services or at any of the activities taking place in the church.
With every blessing,
Stephen
St Martin’s Church 150 Club 2024/2025
The winners in in the 2024/25 150 Club (£30 each) were:
No. 86 Mr P Madden
No. 23 Mrs A Wyse
There are a few unsold tickets and we welcome any more participants – tickets cost £20 for the year, with 25 or more prizes of £30. This is an important source of income for St Martin’s church to help maintain the building and churchyard. If you would like to join please email 
Boundary Walks
THREE WALKS along our Parish Boundary, this Summer, 2024
Further to our request about these Walks in the April Newsletter, several parishioners have signed up for them. This note is to ask if there are a few more who would like to join us. We hope that there are!
Our small and oddly shaped parish across the Chiltern escarpment is good ‘walking country’, with different land use and habitats, and really splendid views.
All 3 Walks will start and finish on The Green and will last for about 2 hours. The 3rd Walk, along our Northern boundary, is longer; we may have a lunchtime break near Wellhead Farm. Accompanied youngsters over 10 years are very welcome. Fit and well-behaved dogs are also welcome.
If you would like to participate, please contact 
before Tuesday, May 21st. Many thanks.
Liz Hunter – The Preston Trust committee member
Police Surgery – Village Hall – Friday 3rd May
A Police Surgery will be held in Preston Village Hall on 3rd May from
10.30 am – 12 noon. PCSO Heather Burrows from our Safer Neighbourhood Team will be happy to meet residents and discuss any concerns.
Preston Village Hall – AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the Village Hall Committee will take place in the hall on Friday 10th May at 10.45am.
Art and Flowers Exhibition at St Martins
The church will look spectacular with floral displays and paintings by local artists.
On Saturday 1st June there will also be a Plant Stall, Teas and home-made cakes.
On Sunday 2nd June you can visit both the church and the wonderful garden at
Brambley Hedge in Chequers Lane (open for the NGS).
On both days there will paintings and plants for sale.
Opening times for the church: 2.00pm – 5.30pm
Tickets £4.00 on the door
Neighbourhood Watch
The number to contact at North Herts Police for all non-emergencies (including witnessing of fly-tipping) is 101 or 01707 354000.
For removal of fly tipping which has already occurred, call NHDC 01462 474000 or online at www.north-herts.gov.uk, then follow the links to Transport and Streets, Street Cleaning and Fly Tipping where there is a form to complete to report the details. If you use the What3Words app, please include the three words for the location of the fly tipping.
PCSO Heather Burrows can be contacted regarding local community issues.
Contact details are as follows:
PCSO Heather Burrows: 07740 745168 or 01438 757604 or heather.burrows@herts.pnn.police.uk
In the event of an emergency or if you witness a crime taking place please call 999.
Reporting suspicious activity
Please report any suspicious activity or vehicles you may witness in the locality.
Call the police on the non-emergency number 101 or report it online by using the website www.herts.police.uk/report and follow the links.
Village Day On Saturday 6 July
Firstly thank you so much for your replies about whether to have a theme for this year’s Scarecrow Trail and suggestions for it. So…This year, the Scarecrow Competition and Trail will have a theme of Disney or Favourite Childhood Fictional Characters. The theme is a suggestion, not compulsory.
As always, David and Jane Clark will be kindly supplying the straw needed.
Please remember you do not have to live within the village to build a scarecrow. Anyone living in the Parish can bring their Scarecrows to one of the Scarecrow Trail Hotels along the route or leave them at Scarecrow Corner.
For all of, you who have your old scarecrows, please feel free to dust them off and use them again. You may also make a scarecrow, but not enter it into the competition if you would prefer not to.
As with last year, we’re asking if you would like to erect your scarecrows on Friday July 5th and not take them down until Sunday evening or even longer should you wish.
More about the day, including some new ideas, will be in following newsletters and on the PNS but we thought you might like to start planning your scarecrows now.
Help will be needed on the day so please, if you can spare an hour or more, we would appreciate you getting in touch with us before we contact you. To let us know your scarecrow’s name or talk about helping, 
– thank you.
We are really looking forward to seeing your creations and you on Village Day.
Liz Hunter and Rae Reynolds – The Preston Trust committee members
Bluebells In Wain Wood
Just by way of a heads up you will see over the next few days that we are putting up some temporary rope barriers in certain areas of Wain Wood. This is in an attempt to persuade visitors to the wood to stick to the footpath/permissive path, particularly around the more heavily trafficked areas such as Bunyan’s Dell.
We have seen a large influx of people for Bluebell season this year and the Bluebell population is really suffering as people roam around the wood and trample them. The signage we erected last month hasn’t really had the desired effect and we hope that, by installing this temporary measure during the growing season, we can protect these areas from further damage and, over time, encourage them to spread again.
Kind regards, Tom
The Living Theatre, Whitwell
The Living Theatre, an Open Air performance space, is a non-profit organisation and arts space which started in 2020. It is highly recommended by some Preston residents.
Details of its location and performance dates can be found on the website: https://www.thelivingtheatrewhitwell.org/
The Preston Trust’s Great Easter Egg Hunt & Trail,
on the afternoon of March 30th
From 2pm until 5pm on Easter Saturday afternoon, the central part of the village was yet again ‘alive’ with ‘eggsplorers’ of all ages taking part in this year’s Easter Egg Hunt. The route of the Hunt started at The Green, then up Chequers Lane as far as the footpath along to Church Meadow, across the Meadow and into St Martin’s church, and then back up Church Lane to The Green. There were numerous ‘stops’ en route, to notice and to find things, games to play and ‘activities’ to complete. All were fun, interesting and intriguing, some quite challenging! Easter eggs and chicks, bunnies and their paw prints were everywhere.
Everyone had an immensely enjoyable afternoon, though not all of the brightly coloured eggs were found! If you happen to come across any in Chrurch Meadow please drop them off in the box, in the porch, at St. Martin’s Place Church Lane.
The winners have all been contacted, including Eva, who won the 2ft Chocolate Bunny. The answers to the Emoji puzzles will be in the June newsletter for those who are still baffled…
Our thanks to everyone who organised the Hunt, those who helped on the afternoon, and to all our participants. We couldn’t have done it without you. THANK YOU!
Preston Trust committee members: Adrian, Jax, Liz, Rae, Vicky and Wal.