South
Hill Connection, Issue 13, February 2010
|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's Church Services
Golberdon Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall Council - John Turner
Broadband Survey
Home Is Where The Heart Is
Winter Gardening
Where Could It Be? |
EDITORIAL Welcome
to the latest edition of the South Hill Connection newsletter
February is a strange month. One day it seems as if Spring is just round the
corner, and the next one the weathermen start talking about
snow again. Not a lot seems to happen in South Hill at this
time of year, and that is reflected in the very few contributions
we have had for this issue. Hopefully, as the weather gets
warmer, we shall hear about all the exciting things that
are going to happen this summer - and I don't mean the General
Election !
Of course there is always St
Valentine's Day. No-one seems to know quite when
and why it acquired its romantic associations, but it has
been celebrated throughout Europe and North America, and
the custom goes back hundreds of years. Some Islamic countries
have even tried to ban it. February seems an odd time to
be buying red roses, but no doubt the florists don't mind.
Perhaps we should let Shakespeare's
Ophelia, in Hamlet, have the last word.
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
Geoff (editor@south-hill.co.uk or telephone 362623)
|
Messages
from "out there"...
The arrival of occasional messages from the old Golberdon website has prompted
us to get our own Guest Book attached to the South Hill Connection.
South Hill Connection Guestbook
Go on - check it out and leave a Christmas greeting for the Parish...
The
new Guest Book is hosted by 123Guestbook.com. Messages are
moderated and do not appear until they have
been checked.
__________
Click
here to get a printable copy of THIS NEWSLETTER...
(Click
here to get copies of previous newsletters...)
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|
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Breakfast room with view of surrounding countryside
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Roger & Geraldine
Parkyn : Tel 01579 384197
e-mail gparkyn@tiscali.co.uk, website www.keadeen.co.uk
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|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
South
Hill Parish Hall
Parish
Hall Committee Report
A meeting was held on Monday 18th January at 7.30 pm.
Feedback from the Barn Dance was excellent. The evening was enjoyed by all and provided a good income for the Parish Hall.
Progress
on the Hearing Loop and Photovoltaic cells are
on hold for the time being. There appears to be new funding
criteria for the cells so we may have missed the boat
but we are awaiting further feedback from Charlie Tyas.
It was suggested that it might be worthwhile getting
someone to come and talk about photovoltaic cells.
Charlie has also completed repairs to the roof and painted
where required. There are also some lights that need attention
(David Skelton to be contacted) and a leak from the water
heater under the sink. This is now 11 years old and probably
needs replacing. We will take advice from Rick Cornell
regarding this. Other than this the Hall is in a very good
state of repair at the moment.
Thanks
were extended to the Christian Fellowship for their
kind donation towards the Hall Funds.
As there was no further business to deal with we have looked
at the rest of the year and suggested dates for various fund
raising activities for 2010. These are as follows
and confirmation and further information will be available
later in the year:
Fun Day in conjunction with Horticultural Show - Saturday
21st August
Harvest Supper - Saturday 11th September
Barn Dance - either Saturday 30th October or 20th November.
Date
for the next meeting is the AGM on Tuesday 25th May.
There will be no meeting in March unless this becomes
necessary.
Everyone is welcome to attend the AGM. All suggestions
for the useful continuation of the Hall are welcome.
Please enter the fund raising events in your diaries
and help support our efforts to maintain the Parish Hall
- Regular
users: £12 per session
- Other
users: £20 per session
- Commercial
use: £50 per session
- Evening
party: £30 + £10 setting up or clearing up time
- Wedding
packages £150 (includes Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning)
- Short
bookings: £5 per hour
- If
rubbish is not removed, there will be a £5 surcharge
There
are three sessions a day, morning; afternoon; evening.
For
more information contact:
Peta
Emmerson on 382841
or email hallbooking@south-hill.co.uk
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|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Fairtrade Fortnight 2010 takes place from Monday 22nd February to Saturday 6th
March Callington, as a Fairtrade Town, will be celebrating
big -time.
 Launch yourself into the this year’s theme, TEA, by treating yourself to a cuppa
and cake at Langmans Fairtrade Tea Party on Monday 22nd February
from 3-5pm. Langmans Restaurant is in Church Street.
For the more outrageous join us for a Madhatter’s
Tea Party at 11am on St Mary’s Square on Saturday 27th February. Bring Your Own flask of Fairtrade
tea/coffee/chocolate and umbrella! Cake optional, hat compulsory!!
Friday 5th March
is Fairtrade Fun Day in the Town Hall. Local
primary schools and college students have been busy designing
a logo or character to spread the Fairtrade message in Callington
(entry forms available from Callington Library). Their crazy
ideas will be on show and winners chosen. There will be a raffle,
quiz, games , fairly traded crafts on sale, plus refreshments
(Tea of course) 2-5pm. All welcome.
We are told that buying fairly traded products makes
a difference to people’s lives. We are told it can mean the difference between education or not, clean
water or fatal water borne diseases, life or death. But how much of this do
you believe? Come and find out on March 6th when on Saturday at 2.15, in Callington
library, we are honoured to present Nicholas, Head of Research and Development
for Kuapa Kokoo, a Fairtrade cooperative in Ghana who supply cocoa beans for
Fairtrade chocolate . He will give a talk followed by Question Time. On the
panel of Question Time will not only be Nicholas but our forthcoming parliamentary
candidates, ready to field questions on International Development and Local
Trade.
Also on on Saturday
6th March - Children, this chocolate tasting and African
Art /craft session is for you! In the library, from 2-4pm. Come early at 2pm
to meet Nicholas.
If you can’t make either of those the
Co-op has invited you to meet Nicholas (and do a bit of Fairtrade sampling) in their cafe on Saturday morning 6th
March from 11-12am. Don’t be shy; it’s a great opportunity to find out more
about life in Africa and Fairtrade.
It’s really easy to be involved, just ask for that Fairtrade
cuppa!! Or
go one step further and hold your own Fairtrade Tea Party (free campaign resources
from www.fairtrade.org.uk ) and send us the photos. There’s a prize for the
most original tea party.
You can download a poster with all of the main events here...
Finally,
look out for further information around town, you‘ll find it
hard to miss us. See you there.
Contact Jane Weatherby (01579 382785) for more information
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These
two holiday cottages are a conversion of an old stone built
shippen in the grounds of Berrio Mill (click on the picture to enlarge)
Enjoy
the peace and tranquillity of the undiscovered Lynher valley. For those who really want to
escape
from it all or just visit friends and family here in Cornwall.
For more
details please go to www.berriomill.co.uk or call 01579 363252
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|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
NOTICES
For
full details of what is happening in the Parish, please
visit our Events page, which is kept as up-to-date as possible...
__________
Events
Callington Fairtrade Fortnight
22nd February to Saturday 6th March 2010
As a Fairtrade Town, Callington will be celebrating big -time
Fairtrade Tea Parties, Fun Day, a Fairtrade expert visitor from Ghana, African
Arts & Crafts, and a Question Time session at
the Community College.
Find out more above...
__________
Open Meeting
Wednesday 10th March 2010
7:30pm
in the Parish Hall
Come and have your say about the Parish Council's plans for a new children's play area in the Recreation Field at Golberdon.
Everybody
welcome
__________
Parish
Hall AGM
Tuesday
25th May 2010
7:30pm in the Parish Hall
Everybody welcome
__________
Horticultural Show & Fun Day
Saturday 21st August 2010
more details to follow
__________
Harvest Supper
Saturday 11th September 2010
in the Parish Hall
More details to follow
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St
Sampson's Church Services
Services
are held in St Sampson's Church, South Hill every Sunday at 11:15am. All are welcome.

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Golberdon
Christian Fellowship Meetings
The
Fellowship meet in the Parish Hall every Sunday at 6:00pm. All are welcome.
Download
the latest list of speakers here...
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|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
Parish
Council News
Children’s Play Area
South Hill Parish Council have reviewed the facilities at the
recreation field and plan to upgrade the play area and equipment.
To enable this project to be successful we
need your help in
creating the right environment for the children to indulge
their vivid imaginations and to ensure they maximise free play
opportunities.
The Parish Council have allocated a considerable
sum of money and have already procured initial funding to start
this process.
We have arranged an Open
Evening on Wednesday
10th March at 7:30pm, in the Parish Hall, Golberdon, so that you can
come along with your ideas for equipment needed and fund raising.
This open evening will allow you to voice
your opinions and contribute to the design, construction and
redevelopment of your site.
Your attendance will allow us to gauge
the level of interest and support for this project.
If insufficient interest is shown, the
project will be scaled back, and funds may be withdrawn.
We look forward to seeing as many of you
as possible and please bring your illustrations or photos of
suitable play equipment.
Download a poster to display
Dennis Hicks, Chairman
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From
our Cornwall Council Representative
Thank goodness that the very cold weather seems to have gone and that we are
more able to get around more easily. Seeing snowdrops and camellias
out gives real hope for the arrival of spring but February
can be fickle and I am not holding my breath just yet.
Cornwall Council has been preoccupied with a number
of important issues, not least of which is the forthcoming budget. This will be the
start of a long period of austerity nationally and much thought
is being given to how services will be delivered in the light
of a need to save up to £40 million next year. I sit on the
Health and Adult Services Committee and am pleased that there
has been a recognition of the importance of that department.
A modest increase in the amount available for services is planned
subject to ratification by the Council. Other back office services
however will receive correspondingly less whilst trying to
ensure that priority services are maintained.
On the health front the public concern
over the transfer of specific cancer treatments to specialist
centres shows no sign of abating. Whether treatment should
be available locally or patients sent to centres of excellence
will be decided by the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, given
the concerns of the Cornwall & Plymouth Health Scrutiny Committees. The benefits of both options are finely
balanced.
The ambulance service will be addressing a problem highlighted
in a report which said that the response time for serious (but
not life threatening) responses was too long and a new way
of working to address this is being introduced.
The office accommodation provided by Cornwall
Council is under review and there is a vision to reduce the
number of buildings in which these are housed from some 70
to 30.
Leases on buildings which are about to expire will not normally
be renewed, an example of this is the transfer of staff from
Westbourne House to the Council offices in Liskeard. The proposal
for just three major hubs with the eastern one located in Bodmin
is being challenged but this does not mean that local facilities
in the form of One Stop Shops will be taken away in S E Cornwall
so access to services by the public should remain unchanged.
I am not endorsing the new structure merely reporting on it.
A recent survey in a
sample area showed that 39% of households now participated in recycling. The amount
has increased over the years but I would encourage everybody
to participate as costs of sending items to landfill are set
rise dramatically. Very shortly it will cost £3.75p for an
average black bag weighing just 56lbs and the Council Tax payers
will be footing the bill. This is in addition to the collection
costs.
I have dealt with a number of local concerns
from the public and will always try to help if I can.
Cllr.
John Turner
Cornwall Council
St. Ive ED
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|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
Parish
Broadband Survey
We have been conducting a survey of broadband provision in South Hill Parish.
You
may have seen Internet Service Providers (ISPs) advertising
broadband speeds of up to 10Mbps!
However,
the reality here in South Hill is disappointing to say the
least. Not only is our broadband often less than a tenth of
the speed advertised, there is also a huge variation in speeds,
even between next door neighbours.
We
asked people to make a note of their download speed, upload
speed and ping rate.
Ping
rate is the time in milliseconds taken for a server to reply to a ping request from
your computer.
Download speed is
the number of megabits per second (mbps or mb/s) that your
computer receives from a server.
Upload speed,
also in mbps, is the amount of information your computer
sends to a server.
We
download information whenever we receive information form the
internet - just browsing websites, but more importantly when
we collect our email messages, or install programs from the
internet, listen to music or watch film or video. We upload
when we request information from the internet, send email,
update a blog, ask questions on a forum or update our own website.
Results
so far:
|
Download
speed
(Mbps)
|
Upload
speed
(Mbps)
|
Ping
Rate
(ms)
|
Average
|
1.97
|
0.32
|
67.63
|
Minimum
|
0.24
|
0.20
|
41.00
|
Maximum
|
5.75
|
0.38
|
214.00
|
So,
what can we tell from the results so far? Unfortunately, not
much yet. Twenty six households have returned the survey. There
is a good mix from all the hamlets and using the 3 telephone
exchanges, but a total of 10 different Service Providers. Both
the fastest and the slowest download speeds are with BT. The
three
fastest
are located in Maders, Golberdon and Berrio. The three slowest
are in Maders, Golberdon and Mornick! Obviously this is more
complicated than we had hoped.
We
are hoping to get some help in looking at the statistics from The Cornwall Development Company, which is a partner to actnow Broadband Cornwall. Their Development Manager tells us that a significant uplift in Cornwall’s
broadband infrastructure is planned over the 2010-2013 period,
hopefully starting this year. He suggests we can read about
it at actnow - The Future, where there is a copy of the strategy document to download.
In the meantime, we already know that, of the households surveyed so far, 55%
use the internet for business, under-18 education and/or adult education, so
there is good reason to explore ways in which to improve our broadband experience.
If you haven'tcontributed your results yet, check out the SURVEY
LINK HERE (this is a Word document).
1. Download and Save the
Survey attachment somewhere you know you can find it again.
2. Open the
saved document and follow the instructions on the page.
When you have filled in all the boxes, Save it.
3.
Then email webmaster@south-hill.co.uk, and Attach the saved survey.
We do hope for a good response to this survey.
The more information we have, the more meaningful the results will be.
Thank
you.
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In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
or
You Don't
Know What You've Got Till It's Gone
I am typical of the younger generation today: I cannot keep still. I’m always off travelling: looking for new people, new
places, and new experiences. If I were to take two minutes
out of this frenzied lifestyle and count, I am sure I have
spent no more than about six weeks actually at home over the
past twelve months. But where is home anyway?
I am now in my final year at Royal Holloway, a constituent College of the University
of London. Upon returning to Cornwall for a weekend during my second year,
I remember saying something to my Mum which I think shocked her as much as
it shocked me: “When I get home I need to sort my washing out.” Whilst I’m
sure my Mum was shocked by the idea of me, a twenty year old male, actually
doing my washing, we were both equally shocked by me referring to my house
at university as ‘home’. It’s not my home. I always thought of ‘home’ as our
house in Mornick.
Was this reference to University as "home" a
Freudian slip, I wondered? Deep in my subconscious mind, had home ceased to
be a house in Cornwall? After all, the dictionary defines home as your "permanent residence". Now at risk of sounding like a hormonal, confused youngster, I don’t have a "permanent residence" any more. Over the last twelve months, I have spent roughly six months at Uni,
a couple of months at home, and the rest of the time I spent working on the
Isles of Scilly. Not a bad life, I agree, but it means I don’t have a "permanent residence". Nothing proves this more than my post: my bank statements get sent to Uni,
whilst my building society statements are delivered to Mornick. My magazine
subscriptions end up in Mornick, whilst my Student Loan Statements are sent
to Uni (where they will remain until I pluck up the courage to look at them).
We take dictionary definitions to be gospel truth. Yet, if "Blackadder" is
to be believed, the first dictionary was written by a grotesquely obese man
with a drinking problem, and was burned on the fire by Balderick. Blackadder
refers to the book as "the most pointless book since "How to learn French" was translated into French'” Indeed, we may do well to, pardon the pun, take
a leaf from Blackadder’s book here, and disagree with the definition of "home".
A house is your "permanent residence" –
it is bricks and mortar. A "home" is something much more. Home is where the heart is, as the saying goes. It is where you feel you belong,
a place of memories and relationships with people you know and care about.
"Home" to
me will always be South Hill. It is not my "permanent residence", but it is where I will always think of as "home", no matter where I am or what I am doing. No matter how much I travel, and no
matter where I eventually choose to make my "home", a part of me will always see South Hill as home. Wherever you live in the Parish
of South Hill, you are very fortunate to be able to call
the area your home. It’s true what they say: sometimes you
really don’t know what you’ve got until you leave a place
behind.
Englefield Green, the Surrey town where I live during term-time, is a pleasant
enough village with a number of corner shops, a Church, and - being near a
University - numerous pubs. But for all this, it lacks something: a sense of
community. People get up in the morning and stand at the bus stop with twenty
others in absolute silence, all plugged into their iPods and afraid to look
at anyone else in case it’s taken as a confrontation. They go off to their
jobs in London, and return at night, whereupon they settle down in front of
the television before it all starts over again the next day. Neighbours do
not know each other’s names.
Don’t get me wrong: the place is not all bad. Our neighbours are a charming
elderly couple who we know well. They know they can always come to us if they
need anything, and we know the same. In Englefield Green however, this is the
exception rather than the rule. The opposite is true in South Hill: this sort
of community is commonplace, and to me, that is what makes it home.
Tom
Matthews
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|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
Winter
Gardening
The weather for the last few months has been terrible, snow, frost, wind and
rain. The only good thing about the cold is that hopefully it will
kill a lot of the pests in the garden. February is usually the time
I start to tidy up and work on part of my garden, but it is too wet
to do much, so instead I have looked to see what frost and wind damage
I have got. I have been lucky the only shrub I may have lost is my
Tetrapanax Papyrifer (rice paper plant); it doesn’t look good at all! I’m
going to leave it to see what happens, it may spring into life when
it gets a little warmer, so don’t rush in with pruning shears just
yet, give plants a chance to recover. I was telling a gardener I know
about my rice paper plant, he said, “any losses should be looked upon
has an opportunity to plant something new”, and he is right. There
are so many beautiful plants out there that we should try something
new, not just the most popular plants, why not try something a little
different, give yourself a little challenge, and just think of the
joy of seeing it come into leaf and flower for the first time.
As soon as the weather improves we
can start planting again, new roses, trees or shrubs and of course
there are seeds to be sown, and vegetables
to be planted . There is a product you can use called ‘Rootgrow’ that
is a friendly mycorrhizal fungus. The granules should be put into
direct contact with the plant roots , so put some in the hole you have
dug
when planting. Treated plants will grow a secondary root system, which
will support them for their lifetime. It is also easy to treat established
plants as well. Rootgrow plants are better able to cope with the effects
of drought and are more resistant to diseases, they establish quicker
and grow better. It also helps plants thrive in difficult soil conditions.
But, a word of warning; it does not seem to work with brassicas, rhodendrons,
azaleas, or heathers.
The benefit to roses is enormous. It will not only help
them establish well with good flowers, but it also enables you to grow
roses in soil that has previously had roses in it without the new plants
suffering rose sickness. Last year I planted out a new small rose garden;
all the roses were treated with rootgrow and I have been very pleased
with the outcome.
Pictured: Tetrapanax Papyrifer (looking sad); Witch Hazel Pallida; Snowdrops
B.J.Clemerson
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-- Advertisement --
Seasons & Celebrations - Florist
Beautiful arrangements of flowers for any special occasion including:
Weddings
Birthdays
Anniversaries
Funerals
Corporate functions & events
Treharcoe,
Golberdon, Callington PL17 7ND
Elaine
Brewer : Phone 01579 384787
e-mail treharcoe@treharcoe.plus.com
website www.seasonscelebrations.co.uk
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|
In
this edition...
Editorial
Messages
from "out there"
Parish
Hall News
Callington
Fairtrade Fortnight
Notices
St Sampson's
Church Services
Golberdon
Christian Fellowship
Parish
Council News
Cornwall
Council - John Turner
Broadband
Survey
Home
Is Where The Heart Is
Winter
Gardening
Where
Could It Be? |
Where in the Parish?
Below is an early photograph taken in the Parish. It shouldn't be too difficult
to work out where it was taken...

Would anybody like to have a guess at when it was taken, and perhaps suggest
a caption?
Results will be printed in the next Newsletter.
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-- Advertisement -- David Skelton - Electrical Contractor
For
all your domestic, commercial and agricultural electrical
needs. Free advice and estimates.
For
general information on electrical safety have a look at the Electrical Safety Council website.
All
my work complies with the current national technical standard.
I am an approved contractor registered with the NICEIC who regularly inspect my work. Most new domestic electrical work has to comply with part P of the building
regulations now. You can either get building regs approval
yourself and pay a fee to your District Council for the inspection,
or use an electrician like me who can self-certify their
own work.
Please
phone 01579 382397 or email dave@pencashna.com
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