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Parish Link [ParishLink] community newsletter serving Kensworth, Studham and Whipsnade, in South Bedfordshire, UK
Welcome to the electronic edition of Parish Link, a newsletter serving the villages
of Kensworth, Studham and Whipsnade in rural South Bedfordshire, UK. This electronic
newsletter has been designed to complement rather than replace our traditional paper-based
newsletter, and hopefully extend its reach to enable previous residents and continuing
friends of our village communities to remain connected with us, wherever they may
be located around the world.
Welcome to Parish Link
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Kensworth Carnival 2008
Thankfully the rain cleared up just in time for the Carnival on Saturday 21st June, and hundreds of residents and visitors enjoyed a most memorable afternoon.
For more photos, click here
Winter 2009 in the Chilterns
Defeating the Burglars
‘HOW Homewatch’) explained how the scheme works and encouraged other residents to
form similar groups in the local villages and neighbourhoods in which these collaborative
initiatives do not currently exist, or where earlier anti-crime measures may have
lapsed. Lynne explained that the Neighbourhood Watch scheme is not a vigilante group,
but essentially a system of alertness to suspicious activities, cold callers, etc.
By simply being good neighbours to one another, we can all reduce the risk of break-ins
or thefts from our homes, sheds and public buildings. The gains are real, as evidenced
by the lower home insurance premiums charged where active Neighbourhood Watch scheme
are operating.
Over 70 people crowded into the Village Hall in Studham on Saturday 31st January to learn about new ways of defeating burglary and reducing the risk of crime in our rural villages.
The meeting was organised by Studham Parish Council. Lynne Moxon, the Neighbourhood
Watch co-
The meeting also gave an opportunity for Mark Winchester, Police Liaison Manager for SmartWater (makers of a unique identifier product) to explain his firm’s approach to the marking of property so that police are able to establish, without any ambiguity, the owner of such property when it is recovered after theft. Their ‘SmartWater’ solution is totally invisible until illuminated by UV light. There are billions of variants of the solution, so that each household can identify their property uniquely.
For more information, please contact the chairman of your local Parish Council: Kensworth: Robin Radford (872412); Studham: Fiona McDougal (873257); Whipesnade: Ken France (872375).
Mark Winchester demonstrates the presence of normally invisible ‘SmartWater’ under UV light
During February 2009, South Bedfordshire experienced its most significant snowfall in the last 20 years
Days Gone By
The Friends of Studham Church organised a wonderful evening of musical entertainment in March, when a capacity audience delighted in songs and recitations from former times. Front man for the evening was Jim Putterill, complete with “boy” assistant Margaret.
To see more photos, click here
Don’t Mess With These Mothers!
Perhaps they were inspired by Varsha Patel, when she sent two young thugs running
from an aborted robbery attempt at Kensworth Village Stores last year? Or maybe it
was simply the need to find alternative strategies for getting ‘im indoors to do
more of the household chores? What ever the reason, local menfolk should be take
due note that the women of Kensworth have been up-
To see more photos, click here
To enlarge a photo, click on the image
Kensworth May Festival 2009
To see more photos, click here
To enlarge a photo, click on the image
The Kensworth May Festival took place in the grounds of St Mary’s Church on Sunday 3rd May and attractions included traditional folk and morris dancing and mumming plays by English Miscellany, as well as sides stalls and a beer tent. Despite a dubious weather forecast, the afternoon remained dry and bright, and the many visitors enjoyed a lovely, traditional, rural village occasion. The event was organised by the Friends of St Mary’s, and monies raised will go to support church funds.
March 2009
s
Another popular ‘Zoo Stampede’ 10K race and Fun Run was held in Whipsnade Zoo on
Sunday 7th June, organised and marshalled by members of Dunstable Road Runners -
Some additional coverage appears on the Whipsnade page of our own website.
For more pictures of the 10K race, click here
For more pictures of the Fun Run, click here
Tree Cathedral Service 2009
The annual Whipsnade Tree Cathedral Service took place in June and was blessed with beautiful summer weather. To read more details and to see more photos, please click here
Studham’s Summer Picnic
There was a real community spirit at the Studham picnic, held in the grounds of St
Mary’s Parish Church on the longest day of the year, Sunday 21st June. An observational
quiz and plentiful supplies of hot dogs and beef-
Whipsnade Village Festival 2009
The long-
To see photographs of the Scarecrows click here
For more Flower Festival photos, please click here To see photographs of the Fete, click here
New Baby at the Zoo
A tiny elephant standing just over 3ft high is the latest addition to the herd at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo.
The pint-
The speedy nipper was on her feet within five minutes of being born, the quickest any calf born at the Zoo has been up and about. She has already been enjoying the summer sunshine taking her first wobbly steps outside, much to the delight of zoo visitors, at around 12 hours old – under the watchful eye of her keepers.
For more photographs, click here>
Flower & Vegetable Show 2009
For more photos, click here
Once again the weather was kind as Kensworth held its annual show in and outside the Village Hall. The event attracted more than 200 entries and considerable numbers attended during the afternoon to appreciate the quality of all the exhibits and artwork by members of the Chiltern Art Group.
To see who won the various prizes. and to see many more photographs, please click here
Click on any image to view an enlarged version
Studham on the Box
The Red Lion pub in Studham appeared in a Channel 4 documentary programme in October,
and our good friends from ‘The Green Office’ featured. The Green Office are a group
of keen golfers who base some of their social and local fund-
For more details, please click here >
In late November, a film crew from ITV visited St Mary’s Church in Studham to film scenes for a new drama to be broadcast later this year. All the action took place outside in the churchyard, with over 100 technical crew members easily outnumbering the six or eight thespians. (Your editor is sworn to secrecy over the famous actor who also made an appearance in the main scene, for fear of giving the plot line away ... however, he might be susceptible to a little inducement!).
Is it possible that sexism reared its ugly head again, or simply that our own lovely
Rector was not a paid-
Red Lion Too