News

Many activities have ‘popped-up’ during the lockdown, many appearing on the wonderful Whitchurch Community Events Live Facebook page, a terrific initiative started by Marcus Winch, Mark Bish and Amanda Winch.

One such activity has been the tremendous Thursday afternoon videos from Katie Black who runs Cookery Doodle Doo.Yesterday was the 21st video, and sadly the last – but what a colourful mouth-watering item it was – the appropriately named Rainbow Fudge.

After a whole range of simple but tasty recipes this may have been the ‘sweetest’.Others included strawberry shortcakes, beer bread for Father’s Day, summer tarts for a lovely tea in the sunshine, brekkie bowls to start the day, marble cake, hot cross scones…The list goes on and on – great fun for all. It was a lovely activity too for involving children.FundraisingKatie has also been fundraising during the videos and has raised over £600 in donations for Naomi House – a fantastic achievement. A BIG Thank youA massive thanks is given to Katie for providing these recipes which has brought to many the enjoyments of the kitchen, and also to the Community Events Live team for arranging the facility.

Katie’s Facebook page is here:https://www.facebook.com/cookerydoodledoonorthhants/

Fancy entering a Scarecrow for this special event? The team at Community Support Live Events tell us they have well over 40 Scarecrows confirmed already! Will your road or group be represented? You have until the 15th August to register your creation….no theme, let your imaginations run wild! Just make sure your scarecrow is family friendly! Email your details to Davieswinch@sky.com and you will be added to the trail list.

Tomorrow, work will begin on replacing the current town website; interruptions to service can be expected from late morning while the work is undertaken. Further interruptions may occur when the events calendar is added once the site has gone live.

The website story:

The current town website was part of the Town Centre Improvement Plan (TCIP, 2007-10) funded by the South East England Development Agency (now defunct) and at the disbanding of the TCIP Steering Committee, responsibility for its day to day oversight passed to the trustees of the Whitchurch Association, who also oversee the running of the Gill Nethercott Community Centre and the town’s Walkers are Welcome accreditation. The TCIP budget did not provide funding for ongoing maintenance or upgrades.

The design of the original site was heavily customised and despite revamps over the last three years funded by the Whitchurch Association, it had become apparent that due to aging, and out of date software, it needed to be replaced.

The Whitchurch Association has used the same company that the Town Council employed to design its new site. We have learnt from experience and taken on board advice from Comms Team volunteers and have streamlined the website. The new website is clean, fresh and up to date in appearance and has been designed, like all new websites, to be easy to read/navigate across multiple devices.

To support the town in the best way we can, the decision was taken to develop a site that serves two purposes,

1) to attract people into Whitchurch (tourism) hence the use of fabulous pictures to really showcase the town and area and the ‘What to Do’ section, encouraging visitors to stay longer and hopefully spend more money and…..

2) to continue to serve the local community.*

* Residents, community groups, clubs and societies will still be able to submit suitable news articles and events by following the links clearly shown in the footer of each page. Please Note, it is NOT the responsibility of the Whitchurch Association, or the website Comms Team to provide an editorial/news service. If details of news items/events are not submitted externally, for consideration, they will likely not appear.

Trustees are very grateful for the assistance they have received from local residents and businesses who have provided professional quality photographs and information.

Going forward the site will continue to be overseen by a small team of Whitchurch Association trustees and volunteers.

An exciting event from the Community Events Live team:The Great Whitchurch Scarecrow Trail is on for the August Bank Holiday weekend of 29th – 31st August.A bit like the treasure hunt, we will be providing a trail map and numbering entries for voting (more details to follow nearer the event.)

We have had loads of volunteers willing to make scarecrows which is great – no theme and the more the merrier but please keep it family friendly.

We would ask that anyone wanting to take part who is happy to be detailed on the trail map, please email us your address to davieswinch@sky.com by 15th August – we will give you a number for your scarecrow in return to mount alongside.

Time to get building your Scarecrows!

Whitchurch Town Council has issued a Questionnaire about cycle racks for parking in the Town Centre.

****************************************The Town Council has stated:

Cycle racks survey

Following requests from cycling groups for a secure place to park their cycles, new galvanised steel cycle racks were installed in February 2020.

However, the Town Council has received complaints from local businesses that the new cycle racks are impeding deliveries in their current locations.

We are therefore seeking opinions from residents, visitors and businesses on the current locations of the new cycle racks, and possible locations for additional cycle racks to encourage and increase their usage.

We’d like to hear your views so if you can, please take a few minutes to complete this survey.The closing date for comments and feedback is 17 August 2020.

Affected businesses and residents will receive a letter containing an overview of the project. While the Town Hall office is closed, paper copies will be available from there on Wednesdays only.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YSYFTDS

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