PENN and Tylers Green Football Club is looking to redesign its facilities to cope with the increasing popularity of sporting and social events at the club.
Talks are underway with the land owners, the Penn House Estate, about providing a new access, additional parking and other improvements.
The site also hosts the village cricket club and tennis club which, together with the football club, comprise the Penn and Tylers Green Sports and Social Club.
Football club chairman Nigel Miller told Penn parish councillors that an architect has been commissioned to design a scheme. One possibility was a new access from Common Wood Lane, Penn.
In the meantime the football club is taking action to cope with parking issues that arise when major events like its annual six-a-side junior football tournament and its Party on the Pitch take place.
Last year some residents complained when some visitors parked inconsiderately on nearby roads causing congestion and blocking drives.
Mr Miller told the council that this year permission had been obtained to use the field behind the Red Lion as a car park. In addition the club has told residents on Elm Road it would pay half the cost of putting white access protection lines across their driveway entrances. They have also issued No Parking signs for residents to put out.
To prevent parking on the common new No Parking signs have been installed around the edge and fresh double yellow lines on the side of Elm Road abutting the common are due to be in place later this year.
Local elections
LOCAL elections are being held for Buckinghamshire Council on 1 May. This blog will be updated with the results on 2nd or 3rd May.
Elections were also due to be held for parish councils on 1 May but in Penn, Tylers Green and Hazlemere the elections were declared uncontested as there were an insufficient number of people willing to stand as candidates.
Local news
Fun Run -The village’s biggest get-together, the Penn Seven, Fun Run and Ruby Dash takes place on the common on Saturday 7 June, followed by an evening of music from local bands. Funds raised this year will support the Rainbow Room at Tylers Green First School, a space dedicated to help children with additional needs. A special Penn 7 medal has been cast for this year, sponsored by the local financial consultants fmifa. You can enter the races and find out more on https://penn7.com
Life savers – Three people who saved a man’s life after he suffered a cardiac arrest in the Winchmore Hill Cricket Club bar have been awarded a special certificate by the National Pub Watch organisation. Chloe Timberlake, Peter Dunbarton and Tom McNeill used CPR and a defibrillator which was installed in the bar just three days earlier to keep darts player Kevin Jones alive until paramedics arrived.
Burglary charges – Three men have been charged with committing a number of burglaries in the Penn, Beaconsfield and Loudwater area after police spotted a stolen car they were using and caught them in a chase overseen by a police helicopter. The men, from Harrow, Nottingham and no fixed address have been charged with 45 offences including burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary in Buckinghamshire. They will appear in court shortly.
Speeding stats – Latest police figures show that Hammersley Lane, Tylers Green has the highest number of speeding motorists in the area with between seven and 10 per cent regularly breaking the 30mph and 40 mph limits.
Scottish pride – Nineteen year old rugby player Reuben Logan, who lives in Penn, made his debut for Scotland in the under-20s Six Nations, playing in all five games. He had previously been selected for England but switched allegiance to follow in the footsteps of his dad Kenny, who played 70 times for Scotland. He’s leaving Northampton Saints to play for Sale Sharks next season.
Covid fraud – Bill Blenkarn, who ran an events organising business from an office in Church Road, Penn, was given a two year prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, last month for making a fraudulent claim during the Covid pandemic. Mr Blenkarn, aged 48, who is said to now live in Spain, denied any wrongdoing.
The Insolvency Service told Aylesbury Crown Court he received £100,000 under the Bounce Back Loan Covid support scheme when he was only entitled to £50,000. He claimed for two companies instead of one. The Service said it is taking action to recover the amount overpaid. The companies involved have since been dissolved.
Police team – Following a reorganisation, the neighbourhood police team for the Chepping Wye area (Tylers Green/Hazlemere/Loudwater) now works out of the Thames Valley Roads Policing unit at Taplow and comprises Sgt Hedley Gabriel, Police Constable Rav Kuma, Police Community Support Officer Dave Wenham and Police and Community Safety Partnership Officer Vijay Desai.
Open gardens – The Penn and Tylers Green Open Gardens tour, in aid of Village Care, takes place on Sunday 8 June between 1.30 and 5.30pm, starting from the village hall. About 16 gardens are expected to be open this year and there’s refreshments en route. Details on this link: https://www.opengardens.co.uk/open_gardens-printfriendly.php?id=2044
Soccer success – Penn and Tylers Green FC’s women’s side finished second in Division 1 north of the Southern Region Women’s Football League. The men’s first team finished third in their league, Division 1 of the Combined Counties Football League, and drew in the play-offs before losing out in a penalty shoot-out.
Camping approval – Meadow Farm in Bayleys Bottom, Penn has been given permission to use part of its land as a camp site for a further three years. There were a number of objections from the public but due to Buckinghamshire Council’s ban on publishing the public’s comments (see last blog) the details are unknown.
Housing approval – Developers have been given permission to build half a dozen large homes in Witheridge Wood, Witheridge Lane, Penn, near the Saucy Corner junction in Knotty Green (the Witheridge Lane/Clay Street junction).
Door decay – The Grade 2 listed phone box by Holy Trinity Church needs a new door but the cost will be £1,500. Penn Parish Council is asking the residents society if it can contribute.
Pub expansions – The Potter’s Arms in Winchmore Hill has been given permission to convert outbuildings into a second kitchen. The Crown in Hazlemere wants to provide a semi-enclosed seating area at the front of the pub separated from the car park, and to improve the rear garden with patio areas and a covered pergola so it can be used all year round.
Free spuds collection – The Village Show organisers say that free sprouting seed potatoes for the heaviest potato harvest competition in September (see last blog) will be available from the village hall this month (from 12 to 16 May between 9am and noon and between 9am and 10am on 17 and 18 May). To avoid disappointment please put your name down beforehand by visiting the website on this link https://www.pennandtylersgreenvillageshow.com/family and scrolling to the bottom.
On stage – Drama students at Sir William Ramsay School in Rose Avenue impressed with a performance of SIX the Musical last month. Earlier they attended a special schools showing of Les Miserables in the West End which included a question and answer session with the performers and back stage staff.
Millionaire’s playground or wildlife haven? Planning battle enters another round
A FRESH attempt to convert a field into an orchard with accompanying wildflower meadow, bee hives and a pond at the back of Penn Grove in Witheridge Lane, Penn is being made following several objections first time round.
The field itself is nothing special but it is in the middle of a highly protected landscape. It abuts ancient woodland and is within both the Green Belt and the Chilterns Natural Landscape.
Now investment manager Tristan Ramus, who lives in the Penn Grove mansion, has amended the design in the hope of gaining approval. He says it will increase biodiversity.
Last year his original design was criticised by parish councillors as an attempt to convert agricultural land into a garden, while one member of the public said it was a “cynical ploy to create a millionaire’s playground.”
In one of his last acts before he died, the late TV doctor Michael Mosley said the scheme encroached on public rights of way and was out of keeping with the area.
This time round the public’s opinions are unknown because of Buckinghamshire Council’s ban on publishing individual’s comments on planning applications (see last blog). Councillors will make a decision once a new planning committee is formed following this month’s local elections.
*Permission for a self-build house in the former garden of Oldfields, Church Road, Penn has been refused as inappropriate development in Green Belt. Planning officers said : “The site is one of the few remaining open sites (off Church Road) and the break in development is important to maintain the historic character of the area.”
Rock Choir makes its debut in Penn
THE ROCK Choir will make its first appearance in Penn on 6 June in a charity performance at Holy Trinity Church in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.
The 800 year old walls of the church will resound to the pop, gospel and Motown sounds of the local Rock Choir under the leadership of Katy Seath, who runs the Wycombe and Beaconsfield groups.
Rock Choir comprises people who sing for the love of singing and don’t need to take auditions. But they rehearse seriously to put on professional performances.
The concert is part of Ron Hedley’s fund-raising campaign to raise money for prostate cancer research via the Bob Willis Fund (see March blog).
Ron, of Old Kiln Road, Tylers Green is being treated for prostate cancer and has so far raised over £60,000 by taking part in sponsored walks held at cricketing venues here and abroad. Last month he and his wife Pat were joined in a walk in Malta where an international cricket tournament was taking place. They raised over a thousand euros.
Tickets for the Rock Choir concert are £10 each and include a drink and sweet treats. They can be obtained in advance by emailing Ron at rhedley2001@yahoo.co.uk
Company begins Gomm Valley ground investigation even though it doesn’t (yet) have permission to build
TAYLOR Wimpey, who want to develop the Gomm Valley, pictured above, between Hammersley Lane, Tylers Green, featured at the bottom of the picture, and Cock Lane, by the line of trees and houses at the top of the picture, began ground investigations last month even though a revised planning application is yet to be submitted.
The company lost a planning appeal last year to build 544 houses and other facilities in the valley – the last undeveloped dry valley in the High Wycombe – because the planning inspector said the extra traffic generated by the development would gridlock the A40 London Road.
However, the company is confident its plans will eventually be accepted and consequently sent ground engineers into the field off Hammersley Lane last month to determine the exact location of gas pipes under the surface.
Taylor Wimpey’s traffic modellers are working with Buckinghamshire Council’s highway planners to try and find a solution to the A40 problem.
Happy birthdays
THREE community organisations are celebrating significant anniversaries this year.
- The Village Pre-School celebrates its 60th anniversary this summer. Just think, the children who first attended what was then the Residents’ Association Playgroup will soon be collecting their pensions!
- Penn and Tylers Green Evening Women Institute also celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. It began in 1965 as an offshoot to the Afternoon WI which had held its inaugural meeting in the village in November 1926. The Afternoon WI ceased about 20 years ago but was revived as a Morning WI in 2012. That too closed last October.
- Penn and Tylers Green Tennis Club celebrates its 65th anniversary this year. It has men’s, women’s, mixed and junior teams competing in leagues and runs an extensive training scheme.
- Next year sees the 150th anniversary of Tylers Green School (now the first school). In June 1875 – 150 years ago next month – the school board accepted a tender from a High Wycombe builder of £1,887 to build the school by the front common and the foundation stone was laid in October of that year. The first children attended the new school in August the following year.
Up yours! Council finally takes revenge on HS2
MUCH TO their frustration, councillors haven’t had much chance to obstruct the progress of HS2, the high speed railway through the Chilterns which many of them hate.
Special Acts of Parliament meant that Buckinghamshire Council was largely by-passed on the big decisions involving the railway’s construction.
So when councillors got a rare chance to influence something that fell out of jurisdiction of the HS2 Acts, they took the opportunity to stick a spanner in the works.
Last month, by eight votes to one, councillors on the Strategic Sites Committee refused permission for the railway to build an underground chamber in a farmer’s field that’s intended to control the flow of water while a nearby cut-and-cover tunnel is completed. Without the chamber the tunnel near Wendover can’t be finished.
The councillors delivered their snub despite their planning officers recommending they accept. For some this was their last action as councillors before the local elections.
A seething HS2 is considering its next steps. But in the meantime it says the refusal will further delay the project and possibly add millions to the bill.
Councillors – many of whom see the project as one that simply upsets residents, spoils the countryside and brings no benefit to the county – said the company had not properly consulted over the work and if it went ahead it would damage the protected landscape where it’s sited.
*Mark Wild, the former Crossrail boss appointed by the Government to get a grip on the excessive spending and chronic delays that’s bugged HS2 said last month there was no guarantee trains would be running by 2033, the latest date the Government was hoping for. Work started after seven years of planning in 2019 and trains were expected to be running by 2026. The project is billions of pounds over-budget.
Regional news
Dirty work – Penn’s MP Sarah Green and her boss, the stunt-loving Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, splished along the River Chess last month to highlight the damage sewage discharge is doing to the Chilterns’ rare chalk streams. The party says it wants to ban water companies from dumping sewage in rivers and abolish the “amateur” regulator, Ofwat.
Collars for cows – A fund raising campaign has begun to buy reflective collars for the cows on Dorney Common so they can be seen by drivers crossing the common at night. Cows are killed at an average of more than two a year by motorists usually exceeding the speed limit. The fund has so far raised nearly £3,000 while Buckinghamshire Council is considering lowering the 60mph limit.
Chess Grandmaster– Twenty four year old Matthew Wadsworth, well known on the local chess circuit, has become a chess Grandmaster, one of only 42 in the UK. He achieved the necessary points needed from international tournaments last month. He’s a former Berks and Bucks junior chess champion and teaches youngsters in the Maidenhead area every Saturday.
Ancient find – Archeologists are getting excited over what seems to be a “unique” Bronze Age settlement discovered by developers of a new housing estate at Hampden Fields, south of Aylesbury. It will be further investigated this summer.
Short measures – Trading standards officers sent on an under-cover but welcome mission to discover whether short-measures of wine, beer and spirits were being served at 10 suspected pubs in Oxfordshire found that more than half the drinks they were served were indeed not full measures. The pubs were given a warning and “guidance”.
Council censorship – Over 260 members of the public have objected to plans to build a large development off Minerva Way, Beaconsfield but not a single one of their comments can be read because of Buckinghamshire Council’s arbitrary and unexplained decision to ban public letters on planning applications from public view (see last blog).
Caught out – A developer who built a six storey block of flats in Slough even though he only had planning permission for four storeys has been ordered to pull the building down.
Nest violated – A vandal who scrambled to the top of St Alban’s Cathedral to destroy three eggs laid by a breeding pair of peregrine falcons was spotted on the video running a live stream of the nest. The video is now in the hands of investigating police. Wildlife experts said it was unlikely the birds would lay new eggs this year.
Barnaby’s back – The 25th series of Midsomer Murders began filming in the Chilterns last month with the show’s long time producer Ian Strachan telling The Times that the show’s setting is essential to its success. “The success of the show has as much to do with the lovely scenery as well as the absolute brutal violence,” he said. In its 24 series so far there have been 473 murders, including one in the kitchen of the former Penn School.
SPECIAL REPORT
Blazing effigies, blaring factory horns, thanksgiving services and the welcome return of church bells. The sights and sounds of our VE Day celebrations 80 years ago
THROUGHOUT the Second World War, Mark Filby, a First World War veteran and headmaster of Tylers Green School, had kept a shotgun at the school in case the fateful day ever came when a German parachutist attempted to land on the common and he might have to shoot.
On the evening of 7 May, 1945 Mr Filby prepared his shotgun again: this time not to fire in anger, but in celebration.
He had spent the day with a number of older children at the school and other friends in the village collecting wood and constructing an enormous bonfire on the common in front of the school. In sheds and workshops other villagers were preparing effigies of various enemy war leaders ready to be burned atop the giant bonfire.
Elsewhere people were digging out flags and bunting – most of it unused since the 1937 Coronation of George VI – and decorating their homes.
On the morning of Tuesday, 8 May – Victory in Europe Day – the school was closed so everyone could prepare for the historic moment when the war in Europe would officially end.
Mr Filby set up the school’s loudspeakers facing the common and attached them to the school wireless (radio) so that everyone could gather round at 3pm and listen to prime minister Winston Churchill announce that after 2,076 days the German war was over.
But the main crowds began to gather round the school loudspeakers later on that balmy May evening, this time to listen to the King, often struggling to beat his stammer, offering his thanks to the nation and the allies.
Then, as soon as His Majesty’s broadcast ended, three serviceman – all villagers currently on leave – jointly lit the bonfire to an almighty cheer. People danced and sang and hugged. The children had never seen anything like it.
Hugh Cook later recalled: “Effigies of Hitler and Mussolini were hung over the bonfire by a gibbet. Mr Filby went into the school and fetched out his shotgun and shot the flaming effigies to pieces. When one of the onlookers threw up his hat in the air, he shot that too!”
The Bucks Free Press Penn and Tylers Green village correspondent wrote the following report:
“ VE Day in Penn and Tylers Green, although not extravagantly celebrated, was a bright and happy occasion. Practically every house had its display of flags and bunting, which, with the spring brightness of the gardens, made a gay setting.
“Church bells at Penn and Tylers Green were rung and well attended services of thanksgiving were conducted at Penn church by the vicar, the Rev. Oscar Muspratt; at Tylers Green church by the vicar, the Rev Gerald Hayward; and at Penn Free Methodist Church by the minister, the Rev David Murray.
“In anticipation of the day, children of Tylers Green School, under the leadership of their headmaster, Mr M.K. Filby, and with the help of a number of friends, had prepared a bonfire on the village green near the school.
“A loud speaker in the forecourt of the school relayed the wireless programmes of music, news and speeches, and here many people gathered to hear the King’s speech and the tributes which preceded it.
“Immediately after His Majesty’s speech the bonfire was started.
“A large crowd had by now assembled, and with many of the young people sporting paper hats and head-dresses gay with red, white and blue ribbons, it was a colourful scene. Fireworks were discharged as the mounting flames brought down into the heart of the fire the effigies of enemy war criminals that had been suspended above the fire.
“A church parade has been arranged for next Sunday morning, when, if the weather is favourable, a united service will be conducted on the village green by the Rev Hayward and the Rev Murray. Should outdoor conditions be unsuitable the service will be held in St Margaret’s Church, Tylers Green.”
The Bucks Free Press report from Hazlemere’s village correspondent read:
“On receipt of the VE Day news the village of Hazlemere was soon transformed by flags and bunting into a scene of gaiety. In the evening Dr. A. Mansbridge M.A. conducted a thanksgiving service in the parish church. At dusk there were many bonfires, fireworks and other festive celebrations.
“On Sunday afternoon there is to be a procession from the crossroads to the vicarage meadow where a united service of thanksgiving will be held. All denominations and organisations in the village will join in.”
In Penn Street the massive Dancer and Hearne furniture factory, pictured above, had been turned over to making parts for the De Havilland Mosquito fighter/bomber throughout the war (Cecil Hearne was a friend of Geoffrey de Havilland, who was born in Terriers).
Villagers and factory workers also gathered round loudspeakers to hear Churchill’s afternoon speech and as soon as it was over there was an almighty noise.
The works boiler had been steamed up to blow a specially prepared hooter which, together with an electric siren, sounded for five minutes in long blasts and intermittent V for Victory signals.
When they finished the church bells of Holy Trinity, Penn Street filled the air. The sound of church bells here, as in other communities, was a welcome sound that hadn’t been heard for at least five years. In the village hall the evening saw a victory whist drive followed by a dance which didn’t finish to the early hours.
In High Wycombe, reported the Bucks Free Press, “groups of people were singing happily, skipping along as a ‘crocodile’ and dancing whenever they felt like it.
“Old people and young people clasped hands, formed a chain, and danced around the fire, singing snatches of whatever popular song took their fancy and revelling in the warmth that symbolised for many of the old folk a freedom once gained but lost.
“For the young people present – some of whom had never seen their kindred in such a joyous mood – it was marvellous that after six weary years they could let themselves go and enjoy a peacetime pleasure they had perhaps only glimpsed through the eyes of their parents.”
The end of the war in Europe meant the disbandment of the Home Guard, here in Penn and Tylers Green as in every community in the country.
They had been a familiar and reassuring presence in the village throughout the war, conducting fire watch duties from the tower of Holy Trinity Church, Penn; assisting during air raids; taking part in numerous exercises and, if necessary, preparing to defend the village to the death in the event of invasion.
They were led by Ted West, a First World War veteran who owned a haulage company in Hazlemere Road and whose offices, pictured below, became the heavenly sandbagged Area Command Post.
Although the Home Guard disbanded after VE Day the war of course continued in the far east.
And even after the end of that war in August 1945 the feeling persisted that we should never again be unprepared to defend our homeland.
So, in Penn and Tylers Green, as in many other communities, a Civil Defence branch was established in the late 1940s to be ready to assist in emergencies.
You can contact this blog at peter@pennandtylersgreen.com. It will be updated as required in May but the next full update will be on 1 June.