Archives January 2021

Newsletter – January 21

Firstly, on behalf of all of us at ARC I’d like to wish you and your families and very Happy New Year and here’s hoping it’ll be a much better one for everyone. 

Despite all the challenges that we are all experiencing with the current situation we are looking forward to making some exciting progress on the development on Palmers Field this year. 

We really hope you can join us for our AGM which will be at 11am on Saturday the 16th of January. Because of the latest restrictions it will be held online using Zoom, and we’ll send you another email in a couple of weeks with the agenda and Zoom login details. In the meantime, please put this time and date in your diary.

Then later this month we will be updating members of the Aldbourne Parish Council with our latest plans following further discussions with our stakeholders as well as the community engagement that has been taking place over the last 18 months.  

Football Back In Aldbourne

If you’ve passed Southward Football field recently you may have noticed that there has been more football training taking place. This is because Aldbourne Parish Council has agreed to allow us to invite Ramsbury Football Club to use the Southward Lane Pitch occasionally for training on Saturday mornings. 

Ramsbury Football Club has expanded considerably over the past few seasons, drawing players from all the villages around – and especially from Aldbourne. In fact as well as footballers, some of Ramsbury FC accredited minis football coaches are also from Aldbourne. It’s great to see football being played again in Aldbourne and will set us up in a very strong position ahead of our proposed development of Palmers Field.

Palmers Field Trees

You may have noticed that over the last couple of months some maintenance work has taken place along the brook (bourne) and on a couple of trees by the main entrance to Palmers Field. This was as a result of working in conjunction with the Parish Council and Southern Electricity to ensure all the overhead cables are kept safe. 

Community Engagement

We are hoping that following a further meeting with the Parish Council in early spring with more detailed plans of our proposed development of Palmer’s Field, we will be able to hold the first of our public consultation meetings, subject to Covid restrictions being lifted sometime in early summer. 

We will of course keep you updated but in the meantime, we are still encouraging everyone to continue giving us feedback  by completing our online questionnaire. It really is very useful for us so if you haven’t managed to do it yet, it’ll only take a few minutes:

Your views on future plans for Aldbourne Recreation Centre and Palmer’s Field

Also please encourage as many local people as you can to complete the form as the more feedback we get the better. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at:

info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Many thanks again for your continued support and again my very warm wishes for 2021


Malcolm Pryce, 
Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre 

Newsletter – September 20

After some beautiful weather, it seems Autumn is definitely upon us with lower temperatures and leaves changing colour. 

It was great to see the field being used so much throughout the summer, although we are sadly finding more litter, particularly around the shelter at the top of the field. We are very grateful to Tim Beatie who empties the bicycle bin and our trustees conduct regular checks and do our best to keep the area tidy. 

With a dry brook on the boundary of Palmers Field at the moment we were able to clear two carrier bags of rubbish to keep it clean before the water flows again. If you ever see anything that needs our attention please do let us know.

Meanwhile during the summer we’ve been having virtual meetings with stakeholders and have continued conversations with our architect and other organisations who’ve been a great source of advice and help. 

New Core Team Member

Many of you will know Eleanor Williamson for her wonderful work on our community engagement with Alex Lambert. I’m delighted to say that Eleanor has agreed to join our core team with a particular focus on the environmental aspects of the field and our project. She’ll be a huge asset and will be liaising with various organisations in the village who are involved in green issues such as the carbon neutral group. 

You’ll also notice that she is involved in this year’s Church Harvest Appeal featuring scarecrows around the village. You can find out more on the Whitton Team News Facebook page. 

Community Engagement

We are still encouraging everyone to give us some feedback by completing our online questionnaire. It’s proving to be really interesting and very helpful, so we’re very grateful to those who’ve already completed our online survey. If you haven’t manage to do it yet, it’ll only take a few minutes, so please do go ahead and click on this link:

Your views on future plans for Aldbourne Recreation Centre and Palmer’s Field

Also please encourage as many local people as you can to complete the form as the more feedback we get the better. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at:

info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Please do let us know if there is anyone else who would like to receive this newsletter, and don’t forget we are active on social media, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  

Many thanks again


Malcolm Pryce, 
Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre 

Newsletter – May 20

Firstly, I hope you and your families are staying well and safe in our continued lockdown. Like all of us in Aldbourne, I feel very fortunate to be in this wonderful village with all of its open spaces and long walks. 

Although we can’t open the exercise equipment or zip wire yet, it’s great to see so many people enjoying Palmer’s Field. 

We’ve deliberately left most of the field to nature, apart from the mown perimeter and around the young trees that were only planted a few years ago. 

Rosemary & Brian Buckler

Many of you will have known Brian and Rosemary, who both so sadly died last month. They were such enthusiastic supporters of so many aspects of Aldbourne life, and amongst many other organisations in the village, they were directly involved with ARC from the very beginning. They were keen to see the project progress and we were always very grateful to them. They will be sadly missed by everyone in our village and our thoughts are with their family at this time. 

Palmers Field Update

With the continued lockdown it has been a quiet couple of months but we are still attempting to continue discussions with the various key stakeholder groups in virtual meetings. We are also collating feedback we have received so far following the research by Alex Lambert and Eleanor Williamson, although a lot of their work has been hampered by the current situation. We are still encouraging people to complete our online questionnaire which you can find here.

Your views on future plans for Aldbourne Recreation Centre and Palmer’s Field

Please do pass this link to as many local people as you can as the more feedback we get the better.

info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Please do let us know if there is anyone else who would like to receive this newsletter every month, and don’t forget we are active on social media, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Many thanks again


Malcolm Pryce, 
Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre