NEWS AND EVENTS:

GENERAL:

• Major developments affecting the Brown Clee Medical Practice. For full details follow this link: Brown Clee Surgery - Abdon and Heath Parish - Abdon and Heath Parish, Abdon, Craven Arms (hugofox.com). ​
• St Margaret’s Church, Abdon - DONATIONS for LUDLOW FOOD BANK in the church porch. Any non-perishable food, unopened and in date will be very welcome, for example: tinned foods, long-lasting drinks, food cupboard items, condiments and spices. Your donations will a make a difference and help someone. Donations will be taken regularly to the Ludlow Food Bank. *** THANK YOU ***

REGULAR EVENTS:

• Meditation Group - every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7pm Abdon Village Hall. Just turn up and give it a try. Free of charge, all welcome. Tea, biscuits and a chat to end the evening. If you are new to meditation please come at 6.45pm. For more info email Guy, Lesley or Ali lesleyvandyke@gmail.com, guyroberts72@gmail.com, ared13@aol.com
• UFO (Un Finished Objects) craft morning - every 2nd Saturday each month at Abdon Village Hall 10.30am to 12.30pm. Bring along your unfinished projects. Join us and learn a new craft skill or teach your craft skills to someone else. Please supply your own materials. Please make a donation for refreshments. 
• Coffee morning - last Saturday each month in Abdon Village Hall 10.30am to 12.30pm (except for December). Join us for coffee, cake and a chat, everyone welcome!
• Church Services - 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month at St. Margaret's Church, Abdon. See the St. Margaret's Church page for details. Please see the latest Corvedale News or Corvedale Parishes Facebook page for updates. 
• Abdon District Community Wildlife Group - See 2024 events programme attached below.
• Women's Institute - 2nd Monday of the month at 2pm, Clee St.Margaret Village Hall. 
• Parish Council meetings - usually the last Thursday in January, April, July and October in Abdon Village Hall. See the Parish Council page for details.

APRIL AND MAY 2024 

• Shropshire National Open Garden Scheme - see document attached below for details of 2024.
• Craven Arms place plan area health and wellbeing survey is now live and will close on 21st April 24. See the poster attached below. To take part: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ShropLocalHealthandWellbeingSurvey Short URL: https://shropshire.gov.uk/ShropLocalHealthandWellbeingSurvey
• Letters and Cold Calling regarding energy improvements - Shropshire Council’s Affordable Warmth & Energy Efficiency team have seen an alarming rise in cold calling and canvassing by companies offering free energy efficiency improvements. If you or someone you know is in doubt about a letter or a call you or they have received, or to check the authenticity of a scheme or a contractor please contact Keep Shropshire Warm on 0800 112 3743 or email ksw@mea.org.uk. To find out more about Sustainable Warmth Shropshire and to see whether you're eligible for grants for energy efficiency improvements, visit https://next.shropshire.gov.uk/housing/private-sector-housing/affordable-warmth-and-energy-efficiency/
• 7th April - Planning Reconsultation Amendment 24/00354/FUL Redstart Barn. Proposal: Formation of new vehicular access with associated field entrance gates and walling, formation of two access tracks and hardstanding, installation of new courtyard gates and wall, and change of use of agricultural land to domestic garden/orchard. View the application directly online: https://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=S81E68TDN1D00
• 16th April - New Planning Application. Proposed Barn Conversion Adj 4 Brookhampton, Holdgate. Reference: 24/01065/FUL Proposal: Conversion of existing barn to form one dwelling, erection of detached part open fronted double garage, vehicle access and parking for 3 vehicles, installation of package treatment plant. Applicant: Mrs Sarah Rothney (Kingscroft, 4 Brookhampton, Holdgate, Shropshire, TF13 6LN)View online at:  http://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=SACQCQTDGFB00
• 9th April to 20th May - Garden waste consultation. Shropshire Council is carrying out a six-week consultation on proposals to introduce an annual subscription fee of £52 for the collection of garden waste – and about the future operation of the council’s five household recycling centres. All householders in the county use our waste services and I want to encourage as many people as possible to take part in this consultation. The leaflet and poster can also be downloaded from the consultation webpage – www.shropshire.gov.uk/gardenwastebudget2024. The consultation website is the preferred and most efficient way for people to give their views. Like councils all over the country Shropshire Council is facing unprecedented financial pressure, mainly due to growing demand for social care – and we must make £62m of savings in 2024/25. We’re proposing to charge for green waste collections as we must look at other ways of creating income so that we can protect essential frontline services for those residents most in need. While garden waste collections in Shropshire are currently free, 80% of English councils already charge for this service and many have been doing so for several years. As part of the consultation, we’re also asking how we can reduce the cost of running our five household recycling centres. We’re asking if people would be willing to pay more than £52 a year if the additional money was used to keep all five of our household recycling centres open, and for views on whether the opening times of some HRCs could be reduced. The consultation also asks for people’s thoughts about a new permit/booking system for people visiting a recycling centre to ensure that these are only used by people from Shropshire.
• 21st April - Consultation launched into future of School Library Service. Shropshire Council has now launched a consultation into the future of the School Library Service, with schools and members of the public invited to share their thoughts. In Shropshire, the School Library Service (SLS) operates as a traded service, which schools can buy into, and around 65% of schools in Shropshire choose to do so. Schools that subscribe to the service can borrow books and artefacts relating to school topics and receive training for staff and pupil librarians.  Schools can use the service to supplement their own stocks of books and resources. Schools receive funding provided directly through central Government grants to ensure children and young people have access to books and other suitable education materials necessary to support the curriculum. SLS does not sell books to schools, and schools run their own libraries independently. 35% of Shropshire schools choose not to use the service, using alternatives already. The service has been operating at a loss for the last two financial years and the council cannot continue to fund any future deficits by SLS.  Any future service, if retained, would require more schools to subscribe to the service and to pay more. Like many other councils, we face a very challenging financial position and must find £62m of savings this year. This is due to ever rising demand for social care, which now accounts for almost £4 in every £5 the council spends, and rising costs from continuing high levels of inflation. This means we now have some very difficult decisions to make, including reducing some services, particularly non-statutory ones. In some cases, this means stopping services altogether. SLS is one such service that councils do not have to provide by law and which many other councils have already stopped operating. The scale of the financial challenge the council faces means there will be many decisions that we have never wanted to make, so that we can continue to prioritise statutory services that support the most vulnerable people. As part of the council’s savings plans, we propose to stop the SLS from the autumn if no other solution can be found. We have invited schools to respond to a consultation to capture ideas, including whether they would be willing to pay more for the service, or start using the service if they don’t already, to make it financially viable for the future. Families and the public are also able to respond to a survey to share their thoughts on the plans. All possible options to continue the service will be explored and we welcome all suggestions. Members of the public can share their feedback here: https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved/school-library-service/
• Wednesday 24th April - Wildlife Group Bat Walk, 8.15pm Millichope Park. Led by members of the Shropshire Bat Group. Short walk will be over rough wet grass and gravel/woodchip footpaths. Warm clothing and appropriate footwear should be worn. Please bring torches, preferably head torches.The Millichope Estate is at Beambridge. Parking will be in the grounds off the B4368 Bridgnorth to Craven Arms Road. The parking is through a gate into a field about 500 yards past the main entrance to the estate (big gates with a lodge - no access) on the same side of the road, towards Munslow.  SO52931 87928, what3words breeze.withdraws.important. Mike Worsfold of the Shropshire Bat Group will bring a number of bat detectors of various sorts, but mostly Magentas.  It would help if some people could bring earphones/headphones  as he has a couple of detectors that need them.  Also, if a few people could put the Echo Metre Touch app on their phones or tablets he can lend 2 or 3 EMTs.  2 Android and 1 iOS, with luck.  Bring your own detectors if you have them.
• 2nd May 2024 - Police and Crime Commissioner Elections. See Parish Council webpage.
• Saturday 4 May - Wildlife Group Dawn Chorus Walk. This is one for those who are interested in birds and an early morning walk. We will meet at the Brown Clee roadside parking area at the picnic area, w3w stance.raven.twin, SO6080 8720, for a 5.00am start.  We will have a leisurely walk up the footpath hopefully enjoying a lovely sunrise and the dawn chorus. In previous years our bird list has included Tree Pipits, Cuckoos, Pied Flycatchers, Crossbills, Blackcaps, Willow and Garden Warblers and Goshawk. So lots to see and hear. This walk will be a joint walk with members of the Ludlow RSPB Group. In the past after our walk we have gone to the Willows Cafe in Ditton Priors for a well earned breakfast. Unfortunately this has closed.  I am aware that new tenants are being sought at present.  We will have to wait and see if it is open again in time for a post walk breakfast.
• May to August - Essential carriageway surface dressing work from Woodbank junction to Bank House junction, Abdon. For details see: Extended News - Abdon and Heath Parish Council - Abdon and Heath Parish Council, Abdon, Craven Arms (hugofox.com)
• Tuesday 21st May - Brown Clee Medical Practice Patient Participation Group (PPG). For more details see Brown Clee Surgery - Abdon and Heath Parish - Abdon and Heath Parish, Abdon, Craven Arms (hugofox.com). ​
• Wednesday 8th May  - St Peter & St Paul, Cleobury North - Churchyard plant survey. (W3W: deranged.cakewalk.jeeps) and Saturday 11th May - Holy Trinity Church, Wheathill - Churchyard plant survey. (W3W: cabinets.confetti.focus). Once again, we are aiming to record all plant life in two more churchyards.You don't have to be a botanist, just have enthusiasm for getting to know plants.  A quick recce at Cleobury North showed Butterbur, Wood Sorrel and Golden Saxifrage. A survey at Wheathill in 1998 found 77 species including Sweet Violet, Goldilocks Buttercup and Maidenhair Spleenwort. Are they all there still? Can we add to the 77? (Note: these dates are for a Spring visit, and later in the Summer we hope to make a second visit in order to not miss anything.). If you  have a field guide, bring it along, and a x10 or x20 hand lens can be useful. Both visits will start at 10am and finish by 1pm. Bring some refreshments. Parking is limited at both sites, so do car-share if possible
• Community Governance Review - Shropshire Council is undertaking Community Governance Reviews, focusing on the parish boundaries of five areas within Shropshire: Shrewsbury Parish and adjacent Parishes, Albrighton and Donington Parishes, Ludlow and Ludford Parishes, Baschurch and Bomere Heath (Pimhill) Parishes, Market Drayton and Adderley Parishes. Following detailed consideration of the responses to the original consultation, Shropshire Council is now consulting on its draft proposals for each area. These explain that the consultation concludes on the 10 May 2024 and can be viewed on the Councils Website.  Comments and proposals are very much welcomed.  

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