Articles

This diagram shows the major responsibilities for our three levels of local authorities/councils. There are some anomalies to further complicate the picture. For example, the county is responsible for mending roads and pavements, but the district is responsible for cleaning them. In Kibworth Beauchamp, the parish street warden keeps the main shopping area clear of litter.

It is a sad statistic that one in five children cannot read well by the age of 11. The Summer Reading Challenge, with the support of public libraries, is on a mission to change this. The Challenge will launch on Saturday 1 July and will run until Saturday 2 September.

I recently found a vintage photograph of the Old Rectory in Mill Lane, Smeeton Westerby, together with an obituary issued by ‘The Times’ newspaper in London dated Thursday 16 March 1911. Which relates to a member of the Sale family who occupied the property for 25 years. 

Following on from the success of our opening weekend when we greeted over 100 visitors to the mill, and the recent feature about the mill on ITV regional news, we have been delighted with the level of interest and support shown by the community. 

Please feel free to bring your own drinks, light snacks and your own comfy chairs, although chairs are provided.

Our picture shows a Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), growing in a Kibworth garden.

The boating season is well under way now. Numbers are still down on past years, when 40 through the locks on a high-season day was not unusual. New boats are still flooding into the system, many of them wide-beam (over 7ft). Although spacious for living on, they can cause problems on our rapidly narrowing canal, vegetation is encroaching on all sides. Meeting one with passenger boat Vagabond (10ft 6”) can be quite interesting.

As I write this, plans are now in place for our annual ‘Brass on the Grass' event.

It was a gloriously sunny day for Kibworth’s very first Yard Sale. Charlotte Price had organised the event via social media and had invited Facebook friends and neighbours to run a home ‘car boot’ sale of their unwanted goodies from their front gardens, so no rental costs involved. Charlotte included online a map of the village and a list of streets where participants could be located. Prospective purchasers toured the village on foot, in some cases looking for bargains to buy. A great day was had by all. Another event is planned for the future. Smeeton Westerby and Saddington have asked to be involved next time.

One of the more interesting tomes in Kibworth Community Library is a large book of the top 50 (musical) popular songs for each year for the last 70 years. It is part of the Playlist for Life resource.

Network Rail thought the ‘consultation’ on the evening of Tuesday 23 May at Kibworth Grammar School Hall would be a ‘tick box’ exercise. 19 professionals turned up, there could have been more in the wings. They believed they would return to their superiors and say the public had been consulted and everything was OK.

Every time you visit a website, send or receive a message or email, buy or book anything online, comment on a post, upload a photo, or find directions on your phone, you’re adding to your digital footprint. 

There has been a men’s keep fit group in Kibworth since the 1960s. Originally based in Kibworth Grammar School Hall, then subsequently in Kibworth Village Hall and Kibworth High School Hall. 

The last meeting of Illston-on-the-Hill WI included the annual resolutions. This year there was only one resolution which was, ‘Clean rivers for people and wildlife’. There was a lively discussion on this subject and of course we were all in favour of huge improvements to both rivers and seas. However it was generally felt that the water companies must take a massive amount of responsibility for polluting our waters and ultimately the decisions (and fines) must be instigated by the Government. Obviously, whatever pressure can be brought to bear by the WI is more than welcome.