June 2007 Archives

Looking at the pictures of the Spicegirls in most of todaay's national newspapers I couldn't help but think it's true, money can't buy class. With more boob on display than a shop window in Amsterdam it really was a sorry sight.

Thank goodness Tim Henman is out of Wimbledon. Evey year we have this nonsense that this year is the Tiger's year and every year he goes out with a wimper and not a roar. To be honest I find it all a bit embarrassing. With the frenzy the crowd work themselves up into you would think he was already in the final.
In today's Daily Mail they have pictures of Tim from his first Wimbeldon in 1994 to yesterday's defeat. The only thing that struck me about the pictures was the fact this man hasn't changed his hair style in 13 years. I bet if we had a picture of him when he was five he'd still look the same - dull.
I expect a few middle aged woman shed a few tears as they sat on Henman Hill with a flask of tea, probably green tea too. Oh well, that's their excitment over for another year - back to the ironing.

Today was a sad day at the Advertiser office as we had to bid reporter Luke Cross farewell. Luke has decided to leave the Advertiser to join a paper in Maidenhead as their chief reporter. It would be correct to say tha Luke has written more than his fair share of stories about the Tesco development in Gerrards Cross, so we had a bit of fun with his leaving present. After threatening to send him off with some Tesco vouchers and a new Clubcard we decided instead to buy him a selection from the Tesco Vaue range. He looked quite chuffed. We got him some other bits too, we're not that mean.

Today we have been informed that Tesco plans to go ahead with building a store over the railway in Gerrards Cross.
The announcment comes almost exactly two years to the day since the original tunnel collapsed on June 30, 2005.
However I get the feeling that this won't be the end of the saga. At the moment Tesco has just created a "conceptual design" and still needs to submit more detailed plans to Network Rail. Network Rail then has to agree for Tesco to be able to go ahead with the building of the store.
According to Tesco's website it intends to have the store completed by March 2010, so residents in Gerrards Cross face almost three more years of disruption and the blight of the half finished store.
I imagine the majority of residents will be disappointed to learn of this latest development, though I doubt they will really be surprised.
I think we have an interesting few months ahead as this story continues to develop.

A public meeting takes place at the Gerrards Cross Memorial Centre, East Common, at 7pm on Wednesday, July 4. We will certainly be sending someone along.

DO you have strong opinions on life in Bucks? If so you could be just the person we are looking for.
The Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Examiner websites are going form strength to strength receiving thousands of hits every month. We have now designed a special area on the site for Bucks Bloggers where individuals can post regular blogs.
A blog is like an online diary where you can have your say about any issue you like.
Twins Alex and Megan Owen from Dr Challoner's High School are the first people to sign up – but there is plenty of room for more bloggers.
All you have to do is commit to writing a blog about once a week. It's your blog so you choose what you write about, it could be anything from the state of our roads to something you saw at the theatre. It doesn't just have to be local issues that you write about, anything that has caught your attention, annoyed you or you just fancy sharing are all the sorts of things we are looking for.
To find out more please give me a callon on 01753 888333 or email julievoyce@trinitysouth.co.uk
Alex and Megan are due to start their blog soon, look out for it at www.bucksbloggers.co.uk

Well I have just returned home from Chesham Carnival and it would be fair to say we all got soaked!
As soon as I woke up I knew we were in for a day of dashing under trees to hide form the downpours, but I am glad to report it didn't spoil our fun.
It rained for the whole parade and I felt very sorry for the children who had put so much effort into their floats, but they still had a wave for the hundreds of people who braved the weather. The dedication involved in being a parent was truly apparent as mums and dads proudly cheered as their children went by.
Meanwhile myself and my colleague Amanda were attempting to fill our balloon net up with the balloons we had sold before the carnival. As I heard the thunder approaching from over the hill I felt we had a bit of a task on our hands. But laugh we did. Eventually we had to admit defeat and release the balloons as the labels were falling off faster than we could get the balloons in the net. We decided it was best to fill the balloons and let them go individually. We did replace all the balloons that burst and re-write the dozens of labels that were soaked, so if you saw me with handfuls of soggy labels, I promise we did our best to make sure that everyone was still entered into the race.
I think we ended up selling more than 250 balloons, so that translates to £250 for the schools of Chesham to share. We'll have a proper count on Monday when the money has dried off and the final total will be printed in next week's Examiner.
To be fair the rain held off for a few hours in the afternoon and Lowndes Park was full of people enjoying themselves. In true British spirit we didn't let the rain spoil play.
It was a great day and the organisers should be realy proud of all that was achieved. Same time next year? You bet!

Thanks also go to Pat from Chesahm reception and her family who really helped on the day.

I'm like a woman about to embark on a week away to Wales in a caravan with four kids - I just can't stop checking the weather forecast.
You see tomorrow - Saturday, June 16 - is Chesham Carnival and it needs to be sunny!
Last year was a beautiful day and the streets were lined with hundreds of proud parents waiting to catch a glimpse of their children on the floats that will parade through the streets of Chesham. If it rains I can't help but think it won't have quite the same impact.
This year the Buckinghamshire Examiner is holding a balloon race in Lowndes Park. I will be at the event with Chesham reporter Suzy Talbot and various other members of the Examiner team. We are selling balloons at £1 each and all the money will be donated to the schools of Chesham. The owner of the balloon that travels the furthest will win a £50 Entertainer toyshop voucher and a family ticket to this year's pantomime, The Wizard of Oz, at The Elgiva theatre. We've already sold more than 100 balloons, but have up to 500 to sell so please come along and visit us tomorrow. We also have loads of goodies to giveaway too.
This year the Examiner is also sponsoring the prize, £50, for the best non-school float. This is the first time a prize has been given out to one of the community floats. We also have the Buckignhasmhire Examiner cup to give to one of the school floats, which Suzy will be judging. I don't envy her that task!
The parade leaves Asheridge Road at noon and then winds it's way to Lowndes Park. We'll be in the park from 11.30am. Don't forget the roads close from 11.30am until 2pm so make sure you are arrive in plenty of time, you don't want to be watching events from a queue of traffic!
Well I'm off to check the forecast again, I'll report back on Saturday as to whether all this crossing of fingers has done any good!

I am really pleased with how the pothole campaign is going. We have been inundated with emails and telephone calls about potholes. It seems no one is happy with the state of the roads, from cyclists to pedestrians to motorists, we finally have something that everyone agrees on - our roads are a mess.
The council say this is down to lack of funds to repair them, but this is a poor excuse, surely they can't just leave them to get worse and worse.They are in charge of the budget, they need to work out a way of getting more money back into the maintainence of the highways.
We have been told that each months dozens of people are claiming for compensation. This costs the council thousands of pounds in administration and payouts, money that should be being spent on sorting out our dangerous roads.
Please keep sending in your pictures, this campaign will only work if everyone keeps the pressure up.

Amersham reporter Sarika Sharma and I had a really good time at the Little Chalfont Village Day on Saturday.
Thankfully it didn't rain and I actually ended up with a rather rosy glow after standing in the sun speaking to people and giving out free copies of the newspaper.
I was first approached about getting involved in the village day about three months ago so it was wonderful to see everything coming together. There were more than 80 stalls on the field and dozens more in the village. I think well over 1,000 people attended.
Congratulations to the organisers, you really bought the village together, you could really feel the sense of community.

Today, Saturday, June 9, I am heading off to Little Chalfont Day. The fun begins at noon and there are loads of different events on offer. As well as all the different stalls, raffles etc there are going to be vintage buses taking people around the village. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Months and months of organisation have gone into today so I am hoping the sun does it's bit and remembers to shine.
I will be at the event with Amersham reporter Sarika Sharma and we have 200 copies of the Amersham Examiner to give away. If you are going along too please come and say hello.
The Amersham Examiner is also sponsoring the fancy dress competition which takes place at 2.30pm.
Don't forget to see next week's newspaper on Thursday as the Amersham edition will be full of pictures from the day.