BRAYFORD      

A rural parish in North Devon, England including Brayford village, High Bray and Charles, and a part of Exmoor National Park

Archive

Gardening Club   *** CHANGE OF DATE ***

The meeting scheduled for the 17th March has been changed to the 24th March.  The subject is still Preparing For Shows and the meeting starts at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting on the 18th February was a very enjoyable talk by Fiona Byrne on Cooking With Herbs.  Fiona has very kindly provided a useful  Information Sheet  about Herbs.

Free membership is on offer to encourage more people to join the Club during 2004.  A good programme is planned for the year - do join them (admission is £1 per meeting).
 

Parish Council News

Interactive Speed Limit Signs
Once again the Parish Council ask people driving through the village to adhere to the speed limits and give consideration to their own safety and that of other road users. The new interactive speed sign will be a permanent part of the roadside furniture in the village and it is hoped that it will achieve its desired objective which is to slow drivers down.
See item on Community Speed Awareness Project - Brayford.

Dog Mess
The Parish Council remind dog owners to keep their dogs under control, and ensure they PICK UP any a mess the dog makes. As well as being socially unacceptable and dangerous to children, it is an offence which could result in a heavy fine.
See also the note from the Church Wardens at High Bray.

Nick Harvey Suggests
If you are unhappy with the current council tax and would like to help support new ideas on raising local tax, check out the website www.axethetax.org.  Additionally, if you have not seen the leaflet "Council Tax Time For Change" ring DCC’s Information Centre on 01271 383444.

Shop Hill Junction
The improvement of the junction at Shop Hill has been shelved by the Highways Department for the foreseeable future.

Parish Council Meetings
If you have a view, opinion, idea or comment on anything that impacts on the parish, the PC want to know about it. Read the minutes of each meeting posted on the notice boards and if you agree or disagree with anything you see, don’t be afraid to mention it. Either attend the public participation part at the beginning of each PC Meeting (see diary for dates) or if you can’t get to the meeting, tell your local Parish Councillor.
 

Brayford School

Members of the School wish you a happy new year and thank everyone who attended their fabulous Nativity play.

Do you need a few new separates to liven up your wardrobe? Would you like them at bargain prices? Then make sure that you attend the Travelling Trends Ladies Fashion Show which is being organised by the School’s PTFA and will be held in the Village Hall on Wednesday 17th March at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm).

This is your chance to see, try and buy this season’s fashions at greatly reduced prices and raise much needed funds for the School. A great night out with the girls, a glass of wine, a finger buffet and cut price clothes, what more can a girl want?

Tickets cost £5.

Methodist Church

The Harmony Choir will visit the church on Monday 9th February starting at 7.30pm, followed by bring and buy sale with proceeds going to aid work in prisons, etc.

The Church Council meeting will be held on the 16th February at 7.30pm.


Farm Africa

A Coffee Morning will be held at Brayford Methodist Church on Wednesday 25th February starting at 10.30am. There will be a ‘bring and buy’, etc. and proceeds will be in aid of FARM AFRICA. This is a small charity with low overheads that provides practical help to poor rural African farmers to enable them to feed their families.

Mother's Union

The Mother's Union want to thank everyone who supported the Coffee morning on the 21st January, which raised about £50 for their funds.

Brayford Mother's Union will join North Molton Group on Monday, 9th February at North Molton starting at 2.30pm.

On the 25th March they will be attending the Lady Day celebration at Exeter Cathedral starting at 11.00am. A bus will be going from South Molton.

Boomerangs

Members of the Boomerang’s would like to thank everyone who attended their Christmas Fayre in December at which just over £500 was raised.

Two more children joined the group in January and more enquiries have been received. They need to keep their numbers up so please help to spread the word!

Baby & Toddler Group

Consideration is being given to the creation of a Baby & Toddler Group in Brayford. If you are interested in meeting once a week with other parents, babies and toddlers, contact one of the organisers.
 

Blue Peter Appeal

A Blue Peter Coffee Morning with bring and buy will be held at the Village Hall on Saturday 21st February between 10.00am and 12.00. The organisers welcome your support.

Brayford Craft Club

The Brayford Craft Club meet on the first Monday of the month at Fullacott. You are invited to join them at anytime to work on church kneelers, speed not essential!

High Bray Church

The Christmas celebrations in the Parish received the usual high level of attendees. Thanks are due to the children of Brayford School, the Parish Council and church members from High Bray, Charles and the Methodist Chuch for joining together to share in this wonderful occasion.

Members of High Bray Church want to express a huge thank you to those who are filling empty Smartie tubes with 20p coins (they hold about £15). They are happy to report that the Church roof has been repaired and umbrellas are now only needed outside the Church!

The Church Wardens are disgusted with the irresponsible dog owners who use the churchyard to exercise their dogs and leave their mess behind. A few days ago a young person got covered in faeces and cleaning him up was horrendous. If you must take your dog into the churchyard, keep it on a lead and clean up any mess it makes.

Neighbourhood Watch

The messaging system has been warning all farmers to be extremely vigilant in locking up vehicles following thefts of quad bikes from farms on the Devon and Somerset border. There is also a warning about cars being vandalised in the South Molton area.
 

Brayford Television Association

The impossibility of receiving a decent television picture in the village led to the Television Association being formed in April 1989. The transmitter in its current form was placed on top of High Bray Church Tower and transmitted a signal designed to serve all households within a mile radius of 180 degrees.

Each year, at the AGM, the membership fee is fixed for the following year. This helps with the cost of maintaining the system as well as an annual payment to the Church for the use of electricity.

During the last year the Association have incurred a lot of expense due to storm damage and the additional changes made to enable viewers to watch the local news transmitted from Huntshaw Cross. The cost, together with waterproofing the equipment, amounted to £1,500 and has left them with a depleted balance of £120.

The 35 members will be contacted shortly and asked to contribute £10 for 2004 with an option to pay a further £5 to cover any arrears.

The Committee wish to thank the High Bray Church for their continued cooperation as well as Wayland Rogers for keeping them on the air.  Also to all their members for their unfailing support, including those who have acquired satellite TV and still contribute (they still need the Brayford transmitter to receive the local ITV news).
 

Community Speed Awareness Project - Brayford

Fear of speed and the potential of being involved in a road traffic accident is a greater fear than other crimes, according to a consultation survey undertaken by the N.Devon and Torridge Community Safety Partnerships. 3,500 people are killed on roads in this country each year and excessive or inappropriate speed is the greatest contributing factor.

Despite this, we live in a society that perceives traffic calming as an inconvenience, traffic police as hassling motorists, safety cameras as a means of generating revenue and speed limits regularly disregarded. Surveys undertaken by the RAC have shown that motorists are becoming desensitised to the stigma of penalty points on their driving licences.

It is generally agreed amongst road safety experts that more focus needs to be placed on educating motorists as to why it is necessary to keep within speed limits and to make speeding socially unacceptable, akin to drinking and driving.

It is often found, especially in smaller rural areas such as Brayford where the main route through the village is not a major thoroughfare, that the majority of offending motorists will be local drivers. After all, familiarity breeds contempt!

The Community Speed Awareness Project aims to embrace these issues in order to overcome speeding problems in rural areas. The principle of the project is to raise the awareness of speeding motorists and highlight the problems that local residents may be causing in their communities unmindfully.

This project, which will be introduced in partnership between DCC’s Road Safety Team, D & C Police and Brayford Parish Council, will work on the principle of swapping enforcement for education. Speed cameras will be employed in the Village at random times and motorists who are caught on camera breaking the speed limit will not initially face any form of sanction. However the picture evidence will be used to compile an article in the Parish Newsletter highlighting those vehicles that were in breach of the law. This will enable those motorists to realise that it is their actions, which they are probably unaware of, that are causing great concern to others in their community. Repeat offenders could face further penalties.

Following the publication of this Parish Newsletter, further monitoring of vehicle’s speeds will be undertaken. If you are breaking the law by driving in excess of the speed limit, a photo of your vehicle could appear in this newsletter. Help us to create safer communities in Devon. Drive within the speed limit and ensure your speed is suitable for the circumstances.

Michael Newcome
Road Safety Officer,
Devon County Council.
 

Special thanks to the Newsletter Editor for providing extracts from the February Newsletter.

Supported by Brayford Parish Council