The Open Day for the Village Design Statement will be held on Saturday 15th October: your chance to have your say about the future of Birlingham, so book the date now.

In this issue:

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1. Parish Council Meeting, Wednesday 21st September

The next meeting of Birlingham Parish Council takes place on Wednesday 21st September at the new, earlier time of 7.00pm in Birlingham Village Hall. Among other items on the agenda, there will be a discussion about the recent traffic survey. During the meeting there is an opportunity to express your views on this and other local issues, so please come along.

The agenda for the meeting is available at www.birlingham.org/pc_info/pc_agenda_2016-09-21.pdf and the draft minutes of the previous Parish Council meeting on 20th July can be viewed at www.birlingham.org/pc_info/pc_minutes_2016-07-20.pdf.

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2. Race Night, Saturday 24th September

On Saturday 24th September there will be a Race Night in Birlingham Village Hall in aid of church funds. It will be an evening full of horse racing and fun. Doors open at 7.00pm and the first race will be at 7.30pm. Bring your own drinks and nibbles.

Tickets cost £2.50. Please contact Paula Aston on 07932 637746 (email: paula_mann@hotmail.co.uk) or Ann Maxwell on 01386 751662 to book your place. You can pay on the door, but they need to know numbers in advance.

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3. Harvest Festival, Sunday 2nd October

The Harvest Festival Service will be held in St James's Church on Sunday 2nd October at 10.30am. This year drinks and nibbles will be provided in the church after the service.

Donations of produce, tinned and dry goods would be much appreciated, and they will all go to Maggs Day Centre for the Homeless in Worcester.

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4. Village Design Statement, Saturday 15th October

There will be an Open Day for the Village Design Statement on Saturday 15th October in Birlingham Village Hall from 10.00am until 2.00pm.

The purpose of a Village Design Statement is to capture the current nature and spirit of the village and propose a model for its future development to Wychavon Planners. The draft information will be available for you to comment on. Please keep 15 minutes free to drop by and have your say.

Contact any of the Residents' Views committee at maryanne.dyer@courthouse.online, richardldevenish@gmail.com, sue.hermon@me.com or judybishton105@gmailcom.

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5. Birlingham Bystander

Joint statement by Birlingham Bystander Committee and Birlingham Jubilee Committee:

The majority of the editorial team of the Bystander, for various reasons, no longer want to continue with the production of the magazine after the Autumn 2016 issue. It has become increasingly difficult to get material for the magazine from members of the village and to get it in time for the copy date. It is felt that, to a large extent, the Birlingham website and e-mail have taken over a lot of the original purpose of the magazine. However, the Jubilee Committee feel that the loss of the magazine would be regrettable and that it forms a different role from the website and e-mail and is an important part of the village community. Therefore, the Jubilee Committee has agreed to take over the running of the Bystander as an interim measure in the hope that other members of the village will come forward to help give the Bystander a fresh and modern look.

Jayne Mackenzie has agreed to continue with the funding of the Bystander through advertising for the time being. Anyone interested in becoming involved in the production of the Bystander, please contact Steve Morris at smorris@butford.co.uk or leave a message on 01386 751717. The copy date for the Autumn issue is 28th September.

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6. Changes to 382 Bus Service

Since 5th September, the 382 bus service (formerly operated by Astons in the daytime and First in the evening) has been run solely by First. The original sixteen daily services running from Monday to Saturday have been replaced by four services a day running from Monday to Friday. However, the one bit of good news is that these buses now come through Birlingham, stopping at the church. The new bus times are:

Towards Worcester: 07:13, 09:48, 15:48 and 17:48
Towards Pershore: 08:13 (08:48 in school holidays), 14:49, 17:06 and 18:49

Only some of these services go directly to or from Eckington.

You can check the times of the next three services from Birlingham by texting a code to 84268, which may be useful if a bus appears to be delayed. For services towards Worcester the code is wocdjpat; for services towards Pershore, send code wocdjpaw. Texts cost 25p plus standard message-sending charge.

The full timetable and set of SMS codes are available at www.birlingham.org/docs/bus_timetable_382_2016.pdf and a map of the route can be viewed at www.birlingham.org/docs/bus_map_382_2016.pdf.

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7. Birlingham Book Shop, St James’s Church

Birlingham Book Shop: based in the church, open seven days a week.

New collection of books now available – everything from Amis to Woolf, contemporary and classics. All books are 50p each or three for £1 – funds are donated to the upkeep and improvement of our church. Why not call in and take a look, you may find just what you’re looking for!

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8. Power Cuts 105 Helpline

The new, free, three-digit 105 telephone number to call in a power cut has now gone live. In future you can use this number to report or get information about power cuts. You can also use this number if you are worried about the safety of over or underground electricity cables or substations.

Full details are at www.birlingham.org/docs/power_cuts_105.pdf.

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9. Wychavon Inactivity Survey

One of the Wychavon DC promises for this year is to have a high-profile campaign to promote physical activity. As part of the planning for this campaign they are keen to hear from people living in Wychavon district who are or consider themselves inactive so that the campaign has more appeal.

If you would like to part, please complete their inactivity survey. The closing date for the survey is 23rd September.

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This email is distributed by Birlingham Jubilee Committee and is available to residents of Birlingham, their families and friends. If you know anyone who would like to receive these emails, or have any comments or items for inclusion in future emails, or wish to be removed from the mailing list, please write to news@birlingham.org.

The email is open to any organisation or business within the parish to promote events. Inclusion of an event does not imply that Birlingham Jubilee Committee supports either the event or the views of the organisation promoting it.