Notice Board

We are committed to ensuring our volunteers feel valued and recognised for everything they do.

· This is a role suited to someone who is reliable, has time to commit to about one day a week and wants to make a real difference, to not only the safety and security of vulnerable people, but also the feeling of security when using the internet. Online exploitation and fraud are the fastest growing area of crime, and the elderly are a particular target.

· Volunteers will visit and work with individuals in their own homes assessing how they use their internet and smart technology; then provide advice and guidance to make them less likely to become a victim of crime and to feel safer using the internet. Volunteers can also give group talks where they will provide an input with the same goals, but to community groups and organisations. We will give up to date information and advice on computer & internet security.

· The successful applicant will receive an Induction which will include - an overview of WBVT to include administrative procedures, DBS Check, the loan of IT equipment if required & reimbursement for travel expenses plus accompanying an existing volunteer to a 1 to 1 home visit and a group talk. You will need to have access to a car or the means to be able to travel to different locations to carry out referrals.

For further information contact Toni Evans

WBVT Stay Safe Online Manager Email:Toni@wbvt.org

The Mobile Library Stops at the Green at Cadley on Fridays (every 4 weeks), arriving at  4:05 – dep 14:25

Next dates in 2025:
7 Mar; 4 Apr; 2 May; 30 May; 27 Jun; 25 Jul; 22 Aug

The provisional dates for the 2025 Savernake Parish meetings are as follows:

Parish Council Meeting - 15th January 2025

Parish Council Meeting - 7th May 2025

Annual Parish Meeting - 21st May 2025

Parish Council Meeting - 9th July 2025

Parish Council Meeting - 15th October 2025

For information on support with the food, finance and wellbeing please download this flyer, with a lot of information about local resources you can turn to.

We wish to make all parishioners aware of the SSEN’s Priority Service Register. Please let family or neighbours know about this service if you think it may be beneficial for them to be signed up to this.

“It is that time of year again where we are beginning to get prepared for any inclement weather that may come our way and to ensure our customers are prepared should any loss of power occur in the area.

I am keen to ensure that anyone over 65, anyone with children under 5 or anyone with a medical condition is signed up to our Priority Service Register. It is a free service and just highlights to us those people that may need a little extra help in the event of a power loss. Some customers rely on medical equipment such as medical beds, oxygen or stairlifts and it is key that I know where these customers are, their level of vulnerability and how we can look after them in a storm situation.

I can provide some glow sticks (safer than candles to light up a room) and some information on how customers can keep up to date with any faults that occur and how they can report any problems with their power that they may have.

We also wish to make people aware of our contact number for anyone who has lost power. It is 105 and that will take them straight to our call centre. (This is the number to use for any power company to get an update on power cuts, as it will connect you to your local company). It can be dialled from a mobile or land line (however many land lines will not work in a power outage so we recommend keeping mobile phones charged). It may be worth buying a simple power bank that will re charge your mobile phone.

We also have an App that can be downloaded on any smart phone called Power Track – it is dark blue with three white lines whooshing through it. People can see all the power cuts on there, get updates and also see when it will be restored.

Our Priority Service Team will call those on the register so it is important they provide a mobile number."

Please contact Helen Robertson of SSE if would like any further information, or would like to sign up to the Priority Service Register.
helen.robertson@sse.com helen.robertson@sse.com

T: 07876 837305

Please find attached an update on the last year by Cllr Caroline Thomas, Wiltshire Councillor for Marlborough East

Analysis of waste composition in January 2022 has shown that over a third of items put in the rubbish skips at the Wiltshire household recycling centres were recyclable. Many of these items had been disposed of in unsorted black bags. These unsorted bags contained materials that could have been separated for recycling on site, or at home through the kerbside recycling collection service.

All waste placed in the general waste skips at the Household Recycling Centres is currently disposed of to landfill as it is mixed with bulky items and therefore unsuitable for energy recovery. As well as suppressing our recycling rate, disposing of waste to landfill costs the council £125.77 per tonne and is a cost that could be easily avoided.

Wiltshire Council want to encourage residents to sort their waste and separate recyclable items at home rather than bringing mixed black bags of waste to the recycling centres. This will ensure that site users have the best experience when visiting the site and will make their visit more efficient.

From Monday 25th September residents bringing bags or containers of mixed waste for the general waste skip will be asked if their bags contain recyclable waste. If they do contain recyclable waste, residents will be invited to visit a sorting area where they can remove the recyclable items from their bags. Site operatives will be on hand to help residents identify recyclable items so that they can be placed in the smaller recycling bins labelled by material type at the sorting area.

Tree Wardens plant, protect and promote their local trees. No training or experience in tree management is needed – just a love of trees and a few hours to spare.

Tree Wardens are organised into local groups. Each group is managed by a co-ordinator and is autonomous, meeting regularly to decide what they would like to focus on.

• Some of the projects Tree Warden groups have done include:
• Arranging local tree planting days
• Pruning, watering caring for local trees
• Working with local authorities to plant & care for street trees
• Rejuvenating local woodlands
• Raising funds and finding land for tree planting projects
• Going into schools to talk about the value of trees.

For further information, or to volunteer to be a tree warden, please go to: https://treecouncil.org.uk/tree-wardens/

The Community Messaging service is a free service which will provide messages and alerts from your local Community Policing Team about policing and crime matters in your area.

To sign up for it please visit https://www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk/. Some aspects of this system are as follows, from their website.

• FREE messages and alerts from your local Community Policing Team about policing and crime matters in your area.
• You can receive free messages by email, text or voicemail.
• You can choose which organisations to receive messages from and the type of information you receive.
• Currently messages are being sent by Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Neighbourhood Watch, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, Action Fraud and Get Safe Online.
• Regular newsletter messages are also now sent from Canal Watch, Church Watch, Dog Watch, Farm Watch and Horse Watch.
• You can also join a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in your area or request to start a new scheme.
• Community Messaging aims to improve the flow of information between communities and the local police and fire service.
• You can reply directly to messages, for example from your local police officers with information to help them better police your area.
• If you have a video doorbell or CCTV on your home or business premises please tick the box CCTV Operator/Owner. By doing so you may be able support an appeal for video coverage when a crime is being investigated or missing people are being looked for.

Since 1998, the Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust (WBVT) has worked in partnership with Wiltshire Police to provide a free home security service for elderly and vulnerable people throughout Wiltshire. The charity funds the operation of three Bobby Vans that provide mobile workshops for Bobby Operators.

Operators are skilled carpenter/lock fitters. The operators are also trained in crime reduction and Fire Risk Assessment and provide reassurance to clients.

Bobby Vans are directed to their tasks by coordinators working from an operations room, who receive referrals, decide on work priorities and despatch the vans using sophisticated communications equipment. On arrival the operators conduct a security audit with the permission of the client, fit the necessary security equipment to ensure the home is safe; in addition, they carry out a Fire Risk Assessment and fit smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors when this is appropriate. Finally, all aspects of home, personal and fire safety are discussed, and practical measures provided. The service and equipment are provided free of charge. This vital work is funded by the WBVT.

The mission of the WBVT is to help elderly or vulnerable people who have been victims of, or are at risk of, house crime, hate crime, domestic abuse, or fire. The Trust was set up in 1998, the first of its kind to be established in England. It is overseen by a board of Trustees chaired by Robert Hiscox DL.

The charity works with Wiltshire Police and Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service, as well as several other agencies, to ensure that the most effective use is made of facilities and support available and those in need of help receive it promptly.

WBVT, working in partnership with Wiltshire Police, run a bespoke Online Safety Initiative – Stay Safe Online. The service is free to those people who are over 60 or 18+ with a registered disability. Trained Stay Safe Online Volunteers provide improved digital security awareness, scam prevention advice, support and reassurance; basic practical skills for checking and understanding digital privacy settings; and signpost people to future sources of advice and resources. The service offers one-to-one home visits and community group talks and is managed by a dedicated Stay Safe Online Coordinator.

Should there be a need for any of the following works to be undertaken in your area please report it to Guy Singleton or any other of the Savernake Parish Councillors for it to be added to the Parish Steward's rota.

Wiltshire's team of Parish Stewards are specially trained to complete small-scale discretionary local highways priority works to town and parishes.

There are 18 Parish Stewards, one for each community area, who work with representatives in their parishes to ensure all work requests are clear and are logged for review before they start the work. We also have a support gang that works with the Parish Stewards on larger-scale projects, based on demand.

Each parish has a planned visit each month, with the programme set in advance over a three-month period.

Vehicles
Each Parish Steward has a 4x4 vehicle suitable to undertake the task and duties, along with winter and weather-related activities. These vehicles provide additional resilience to enable the council to respond to extreme weather conditions.

Parish Stewards' tasks - planned works
Typical planned local highway work undertaken by Parish Stewards includes (but is not exclusive to):

• Hand clearing and cutting of growth from drainage grips and drain gully covers.
• Hand clearing of blocked gullies.
• Rodding of drainage systems.
• Clearing of small culverts, pipes, and pits.
• Clearing storm debris.
• Trimming encroaching hedges and vegetation from around road signs and railings.
• Cleaning and straightening small road signs.
• Hand cutting small visibility areas.
• Reactive emergency repairs, including pothole repairs (In accordance with Wiltshire Councils Highways Inspection Manual).
• Find, fix and record potholes.
• Responding to road closure requests from the emergency services.
• Removal of ragwort (hand pulling or strimming of defined areas).
• Treatment/removal of weeds.
• Graffiti and fly-posting removal.
• Clearance of debris and materials from scenes of road traffic collisions including clinical waste.
• Siding out of footways and carriageways.
• Clearance of small fallen trees or minor overhanging branches/limbs.

Parish Stewards’ tasks – emergency works
Examples of types of emergency reactive local highway work undertaken by Parish Stewards includes (but is not exclusive to):

• Resolving flooding issues – clearing drainage grips and drain gully covers, clearing of small culverts, pipes, and pits etc.
• Placing emergency signage and traffic management.
• Clearing structures and fixings and making them safe.
• Reactive pothole repair.
• Responding to road closure requests from the emergency services.
• Small masonry type works, such as repairs to slabs and damaged kerbs.
• Clearance of debris and materials from scenes of road traffic collisions, including clinical waste.
• Clearance of storm-damaged trees from the highway, including the use of a chainsaw (where this work is extensive, further support may be required).

Parish Stewards’ multiple person tasks – planned works
These jobs are a minimum two-person operation. They can be completed on an ad-hoc day, which is typically a Friday, but this is flexible:

• Minor carriageway repairs, including vehicle overruns.
• Works requiring traffic management.
• Siding out of detritus from footways where there are larger volumes of material to clear or there is a significant length over 150m.

Further work tasks (non-Parish Steward tasks)
These jobs will be completed by other operational gangs, with a specific task order required to detail the scop and nature of the works:

• Small masonry-type works, such as repairs or replacement of slabs and damaged kerbs.
• Erection of small signs, including posts in the footways, carriageways, and verges.
• Fence and pedestrian barrier replacement.
• Sanding and painting of barriers.
• Large areas of sweeping and more than five gully dig outs or cleans.

Are you an individual or group interested in Wiltshire’s history?

The Wiltshire Local History Network aims to provide a welcoming connection, to meet and engage with others who have a shared interest in the history of our county, to share knowledge and provide a valuable point of contact. You’ll also hear all about what’s going on in the county’s heritage organisations such as the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, Wiltshire Victoria County History, Wiltshire Museum and more.

We meet four times a year online via Zoom on a Wednesday evening at 7.30pm

Why not join us? Membership is free and also includes a free place at our upcoming conference on Saturday 23 September at Rowdefield Farm Training Centre ‘Bread or Blood: Social Protest and Unrest in Wiltshire’.

Contact the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre via archives@wiltshire.gov.uk or tel. 01249 70550 to join the Network or to find out more.

Wiltshire now has a new and updated online portal for anyone interested in the county’s history

You will discover historical information for the 261 communities covering the Wiltshire Council administered area on the Wiltshire Community History website. There is a general history of each parish with further information on schools and churches. Maps, details about local authors, literary and creative associations in the county can also be found, alongside a large number of photographs, to help you discover just what makes each community unique.

To help, each community also contains administrative information such as the most useful newspapers for research, population statistics and a list of sources in the Local Studies Library at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre.

You can access the site via the link Community History (wiltshire.gov.uk)

VCH Wiltshire

The Wiltshire Victoria County History Trust continues to progress work on its multi-volume comprehensive history of the county. With 18 out of an eventual 25 volumes already published, Volumes 19 (covering the area around Mere) and 20 (covering Chippenham and its surroundings) are both close to completion, and Volume 21, covering Alderbury and the far south east of the county, is under way. Read all about the work on their website - https://www.wiltshirehistory.org/ - which also gives details of this year's programme of online talks. The website also offers access to current and past volumes online.

Local Highway and Footway Improvement Groups (LHFIGS) have replaced Community Area Transport Groups (CATGs) and are sub-groups of the area boards. They aim to find solutions for local transport issues such as road repairs, traffic problems, road layouts and parking. More details on the type of measures which can and cannot be considered for funding can be found in the LHFIG Terms of Reference April 2022 Each group has about 10 members including area board members, town and parish council members and community representatives.

The meetings are also attended by relevant officers from Wiltshire council including a senior transport planner, a senior traffic engineer and a local highway maintenance engineer as necessary. Their key purpose is to offer advice and support to the group but they do not vote on the issues raised. The LHFIG may also invite representatives from local organisations to its meetings to give technical advice or to share local knowledge. Further information on the LHFIG decision making process can be found in the LHFIG Guidance Notes April 2022.

The amount allocated is dependent on the geographical size and population for each community area. The funding allocation is for capital expenditure and can only be used to provide new and improved highway infrastructure. The funding is suitable for small scale schemes which improve safety, increase accessibility and sustainability by promoting walking, cycling and public transport and improving traffic management. It cannot be used to fund revenue functions such as maintenance schemes or the provision of passenger transport services.

Individuals may Report a highways improvement issue which should then be submitted to their town or parish council. Only those issues which are supported by the town or parish council may be considered by the LHFIG.

Further information about how the groups operate, including membership, meeting schedule and the decision-making process, can be found on the Local highway and footway improvement groups.

Individuals who wish to raise a matter should download the form below and complete it, then submit it to Savernake Parish Council by email to info@savernake-pc.org, so the Parish Council can discuss the matter and if necessary raise it at the Marlborough Local Highway and Footway Improvement Group.