Forshaw Heath & Earlswood BoD in Warwickshire

  As I reflect on the past few days, I can’t help but be reminded that amongst all the doom and gloom of our current times, there are also acts of kindness and humanity from complete and utter strangers. I was taken aback when one of these kind strangers realised what a pickle I was in when I couldn’t find my purse in my handbag or pockets as I was about to pay for my goodies, of course my initial thoughts were not to worry about the goodies I wanted to pay for but my vanishing purse. The gentleman in the que behind me must have sensed my total panic and quite simply said to the sales assistant I will pay and to me he said don’t worry I know how you feel. He had paid & disappeared by the time I had repacked my handbag and gathered my Cup of Coffee, cheese & bacon bake type thing and frozen peas to go with tea. That is what I call kind. So if you know a gentleman who was in Shirley at the M&S attached to the BP garage on the Stratford Road at lunch time on Wednesday 9th ...

Well it is the 3rd or fourth time I have wanted to scribble general thoughts and ramblings. I am currently feeling Sad, Confused, Annoyed and totally at the end of my tether with absolutely everything just in one short week we have had the following. A survey from PC asking us if we would notice a slight increase of the cost per week of our Parish Council Precept. A survey from the Police and Crime Commissioner  potentially asking the same question but for the Warwickshire Constabulary. Malthouse Lane Park now looks like a prison camp (Personal Opinion Only) so much for the openness of the Greenbelt. We have had two horrific crimes within a week - Neither of which we as a wider community would have known about if it weren't for local word of mouth, SM and groups and not from official sources ie Police, MSM except for the Daily Mail  A niggling and real Nitpicking moment  is when on the  3rd of December 2020  @20:07 hrs  I still don't see  Octobers Pari...

Yesterday for the first time in approx 7 months. My MIL made it past the end of her drive in Malthouse Lane. I had already decided that it was time for my Mother In Law to get out of the house and out and about and for her to remember what the Parish looked like. She was wearing her mask. I have a sporty little number of a car. Where taking the roof back for those that know me, If its dry that is exactly what I do even through the winter months. Its quite simple the car can be warm even through the winter with its roof down. How on earth will MIL cope with a sports car? The fact is she does, I suspect its because it is lower to the ground and not so far for Mrs C senior to reach the seat. I hadn't got a clue where I was going. I just wanted my MIL to get out the house and remember some of the beautiful views and surrounding . We didn't go far and we didn't go for long. We just went down memory lanes and some new lanes. Through Tanworth In Arden  we saw a wedding a lot of ha...

From all the doom and gloom in the local area of Forshaw Heath and Earlswood , whether it be road closures, traffic jams, ASB at the Lakes, Parking in Malthouse Lane, Litter, Fly tipping (Please note I have done quite well not to comment too much on the afore mentioned) Comes  a little bit of light relief from the most unexpected source. The beautiful sight of a Sunflower Field provided by  Becket's. I never expected to see this in England it just goes to show how much our climate has changed. As someone that once upon a time saw these beautiful happy fields for miles and miles whilst living in Spain and munched on their seeds (Called Pipas) Basically the seeds were roasted with salt and were a very cheap snack. They use to be dispensed in little machines, You put your peseta in turned the knob and got a handful of Pipas. That was a long time ago. Today they are sold in little plastic bags :-( and I can't remember the last time I saw a Pipa  dispenser in Spain. ...

It is raining today so life has moved back indoors with my focus returning to my laptop and surfing the web, looking for something creative to do. I really do want to get to grips with my YouTube channel. The problem is I have so many ideas that focusing on one is becoming a little bit difficult and a bit daunting. It was going to quite simply start off as life in the lane however since that idea has almost been sabotaged by the Virus I have had to put it on hold. I must admit that the Vehicles have slowly started to increase and I even spotted an Arctic lorry yesterday. What has been great to observe is the volume of local residents , families, dog walkers, runners, and cyclists all enjoying their local surroundings and taking advantage of the countryside. On the whole, these people are local to the lane and mostly observing social distancing. They have every right to walk up and down the lane. What would be great is if all these people who were rarely seen previously, suddenly took ...

OK Folks I think my job of the last 10 years may just of been accomplished and I can stand down and now consider my own personal ramblings and blog posts. I am really pleased to announce that both Earlswood and Tanworth In Arden communities have Facebook pages set up by residents which I will link to at the end of this blog. Tanworth In Arden Parish Council keeps its website up to date. It has an easy to navigate design has a twitter account. Both Earlswood & Forshaw Heath and Tanworth in Arden Residents Associations have their websites which are now frequently kept up to date. My only wish would be if they were a little funkier in design but then again if its not broken don't break it. The fact that TiA church has used Youtube as a way of reaching its TiA Parish Congregation is out of the blue and fantastic and the vicar has a real knack for it. That Stratford District Council do live Youtubes for various committees and have been for several years is brilliant. The fact that o...

It doesn't matter why but recently I have noticed how our garden springs into life when all us humans are tucked up in our little houses. Why this surprises me I really don't know, perhaps it is just the current times that actually allows me to notice and appreciate our very welcome wildelife. We have our regular visitors who are taking ownership of our very soggy wet, muddy garden. The little Muntjack who is a regular visitor makes his/her way across the garden stays for an hour or two chewing its way through the undergrowth and staying protected by the holly bush, actually brought a friend with them the other night . As the lane is getting quieter the wildlife is getting braver. We have a regular feline friend  who struts around the garden as if s/he owns it. Don't worry we dont leave food out for our furry feline friend but do wonder where s/he comes from. We never see it during the day but like clockwork  s/he does an evening parade. Then we have the little mice scurryi...

Let me have my moan before I get to the point. OMG ! I am so tired now of paddling down the drive in my wellies, getting drenched everytime I walk outside, having a dirty muddy car and all day everyday being dark and gloomy . Even the cats have retreated to indoors and give me the evil look. As if the weather is my fault. Good god its only the end of February and the daffodils have  already made an appearance. poor little things. The drive is flooded once again, the lawn is water logged, the lane  and its grass verges are a disgraceful weather beaten mess aided and abetted by 40 ton lorries, the dog barely wants to poke his nose outside, the trees are looking decidedly  dodgey as they brave the wind and their roots and trunks soak up the water.  The garden looks like a mud bath. Whats the betting come May or June we are all complaining about the lack of rain and the heat. So To The Point However as I gripe and moan I then have to think of us as being very lucky compared to many, who d...

As those of you that may have read I decided to do something about the litter in the lane I live in may be a week or a week and a half ago. I almost filled one wheelie bin with litter and disregarded or lost items. Yes I took my wheelie bin down the lane. Like an idiot I started picking litter up at the top of the lane and not at the bottom. OMG!!!  that wheelie Bin got heavy. Next time I will work from the bottom of the lane up to the top As you may remember I was baffled by the volume of vodka bottles I found. By the time I collected and disposed of them

Well I am just a BoD having a think and a scribble on a Sunday morning. After the jubilation that Tidbury Green Farm and Lowbrook Farm had been returned to Greenbelt and a proposed development refused. The developers took Solihull Council to the High-Court where the Judge  found the Solihull council had acted unlawfully by not providing any objective assessment of housing need in setting a housing target of 11,000 homes by 2028. Sourced  Now don’t get me wrong I am no expert but what I find really confusing is that Solihull’s Local Development Plan had been adopted in December 2013 with Tidbury Green Farm /Lowbrook Farm returned to Green Belt Sourced or that is my understanding which raises the question. If the plan were found to be sound in December 2013 by the Governments Planning Inspector, what an earth has changed and why? And why only now is Solihull’s methology being questioned surely this should have been done when the plan was submitted and before it ...

Like most of us I don’t like crime however my attention has been drawn to a telegraph article, naming and shaming criminals even showing mug shots. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9606771/Criminals-to-be-named-and-shamed-by-Home-Office.html OK I think it is fine if you are looking for someone connected with a crime to publish a mug shot, However I think publishing photos of those who have already been convicted of a crime which I assume means they may be in prison or serving a sentence is slightly counter productive. My reason for thinking this is there are so many organisations trying to rehabilitate those that have committed crimes and settle them back in to society as law abiding citizens is all very commendable however all the work is undone by naming and shaming all over the web. It means they won’t get a job which means they won’t have money which means they will fall back into crime in order to survive. As I say I can understand it if...

Work This One Out I went into a shop to buy a coat. I didn't try it on because I had already tried one on exactly the same size make and design colour, from the same shop earlier in the day. I went back and purchased the coat. I didn't just rely on the size on the coat hanger I checked the label attached to the coat. and trotted off quite happily with my purchase confident it would be OK. When I got to the office I tried the coat on. The confusion starts it fitted but there was not enough room to wear an additional layer under it if needed. I checked the label again it was the size I wanted and the size I had tried on earlier. I laughed when I checked the sewn in tag Said XL as opposed the  sale label of Large. Well yes I could be classed as a bit dumpy but I am not XL. The only reason I wanted a Large coat was so as I could comfortably fit a woolly pully under it if it got cold. I took it back to the shop where I explained th...

I think I have probably blogged about this before. I was one of the people that thought a mobile phone and taking pictures was pointless. I have always had a mobile but until the recent past, was one of those people who forgot to charge it, forgot to take it with me basically just used it when I remembered to do the above. 2 Years later I have to eat my words, I wouldn’t’ be without it these days. I find the whole range of tools available on a mobile phone really useful and believe it or not I don’t use it very often to make phone calls. I use it to Tweet I use it to get my emails I use it to take photos I use it for navigation I use it as an Alarm Clock I use it to listen to the radio Just Occasionally I use it for phone calls J My mobile has become my friend in my pocket, how things change is just incredible, I was one of the sceptics. Can you imagine fitting all the below in your pocket its not so long ago we would have had pack a bag, ...

Well do you know something I have been pondering on what to do on a Bank Holiday weekend and by accident was prompted into action by my husband, who quite simply asked are there any GeoCaches around Earlswood. I think it was Mike Downes of Kenilworth that alerted me to GeoCache. Com and I have to say the one and only time I used it was whilst I was on holiday abroad. Although my OH and I didn’t find the hidden treasure we did find places we had never visited before, which in it’s self was quite an adventure. So if you are stuck for things to do over the Bank Holiday and want a bit of an adventure outside with the kids why not go GeoCaching. Or as I would know it as A Treasure Hunt. You need a mobile phone with GPS and an aptitude for a bit of an unknown adventure an Indiana Jones mentality, writing implement and a sense of adventure. As well as appropriate attire for the weather. Alongside a free sign up to and retrieve the adventures of     www. Geocachi...

Oh boy I really wish I was a clever writer that could make my points without getting emotional. I would love to be able to write this post and be totally objective. However I am finding it increasingly difficult. Living in our neck of the woods is becoming much like living in a battle zone with various authorities. We are a little 1 ½ mile area sandwiched between Tanworth In Arden and Earlswood with sporadic houses tucked in between fields. We were once a pleasant and quiet place to live. Of course home is still home and I love it dearly however the surrounding infrastructures, including a)     Roads b)     Speeds c)      Potholes d)     Noise e)     Crime f)       Planning Is slowly making life unpleasant. I suppose it isn’t just one thing by its self it is the accumulation of all things and it really is just mounting up. We have recently endured tipper Lorries tipping between ...

Be Warned Long Post With A purpose Back to normality the blog has quietened down and I can have a bit of a waffle to myself. Sky News prompted me. This post is about jogging memories Having listened to Sky news in the background this morning, I have sort of been catapulted backwards, with old memories with my brain being jogged into action. Its strange isn’t it! You suddenly see a place you have been or visited plastered all over the news unfortunately in this case for very sad circumstances, how it affects you personally! My thoughts are with those families that have been affected by loss of loved ones at Mont Blanc. Picture J.Astbury Jan 1991  Photo scanned and sorry about the cat hairs on the Scanner Although I am not a climber, I have had the experience of skiing across The Valle Blanc many years ago. Oh boy what an experience that was. I can understand the buzz that people get from being out doors and exploring what Mother Nature has to offer. Moving On? Sky N...

There is something I really want to write about and I don’t quite know where to start or how to approach it, as so many thoughts are occurring at once, to be honest my thoughts are like a tangled up ball of string and I am pondering on how I untangle them. So what better way than to scribble them down What an earth am I talking about? Don’t laugh but it started off with one particular paragraph in the SDC Draft Development Framework Plan and then disappeared into the realms of communities working together etc. Then flitted back to if our councils can’t work together nor than the Communities they represent. Almost every if not all councils in England has adjoining neighbours and will have the same problems. So what was the paragraph set me off in my current quandary 2.1 The Duty to Co-operate 2.1.1 When producing the draft Core Strategy it is not possible to produce it in isolation as there are a number of cross boundary planning issues that need to be taken...

Cherry Allsop Passing The Flame to Eric Bauwens On The Common Earlswood 1st July 2012 09:29 hrs Picture Taken By Carrie Blimey what a busy few days on the blog, I won’t pretend!  It took me totally by surprise and made me realise how important it is to source information when advertising an event or quoting anything. There are all sorts of things that can go wrong, cancellations, changes of dates, locations etc or even having two official sources that differ slightly. On the 30 th June 2012 over a 24 hr period I managed 729 visitors to my blog which is 22% of my total visitors for the whole of June. Of course there was one thing the visitors in June were looking for! Olympic Torch Earlswood I don’t expect for one moment I will ever reach those Dizzy figures again. Not that it is really important to me what viewing figures I achieve are. Its just interesting. Some bloggers will find it amusing that I was somewhat overwhelmed by my 729 Unique visitors in one ...

Click On Video To See. Even have a listen. A Blast From the Past or what! 0 Well there it is Forshaw Heaths 7 Seconds of Claim to Fame :-) Surprising what little gems of information the Internet holds. Blimey you live and learn its now a Catering Equipment Sales Type Place. Well 7 seconds isn't quite fair, Forshaw Heath has at least one past British Champion  plus  a Bone Marrow Donor  2 times over. Not bad for 1 1/2 miles. I suspect there are a few more claims to fame as well :-)