A TEAM of expert geologists have been called in to find a way to stop the Penn to Hazlemere B474 road collapsing at its junction with Curzon Avenue, Tylers Green.
The ground gave way for the second time in a year in February, creating a large sinkhole and restricting traffic on the busy road to single file.
Previous attempts by drainage engineers to shore up the road have failed, so now Buckinghamshire Council has asked a team of geologists to get to the bottom of the problem.
“We are taking time to fully investigate the situation so that we can ensure a long-term, and what we hope will be a permanent fix,” said Steve Broadbent, the council’s cabinet member for transport. “The site continues to be inspected regularly to monitor safety and any action needed can be taken quickly.”
The collapse is adjacent to a former pond on the corner of Curzon Avenue, which was filled in and built on some years ago. It’s thought two wet winters have led to significant changes in the structure of the earth supporting the road as excess water tries to find a means of escape.
The council has apologised to residents and motorists.
Is the Gomm Valley ready to give up its secrets?
MEANWHILE, another team of experts is on standby to probe beneath our feet. This time they are archeologists and the land they will be examining is the Gomm Valley, between Cock Lane and Hammersley Lane, Tylers Green.
The planning inquiry into Taylor Wimpey’s application to build 544 houses and other facilities is continuing into a second month at Wycombe Town Hall and is expected to conclude in late April.
Progress has been delayed because Taylor Wimpey wanted some design elements to be considered later and not as part of the inquiry. The planning inspector, Matthew Woodward, agreed, much to Buckinghamshire Council’s chagrin, but it did mean a delay because, by law, a further public consultation had to be arranged on the new arrangement.
Mr Woodward is highly likely to allow housing development in the valley, even if he doesn’t agree with all of Taylor Wimpey’s proposals.
But before Taylor Wimpey’s diggers move in, a team of archeologists will do some digging of their own in one final sweep of the area to see if there is anything of real historical value.
The valley has always been a bit of a disappointment for archeologists. It has always been an easy access from the hills to the River Wye and should be full of exciting finds. But so far, if there are hidden treasures they have evaded the searchers.
The most exciting find was by a metal detectorist in Little Gomm Wood, pictured right, a few years ago when 24 Roman coins were uncovered. Elsewhere a Roman broach and a ring dating back to the very beginning of the Roman occupation in the second century were found.
Going back even further there have been finds of flint stones clearly adapted as tools related to Stone Age while further up the valley, east of Cock Lane, searchers discovered underground “anomalies” indicating Iron Age activities, but no hard finds.
Back in Little Gomm Wood lots of medieval roof and floor tiles were discovered, indicating the site of a kiln in the 14th century.
Archeologists are hopeful that a final dig may reveal something significant.
Village pub doesn’t know when it can have its car park back
THAMES Water is carrying out major engineering works in the heart of Tylers Green yet is declining to say what it is doing, why it is doing it and how much it’s all costing.
Back in November the company moved heavy equipment into the Horse and Jockey car park in Church Road to have another go at repairing a sewage pipe which had broken twice in the previous six months, causing raw sewage to flood into neighbouring properties. At the time they said repairs were expected to take between four and six weeks.
That’s the last they’ve said on the issue. Even the Horse and Jockey, whose customers are having to cope without a car park, are not in the loop.
A spokesperson for Star Pubs and Bars, who own the pub, said: “We have been in contact with the companies who are meant to be rectifying the situation. We have given them full access to the car park to enable the works to be easily completed. We hope that the repairs will take place as quickly as possible for the benefit of local residents and the pub’s customers.
“However, we have been given no date for the completion of the works.“
Local residents who have received communication from the company saying they may be affected by the work say “it doesn’t really tell us anything.”
New excavations are taking place between Church Road and the village pumping station at the end of New Road and it appears, from peering down the holes, that a brand new sewer is being laid, much deeper than the existing one.
Requests for information go unanswered and, because as a commercial water company it is exempt from Freedom of Information legislation for this type of inquiry, Thames Water is under no obligation to say anything.
Would be good for customer relations if they did though, especially as they want to raise water rates by 56 per cent over the next five years.
Local news
Desperate patients – Penn’s MP Sarah Green says she is receiving an increasing number of complaints from constituents facing such long delays for gynaecology appointments they are “paying to go private out of desperation.”
She told MPs in the House of Commons that one constituent with abnormal blood cells in her cervix waited more than 60 weeks for a diagnostic appointment. Health Minister Andrew Stephenson said waiting times would reduce following new Government cash into the service.
Medal winners – Two Year 10 pupils at Sir William Ramsay School won medals at the British Schools Judo Championships in Sheffield last month. Harri Elliott won a gold in his category and Chayse Franklin a bronze in his.
One star rating – An inspection by the Food Standards Agency at JJ’s Delicatessen in School Road, Tylers Green in February resulted in the agency giving a one star food hygiene rating out of a possible five last month. The food safety officer said that although the handling of food, including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage was “generally satisfactory”, the management of food safety needed “major improvement.” That involves ensuring checks are in place to ensure food sold is safe to eat and there’s evidence staff know about food safety.
Footpath rejection – Buckinghamshire Council’s Rights of Way Group has rejected a proposal to let a footpath linking two public footpaths in Tylers Green become an official right of way. The path links public footpath 14, which runs from the Horse and Jockey to Cock Lane, with public footpath 15 which runs between Cock Lane and Hammersley Lane. No explanation has been given for the rejection.
New vicar – The Rev. Dafydd Meirion-Jones, a father of seven who is currently a pastor at St James’ in Gerrards Cross, has been appointed as the new vicar of Penn Street and Holmer Green. He takes up his role in July. The previous priest-in-charge, the Rev Ruth Anderson, left at the end of 2022.
Rayners trees – While discussions continue to resolve objections raised to the plan to convert Rayners – the former Penn School – into a luxury hotel complex, tree surgeons have conducted a survey of every tree on the site.
In a report they conclude that the trees – covered by tree preservation orders because they fall within the Penn and Tylers Green Conservation Area – are in a fair condition. However, they are asking for permission to fell an elm and a sycamore tree which are damaging the boundary wall on Church Road, Penn in addition to an ash tree suffering ash dieback disease. They are also seeking to pollard another ash and coppice a rowan and a willow.
War chest – Local MPs are gearing up for this year’s general election. In the latest Parliamentary financial disclosures, Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Green, whose Chesham and Amersham constituency includes Penn and Hazlemere, said she had received £17,100 from individuals for her re-election campaign and £4,200 in donations to the local party in February and March.
Wycombe’s Conservative MP Steve Baker declared he had received as a donation the results of private polling in his Wycombe constituency (which includes Tylers Green) worth £22,000.
Expensive mistake – A High Wycombe company was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay over £1,000 in clear-up costs after admitting allowing building waste to be fly-tipped in Penn Wood. Drainiac Ltd said they accepted an offer from “a man with a van” to take away the waste for £50. He drove it to Gravelly Way and dumped it.
New defib – A defibrillator has been installed at King’s Ride Supermarket, Tylers Green, jointly funded by the residents’ society and the London Hearts charity. Other defibrillators in the village can be found at Penn and Tylers Green Sports and Social Club, Tylers Green Village Hall, the Red Lion, St Margaret’s parish rooms, Hazlemere Community Centre, the Esso garage at Hazlemere Crossroads, Tylers Green First and Middle Schools and Sir William Ramsay School.
Woolly residents – A flock of sheep arrived for the season at Penn Jubilee Wood, off Beacon Hill, last month as the first step to extend the wildflower meadow. Later in the spring they will be joined by a herd of native breed cows.
Memorial plaques – Chepping Wycombe Parish Council has agreed to a request from the Penn and Tylers Green Residents’ Society to take over responsibility for maintaining the plaques by the First and Second World War memorial trees on the front and back commons.The council has also agreed to grant £1,500 to Tylers Green Middle School towards the cost of renovating the school pond area so outdoor environmental lessons can be held.
Chicken pox outbreak – An outbreak of chicken pox affected school attendances in the area last month.
Where’s Oliver Cottage? – A family in Manitoba, Canada, researching family history, has been in touch with local history researcher Ron Saunders trying to discover where Oliver Cottage was in Penn, thought to be within walking distance of Penn Church. If anyone has any idea please let Ron know on m.saunders61@btinternet.com
Jumble sale – Penn and Tylers Green Scouts will be holding their annual spring jumble sale in Tylers Green Village Hall on Saturday 20 April from 12.30pm. Please deliver jumble on Friday 19 April between 6pm and 9pm or on the Saturday morning. If you can help call Paul Wicks on 07376 071686
Zorba in Penn Street
Some events over the early May bank holiday weekend
- The Big Park at Penn House will host the Bucks Country Show over the May Day weekend, on 5 and 6 May.
- Penn and Tylers Green Cricket Club’s 1st XI begin their season with a home match against Braywood on Saturday, 4 May
- Beer festival at the Hit or Miss, Penn Street on 4 May
- Classic car display at The Crown, Hazlemere, 6 May
- A junior football tournament is being held at Penn and Tylers Green Football Club between 3 and 6 May. The parish council has agreed to supervised and organised parking on part of the front common in an attempt to avoid the car parking problems of last year.
- Potter’s Arms, Winchmore Hill, comedy festival, 3 and 4 May.
- Cricket at Penn Street. Against Luddites on 4 May and Hambleden on 5 May. 1pm starts.
Unlike Mary’s cakes, the price of her former home is sinking…
MARY BERRY’S former home, Watercroft in Church Road, Penn, is proving difficult to sell.
The Grade 2 listed, six bedroom luxury home is now open to offers of around £2.5m, nearly half a million pounds less than last autumn.
When TV cook Mary and husband Paul Hunnings put Watercroft on the market in October 2017, together with Watercroft Cottage – a two bedroom property within the grounds but with its own access – the asking price was £4m. By the following February, according to the Daily Mail, it dropped to £3.85m and then, by June 2018 to £3.45m.
According to The Standard, the house and its cottage sold for £3m in 2019.
By May last year the new owners put the house and the cottage back on the market again for £3.75m but by September Savills were advertising it, without the cottage, for offers in the region of £2.95m.
Now, both Savills and Bovingdon estate agents are offering both house and cottage for £3.195m and Savills the house, without cottage, for £2.5m.
*Town Farm, the oldest building in Tylers Green, remains open to offers a year after it was put on the market. The 16th century farmhouse, at the end of Beacon Hill, had an original asking price of £4m. Now Bovingdon’s are looking for offers in the region of £3,495,000.
Now, that’s what you call a waterlogged pitch!
The club’s senior women’s team has competed its season however, finishing a creditable third in Division One North of the Southern Region Women’s Football League.
Putting crime into context
LOCAL police and neighbourhood watch groups held a public meeting in Hazlemere Community Centre last month to give advice on anti-crime measures, particularly after a spurt of burglaries in the area over the winter months.
Taking precautions is always sensible, particularly as there is a rising trend of reported crime in the area. But it’s also worth putting our crime stats into context unlike some of the doom merchants and scare mongers that occasionally inhabit social media.
The independent, analytical website Crimerate.co.uk, which pulls together crime data from various official sources, has some reassuring figures.
- Penn has a crime rate 63 per cent lower than the south-east average and 66 per cent lower than the England, Wales and Northern Ireland average.
- Chepping Wycombe, which includes Tylers Green, Loudwater and Flackwell Heath, has 45 crimes per 1,000 population compared to the Buckinghamshire average of 76 per 1,000…41 per cent lower than the south east average and 46 per cent lower than the national average.
- Hazlemere has the same statistics as Chepping Wycombe and, declares the website, is the fifth safest community of similar size in Buckinghamshire.
What is concerning however, is a survey conducted by Thames Valley Police and published last month which found that one in eight people living in their area would not bother reporting a crime to the police because they didn’t trust the police to do anything about it. Regaining that trust is now under urgent consideration by the police hierarchy.
The final deadline?
SADLY, the demise of local printed newspapers now looks inevitable. Circulation figures for last year were published last month and they are dire.
The Bucks Free Press fell 15 per cent to 6,447 compared to the previous year and the Maidenhead Advertiser did even worse, losing 37 per cent of its sales selling an average 5,717 copies a week. The Slough Observer fell to just 991 copies a week; the Bucks Herald to 1,001; the Slough and Windsor Express to 5,070 and, in the north of the county, the Buckingham Advertiser to a mere 561.
All of the titles are seeing increasing numbers follow their websites and social media, but whether that will be enough to keep them viable remains to be seen.
The loss of local journalists probing the affairs of local democracy and the knock-on effect that will have is concerning an increasing number of politicians and media figures, both here and in other western democracies where local papers are also taking a hammering.
Newspapers are often referred to as the first draft of history. When you look at local newspapers for most of the last century they covered every nook and cranny of community life, good and bad. Ironically, in this “information”age”, future historians will find out more about day to day life in 1924 than they ever will about day to day life in 2024.
Slough reinvents itself again
SLOUGH may have its detractors, but you can’t knock its industrial success. Time and time again it has reinvented itself and the wheel is turning again…from a manufacturing powerhouse to a digital one.
The latest landmark to go is the former giant ICI/Dulux paint factory in Wexham Road. It is to be demolished and replaced by a data centre.
ICI was bought by the Dutch multi-national Akzo Nobel in 2008 who continued to produce Dulux paint there until a couple of years ago before moving production to a mega-factory in Northumberland.
Slough Council had plans to convert the site into 1,000 homes but the council’s finances were in such a bad way it decided instead to sell the site for £100m. Now, an American multi-national, Equinix has announced plans to build its eighth data centre in the town. The company already has six data centres on the nearby Slough Trading Estate and is currently building a seventh.
Data centres are part of the fastest growing business in the world. They house all the gubbins needed to make our computers, smart phones and tablets work and store the info amid very high security. Slough sits on the main trans-Atlantic fibre cables making it an attractive location for data companies.
Another sign of the changing times on the trading estate is the transformation of the former giant Flexello engineering factory into a nine separate units of varying sizes. All contain electric bike and car chargers, showers, changing facilities and green energy heating and lighting.
The trading estate remains the biggest one of its kind in Europe and employs over 7,000 people, many from this area.
*The conversion of the former Horlicks factory in Slough into a luxury residential block was completed last month (picture above) with the re-lighting of the famous red Horlicks sign on the top of the building. The restoration project includes a cinema, gym, roof terrace and a “working from home” space for residents. It closed as a factory six years ago.
Our struggling GPs need a quick cure
AN ENORMOUS project in our area to find ways to better co-ordinate the work of GP surgeries, hospital and mental health trusts, social care networks provided by councils and the ambulance service is underway.
Since it was formed 21 months ago the Bucks, Oxon and Berkshire West Integrated Care System, (BOB) comprising 175 GP surgeries, five local authorities, three acute hospital trusts, two mental health and community providers and the South Central Ambulance service, decided its first job was to identify problems and trends in the local health care service.
So it commissioned a survey and presented some of the results last month. Here’s just a few examples:
- Around 70 per cent of people attending GP surgeries have needs that are “low complexity” and could be dealt with elsewhere, for instance at community pharmacies.
- About 10 per cent of patients went to hospital A&E departments because they couldn’t get an appointment at GP surgeries
- At the end of last year there were 11,000 children and young people in the BOB area with what are called neurodiversity issues – ranging from problems like dyslexia and attention deficit disorder to suspected autism. They were having to wait between 92 and 102 weeks for assessment, above the national average.
- Around one in five people aged between eight and 25 had a “probable” mental disorder in 2023.
- There’s a significant increase in the number of people unable to get a dental appointment.
- About 11 per cent of the BOB population are active smokers. Three out of five adults are overweight or obese.
- Over 72,000 people in the BOB area are living with cardiovascular disease. Conditions associated with the disease – heart attacks and strokes for instance – account for a quarter of adult deaths.
The organisation is now working on ways to make our local health system more streamlined and efficient. If they do nothing, they say, there will be a 55 per cent increase in GP appointments in the next 10 years, putting an even bigger strain on a service already under stress.
Regional news
From daffs to dill
New community – A significant development, comprising 350 homes, shops, a 60 bed care home, sports pitches and a community facility is being planned for the area of Beaconsfield on the fields between the Amersham Road and the new by-pass to the Minerva Way roundabout on the A40, known as Bowl Barrow Way. The council is being asked to give its view on whether an environmental impact assessment should be included with a future planning application.
Remembering Oscar – The new owners of Reading Jail, an education foundation, say they want to convert the building into a hotel with an adjoining museum which will centre on its most famous inmate, Oscar Wilde.
Bank closes – Nat West is to close its Beaconsfield branch in July, leaving Nationwide, open two days a week, as the only place in the town where people can conduct banking in person.
Gove’s rejection – The Government has overturned a recommendation from its own planning inspector to build 1,400 homes on Green Belt at Tring. Levelling Up minister Michael Gove said there was enough land elsewhere in the immediate area to meet future housing needs. In addition the development would fail to conserve the special qualities of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, said Mr. Gove.
Farm raided – Police and RSPCA officers raided a farm at Stoke Row near Henley and removed a dozen horses after spending nearly 12 hours examining and sedating them. An investigation is underway.
Archive move – Buckinghamshire Council has begun confidential negotiations to move the Buckinghamshire Archives from its old office block in Aylesbury to a site above Tesco in Wycombe’s Eden Centre.
Disability loo – A Changing Places toilet, which provides facilities for people with a range of disabilities, has been established in Black Park, Iver, the first such facility in a Buckinghamshire country park.
Chippy closes – The Smiles fish and chip shop in Penn Road, Beaconsfield closed last month after 24 years following the retirement of co-owner Les Birkenhead. The group’s other shops in Bourne End and Cookham will remain open.
Old meets new
80 years ago this month: Bombers fill the skies; seaside trips and ice cream banned; but the circus comes to town with Johnny the Goose.
Continuing our monthly look at what was happening here in 1944
April 1944
EXPECTATION, excitement and anxiousness were increasing here and around the country in April 1944. Everyone knew the Allied invasion of Europe was near – the evidence was clear to see.
Everyday and every night the number of bombers flying above the Wycombe area and throughout the south-east en route to targets in France, Belgium and Germany grew, from scores to hundreds.
They built to a crescendo on 24 April, Hitler’s birthday, when a record 4,500 tonnes of bombs were dropped on enemy territory in one day. The intention was to cripple the response to the future invasion by destroying railways, factories and military sites. But cities in Germany were also targeted, much to the discomfort of some military chiefs, in an attempt to lower German morale
Then a 10 mile exclusion zone was placed around the coast from Land’s End to the Wash, cancelling any hope of an Easter trip to the seaside. Later in the month all trips abroad, even to neutral countries, were banned. To add to the groans the Government said it was “extremely unlikely” that ice cream production would be allowed in the forthcoming summer because of a shortage of the ingredients.
Easter provided a brief moment of calm.
In the Cromarty Firth, in the Scottish Highlands, the 1st Battalion Buckinghamshire Regiment were undergoing intensive training for their eventual assault on the Normandy beaches. Easter gave them a four day break – their last before the invasion.
There was a church service on Good Friday and a parade service on Easter Sunday. On Easter Monday they were treated to an ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) concert.
In the midst of the raging and bitter battle of Anzio in Italy, where many local soldiers were fighting with the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, a one hour truce was agreed by both sides so those who wished could attend an Easter Sunday mass.
Here, a circus on the Rye drew large crowds, featuring ponies, monkeys, dogs, Johnny the Goose and “Zabeda, the lady clown”. The Bucks Home Guard played an Army XI in a football match at Loakes Park, while “a Real American Jitterbug” session was a big attraction a the town hall.
With Wycombe full of American military personnel, Britain’s first Anglo-American Services Club for women was established by the YWCA at a large house in Amersham Hill, while American GIs who were teachers back home met with our local teachers for talks on teaching methods in both countries.
Air raid warnings were still a regular part of everyday life. Although no bombs had been dropped on this area since the raids of October and November 1940, enemy aircraft were still spotted overhead. At the beginning of the year Hitler had ordered the resumption of bombing raids on London, Bristol and Hull in retaliation for the bombing of Germany…officially known as Operation Steinbock but nicknamed the “Baby Blitz” by Londoners.
The Luftwaffe’s (German Air Force) normal route, it became apparent, was to fly due north from bases in France to the skies above High Wycombe and then turn south-east to attack west and central London via the A40 corridor before flying back over the Channel.
The raids killed hundreds of people and destroyed a number of houses in west London – 20,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on Fulham and 100 homes were destroyed in Acton – and there was bad damage to places like Kew Bridge, Harrow School and the Heinz factory at Harlesden.
But the raids had nothing like the impact of the 1940 blitz. Britain’s air defences had improved considerably since 1940; the German pilots were generally inexperienced and the Luftwaffe losses were significant.
By April the raids were petering out and Operation Steinbock proved to be the last conventional air raid by Germany’s bombers during the war. The terror from the air was by no means over though: the Nazis still had one more fearsome card to play.
In and around the village that April:
- The parents of two Tylers Green brothers, Albert and Norman Brooks of Widmer Cottage, both privates aged 22 and 19 respectively, heard they had coincidentally met up while their separate units were fighting in the “central Mediterranean theatre of war”. The lads, both gardeners, had joined up in 1942 and had been fighting in north Africa, Tunisia, Sicily and Italy.
- Aircraftman M.W.Hore wrote to Penn and Tylers Green Football Club from India to tell them how much he missed them but to reassure them he was still playing football and managing to score a goal a match.
- Penn and Tylers Green Women’s Institute’s April meeting included a demonstration of wartime cooking using dried milk, dried eggs and preserved fruit. The Hazlemere WI meeting included a “guess the feet” competition where members displayed their bare feet from behind a screen and the others had to guess whose they were.
- Penn and Tylers Green Cricket Club held its AGM at the Horse and Groom pub (where Penn Surgery is today) and decided there were enough interested youngsters in the village to make up a team for a proposed new junior league in the Wycombe area in the coming summer.
- The council set aside 58 acres of land at Downley and 50 acres at Terriers to be used for housing once the war was over. Meanwhile 40 trees in Hughenden Park were felled to help the war effort.
- And a 21 year old was fined £2 for leaving her job at a local laundry without permission. The prosecution was brought by the Ministry of Labour. She was told by the magistrate: “These days people cannot pick and choose their own jobs and leave them when they please.”
If you have recollections of 1944 or any recorded family history of events and memories in this area during the build-up, the aftermath and during D-Day in June 1944, please get in touch.
You can contact this blog at peter@pennandtylersgreen.com The blog will be updated as necessary during April, but the next full update is on 1 May.