NEWS
Please see information and updates below that we feel are of interest to our members and local community.
JUNE 2024
YOUR COMMITTEE
Your committee now consists of six members plus our President. This leaves us severely stretched. The majority of the committee have served for a number of years but now require help and support to continue the work of Friends of Brockenhurst.
We have appealed for new blood on a number of occasions over recent years. We are pleased to have attracted one volunteer but need more.
Research shows us that volunteering is not as prevalent as in the past. However, for us that live in Brockenhurst, one would have thought that spending a few hours every month in protecting the fabric of our idyllic village would benefit everyone.
FoB was formed in 1957 primarily to examine planning applications. Over the years it evolved into a society that concentrated on all matters relating to the environment and welfare of our village as well as planning. We meet with the local authorities and other societies to further the cause of Brockenhurst.
As you will know, we produce biannual Newsletters which include discussion papers on what we are doing. We have a website and Facebook presence. Our Spring meeting and Autumn AGM meeting include speakers relevant to Brockenhurst and are well attended.
Just looking at recent years, FoB has been instrumental in many initiatives concerning our village. We have discussed them in past Newsletters and meetings.
We urgently need new committee members to continue such work. No particular expertise is necessary just a love of Brockenhurst.
FoB is a feature of Brockenhurst and has a high membership. Again, to be brutally frank, without new blood we are faced with a difficult decision. We either cut back on our current activities or we disband.
MARCH 2024
SPRING TALK DATE ANNOUNCED...
Hidden in Plain Sight: Reminders of WW2 in the New Forest by Marc Heighway
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During the Second World War the New Forest area saw a huge amount of activity. It was home to several airfields, training areas, D-Day camps and an embarkation point, a secret spy school, a POW camp, traps were set for invading armies, and it was also the scene of the biggest ever bomb dropped on UK soil. This presentation takes the form of a photo tour and talk on areas of the New Forest you will be familiar with, but showing you things left over from the war you might not have noticed before, and the stories behind them.
FEBRUARY 2024
FRIENDS OF BROCKENHURST TO SPONSOR PANCAKE RACES
We are delighted to be sponsoring the annual Pancake Races on Shrove Tuesday, 13th February again this year. The races will take place in Brookley Road from approximately 3.30pm onwards.
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First, Second and Third place runners will get an environmentally friendly wooden medal to take home.
JANUARY 2024
BROCKENHURST TO GET A NEW CHANGING PLACES TOILET
New Forest District Council are installing a new Changing Places public toilet facilities in the main Brookley Road Car Park in Brockenhurst.
The new facilities are expected to open in April 2024 and will include a changing bed, hoist, and adjustable sink, and can be accessed at any time using a RADAR key.
AUGUST 2023
BROCKENHURST COMMUNITY SPEEDWATCH - HELP NEEDED
Following a period of consultation with Brockenhurst Parish Council, Hampshire Constabulary, and the Friends of Brockenhurst, a new CSW (Community Speed Watch) scheme is being started in the Brockenhurst area. This will operate alongside other CSW schemes locally including Sway and East Boldre and is being formed in response to local residents’ concerns over road safety due to speeding motorists.
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Community Speed Watch is an educational scheme to help people reduce speeding traffic though their community. The scheme enables volunteers to work within their community to raise awareness of the dangers of speeding and to help control vehicle speeds locally. This is particularly important in areas where livestock and visitors are present on the roads in our community and so is considered very suitable for Brockenhurst. The group is being formed in response to local residents’ concerns over road safety due to speeding motorists. Speeding is also a significant factor in the deaths of commoners’ animals on the roads each year.
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A CSW enables members of the community to become police support volunteers and act against speeding on the roads that are of concern within their area. Volunteers use equipment that can monitor the speed of passing traffic and then record the details, later adding them to a database. Vehicle checks are then undertaken by the police and letters are then sent to the registered keepers advising them of their speed and reminding them of why it is a community concern.
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Community Speed Watch is an educational scheme, not enforcement. It is considered as the first-tier response to speeding issues. If a problem persists, it can be escalated to tier two, meaning that enforcement can be undertaken by the police neighbourhood policing teams but it is hoped that making more people more aware of the speed limits in place and the reasons for them, will be sufficient.
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A CSW works via the good work of the volunteers who participate in it but it does also require sufficient input from Hampshire Council as the Highway Authority and also Hampshire Constabulary in terms of back-office support. This is with registering the locations and with writing to the registered keepers of the vehicles detected speeding during the CSW sessions.
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The presence of a roadside Speed Watch team encourages passing motorists to slow down. Where they are active regularly, they have been shown to be effective in reducing speeding even when not present as locals, visitors and trade vehicles modify their behaviour.
Additionally, the data gathered by the CSW teams provides factual information about the scale of the issue locally and provides a means of assessing the effectiveness of any actions taken to address it.
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A number of volunteers have already come forward for inclusion in the Brockenhurst Community Speed Watch group, but to properly support the initiative additional volunteers are needed. On average 3-4 hours a month will be requested in single hour slots, at a time agreed with each volunteer. Volunteers need to be 18 or over and we already have a broad spectrum of volunteers.
If you are interested in supporting this community initiative, please email the team at Brockenhurst Speed Watch on brockenhurstspeedwatch@gmail.com