Dates to Remember
| Thu 10 Oct | ‘An evening to remember’ – Village Hall – 7.30pm |
| Wed 16 Oct | Preston Village Society – Windrush – 8.00pm |
| Wed 23 Oct | Parish Council – Village Hall 8.00pm |
| Sat 26 Oct | Autumn Litter Pick – The Green – 10.00am to 12 noon |
‘An Evening to Remember?’ Thursday, 10 October, 7.30pm – 9.00pm
Come and join us for a special film show in the Village Hall!
Richard Whitmore recently retired from the voluntary role as Film Archivist for the Hitchin Historical Society; during his tenure, he managed to locate and make copies of several short early films, with sound, of events in Hitchin. These films have been threaded together into two videos/DVDs, lasting in total about one hour. Sam Hallas has now taken over as Film Archivist, and will compere the evening for us.
The events portrayed include c.14 minutes on ‘The Town Pageant and Procession’ for the coronation of King George V in 1911, and c.13 minutes on ‘A century of cinema in Hitchin’. Some of us remember very vividly watching ‘The Hitchin Priory Pageant’ of 1951, a historical extravaganza involving c. 1000 local people, and arranged as part of the Festival of Britain’s national celebrations that year; unfortunately, only 7 minutes of film record that event. ‘How Hitchin got an airfield’ and ‘We make gloves’ by the Kir company from their factory in Burymead Road, are other topics covered.
Suitable refreshments will be served during the interval. To help with seating and catering, please let us know if you will be joining us. Just email prestonvillagetrust@gmail.com, or call 434403, or drop a note into Wal’s at St. Martin’s Place. Many thanks.
We do look forward to seeing you!
Preston Trust committee
St Martin’s Church And All Saints’ Church Services
| October | Service | Sidesman | Reader | |
| 6th | No Service at St Martin’s | |||
| 11.00am | Family Communion at All Saints’ | |||
| 13th | 9.30am | Malcolm Lowle | Di Blockley | |
| 2 Tim. 2:8-15, RCL p.1013 Gospel: Luke 17:11-19 Intercessions: Alec Dickinson Chalice: Alec Dickinson | ||||
| 11.00am | Holy Communion at All Saints’ | |||
| 20th | 8.00am | BCP, at All Saints’ | ||
| 9.30am | Liz Hunter | Paul Constantinidi | ||
| 2 Tim. 3:14-4:5, RCL p.1018 Gospel: Luke 18:1-8 Intercessions: Meta Reeves Chalice: Liz Hunter | ||||
| 11.00am | Family Praise at All Saints’ | |||
| 27th | 9.30am | Bible Sunday | Andy Cole | Mike Kellard |
| Romans 15:1-6, RCL p.1028 Gospel: Luke 4:16-24 Intercessions: Hugh Reeves Chalice: Chalice: Carolyn Hill | ||||
| 11.00am | Holy Communion at All Saints’ | |||
| 28th | 7.00pm | Licensing of Canon Stephen Fielding at All Saints’ | ||
| November | ||||
| 3rd | No Service at St Martin’s | |||
| 11.00am | All Saints’ Day. Family Communion at All Saints’ | |||
Weekday services in Whitwell:
Alternate Wednesdays 9.30am. Holy Communion at Lime Tree House
2nd October, 16th October, 30th October
Stagenhoe: 30th October, 11.00am Holy Communion
Church cleaning at St Martin’s.
Every first Tuesday of the month at 4.00pm.
St Martin’s Church 120 Club Draw 2019/2020
The winners of the September draw in the 2019/20 120 Club (£30 each) were:
No. 52 Mrs S Palmer
No. 17 Mrs L J Chambers
A Letter From Dawn Jenkins, Reader Of The Parish
A Letter From Dawn Jenkins, Reader Of The Parish
It’s this time of year that Keats’s “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” seems to be best at home. We’ve had a few cool early mornings in September but the sun still had some warmth to it as we celebrated our Harvest Festival and Harvest lunch and thanked God for His goodness. It was wonderful that so many of you joined us at the Church to join in the celebrations. It seemed to me that as we sang those old favourite hymns “We plough the fields and scatter” and “Come, ye thankful people come” that we have a lot to be thankful for. The harvest around our villages had been safely gathered in, thanks to “the breezes and the sunshine and soft refreshing rain” Even more to be thankful that no one was hurt in the field fire. It was wonderful how the village Face book page kept us all up to date with the event. The dark scar on our landscape, is now slowly giving way to new growth as green shoots appear.
Autumn is a season I love, the bright red rosehips in our hedges, and the wonderful rich shiny browns of the conkers as they tumble to the ground, and if you are up early enough there is that haze which hovers just above the ground before the sun warms it away. Ok, it may be a bit of a romantic view but it means we’ve come full circle and I think this year in our Church it is just that. For the past year we have been without a vicar to lead us forward. As a team we have tried to keep everything running smoothly and we have been very appreciative of all the visiting clergy who have taken our Services, but this month our new vicar Stephen starts! He and his wife are in the process of moving into the Vicarage, in Whitwell. The Licensing Service takes place on Monday 28th October at 7.30pm at All Saints Church, St Paul’s Walden. Everyone is welcome to attend so do please come along.
It seems an appropriate time for Stephen to start as we move forward into November, not only to remember All Saints Patronal Festival and those fallen in our wars, but to then start together the exciting journey through Advent as we await the Christ Child’s birth at Christmas. Fresh starts all-round, “for every thing there is a season”, it says in the book of Ecclesiastes Ch 3. Let’s shrug off that winter chill for a little longer and feel blessed.
Every blessing
Dawn
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.
PC Matt Jenkins and PCSO Heather Burrows can be contacted regarding local community issues. Their contact details are as follows:
PC Matt Jenkins: 07590 460263 or 01438 757604
PCSO Heather Burrows: 07847 364955 or 07740 745168 or heather.burrows@herts.pnn.police.uk
In the event of an emergency or if you witness a crime taking place please call 999.
Beds & Herts Bike ‘n’ Hike – 14th September
A huge thanks to all who sponsored me on the Beds & Herts Historic Church Trust bike ride. I visited 24 churches on a 43-mile round trip and raised £320. Half of this will be donated to St. Martins’ Preston and the remainder to needy churches in the diocese.
Ita Leaver
Hitchin Foodbank
An extract from the Hitchin & Letchworth Foodbank newsletter:
“Over 90% of the food distributed by foodbanks in The Trussell Trust network is donated by the public – that’s why your food donations are absolutely vital to our ability to give everyone referred to us a balanced and nutritious three day supply of food. Our shopping list below shows the food items that we need right now.”
Strong plastic bags; shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste; toilet rolls; nappies sizes 5 & 6; tinned rice and custard; longlife juice; longlife UHT milk; tinned vegetables, potatoes and tomatoes; tinned fish.
Please ensure items are undamaged and in date. Donations can be deposited in the blue box in the garage at Lychgate House, Church Lane.
The 2019 Autumn Litter Pick: Saturday, October 26th, 10.00am – 12 noon
The Preston Trust committee would, once again, like to invite you all to come and help pick up litter around the village and parish.
Do, please, come and join us on The Green, on the 26th at 10.00am. Wear appropriate clothing and footwear, and bring your gardening/DIY gloves!
HiVis jackets, ‘litter-picker’ tools, black plastic sacks, and disposable gloves will be provided by NHDC/Urbaser. As usual, we will work in pairs along each lane and footpath, and then bring the filled sacks back to The Green.
Just come along and lend a hand, please. After several years of this regular activity, we know that we do make a difference!
Liz Hunter, PT committee member
Preston Parish Council
Mobile Phone Mast
The mobile phone mast has been operational since 17 July for O2 customers only, although other providers could request that their equipment is installed on the tower.
The Parish Council has been asked to find out if O2 customers have seen an improvement in their provision in recent weeks. Please let Margaret Trinder know if this is the case as soon as possible and by Friday 11 October at the latest.
The Parish Council has also been advised that residents not with O2 should lobby their providers and ask them to apply to have their equipment installed so that they too get a better signal. Website links and addresses for Vodafone and EE are below. Please quote this reference when contacting providers:
CTIL 206131 / 75838_o2 – Preston Reservoir St Albans Highway, Temple Dinsley, Hertfordshire, England, SG4 7RU
The Parish Council will also lobby other providers and would like an indication of how many people are affected by this lack of provision. Please let Margaret Trinder know which provider you are with and how many people in your household use each one so the information can be used to lobby the providers. Contact details:
email: trinderm@btinternet.com or phone: 01462 435339 by Friday 11 October.
Vodafone: https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/complaints?icmp=FooterLink
Customer Relations Manager, Vodafone Ltd, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 2FN
EE Customer Services, 6 Camberwell Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR3 3XN
Local Plan Update: East Of Luton
The Parish Council has been asked to contact local residents and ask them to write to NHDC urging them to remove East of Luton from the Local Plan for reasons such as:
- The proposed dwellings are on green belt land
- Loss of open green space, adjacent to an area of outstanding natural beauty
- There are other sites which could be more suitable for Luton’s unmet housing need
- The plans do not include schools, shops and doctor’s surgeries for the residents
- The rural road infrastructure will not be able to cope with the additional traffic created by 2100 new dwellings.
- The local infrastructure will be further stretched with the proposed expansion of Luton airport
All representations should be made to both:
Nigel Smith, Strategic Planning Manager, North Hertfordshire District Council, Council Offices, Gernon Road, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3JF or nigel.smith@north-herts.gov.uk
and
Cllr Paul Clark, Executive Member for Planning and Transport, 7 Kipling Close, Hitchin Herts, SG4 0DU or paul.clark@north-herts.gov.uk