Artic Explorers Return

Henley NEWS On-line has been commanded by the High Bailiff to request that all residents of Henley, with their friends, to assemble at the Market Cross on Saturday 27th May at 12 noon to welcome back the Claverdon Lions, who came 5th in the recent race to the North Pole.

The High Bailiff will hand over a cheque for their charity.

Court Leet Ale Tasting

A gallant band of men trudged along the High Street last Thursday evening in full regalia, trying to dodge the showers, in the interests of ensuring that the ale served to the people of Henley was fit for them to drink.

The High Bailiff and Court Leet at the Nags Head.

Happily this proved to be the case and the Nag’s Head, Three Tuns, Blue Bell, Matricardi’s, the Black Swan and the White Swan were all presented with certificates to that effect signed by the High Bailiff and Ray Evans, Ale Taster.

Ale Taster John Dalman samples ale at the White Swan

The latter was assisted in his duties by John Dalman, Henley’s second Ale Taster and by the Ale Tasters of Alcester and Bromsgrove Courts Leet. The High and Low Bailiffs of Alcester and the Reeve of Bromsgrove were also in attendance.

Matricardi's receives its certificate

Photos John Love

NHS in South Warwickshire shake-up

The biggest shake-up of the NHS in south Warwickshire for years has been given the go-ahead with the controversial scrapping of the county's ambulance service and local NHS funding bodies. And in triple whammy for health services, the chief executive of Warwick and Stratford Hospitals, Janet Monkman, has resigned amid a spiralling multi-million pound crisis.

Warwickshire's ambulance service, which has its headquarters in Leamington, is to be abolished and replaced by a regionwide supertrust for the Midlands - despite fears that it could put lives at risk. And South Warwickshire Primary Care Trust, based in Warwick - which funds hospitals, doctors and other community health care providers - is to merge with neighbouring trusts to create a new primary care trust for the whole of Warwickshire. Both mergers were announced as expected by the government on Tuesday (May 16) after months of wrangling, and opposition from campaigners who believed south Warwickshire communities would suffer. Both changes will result in redundancies in management and administration. The government insists the new supertrusts will improve services and produce efficiency savings for the cash-strapped NHS, which could be redirected to frontline services.

But it is unclear if any savings will be made in Warwickshire, or how much money will be swallowed up by the cost of setting up the new organisations. It is also unclear where the two new regional organisations' headquarters will be, although many insiders expect the ambulance HQ to be in Dudley, north of Birmingham.

Coventry and Warwickshire Ambulance NHS Trust will merge on July 1 with West Midlands and Shropshire and Hereford. Staffordshire won a two-year reprive from the merger - because of its excellence, the government said - but there was a strong public campaign to retain its independence. The number of ambulance trusts nationwide has been cut from 29 to 12 - a move which ministers say should lead to better emergency planning and preparedness. But a bitterly dejected Malcolm Hazel, chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Ambulance NHS Service, said he feared the merger would be a "disaster" for south Warwickshire communities. He said: "I fear a gradual decline in services locally. For a government which has put so much money into the NHS, this is an error of judgment. It is inevitable that if we run operations from the West Midlands conurbation, communities in south Warwickshire and especially rural areas will lose out. And I do not believe it will produce any savings. We are bitterly disappointed. Right up until the announcement we were hoping optimistically that the government would listen to the public consultation which was overwhelmingly against the merger."

Stratford MP John Maples, local councillors, and Warwickshire's patient forum were among those who fiercely fought to retain the independence of the local ambulance trust, which had consistently received excellent three star ratings. Some believe lives could be put at risk with longer call-out response times, with ambulance crews potentially taking longer to reach remote areas and lacking intimate knowledge of rural addresses.

South Warwickshire Primary Care Trust is to merge with its counterparts Rugby and North Warwickshire, to create the new Warwickshire PCT. A spokeswoman for South Warwickshire PCT said the merger would produce 15 per cent savings in administration. mainly by reducing managerial, administration and secretarial posts. She said some redundancies were inevitable, but the PCT hoped to avoid mass job losses by freezing the posts of departing staff, and redeploying staff whose positions became redundant.

Staff could be affected at several sites run by the PCT, including health offices in Stratford, Westgate House, Leamington Rehabilitation Hospital and St Michael's Hospital in Warwick. The government believes merging England's 303 primary care trusts into 152 new trusts will save £250 million in administration costs which could be pumped into frontline health services.

They also argue the new regionwide PCT will have greater commissioning power, with greater choice over who it buys services from, and that the PCT will be able to work more closely with social services in Warwickshire in providing joint health care. The mergers bring PCTs into line with county council boundaries.

But opponents fear that the PCT merger will result in rural communities being marginalised, as with the ambulance merger. It comes just four years after the PCTs were set up, and opposition MPs believe it will create even more instability in the NHS.

Henley Inner Wheel learn about “Blacksmithing”

The Inner Wheel club of Henley-in-Arden held their monthly meeting at Henley Golf Club on Tuesday 16th May. In the absence of the president who was attending the International Inner conference in New Zealand, Jeanne Dorsett chaired the meeting. Jeanne announced details of the overseas charity event to be held in her garden on Sunday 25th June.

Following the meal, Margaret Twigg gave members an interesting talk entitled “The Village Blacksmith”. The talk was based on a local Warwickshire village forge. Members learnt about the work and customs associated with the trade, and of the life and times of some of the smithies who had lived and worked there. She illustrated her talk with copies of old paintings and sketches, 19th centurary census returns, old photographs and post cards, 19th century census returns, and examples of old maps.

Frozen food stolen in Preston Bagot

A van containing frozen food worth £6,000 was stolen from outside a property in The Green, Preston Bagot near Henley in Arden at about 14.50hrs on Tuesday May 23.

The van was parked temporarily, with the keys in the ignition, as the driver delivered food to the property. He was standing very close as the unseen offender made off in the vehicle in the direction of Stratford.

The vehicle is white with a large, freezer unit and has the name Eismann on the side. The registration number is KB05LEJ. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Stratford police station on 01926 415000.

Bench Debate continues

What a big difference to the residents of Alne Close and Beaudesert Lane the removal of the bench at the bottom of the mount has made.

1/ we can now walk to the High street without fear and abuse from the gang of teenagers who made the bench there party area.

2/ Damage to property and vehicles have now reduced.

3/ Noise late at night when the teenagers congregated with their Skate boards and cans of beer no longer happen.

4/ Cars pulling up late at night with the music blasting, wheel spinning and meeting teenagers then speeding off has disappeared...

WHO WOULD BELIEVE THE INCONVENIENCE A BENCH MADE TO OUR LIVES

If only the police made more of an effort, it may not have come to this.

A big thank you to the residents whose spirit and desire not to become victims of modern life prevailed to allow us all to live our life’s in peace.

Many Thanks

Henley Resident

Maintenance to Retaining Wall on Warwick Road

The wall adjacent to the Stream on Warwick Road is scheduled for repairs which will start on the 1st June 2006, with an anticipated duration of about 8 weeks.

The work will require small sections of the footpath and carriageway to be fenced off, with temporary traffic lights installed between the hours of 9am - 3pm weekdays. Temporary lights and protective barriers will not be erected on Market days.

If you have any comments or concerns, or would like any further information, please contact Warwickshire County Council on 01926 412951.

Hayley Syratt
Clerk to Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden Joint Parish Council
Telephone/Fax: 01564 795499

TWO TOP AWARDS FOR JOHNSONS COACHES

Johnsons Coaches made a clean sweep of it in two categories at the National Coach Tourism Awards evening held recently at the prestigious Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The company was nominated for awards in 4 categories which were Day Excursions programme, Brochure of the Year and both UK and European Holiday programme of the year.

In the face of fierce national competition Johnsons emerged outright winners by picking up the much coveted award for ‘UK Holiday Programme of the year’ and ‘Day Excursion programme of the year’

John Johnson, Director of Johnsons Coaches said “We are delighted to have picked up these awards, we were the only company to receive two on the same night, we work hard on both our holiday and our day excursions programme, continually refining them and offering choice, variety and quality. The complete programme is shown in colourful, well designed and easy to understand brochures, which the judges made special mention of. We run 234 excursions to 192 different locations in the Summer and similarly on holidays there are some 64 different holidays with 144 departure dates on offer. We have a dedicated and highly professional Tours Management team and these awards recognise all the hard work and effort that goes into producing such a large and varied programme.

The latest two awards follow the company’s success at the end of last year when they were nominated Coach Operator of the Year.

Stratford Mayor Making

Henley-in-Arden was represented by the High Bailiff and Mrs Susan Bridgewater at the celebrations to mark the election of Councillor Roy Lodge to be the Mayor of Stratford on Thursday last (18 May).

Letters to the Editor

Following my article about not hearing about the Court Leet activities, it was great to see notices advertising the beer tasting, it was just a pity I was unable to go, as I was away on business. Thank you for letting us know.
 
But the response I had from both the JPC and Henley NEWS On-line was very similar. Both are dependant upon organizations letting them know, beforehand, when things are going to happen. When they get advance notice, events can be publicised, and hopefully attendance can be increased.
 
So if you are involved in any organization, please let the editor of Henley NEWS On-line and the JPC know what you are planning.
 
Would it be easier if there was one coordinated publication, what do you think?

Andy Langford