WOMEN'S INSTITUTE

November Meeting
The speakers subject for the evening "Carved Candles" didn't prepare us for all the laughter he caused with his funny jokes. Mr J Hall and his wife decided to work at the art in retirement after witnessing it being demonstrated in the West Country. That looks easy enough, they thought! It has just occurred to me that they needed a sense of humour as it took two years to become proficient in the craft. When the wax is ready the candle is dipped alternately into wax then cold water, twenty four times into each. The candle is then cut with knives shaped for the purpose. Small candles to be finished in two minutes, large ones four minutes; the wax wouldn't be pliable after this time. The results were beautiful and didn't look as if they had been touched by hand. They are given a final covering to repel dust. If dust does get into the twists, just hold the candles under running water and shake dry.
About twenty members had an evening out at the Greyhound stadium in Milton Keynes. As we sat and had a meal we could see the dogs on the track or on a T.V. screen above us. The staff were so helpful it made for a very enjoyable evening.
A group meeting is to be held at Caddington Baptist Church on December 7th.
December 18th - Christmas meeting with The Riseley Singers.
We meet 3rd Tuesday in the month 7.30 - 10p.m. at Collingswell Hall. See you there
Patricia Crick


MOTHERS UNION
Our thanks to Loraine Crossett for a wonderful evening of Christmas Cooking.
There certainly won't be a shortage of "nibbles" this Christmas. Not only
were we shown "how to" but we actually "did". Then judging by the empty
plates we continued to enjoy the evening as we consumed the "fruits of our
labours". Not that it was at all laborious, just simple and great fun. Watch
out Sainsburys! there's going to be a rush on Filo and flaky pastry!

Eileen attempting to separate the Filo!

More goodies will no doubt be available when Pauline leads our Advent
Meditation at Julies home in Pepperstock on Dec 4th.-Has anyone ever known
an M.U. gathering without a good spread?
We will be leading a Carol Service at
Woodside home on Fri Dec 21st. @ 6:30pm. Please join the celebrations and share this special occasion with the residents and staff.
And a reminder that if you intended to donate a small gift there are a few
days left before Edie Ham and friends wrap the gifts. Thank you for your
support. We hope you all enjoy our M.U. gatherings and we hope to see you all in
2002, book the dates now! and watch out for fuller details nearer the
events. Meanwhile, the Seasons Greetings, Happy Christmas to you all and
best wishes for your health and happiness in the coming year. God bless,
from the M.U. committee.
MOTHERS UNION PROGRAMME 2002
January, Thursday 24th - 29 Crawley Close.
Chris Barnes - "Revival in the Church"
February, 12th- 15 Markyate Road. Shrove Tuesday -"P's & Q's!" (pancakes and quiz)
March, Thursday 14th - 8 Crawley Close.
"Celebrating Mothers" (Mothering Sunday 10th) with Photos and memories.
April, Wednesday 24th - 29 Crawley Close.
"Roots and Fruits" (video)
Sometime in June we have a day at Knebworth and in July we hope to visit
Mary Summer House (HQ of the M.U.) so watch this space!


SLIP END PARISH COUNCIL.
My doesn't time fly by? Here we are nearly at the years end and here I am just in time for Decembers issue of the PN ( and the website for those of you who read this on line). Sorry there wasn't an article last month, but I was away on holiday.
XMAS GIFTS FOR THE ELDERLY.
Parish Council will be visiting the elderly, housebound and lonely once again this year. As is the custom we shall also be distributing gifts. As this is the first year as a Parish Council we have decided to go about fund raising differently. In the past as a joint council with Caddington. The money was raised by a Chairman's Charity Evening, plus a raffle. Here in Slip End we think that this may be a problem in as much as it needs a lot of people to attend to make the sort of money required. Therefore we will be asking businesses in the Parish for a donation. The letters will be going out soon. If you wish to make a donation to this very worthy cause, please contact our Clerk whose address and telephone number is given below.
CLERK ADMINISTRATOR TO THE PARISH COUNCIL.
Our Clerk/Administrator Mr David Haste has now got a dedicated line for Parish matters. Below you will find full details of his address and phone/fax no:
Mr David Haste, Clerk/Administrator to Slip End Parish Council: 10 Highwood Grove
Mill Hill, LONDON, NW7 3LY
His telephone number which has an answer phone and fax is 0208 201 1079. Details of his e-mail will be circulated when he is online, we anticipate this to be within a month.
PARISH GRANTS
Organisations are reminded that any Grant applications for the next financial year should be with David Haste as soon as possible. Reminders for these were overlooked for last months PN, so if you are thinking of asking for a Grant from the Parish Council, please submit your application in writing to David Haste immediately.
AIRPORT BRIEFING MEETING.
Cllr. Richard Stay, our County Councillor has arranged a meeting to be held at the Village Hall on Wednesday 5th December 2001 at 7.30 pm., for the Parish Council and the public to come to meet the new Management Team from London Luton Airport. So, if you are interested and would like to meet them, or perhaps have any questions for them, or for Cllr. Stay and the Parish Council for that matter on Airport Business, please come along. Notices about the meeting will be posted in the Notice Boards.
PARISH COUNCIL NOTICE BOARD.
The new PC Notice board is now in place on the wall at the Village Post Office in the Markyate Road. Anyone wishing to put notices needs to ask the P O Proprietor as he has the keys. You are reminded that this Board is for anything to do with the Parish or public notices that have any relevance to the area. Regretfully, trade notices or advertisements will not be put in.
PEDESTRIAN CROSSING - CROSSROADS.
You will have seen that the BCC have made alterations at the pedestrian crossing here. As stated in earlier editions of the PN, this is not the final answer to the safety of pedestrians on this crossing, the current arrangements are part of an ongoing plan to make this area more pedestrian friendly.
FOOTPATHS
Many of you have called to my attention the state of the footpaths. The paths leading out of the village, especially Grove Road,Church Road and the Pepperstock end of Front Street are becoming completely overgrown with the grass encroaching on the actual footpath. We have been informed that the County Council Footpath(?)Team - whatever that is - will be visiting shortly to cut back all this growth. We are also happy to have on board, - and on an entirely voluntary basis - Mr Don Burford, who will be walking all the Parish footpaths and bridleways on a regular basis and be reporting back to us with a list of things that need to be done.
May I take this opportunity to thank our new Footpath Warden for his help in the future.
CRIME FIGURES.
Not too bad this month. To the casual observer it would look as Slip End Village has become the Car Theft Capital of South Beds. On further investigation however it seems that all but one of the reported car thefts were from the car storage depot in Grove Road. I understand that the company concerned is addressing this problem, so hopefully we will not have this 'blip' on our crime figures for much longer.
VANDALISM - THE PRICE WE PAY.
You may recall a few months back I mentioned that I would be writing to inform you all of how much money the PC - ( and you, Council Tax Payers of this Parish) have to spend to repair or replace things that are damaged or destroyed as a result of mindless vandalism. This month the PC has had to pay out £682.00. to repair damage done to the fences at the Crawley Playground. Yes, £682.00., that cannot be got back through insurance (Councils cannot be insured for damage to fences), so this money comes out of Parish Funds. On top of that there has also been damage done to the play equipment in the Playground , we haven't got the estimate for that from Wicksteed yet, but you can rest assured that it will be at least a couple of hundred pounds. I estimate that we will have had to pay out at least another £1,000.00. before we are finished on just restoring the playground and fences to the way they should be, or rather the way current Legislation says it should be. Parents, and young people out there, please be aware that in the end it is you the residents of this Parish that have to pay out for this damage.
MEETING WITH POLICE.
I had a meeting with WPC Carron Thompson and the Beat Sergeant at the Police Station last week. We are currently working on some new Community and Police Initiatives that I hopefully will be able to report about in the next edition of the PN in February of next year.
CAN YOUR FRIDGE SAVE YOUR LIFE?
Residents are asked to take a look at the notice which has appeared on the Village Notice boards in Woodside, Pepperstock and Slip End Village. Should you want to know more about all of this, please telephone the numbers on the notices.
That's all for this month folks, it only leaves me to wish you all, on behalf of all Councillors on the Parish Council, a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year. May whoever, or whatever you believe in go with you wherever you are.
Christine Benson. Chairman Slip End Parish Council.


CHRISTMAS GIFTS GALORE
Christmas shop -opening hours

Mon 10th 2 - 4.30
Tues 11th 9 - 11.30
Mon 17th 2 - 4.30
Tues 18th 9 - 11.30

Table arrangements with or without candles; Pot pourri, Gift ideas for Christmas presents, Flowers, Christmas candles and Photo frames

9 Crawley Close Slip End Tel 01582 411573

Hilary Macdonald


SLIP END FRIENDSHIP CLUB
November (sorry it's a bit late)

Canal Cruise 18th September
In spite of it being a wet misty day, a good time was had by all. Thirty nine members and friends enjoyed a three hour cruise, fortified with a beautiful cream tea. Unfortunately, we were met with heavy rain on getting home.
Sadly, our usual caterers will not be able to do our Christmas Dinner this year, however steps are going ahead to arrange an alternative. We shall be having the Tyro Dancers to entertain us after lunch.
We had a visit from Ruth Shipton, Field Officer, Community Safety Office, also supported by two gentlemen from Dunstable giving a talk on Safety in the Home.
Thanks to Slip End Lower School for inviting our Club to join with them at Harvest Festival. It was very much enjoyed and appreciated by our members.
This month, we are having a visit from Bedfordshire Safety Standards Office who have offered to take our electric blankets away for testing. These will be returned the following week with no service charge.

 


December
Our Clubs Christmas Dinner will be held on December 6th, after our dinner we are being entertained by the Tyro Dancers.
Meeting dates for the club after Christmas Dinner are as follows:-
December 13th and 20th
January 10th and 24th
February 7th and 21st
March 7th and then on weekly meetings as usual Thursday afternoons.
To close our thanks to all who have given us support with donations; Slip End Parish Council, The Harrow Woodside, Three Father Christmas's, Gill Plummer, and the public for support at our fund raising stalls. With your help we have been able to subsidise our four outings and Christmas Dinner this year.

On behalf of our members and committee, our thanks and a Very Happy Christmas and a Healthy and a Prosperous New Year to all.
Viv Porter


MURIEL'S VIEW.
Hello again to you all and how quickly this past
month has flown by. I don't seem to have a lot to write this month as everything from day to day in Slip End seems the same.
Firstly though, I must thank the brownies for the lovely notice board that they donated to the village hall and I feel that it was indeed a lovely gesture, so many thanks again and the board is in good use. We had our usual meeting Monday 12th November and all the bills were paid and discussions took place of the same old thing; who will sweep the leaves as they fall from the trees before the snow comes; shall we get a local person offer their services for the secretarial job that will be vacant in February next year; what shall we do if nobody volunteers, and all the discussions to keep the hall in its excellent state. Well, I will plead again for that job as time is getting nearer. Some of you may wonder why I as an individual am concerned about the secretarial volunteer and I will answer in simple words. The Village Hall Management Committee has always been managed by local people and when it comes to my notice that an outsider will be doing it if a local person does not come forward, then I think it is out of order and how can one be interested in a voluntary job with no knowledge of village life in Slip End, unless of course there will be a payment at the end of it. People who read the magazine have asked me to continue writing and I can only write about the things that I feel strongly about and bringing in an outsider to do the job of a local hero (well I'll call them that) is one of my objections. The trouble with me is that I speak my mind and all I can say is that people do then at least understand me. Going back to perhaps a paid officer to enhance the committee with their help - who knows perhaps we could arrange some payment for your local service. That is just my thinking and nobody else's. Still, time will tell and we shall see. Still, that may be improbable as we have always been a voluntary organization) Now, let me get away from the subject of the Village Hall committee, as I know without doubt that I will have a few comments and happily I can take all of that on the chin. The curtains have been finished for the stage in the hall and look very elegant indeed. The decorations will be going up shortly and when one stands back to view the hall inside or out, I can only say - what a lovely place for entertainment that one is looking at. I can say, with all honesty that our village hall is placed in a supreme position and all who live here will, I am sure, be proud of the way it is kept by the management committee. Well, I at least feel proud to be part of it.
Well, folks, you will soon be bringing out those Xmas lights to cheer the place up. I have mine out of the loft and will start to decorate my house on the first of December. I am letting Hilda know this as she lives nearly opposite me so she can get a head start this year (ha ha) I will close with a Christmas wish to you all as this is the last episode for this year. I have enjoyed writing this year but I do get stuck for news sometimes, so hopefully this issue will make up for missed months'. I wish you all a very happy Christmas and I hope that I have made no bad friends with this particular write-up as I love you all, whoever you are. Bye for now, Muriel


BADMINTON
Friendly and competitive Badminton Club seeks new members or visitors
Wednesdays 8.15 - 11.00pm
For further details call Linda on 737461
or Roger on 429031


ACTION POINT SERVICE
Do you want answers to questions about local services? Then ask your Councillor!
County Councillor Richard Stay and WPC Carron Thompson will be in attendance at Heathfield Lower School on the following dates:-
Saturday 1st December 2001
Saturday 5th January 2002
Saturday 2nd February
Saturday 2nd March
10.30a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
Your chance to discuss council & police services and any other local issues.


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