Joey, the actual War Horse from Steven Spielberg's epic film is going to make a special 'guest appearance' on 4th June - see the Jubilee page for more details

It has been confirmed that Lyndon Broom is to take over the lease of the pub on 2nd April, with a grand opening event planned for the 5th April, watch Future Events for news of all the things that Lyndon has planned. We wish him every success in this exciting new venture for him.
We would also like to thank Gary and his family for helping to put our pub back on its feet!

As you can see, the web site is showing new additions in the form of a Future Events section and a special area dedicated to the forthcoming Jubilee so that it will be easier for you to find full details of what's coming up (and dates and basic details can still be found on the calendar as well).
The Future Events page is essentially for the bigger events, generally one off or yearly occasions, and the next big thing coming on stream is our major push this year for Best Kept Village, so watch the Future Events page for further detail on this, look out for 1st June!

Going to the pub on Friday night reminded me what a great village we live in! It was heaving and brim full of Christmas spirit, and I dont mean the liquid kind. The carols were great and thanks to the Earmuffs for leading the way. Children everywhere and included was a visit from Father Christmas!
Reading Lyndon's letters from Aganistan today also makes me realise that we have so much to be thankful for
Happy Christmas everyone

On Friday 9th December Whaddon was closed for several hours following a fatal crash. The victim was a young, 29 year old police constable based in Aylesbury. It is believed that no other vehicles were involved, but if you have any information pertaining to this tragedy, please contact your local police station by ringing the new non-emergency number - 101.
This is the 2nd fatality in Whaddon Road in less than a year and surely now must be the right time to approach Bucks CC with a view to installing more permanent speed control measures!

Successful competition at the Green Man on Saturday lunchtime, 13 entries, all dutifully tasted by the judging public, and a winner agreed, and a worthy winner at that - Chris Hodges.
For anyone wishing to take part in this next year, you need to know that all entries should be from the current year's berries, laid down stocks are not eligible, so advance notice to get harvesting next year!

We hear that congratulations are in order for local choir - the Earmuffs, who earned a distinction in the recent Buckingham Music Festival, scoring over 80%
We understand the next appearance of the Earmuffs will be during the evening of carol singing to be held at the Green Man on the 23rd December, it promises to be a great night!

The 'Fright Night' at the Green Man on 29th October raised £340 for the MS Centre at Halton.
We hear the Ghost Trail round the Village was particularly successful!
Thanks to all concerned

We have been advised that fireworks were posted through both letterboxes in the village some time on Saturday. Interviewing the postman this morning he confirmed that he cleared the post box on Saturday morning and he believes that anything posted during Saturday would have been destroyed. When the post was collected on Monday there was some unaffected post on top of the charred remains, which would have probably been posted during Sunday. Anyone with any information on this incident should contact the police, meanwhile if you posted anything on Saturday, there is a good chance it was destroyed. We need to stop this idiotic behaviour right now!

The deadline for returning the questionnaires for the Neighbourhood Plan has now expired. There has been close to a 50% response and the Parish Council are in the process of analysing the data in order to answer the questions posed by AVDC planners.

A summary of the major outcomes will be included in the next issue of the Parish Pump.

Thursday 8th September is the last day for entering the Village show, there are posters around the village, schedules were given to every household, so get busy and make this show the best one yet!

VILLAGE HALL
Saturday 10th September 2011
STARTS 2.30

Classes to include cookery; vegetables; fruit; flowers; floral art; handicraft; photography;

Presentation of awards by David Prosser at 3.15, followed by produce sale.

If you have any queries, please give Sandra a ring on 720609, or Sue on 720523

Download schedule

Download entry form

The comments made by the various attendees at the meeting concerning the proposed affordable housing have been roughly anlaysed, as follows:
14 in favour, 10 with no objection and 15 against.
The main areas of concern were the location, the materials to be used, road safety and whether this project would be a precedent for further development.
One of the comments that recurred frequently was that the wrong site had been chosen. The Parish Council are keen to point out that after 14 years of trying to obtain land for this project, this is the ONLY site available.
The architects are currently discussing these concerns with the AVDC Planning Department and the Bucks Highways Department.
Watch this space!

The meeting on Thursday last was very well attended, and all the comments sheets have gone back with the Housing Association to be analysed. A wise bird tells me that it is hoped that this consultation stage will take approximately 2 months, then, if the response is favourable, a further 2-3 months to get through the planning stage, with hopefully the first house underway early next year. Our impression from various comments made at the meeting is that this is a little optimistic, given the level of apparent anomalies that came to light. The Planners had also gone to a great deal of trouble to preserve, and even add, to the planting, and to preserve the views. We would ask what guarantees do we have that this will be adhered to when the money runs short?

There will be a consultation event during Thursaday 21st July in the Village Hall from 3.30 to 7.30 for everyone concerned about the proposal to build 8 homes, in conjunction with Hastoe Housing Association, on a site up Station Road to view the outline plans and discuss same with the architect. You can register your concerns if you have any, and there will also be an opportunity to record your housing need if you haven't already done so.
The Parish Council would like to know your views and there will be representatives from the PC in attendance during the event.

Advance notice of the Village Hall's 'Come, See, Engage' evening on 16th September, from 7.30 in the Village Hall.
This evening is to celebrate all that happens in the Hall, and there will be various demonstrations and exhibits from current users, also a chance for you to try out for yourselves some of the things on offer. There will be an opportunity for you to air your own views as well on what you would like to have the chance of taking part in, a questionnaire will be available for needs/ideas for future events.
Also planned are power point slideshows of events, and while you are browsing, there will be free wine and cheese, or coffee and flapjack, to add to the fun.
Look out for more detail nearer the time, or if you have any queries, contact Joy Cowell on 720425

There will be a special bank holiday in June next year to celebrate this unique day, being a celebration of the 60 year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
The late bank holiday is being moved to June 4th giving people a 4 day weekend.
Here in Mursley we intend to push the boat out, planning a BIG party, and volunteers are needed from every street and corner of Mursley to help.
If you are interested in getting involved, either on the day or in this planning stage, or you have any ideas to to share, please contact Sandra Doherty on 720609, or email doherty33@btinternet.com preferably by 20th June.

Meanwhile put June 4th in your diary, you will not want to miss this party!

The Winslow and Buckingham Committee of the Royal National Lifeboats Institution would like to thank everyone in Mursley who collected and donated during the April house to house and street collections. The Village generously contributed £264.37 to the grand total of £10,342.67, being only slightly down on last years figure.
If anyone would like to consider collecting next year, please ring 01525 240570 for an informal chat.

The Parish Council held its annual village meeting in the Village Hall last evening. The meeting was well attended by the public, and retiring Chairman, Neil Coles, said a few words about the past year before throwing the meet open to questions. He expressed his disappointment that only 3 Parishioners have signed up for the new Council, but was hopeful that others would come forward and offer their services, in which case the Council has the right to co-opt further members. Most of the queries from the 'floor were to do with planning applications and parking problems, in Main Stret and Station Road in particular. It will be up to the new Council to take these queries forward. If anyone feels they would like help their community in this way, please ring Neil Coles for further information.

Several Councillors are standing down this year, (several of them have served for 10 years) there will therefore be new Councillors to elect on the 5th May (also elections that day for AVDC and the Referendum).
If you are interested in helping your community in this way, information packs concerning the duties and responsibilities of a Councillor are available from the Green Man.
There is also a Village Annual Meeting on 19th April at the Village Hall, 8.00pm
If you would like more information, or to arrange a meeting to discuss the matter personally with an existing Councillor, please ring the current Chairman, Neil Coles, on 720223

Late on sunday night, long after most people were tucked up in bed, the village was rocked by an explosion. Just to clarify, this was an exploding tyre from a milk delivery lorry. The tyre ended up detached from the body of the vehicle, and it took 4 watering cans of water to put the fire out!
The lorry was stranded foir a couple of hours, but by the morning both lorry and decimated tyre had disappeared!

Bucks CC are proposing that Winslow library become a 'community partnership' library, staffed by volunteers. They are asking for feedback on the scheme by 1st Feb. For more info go to www.buckss.gov.uk/bcc
Select 'libaries' under the 'Leisure' section of 'Services'

We have been advised by AVDC that tomorrow's collection has been cancelled in favour of other parishes who have missed out on previous days because of the snow. The next collection will be on Thursday 30th December. Recycling will be collected on the next normal recylcing day, if you are not sure when this is, check the AVDC web site - www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk
Details can be found under the 'refuse and recycling dates'

Good news from the Table Tennis club, which currently provide, we believe, the only regular activity for young people in the Village Hall. They are upgrading their coaching facility and will be providing a dedicated table for the youngsters during the first half of the evening. Two of MiltonKeynes top table tennis coaches are now members of the Club and have offered to help anyone who wants to improve their skills, both young and old (all standards welcome). Please ring Dave Bartlett on 720177 if you want any more details.
This is very welcome news, and we hope that more youngsters from the Village will be able to use the facility.

Did you know that we can vote to get the latest broadband speeds to our village. If you go to the BT web site and vote, ie http://www.racetoinfinitybt.com/ and we get 75% of our residents signed up, then we can be up there with the best of them. The Village, having launched a campaign to get broadband to the village in the first place (and actually we dont have bad speeds here), can again show our enterprise and achieve this if we all band together.
Get voting now!
(see also forum entry)

We understand that, in the interest of keeping the peace, the Choir have withdrawn their request to use the Village Hall on a Wednesday evening, the Tango Club, which is open to everyone in the Village, and is a really good way to keep fit we are told, is saved! We further understand there have been misunderstandings on both sides, and the Village Hall Committee on their part are anxious to tighten up on the rules to avoid this sort of thing happening again. We believe that a represetative from the Tango Club has offered to help by becoming a member of the Committee with immediate affect.

It has come to our notice that the Village Hall Committee are proposing to refuse the local tango club, used by some village residents, who have been operating in the hall on Wednesdays evenings for over 10 years, and who have contributed more than £20,000 to Village Hall funds, further use of Wednesdays and give that evening to a relatively new, largely village choir, namely 'Earmuffs', this dispite Tuesday evenings and Friday evenings being available for them. We further understand that at least two members of the Earmuffs group are actually on the committee and perhaps should have declared an interest and not voted? It would be interesting to see the Constitution of said committee, and feel sure this is not the last to be said on this matter.
See the Village Forum for more detail and discussion.

This Year's Horticultural & Craft show at the village hall on 11th September proved to be a success depite the challenging growing conditions and there were plenty of exhibits. Thanks go to Barry Agnew who hot footed it back from his holiday in the Isle of Wight to present the prizes in lieu of Mary Sinclair who was not well enough to attend.
Prizewinners as follows:
WI Salver/Domestic - Jill Prosser; Linslade Motors Cup/Veg & Fruit - Jull Prosser; Barbara Jackman Cup/Dahlias - Sandra Doherty; Squire Cup/Roses - John Williamson; Don Griggs Cup/Flowers - Sheila Ward; Society Cup/Children under 11 - Charlotte Tye; Society Cup/Children 11-16 - Lucy Robinson; Society Plate/Best Floral Art Exhibit - Lea Thomson; Village Stores Cup/Handicrafts - Margaret Dowding; A&B Garage Cup/Photography - Phoebe Munford; Mursley Sheild/Best Photo in Show - Bradley Young; Mary Sinclair Cup/Overall Points Winner - Jill Prosser
Congratulations to all concerned!

We understand that there are new landlords at the Green Man. John and Sharon have moved to pastures new, we wish them well, and the couple now in charge are none other than local favourites, Gary & Janet Ives. We feel sure this will be a popular change, and although the owners have no wish at present to put in the promised improvements, hopefully trade will pick up sufficiently to improve confidence all round. We understand the lease is secure for 2 years.
We wish Gary & Janet the very best of luck in their new venture.

Oxford Diocese has now obtained planning permission on the old Rectory site. A new rectory is to be built behind the existing Rectory Rooms to accommodate future rectors of our Parish. The new rectory will be connected to the Rectory Rooms which are also going to be re-furbished. The exisiting Rectory will have the brick extension demolished, be extensively refurbished and extended, then offered for sale. It is hoped that work on site will start towards the end of the year.

Winslow Town Council have come up with the idea of providing a bus every friday night during the holidays to and from Central Milton Keynes (last one on September 3rd). The service will be for 14-17 year olds and there are to be pick up and drop offs points in Mursley, the L8 bus, as it is is called, leaves Winslow at 6.00pm, and leaves Milton Keynes for the journey back at 10.30pm. If the L8 bus is successful, they will give consideration to running a service through term time as well. If you would like to know more, ring 01296 715786 or email to winslowL8bus@winslowtowncouncil.gov.uk

Local residents put together a music festival held in aid of the Multiple Sclorosis Society last Saturday evening, and despite the extreme temperatures, a great time was had by all. Invited guests picnicced to the sounds of various performers, including local choir 'Earmuffs' who had their first gig, Bernie Marsden, former guitarist from Whitesnake who wowed his fans, and John Otway, most famous 'failed' rock star lept around the stage keeping himself warm and his audience amused.
A great evening, thanks to all concerned.

We have been advised of the following road closures for road repairs:

28 June - B4032, Mursley Road Stewkley, between Bletchley Road Stewkley and Swanbourne Road
1 July - Whaddon Road, between A421 & Main Street
2 July - Main Street

Following the recent membership round up, the local Wine Club, which has been running successfully now for nearly 3 years is opening up its membership for a further 10 members. Membership has to be limited purely for pratical reasons, and is based on a first come first served basis. You can find out more details by looking at the web site entry. Forthcoming Events include a garden party with sparkling wines and music in July, a visit to a vineyard in Sussex at the end of August, and an Italian evening in October.

As you are probably aware from the news, the English Defence League are planning a protest march in Aylesbury on Saturday May 1st. The police circular on this assures us that there will be a significant police presence in town that day, so that life can go on as normal. However, the recommendation is that you check web sites before visiting in case the situation has escalated. The latest information will appear on the following web sites:
www.thamesvalley.police.uk
www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk

Chance for you to come along to the annual public meeting and raise any queries you may have directly with the people who deal with the day to day issues concerning the running of our Village. Maybe contact the PC clerk in advance if you have something specific you want to raise.
Public meeting statrs at 8.00pm in the village Hall, see the PC section of the web site for the agenda.
Everyone welcome!

latest advice received from local area technician for Bucks CC is that the more severe holes should be attended to within the next 48 hours (where have we heard that before), and that more re-surfacing work in Mursley is scheduled for June.
Progress on this issue has been disappointingly slow, but we are not alone in that, and our Parish Council continue to press Bucks CC

Last night, at the Bucks Community Action Parish and Community Planning Awards Event held at Hazlemere Golf Club, the various communities who have completed a Parish Plan were presented with a plaque in recognition of that fact. Mursley is amongst this number, and were represented on the night by Barry & Alison Agnew, who collected the plaque, together with a voucher for a local garden centre for a tree, to be planted somewhere in the village as a lasting momento of the process undertaken to formulate the PP, and the work undertaken by the dedicated Steering Group. During the evening there were various discussions and brief presentations from some of the communities about their different experiences and achievements, including putting in place a fully stocked recreation ground where formerly there had been none, (Great Horwood). From Mursley's point of view, this web site has been a positive development from our Parish Plan, together with a concerted effort, along with the Parish Council, to do something about speeding issues. The BCA are continuing to support various community projects, and it is to be hoped that with the aid of your input via the web site in particular, our community will continue to develop and explore the various issues and action plans that were formulated at the time of publication of the Plan. Well done to all concerned!

The Village Design Statement is now available for you to view online, see pdf attachment to Design Statement section. This was a project that originally came to fruition out of the Parish Plan, and the team who put it together are much to be commended.
The question is what now? The views which the parishioners expressed on planning issues, amongst other things, can be seen in the original Parish Plan, which is now available to view in full in the Parish Plan section. There are a range of opinions of course, and this web site was set up to continue the process, hence the introduction of the forum, which is a tool by which you can express your own opinions. You can also view the publication of the Parish Council minutes, which gives you insight into current issues.
A continuing process then, and one in which we hope you will all share, this is your village after all!

We are in the process of re-doing the history section, thanks to the dedication of our local archivist, Melinda Cole, and the interest that has been generated via the web site (we have had more response on this than anything else). If you have lived in the village a long time, have some stories you would like to share, even some photos, Melinda would like to hear from you, and if you get your skates on, your information can be included in the new look history section. Please email in using the web site contact page, or you can email Melinda direct on:
mursleyhistory@btinternet.com
Thanks to anyone who has already emailed in, you could also post an entry on the Forum, which, at the moment, is not used enough, whether its history you are interested in, planning issues, village politics (nothing personal remember) or anything else, this forum has been set up to include everyone on the village, and to give you a chance to air your views on pretty much anything. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Safer Roads police dpeartment have confirmed that both Whaddon Road and Main Street are causes for concern, and that Main Street will immediately be place into the mobile enforcement scheme on a rotational basis, see Parish Plan/Pressure Group/Speeding for further detail

As you know the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. As with the Golden Jubilee, there is going to be a public holiday, and it would be good to have a real celebration in Mursley. The Parish Council are supporting these celebrations and are keen to get anyone interested, and with some great ideas, together with other like minded Parishioners, to ensure that we 'push the boat out'. Street parties anyone?
Please contact one of the Councillors if you are interested in becoming involved in anyway.
Lets make it a good one!

After concerns expressed by our Parish Council to BCC, we are advised that some areas in Whaddon Road have now been repaired, and that the area in Main Street, which is causing concern as traffic swerves to avoid the potholes, is scheduled to be done this week.

Bucks CC are currently proposing an extension to the 30mph speed limit in Whaddon Road which, if adopted, would see the 30mph starting just before the Water Tower. It is also proposed to change the limit from Mursley to the A421 to 50mph.
Full details can be seen on www/buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/transport/area12
Objections or comments can be made by email to lwitney@buckcc.gov.uk
If you are interested in this subject please take the time to express your views, closing date to do this is 19th March

Following a chase by our Parish Council, below is the response received from David Hedley, the local area technician at Bucks Highways,
"due to the severe volume of potholes that require repair, we currently have to concentrate pothole repairs on A and B classified road. The work was ordered yesterday, there may be a slight delay before our crews are able to get to this area, but they will hopefully be available by the end of this week to repair these potholes"
We understand that the only classified section of road near the village is the stretch between Stewkley and Swanbourne.

Our list of business' is growing, If you live within the parish boundaries, you can advertise on the web site for free, that's for a standard advert. Send in your details, including a logo, if appropriate, and we will get you online. If you want something really fancy, we can help you with that as well, although, depending on size, that would come with a price tag.
If you live outside the Parish boundary, then we have to charge for a standard advert, but a mere £25/year.
Any other queries, email in and we will try and help you.

For anyone wishing to attend the funeral for Margaret Lomas, formerly of Church Lane, we can advise that this is to be held in the Church on Saturday at 11am

Well, the big freeze hits us tonight/tomorrow, so more disruptions to look forward to, and certainly some of the coldest January temperatures in recent years. It was, of course, a cold winter last year, some of the plants that have survived our winters in recent years were lost last year - good thing we didn't replace them!
Lots to look forward to though, not the least lengthening days.
All the best for 2010.

Sleepy little village like ours, not much to report by way of change, although scratch the surface, and there is lots going on. The Village Design Statement is the next big thing to be published on the web site, hopefully in January, the team are working on the final amendments as we speak - see the VDS section of the Parish Plan site for details. The Forum is up and working, and support is building slowly but surely, items for sale anyone? We had our first entry in that section yesterday.
Carol singing on Saturday at the pub, evening carol service on Sunday at the Church, and snow to boot - what more could we want. Let us hope for a great 2010.
Happy Christmas everyone.

The Mursley web site has launched its new forum, now you can all have a say about what goes on in the village, no matter what your particular interest is. You can also advertise things for sale, or articles you may want to source. Who knows what is out there. As long as you read the terms and conditions and keep within our guidelines, you can comment on whatever you would like to. The web site has proved a great success to date, the statisics for viewings make encouraging reading, and this new exciting dimension is sure to increase interest and help bring our community even closer together.

Simon Stagnell, local resident and guru for the Mursley Wine Appreciation Society is opening a wine shop in Stony Stratford in Odell's Yard (behind Odell and Co). As well as a complete wine purchasing experience, you can also sample some tasty platters from the Wine Cafe. Simon is a complete wine expert, with many years experience, so if wine is your thing, then Stony Wine emporium is definitely the place to visit. The shop is opening on Friday 9th October, see website for further details and opening hours (closed on Sundays & Mondays).
http://www.stonywineemporium.co.uk/

Update on Village Forum, we are nearly there folks, watch this space!

Shop project next step, meeting to be held on 21st August - see Focus Group, Shop page

The web site goes live today, and hopefully you are reading this on your first of many viewings, its been worth the wait! Why not put it on your favourites, if nothing else to get that all important weather forecast. Our thanks to Simon and Beth for all their hard work. The next step is to create a village forum, whereby you can get your say on anything that concerns you, although comments will be moderated, and nothing personal or abusive will be published. Watch this space!

Great News!
We understand from the web designer that the new village web site will go live on 30th April, yes that's 2009 folks, watch this space....
Many of you are concerned about the revised plans for the former 'Greenways' project, now known as the proposed Winslow Green Development, and the Parish Council held an open meeting on this on 26th January, not many of you attended this meeting, so you may want to voice your concerns to the PC direct, if you need more detail, then visit the Aylesbury Vale planning web site http://eplanning.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/tdc/tdc_home.aspx you need the detail of the application, which is 08/02944/AOP in the parish and ward of Great Horwood. You might also be interested in looking at the web site which has been set up by opponents of the scheme, which you can find on http://www.stopwinslowgreen.co.uk/
We would also like to tell you that Village Information packs are now available, with general information on village organisations etc. of particular interest to anyone new to the village. If you know of anyone in this position, please get in touch with us, and we will see that they receive one of these packs, together with a copy of the Parish Plan.

We had hoped that the new web site would be up and running by this time, but delays beyond our control have put back the proposed publication date to probably the new year, although we have been promised an initial viewing in November, watch this space! Meanwhile, things have been happening on the Village Design Statement front - check out the Focus Group page for details. Once the new Parish web site is published, this web site will be incorporated within it and fazed out from its current web site address, but we propose to keep it running in this interim period to let you know of any developments.