Mountfield

KIDS’ FILM CLUB: The latest date for the Club is the screening of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” on Sunday March 20th at 3.00 pm. Entrance is £2.00 for kids, including popcorn and a drink. Accompanying adults will be admitted free subject to good behaviour.

PARISH COUNCIL: The next parish council meeting — all welcome as always — is next Tuesday, March 8th at 7.30 in Mountfield Village Hall. The format is as usual. As a requirement of law, the agenda is “published” at least three working days in advance of the meeting. The word “published” is interesting as, even in this age of email and internet, the agenda must still, legally, be stuck up on a noticeboard in hard copy form, hence the rather splendid noticeboard at the lay-by in New Cut. It is of course also published on the parish website (mountfield.org.uk). Then, at the meeting there is a brief “adjournment” to receive reports from our county and district councillors and allow members of the public to raise concerns and questions that can be addressed in the short time allowed for the adjournment — typically 15 minutes. Apart from that, discussion is restricted to the Members of the Council and to what has been pre-announced in the published agenda (though it should be whispered that no member of the gallery is ignored if they have something to bring to the meeting).

The agenda for the March meeting is challenging in length so everyone will need to concentrate very hard. Topics for discussion include the lighting at Riverhall Crossing, planning and enforcement issues, a proposed scheme for bulb planting round the village and the national disgrace and scandal of rural broadband provision where Mountfield has the dubious distinction of being an early guinea pig. Latest available analyses suggest that the national rollout of superfast broadband in the Parish of Mountfield will reach not 95%, 96% or even 97% percent of households— but 10%! As we say: a disgrace and a scandal. As we said — All welcome.

NOT LOSING THE PLOT: Jacqui Hyett has written to say that the the Ewhurst Parish Allotments Association have a couple of plots available if anyone is interested. If you are, let us know and we’ll put you in touch.

GARDEN BIRDS: We think it was the winter of 2009-10 that we lost all our smallest birds: wrens, goldcrests, siskins and long-tailed tits. They simply didn’t have sufficient body mass to survive the freeze. We still haven’t seen any goldcrests yet — though that could be that we haven’t spotted them. Last year we had wrens and siskins back on the feeders. And then, this week, there was a kerfuffle in a bush by our gate and out twittered three long-tailed tits; the first we’ve seen here for six years.

CONTACT: As ever, if you have anything for the Village Voice, we can be contacted on 880614 or via [email protected].

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