I notice from my previous pieces for the magazine that I have always started with a comment about the weather, so terribly British, but once again, it is the first thing that comes to mind when I sit down to write this piece. Summer, when it finally arrived, hit us with a heat wave, but after only a week or two into August there is a feeling of Autumn in the air. No wonder it is at the top of the list of everyday greetings by Brits.
A nice lady from the War Memorial Trust wrote to our Parish Chairman to say that they had received an email from a member of the public complaining about the condition of our War Memorial . Her moan was that she was unable to read the names of those from Waterstock which are carved into the Memorial.
Chairman Rob leapt into action armed with power hose,scrubbing brush and enthusiasm and gave it a good going over. His work is soon to be highlighted by Geoff Talbot who is going to repaint the faded lettering. Apparently the Lady from the War Memorial Trust has already been in contact to thank us for the prompt response. Excellent work Mr Chairman, and a special thanks from me for the neat return of my hosepipe.
Henry Manisty reports that the dates have been set for thePublic Enquiry to hear the Appeal by the developer Greystoke against SODC’s refusal last year of its application to develop the western section of the Golf Course site.
Unfortunately, we are set for a marathon that will last -with some breaks- from October until January.
The precise dates are:
15-18 October
29 October to 1st November
5-8 November
12-15 November
3-6 December
10-13 December
14-17 January
21st January.
The venue is likely to be the Great Hall at Cholsey, which is some distance away.
In the meantime we would like to thank Irene Scott who has made a very generous donation to the fighting fund. She didn’t give her address so Waterstock would like to thank her so much for her generosity.
To any who have not contributed,please consider doing so, however large or small, to protect Waterstock Green Belt. To make a payment please follow the link to the Waterstock Just Giving page.
John Wilkinson writes that 5 Waterstock households hosted singers and other creatives for the Waterperry Opera Festival for the last few weeks.
If there is anyone else who might like to do this next year or who would like to become a member, please get in touch with John.
Michael Tyce writes:
They say that insuring thatched houses is an expensive proposition, but rates ease somewhat if chimneys are raised to the regulation 1.8 metres above the thatch. Eventually the expense of raising the chimneys
should cover the cost of the scaffolding and building work. See if you can spot the difference! According to the District Council, quite a number of thatched cottage owners locally are doing the same.
There are unintended consequences though. Apparently chimney sweeps sweep by the yard, and Santa’s health and safety team won't let him work at such heights without an extra glass of sherry on the hearth.
In early August, Alex Haines completed a section of La Haute Route starting at Chamonix. The route - exclusively on foot apart from 2 cable cars to take him to verbier - took him over 120km, from France in Switzerland, over 7 mountain passes including le Col de Louvie and Riedmatten Pass, with a total elevation of 6,600 metres. He spent 5 nights on La Haute Route, of which 3 were in refuges at altitude. Marmottes and Chamoix aplenty, Alex crossed le grand desert (a glacier existed here until 2000) - not a single other human in sight - only dozens of ibex. Crucially, Alex wore his Waterstock cap during the
whole hike to protect him from the sun. He finished in Evolene in Switzerland, the last stronghold of patois spoken by three generations of Swiss locals.
