Website updated - 1 October '25



Connected websites

Inkpen History Soc. IMPFT Inkpen Stargazers Inkpen Climate



iMPFT

Inkpen Parish Council is the corporate trustee for the Inkpen Memorial Playing Field Trust. The IMPFT has its own website and this can be found at http://impft.co.uk. All bookings, events schedule etc. is available on the impft website.

IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS

DON'T WEAKEN PROTECTION OF OUR RURAL LANDSCAPES - THE PLEA FROM BERKSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE CAMPAIGNERS
The Berkshire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has joined the North Wessex Downs National Landscape in warning of the dangers of the Government’s intention to remove protections for National Parks and National Landscapes.

At present, there is a statutory duty under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act for all relevant local and national authorities to seek to further the purposes of protected landscapes, but Ministers have now indicated that they wish to repeal this important provision in the legislation.

Andy Smith of CPRE Berkshire said: “Strengthening the statutory protections for National Parks and National Landscapes (previously known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) was a major recommendation of the Glover Review six years ago and this was followed two years ago by amendments to the laws on countryside protection. For the present Government to be seriously considering weakening these protections is extremely worrying and it could mean a significant increase in the threats to the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. CPRE calls on Berkshire MPs to press the Government to retain these important protections.”

CPRE points out that protected landscapes such as the North Wessex Downs are vital for the quality of our environment, public access to the countryside, nature and biodiversity, and for the health and wellbeing of local communities. “Weakening the rules and removing protections for our precious rural landscapes would be a huge mistake with far-reaching consequences,” said Andy Smith. “We are already seeing other threats to longstanding environmental protections due to the Government’s determination to speed up development at the expense of the natural environment.”

He continued: “Weakening the rules and removing protections means less recovery for our already-depleted nature, and with increased development and pollution threatening everyone’s quality of life. If you share our concerns, please contact your Member of Parliament and urge them to stand up for our countryside.”

For more information on CPRE's campaigns to protect rural Berkshire, please go to the charity’s website http://www.cpreberkshire.org.uk


MAKE A DIFFERENCE

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION POPPY COLLECTION


We will as usual be carrying out house-to-house collections for the annual Poppy Appeal. I would be grateful for volunteers to help with the house-to-house collections. You will only be asked to carry these out at the houses near you. Whilst Poppies are available in lots of places, we do know that house-to-house collections are appreciated by many and as a village we have a long history of contributing to this important charity.

All donations raised help the Royal British Legion to provide life-long support to serving and ex-serving members of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependents through hardships, injuries, and bereavements.

Thank you in advance for your support. All collectors will have Gift Aid envelopes should you wish to give Gift Aid. Please do put aside some cash ready for this collection. Please don’t forget your cash for our collectors or pop a cheque in one of our Gift Aid envelopes. As well as house to house collections there are also poppy boxes at the Crown & Garter Pub and Honesty Shop/Bakery

There are still so many service men and women who need help. For some, the physical and mental toll of confronting huge challenges like health issues, debt, homelessness and unemployment alone can be overwhelming. PTSD has a massive impact on mental health and the challenges of life. RBL is the lifeline support to those who need it. Any questions get in touch with claire@clairejjones.com

The Library brought to you.



As you know, we don’t have the mobile library any more, but the library services do still provide an amazing array of things that you can still easily access at home. You can read the daily papers, journals and magazines, listen to audio books and even read trending books on line. If you haven’t tried it do give it a go. You’ll need a library number and password I think but these are easy to get from the labrary.

Go to https://westberkshire.borrowbox.com/eaudiobooks/featured. Yes, you will need a laptop or tablet.

If you’re not on the internet but would like to give it a try, or you don’t know how to set it up, come along to the Pop-In Cafe, and we’ll help you get started. Or, you can ring West Berkshire Library on 01635 519900, email library@westberks.gov.uk. They’ll be more than happy to help you get started.

You can also use the ‘borrowbox’ app.

This is an amazing resource which you are very likely to find worth your while trying. As there seems to be less and less worth watching on TV, what could be better that cosying up to an audio book on a dark autumn or winter evening.

COLOUR THE COVER COMPETITION

The front cover has been left in glorious black and white, and we invite young and old(er) to unearth their paint pots, felt tip or oils and bring colour to barrow full of goodness. The editors’ favourite will be printed in a future bulletin. Please email a photo of your work to Alie’s email address, above, with your name and age (the latter can be how old you feel if that is preferred). We would encourage the younger members of St. Michael's, Inkpen to take part. Prize(s) to be decided.


Headlines

The Bulletin
Get your copy of the latest Bulletin, click here.

Updates from West Berkshire Council
As you will know, the government requires the abolition of district councils and their re-organisation into larger councils. The proposal for West Berkshire Council is laid out here. Also, the new Local Plan Review Adoption Statement is viewable here and the Sustainability Appraisal / Strategic Environmental Assessment relating to the Local Plan is here.

CPRE
The latest Campaign to Protect Rural England newsletter is available here.

The Hungerford and Kintbury Ward news can be found here.

North Wessex Downs National Landscape

Tickets available for our Annual Forum 2025 - Your Landscape, Your Plan Wednesday 12th November, 9.30am at the Herongate Club, Hungerford.

Our Forum this year is focussing on launching the Management Plan, celebrating achievement and encouraging action from all. The morning will consist of talks from the team and a selection of external speakers.

After lunch, there will be resources for delegates to interact with, encouraging action and delivery for the life of the Management Plan (Nature Recovery, Climate, Historic Environment and Access).

For more information about the event and to book go to https://www.northwessexdowns.org.uk/event/the-north-wessex-downs-annual-forum-2025/. Tickets are £10 to cover catering. Spaces are limited and must be booked in advance. Come and find out what is happening in your Landscape.

Healthy Horse - Healthy Land Mon6th October Sparsholt College
We are delighted to again have Stuart Myers, from Equiculture, returning to talk about his popular Equicentral System for paddock management. Learn how to reduce feed costs and have a happier and healthier horse, at the same time as improving biodiversity on your land. A jointly funded event with the New Forest National Park. Call 01249 706101 or visit www.northwessexdowns.org.uk

Switching off your Outside Lights

The North Wessex Downs NL ask people to switch off their outside lights when they’re not absolutely necessary. Wildlife groups ask the same. Neighbours living next to someone that keep their outside lights on at night want the lights to go off and the police tactfully suggest that leaving outside lights on simply helps burglars. Switching off your outside lights helps the environment and saves money.

Any suggestions about how to incentivise people to switch off unnecessary outside lights would be gratefully received. Email inkpen-climate@outlook.com.

INKPEN HISTORY SOCIETY

Additional audio tracks have been added to the history website, history.inkpenvillage.co.uk, alongside a further written commentary on the sinking of the Bismarck. We have further scrapbooks and photos to add and are hoping to add even more audio tracks. If you remember Inkpen and district as it was during or immediately after WW2, then please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

We could also do with some help scanning photographs and transcribing hand written text. Please get in touch via inkpen-climate@outlook.com if you think you can help.

We had been hoping to start an archaeological dig in September but sadly not enough people came forward for this to be feasible. We will have another attempt in March/April 2026. The site that we are hoping to dig is thought to be a late Saxon, early Medieval site with links to the crusades. If you think you might be interested, please email us, as above, and we’ll keep you posted.

POP-IN CAFE

During September we put all of our donations into a pot and sent it off to the Thames Valley Air Ambulance (https://www.tvairambulance.org.uk/). This October we’re again putting all donations into a pot but this time it goes to Dementia UK (https://www.dementiauk.org/).

Dementia (including Alzheimer's disease) is the leading cause of death in the UK, a status it has held for many years. And there are a lot of people locally that suffer from Dementia. For some reason there still seems to be a stigma associated with dementia. If you wish, you can get a badge from Dementia UK to wear and show your support and understanding for those with dementia.

Both the Thames Valley Air Ambulance and Dementia UK provide support for local residents so this is really just a help your neighbour kind of fund raiser.

The amount raised for the T V Air Ambulance will be posted at the Pop-In Cafe on the 2nd of October. Similarly, we’ll show how much was raised for Dementia UK at the November cafe on Thursday 6th.

The October Pop-In cafe dates are Thursday 2nd and 16th, at the Inkpen pavilion, 10am till 12:30pm. The November dates are Thursday 6th and 20th. All are welcome and we really do mean all.


Inkpen and district Stargazers

On Wednesday 10th September, we had an excellent talk by Steve Harris of Newbury Astro, aimed largely at beginners. The talk was very well received, with an almost full house. Sadly, the sky clouded over immediately the meeting started so there was no opportunity for actual observing. Any suggestions as to how we can prevent the clouding over during our meetings would be gratefully received. We need rain but not on the second Wednesday of the month.

We will post links to talks, on the stargazers website as and when they become available. See http://stargazers.inkpenvillage.co.uk/.

Our next meeting is on the second Wednesday of October, which I think is the 8th. All are welcome. It’s £15 for annual membership (June to June) and £3 per person for a single visit. We are hoping that we will be able to do actual stargazing on the 8th but will have to play this by ear.

From October, we’re hoping to have access to an astronomical dome in Inkpen. This should make observing on cold winter nights a little more comfortable. This photo of the dome is for illustration purposes only.

Going for a walk
If you want a breath of fresh air and some exercise, check out the Inkpen walks, but keep your distance from others, that's at least 6 feet apart in old money. If you feel that you should wear a face mask when outdoors, then checkout the design given on the News page.

On the news page this month there are a number of updates including from the Inkpen Primary School and pre-school, from the Playing field trust and Village Hall, and there's this months Police Report .

Local Climate Group.
We have a newly formed climate group. The website is http://climate.inkpenvillage.co.uk. If you have a look, you’ll see that we have collected data on moths, trees, bird sightings and beetles, as well as data on the weather. This data enables us to see what changes are taking place locally and the pace of those changes. If you have any data, new or historic, on local climate related events or know of someone with an interest in this, then please get in touch with us. We want to bring all local data together in one place and make sure that it doesn’t get lost. Email us at inkpen-climate@outlook.com.

In the autumn, we’ll hold a meeting so that all of you that are concerned about climate change can meet and help us to get properly organised. Keep an eye on the website. Thank you.

Inkpen Rights of Way Committee - Volunteer Secretary Needed
The Inkpen Rights of Way Committee is one of the oldest groups in Inkpen, formed over 30 years ago and represents a wide variety of interests such as conservation, horse riding, nature study as well as recreational walking and rambling.

The prime objective of the group is to ensure the Rights of Way are maintained in a state which enables them to be used at all times of the year as the paths are used not only for recreational pleasure but also for those without transport who need to make their way across the village. It is important to continue to improve access for the less able as well as for the able-bodied walkers/ramblers. The village is an historic and important ancient landscape, and the footpaths are part of this heritage.

Leaflets on the 5 charted walks around the village are available from the committee or from displays at various points in the village.

The Committee needs to urgently recruit a volunteer secretary to start in September as the current post holder is standing down. Please get in touch with the committee if anyone is interested in joining the group or can fill the vacant post of Secretary – please email: gloriakeene@hotmail.com .

Please give us a hand – Oak Trees in Inkpen
We need your help to measure oak trees. Measuring tree girths helps us to evaluate changes that have taken place in Inkpen and enable future researchers to evaluate the effect of climate change on tree growth and distribution. This is work of real value, be part of it. Go to inkpenhistory.uk to find out more.


What else do you need to know?

All council business is shown on the 'Council' page which is selectable via the menu at the top.



Speeding in Inkpen
Please follow the link to find out what you can do to help. Click here.

DONATIONS URGENTLY REQUIRED TO COVER BULLETIN PRINT COSTS
A reminder of last month’s appeal. There have been four contributions so far. Each year it costs c. £1,200 to print the Bulletin. The Parish Council contributes £400, the Church £250 thus, c. £550 per annum is required. We will continue to print assuming funds roll in.

Please either send monies to
1. Bank transfer - St Michael’s Church, Inkpen – Sort code - 60-11-28 Account number –73133078. Please put ‘Bulletin’ as reference.
2. Or write a cheque made out to St Michael’s Church, Inkpen and drop into the Crown and Garter or the Bakery.

Mobile Library 
Although our Mobile Library will be missed, West Berkshire Libraries will continue to work hard to bring books to those who can’t get to their local library and serve customers in rural and isolated areas.

Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police are keen for your help in reporting any areas where you feel unsafe in the District. There is a new pilot service called StreetSafe hosted via the Met Police website where issues can be reported. StreetSafe is a service for anyone to anonymously tell the police about public places where you have felt, or feel unsafe, because of environmental factors e.g. vandalism and/or because of certain behaviours e.g. being followed or verbally abused.

Please make reports via the following link: StreetSafe | Metropolitan Police (see at the end the home page where is says: ‘No – Continue to StreetSafe’) Please note that StreetSafe is not a replacement for reporting crime or incidents this should still be done via 101 or online.

Dog Warden:
If anyone has issues with dog fights, dog fouling etc etc. the Public Protection Partnership has arranged for the animal warden to be contacted on 01635 519171 to discuss specific issues or problems that you may have.


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