April 2005 - Parish News


ST ANDREWS CHURCH

Services & Events in April

Midweek Communions take place monthly at two venues in Slip End, details from Joy.

 

 

Sunday 3rd

10:30am 

Family Communion

 

Network Groups meet during this week

 

Sunday 10th

10:30am

2:30pm

Morning Praise

St Andrew’s Ramblers meet at the church

 

Thursday 14th

8:00pm 

Footsteps meet - Laser Quest

 

Sunday 17th

10:30am

6:15pm

Holy Communion

3:16 meet in the Family Room

 

Network Groups meet during this week

 

Monday 18th

8:00pm

PCC meet in the Family Room

 

Wednesday 20th

10:30am 

Pram Service in the Family Room

 

Saturday 24th

9:15am

10:30am

Holy Communion at East Hyde followed by church AGM

Morning Praise

 

Monday 25th

8:00pm

3:16 Leaders meet in the Family Room

 

Thursday 28th

8:00pm

Footsteps meet in the Family Rom

 

Friday 29th

2:30pm

Woodside Home service

The Forgotten Festival!
Our bathroom scales at home have the odd habit of flicking past one weight to another without registering any weights between! The indication jumps from 70 to 72 Kilos, as though there was no such weight as 71 in between. This reminds me of the way we have picked up the habit in our churches today of leapfrogging from one season to another, jumping from Easter to Whit Sunday, virtually ignoring the season of Ascension which comes in between.

This used not to be so: when I was a girl attending our local School, every Ascension Day all pupils were taken into the Parish Church for a service then afterwards the rest of the day was a holiday! In those days, we were pleased when the Festival of Ascension came along. I guess if you were to go out on to the streets on Ascension Day and ask people what day it was you would be met by blank stares. Even some Church goers might do not much better: I suggest a couple reasons why Ascension Day is so easily forgotten these days.

Perhaps we find it difficult to picture just what happened on the Mount of Ascension. We can imagine the Christmas or Easter events but we find it hard to produce a credible picture in which Jesus ascends from a mountaintop towards heaven, rather like a slow motion space rocket.

Or maybe it is difficult for us to fathom the meaning and purpose of it, without much idea what the Ascension achieved and how it can influence our lives, much less could they answer the question. “So if he is alive today, what is he doing right now?”

I would sum up the answer in stories shared with me of peoples’ experiences of the ascended Christ who has given them the power of his Spirit to follow in his ways: to pray effectively and bring healing in his name: to make his world a better place in preparation for his return with assurance that they will then be with him forever.

So on 5th May at 7:30pm you will be welcome to join us at St Andrew’s to praise and rejoice with our ascended King! 

Reverend Joy Daniel


For those who aren’t familiar with us, the Friends of Slip End Lower School or FoSELS as it is affectionately known, is made up of parents and other “friends” who help raise much needed funds for our village school. We organise events during the year to help pay for extra equipment and activities or subsidise school trips. 

In addition we try to have some fun along the way and hold events that will be enjoyable for the children, their families and the community alike. We plan to keep you informed with regular bulletins in Parish News about the school’s progress, so even if you don’t have children there, please do have a read as there are often ways you can help or events you might like to attend.

Governor’s annual report: a positive report on the school’s progress was published by the governors in March. A summary of the National Curriculum Assessment results showed that most of the Key Stage 1 pupils were achieving the national expectation or above. Well done to both the students and the teachers who have worked so hard to make this happen.

Spring Concert: the whole school took part in a concert of music, singing and movement to end the term. Parents were invited to come along and enjoy the entertainment which showed the children’s musical abilities as each class performed a song, and small groups or soloists played or danced. All the children and teachers had put in a lot of practise to make it an enjoyable concert. This was followed by our Spring fund raising auction.

Auction of Promises: Last year this proved to be a very successful fund raiser which contributed over £400 to the school. So this March we again asked local businesses and parents to kindly donate goods and services for an auction held after the end of term concert.
Some fantastic donations were made including horse riding, babysitting, ironing, a handmade toy chest, Cineworld tickets, and tickets to Woodside animal farm, to name just a few of the 27 lots that went under the hammer. 
In total £482 was raised from the bidding, so a big thank you to all those who took part and the generous people and companies who made the donations. 

Red Nose Day: As the whole country was gripped by Red Nose fever, Slip End Lower School did their bit to join in the fun and raise money for a very good cause. 
As the pictures in this issue show, the children and teachers got into the comic relief spirit by dressing up in a fantastic array of costumes for the day. There were plenty of pirates, princesses, wizards, fairies and many well known characters such as Minnie Mouse, Peter Pan and even a Sponge Bob Squarepants or two (ask a small child if you don’t know who he is!). 
Everyone put a lot of effort into making it a colourful display which ended with a fancy dress parade at assembly in the afternoon. In total the school raised £160 for Comic Relief, so well done everyone.

Every penny helps! Fundraising goes on in small ways all the time at the school, we don’t just concentrate on the big events. We recently gave the children a tube of Smarties each to enjoy and once they had consumed the contents, asked that they fill the empty tubes with any small change then return them to the school. So far this has collected over £140. 
Plus every Friday at 3.25pm there is a tuck shop in the school hall for the children to buy their sweets from with all profits going to school funds.

Summer Fun Day: more news to be published soon, but we are planning a fun packed day in the school grounds this June. Everyone is welcome whether you have children at the school or not, there will be plenty to do, see and eat!
Calling all Tesco & Sainsbury’s shoppers! If you are a regular shopper at the Tesco supermarket, you will have noticed they are running their ‘computers for schools’ vouchers again. Likewise Sainsbury are also running a sports promotion to benefit schools. Even if you do not have children, please can you collect the vouchers and pass them on to the school as they really make a difference to us. Just pop them in an envelope and drop them in at the school office or through the letterbox. Your support is welcome and appreciated.

Slip End Lower School is an asset to this community with dedicated teachers, staff, pupils, families and friends working hard to make it a happy environment for the young in this area. There will be plenty happening at school in the coming months so look out for more from fossels next month and please give the school and the younger generation your support.
Sandra Colins


SLIP END BOWLS CLUB
Success at the Ruth Frizzelle Memorial trophy, played at Putteridge Recreation centre. The trophy was won by Yvonne & Bryan Carter, Doris Hogan & Peter Sweeney.
Slip End are currently 4th in the Premier Division of the Beds County Carpet Bowls League. We are a successful club with a full membership of 34 people.
This year we plan a seaside day out to Great Yarmouth in July and also a charity barbeque to be held at the Peter Edwards Memorial Hall with a bouncy castle for the children.
We hold many dances throughout the year which we all enjoy at the Village hall.
Janet Crawley


FRIENDSHIP CLUB
On 17th March we celebrated the 40th birthday of our Club with a party where we were well entertained by Slip End’s own “Razzle-Dazzle Dancers”. This was greatly enjoyed by all our members and Shirley Knapton kindly donated the birthday cake which was made by Sandra, her daughter. She had beautifully decorated it with hands clasped together. We were pleased to be joined by Gil, Shirley and Barbara for the afternoon. 
We are looking forward to the first outing of the season; on May 5th we will be visiting the Van Haig Nursery, more news next month.
Pam King, Secretary


HUMOUR!
The 15 year old got a nasty bite from his pet rabbit and his mother took him along to casualty. The doctors and nurses who cleaned and bandaged his hand were clearly amused at how he got the injury. As they left the hospital, the young lad was given a sheaf of papers which included a prescription for antibiotics, an information sheet about caring for the wound and a recipe for rabbit stew!

Whilst walking through a car park the businessman tripped and fell flat on his face. As he lay there, a woman motorist stopped and called out from her vehicle, “Are you hurt?” “No, I’m fine” he answered, touched by her concern. “Oh good,” she said. “Does that mean you’ll be vacating your parking spot?”


SLIP END TENNIS CLUB
Anyone for Tennis ?
Slip End Tennis Club was formed in 1987 and is affiliated to the Beds Lawn Tennis Association. It has two hard courts, which were refurbished in May 2002, and is sited at the Playing Fields, Church Road, Slip End. It is a small friendly club with approx. 50 members. 
Membership costs are as below. (There is a reduction for early payment of subscriptions)
Juniors £14 (those in full time education)
Seniors £26
Family £38 
Club members have priority in the use of courts, except when matches are to be played.
The general public are welcome to use the courts, when not in use by club members, at the cost of £1 per person. Club night is on Monday evenings and Adult night on Wednesday evenings from 7pm, to which all members are welcome. 
Junior coaching is provided by our LTA coach, Sally Parry on Fridays, £3 per session. Beginners 4-5pm and Intermediates 5-6pm. Ladies Friday morning from 10-11am. Private coaching is also available. Give Sally a call on 413501). 
We field a Men’s Doubles and Mixed Team in the South Beds Leagues also a Men’s Indoor and Mixed Outdoor Team in the Winter Leagues.
Any enquiries about the club can be made to persons below.
Peter Smith (Chairman) 01582 733253
Steve Lyons (Treasurer) 01582 414162 


SLIP END PLAYGROUP

The Spring term at playgroup has been a busy one with a full house on most mornings. We have a predominance of boys at the moment. With 22 children on our register and only 7 of them girls 2001 was obviously the year for producing sons in Slip End.
During the second part of the term we made cards and cakes for our mums for Mothers Day and for Easter have made a place mat with our hand prints on - it will be good to look back on in years to come to see how the children have grown and their hands no longer fit the prints on the mat. As the weather has decided to be so kind to us in the last week, we have been able to go out in the Playground for a while which we all enjoy. Our last day of term is Tuesday 22nd March and there is an Easter Egg Hunt planned for that day.
This term we decided not to hold our usual Nearly New Sale. This was because in the last couple of years the takings for the March sale have been down. We will most likely hold our October Sale as this one tends to be more successful. We do rely on our fund raising events to enable us to replenish our stocks. 
This March, in conjunction with the Toddler Group, we have held an Easter Draw instead. Thanks to all who bought tickets for this. The first five prizes were distributed as follows:-
1st £50 cash to Mrs M Higley
2nd £25 Whitbread Vouchers to Nikki West
3rd Woodside Vouchers to Mrs Reeves
4th Beauty Therapy Treatment to M Janes
5th Carpet Cleaning to C.Boote
There were 8 other prizes including several Easter Eggs.
We hope to be able to spend part of most days in the playground this coming term as the warm sunny days are soon to be with us. The new term starts on Tuesday 12th April and we look forward to welcoming back our children plus some new ones who have now reached two and a half years of age.


SLIP END & DISTRICT ASSOCIATION
Everything is now set for the Senior Citizen’s Outing on June 4th: we are off to Weston-Super-Mare for the day. If you would like to come but were unable to get along to the Car Boot Sale recently, please call Gillian on 01582 723109 giving your name and address and your meal preference, fish & chips or ham salad.

Wanted Urgently!
Chris & Mary Barker need to buy a house here in Slip End. If you can help call Chris on 738435 or 07764323542.


SLIP END PARISH COUNCIL
I hope April finds you all in fine springtime fettle: there’s lots going on at the moment, so here’s some items which have cropped up in Council recently. Full minutes of our meetings may be read on the Parish notice boards. Why not come along now and again to our monthly meetings in the village Hall? We are encouraged by increasing public attendance and there’s opportunity to raise matters and meet up on a less formal basis.

Front Street
After consultation with Peter O'Reilly of Raynesway, we will be starting to re-instate the verges in Front Street. By the end of April we hope to have tidied up the verges up to No.20. On verges up to No. 16 we will be leaving in the grasscrete but taking up the inside verge and replacing it with foundation and tarmac. As the grasscrete outside Nos.18 and 20 is so bad, we will be doing away with it completely and tarmacing it all. Outside Nos. 18 and 20 there is a Fire Hydrant sign and access to water for Fire Engines. Cars should not be parked around the hydrant in case there is a fire and the services need access. If anyone saw what the Fire service crews do to cars parked over the access, they wouldn't want to risk their vehicles as they would be completely trashed!
At a later date the Parish Council will be taking it upon themselves to clearly identify and mark out all Service Hydrants within the parish. We will issue a list in the Parish News and residents will know exactly where these are. Residents in Front Street affected by the refurbishment will be given plenty of warning so as not to obstruct these verges where the works are ongoing.

Village Hall
We are really fortunate to have such a good Village Hall. The general running and upkeep of the Hall is looked after by a Management Committee. They do a good job. Recently they are experiencing a lack of volunteers to come onto this Committee to help run the Hall for the community. For instance, Wally Allsop has been Treasurer for 41 years!! Understandably he has now had enough. Apart from a couple of exceptions, most of the Committee members have been there nearly as long as Wally Allsop. They would like help from others in the village. This Village Hall is your Village Hall, without a full Committee helping the others it will suffer, please come and put your name forward to help. You can contact Mick Plummer, Steve Fuell or me if you are interested. 

Crime Figures for February
1 Burglary (non dwelling)
1 Burglary (dwelling).
1.Domestic
1 Theft from motor vehicle
One can only assume that the cold weather kept the criminals in during the month of February!!

Crawley Playground CCTV
For the benefit of all those little clever clogs who thought it would be a good idea to turn the CCTV cameras skywards. You're all very photogenic by the way - hoodies notwithstanding. Your stupid little prank cost your Mummies and Daddies and every other Council Tax Payer in the Parish nearly £600 to put right. That's less money for the Skatepark, less money for new Play equipment, less money to spend on the Senior Citizens at Christmas and a lot more besides. 

We know who you are - be very careful. I'm never impressed with protestations of innocence by individuals. If you, and your cronies - (Slip End Mafia/SEM - not very original) are always seen at 'ground zero' whenever anything untoward happens - if its not you then you must know who it is, come in and sing like a canary to clear your name - that's the only way it can be done.

Anti-Social behaviour
What do you think constitutes Anti-social behaviour within a community such as Slip End Parish? Please let me know. With this information I can talk to the Police and prioritise.
Nothing else to report, my soap box is looking dented, so I will end my sermon.
Christine Benson, Chairman
Slip End Parish Council




Coronation Garden
Parish News is pleased to report that Councillor Geoff Daniel and his small team of volunteers are actively planning refurbishment of this village feature. Will it be possible to include the M1 Plaque? Watch this space!

GARDEN & ALLOTMENT ASSOCIATION

Vegetable Garden
Any celery or leeks left in the ground from last year should be lifted now. If the weather is good and the soil is working well, plant second early and late potatoes, keeping an eye on earlier sowings and protecting any shoots from a late frost. Maincrop carrots can be sown out now.

Flower garden
During the month the following bulbs or plants can be put out: gladioli, violets, violas, hardy herbaceous perennials and hardy annuals, as well as alpines for the rock garden.

Fruit Garden & Shrubs
Prune all flowering shrubs and roses. Spray gooseberries, black currants, apples and pears. Finish grafting any fruit trees and remove grease bands.

Help Requested
Should you have any plants or seedlings left over, why not provide them for the charity sale on 7th May (see poster on page 8). 

General Work
Now is the time to sow that new lawn: established lawns will need frequent mowing from now until the end of the growing season. Do not put your back out trying to start that motor mower or cultivator: get it in for service in the autumn next time!
Alan Marshtit



Next Page