Community association news

~ BAACA

Bellingdon and Asheridge Community Association (BAACA for short) is up and running following our name change which was approved at the AGM. Our new trustees have got stuck in straight away and are helping us to deliver our many ongoing projects (see below for more details).

We are, however, still in need of a secretary. The role consists of compiling an agenda, circulating minutes and minimal amounts of additional correspondence. If you feel you might be able to help with this please contact any of the current trustees or contact@bellingdon.com

Village hall goes keyless

Those of you who have used the hall recently will have noticed a change in access arrangements. We’ve installed a keypad entry system in order to reduce the amount of time our volunteer bookings secretary has to spend giving out and collecting keys for the various hires during the week and weekend.

Some of the weekend hires do not finish until midnight, so making sure that the hirers have returned the keys on time is an onerous task, one which has been undertaken for the last seven years by the very dedicated Chris and Julie Hood.

Newsletter update

The December newsletter will be out shortly and looks a bit different. We thought that it deserved a bit of a refresh, and we hope you like the result!

We’d also like to start including more news of what people have been up to starting with the Spring edition next year, where we’re hoping to have news of an expedition to Nepal, among other things. If you and yours have an achievement you’d like to share (for example, new baby, marriage, leaving school, winning a prize, a “significant” birthday etc) do please let us know.

Floor refurbishment
During the Christmas period (16th-24th to be precise) the hall will be closed to enable a full refurbishment of our lovely parquet floor to be carried out. We hope that this will refresh the surface and make it easier to keep clean.

Christmas 2018 – what’s on in Bellingdon and Asheridge

~ BAACA

There is a wonderful variety of Christmas activities available in the village this year – from the Children’s Party on 1st December and the Seniors’ Christmas Lunch on the 2nd to a community pub night on the 14th and “Welcome to Bethlehem” (children’s activities) in the church on Thursday 20th from 3-4:30pm.

There’s also a carol service at the church on Sunday 23rd (10am), the traditional Christmas Eve service at Huge Farm from 4pm (by kind permission of Anka and John Taylor) and a Christmas morning service at the church at 10am on the 25th.

Village Hall full for its 70th Birthday Party

~ BAACA

What a fantastic afternoon! Around 100 people of all ages packed the Village Hall on Saturday afternoon to pay tribute to the place that this wonderful building holds within our community.

We had tea, sandwiches and cakes, an exhibition of recent and past history, an audiovisual slideshow of what has been going on at the hall in the last ten years, entertainment from The Nightingales and the opening of the refurbished kitchen by Alan Page.

Huge thanks to the hall management committee for funding the event, to the Bellingdon Belles for catering and to everyone who helped by lending us equipment for the slideshow as well as photos, articles and other artefacts for the exhibition. Particular thanks to Jane Edmunds for her sterling efforts in hammering pins into a particularly unwilling backdrop! And of course to Helen Harding for marshalling the whole thing even when it looked like climbing Everest might have been easier.

We’d love to hear what you thought of the event so please do let us know – either by talking to a committee member or by emailing us. We’re having a think about what else we can do to keep people coming to the hall so if you have any ideas – bingo, coffee morning, film night, karaoke etc – do let us know as well!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1786588871468584&type=1&l=7e77dc1bc4

Village Hall 70th: THIS SATURDAY 10th November 4-7pm

~ BAACA

Don’t forget to let us know ASAP by email (contact@bellingdon.com) or phone (758901) if you’re planning to come on Saturday tea time to celebrate our wonderful community hall. We’ve had a fantastic response so far, and it would really help with catering to know how many people we’re expecting.

Please do feel free to dress in vintage clothing, bring along photographs etc of your memories of the hall – we’ll be having a “memory wall” where you can share your reminiscences so that we can record them for future generations.

Cyber Resilience Week

~ BAACA

From Thames Valley Police

Today marks the beginning of Cyber Resilience week. Organisations across Buckinghamshire are raising awareness of how members of the community can become resilient when surfing the net.

Each day will have a different topic of focus. Today the topic is exploitation of children and young people – ensuring the public, including young people, are staying safe online.
The internet is an amazing resource which enables children and young people to connect, communicate and be creative in a number of different ways, on a range of devices. However, the internet is always changing, and being able to keep up to date with your children’s use of technology can be a challenge.

You may sometimes feel that your child has better technical skills than you do, however children and young people still need advice and protection when it comes to managing their lives online. Issues that your child may encounter on the internet will vary depending on their age and online activities.

Follow the SMART rules below for primary aged children:

Safe: Keep your personal information safe. When chatting or posting online don’t give away things like your full name, password or home address. Remember personal information can be seen in images and videos you share too.

Meet: Do not meet up with someone you only know online, even a friend of a friend, as they are still a stranger. If someone you only know online ever asks you to meet up, for personal information or for photos/ videos of you then tell an adult straight away and report them together on www.thinkuknow.co.uk

Accepting: Think carefully before you click on or open something online (e.g. links, adverts, friend requests, photos) and do not accept something if you are unsure who the person is or what they’ve sent you.

Reliable: You cannot trust everything you see online as some things can be out of date, inaccurate or not entirely true. Always compare 3 websites, check in books and talk to someone about what you find online.

Tell: Tell a trusted adult if something or someone ever makes you feel upset, worried or confused. You could talk to a teacher, parent, carer or a helpline like Childline 0800 11 11.

Heart: Remember to always be smart with a heart by being kind and respectful to others online. Make the internet a better place by helping your friends if they are worried or upset by anything that happens online.

Top tips for secondary children:
1. Protect your online reputation: use the services provided to manage your digital footprints and ‘think before you post.’ Content posted online can last forever and could be shared publicly by anyone.
2. Know where to find help: understand how to report to service providers and use blocking and deleting tools. If something happens that upsets you online, it’s never too late to tell someone.
3. Don’t give in to pressure: if you lose your inhibitions you’ve lost control; once you’ve pressed send you can’t take it back.
4. Respect the law: use reliable services and know how to legally access the music, film and TV you want.
5. Acknowledge your sources: use trustworthy content and remember to give credit when using others’ work/ideas.
If you have concerns around a child’s welfare there are also a number of organisations that can help such as Safer Internet Centre and Childnet.

There is also advice on the Thames Valley Police website.

Don’t forget to join our online Cyber Crime forum  on  Thursday 8th November between 7-9pm: http://thamesvp.coverpage.coveritlive.com/