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Durford Bridge repairs going well despite the poor weather The works to reconstruct the wall up to carriageway level have been completed. The stone mason is starting on site on Monday and is expected to complete the works in two weeks. Once this is complete the carriageway will be resurfaced, railing erected and site dismantled. It is hoped that the works will be complete by mid February. Unfortunately about a week was lost with that snow. |
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Chichester District Council Press Media Release. Date: 04 February 2010. Ref: 2581 GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCE CHANGES TO BUS PASS SCHEME Recent Government changes to the state pension age will have a direct impact on local residents’ eligibility for free bus passes. From 6 April 2010, the government is gradually changing the eligibility to apply for a free English National Bus Pass. This is in line with their changes to the state pension age for women, increasing from 60 to 65. The rise will be staged over the next ten years. Eligibility for bus passes will rise by two months each month. This means that residents who turn 60 on or after 6 April 2010, will no longer be eligible for the scheme on their 60th birthday. Details on when they will now qualify are shown in a table in the attached word document. Councillor Melva Bateman, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Development at Chichester District Council, says: “The government have decided that this would be the fairest method, rather than introduce a one-off rise which would leave those currently close to retirement age facing a full five-year delay.” “However, the changes will have an impact on those residents in the district who are approaching their sixtieth birthday and were expecting to qualify for a bus pass. Current holders over 60 years old, and other qualifying residents, will not be affected by these changes. Current pass holders will be eligible for a renewal pass when their pass expires.” A calculator of eligibility for pension and bus passes for all birthdates is available on the DirectGov website http://pensions.direct.gov.uk/en/state-pension-age-calculator/home.asp However, the Department for Transport advise that when using this calculator for assessing bus pass eligibility alone, that all residents chose the option ‘female’. This is because technical differences in the state pension provision for males are not fully reflected in bus pass eligibility. Press Release Ends.. For further information, please contact Alan Jenkins, Public Relations Assistant, on 01243 534679. |
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BOARD RECOMMENDS CHANGES TO RURAL CAR PARKS Recommendations to introduce changes to the way in which Chichester District Council’s rural car parks are managed were put forward today (Tuesday 1 December) by the Council’s Executive Board. The Executive Board voted to tailor the car parking proposals to match the needs of each individual town. This took into account feedback from both residents and businesses. Any changes to the car parks would not be implemented for a year and a half, by which time most commentators believe the economy will have recovered. The Board also wanted to introduce Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) before any changes were introduced. The Executive Board’s recommendations will now be put forward to the Full Council, which will make a final decision on Tuesday 15 December. The Executive Board’s final recommendations, in respect of car parks at the following locations, included: · Midhurst, North Street and Grange Road: two hours free, then 20p per hour thereafter. · Petworth, Pound Street: an area allocated for up to one hour free parking, 20p for up to two hours, 60p for up to four hours and £1 for over four hours. · Petworth, Sylvia Beaufoy: to retain this as a free car park. The Board asked Officers to look into a way of ensuring the availability of spaces for businesses and local residents. · Selsey, East Street: two hours free, then 20p per hour · Selsey Marine and East Beach: charges would be introduced between April and October. The first hour would be free, then £1 for any stays over an hour. · East Wittering, Northern Crescent, : two hours free, £1 for up to three hours, £2 for up to four hours, with a maximum stay of four hours. · East Wittering, Marine Drive: a section would be designated as a free business car park. Charges would be introduced in the remainder of the car park between April and October at £1.20 for up to two hours and £3.50 for over two hours. · Bracklesham Bay: charges would be introduced between April and October. £1.20 for up to two hours and £3.50 for over two hours. Between November and March, two hours would be free, and £1 for over two hours. · A season ticket for each of the rural towns would cost £10 per month. “The Executive Board has taken account of the feedback from both residents and businesses and the research that had been carried out,” said Cllr Derek James, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety at Chichester District Council. “While the Board noted general support from the wider community (68% of citizens surveyed from across the district considered that users should pay), it was also sensitive to the concern raised by some local residents and businesses that damage to local economies could potentially occur. I believe the recommendations have balanced these views and taken account of local needs.” Press Release Dated: Tuesday 1 December. Ref: 2535. Sarah Parker, PR Manager, on 01243 534754. Some Background information: The Council needs to generate or save £3 million over the next three years in response to the economic downturn and the prospect of reduced central government funding over a prolonged period. It has already seen a reduction in income and is likely to experience cuts to government grants. A number of proposals are due to be reviewed by the Executive Board in December, which could potentially generate £2.6 million, with the rest to be identified over the next two years. 60% of the entire savings identified have been found internally through changing procedures, restructuring the senior management team and thinking of proactive ways in which the Council can reduce costs. However, a number of others look at changes to services, including the district’s car parks. These proposals aim to keep Council Tax low and enable the Council to continue providing services efficiently. |
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Have you got a valid will? If so, you’re in the minority. Every day, over 1,500 people die in the UK, and more than 70% of them die without a legally valid will – a truly shocking statistic, which can lead to conflict amongst the remaining family. Now one of the country’s leading businessmen, Sir Gerry Robinson, wants to help change that. Assisted by expert legal advisors, he will help people to write their wills for a major new BBC2 series….……. To read the full story PLEASE go to NOTICE BOARD II IN THIS WEBSITE |
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Exciting New Defibrillator Up-Date, 14th February 2010:- South East Coast Ambulance Trust agree to come onboard to help with both advise and training Responder Operations Manager (West Sussex) Garry Perkins, S.R Paramedic & SECAmb Listener, having heard what Rogate is doing, has very kindly offered to come to Rogate School at 7.30pm on TUESDAY 16th MARCH 2010 (all welcome) to help us with training & setup advise to get this much needed, life saving equipment installed and running. Garry is responsible for liaison & training and is busy all over the area helping set up quick response defibrillator systems such as ours. He will also assist us with integrating our equipment and its location into the Ambulance Service system. Rather than rely on 10 or 12 trained local people to respond in emergency situations 24/7, the Ambulance Service have found it is now better to have 3 or 4 key people based near the machines location, who can help deal with an emergency situation within the centre of the village itself. The idea is that if and when an emergency arises or when a person phones 999 for an Ambulance, the operator will also say if appropriate, that there is a local defibrillator machine based in the village and if with their help over the phone, the machine is collected by someone, they will help with any advise in using the machine whilst the Ambulance is on its way. The defibrillator would be housed in a special secure and alarmed box mounted on a building such as the village shop for easy quick access, the operator would then give them the special access code to open the this box, followed with advise when dealing with the suspected heart attack and on how to use this very simple life saving machine. This system has been found to be most effective in rural locations such as ours and has proved its effectiveness on many such occasions, it also takes the pressure of the need for a large trained team to supply the 24/7 cover once recommended. Regular training sessions in using both this type of equipment and any other sort of emergency response, will be set up to run in conjunction with the Ambulance Service, thereby assist any member of the public, who is interested in a simple bit of training, to help save a life, to attend and learn.
Its worth reiterating an old adage here that is often quoted by emergency personnel & trainers; “It is better to have tried to save a life, even if all your efforts fail, than to do nothing, because if you do nothing, doing nothing is never ever going to save them! Once again many, many thanks for all your support and donations. Here in Rogate we are about to turn a idea into an reality and start a new exciting community spirited and community funded project, let us make it the beginning of a far reaching, life saving project, that we can help grow and see installed into every village community throughout rural England. Many thanks and we look forward to see as many of you as possible in Rogate School on Tuesday 16th March, meeting opens at 7 for 7.30 with tea & biscuits, lets not forget we pulled together to deal with a little bit of snow, think what we can all do to help save a life! PS. Have a look at next weeks Midhurst & Petworth Observer! That’s week ending 20th February:- http://www.midhurstandpetworth.co.uk/ TO READ MORE AND GET THE LATEST ON PLEDGES GO TO THE “IN THE NEWS PAGE” £970+ in Pledges already with many offers of help & support to man the scheme. |
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www.rogate-rake.org is run for the village communities of Hillbrow ~ Rake ~ Rogate ~ Terwick |
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A Women’s memory is better than a Man’s at 50 researchers find? or so the experts would have you believe! It is well known that girls are no longer the weaker sex academically if they ever were. They have overtaken boys at school and are more likely to go on to university and gain a degree. But new research from the Institute of Education, University of London, suggests that female superiority does not end there. At age 50, a woman’s memory is better than a man’s, it seems. A study involving more than 9,600 middle-aged men and women in England, Scotland and Wales has found that women outscored men in two verbal memory tests. Participants in the first test listened to 10 common words being read out and were then given two minutes to recall as many as possible. The second test required them to list the same 10 words about five minutes later. Women scored almost 5 per cent more than men, on average, in the first test and nearly 8 per cent more in the second one. They were also quicker than men in a third test that required them to cross out as many “Ps” and “Ws” as possible in a page filled with rows of random letters. However, women also made more mistakes than men. In a fourth test, which involved naming as many animals as they could in a minute, men and women had identical scores. Each could name 22 animals, on average. The participants were all members of the National Child Development Study (NCDS) who have been tracked by researchers since their birth in 1958. As they were also assessed at age 16 the latest tests will help researchers to estimate the impact that exercise, diet, smoking, alcohol and depression have had on their mental abilities. Initial analyses of the test results have shown that those who exercised at least once a month performed better on all tests, on average, than those who did not. Non-smokers, including ex-smokers, also outscored smokers in the first of the ‘word recall’ tests, even after social background was taken into consideration. “Understanding the impact of behaviours such as exercise and smoking on cognitive function is vital if levels of dementia in the general population are to be reduced in the future,” say the authors of the study, Matthew Brown and Brian Dodgeon of the Institute’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies. Such tests, which NCDS members will take at intervals over the coming years, will also enable researchers to measure changes in cognitive ability that occur with ageing. “Although measuring gender differences was not the central purpose of these tests the differences between men and women were interesting,” the researchers add. “Men performed significantly more poorly in the verbal memory tests: particularly on the delayed memory test. “Previous research has produced similar results but this is the first time that such a large number of middle-aged men and women of the same age have taken memory tests of this kind in the UK.” “NCDS Cognitive Assessments at Age 50: Initial Results”, by Matthew Brown & Brian Dodgeon, can be downloaded from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) websitehttp://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk . CLS is an Economic, Social Research Council Resource Centre. BBC Radio 4 is currently broadcasting a series of programmes about the men & women taking part in the National Child Development Study. “When I Grow Up”, which is presented by John Waite, is broadcast at 9.30am on Tuesdays. |
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Double Milestone for Rogate’s Welsh Vicar as the Sun Shine's Down on the Shepherd and his Flock The Reverend Edward Doyle celebrated not only his 10 years as Parish Priest but also a landmark age (the big 40) amongst friends and family in a moving end to the special service held in a marquee loaned by newly weds Stephen & Mary-Anne Berendt . Just as Edward thought he was drawing the magnificent service to a close, John Field stepped up to the microphone and turned the tables on the Welshman. Edward who is not known for being a silent wallflower was visibly overcome with joy as he as he was presented with 40 ………… please go to “In The News” to read the full story. |