The Latest News & Snippets About The Village

(Contributions welcome - click on Contact Us)

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"Quote of the Week"
Quote of the Week is an innocent remark or part of a sentence, overheard
or taken out of context, which sounds intriguing, funny or just plain daft!

"Prawns - I love 'em"
"What you need is a llama..."

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For the latest edition of the village newsletter please click here.

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WAA auction poster

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Village Wedding
We have a new village wedding on the website - at last!
Please take a look here.

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Neighbourhood Plan Open Day

An open day for the Neighbourhood Plan is being held on Saturday 13th April
in Kington Club. More details to follow, but pop the date in your diary now!

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Shop News

Are you a positive, proactive individual? Do you have some time on your hands?
Would you like to contribute to the running of the shop?
We currently have a vacancy on our shop committee
and YOU could be our ideal member
If you are interested in joining us please contact any
member of the committee to find out what's involved.
You need to be aged 18 years old and own a share (available to purchase at only £5).
We generally hold our meetings on a Wednesday evening
and meet, on average, 10 times a year.

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FOSMAA

The Village Singers, based in Sutton Benger and lead by Rachel McCorry, will join around 200 other choristers from around the world to sing in the Carnegie Hall in New York on January 21st. About 60 members of our local choir and the choir from Frome came to Kington St Michael for their final rehearsal before travelling to New York. Every pew, chair and bench in the church was filled by over 250 visitors. Their generosity provided a further £900 towards the facilities planned for our church.

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Statutory Consultation Opens On Vision For Special Needs Schools

Wiltshire Council is welcoming the views of parents, carers, pupils, staff and the public on its vision to transform special needs education.

The statutory consultation into the future vision for special schools in Wiltshire is now online. People are encouraged to send in their views on the council vision to transform special needs education.

The council proposes to invest £20m in a new centre of excellence for pupils with special needs and disabilities. It will be developed at Rowdeford near Devizes to match the excellent facilities at Exeter House, Salisbury.

The vision means that the schools at Larkrise, Trowbridge, and St Nicholas, Chippenham and Rowdeford will close in 2023.

It is proposed that the three schools will be closed and replaced by a new special school which will be developed and established in accordance with Department for Education (DfE) Guidance “Opening and closing maintained schools: statutory guidance for proposers and decision-makers” (November 2018). All capital costs will be met by Wiltshire Council.

People have until 1 March 2019 to comment on the plans. They can respond to the statutory consultation at:

• Wiltshire Council’s website consultation page

• By emailing specialschools@wiltshire.gov.uk

• At information surgeries in the schools

• At open meetings for parents/carers run by Wiltshire Parent Carer Council (WPCC) which will be advertised on their website

The purpose-built and amply-equipped school will address the need for an additional 220 SEND places for Wiltshire while providing:

• Great teaching from well-trained, caring specialist dedicated staff

• The right facilities and support – hydro-pools, sensory rooms, physio, open outdoor space, speech and language therapy and family care

• Strong community links with cafes, community gardens and public playing fields

• Closer links between SEND schools, and greater support for all mainstream schools

• Links with specialist nurseries offering children with special needs seamless attention from very small to teenage years

• Good road routes to both sites which are central to the home locations of children and young people with SEND with space to expand

The final decision on the vision for SEND will be made at Wiltshire Council’s cabinet meeting in March after completion of the consultation.

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Bonfire in the Churchyard
Colin Labouchere has pollarded seven of the 23 lime trees in the Churchyard. It is planned to pollard every alternate tree this year and the others next year. On New Year’s Day about 35 members of the village joined forces to feed a massive bonfire and they cleared the entire area. Their work was lubricated with mulled wine and pies. A wonderful job and a great thank you to all the gang.”

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Wiltshire Council Highways Newsletter

For information on who to contact with Highways issues, gritting routes, how to prepare for bad weather when travelling, etc, please click here for the Highways Newsletter.

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Book and DVD recycling scheme
Acorns Pre-school is the 63rd recipient of £50 from this scheme,
which is run from the shop foyer.

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Poppy appeal
Local organiser, Joan Gilbert, would like to thank those who
contributed to the Poppy Appeal in the village; £293.44 was raised.

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QE2 field
This year’s bonfire night and fireworks raised over
£750 towards enhancements at the QE2 Field

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Neighbourhood Plan

Many of you may be aware that there is a team of villagers working on the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan. As part of the preparation of for producing this document, our Neighbourhood Plan, Wiltshire Council has agreed to carry out a Rural Housing Needs Assessment survey to help define the requirement, if any, for more houses in Kington St Michael Parish.

Survey forms will be distributed early in January 2019 to all households. You will be asked to complete and return the survey, in a pre-paid envelope, by 11th February. You can also complete the survey form online.

This is an important step in defining what you we want Kington St Michael to look like in the future.

The final Neighbourhood Plan will become a formal planning document with which any further development within the Parish will have to comply.

PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN THE SURVEY FORMS BY THE DEADLINE OF 11^TH FEBRUARY 2019.

If you would like to join the Neighbourhood Plan steering group, please contact Claire Marlow cdmarlow59@gmail.com or John Hall on 750550.

Identifying Rural Housing Needs
Housing rural survey poster

Kington St Michael's Survey will be sent out in January 2019 -
it will be addressed to "The Occupier" so please don't ignore it!

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Memories of Kington St Michael by
Mabel Jane Goodchild (neé Coleman)
Mabel was born in Kington St Michael in 1888. She wrote a history of her life, which was kindly passed to us by Mr Newton Tainsh, who discovered it in the effects of his late wife, Tyrol-June. It had been sent to her by Marion Adams of Etobikle, Ontario, Canada, who was Mabel's daughter.
To read Mabel's fascinating history please click here.

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Pilates
Pilates classes have started on Tuesday evenings in the village hall;
beginners and improvers from 6pm – 7pm and intermediate from 7.15pm – 8.15pm.
Contact sfppilates@outlook.com.

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Bonfire Night 2018

Bonfire night 03.11.18

On behalf of KSM QE2 Field Group, a massive thank you to all the amazing volunteers who helped in the lead up to and on the day/evening on Saturday 3rd November, to make our annual bonfire and fireworks event a success!

Special thanks go to Kington St Michael Village Shop for selling advance tickets, the members of Kington St Michael Club, who were amazing, including the guys from Amberon, to Simon Jones and Bruce Low for the spectacular firework display and Scouts from 3rd Chippenham Scout Group for helping to build the bonfire (and the Guy!). Too many other kind volunteers to mention but your help was invaluable – thank you so much. Great teamwork and community spirit to make this event happen. We hope everyone who came had a great night!

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FOSMAA logo

At last we have positive news!

"The Diocesan Advisory Committee has finally agreed the plans we have for our church.

With the independently-heated meeting room, loo, hospitality unit and space in which to circulate, the building will provide a top class venue for meetings, concerts, exhibitions, gatherings after services, etc, etc. Subject to a signature by The Chancellor (no problem foreseen following the DAC’s approval) we will be able to start the next step of approaching trusts and grant giving bodies, and Colin Labouchere has offered to master-mind this. The more money the community can raise prior to these approaches the more favourable consideration they are likely to give us.

How you can support right now
With fundraising enjoyment in mind, the Friends of St Michael and All Angels have arranged an Antiques Evening on November 23rd (see below). This promises to be an exceptional event.

Any donations to FOSMAA would be particularly valuable at this time because the more money raised locally, the more trust and grant bodies are willing to offer. We are looking for an estimated £30,000 and donations may be made by contacting the treasurer, Jessica Puddy, on (01249) 750270.

Thank you so much for your support,
Cilla Labouchere"

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Wanted

Coins, medals and hallmarked silver items.

Two Bears Antiques and Collectables is a local business run by village residents who have lived in Kington St Michael for over 20 years. They are more than happy to visit you at home and look at any items you are thinking of selling even if you think the item has little value. The antiques and collectables market is always changing so you may be surprised. They normally make an offer that is valid for 14 days to give you time to decide if you want to sell.

They also buy gold and silver jewellery, even if it is broken or has bits missing.

You can email them on twobears.antiques@btinternet.com or call 07739 469160.

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Progressive Supper Result

Thanks go to those who supported the recent progressive supper to raise funds to send the Village Singers to Carnegie Hall; £2,422 was made.

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Book Club
Folly Row Café is holding a book club, monthly on Mondays at 11am - all welcome.
For meeting dates please contact the café on (01249) 750887.

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Making A Planning Application
If you are considering or are about to make an on-line planning application via
Wiltshire Council's website, you will be redirected to the Panning Portal.
Unfortunately, if you choose to use autofill for your address, and if you happen
to live along the main street (i.e. no** KSM) then you will find that it submits
your address as being in Honeyknob Hill or C154 Road.
This causes confusion to those wishing to or needing to look at
planning applications, and, in fact, there are only 8 properties which have the
Honeyknob Hill address (unsurprisingly 1 - 8 Honeyknob Hill).
The Parish Counil is asking affected residents who make a planning application
to please check that "Honeyknob Hill" or C154 road" isn't included in the address (unless you are one of the eight!) and to enter the address manually.
If you spot this issue elsewhere, please let the Clerk to the Council know: ksmparishclerk@gmail.com.

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Parish Council
At September's parish council meeting Bill Isaac stepped
down from the council after over 40 years’ service.
Two news councillors were co-opted, Sandra Eaton and Peter Macdonald.

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FOSMAA
FOSMAA’s fun day and Teddy bear parachuting raised £485
towards installing a toilet and hospitality unit in the church.

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Kington St Michael School Wins International School Award

Kington St Michael CE Primary School has been awarded the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom. The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.
Kington St Michael CE Primary School’s international work includes leading a whole school Global Week, Fair Trade Fortnight, Bastille Day and Chinese New Year celebrations and developing strong links with schools overseas.
Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO of the British Council, said: “The school’s fantastic international work has rightfully earned it this prestigious award. The International School Award is a great chance for schools to demonstrate the important work they’re doing to bring the world into their classrooms. Embedding an international dimension in
children’s education ensures that they are truly global citizens and helps prepare them for successful lives and careers in an increasingly global economy.”
Many thanks and congratulations to Mrs Hussey, who has led this work in school.

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Village Hall Car Park

The Village Hall Management Committee would like to remind villagers that the village hall car park is only for village hall users and shop customers. Recently, a number of paying village hall users have not been able to park. Thank you!

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Kington Club News

The winning team of the summer skittles league was Dave’s Gang.

Despite having to rearrange the Fun Family Day to Bank Holiday Monday at very short notice, the event was well supported and raised £568 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s own stall raised £63.73, bringing the total raised for the organisation to £631.73.

The winners of the tug-of war competition were team Kington Club, softball winners were The Village People, Ed Roe won the men’s skittles competition, Jackie Giddings won the women’s and Phoebe Robinson won the juniors’. Champion men’s welly wanger is Mike Hughes with a throw of 94’, women’s champion is Trina Milsted with a 60’ throw, and junior champ is Alfie Robinson with a throw of 30’.

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Folly Row Cafe's ChatTable is Here!

Folly Row Café in Kington St Michael now has its own ChatTable. Café owner Kirsty Clark said “We are really pleased to have a ChatTable in the café, and hope that people will make good use of it; we’re a friendly café anyway, but we hope that this will encourage those on their own to pop in.”

Family friend and village teenager, Iona Durno, 17, approached Mrs Clark with the idea of instigating a ChatTable. She explained “I had heard of the idea beforehand and thought it would be great to have one in our village café, so that anyone on their own could sit down and be joined by others, and have a cup of coffee and a nice conversation”.

The concept of the ChatTable is that anyone can sit and talk at the designated table, whether for five minutes over a cuppa, or longer for some great conversation. It’s open to anyone, whether they’re on their own, new to the village and wanting to meet people, a new mum looking for someone to chat to, or someone just having “one of those days” and needing a distraction – making friends is optional.

Folly Row Café’s ChatTable is currently available from 10am to 11am on Mondays and Tuesdays, and from 2.30pm - 3.30pm on Monday afternoons

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Alms Houses Trustees

(Kington St. Michael United Charities)

The Amlshouses Trust has been advised by the Almshouses Association that more Trustees are needed; do you have just two hours to spare every other month? If so, you would be warmly welcomed.

For details of what is entailed please contact Mrs Sue Roe, Clerk to the Almshouses Trust, on (01249) 750622.

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Watch Your Speed
A polite reminder to all villagers and those passing through Kington St Michael, PLEASE slow down and watch your speed. At least two young cats have been killed on the road through our village in just 6 months and many hedgehogs too. Thank you.

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Dog Theft Advice
For useful information on how to prevent dog theft, especially that of gun dogs, please click here.

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Age UK Wiltshire

Age UK Wiltshire is local independent charity providing support to anyone over the age of 50, living in Wiltshire & Swindon, who needs a bit of information, advice, extra support or friendship.

They rely on the support of more than 300 wonderful people who give their time and energy to help them provide our services.

If you would like to join their friendly team - even for a few hours each month - they'll help you find the role that's right for you; please click here for further information..

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Kington's Mysterious ATM!
New Zealander, Nigel Saunders, popped in to Kington St Michael to visit his cousin and mentioned that he needed to pop to the local cashpoint "in Stanton Lane". On being told that there wasn't one there was much hilarity when he asked "Are you sure - it's showing on Google Maps?". A quick peek at the satellite image version confirmed that there couldn't possibly be and that his cousin did, indeed, know what she was talking about:

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KSM QE2 Field Group Needs New Volunteers

KSM QE2 Field Group is a community group comprising local volunteers whose aim is to enhance the recreation field for the benefit of the whole community. We are proud of what we have achieved in the past couple of years but are a small group and now need more HELP to make further improvements!

If you can help to coordinate or support future community events and/or help with the planning of longer term projects at the QE2 Field, then we would love to hear from you.

If you would like to get involved, please get in touch and send us a private message via Facebook www.facebook.com/KSMQE2Field Thank you for your support.

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Large Rabbit Sightings

A large rabbit was spotted around the village in the early hours of this morning. Revellers on their way back through the village from a night out couldn’t believe their eyes.

Jack Coney, one of the partygoers, said “I saw it hopping down Tor Hill footpath – it was huge!” His friend, Warren Hedges, confirmed this and added “it was massive, but it didn’t look quite right – a bit of a basket case if you ask me – it was behaving oddly”.

It was also spied by a man walking his dog near The Ridings, where he saw it hopping door to door before disappearing over the stile near Town Close.

Some children at the Rec thought they saw it too. One girl, egged on by her friends, ran after it but lost it in the Nymph Hay Wood, although she did find a large pile of chocolate wrappers which she put in the bin.

If you saw it please let us know. For a list of current sightings please click here.
01.04.18

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Great British Spring Clean

Members of Kington St Michael’s WIs and villagers, along with Tommy and Henry, participated in this event on a cold snowy morning. Litter was picked up from around the village, stretching from the M4 motorway bridge to The Plough. In all 24 bags of litter, plus various car parts, were collected. On returning to the village participants were invited to Barbara Fenners' home for coffee and refreshments. If you would like to help with future village litter picks, please contact Jenny Hayne on (01249) 750443.

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Pavements are for People!

Parents and carers with pushchairs are having difficulty walking down the village, due to cars parking on the pavement. Some of our residents are also wheelchair users and are finding a trip to the shop becoming an obstacle course, especially when wheelie bins are out as well. Trying to cross between parked cars, which are blocking the pavement, is dangerous, and especially difficult if the kerb isn't dropped and, actually, the pavements are there for people not vehicles.
Please park responsibly and ask your visitors to do the same (and please give some thought as to where you place your wheelie bins!).

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Please click here for the latest newsletter from the Wessex Flooding Resiliance Team.

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Stay Safe Online poster

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Smoke Alarms

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is asking local people to make monthly testing of their smoke alarms one of their New Year’s resolutions.

If you live in a larger property, a single smoke alarm is simply not enough, with the recommendation being at least one at every level.

To keep your alarms in working order:

Make sure there is at least one smoke alarm on every level of your home.
Test your smoke alarms by pushing the button every month.
Check that your smoke alarms are less than 10 years old.
Fit smoke alarms on landings and hallways and near bedrooms as a minimum; if you have rooms with a specific fire risk, such as open fires, heaters or lots of electrical chargers, install here as well.
Take a moment to check on your loved ones who may need help, to ensure they’re fully protected.

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Do You Leave Enough Room?

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QE2 Field News

13/10/17 - The work on our community BBQ area is almost complete. The water supply was installed last month and the slopes around the hardstanding area have now been weeded, ready for the grass to be seeded before winter sets in. Huge thanks go to Steve and the team at Greentrees Tree Services for weeding this area in support of KSM QE2 Field and the village community! Thank you - this has saved our volunteers hours of work and is very much appreciated!

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To Let
First floor storage space to let at Kington St Michael Club,
on a 6 month lease - £150 per month.
Details from Bev Day on 07402 962084.

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KSM Telephone Box & Parishioner Power!
(It's a K6!)

Thanks go to Dave Lemon, who has been liaising with British Telecom which still owns our telephone box. The phone box itself was listed in July 2007, when it was last repainted, but has been neglected by BT since then. BT has now refurbished the box by replacing some of the panes of Perspex, repainting the box and mending the handset.
As this is a working ‘phone box, please do not leave books in it; these can be donated to the book recycling scheme which runs from the shop’s foyer.

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Book Donations
The Book & DVD Recycling Scheme is very grateful to those who are kind enough to donate adult fiction and children's (Cert. U) DVDs. This works perfectly for most of the time, but on odd occasions there is the feeling that books have just been abandoned in the shop foyer, regardless of what they are. This means that someone then has to sort them out and take them to a charity shop in Chippenham.

So, just to clarify, religious texts, dictionaries, a 1980s guide to public schools, a Thompson & Morgan catalogue, and a children's guide to astonomy aren't adult fiction!

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Dog Fouling
Once again there are, to the dismay of responsible dog owners, other dog owners are failing to clear up after their pet, especially in The Ridings area of the village.

If anyone sees an owner letting their dog foul in a public place please report it to Wiltshire Council, either by 'phoning 01249 706111 and asking for the Dog Warden, or email publicprotectionnorth@wiltshire.gov.uk or via an on-line form: click here. Photographic evidence is always a help. Your personal details will be treated in strict confidence and you will be informed of the outcome of the complaint. Please note that complaints regarding aggressive dogs should be made to the police.

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For information on how those who are vulnerable can
receive help during a power cut, please click here.

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Remember The Number – 105

A new national phone number, 105, has been launched by electricity network operators for customers to call should they need to report a power cut or problem. This new number can be used anywhere in the UK and will put callers through the local electricity network operator.

105 is a free service for people in England, Scotland and Wales and customers can call 105 no matter which company they choose to buy electricity from. Customers can also call 105 if they spot damage to electricity power lines and substations that could put anyone in danger. If there’s a serious immediate risk please call the emergency services too.

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Parish Maps

KSM Parish Map

Do you like to roam and ramble around and about the parish? Well, the shop has the ideal thing for you - the new Kington St Michael laminated walking map. It's double sided and measures 47 x 32cms.

• Easy to read mapping at a scale of 1:16 000 (approx 4 inches to
a mile)
• Laminated for weatherproofing
• Useful scale ruler for distance and walk time
• Slips easily into your pocket

Only £3.99

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Emergency planning

If you are new or fairly new to the village and have some skills that would be useful to know in an emergency, such as medical qualifications, plumbing/electrical/building/catering skills or are fluent in a foreign language, please contact Linda Durno on (01249) 750514 or email kingtonstmichael@btinternet.com in order that you may be added to the parish council’s emergency planning information.

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Rural Crime Prevention

Wiltshire Police has launched its rural crime prevention booklet; 94% of Wiltshire is classed as rural areas so there is some great information inside that could be relevant to you.

The booklet gives advice on the following topics:
•Farmhouse and outbuilding security
•Vehicles, machinery and boundaries
•Fuel tank and heating oil security
•Livestock and horse identification and protection
•Protection of wild animals, poaching and hare coursing

The majority of the photos from the booklet were supplied by members of the public through a photo competition Wiltshire Police held earlier in the year. Please have a read and remember if you see any suspicious activity to ring it in on 101.

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Defibrillators
Just a reminder of where our defibrillators are kept in the village (click here)
and the instructions of what to do if someone collapses (click here).
Please visit the Community Defibrillator page for further information

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Advertise Here!
Do you have a small business? Are you local?! Why not advertise on this website for only £18 per year? (That's just £1.50 per month!) Take a look at other advertisers by clicking on "Local Businesses Adverts" above. If you are interested please contact us kingtonstmichael@btinternet.com.