Community (Warminster) – Page 55

“Community” Paper My Arse!

Tuesday 14th June 2022

From The WAG House, Warminster Action Group, Facebook page:

Sent in by Jette

I have just had a major anxiety attack brought on by Warminster journal! They have made any publicity with them impossible throughout my Brave the Shave campaign to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support & entirely avoided doing any work themselves. They have misled and lied to me. I would like to give you the whole story. I am flabbergasted and now a tearful wreck.

As a warning to locals, if you are looking for any local publicity for a charitable cause and can’t write it all up yourself, because you are not a reporter, don’t bother with them. Without paying out a load of money, they won’t do anything before the event to raise awareness. They won’t attend, not even to take photos (& if they say they will they just don’t turn up & deny saying they would later) They won’t write the article and then they will charge you if you put a link to where people can donate! They put obstacles at every step, even when you try to give them the event photos YOU HAVE ON THEIR BEHALF, as requested ! And the ‘excuses’ were risible. “Community” paper my arse !

Sustainable Warminster Stall At Spring In The Park

Sunday 1st May 2022

Clare Hancock, of Sustainable Warminster, writes:

Great event in the Lake Pleasure Grounds, Warminster, today! SPRING IN THE PARK – SUSTAINABLE WARMINSTER STALL

Sustainable Warminster ran a stall at the hugely successful Spring in the Park event today, to inform the public about what we do. The Park was buzzing with lots of families and folks of all ages. People came from far and wide.

On the stall were lots of interesting things. What really fascinated the children were two large jars – one held frog tadpoles and one held toad tadpoles. Folks were asked to work out which was which. Most got it wrong. Toad tadpoles look similar to frog tadpoles except the toads have bulkier heads and shorter tails.

The Group gave out a lot of information and leaflets – regarding the Toad Patrol, The Community Orchard, Warminster Park Tree Trail, Hedgehogs, Blue Hearts for Rewilding, Calendars and more.

Iain talked to a lot of people regarding a proposal to plant a wildlife area at the far end of the lake near the reserve. This received a lot of interest and support.

Children enjoyed making a jumping frog out of scrap paper. A treasure hunt on a Warminster map was extremely popular. The prize being a Pollinator Beebom. Around the edge of the map were many places in Warminster highlighted for being green and sustainable.

It was very hectic at times manning the stall, which volunteer members shared over the day – well done to all! A great event indeed and we had fantastic interest and gratitude from the public!

The Death Of Rev. Fred Woods, Vicar Of Christ Church, Warminster 1981-1996; Rural Dean Of Heytesbury 1995-1996

Friday 22nd April 2022

From the announcement of Deaths in The Church Times, 22 April 2022:

WOODS. â€” On 4 April, the Revd Frederick James Woods: Vicar of Christ Church, Warminster (1981-96); Rural Dean of Heytesbury (1995-96); Team Rector in the Woodley Team Ministry (1996-2001): Vicar of St Peter’s and St Botolph’s, Colchester (2001-11); aged 76.

Warminster Town Council Full Of Praise For Two Groups Of Volunteers

Tuesday 15th March 2022

Warminster Town Councillors have recorded their thanks to two groups of volunteers who have worked closely with the Town Council.

Members of the Council’s Town Development Committee wished to highlight the work of those involved in the Warminster Town Centre Survey of Businesses, and the Copheap Volunteers.

The Warminster Town Centre Survey of Businesses is led by Mr. Len Turner and has for each of the past 11 years, produced a detailed update on what businesses are operating in Warminster.

The work involved is considerable as over 200 premises are categorised. The information obtained provides a unique insight into the number of empty premises and the changing nature of shops in the town.

The Copheap Volunteers, led by Mr. Nigel Linge, maintain the woodland at Copheap. The wood was brought by public subscription in 1947 to serve as a memorial to the Second World War.

Over the past few years, the volunteers have; cleaned the Lych Gate, restored paths, removed rubbish, mended fences, cut back undergrowth and overgrown paths, installed nest boxes, planted trees and more.

Mr. Turner and Mr. Linge were both sent letters of thanks from the Town Council.

‘Meet The Mayor Of Warminster’ Was A Success

Tuesday 8th February 2022

On Friday 4th February 2022 The Mayor of Warminster, Cllr. Steve Jeffries was available in the Warminster Civic Centre for the community to pop in to see him and discuss their thoughts, feelings and issues of the town.

In addition to face to face conversations in the Civic Centre, the Mayor also received email and phone call messages for consideration. Some of the issues raised that will be actioned were, the cleaning of the bus shelters and the overgrowth of the foliage on Weymouth Street. There was fantastic feedback received on the Lake Pleasure Ground being a superb hub of the town and there was positive anticipation on the opening of the new Splash Pad at Easter. This has shown that this event is also a great opportunity for local townspeople to share their positive feelings about the town.

Mayor Jeffries said, “I was really pleased to reach out to the community and hear their concerns and positive feedback. It was a pleasure to able to meet and talk to the members of public from the town that I am proud to be Mayor of.”

The morning proved to be a successful event. Mayor Jeffries intends to continue his face to face morning meetings on a monthly basis with the next meeting being held on Friday 18th March 2022 at 10.00 a.m. – 12 p.m.

If you would like to ask the Mayor anything in relation to or suggest anything about, the town of Warminster or the Town Council, then pop along to the Civic Centre in Warminster for a face to face short chat.

Warminster & District Memories Facebook Page – Update

Thursday 20th January 2022

Keith Rattray has updated the details for the Warminster & District Memories Facebook page:

Well done everyone who has taken the time to join us and post their cherished memories, the quality of posting has more than upheld the good name of our original website and just shows how much affection we attach to our old memories, wherever we are in the world, made even better by the ability to share them with family & friends on a like minded open community group with currently 3.7k members and growing!

Our old website http://www.warminster-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php which ran for over 10 years (now archived) was good going for a fledgling Warminster IT community,

In 2005 when the forum started the only local website was Danny Howell’s town page and the mighty Facebook was a fledgling new idea site hardly known or rated. The old Warminster Forum will remain as an Read Only site for the forseeable future out of respect to all those who posted over the years

If you are trying to join the Group and are declined then it is most likely because myself or Cathy King cannot see any mention of a Warminster connection or link to Warminster in your Facebook profile or any existing group member on your profile.

Please do not post non personal, current news clippings and printed photographs from papers such as the Warminster Journal, if your family or self are in a Journal article and it is a very old dated article and relevant to your family history then we will allow it but reserve the right to remove it should we need to.

Please do not post any photos from local publications by historians such as Danny Howell.

Please also do not post current affairs or adverts ( these will be deleted without further warning)

And finally after reading the many posts and hearing how we all remember loved ones, and finding there is no local site to express Remembrance , we welcome Memoriam from family members.

I have also started a seperate “IN MEMORIAM ” group group to allow repectful remembrance of family and friends, originating from or having lived or worked in Warminster, and who are no longer with us

https://m.facebook.com/groups/233923960367139?ref=share

Hopefully it will not be seen as tacky and I had thought of making it a Page but that would not allow you to interact as easily as we do on groups.

The memoriam group will be moderated to ensure it remains a memoriam.

New Deputy Clerk Appointed By Warminster Town Council

Wednesday 19th January 2022

Liquorice Allsorts Lover Gets Town Council Promotion

At the Full Council meeting of Warminster Town Council, held at Warminster Civic Centre, on Monday 17th January 2022, the Mayor, Steve Jefferies, announced that after a thorough and successful recruitment process, Warminster Town Council had appointed a new Deputy Town Clerk, Judith Halls, who will take up the role immediately.

Judith has worked for Warminster Town Council since May 2007, when she started as an administration assistant in Dewey House, the former offices of the Town Council at North Row. She has been involved in many town council events over the years including the Town Crier’s functions, Clean For The Queen and the annual Christmas Light Switch On, to name a few.

Over the years she has seen lots of changes, three Town Clerks and many councillors. Judith is well known for her approachable manner and has considerable experience that she will bring to the role, that will in turn help Town Councillors deliver on their plans.

Judith likes elephants, which stems from her time living in Nairobi as a child; and says she loves liquorice allsorts because they are nice!

Building Owner Says No To The Painting Of A Mural

10th January 2022

A public statement from Adrian Pickford of Chinn Bros. Ltd.:

To Whom it May Concern

On the 14th of December last, I received an email from our tenant, Ms Baber requesting permission for Ms Tanya Hinton to paint a large mural to the rear of her premises, which she rents from my family firm, Chinn Brothers Ltd. This was the first time that I had heard of this matter. I think it is well known locally that we own this property, and have done for many years. The following day I emailed her back, stating that we would not give consent. On Friday the 17th December I became aware of Ms Hinton’s public crowdfunding campaign. I was astonished to find that it had started on the 28th of November, weeks before I was even aware of the project. I immediately emailed Ms Baber again to emphasise that consent would not be given, and asking her to make sure that Ms Hinton was aware of this.

Contrary to various messages and comments on Heart of Warminster Facebook forum, since then, I have at no time changed my mind over this matter, and have been consistent in my position in refusing consent. I might add that the building in question is Grade 2 Listed in its entirety, and permission to paint a large mural would require formal listed building permission from Wiltshire Council, which, of course is beyond my control.

All of this negative publicity could have been avoided, if Ms Baber or Ms Hinton had approached me with a proposal prior to launching the public fundraising in November,without informing me first.

I might ask, finally, how would you, the reader, would feel if you, the reader found yourself in a similar situation, ie to find out that someone you had never met, or had any communication with, intended to turn up at your property and paint a large mural on it?

End of Statement

Yours Sincerely, Adrian Pickford.

Crime In Warminster During 2021 – Violence And Sexual Offences Were The Most Common, Theft From The Person Was The Least

Friday 31st December 2021

Information from the Crime Rate website:

The most common crimes in Warminster are violence and sexual offences, with 502 offences during 2021, giving a crime rate of 28. This is 3.9% higher than 2020’s figure of 483 offences and a difference of 1.06 from 2020’s crime rate of 27. Warminster’s least common crime is theft from the person, with 4 offences recorded in 2021, the same as 2020’s figure of 4 crimes.

The numbers for reported crimes during 2021 are as follows:

Violence and Sexual Offences = 502
Anti-Social Behaviour = 381
Criminal Damage and Arson = 134
Public Order = 118
Other Theft = 59
Vehicle Crime = 55
Shoplifting = 44
Burglary = 34
Drugs = 25
Other Crime = 21
Robbery = 6
Bicycle Theft = 6
Possession Of Weapons = 5
Theft From The Person = 4

https://crimerate.co.uk/wiltshire/warminster

During December 2021 Warminster Was The Worst Small Town In Wiltshire For Criminal Damage, Arson And Public Order

Friday 31st December 2021

Information on the Crime Rate website:

In December 2021, Warminster was the worst small town in Wiltshire for criminal damage and arson, with 14 crimes reported and a crime rate of 0.79 per 1,000 inhabitants.

Warminster recorded 12 reports of public order during December 2021, making its crime rate of 0.67 the worst small town for public order in Wiltshire that month.

https://crimerate.co.uk/wiltshire/warminster