TONY NASH, who became a hero of the village when he won a gold medal with bobsleigh partner Robin Dixon in the 1964 Winter Olympics, has died at his home in Devon aged 85.
Tony part owned and ran a light engineering factory in St John’s Road – Nash Place off nearby The Pines, Tylers Green, is the site where the factory was located and is named in his honour.
When he and Dixon won the two man bobsleigh in Innsbruck, Austria in February 1964 there were celebrations in the village, but none more so than in the factory, T and A Nash (Penn) Ltd, where the 60 employees made a giant replica gold medal out of a bronze cast and hung it over the shop floor.
When he returned home, work stopped for the afternoon and there were drinks all round while Tony – a popular boss as well as a charismatic character – showed off his medal. It was followed by an evening party in Tylers Green Village Hall where Tony was guest of honour.
Tony was a daredevil hooked on speed. His father ran breweries and his grandfather was a former prime minister of New Zealand. At Harrow School he was a boxing champion and served his National Service in West Germany. On leave, he visited St Moritz in Switzerland and was introduced to bobsleigh.
According to his obituary in The Times he crashed so many cars in speed related accidents his father agreed to bankroll his bobsleigh ambitions on condition he agreed to give up his other ambition to become a racing driver. He and Dixon, now Lord Glentoran, were awarded MBEs when they retired from the sport in 1968.
Tylers Green isn’t the only place where his name is honoured. A notorious corner on the famous Cresta Run bobsleigh track in St Moritz is called the Nash-Dixon corner.
Council to introduce £50 green bin collection charge in Tylers Green and Hazlemere from July
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE councillors agreed this week to charge householders in the old Wycombe council area £50 per year to empty the green garden waste bins.
The charge will be enforced from July although residents can opt out and not have a green bin emptied if they wish.
Councillors said it was only fair because householders in other parts of the county, including Penn, already paid the charge. They said it would be too expensive to introduce a free collection for everyone.
They are also extending the mid-winter suspension of the green bin collection from its current two weeks to six weeks.
A number of former Wycombe area councillors complained the charge would put an unnecessary burden on people already trying to cope with increasing cost of living rises, including a sizeable jump in council tax. They also said it would lead to increased fly tipping.
However council leader Martin Tett said people in other parts of the county justifiably complained, in his view, about those in the former Wycombe area receiving a free service. The new moves would enable the council to make savings on its budget.
Householders who don’t want to pay for a green bin collection can still take garden rubbish to council tips free of charge. The £50 charge is for each green bin.
A waiting game for two village pubs
GREENE King, the owners of Penn’s oldest pub, The Crown, is considering its next move after council planners forcefully rejected its plans to expand the pub.
The brewers were blunt in their application saying that unless the pub did expand it would not be viable and would close down.
In their response planners were equally blunt saying the extension plans were “cumbersome and unattractive” and would cause “considerable harm” to the Green Belt in which the Grade 2 listed pub lies.
The plans were strongly objected to by Penn Parish Council and the Penn and Tylers Green Residents’ Society.
Greene King has not yet responded to a request for comment, but the company will have to decide whether it is able to design an extension to the 400 year old pub which is designed more sympathetically yet meets its requirements, or whether to close the pub and try to sell it.
Meanwhile, Star Pubs and Bars, part of the Heineken Group which owns the Horse and Jockey in Church Road, Tylers Green, pictured above, has insisted it still has every intention to improve and expand the pub once a new permanent licensee is in place.
The pub is closed for a few days while one temporary manager leaves to be replaced by another next weekend (9/10 April)
The company said: “The Horse and Jockey is in need of refurbishment and we want to invest in it to create a great pub, transforming it into a premium, country-style pub with a modern finish.
“We are looking for a new licensee who shares our vision for the pub. Anyone interested can find out more information at www.starpubs.co.uk or call our recruitment team on 08085 949596.”
Penn and Tylers Green: a history of helping refugees in desperate straits
THERE has been a warm and generous response locally to the plight of Ukranian refugees. We shouldn’t be too surprised; Penn and Tylers Green’s community has a long history of helping refugees in need.
French refugees
In 1797 the French Revolution was a bloody and ruthless affair. In the summer of that year 60 boys from French middle class or aristocratic families whose relatives had suffered badly and whose own lives were at risk, arrived, somewhat bewildered, in Penn.
They stayed at a large house in Elm Road which was owned but not lived in by General William Haviland, a friend of the politician Edmund Burke, who lived in Penn Road, Beaconsfield, and who had arranged the evacuation from war-torn France. The house became known as the French School and boys from France were there for 17 years with a French headmaster and learning a traditional French education.
It was all paid for by the British Government but the welcome the boys received from the locals as they paraded around the village in their distinctive blue uniforms was notable for its warmth and empathy. The school closed when Louis XVIII took the throne in 1814 and most of the boys returned to France.
However, their stay leaves its mark today: the white feathers the boys wore in their blue caps inspired today’s Penn and Tylers Green Football Club’s kit and crest, pictured above. The club’s ground in Elm Road is called French School Meadow.
Belgian refugees
A hundred years later war again devastated Europe. Thousands of Belgians fled to Britain after Germany invaded their country in 1914.
Due to an administrative hiccup a large group of Belgian women and children disembarked from a London train one November afternoon and stood lost and alone on Beaconsfield Station platform with nowhere to go and possessing only the clothes they wore.
Within hours people in the area, including Penn, took the refugees into their homes for several days until more permanent arrangements were made. But some of the refugees stayed here until they were able to return in 1918.
German refugees
The Second World War brought a further flood of refugees to this country. Some of the most desperate were Jewish children brought here under a humanitarian programme called Kindertransport on the eve of hostilities.
The vicar of Tylers Green, the Rev Gerald Hayward, offered the large, old vicarage, next to St Margaret’s in Hammersley Lane, as a refuge.
In February 1940, 25 German children arrived. Many were traumatised, not knowing what had happened to their parents and relatives back in Nazi Germany and having been pushed from pillar to post, hostel to hostel since their arrival in Britain the previous year.
In addition, because they were German, they were officially classed as enemy aliens and the local population were at first cautious and wary of the children and their Jewish teachers.
But kindness and love eventually overcame all the challenges.
Before long the children were taking part in village activities, some making friends with local children and evacuees. The hostel closed at the end of the war and the building was demolished in 1960. Many of the children returned home to make horrendous discoveries about what had happened to their families. But a number stayed in this area, going on to further education or taking local jobs. All of them remembered Penn and Tylers Green with great affection.
Supporting Ukraine
Penn, Tylers Green and Beaconsfield group – The charity Better Connected Beaconsfield is holding a meeting tomorrow (Saturday 2 April) with the aim of setting up a local group to accommodate and/or support Ukrainian refugees in Beaconsfield, Penn and Tylers Green. It’s from 3.30 to 5pm in the Dove Cafe, St Thomas’ Church, Mayflower Way, Holtspur. For details email hello@betterconnectedbeaconsfield.org.uk
Hazlemere group – Residents in Hazlemere have formed a “Hazlemere Welcomes” group to assist Ukrainian refugees. Forty people attended an initial meeting in Hazlemere Community Centre. Around half said they would be able to act as hosts for refugee families while the others said they would be prepared to help as a support team. The group has registered with the official Government refugee support scheme and is holding a further meeting on 4 April at 7pm for any others wishing to help. The group are particularly keen to hear from anyone with Russian or Ukrainian language skills. Contact Ed Gemmell via the Hazlemere Residents Facebook page.
Helping hand – Buckinghamshire Council has put in place a team representing accommodation, education, health, safeguarding and other services to help Ukranian refugees and their supporters in the county. Bucks has the second highest number of people in the country expressing an interest in offering homes for Ukrainian refugees. The council has set up a Helping Hand for Ukraine page on its website with information on how people can help even if they unable to offer accommodation.
Fundraiser – A Sing for Ukraine fund raising night at Hazlemere Community Centre raised, with Gift Aid, £3,375 for the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Emergency Appeal.
Scouts appeal – Several crates of fresh medical supplies and baby goods donated by people in the village have been collected at Tylers Green Village Hall as part of the scouts appeal. Many have already been sent to the Polish border with Ukraine. For details see the last blog.
Film show – A Ukranian film, Olga, nominated as Best Foreign Film at this week’s Academy Awards, is being shown at the National Film and Television School cinema in Beaconsfield on Sunday (3 April) with all proceeds to the DEC Ukrainian appeal. Tickets £20. Details from Beaconsfield Film Society, https://www.beaconsfieldfilmsociety.com
Local news
Farewell Dennis – Dennis Hazel, the former caretaker and ‘lollipop man’ at Tylers Green Middle School for many years, has died. He took early retirement four years ago because of ill health.
Football success – Nigel Miller, manager of Penn and Tylers Green FC’s Ladies team – winners of the Berks and Bucks Trophy – was interviewed on the BBC’s Non-League Show. Elsewhere the club’s under-18, under-16 and under-13 boys’ teams have all reached the finals in their respective league cups. The club was praised last week by the local FA for putting safeguarding high on its agenda.
Oscar winner – Aneil Karia, a former student of the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, won an Oscar for his direction of The Long Goodbye, in the best live action short film category. The school itself was celebrating this week after being named the world’s best animated film school at the World Festival of Animated Film.
Distinguished service – Chris ‘Milly’ Millward, a commander at our local fire station at Holtspur, retired this week after 30 years with Bucks Fire Brigade, having saved “a number of lives” over the years.
Mast protest – Plans submitted to build a 22.5 metre phone mast on farmland at Penn Street are meting with local opposition. The Chiltern Society says the mast would dominate the skyline in Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and say a smaller sized mast on a less prominent site would fit the bill just as well. Cornerstone Communications want to include three antennas, two dishes and three radio equipment cabinets on the mast.
Then there was one – Lloyds Bank at Hazlemere is now the only bank for miles after it was announced that Lloyds, Barclays and the Halifax branches in Beaconsfield are to close shortly.
Memorials flattened – A number of the older upright granite or marble memorials in the Hammersley Lane Garden of Rest, Tylers Green, have been laid flat after a survey found they were unsafe. Relatives who are contactable have been informed.
No fishing – The closed fishing season for Widmer Pond on the common is now is effect until 15 June.
Overhead protection – Drones are being used by members of the local police rural crime task force for use in crime protection and investigation work.
Chimney ablaze – Firefighters were called to extinguish a chimney fire in The Larchlands, Penn on Wednesday.
Luxury prize – The three Michelin star restaurant, The Waterside Inn at Bray, has offered a three course dinner for two as top prize in a draw organised by Ron Hedley of Old Kiln Road, Tylers Green, in aid of the charity Prostate Cancer UK. Tickets are on sale until 27 April. For details email Ron at rjhatters1@yahoo.co.uk.
HS2 update
Grinding on – The two enormous tunnelling machines grinding their way through the Chilterns chalk have now reached the 78 metre deep ventilation shaft at Chalfont St Peter, the first of the five vent shafts in the Chilterns that will provide fresh air and emergency access to the twin tunnels.
It has taken them ten months to drill the three and a half miles from their starting point near Denham and they are now churning their way to the Amersham vent shaft.
The machines work 24 hours a day with a crew of 17 working in shifts, with a support team of 100 on the surface.
Lorry row – As the construction programme for HS2 steps up a further gear, Buckinghamshire Council will be in the High Court in June to try to force hundreds of HS2 construction lorries onto different routes, avoiding certain local roads.
The company applied to the council for permission to use some local roads for its lorries as it shifts millions of tons of spoil from its worksites. The council refused saying the routes selected would have an “enormous detrimental impact on local roads”. The company appealed to a Government planning inspector and won.
Now the council is claiming the planning inspector did not consider aspects of law properly in allowing the appeal so is seeking a judicial review.
Design row – There’s also been a furious behind the scenes row over the design of the head house at the giant ventilation shaft being built near Amersham on the A404 road to Hazlemere.
Protestors, backed by the council, say the proposed final design of the vent shaft, surrounded by what they describe as a “rusty iron fence” is highly inappropriate in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Now, HS2 is expected to come up with revised designs. Work on the shaft itself is expected to end this week and a similar one at Little Missenden in June.
Visitor centre – In an attempt to address frequent complaints about HS2’s lack of engagement with the public, one of the railway’s contractors, EKFB, has launched a mobile visitor centre which is touring various locations in the Chilterns, enabling residents to visit and ask questions. Sir Mark Worthington, the Construction Commissioner, has already been called in to act as peacemaker in squabbles between the company and locals in Calvert, north of Aylesbury. He is expected to make similar visits to Wendover and Stoke Mandeville this month.
Box-ticking – Penn’s MP, Sarah Green, told the House of Commons yesterday (31 March) : “HS2 is failing to communicate transparently, exacerbating the already strained relationships with communities, who feel they are having this project imposed on them. HS2 is treating its interactions with people and the environment like a tick-box exercise, doing no more than meet minimum requirements.”
The long and the short – Designs for the northern end of the Chilterns tunnel near Great Missenden show that the portal for trains entering the tunnel will be 220 metres long while the portal for those exiting will be 135 metres. This is to account for different levels of air pressure.
Spiralling costs – Meanwhile, the Government has expressed ‘concern’ over the spiralling cost of the project. Additional “cost pressures” have more than doubled in a year to £1.7bn. Although there is contingency in HS2’s overall budget of £5.6bn for rising costs, HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson told MPs he was “concerned” over the rate of the increase. Experts now think the overall cost of the project will exceed £100bn, double the estimate given six years ago.
And finally…
*My thanks to those in the village who put my name forward to receive a Pride of Bucks award…a gesture much appreciated. I’ve been involved in a few things in the community over the years but all of them – whether it be the launch of the Fun Run or Village Voice, the revamp of the village hall and its associated exhibitions, the establishment and equipping of the Penn and Tylers Green Room at Great Ormond Street Hospital or acting as a school governor – needed enthusiastic teams of people to make things happen. My thanks to my wife Tina, who has also been fully involved in everything, and to all our children, who were, and still are, our inspiration.
You can contact this blog at peter@pennandtylersgreen.com.The blog is due to be next updated in mid-April.