Shipston Town Council is inviting grant applications for the 2025/26 financial year.

Grants are made to support a wide range of community initiatives across the town, delivered by voluntary groups and charities.  

The scheme is open to any voluntary group or charity based in Shipston, or those who actively work in the town.

Applications must be made for specific projects, for example, the purchase of equipment or to support a planned event.

Grants typically range from £250 - £2,000.

Larger sums may be awarded for certain causes. 

The closing date for applications is 31^st October 2024

Application packs are available from:

New Clark House, West Street, Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire, CV36 4HD

enquiries@shipstontowncouncil.org

01608 662180

Cornmill Meadows has been shortlisted as a ‘Best Green Business’ project in the Stratford Herald Business and Tourism Award.

Winners will be announced on 18 October at a black tie event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Stratford.

The others in the category include the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Shakespeare Distillery.

The first Shipston Bookfest is nearly here!

Shipston Bookfest is a community-run festival celebrating books and the joys of reading. Taking place between 21st and 29th September 2024 in venues across Shipston-on-Stour, there are events covering crime and psychological thrillers to gardening and rom-coms - there is something for everyone.

Check out the programme to discover more events and visit the website to book tickets.

www.shipstonbookfest.org/

There were some truly memorable events at the Proms this year. The top one, and probably the most anticipated, was 90’s Radio One DJ Dave Pearce arriving in his silver Merc and doing a club set at the Ibiza on Stour dance night at the Hub. It was a classic dance evening with a pulsating 700+ audience; red, white and green glow sticks aloft, and lights strobing to the anthems of Faithless, Chemical Brothers and many more.

The ethos of the Proms is to provide a platform for performers who would like to get their music out to a wider audience. At the Shipston Introducing event, sixteenyear-old Grace Rushbrooke won the soloist category, having rushed straight over from her Grade 8 singing exam. Teenage local and very much up-and-coming four-piece group Mad Thingz impressed and won the band category. Last year’s solo winner Honor Gerard Pickering returned to do a set at the end and showed us just how much she had blossomed into a confident and poised young singer.

Illness caused some unforeseen changes in the programme, for example when the Jolly Rogers, an act at the Coach and Horses during the infamous pub trail, were without their lead singer but encouraged budding vocalists in the audience to fill in instead. When our wonderful local opera singers succumbed to covid, RSC soprano Alexandra Ferrari and tenor Dominic Bevan stepped in at the Townsend Hall to provide another amazing opera night, with Dominic giving an encore of the famous and powerful Nessun Dorma. The Cotswold Choir stepped in to fill a gap after the Astwood Bank Operatic Society were forced to cancel their show.

As usual, Final Night brought Shipstonians out in their hundreds to the High St for another legendary night thanks to the sheer quality of the acts including the two competition winners.

Barney Porter of headline band Wired attributed the amazing atmosphere not only to the great supportive spirit of Shipston residents but also to England having just won the penalty shootout!

A memorial service, a fundraising coffee morning, a special peal of bells, and to top it all a huge beacon – Shipston and the surrounding villages truly paid tribute to all those involved in the Second World War’s crucial turning point 80 years ago.

The lunchtime service in the Gyratory Memorial Garden was led by Sarah Bourne, chaplain to the Shipston Branch of the Royal British Legion. Branch President David Kernohan laid a wreath. Proceedings both here and at the beacon-lighting were accompanied by Alex Bloomfield on the cornet, Tom Lear playing the bagpipes and Connor Begley parading the standard, while Town Crier Marion Lowe and Mayor John Dinnie made addresses on both occasions.

Alex Black, chairman of the Shipston RBL, said: “We are grateful to everyone who came out on a glorious summer’s day for their kind donations and purchases to help the Poppy Appeal and the First Responders, and to Clare Cuthbert who raised £100 through the Low Furlong coffee morning. Thanks also go to the beacon builders led by beacon master Ron Scobie Edmunds, the Town Clerk for top organisation, to the Withers family for their generous hosting and to Keith Lane for providing the 1940s music and PA system.”

He added his thanks to other organisations involved such as the Shipston firefighters, the community First Responders, the Safer Neighbourhood team and the St Edmund’s bellringers.

The Riverside Project has turned a neglected area into an attractive, open and accessible space. Members of the Town Council’s Heritage, Amenities and Leisure Projects Committee, who planned the project, recently thanked the contractors who undertook the work.

Simon Healey (left, seated) was responsible for the groundwork, fencing, hedge planting and installation of the two new accessible picnic tables. Jacob Harvey of Ash Tree Care (next to Simon) carried out the crown lifting, thinning, coppicing and removal of about 20 dead trees, leaving the roots in place to help maintain stability of the bank.

The teams consulted with the Environment Agency to take flood risk into account throughout the planning and execution of the project, and had expert advice at all stages on creating a better environment for wildlife.

Simon and Jacob have made a welcoming and relaxing space with plenty of light, comfortable seating, and good views of the river and the bridge. Wildflower seeds and daffodil bulbs will be planted in the autumn, and the main hedge will be properly laid when it is big enough.

The scheme has attracted many favourable comments from residents and visitors. Simon says he had a vision of what they hoped to achieve from the start. ‘The final result will last a long time, so it had to be right for the town’s benefit. I’m very happy to have been involved in this project’.

On 13th May Shipston-onStour saw a regime change!

The traditional mayor-making ceremony saw Gerry Kelly complete his year as Mayor. John Dinnie has now put on the Mayor’s chain, having been voted in unanimously by members of the Town Council. Tony Booth has accepted the nomination to be deputy mayor.

The council gave a vote of thanks to Gerry Kelly for his year of service as Mayor. During his time, he has dealt with many issues and handled them all calmly.

The Council’s proactive working groups have been busy, putting the council in a stronger position as a result of his leadership. ‘It’s been an interesting year,’ mused Gerry, ‘But having worked in the fire service, I have always been resilient.’

Gerry will remain as town councillor.

When the River Stour rose to its highest ever recorded level on 20th July 2007, it flooded more than 80 homes and businesses in Shipston, including the house that Phil Wragg and his wife Liz had moved into only two months earlier. From that day onwards, Phil campaigned tirelessly to find ways of reducing the risk of flooding in the town.

Initially, this meant ensuring that all planning applications for new housing contained measures to prevent run-off flooding as concrete replaced fields. In many cases, he was able to get the developers to commit to ‘betterment’ with designs which improved on the status quo.

When the Shipston Area Flood Action Group (SAFAG) was formed in 2014 to address the ongoing risk of flooding caused by the river level rising, Phil became its Chairman. As little progress had been made since 2007, he immediately set about challenging the various agencies and authorities to come up with the solutions and funding needed. He and the SAFAG team also embraced the concept of Natural Flood Management (NFM), which relies on water being held back in the headwaters of the Stour through a range of measures such as ponds, bunds and leaky wooden dams to slow the flow and reduce the peak river level.

When the funding eventually started arriving in 2017, Phil systematically went about gaining the support of more than 60 landowners and farmers across the 180sqkm Stour catchment, enabling the SAFAG team to install over 860 NFM interventions between 2017 and 2022 - more than 20% of the total UK figure. This was a remarkable achievement for the only community led catchment-scale project in the country, and in 2021 SAFAG received the Environment Agency’s Community Group of the Year award.

Phil leaves a lasting legacy, and his great efforts have undoubtedly helped reduce the risk of flooding in Shipston and some nearby communities. He was an inspirational leader who will be greatly missed.

Geoff Smith and Mike McCarthy, SAFAG

With the consultation period for the future of the fire service officially concluded, Gosia Zielinska from Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service sets out what happens now:

‘Warwickshire County Council Cabinet has authorised the Chief Fire Officer, Ben Brook, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Fire and Rescue Service, to consider the feedback from this public consultation together with the views of staff, partners and representative bodies, and to subsequently report back to the Cabinet. We expect that the Cabinet will consider the final analysis and recommendations in June 2024. This date may be subject to change.’

Rowena Webb from Stour Health and Wellbeing Partnership writes: We are very lucky that Warwickshire Rural County Council has put on a digital workshop course for people within Shipston. It’s an opportunity to learn some valuable digital skills. The course is running for six weeks and is open to all.

We are also extremely fortunate to have Citizens Advice bringing their expertise to the Warm Hub throughout April cost-of-living sessions. This will be a great opportunity for Shipston residents to speak to someone about any concerns they may have.

Both activities are happening at the Warm Hub, Thursdays 10-12pm at the Scout Hut.  Please see the Stour Health and Wellbeing Partnership website (www.shwp.org.uk) or our Facebook page for more information.

Shipston’s First Responders were the busiest Community First Responders team in the whole of the Coventry & Warwickshire sector of the West Midlands Ambulance Service during February, responding to 49 serious callouts.

First Responders are trained by the Ambulance Service to attend lifethreatening 999 emergency calls. They aim to be on the scene of an incident in 10 minutes and keep patients stable, bridging the gap between the 999 call and the ambulance arriving.

The team predicts that callouts will continue to be high while the pressures on the NHS and ambulance service persist and says that waiting times for ambulances have increased in the past year.

Shipston’s First Responders are seeking a replacement vehicle, and fundraising is also underway for a second car to help them cover not just Shipston but a wide rural area, with donations gratefully accepted at www.justgiving.com/campaign/shipstonfirstresponders.

Could you be part of the team? They are recruiting both in Shipston and the villages in the area.

Contact stuart@shipstonfirstresponders.org

They are shortly to become a registered charity and continue to be grateful for all the support that they are given by the town.

Plans for the future of Shipston’s Fire Station will now be heard in the town on 5th March, after Warwickshire County Council arranged an additional public consultation specially for Shipston.

As the Fire Authority, WCC has been running a public consultation and a series of events – initially only at Stratford, Kenilworth, Atherstone, Bedworth and Southam, with none in the south of the county – to give residents, businesses, community groups and public sector partners a say on Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Resourcing to Risk proposals.

The Shipston event was added after the Town Council made it clear that the town would like a voice on this hot topic. It will be held at Townsend Hall, from 6.30pm-8pm. Places are limited, so anyone wanting to attend must book a ticket. These are allocated on a first come, first served basis. If the event is fully booked, there will be an opportunity to join a waiting list.

Book on https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/warwickshire-fire-andrescue-76075908553/

The public consultation period runs until 10 March 2024. Find out more and respond to Warwickshire Fire and Rescue’s Resourcing to Risk on the consultation website: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ask. It has detail on the proposed model, on-call availability data and response times.

WCC’s fire and rescue spokesman Cllr Andy Crump said: “This proposal [Resourcing to Risk] isn’t about cutting costs or closing fire stations. It’s about making sure that we’ve got our resource in the right place to make the best difference when an emergency happens.

“We’re keen to give people a chance to hear from us in person and to ask any questions they may have. No decisions will be made until the consultation is over, so we hope our residents will take this opportunity and join us at one of our information sessions to find out more.”

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Community Engagement spokesperson Gosia Zielinska says: “Everyone’s views matter! Take time to read all the information on the consultation website and complete the online survey. You can also email us on WFRSR2R@warwickshire.gov.uk if you have any questions about the consultation.”

There has been good progress on the programme of work near the Bridge Car Park, designed to improve the riverside environment for wildlife and people.

Dead and dying trees have been taken out, along with thinning and coppicing done to help new growth. Lower branches have been removed from the large trees around the picnic area to let in more light. Two new octagonal picnic tables, one with a wheelchair accessible space, will be set in hard landscaping extending from the parking area. A new lowgrowing native hedge will be planted around the edge of the grassed area to define the boundary.

The next step is to plant young wildlife-friendly native trees at the top of the bank to establish a hedge alongside the new fence. In eight or ten years’ time, this hedge will be substantial enough to be laid in the traditional manner, and the fence will be removed, having done its job.

The work, due to be completed by the end of February in time for the nesting season, is being undertaken on behalf of the Town Council’s Heritage, Amenities and Leisure Projects working group (HALP), with the approval of the Environment Agency, Stratford District Council and Heart of England Forest.

HALP’s Verity Richardson said: “We have plans for an area of quiet reflection on the other side of the road, by The Old Mill, to include two new benches, some crab apple trees courtesy of Shipston Rotary Club, and a noticeboard with environmental information.

Meanwhile it is work in progress, so please bear with us. Thanks to years of wonderful work by Shipston Area Flood Action Group (SAFAG) and more recent water quality monitoring by volunteers led by Olivia Hatch, Stratford District Council’s Green Party member for Shipston North, our river and its environs are at last getting the attention they deserve.”

Focus on Stour Health and Wellbeing Partnership (SHWP)

What is SHWP?
Stour Health and Wellbeing Partnership (SHWP) has been running now for three years as a charity set up for the health and wellbeing of the Shipston and surrounding communities. It has had much success in creating a wealth of activities to help mobility and combat loneliness and it has been wonderful to see so many of you attend these.

Energetic – and sociable!
The Strictly Fitsteps in Newbold on Stour and the Townsend Hall are particularly popular with the more energetic members of the community. The seated and standing Tai Chi at the Townsend Hall, are both hugely successful, with over 30 people attending each week.

There are also Pilates classes on a Friday along with many more. If you haven’t tried a class yet, please do. They are all currently free to you and are a great way of helping your mental and physical health as well as being really fun and a great sociable activity.

Indoor curling
The Townsend Hall is also where we hold our weekly indoor curling sessions. These have been so popular that we also host a group in Ilmington, and there is some healthy rivalry between the two. Could we start a third group and have a league?

Surrounding villages
We are very pleased that due to funding secured through the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund with Stratford-on-Avon District Council as the lead authority, we can not only continue to hold the classes for free, but also offer activities in the surrounding villages. A dance and exercise class has been set up in Tysoe, along with Pickleball in Brailes.

For the young too!
The activities of SHWP are not limited to the older members of the community. Thanks to the funding secured, we have also been able to help fund the fantastic work of Lee Cooper and SEFC Pan-Disability Junior Football team, who run a weekly football session for the community. This is such a worthwhile and needed initiative, and we are proud to support them
with their great work.

Warm Hub
Did you know that SHWP also run the Shipston Community Warm Hub at the Scout Hut on a Thursday, 10am-12pm? Every week there is a different theme, from digital workshops to cooking; from a drop-in clinic with the frailty nurse for Shipston Medical Centre to the Shipston Home Nurses offering bereavement support and soup. We are always excited when new members of the community come along, and we look forward to meeting more of you.

Volunteers needed
SHWP is run by a board of trustees who are all volunteers. We are so grateful to all the volunteers who help make all these initiatives happen, but we are always looking for more people to help. Could that be you? Please email admin@shwp.org.uk if you would like to know more.