Parish Clerk

Many thanks to the dastardly ditch digging duo who were out in Coombe Lane clearing ditches this weekend!

Sadly there will not be the Christmas Eve Crib Service at Bolney Parish Church this year as we can’t accommodate everyone due to social distancing regulations, however instead why not…

Make/draw/put a Crib in your window or garden (as soon as you like) and ‘Follow The Star’ around Bolney looking out for how many cribs you can see.

The Church Crib and Christmas tree and carols playing in the background, will be in church from Monday 14th December. 

The church is open every day, please pop do in, but remember to wear a mask.

For details of Christmas 2021 please look at our website.

www.stmarymagdalenebolney.org.uk

Now’s your last chance to join the Community Fibre Partnership for the Bolney area. Sign up at fttp@bolney.com

You should have received a new flyer in your letterbox during the past couple of weeks. The list of people signing up for this community project is growing, but we need more applicants if we are to reach our target by Monday, 30 November.

Even if you signed up following the flyer we circulated in August, you need to sign up again at fttp@bolney.com so that we can compile and verify our final list.

Join the national effort and sign up for the NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry. Be part of the fightback against the virus by volunteering to be contacted by researchers to take part in COVID-19 vaccine research. 

There are a number of vaccines being identified, but only large-scale studies can give researchers the information needed about how effective they are. 

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is working with the NHS and aims to recruit as many people as possible onto the registry, which will allow people to be put in touch with the vaccine studies in the coming months. 

Researchers are looking for people from all backgrounds, ages and parts of the UK – including both people with or without existing health conditions – to take part in vaccine studies, to make sure that any vaccines developed will work for everyone. 

The service is available to anyone aged 18 or over, living in the UK. There is no obligation to join in any study, if you are contacted. But by taking part, you could help researchers find vaccines to protect us all more quickly – which in turn could help the NHS and save lives. 

Sign up today! 

On Sunday 8th November, Rev Michael Windridge  was in attendance to conduct a short, well attended but socially distanced service at the War Memorial.

The  short Act of Remembrance was enhanced by a tuneful young bugler.

This year, children and adults of Bolney remembered in a creative way by painting a poppy on a pebble and bringing it to the war memorial to display.

West Sussex County Council will continue to provide practical support, help and advice to people across the county as the country enters its second lockdown today (Thursday).

Our Community Hub was set up in March 2020 to give practical support and assistance to those affected by COVID-19. Since March the hub has provided access to food and essential household supplies as well as information and guidance to individuals and families.

To date the Community Hub has received in the region of 55,000 inbound calls and online support request forms, made nearly 40,000 outbound calls and delivered more than 3,000 urgent food parcels across the county.

Through the next month we are ready to do the same for those who need it the most.

Front line services to our most vulnerable residents will also continue, including social care provision for children, young people and adults.

West Sussex County Council Leader, Paul Marshall, said: “There is no doubt that this will be a difficult time for many people living and working in our county.

“I want to make it really clear that West Sussex County Council will always be here for our residents. For our most vulnerable residents, for those who need us most, we will support you. As a community I know we will pull together, help our neighbours and loved ones and do what it takes to get us though this difficult time.

“The new Government restrictions mean some of our services will be affected, and we know that might be inconvenient or frustrating.

“I would like to thank everyone across West Sussex for their diligence and continued efforts to prevent the spread of COVID. While this has helped keep our infection rates below those in many parts of the country, I urge everyone to continue to support us in our bid to Keep West Sussex Safe.”

Some changes have been made to services in light of the latest government announcement on COVID-19 restrictions.

All wedding and civil partnership ceremonies from 4 November until 3 December have been postponed. Registration offices will remain open, so notice appointments are expected to go ahead.

All registration appointments will now be conducted by phone. Appointments can be booked as normal, but people are asked not to attend the Registration Office.

West Sussex Record Office will be closed from Thursday 5 November until further notice.

West Sussex libraries are currently closed for browsing and only open for returns and collections. Opening hours are subject to change and you can find the latest information about your local library on our website. Limited computer sessions are only available when pre-booked in advance.

You can continue to reserve items directly from the library catalogue free of charge, and you will be notified when items are ready for collection. Library staff are also offering a select and collect service, where our expert staff put together a selection for you to borrow. Simply complete our online form or phone your local library and staff will let you know when your items are ready for collection from the library entrance.

Household Waste Recycling Sites (HWRSs) will remain open and operate to normal opening hours for the duration of the second lockdown.

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service will continue to operate as usual during the new lockdown if residents need them.

The service is encouraging residents to keep a checklist of fire safety advice to stay safe at home or where businesses are open and reduce the risk of an emergency incident occurring. This can be found on the fire service COVID-19 web page.

The fire service is continuing to provide free Safe & Well Visits to people in their homes on a risk-based approach. There is also the option for a Safe & Well Visit via phone, Skype and by posting a useful resource document, instead of face-to-face. These can be arranged by calling 0345 8729 719 or emailing safeandwell@westsussex.gov.uk.

A full list of the services that have been affected is available on our website by visiting www.westsussex.gov.uk/coronavirus.  

You can find more information about the Community Hub and request support online at www.westsussex.gov.uk/covid19communityhub or call 033 022 27980 to speak to someone.

Follow us on Facebook @WestSussexCC and Twitter @WSCCNews for updates and sign-up for our COVID-19 newsletter at www.westsussex.gov.uk/coronavirus to receive the latest information about our response to the pandemic. WSCC is also now on Nextdoor, the app designed with communities in mind. Follow the link and join the conversation at https://nextdoor.co.uk/agency-detail/england/west-sussex/west-sussex-council/

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust have proposed merging.

The new, single Trust will operate five hospitals and care for 1.8 million people in Sussex.

The Trusts are seeking the views of staff, patients and partners and have created a survey to collect feedback on the vision, values and name of the future organisation as well as the hopes and concerns people might have. Please respond to the survey and share the link with your networks.

The survey is available at www.westernsussexhospitals.nhs.uk/merger and www.bsuh.nhs.uk/merger  and closes on Monday (26 October).

The Parish Council was presented with a county Covid update from WSCC at our meeting last night. The full report is now available to view in the minutes section of the Parish Council pages on the bolney.com website (20.10.10 County Councillor Report).

As of yesterday it was reported that there are currently 20 people in hospital in West Sussex with Covid -19, four of which are in intensive care.

Other data concerning numbers of cases are in the full report along with updates on additional topics including Public Health and Education, footpaths, climate change and the financial pressures and service delivery at WSCC.

The Bolney Volunteers spent several hours on an autumn clear-up of the war memorial garden ready for Remembrance Sunday. Shrubs were clipped, dead branches removed and two new plants were dug in, kindly donated by Vicky Hawken.