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!

"I've given up on my cucumbers..."!

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

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Shop News
Congratulations to Judith Eyres, who won September's raffle for a sterling silver necklace. October's raffle is for a heart-warming hamper; tickets are only £1 each.
October's special offer is for Arkells Beer - only £1.99 a bottle or £3.80 for two.

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Calling all Parish Councillors/Committee/Trust Members, past and present…

The Parish Council has a number of current projects that rely on historic documents. While some have been tracked to the Council’s solicitors and others were in the safe-keeping of the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, the evidence trail suggests that additional documentation is likely held by individuals who have kindly served on the Parish Council and/or various village committees and trusts.

To ensure that our successors can readily access documentation pertaining to village matters and also to ensure that we are compliant with data protection regulations, the Parish Council is asking anyone holding electronic or paper files/documents to surrender these to Cllr Sandra Eaton, who will then sort, collate, and file all recovered documentation with the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre.

Please help us by contacting Sandra on 07795 538366 to arrange for documents to be collected or by emailing electronic information to her at sandraeatonksm@aol.com.

Thank you,

Kington St Michael Parish Council

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Village Shop Winter Opening Hours
Please note that, as from Monday 30th September, the shop
will be operating under its Winter Opening Hours, as follows:

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Public Urged To Report Suspicious Activity Following
Spate Of Lead Thefts At Churches Across The County

"Following a spate of lead thefts from church roofs across Wiltshire, we would like to urge members of the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to us immediately.

In recent weeks, churches of all sizes across the county have been targeted including Malmesbury Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral.

Approximately £40,000 worth of lead was stolen from The Rectory, Zeals sometime between August 14 and 16.

At Christ Church in Warminster, over half the lead was removed from the church roof, while approximately six tonnes of lead was stolen from St James Church in Bratton.

At Malmesbury Abbey, two sections of lead piping were stolen between August 15 and 16, while at Salisbury Cathedral, four 10 ft lead down pipes were stolen from walls.

Det Sgt Sam Hopkinson is urging residents to be mindful of these incidents and to report any suspicious activity immediately.

“In recent weeks, we have had a number of incidents where a large amount of lead has been stolen from churches which will be both extremely costly and inconvenient to repair.

“I’d like to ask members of the public to help us with our enquiries by reporting any suspicious activity they may see around our churches – this could include anyone seen on church roofs, vehicles parked nearby which aren’t familiar, or any torch lights spotted around churches late at night or in the early hours of the morning. We need to know about this activity as it is happening, so please help by being our eyes and ears and letting us know this information when you see it.

“Those involved in committing these crimes are causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and we are determined to identify those involved.”

Anyone with information should 101 or 999 if a crime is in progress."

Message Sent By
Katie Bond (Police, Media Officer, Wiltshire)

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Book Recycling Scheme
The 66th recipient of a £50 donation from this scheme is the village defibrillator fund, to go towards the maintenance of the two defibrillators. Why not treat yourself to a book from the scheme – only 50p each from the shop’s foyer? if you are a village organisation that would like to be considered for a donation, please contact Linda Durno via kingtonstmichael@btinternet.com.

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📚 Book Recyling Scheme 📚
A big "thank you" to Frank Hughes for keeping the book shelf in order in the shop foyer.
If you haven't yet used the Book Recycling Scheme then do pop down and see the selection - choose yourself some autumn reading in return for a 50p donation per book.
All monies go towards village organisations once £50 is reached; if you are a village organisation that would like to be considered for a donation, please contact Linda Durno via kingtonstmichael@btinternet.com.

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Rainbows (Girl Guiding)
Our friends at 1st Stanton Rainbows are inviting girls to join the group; Rainbows are the youngest of the GirlGuiding movement. They are very short of girls at the moment and would love to have many more girls of the ages 5 to 7. They meet in Hullavington village hall on a Thursday from 5pm to 6pm during term time.

Becoming a Rainbow is the start of a whole new world, it's about having a space to try new things and have fun. Taking part in a range of different activities with girls their own age. They develop self-confidence and make lots of new friends. We are on a new journey as we have recently started a new programme, which has introduced new activities and lots of new badges for Rainbows. They earn them in Rainbows and then continue to earn more in Brownies, Guides and Rangers. We have lots of fun making things, playing games and doing many activities.

If you would like to know more please contact Sandra Hayes on 01249 656224 or email hayes_4@msn.com

If you would like to find more information or to register please go to www.girlguiding.org.uk/interested

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Flower, Produce & Craft Show

Kington St Michael Flower, Produce and Craft Show was held on August 3rd. Classes covered a wide variety of skills, from "Explosion of Red" in the floral art section, longest runner bean, savoury scones, peppermint creams, an original piece of woodwork, draught excluder dogs, to a dinosaur, decorated cakes, and a model made from Lego in the children's section.
It was a very successful show on a beautiful summer’s day. Many visitors enjoyed the entries on display, refreshments, raffle and fun auction. Thanks go to those who contributed in anyway.

The winners were:
Overall winner - Pat Woodward
WI Trophy for men - Bruce Low
Vaughan Cup (top lady apart from overall winner) - Dot Ings
IK Alderman Shield (homemaking & preserves) - Dot Ings
WI Vase (floral art) - Claire Broomsgrove
Hughes Cup (top WI lady) - Jenny Hayne
Woodward Cup (photography) - Andrew Fussell
Novice Cup (first time cup winner) - Anita Morrin
Singer Cup (5 to 10 year old) - Harry Fussell

The show has been held since 1974, so long may it last!

Flower & Produce Show 2019

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FOSMAA
FOSMAA would like to thank eveyone who supported the picnic at The Old Rectory, which raised £340 for funds, bringing the fundraising total to around £75,200 of the £111,000 needed.

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Best Allotment
On July 28th the first Best Allotment competition was held. The plots were looking their best for the three judges, Luanne Cullinane, Gary Seward and Rick Squires, and first prize was awarded to Barry and Jenny Hayne, with Bruce Low as runner-up. In the evening a barbecue was held for all the allotment holders.

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Shop News
The shop tries to recycle and be eco-friendly wherever possible, and is grateful for donations of plastic carrier bags to re-use, but would now also like donations of paper carrier bags (with handles) please. Nothing is better than taking along your own shopping bag where possible, of course!

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Village Shop Myth Busting!
We are currently cheaper than our nearest supermarket for the following stocked items*:

Andrex toilet rolls (pk 4)
Bahlsen Choco Liebniz (dark chocolate)
Birds custard powder
Dove beauty cream bar, pk 2
Fairy Platinum dishwasher tablets
Kellogg's Fruit 'n' Fibre 750g
Kleenex Original tissues
Milkado milk chocolate biscuits
Patak spice paste
Uncle Ben's long grain rice
Viakal limescale cleaner 50ml (perfect for all your cleaning needs, not just limescale)

We stock alternative branded items to our nearest supermarket (e.g. soft light brown sugar), which are also cheaper, as well as matching some of its prices.

(*Offers not included - correct as at 22.07.19)

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School Fete
The school fete in July raised £3,480 - many thanks to all those who supported this event.

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Reporting Crime

Wiltshire Police seeks to enhance online services to the public and is pleased to introduce a new way of reporting crime through the Force website.

If you or somebody you know has been a victim of crime, or you witnessed a crime, in Wiltshire or Swindon you can now report it to Wiltshire Police online.

Go to the force website and click on the Report button and select Crime from the menu: www.wiltshire.police.uk/

In an emergency always call 999.~*~*~*~

Shop News

The shop is now stocking Ecover washing up liquid; 450ml in either Pomegranate & Fig or Lemon & Aloe Vera, or 950ml in Camomile & Clementine.
Ecover Washing-up Liquid unleashes the power of biodegradable plant-based ingredients, to leave your dishes squeaky clean. That’s Smart Green Science!
The bottles are made from 100% post-consumer recycled, 100% recyclable plastic.
Let us know if you'd be interested in other Ecover products or in being able to refill your bottle by emailing us at ksmvillageshop@yahoo.co.uk. 🌿
Also in stock are hayfever tablets.
Don't forget that you can get the latest edition of local newspaper,
the Gazette & Herald, from the shop - new edition every Thursday.

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Shop News

The shop committee would like to thank Kington St Michael Parish Council
for a £450 grant towards the cost of the postal collection.

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Shop's Plant Sale
Thanks go to shop committee member, Louise Williams, for all her hard work in organising the plant sale on June 1st. Assisted by shop volunteers Jenny Hayne, Jehanne Le Quesne, and Anneliese Hillier-Thake, £209.60 was raised.

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Autumn Club

Autumn Club Easter Bonnets 2019
Members of Kington St Michael Autumn Club entered an Easter bonnet competition at their last meeting before Easter. The judges, the only two male members, decided between them that Betty Brotherwood, a lady over 90, with the bright yellow hat on the left of the picture, was the person to win the lovely big Easter egg.

For those who don't know about the club's meetings, they are once a fortnight, bank holidays excluded, on a Monday from 2 - 4pm in the village hall. There is a speaker at alternate meetings and membrers play cards, bingo and occasionally a type of skittles. The afternoon ends with the tea and biscuits. There are outings at least twice a year, generally by coach and tailored to those who cannot walk very far; the next outing is on June 3. Do join the club to benefit from socialising and trips.

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Inkjet cartridge recycling
FOSMAA is recycling empty inkjet cartridges to raise funds for the organisation; these can be left at Arch House in Manor Close. Please check on www.recycle4charity.co.uk to see if yours are recyclable, as not all are.

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Neighbourhood Watch Scheme
Volunteers are needed to regenerate the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme; if you are interested, please contact Viv Vines, Clerk to Kington St Michael Parish Council, via ksmparishclerk@gmail.com.

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Neighbourhood Plan
There was an incredible 51% response rate to the survey
- many thanks to all those who took part.

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Great British Spring Clean

On March 30th, members of Kington St Michael WI, husbands and villagers set out on their annual litter pick. It was, as expected, a very successful two hours work and one member of the team returned again to collect more the following day; approximately 64 bags of rubbish were collected in all. Much needed refreshment was kindly provided by Barbara Fenner, and thanks go to all who helped.

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Coffee Morning
The coffee morning held by Sheila Jobbins raised £112 for RNLI funds.
Thanks go to all who supported this event.

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Daffodils
Many thanks to the Women’s Institute for planting the daffodil bulbs,
which have given such a great display through the village.

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Dogs on leads poster

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FOSMAA now has all the necessary permissions for the installation of a meeting and activity area, hospitality facilities and a loo in the church.

Contributions available from the PCC, FOSMAA, and some personal pledges already recieved, amount to £54,800 as at February 20th; the total cost of this project is estimated at £111,000 so we are already almost half way to our goal.

A large copy of the plans is in the church. Please go and have a look – the church is normally open from dawn to dusk.

Shortly FOSMAA will deliver to every household in the community, a form asking if you would be prepared to contribute. At this stage they are not asking for ‘money now’, preferring to have donations in the form of a pledge. When they have promises of 90% of the funds needed, they will then ask for the funds offered to be put forward.

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Village Posters
If you pop up a poster in the village to advertise an event or similar, please
would you be kind enough to remove the poster once the event has happened?
"Keep Kington Tidy"!

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FOSMAA

The Village Singers, based in Sutton Benger and lead by Rachel McCorry, joined 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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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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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
2018’s bonfire night and fireworks raised over
£750 towards enhancements at the QE2 Field

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 £21 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.