Village Voice by Rosie Warrillow, 14th February

Oh dear I have to start with the news of a road closure for this coming week. Part of Fore Street will be closed between February 17th-21^st  as Western Power will be connecting the electricity supply for the fibre optics. The closure will be in place between Walnut Minor and the Fisherman’s, and its only this small area of the main street to be affected. Access to houses will not be affected and parking in the usual places, Jubilee St, and the hall won’t be affected.                                                         

Some good news now and our junior play park is now open again thanks to the efforts of two local men, Peter Smith and Ed Tarr. The hard-working duo have been busy replacing rotten wood, topping up sand under the swings and in the play pit. The swings have received some attention and the woodchips have been topped up, saving any bumps and bruises! The fencing still needs to have some work done on it which will be completed in the near future. Well done to Peter and Ed and thank you.                        

Our Parish Council met last week for its monthly meeting and it was decided that the March meeting would start earlier to allow a presentation by the Architect for the potential new village hall, Ian Hodgeson to take place.. This will be a preliminary meeting with the hope that there will be a full presentation at a later date once full costings are available. Various hall users have been consulted to help shape the sort of hall that would be wanted.. The start time will be 7pm on Monday March 1^st  and everyone is welcome to attend, put their views, talk to the parish councillors and the Architect. A full presentation will then be held at a later date to which all parishioners will be invited.                                            

There have been some concerns over two unexplained bird deaths down our river of  late. Some birds have unfortunately been hit by cars on the Tidal Road, others are more of a mystery. We must be more vigilant and careful with our wildlife and wild fowl on our river, it’s their home, we just pass through! The area is now a marine heritage site and has visitors from all over the country coming to visit and see the wonderfully diverse species on our river, so please take care.                                                                    

St Andrews has a Songs of Praise service this Sunday on the theme of Weddings. The church has four weddings booked in for this year and this service will have lots of favourite hymns often sung at weddings. If you’ve been married at our church, or maybe are going to be, why not come to this lovely informal service and have a good sing, there will be refreshments after the service, which will be led by church members John and Karen Rowse.