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 Mayor
to present childrens' competition prizes
17 November 2008 KHRA Press Release
Children have been set a Christmas colouring
challenge to win one of five prizes this Saturday to be presented
by Thatcham's mayor, Mrs Jenny Weaving.
Children have been asked to colour in a highly festive Christmas
tree and bring them along to the Christmas Fair to be held
at the Moorside Community Centre on this Saturday before 12.30pm.
The lucky winners will be presented with prizes at 1.30pm
after judging has taken place. Mrs Weaving and Bob Morgan,
Chairman of the Kennet Heath Residents Association (KHRA)
will make the selections.
The Christmas Fair, which has been developed by KHRA, promises
to have a lot more to offer the children on the day from visits
to Santa for their gift, Christmas Island treasure hunt, face
painting to funfair rides, tombola stalls and brass band,
Cold Ash Brass playing suitably festive tunes.
While the children are busy, parents will be able to select
that special Christmas gift from more than 20 stalls. There
will be plenty choose from: handbags, cosmetics, books, toys
- and even the opportunity for a free facial.
"This is a really exciting day for the Kennet Heath
Residents Association and marks a culmination of a great deal
of work and effort on behalf of our fundraising team led by
Lisa Clift and Bev Gunner," said Bob.
"This is the first major event held by the association,
which is really a little more than four months old. It is
all credit to members of the community who really pulled together
and we really know that this day will go a long way to develop
the community spirit on the estate as well as bringing everyone
together for a really good day out."
The Christmas Fair will be open from 10am
to 3pm on Saturday with activities happening throughout the
day. Children who wish to take part in the colouring competition
are encouraged to drop in their work to the craft table as
early as possible. If any child has not received a leaflet
to colour in, they should email: residentsassociation@kennetheath.co.uk
and one will be emailed to them or they could complete one
on the day at the craft table.
Click
here for our feature on the Christmas Fair
For more information:
Email: residentsassociation@kennetheath.co.uk
Bob Morgan - 07971008539
Lisa Clift - 07867 527774
Ann Morgan - 07881958660
 Cold
Ash Brass provide Festive Sound at Christmas Fair
9 November 2008 by Ann Morgan
Kennet Heath Residents invited to
join the band
Festive sounds will be brought to Kennet Heath residents by
Cold Ash Brass at our Christmas Fair on Saturday, November
22. A group of five players will provide a great repertoire
of Christmas classical tunes between 11am and 1pm on the day.
This is bound to add to the spirit of the occasion and enjoyment
for both parents and children.
Cold Ash Brass was founded in April 2003 by a small group
of local Brass-players. Since then, they have performed around
the area, in Victoria Park Newbury and at Newbury Show, at
St Marks School fete and Thatcham's Festival of Arts and Leisure,
in Thatcham Carnival and with the Cold Ash Mummers in the
local pubs at Christmas time.
The band has grown steadily during the past five years and
now has a membership of 26, ranging in age from a teenage
contingent of nine to at least one who admits to being over
60! Until recently the membership was 32, but four have left
to go to University, and two have left to further their playing
at a Championship Band.
“These departures have left us with vacancies for Principal
Cornet, other cornet parts, baritone and bass trombone. On
top of that we would always welcome that rarity a Bb Bass
player. We are keen to get in touch with any Kennet Heath
residents who are interested in joining us,” said Paul
Sanders, the band secretary. “All we ask is that you
have a modicum of musical ability, and a desire to use that
ability to good effect.”
 He
continued that if you are interested in joining it is likely
that you will need to be of approximately "Grade 5"
standard or above. Anyone interested can send an email to:
paul@mmsolutionsltd.co.uk.
If you do decide to join, you will be joining a competitive
band. When Cold Ash Brass competed for the first time in the
Regional qualifiers of the National Brass Band Championships,
they finished a remarkable third out of 23 bands in the fourth
section. This allowed them to represent the South of England
in the prestigious National finals held in Harrogate in September.
So if you have inkling to play, this is your opportunity.
For more information on Cold Ash Brass Click
Here
 The
Kennet Heath Community - How can you help?
6 October 2008 by Lisa
The last few months have seen some very positive initiatives
for the Kennet Heath Estate. The introduction of this website
and forum has enabled us to start making the link to our neighbours
to become friends, and the formation of the Kennet Heath residents
association has given us a vehicle to move forward with our
plans to build a community and address some issues that we
all face together.
Various social events have already sprung up – you can
play Football, real or Fantasy league, you can take your children
and meet other parents for a cup of tea and a chat, or you
could join others for a drink, a Chinese buffet or a Comedy
night out. Suggestions for other social events will always
be welcomed with open arms.
The KHRA are looking at issues that affect us all, such as
last years flooding, our payments to CPM the management company,
and parking. We are hoping to provide updates on those issues
in our first newsletter, another new development!
There are lots of ways you can get involved, and we are really
keen on having as many people join us as possible, so here
are some suggestions…
- Use the forums! Chat to your neighbours,
add recommendations of local businesses, get all the gossip.
Lots of people have registered and not made a first post
– take a deep breath and get stuck in! The Introductions
thread is a good place to start. Some Forum tips and Information
are here
- Come to the Table Top Sale at Moorside
Community Centre on October 19th and pick up a bargain,
enjoy a cup of tea and meet the KHRA Committee.
- Donate a bottle to the KHRA that we can
add to the Tombola run in aid of KHRA at the Table Top Sale.
Contact Lisa or Bev.
- Spread the word about our Christmas Fair,
taking place on 22nd November. Make a note in your diary
to bring the kids to meet Father Christmas, while you pick
up some great Christmas presents.
- If you are a Trader, or just have a great
product that you would like to sell at the Christmas Fair,
contact Lisa or Bev to discuss booking a place at the Christmas
Fair.
- Ask your employer for a donation of a Raffle
prize, or give one yourself, for the Christmas Fair. All
donations will be very gratefully acknowledged on our website.
- Volunteer to run a stall at the Christmas
Fair. Competitions, raffles, face painting, bouncy castle
and many more….all need a willing helper.
- Anyone with an interest could submit an
article for the website or the forthcoming newsletter by
sending content by PM to lifes2complicated on the forums.
- Join one of the Social events, or suggest
one yourself. All round to yours one weekend?!
However you choose to be involved, Thank you for your support
in helping us get this far, and looking forward to meeting
many more of you in the future.
 Can
you rescue a cat from the credit crunch?
7 September 2008 by lifes2complicated
Newbury cats are the latest victims of
the credit crunch gripping the country, according to reports.
Newbury and District Cat Adoption centre have been inundated
with people giving up their pets as they tighten their purse-strings
due to the current uncertainties over Britain's economy.
Jenny Murdoch, customer liaison officer at the shelter, told
Newbury Weekly News that people were downsizing homes and
tightening financial belts and their animals were the first
to go. She said: “People cannot afford their mortgages
and are moving into rented accommodation, which puts people
off keeping animals. Obviously, people are doing anything
to make cost savings, but the animal should be the last to
go. But people are not being heartless, it’s just the
way it is.”
 The
shelter currently has over 80 cats and kittens looking for
new homes, as well as a waiting list of 50 animals who will
enter as the current animals are rehoused. They are also desperately
seeking fosterers to care for Cats/kittens in their homes
until they are ready to return to the adoption centre for
homing.
Can you provide a cat
or kitten with a loving home? Are you able to help foster
a cat in the current crisis? Perhaps you would just like to
donate some money to help the shelter continue its work? For
more information, please visit their website at http://www.newbury.cats.org.uk/
or telephone the shelter on 01635 200111 between 11am and
3pm seven days a week.
Newbury and District Cat Adoption Centre has been rescuing
and rehoming cats since 1965 and currently find loving homes
for over 500 cats and kittens every year. The shelter is based
in Curridge Road, just off the B4009 between Newbury and Hermitage.
Station Road closed due to burst water main
7 September 2008 by lifes2complicated
Station Road has been closed since Friday
morning due to a burst water main.
Thames Water have been carrying out repairs on the 12 inch
main since it burst at 4.30am. Customers may experience low
pressures in their water supply.
A spokeswoman for Thames
Water, Amy Dutton, said: “We would like to apologise
to customers and road users for any inconvenience this may
cause.”
 Forum
reaches over 2000 posts
Updated 7 September 2008 by lifes2complicated
The Kennet Heath Forum is now 9 weeks
old and has reached the significant milestone of 2000 posts
and counting. In the last couple of weeks, membership has
risen to almost 200 members who have contributed to 323 different
topics. The site has even featured in regional newspaper,
the Newbury Weekly News.
The community forum is the brainchild of Kennet Heath resident
and website owner Lee Cripps who told the NWN, "I decided
to set up the site to forge a community spirit that so often
seems to be lacking on a modern estate. I've been a member
of many car forums and thought to myself, why not use the
same principle for a local forum?
"It's a great way to get people talking about all and
any issues that are pertinent to them. I was affected by last
year's floods and through that got to know many more of my
neighbours than previously so based on that, I knew that people
wanted to talk, it's just that sometimes a modern housing
estate prevents that ease of talking."
He added: "The forum has already highlighted a number
of areas that need improvement on the estate. I hope that
as a new estate with many young couples and new families we
can build a community to benefit all."
 KennetHeath.co.uk
opens for business
17 August 2008 by lifes2complicated
We hope you enjoy the new website! This
site goes live as a work in progress, because we need help
and input from you guys to let us know what you want to see,
how it can be improved and whether there's anything not working
quite right.
The forum remains the principal reason for this website and
we hope you will keep visiting and posting. You can access
the forum from any page on this site by using the button on
the main content tabs at the top of the page. You will also
be able to reach it via the features page and by clicking
the speech bubble in the Forum box you can see on the right
hand side.
Keep your eye out for important announcements and upcoming
events and activities are just a click away using the interactive
Events Calendar page. In addition, you will find a dedicated
KHRA page as well as general information and links to related
sites.
Please let me know if you have any comments or problems by
emailing me using this
link. Enjoy!
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