Well, I hope you all managed to survive the excesses of Christmas 2006 – I shall need to pay off my Barclaycard account any day now! Each year I say that this will be a ‘belt-tightening’ Christmas but I always seem to forget when it comes round again.
2007 will be a fairly eventful year. We will have local elections in May and I take this opportunity to urge as many of you as possible to consider being a Parish Councillor. You feel at times that there is little you can do in the face of government bureaurocracy, but it is good to be involved at all levels. The Parish Council meets on the second Wednesday of each month and it is really exciting when we have an audience – even if it’s just two villagers! This is your chance to have your say about what happens in Ewelme. In 2005 the Horticultural Society used the phrase – ‘Use it or Lose it’ referring to the Annual Show on the Common. Exactly the same applies to parish councils. If people don’t stand, then any power that we have will be transferred to SODC or maybe we’ll be incorporated into Benson – now, there’s a thought!
Similarly, the Village Plan will be of major interest during this year. A few years ago we undertook a village appraisal and various ideas presented were taken forward such as developing the Common, affordable housing, etc. The abundance of statistics made the publication of the results of the appraisal somewhat difficult. However, this plan is different! The views of all villagers will be used – as long as you bother to answer the questionnaires – and the shape of the village of Ewelme for the future will be decided. In order for this to happen we need your ideas and thoughts about the village over the next decade. What do you want to see? Basically you have a stark choice; you either sit back and apathetically let the world pass you by or you can come up with practical ideas and suggestions as to the future of this village. Please, though, don’t moan if the ideas that do arise and are implemented are not to your liking. You can only say, “I had my chance - but I blew it!”
The Editor