-
Autumn Newsletter Cover

Pershore Town Council Newsletter - Autumn 2022

Town Hall Opening Hours:

Monday – Thursday: 10:00am – 4:00pm
Friday: 10:00am – 3:00pm

Welcome from the Town Clerk…

It would be very remiss of me not to start this welcome by expressing my and the Town Council’s deep sadness at the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II. A tribute from the Council can be found overleaf. We now welcome King Charles III to the throne and wish him, the Queen Consort and other members of the Royal Family well as they take on their new responsibilities. Our thoughts are with them all at this sad time.

From a Town Council perspective please see the change in date of the Cemetery Committee for the next few months and also a special meeting to be held on October 1st (Saturday) from 10.00am. The recently published Pershore Prospectus raised a number of questions by both the Town Council and local residents. This meeting, to be attended by some of the people who have been tasked with implementing this “vision”, will give everyone the opportunity to hear more about the Prospectus and to ask questions. Please do come along to the Town Hall to hear more.

Ann Dobbins

 

A Message from the Mayor…

Ours is the greatest country on Earth. It may no longer be preeminent, but it remains special; this is in part due to the inestimable service rendered by our late, and much-beloved, Sovereign, HM the Queen. As we commend her to God’s care, let us join together and pledge to her successor, our Liege Lord, HM King Charles III, our allegiance as he assumes her mantle, and the burdens of the crown. Long may he reign.

The passing of the crown turns our minds to other transitions. Soon, our parks and streets will be littered with leaves as summer gives way to Autumn. Time marches on, and as summer recedes into the past, it leaves behind it the memory of an eventful season. Beginning with Midsummer Brass, and culminating in the River and Plum Festivals, Pershore has enjoyed plentiful entertainment. In respect of the latter, many believe we may have seen record-breaking crowds. My congratulations and thanks to Angela Taylor and all those who helped make these spectacular events possible.

A memory that will remain with me from this summer will be of our German guests from Bad Neustadt, one of the towns with whom we are twinned. At a civic reception held in their honour, we reaffirmed the spirit of friendship which Twinning embodies, and I reminded our visitors that they may count Pershore among their friends. Friendship, amity, brotherhood; these will be tested in the months to come as hardship descends across the continent. As between nations, so too, neighbours. Pershore, as we have seen, has a strong sense of community, and we are better-placed than many to weather that which is to come. I implore you to look out for one another, and recall that we have been here before. We endure, and in so doing, prevail.

Cllr Matthew Winfield

 

Members Of Pershore Town Council

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II 1926—2022

It was with profound sadness that the Town Council learnt of the death of Her Majesty the Queen and sent its heartfelt condolences to His Majesty the King and to the Royal Family.
We remember with immense gratitude the lifetime of service Her Majesty devoted to our Nation and Commonwealth and her unswerving devotion to this country.
In accordance with long standing tradition, the Mayor of Pershore, Cllr Matthew Winfield, accompanied by other members of the Town Council and the Town Clerk, read the Proclamation of the Accession of King Charles III to residents of the town on Sunday 11th September, having attended the same ceremony at the District Council earlier in the afternoon. For those unable to attend, a copy of the Proclamation is below.

A PROCLAMATION

Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy our late Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth the Second of Blessed and Glorious Memory, by whose Decease the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is solely and rightfully come to The Prince Charles Philip Arthur George: We, therefore, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of this Realm and Members of the House of Commons, together with other members of Her late Majesty’s Privy Council and representatives of the Realms and Territories, Aldermen and Citizens of London, and others, do now hereby with one voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart publish and proclaim that The Prince Charles Philip Arthur George is now, by the Death of our late Sovereign of Happy Memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lord Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, to whom we do acknowledge all Faith and Obedience with humble Affection; beseeching God by whom Kings and Queens do reign to bless His Majesty with long and happy Years to reign over us. Given at St. James’s Palace this tenth day of September in the year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty Two.

Who are your Councillors?

St Andrews Ward

 

Cllr D Annis 553164

Cllr M Chapman Pincher 561561

Cllr J Hemming 561561

Cllr C Parsons MBE 561561

Cllr V Smith 561561

Cllr C Tucker 462441

Cllr E Turier 561561

Cllr M Winfield (Mayor) 561561

Coat Of Arms Pershore

Holy Cross Ward

 

Cllr D Boatright 561561

Cllr P Brookbank 552692

Cllr R Gillmor 556685

Cllr R Grantham 561561

Cllr A Lavelle 561561

Cllr J Palfrey 561561

Cllr V Wood 554235

Meetings of the Town Council & Committees

All meetings are now held face to face and residents are welcome to attend. Anyone wishing to ask a question who feels uncomfortable in attending is asked to contact the Town Clerk on the Monday before the meeting, when the Clerk will be happy to arrange to put their question to the meeting on their behalf.

Oct 5th – Cemetery Committee
Oct 6th – Finance and Property Committee
Oct 20th – Planning Committee & Town Council

Nov 10th – Amenities and Environment Committee
Nov 14th – Twinning and Tourism Committee
Nov 17th – Planning Committee & Town Council

Dec 1st – Finance and Property Committee
Dec 7th – Cemetery Committee
Dec 15th – Planning Committee & Town Council

Christmas Tree

Pershore Town Christmas Lights Switch On

Sunday 27th November starting at 2.00pm. Lights, music, stalls, reindeer and Father Christmas

If you are interested in having a stall at this event please contact the Town Hall by phone on 01386 561 561 or email

Tree Of Remembrance Appeal 2022

Pershore Rotary Tree of Remembrance Appeal 2022

Thanks to the generosity of many in 2021, Pershore Rotary raised over £4,000 for St Richard’s Hospice, Acorns Children’s Hospice and the Pershore Rotary Grants Scheme (PRoGS). This year we are supporting:

Alzheimer’s Society, St Richard’s Hospice & Acorns Children’s Hospice

Families throughout the UK have continued to lose relatives, friends and colleagues to Covid-19. Remember them and other loved ones by supporting our 2022 Appeal. Please donate online, or contact Rotary for a form.

The Pershore Rotary Tree of Remembrance 2022 Appeal will continue throughout the Christmas period. Personal information is only used for this Appeal and for Gift Aid (if applicable). It is never shared with any other party.

Pershore Riverside Centre Logo

Pershore Riverside Youth Centre

Over the next few months artist duo Juneau Projects will be working with young people from Pershore Riverside Youth Centre to create an artwork together inspired and responding to Avon Meadows Community Wetlands and the young people’s experience of Pershore as a rural place to live. The artwork will be designed and produced over a series of workshops across both mainstream and SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities) clubs throughout summer to the end of the year.

The final artwork will be situated on Avon Meadows semi-permanently, giving the young people ownership and pride in the public artworks made and inspired by them.

Pershore Riverside Centre is located next to Avon Meadows. It helps local young people (aged 7-25) to gain confidence and improve their prospects. Our aim is that the project will motivate participants to connect positively with their local outdoor spaces, help reduce anti-social behaviour in the area and shift the sometimes negative perception older generations in the town have with young people. We also hope the project will show the potential of art to transform lives and broaden horizons.

This project has been made possible with support from Art Fund through the Art Fund Reimagine Programme.

If you would like to support the fantastic work that Pershore Riverside Centre does for its community, they have a lottery that you can enter on the Pershore Riverside Centre website. 

Volunteering Opportunities in Pershore Heritage Centre

History And Heritage CentreI am a volunteer at the Heritage Centre and have been for many years. When I started volunteering here, I did not know that much about the history of Pershore but by being at the Heritage Centre I have learned an awful lot.

VOLUNTEERING: It’s just a word but it means a lot, it means that people give up their time to support and advertise the place they live, and hope people will come and see the history that surrounds it.

At the Heritage Centre when a volunteer comes to see us and asks what do we do? First, we say to them you do not need to know about Pershore or the surrounding areas, you just need to be helpful and make a note a note of any enquiries. You would be placed with someone who is a regular volunteer who would know someone that can help with any research projects.

The Heritage Centre holds many cabinets of articles and details which include pictures on the walls, which are of the town. There are also many files about the Abbey, Schools, People, Villages, WW1, WW11, Photos of Pershore streets, Pubs etc. We try to have themed displays; at the moment it is the Jubilee, but this will have to be changed and we will need to organise the next theme. This is when we need extra help to sort this out and put it in place.

We have had people visit the centre from all over the world, for example we have had relatives of airmen who have died in the war and are buried at Pershore Cemetery who have come all the way from Canada. Employees of the Atlas Works and members of the Humphries family have been here from France and New Zealand, and England. People from all over the West Midlands have relatives from Pershore, so it can be very interesting when they come to the Centre.

When visitors arrive we always say “hello” some visitors just want to look and wander around, some ask questions and would like to chat. People visit the centre for various reasons, family history or connections with the Town, some people just wander in for a look around.

If it is a quiet day in the Heritage Centre (it can be) you may look at a file which might be of interest to you personally or you can just browse and increase your knowledge of the artifacts we have on display in the centre. We also talk to each other about our interests and have tea and biscuits. The amount of time that you are available each week is not important to us as any help would be of great value.

At the moment we are open Tuesday to Friday 12pm – 3pm but we would like to open more if possible, and more volunteers would facilitate this.

Hoping you will get in touch and join us,

Tony

Tel: 01386 554318

Online Criminality At last!

There is now one email address you can report suspicious emails too.

If you receive an email which you’re not quite sure about, forward it to the Suspicious Email:

Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) 

Please be aware and remain vigilant of phishing emails. One of the many scam emails currently in circulation purports to be from the TV Licensing advising to cancel direct debits. These messages may look like the real thing but are malicious. Once clicked, you are sent to a website which could download viruses onto your computer, or steal your passwords. The criminal’s goal is to convince you to click on the links within their scam email or text message, or to give away sensitive information (such as bank details).

For further information and advice please go to:

West Mercia Police Logo

Stay Safe. Stay Connected. Stay Cyber Aware

A little bit of information goes a long way

Report suspicious activity, people or vehicles. No matter how insignificant you might think it is, if it is suspicious to you, it probably is.

Also, REPORT CRIME! We know not all crime is reported to us, and we know the many reasons for that including frustration.

If you have any information regarding any crime you can contact police on 101, or the West Mercia Police Website

In an emergency please dial 999

You can also contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 to report any crime or criminal activity anonymously.

PERSHORE TOWN – Safer Neighbourhood Team

We are a dedicated group of police officers and police
community support officers (PCSOs) who work with local
communities and partner organisations to keep our residents, businesses and visitors safe and to prevent crime and tackle anti-social behaviour.

Officers can be contacted on the numbers below concerning
community issues.

To report a crime in progress call 999 and for non emergencies report online or call 101.

Sergeant : Christopher Bannister 07811 972918
Inspector Alex Warner
Pershore Rural:

Email

PC Daren Riley: 07970 864689
PCSO Ashley Smith: 07971 395274
PCSO Julie Pardoe: 07870 151281

Pershore Town:

Email

PCSO Claire Doughty: 07814 040601
PCSO TBA

Whilst the information is considered to be true and correct
at the date of publication, changes in circumstances after
the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of the
information.

Pc Daren Riley

PC Daren Riley

Pcso Claire

PCSO Claire Doughty

Pcso Ashley

PCSO Ashley Smith

Defibrillator

Defibrillators, kindly donated by Pershore
Rotary Club and maintained by Pershore Town Council, are located at Chapman Court Public Lavatories and at the rear of Church Walk Public Lavatories

Pershore and District Volunteer becomes …Pershore Plus Volunteer Centre

This is an exciting time for Pershore Plus Volunteer Centre as we have adopted the above logo and name going forward.
You may have already seen the branding on our Minibus, Electric vehicle, and the Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle as they are driven to serve our community. The Pershore Plus branding is a clear commitment to Pershore and the many villages and hamlets surrounding the town that we will continue embrace the needs of the members of all our communities. Keep a look out for the new branding in the window of the Volunteer Centre which will be completed within the next few weeks.
Pershore Plus will continue to provide the Social Car Scheme, Community Transport and Volunteer recruitment and Management services and will look to build relationships and work collaboratively with other community organisations to reach further into our local communities.

Volunteering

Katreena (treena) Barnes I would like to welcome Katreena (Treena) Barnes to Pershore Plus, who has recently joined us in the role of Volunteer Coordinator, working Wednesday through to Friday. Treena has a wealth of experience in recruiting and managing volunteers as she used to work with Acorns Children’s Hospice working with their volunteers.
Treena’s role includes recruiting volunteers for Pershore Plus, and as we are always in need of drivers for both our Social Car Scheme and the Community Transport, that initially will be Treena’s major focus, along with meeting everyone.
Pershore Plus also works with community organisations and charities who need volunteers – we recruit, train, and manage volunteers for organisations registered with us, so if you would like to benefit this service, please contact Treena on 01386 554 299
If you would like to find out what we do here at Pershore Plus Volunteer Centre please drop in if you are passing or give us a call.

Karon Swinburn, CEO

Pershore Riverside Youth Centre Lottery

Pershore Riverside Youth Centre Lottery

Joining is easy!

For just £5 a month you will be supporting a local charity and have a great chance to win a cash prize.

Pershore Riverside Youth Centre provides a wide range of support and activities for the young people and wider community of Pershore including:

  • Youth clubs
  • SEND clubs
  • Baby clubs
  • Mental health support
  • Outreach
  • Careers advice
  • Counselling and more….

To find out more, please visit the Pershore Riverside Youth Centre website

Registered charity number: 1156413
Telephone number: 01386 554713
Find us on Instagram and Facebook

Birds in Avon Meadows

Friends Of Avon MeadowsA pair of Barn Owls nested in one of our nest boxes and could be seen hunting over the North Meadow in the late evening. It was good at hunting too; watched for half an hour, it made 5 sorties and each time came back with a mouse or vole. Although young owls have not been seen it is safe to assume that they did successfully rear young. This is our 54th breeding bird species. The same can be said for ‘our’ Tawny Owls, which have been heard calling every month this year, recently in the vicinity of a nest box. These birds are very secretive but we hold out hopes that they successfully produced young too.

Another surprising record was the reappearance of a single Turtle Dove for the second year in a row. It was bullied by resident Collared Doves and eventually moved on after a week or so.

Red Kites have become a more regular sight over the meadows in recent months, it is a delight to watch these elegant, handsome birds in flight.

Breeding Species

A mixed result here, as was mentioned last time, the Mute Swans and Canada Goose nests failed through predation. The ups and downs of the bird counts referred to so far are all natural events from what can be seen. However, the arson attacks are of course the result of human stupidity. “As anticipated the reeds grew back vigorously as their regrowth relies on rhizomes lying 50 centimetres or so below the surface which were not affected by the flames. However, we do not know what effect the fires had on ground nesting birds such as Moorhens and Water Rails as, at the time of the fires, they would have started nesting. There appears to be a much more marked decline in nesting Sedge and Reed Warblers both of which build their nests in the previous year’s reeds.

Blackcap Bird

“In preparing this report I checked the records from last year and comparing the year so far with the year to this time in 2021 I was shocked to discover that there has been a 32% decrease in records of these warblers. So, while everything is superficially fine, in reality this is not the case.” (extract from the Chairman’s Report to the 2022 AGM). On a positive front, Common Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Cetti’s Warblers and Linnets all seem to have done well as have House Sparrows and Starlings! Long term records can be very revealing.

One of the better news stories, a young Blackcap,a species which has done well on Avon Meadows this summer.

Photo: Jeff Steady ARPS

Events Diary

Please check the Visit Pershore Website for further information.

September

Tues 27th: Screening of The Royal Opera’s Madame Butterfly, Number 8 at 7.15pm

Wed 28th: Pershore Jazz Club – Sweet & Hot Quartet (from the USA) at Pershore Town Football Club’s function Room, 8pm

October

Sat 1st: Royal British Legion Pershore and District branch presents their Centenary Concert at Number 8. at 7.30pm

Sat 15th: Foyer Folk: John Ward Trio at Number 8 at 8pm

Fri 21st: Orchestra of the Swan: Americana at Number 8, at 6.45pm

Sat 22nd: Oktoberfest at the Angel Inn, at 7pm

Wed 26th: Pershore Jazz Club – The Roaring Twenties, at Pershore Town Football Club’s Function Room at 8pm

Sat 29th: Fire and Light Night , Angel Inn. 4.30pm- 6.30pm and 7.30pm-11.00pm

November

Sat 12th: Foyer Folk: Steve Tilston at Number 8 at 8pm

Sat 12th: Worcester Philharmonic Orchestra 50th Anniversary Concert in Pershore Abbey 2.30pm until 4.30pm

Sun 27th: Pershore Christmas Lights Switch on in St Andrews Gardens, 2pm

Wed 30th: Pershore Jazz Club – Remi Harris Jazz & Blues Trio at Pershore Town Football Club’s Function Room, starts 8pm

December

Mon 5th – Sat 10th; PODS: Maid Marian and the Merry Men at Number 8. 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Wed14th: Pershore Jazz Club – Remi Harris Jazz & Blues Trio (Ticket Only) Pershore Town Football Club’s Function Room, starts 8pm

Sat 17th: Flowers Brass Band at Number 8, starts at 3pm

Sun 18th + Tues 20th: Screening of the Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker at Number 8 at 2pm and 7.15pm

For more detailed information about each of the above visit the Visit Pershore Website

There is more information about a wide range of other events in the surrounding villages. Alternatively, call the Visitor Information Centre on 01905 843896

Useful Numbers

Town Hall – 01386 561561
Visitor Info. Centre (Pershore) – 01905 843896
Worcestershire County Council – 01905 765765
Wychavon District Council – 01386 565000
Citizens’ Advice Bureau Enquiries – 01386 712100 option 3
Hill & Moor Recycling Centre – 01386 861434

Street Lighting Report Line – 01905 765765
Dog Fouling/Dog Warden – 01905 822799
Pershore Volunteer Centre – 01386 554299
Pershore Library – 01905 822722
Pershore Hospital – 01386 502070
Bus Pass Enquiries – 01905 765765

Pershore Town Council Newsletter ~ Advertisement Gallery

Pershore Help Advert

Thomas And Bancks Solicitors

Quality Carpets Ad

Teasels Handcrafts

Fruit Tree Ad

Next Litter Pick Ad

Town Council Meetings

Venessa Redmond Ad

Room Hire Ad

E Hill And Sons Funeral Directors Ad

Free Ad Space Ad

Pershore Retail Market Ad

Newsletter published by

Pershore Town Council

Town Hall, 34 High Street, Pershore WR10 1DS
Town Clerk: Mrs Ann Dobbins ACIB t: 01386 561561 e: townclerk@pershore-tc.gov.uk

Front Page photo taken by Rose Brain of Apples in Pershore’s Community Orchard