THE NUMBER of people in Buckinghamshire who have contracted coronavirus since the pandemic began topped 50,000 this month.
That’s around one in ten of the population although the percentage among adults is higher because few children have been infected and the figure doesn’t include those who caught the virus but did not realise it.
There were 23 new cases in Tylers Green last week (that’s exactly the same as the national average when looking at numbers in the local population); with 45 new cases in the Penn area, slightly higher than the national average, and 36 in Hazlemere, slightly lower.
Council leader Martin Tett said that 36 per cent of the new cases involve children of school age. The highest infected group are those aged between 16 and 18.
The number of people in Buckinghamshire hospitals with severe Covid symptoms remains relatively low – it has been in the low teens for some weeks now – and the most recent figures indicate a ten per cent drop in new cases this month compared to August. Eleven Covid related deaths were reported in the county in the month to 3 September.
The medical authorities continue to be very cautious as thousands of children and adults return to schools and workplaces. Fingers are crossed. The number of people in the Wycombe area who have been double vaccinated stands at 75 per cent – 10 percentage points higher than the national average.
Clubs pick themselves up, dust themselves down and start all over again…
MEANWHILE, the community continues to return to some sort of normality. Penn Fair returned to the common this weekend after it was unable to set up last year. The Penn and Tylers Green Village Show, which also skipped last year, returns to the village hall next Saturday, 18th, (see below). Most village clubs and societies have resumed their regular activities, some after a break of 18 months.
Children have returned to school to near normal conditions and the eleven-plus examinations were held in the local middle schools on Thursday. Tylers Green Middle School confirmed one Covid case involving a year 5 pupil on Wednesday and parents were informed.
Arriva Buses has resumed its pre-pandemic timetable. The no. 31 Penn to High Wycombe service now runs half-hourly during weekdays and more frequently at rush hours.
Post pandemic difficulties affecting many parts of the country are also having an impact here.
Both Penn and Highfield surgeries said that flu vaccine deliveries have been delayed because of road freight difficulties, while Highfield said it may have to cancel non-urgent blood tests because of a shortage of blood collection bottles.
Buckinghamshire Council has asked people in the village to continue putting food waste into the grey general waste bin instead of the brown food bin because of a shortage of refuse collection staff.
Our roads are an assault course says Penn’s new MP in her maiden speech
PENN’S new MP, the Chesham and Amersham Liberal Democrat Sarah Green, made her maiden speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday, taking a pot shot at potholes and her neighbouring Wycombe MP Steve Baker.
She made her contribution during a debate on the Government’s Elections Bill which aims to clamp down on election fraud and is very much one of Mr Baker’s babies. He maintains there was widespread attempts at electoral fraud in Wycombe at the last election.
Ms Green however, begs to differ. She told MPs: “Something that makes your heart sink are the roads around Buckinghamshire.
“I call them roads, but they are more like an assault course for unsuspecting drivers.
“The shocking state of our roads is something that my constituents are desperate to see fixed, but sadly this Government is more interested in fixing a problem that does not exist.
“There is no evidence of mass voter fraud in this country and yet, with this Bill, the Government wants to introduce voter ID at elections. This will result in countless voters being turned away at the polling booth for no good reason.”
This looks like the first of many Baker/Green showdowns.
All is safely gathered in…for now
Farmers have been making the most of perfect harvest weather, here reaping what may be one of the last harvests in the Gomm Valley, between Cock Lane and Hammmersley Lane, Tylers Green if a proposed housing development is permitted. Picture: Barbara Griffiths.
News in brief
Cricket success – Penn and Tylers Green Cricket Club enjoyed a successful season despite Covid restrictions. The first XI finished second in the Chiltern and Mid Bucks Premiership. The club’s teams played 84 matches and welcomed 30 new players. Over 100 colts and juniors are playing with the club. James Woodhead was named player of the season for his successful bowling spells. In one game he took six wickets for seven runs.
Pub’s fundraising – The Crown at Penn has raised nearly £20,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support from a celebration menu it has been running. Fund raising continues this month with a rock and roll bingo session on Thursday (16th).
Fatal accident – Nesaar Khan, a 20 year old employee at Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Wycombe Marsh retail park, died on his way home to Wooburn Green from work after his moped was involved in a collision with a car at the Hammersley Lane junction with London Road on Monday. Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident which happened in the dark at 8.35pm.
MPs divided – Steve Baker, the Wycombe (and Tylers Green) MP, abstained in last week’s House of Commons vote on raising taxes to boost NHS and social care services post pandemic. Chesham and Amersham (and Penn) MP Sarah Green voted against while Beaconsfield MP Joy Morrissey voted in favour.
Jump delay – Dog walker Jackie Sturgess of Birch Way, Tylers Green has had to postpone her charity parachute jump in aid of Stokenchurch Dog Rescue until 17 October. Her Just Giving page – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jackie-sturgess– is still open.
Church centre opens – Holy Trinity Church, Hazlemere, opens its new Trinity Centre extension in Amersham Road, today (Sunday 12th).
Club apology – Penn and Tylers Green Football Club has apologised to neighbours after the music at a charity event in the Sports and Social Club on 30 August went on longer than anticipated and was louder than it should have been. The club said it had taken steps to ensure there would be no repeat and has made a contribution to the charity MIND as an apology.
Radio announcer dies – Broadcaster Patrick Lunt, who lived in Kingswood Road, Tylers Green when he was married to TV newsreader Jan Leeming, has died at his home in Hazlemere aged 73 after a long battle with lung cancer.
It’s showtime!
There’s still time to enter this year’s Penn and Tylers Green Village Show, which resumes after a year’s absence at Tylers Green Village Hall on Saturday (18th). You can enter via the show’s website https://pennandtylersgreenvillageshow.com/ and entries can be sent via email to ptgvsc@gmail.com You can also bring along entries on the day, space permitting.
A poignant return…
A MAN who witnessed the immediate aftermath of one of Penn’s greatest disasters returned to the village yesterday (Saturday) and to the site where the devastating accident happened.
An American B17 bomber, Tomahawk Warrior, crashed in a field near Lude Farm, Penn on 12 August, 1944 killing all nine young American servicemen on board.
It’s believed the pilot, Lt. Charles Searl, steered the plane to open fields to avoid crashing on homes in High Wycombe once he realised the aircraft was going to crash.
The explosion of the fully loaded plane was heard for miles and people throughout the area rushed to Lude Farm. They included eight year old David Huntley who, with his brother and step-brother, ran up from their home in Derehams Lane, Loudwater.
In a note to his children and grandchildren David wrote: “I saw the remains of a plane virtually unrecognisable as a plane at all. There were people running round with galvanised metal tubs picking up body parts and parachute silk was used to cover bodies. My brothers were trying to shield me from the gruesome scene, although I had seen plenty of wartime in London.”
Unsurprisingly the scene made a lifetime impression on David. In later life he moved to America and became an author and writer and spent many hours researching the background to the flight and the crew. A book he is completing is due to be published next year.
He was also instrumental in arranging for a memorial plaque near the crash site and yesterday, now aged 86, he returned to the site from his home in Dallas to remember and to meet old friends.
The crash was long remembered in Penn too of course, and every year the crew are remembered at a special service in Penn’s Holy Trinity Church.
The late Ron Setter, who lived in Lude Farm at the time, and later moved to New Road, Tylers Green, was also instrumental in ensuring the crew were never forgotten. His abridged version of that fateful day is on the Times Past link on this blog.
*My thanks to Greg Allwood for additional information
Pub facelift
The former Red Lion at Knotty Green has undergone a major facelift. It has been bought by local businessmen who have introduced a South American chef and its had a name change – it’s now The Lion of Beaconsfield.
You can contact this blog by emailing peter@pennandtylersgreen.com