SIBLINGS Sophie and Daniel Newcombe, of Kite Wood Road,Tylers Green, have both passed a tough selection process to be chosen to attend major international scouting events next year.
Sophie, 16, will be attending the Scout World Jamboree in South Korea, while Daniel, 14, will be at the Grand Tour of Europe event involving scouts from nine other European countries.
Both are members of Penn and Tylers Green Scout Group, and both are taking on lots of odd jobs, and organised a village quiz night, to raise enough money to pay for their fares.
If you would like to help chip in, see Sophie’s fund raising page on https://gofund.me/cbc8e966
Twins marathon success
Honouring Ray at the village hall
THE MAIN hall at Tylers Green Village Hall has been renamed the Ray Bradley Hall in honour of Ray Bradley MBE, a driving force in the modernisation of the hall at the turn of the century.
Ray was an organiser of the initial Penn Seven and Fun Run, a governor at Penn School, an active church worker and leader of the local Boys Brigade before he retired to Devon, where he died two years ago. He was awarded an MBE for his charitable work. His wife Helene unveiled the new nameplate at a ceremony attended by many members of his family.
Local news in brief
Gomm Valley – It will several months before councillors in Bucks consider Taylor Wimpey’s planning applications to build over 600 homes and other buildings in the Gomm Valley between Cock Lane and Hammersley Lane, Tylers Green. A number of issues – including several raised by members of the public in their objections – are being discussed between the developers and council planners.
Legion hall bought – It’s reported that the former British Legion hall at Hazlemere Crossroads has been acquired by Merit Tyres, who own a depot next door.
Car park chaos – The National Blood Transfusion Service session at Tylers Green Village Hall was disrupted when the service’s van was unable to find a place in the car park because there were so many cars there belonging to people who do not use the hall but park all day. The hall trustees have appealed for all-day parkers to use somewhere else.
New system – A new appointments system will be introduced at Penn Surgery from 1 November after staff agreed that an appointments system called Klinik, which was being used for a trial period, failed to live up to expectations. The system will be kept under review. See the surgery’s website for details.
Students help – Pupils at Sir William Ramsay School in Rose Avenue have been donating food to the Wycombe Food Hub throughout September after attending assemblies focused on the increasing cost of living and its impact on many families.
Path repairs – Remedial work will take place on the footpath from New Road to the back common this autumn to prevent the path turning into a quagmire in the winter.
Sell-out – The appearance of a mobile fish and chip van in the Horse and Jockey car park proved so popular it sold out of fish and pies.
Apple plea – Curzon School in Penn Street is appealing for any spare apples, especially cookers, which they can sell to boost school funds.
Woods talk – An illustrated talk on the history of local woods is being given by Earl Howe, Miles Green and Stuart King at Tylers Green Village Hall on 21 October.
Speeding watch – Figures presented to the local Neighbourhood Action Group showed that a speed watch group tracked 443 vehicles in two sessions in Tylers Green, of which 16 were speeding above 36 mph.
The great political survivor
ANOTHER rash of political comings and goings last month, but for Earl Howe, who lives in Penn House, Penn Street, it’s business as usual.
He really is the greatest political survivor, being by far the longest serving continuous front bench spokesman in Parliament.
He first became an official Government spokesman 30 years ago when John Major appointed him a junior minister in the House of Lords for the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food. Then, for two years from 1995 he was junior minister at the Ministry of Defence.
In opposition, between 1997 and 2010 he was the official opposition spokesman in the Lords for the Department of Health, becoming the Government spokesman for the department when the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition was in charge.
In 2015 he was promoted again when David Cameron appointed him the Government’s spokesman in the House of Lords on all defence matters, while at the same time becoming deputy leader of the Lords.
He lost the defence role when Boris Johnson took over in 2019 but retained his position as deputy leader of the House of Lords…. a position that new PM Liz Truss decided he should keep in her reshuffle.
Top jobs
Elsewhere, local MPs play prominent roles in the new Government. Wycombe (and Tylers Green) MP Steve Baker has been appointed a junior minister in the Northern Ireland office, working with his close political colleague Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, to try and bring some conclusion to the current impasse in the province.
Beaconsfield MP Joy Morrissey, who was one of Boris Johnson’s private secretaries, is still in favour, keeping her role as an assistant Government whip.
Meanwhile, one of the first official jobs performed by King Charles III on the day after Queen Elizabeth died was to approve the appointment of Aylesbury MP Rob Butler as a junior minister at the Ministry of Justice.
When ‘close monitoring’ means turning a blind eye
IN THE meantime, Penn’s Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Green has been involved in a right old ding-dong with HS2 after one of the rail company’s contractors was discovered syphoning off hundreds, if not thousands, of gallons of water from a public fire hydrant without a licence and without permission during the middle of the drought in August.
Sharp-eyed members of the public thought it odd when a tanker was seen several times drawing water from the hydrant on the Hazlemere Road near the Chilterns Crematorium.
There are strict agreements on water usage during the construction of the railway and local parish councillors knew that particular hydrant wasn’t one of those where a licence had been permitted.
They complained to the company, the Environment Agency and Affinity Water but were met with bland assurances that HS2’s water consumption was being ‘closely monitored’.
Then Ms Green, whose Chesham and Amersham constituency includes Penn, took it up with Environment Secretary George Eustice and bingo…there quickly followed a grovelling apology from HS2 saying yes, the contractor had been using the hydrant illegally for its job of washing down construction lorries and damping down dust…hardly critical jobs when the public was being asked to save every drop of water it could.
The offending contractor has had its contract terminated. Ms Green is seeking more information from the Environment Agency and Affinity Water on precisely how they are ‘closely monitoring’ HS2’s activities
Regional news in brief
Library papers to go – Buckinghamshire is planning to withdraw all printed newspapers and magazines from its libraries and offer online access instead.
Shorter joy – Watford is to switch off its Christmas lights early on selected days to save electricity costs.
Overspending – Buckinghamshire Council is looking urgently at ways to save money after it overspent by nearly £4m in the first quarter of this financial year because of rising energy costs and increased demand on its social care services. Senior councillors are also looking at how they can make longer term savings over the next four years.
Homeless increase – The summer saw around 400 homelessness applications a month in Buckinghamshire compared with the pre-pandemic average of 322 a month, says a report to the council. A combination of the rising cost of living and a number of private landlords leaving the market is putting “significant pressure” on the council’s housing service.
Green Belt challenged – A Government planning inquiry into an application to build up to 500 homes on Green Belt land in Beaconsfield is to begin next month. Meanwhile the Epilepsy Centre at Chalfont St Peter has applied for a 1,000 home development on Green Belt land it owns.
Deadline extended – The Boundary Commission has extended until 5 December its deadline for public comment on its plans to create new council wards in Buckinghamshire.
From hols to exams – Local children sat the 11 plus examination on 15 September, just a week after returning to school. The results will be announced on 14 October.
Penn and Tylers Green in the second Elizabethan age
THE death of Queen Elizabeth II marked the end of an era… an era of enormous change. This month, and over the next couple of months, this blog highlights just a few those changes, some significant, others less so, here in Penn and Tylers Green during a momentous 70 year reign…
1952
The Crown in Penn (then a hotel) sold to Mr Beesley for £20,000.
Whit Monday sports day for Sunday School children from St Margaret’s, Penn Free Methodists and Tylers Green Methodists.
1953
Flush toilets introduced at Tylers Green School (now the first school).
Lloyds Bank, next to the Red Lion, becomes a Ration Book collection point
Barclays buys the property on the common now known as Bank House for £4,650.
The Crown opens for luncheon, tea and dinner every day except Sunday and Monday.
1954
Chepping Wycombe Parish Council purchases the ground rights of Tylers Green Common from the Church Commissioners. Total cost, together with Flackwell Heath Common…£150
World famous tenor Alexander Young sang and Dame Myra Hess entertained at Tylers Green Village Hall.
Samuel Saunders of Larchlands fined £2 and 8/- costs for trespassing in Common Wood.
Horse riding banned in Kings Wood.
1955
Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain, is hanged for murdering her lover David Blakely, who lived in Hammersley Lane, Tylers Green.
Ten council houses built in Tylers Green to accommodate some refugees from World War 2, still living in ‘temporary accommodation’ at Hazlemere Park (the site of the current Park Parade shops), which was used as a prisoner of war camp in the war.
1956
Inquest on a fatal accident in Hazlemere Road held in Penn Parish Room.
Phone kiosk installed by Holy Trinity Church, Penn…followed by complaints that it was an “eyesore”.
London County Council opens boarding school for children with special educational needs at Penbury Grove.
Civil defence exercise in the village to practice what would happen in the event of an H-bomb attack.
1957
Work begins on building houses on the Deer Park Estate (Ashley Drive, The Chase, The Lawns area).
Council decides to discontinue use of part of Town Farm, Penn as a greyhound racing track.
1958
Work begins to build houses on Coppice Farm.
Rosebush beer house in Hammersley Lane, and Sportsman and Dog pub in Beacon Hill both close.
Penn Post Office one of the venues in the area for mass X-ray to identify tuberculosis or tumours.
1959
Tylers Green Residents’ Association launched under chairmanship of Alan Ninn.
Church Road, Penn widened by Penn Free Methodist Church. The road was so narrow traffic was passing within inches of pedestrians on the narrow footpath.
Water booster station at Potters Cross constructed.
Elm trees in Elm Road condemned as dangerous and chopped down.
The Lucas factory (opposite village hall) held two Christmas parties – one for employees and their partners, and another for the children of employees.
1960
Sewer pipes laid for most of village which was still not on mains drainage.
Oak trees planted on front common.
Old Reading Room in Penn closes.
Penn and Tylers Green Tennis Club formed.
1961
First Penn and Tylers Green Brownie Pack formed.
First tennis courts laid
1962
The Dog pub in Hazlemere Road closed.
Ashley Drive extended to join New Road.
1963
Water mains on the new Deer Park Estate had to be relaid deeper because of freezing problems.
Work on the Manor Farm Estate began.
Charlie Small’s grocery shop at Potters Cross closes.
1964
In their second elopement, Paul Smith, aged 18 of Tyler Crescent and Linda Stovell of High Wycombe marry at Gretna Green.
Tony Nash wins Olympic gold medal with Robin Dixon for Bobsleigh. He is a director of T&A Nash (Penn) with his uncle Thomas Nash, general engineering firm (near where Nash Close is today).
Growing population causes overcrowding at Tylers Green School. Two temporary classrooms erected
Residents vote against introducing street lighting.
Work begins on building shops in Coppice Farm Road.
Penn-Pennsylvania Fellowship launched to strengthen links between the two.
1965
Conservation group Penn and Tylers Green Society launched to fight (unsuccessfully) a plan to demolish the Penn Almshouses opposite Holy Trinity Church. Poet John Benjamin supports the group.
Financial approval to building new Tylers Green junior (now Middle) school given.
Village’s first playgroup opened in the Parish Rooms.
Penn and Tylers Green Evening WI launched.
Planning permission given for Kings Ride shops.
The Red Lion, the Horse and Groom and The Crown all burgled on the night before Christmas Day.
1966
Wheeler’s House in Church Road, Tylers Green bought for £8,500 for conversion into old people’s flats.
Margaret Elizabeth Langhorn, aged 16, of 47 Ashley Drive, becomes the first Queen’s Guide since the Penn and Tylers Green Guide group was formed in 1922
1967
Penn Almshouses demolished to make way for Penn Mead, designed by Sir Hugh Casson.
First tenants move into Wheelers Flats.
Tylers Green Residents’ Association becomes Penn and Tylers Green Residents’ Association.
1968
Tylers Green Junior School (now Middle School) opened.
Manor Farm County Primary School opened.
Tylers Green Methodist Church in Coppice Farm Road opened.
1969
Penn Surgery opened.
Village homes converted to be able to use North Sea natural gas.
You can contact this blog at peter@pennandtylersgreen.com.