Susan Jefferies

I have seen some glow worms on Beacon Heath this week. When I take my dog out for his late walk, if it is after dark, we often see glow worms at this time of year.

A Nature Walk is planned this coming Saturday (July 5th) at 9pm looking for Glow worms and looking for and listening for night jars at Barrow Hills just north of Corfe Hills off the Higher Blandford Road.

Nature Watch Corfe Mullen now have two events finalised, one on Saturday (as above) and another on the 9th August a mini-beast safari at Cogdean Elms Nature Reserve. Both are detailed on the website at

http://www.naturewatched.org/corfe-mullen-wildlife-news-events.html

Do come and explore the hidden corners of Corfe Mullen with a guide.

Yesterday (June 28th) Vince Cable and his wife Rachel visited us in Dorset.

In the morning he was in Mid Dorset and North Poole, he came to Lytchett Matravers to a meeting of CALM (Community Association of Lytchett Matravers) and listened to their problems around the ghastly threat of building 2750 new houses in the area.

• He said that the Green Belt was created to stop our towns from merging into each other and to protect our areas of countryside and that this is still valid, Green Belt land is not for building on
• The increase in the number of homes needed in the South West over the last 20 years has been exaggerated and the current downturn in the economy will reduce this demand even further
• Many of homes in the South West are used as second homes and this is increasing as their is an even greater tax advantage now with the reduction of the rate of CGT
• Relying on developer contributions to provide Affordable Housing is not sustainable, particularly at the moment when the big developers are drastically cutting back their building programmes and some may be in danger of going out of business
• Building of affordable homes, much needed in the SW must be a seperate and seperately funded programme.

They then went on to visit North Dorset, managed a quick walk on peacful Hambledon Hill and ended the day at the Annual Constituency Dinner in West Dorset, in Dorchester.

He spoke to us again after dinner. About how we should tackle the downturn in the economy, which he thinks is serious and may last some time. He says we must not compromise our ideals for the environment, lifting tax on petrol will achieve nothing but future misery, we must simply take this opportunity to consolidate and make better use of what we do have, and I agree with him.

He also urged to be optimisitic about the future, our poll ratings are good, twice as good as they were last time we doubled the number of MP’s we had in Parliament so the future is bright !

Well who would be in Gordon Brown’s shoes this anniversary weekend ?!! The Government lost their deposit in the Bye Election ! Down the poll with the Monster Raving Looney Party and the whackos.

and well done to Stephen Kearney who came a very respectable second !

Dave Everett was re-elected on to the Parish Council at a Bye Election yesterday.

Nearly 500 people voted, which is a lively turnout for a Parish Council Bye election, it shows that the people of Corfe Mullen take notice and do care about their community.

Dave Everett polled 322 votes and

Bill Honeyman came a very respectable second with 154 votes

Very well done to both candidates, and we look forward to welcoming Dave back at our next parish council meeting.

Tomorrow, June 26th, we have a Bye Election for the Parish Council in Central Ward.

Councillor Ivan Harrington resigned his position in April after serving for several years.

We have two candidates.

Dave Everett has lived in the village for most, if not all of his life and played an active part.  He was on the Parish Council for over 20 years, latterly as a valued Chairman of the Planning Committee.  After a short break he has decided he misses us so much he would like come back on the Council !

Bill Honeyman, also local, served on the Parish Plan Steering Committee when the Parish Plan was being produced 3 years ago.  This taste of the village has wetted his appetite for more !

Please all go out to vote (Central Ward residents only) tomorrow at the Village Hall.

Answer, nothing at all.

A new school is planned, the contractors are on site and the area has been cleared and big holes dug. As any teenage who goes to QE can tesitfy since early April not a machine has moved on the site. There is a webcam on the school website that records the total lack of progress for all the world to see. However one of my LiDem colleagues has been censored and threatened with legal action for the reporting the same. Confidential information the Council Officers say.
The Govt has given us £29m for a new school, ‘Wow’ you think, but the contact is being renegotiated, and any teenager will be able to speculate that it is not being renegiotated downwards. If it is renegotiated upwards, £Xm or so where will this money come from ? The County Council of course. and where will they get it from ? Most teenagers would expect it come from the Schools Budget, which means that some other schools will find their plans delayed by a mere £5m or so.

This I can assure you is mere speculation, not a leak of Confidential information, worthy of today’s average school student.

Last night we had a superb Constituency Dinner at the Canford Magna Golf Club, our annual excuse to dress up and eat well in excellent company. It was fun, all together with old friends.

Don Foster MP spoke to us, with great humour, he had us laughing all the way. Lots of money was raised and fun was had by us all.

This morning, I managed to get the whole wonderful team together to visit our two Post Offices in Corfe Mullen. Stefan says he has had a letter saying his Post Office is not under immediate threat but he should make no definite plans until September, how can you run a business on that basis ?  At the Hillview Post Office all the staff were so busy that they couldn’t spare the time to talk to us. Let us pray that sense prevails and we can keep both vital Post Offices.

We managed a team photograph, a rare occasion, so you can all see the whole cheerful team, and this is the morning after a good night out for us all !

Left to right Paul Holland (East Dorset District Councillor), Anne Holland (East Dorset District Councillor), Philip Cuckston (East Dorset District Councillor), Susan, Annette Brooke MP, and Stewart Hearn, East Dorset District Councillor.

The next round of Post Office closures, to include Dorset, is due to be announced on July 15th.

Will our Post Offices in Corfe Mullen be at risk ? I am afraid they will.

We all know how important our Post Offices are to us and in Corfe Mullen we know that we do need both. The Village is long, spread out along nearly two miles of the Wareham Road, each Post Office serves a different group of people, and both are busy.

The loss of either would be a big blow to all their customers.

Please do what you can to help us save them both. Each are running petitions, please go in and sign.

This evening I went along to Corfe Hills, where I am a Governor, to see the 6th form Art, exhibited ready for the examiners, Year 12 and Year 13.

As always I was taken aback by the raw, screaming talent on show there.  Each student’s work is highly individual, all quite different, the variety of styles, materials and presentation is quite staggering.   Colourful, provocative, thought provoking, we not only have some very talented young people there, but we also have a staff who draw out the best from each individual talent.   Hard work and dedication, but lots of fun too !

Last week I went off for a few days R&R with my grandchildren who live in the French Alps. It was fun. Colder than here, but the wild flowers were just wonderful. The mountain streams and waterfalls were spectacular too, all the rain helped !

Carnival over for another year !

Yesterday we had the really successful finale of our Carnival. A really lovely day, a superb procession headed by our Carnival Queen and her princesses followed by lots of enterprising floats full of Brownies and Cubs and youngsters.

All converged on our beautiful recreational Ground for watch the displays and to browse among the many stalls. Hundreds of people and families streamed in, everyone met with friends and all the stall holders did good business.

Carnival is a splendid example of the whole community pulling together, making money for local Charities, getting together and also having fun, ice cream, burgers, tea and cake !

Very Grateful thanks from myself and all of us to the valiant Carnival Committee who work so hard all the year round to give us this one week of fun.

Lots of money goes to local Charities, Dorset Air Ambulance and East Dorset Mencap were the main beneficiaries this year, but usually a couple of smaller Charities are given some funds too, when all is counted up, and each of the Charity Stalls will have gone home with a profit as well.

Today I went to a lovely event. The Barnardo’s branch in Dorchester held their annual Coffee Morning and a lovely private house buried in a most secluded part of Dorset.

As the Regional Chairman I had the honour of making a presentation to Beth King

in recognition of her remarkable 76 years of fundraising for Barnardo’s. Beth first started to collect money for Barnardo’s at the age of 10, with her mother, and has been an active supported ever since. She runs the Raffle in Dorchester and bakes cakes, a queue forms every time for her Lemon Meringue pie, and I can testify that it is the best I have ever tasted.

Some of you may have seen that their is talk of designing a Dorset Flag.  David White, in Wimborne has designed a flag using the St Wite’s cross and is promoting it with vigour and enthusiasm.

Keith Lawson is not happy with the design, he would prefer a multi-faith cross rather than the Christian cross and he has come up with something similar using a heraldic cross.  On his flag the main background colour is green to denote the green countryside, with yellow (the sea and sand) and blue (our clear blue sky).  The quadrants of the flag denote our neighbours, Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire, all linked by Dorset in the form of the heraldic cross.

I would like to see a healthy competition between the two,  with entries from anyone else as well.  At the moment the St Wite’s cross seems to be getting most of the publicity so we must ensure an airing for alternative’s as well.

We have a lovely brave and enthusiastic person who has volunteered to look after the Windgreen roundabout for us.   Thank you so much.  Angela Williams and her husband have retired after looking after it beautifully for many years and they are delighted that it will continue to bloom.

You may have noticed it was cleared last week and planting has now started. Keep a weather eye on it when you go past !

Boris has confirmed that he is stepping down as MP for Henley, as he promised when he was running for London Mayor.

Still no date for the by-election but an announcement must be imminent. Most people are expecting a resounding victory for the Conservatives, given their national improvements. I wouldn’t be so sure myself, by-elections are strange beasts and the usual form book is useless.

I think we have a sporting chance, it seems clear that the dynamics are different to the Crewe election, and the Conservatives will have a different set of problems to overcome.

I suspect they will have some difficulty mobilising their troops for a potentially safe seat - it is hard to motivate people to go to something they think is a foregone conclusion. In Crewe, they knew they were in with a chance of a historic victory and so the masses came.

The media are another unknown quantity - they can’t paint this one as a Labour/Tory fight, so they might look for new targets, and the Tories are the obvious one.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that the weather and competing social events could play a role.

I hope to be going to help, and I shall report back on the vibes in due course.

The Library is now charging us to use the computers and the internet. Everyone gets the first half hour free, children and students get 2 hours free, but everyone else pays £1 for every further 30 minutes.

A lot of people use the Library because they don’t have a computer at home, or don’t have broadband, half an hour is not long if you are researching something. Please let me know if this is seriously inconveniencing you.

Last night the Corfe Mullen Sports Association had their AGM.

Sport In Corfe Mullen goes from strength to strength, especially with the Juniors. Their Football season closed with a very successful Presentation day, 200 youngsters playing up at the Rec, and when all their families, friends and supporters were included there must have been 500 people up there on a beautiful sunny Saturday, the Burger van and the Ice cream man did excellent business !

The Cricket season has started off with a bang and a lovely new artificial practice wicket.

Tennis is thriving, a few members have retired, some new members have joined from Wimborne where the Tennis Club has ceased, but there are still a few vacancies. The Ladies team are particularly looking for new members, and the Ladies are needed to fill a few gaps in the Mixed Doubles as well.

All this Sport needs plenty of volunteers to help organize it and fresh blood is always welcome. If you would like to take part in any of the Sports please make enquiries, either contact me or the Parish Office who will point you in the right direction. You will have fun !

The CMSA committee needs a couple of volunteers too. A secretary, not an arduous job, about 6 meetings a year, and lots of rewards, the best one being part of a young and vibrant team !

Parking in some of the residential roads in Corfe Mullen is really a problem. A problem caused by too many cars and not enough off road parking.

Residents in Coventry Close have complained recently that cars are parked half over the pavement on both sides of the road. This does mean that traffic can still flow, but it is dangerous and untidy. In some places the grass verge has been badly rutted or the grass completely worn away which looks just horrible.

Residents in Violet Farm Close also complain about cars being parked everywhere in their cul-de-sac. This is on Saturdays and Sundays when there are Football matches at the Recreation Ground. The car park at the Rec cannot contain all the cars which turn up with players, parents, friends and spectators.

Please let me know if you are affected.

Several years ago a weight restriction was placed on a short stretch (200m) of Wareham Road just north of the entrance to Beacon Hill landfill site.  This was to prevent heavy lorries from coming right through the village.

Now more and more lorries are ignoring it and using Corfe Mullen as a short cut between the A350 at Limberlost and the A31 at Lake Gates.

We will be monitoring the weight restriction with our Community Beat Officer, PC Paul Mellor, and reporting offenders to the Police and the Dorset Trading Standards Office.