Open Gardens Saturday 11th June from 3pm to 6pm
Do come and bring your family and friends. We have a superb collection
of gardens to be visited, all at the top of Bathwick Hill. Wine, tea
and cakes will be served on the grass terrace at the back of Woodland
Place, access via the drive to the side of Woodland Place. Please wear
sensible shoes, as the ground in the wood and some of the gardens is
uneven and damp, and if necessary bring a walking stick. If you cannot
walk up the hill the residents parking finishes just below Oakwood so
cars can be left there, and there is always the excellent bus service
with a stop opposite Woodland Place. Any queries please ring Penny on
420973.
We are most grateful to all those who have so kindly agreed to open
their gardens
Combe Royal. (Mr & Mrs Strelczak) A beautiful, large, mature garden
with amazing views. There is an immaculate walled kitchen garden with
vegetables and flowers grown together to act as natural pest controls.
The green houses produces thousands of bedding plants that are used
in the large beds in front of the house; these are changed three times
a year. Other special features include the largest Japanese Cedar in
Bath which dominates the front lawn, a woodland garden, and some large
rockeries.
5 & 6 Woodland Place and Smallcombe Wood. (Mr & Mrs Pearsom,
Mr & Mrs Elliot and the Residents of Woodland Place) Two beautiful
terraced gardens backed by lovely Regency houses. The terraces at No
6 have been re-laid since the garden was last open to visitors. (The
owners have asked us to point out that a new gravel path has just been
laid that is still a little uneven). There is also the opportunity to
see the magical remains of a wonderful 19th century woodland garden.
This is situated in Smallcombe wood and owned by the residents of Woodland
Place who have started to uncover its treasures.
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Sydney Buildings Art Exhibition
The Sydney Buildings Association have kindly invited our Association
members to attend their Art
Exhibition. It will take place at 4 venues on the afternoon of Sunday
26th June between 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm. It will be open free of charge
at:
No 23 where James John will show his paintings with some additions by
Tony White
No 42 where Steve Osgood will show his paintings
No 50 where Hermione Nicholls will show her paintings and in addition:
Photos by her late husband Nick
Painted beads by June Ward
Needlework by Anne Davis
No 60 where Sheila Mundle will show her upholstery
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Sydney Gardens Residents Association Garden Party
We have also been invited to join the Sydney Gardens Summer Garden
Party to be held on Thursday 16th June at the Holburne Museum from 6.30
pm to 10 pm.
Admission by ticket, price £10 (includes food and a glass of wine/soft
drink) – applications by 6th June to Peter Dalrymple-Smith –
Tel: 420973
Entertainment by "The Just In Time Jazz Band"
Proceeds donated to Holburne Museum’s restoration of the Gardeners
Lodge in Sydney Gardens.
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Bus Shelter opposite the Moorings
Last year we proposed to the Council that it should install a shelter
at the bus stop opposite The Moorings. This stop is much used by older
residents travelling into the town centre and they had asked if they
could have some protection from bad weather while waiting for a bus.
The latest news is that the shelter should be installed this autumn.
Council officers are about to consult with Bathwick Councillors and
are aiming to include this shelter in an order to be placed in August
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Vodafone Mast
Vodafone has withdrawn its application for planning permission to erect
a 10.1 metre high flagpole incorporating a telecommunications antenna
on the tower of St Marys Church.
This application had been vigorously resisted by those living close
to St Marys, many of whom wrote to the Council to object. The Bathwick
Hill Residents Association wrote two detailed letters of objection as
well as submitting a petition signed by 77 residents. We joined Mast
Sanity (www.mastsanity.org – Tel 08704 322377), a pressure group
which provides information and advice to residents who object to the
installation of such masts close to their homes.
At the time of writing we do not know if Vodafone will come back with
a revised proposal. We do not believe that they have properly explored
the possibility of sharing one of the masts on the roof of the Bath
Spa Hotel, and it may be that they are looking at this. On the other
hand we now know that Council officers raised objections to the design
of the equipment cabinet needed for the St Marys installation. Vodafone
had proposed that this should be sited at ground level and "painted
to match existing Bathstone works." It is possible that Vodafone
will simply submit a revised application which deals with this objection.
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Analogue/Digital Television Signals
At the last AGM Colin Martin kindly volunteered to look into the problems
of television reception on the hill.
The situation is that many low lying properties in Bath do not have
a direct line of sight to the Mendip transmitter and therefore can receive
neither analogue or digital terrestrial signals. The problem was solved
temporarily by the installation of a relay station on Bathampton Down
which is analogue only and of limited capability. It cannot accommodate
Channel five and, with no digital signal, precludes the use of a Freeview
set-top box.
Satellite television provides an answer but needs an external disk with
all the problems of expense and mounting it in a preservation area.
For good reasons there is a national proposal to switch off all analogue
signals and transfer to digital, hopefully to start in 2008 and complete
by 2012 with Bath probably in 2009. At changeover it is estimated that
95% of the country will receive digital. Unfortunately lower parts of
Bath are in the remaining 5%. You are affected if you cannot receive
Channel 5. If you can, you have no problem and can transfer to digital
at any time.
The solution, which has already been successfully applied to a small
town in West Wales, is for the local transmitter (in our case Bathampton)
to transfer to digital signals. Since analogue and digital cannot be
transmitted simultaneously the transfer must be the instant analogue
is turned off. Residents must of course be prepared with the necessary
modifications to their sets.
Although it is unlikely that parts of Bath would be left without television,
it could by default. If you cannot receive Channel 5 and do not wish
to deprived of the use of Freeview, you should write to the following
to seek assurance that the situation will be remedied, sooner rather
than later.
1. Don Foster
31 James Street West - Bath BA1 2BT
Tel: 01225 338 793
2. Ofcom
Riverside House
2A Southwark Building – London SE1
Tel: 020 7981 3040
3. The Department of Culture, Media & Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5DM
Tel: 020 7211 6200
There is more detail on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport website
– www.culture.gov.uk
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Students and the Council Tax
Some residents have expressed concern at the large number of students,
exempt from Council Tax, living in private houses in Bath, and possibly
depriving the community of substantial revenue. However, doubters can
be reassured that Bath does not lose out. University students are not,
of course, the only category of residents who do not pay Council Tax
- student nurses, those on low incomes and other groups are also exempt.
Central Government, in allocating the Revenue Support Grant for Local
Authorities, takes account of the number of such exemptions, and increases
the local allocation accordingly. So the 'subsidy' for the non-tax payers
in a community is in fact shared by taxpayers throughout the country.
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A Bargain on Dunsford Place by Margaret Legrand
My late father, Brigadier E.R .Page bought 13 Dunsford Place in 1957
for £1,000 from a Professor Mott The kitchen, in its original
state, had been condemned for human habitation, so a small kitchen had
been installed on the ground floor at the back of the house. Subsequently
my father had the basement kitchen turned into a separate self-contained
flat, while the rest of the house was developed as a family home, and
I still live there. When I was looking at the deeds of the house they
showed that the actual builder of the property was Mr.Hercules Gentle.
What a wonderful name!
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Bath Preservation Trust
Do not forget the Treasurer (Peter Dalrymple-Smith – 420973)
holds two tickets available for all members for free entry to: No 1
Royal Crescent – Building of Bath Museum – Beckford’s
Tower & William Herschel Museam.
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