A belated Happy New Year to all residents. A strength of the WCRA has been the way in which residents have come together to form ad hoc working groups to improve the envi-ronment or to raise funds. Huge thanks are due to Barbara Palmer for not only being the custodian of the verge and trees (see below) but in leading a working party to clear up the end of Shawfield Road. Personally, I think the verges and trees are looking in particularly good condition. Thanks also to Sheri Stradling who orga-nized a plant swap which raised £82 and, combined with the £237 raised at the post-AGM barbecue, al-lowed us to send The Ro-wans Hospice £319, a 50% increase on 2014 .

Working party on Sunday March 13 at 10.30am - 12pm to clear the rubbish and load a skip near the substation. We would be pleased to see as many residents as possible joining us to lend a hand. Please meet at the Emsworth Road end of Wade Court Road.

Spring Plant Swap — date and location to be con-firmed.

F R O M T H E C H A I R M A N

I N T H I S

I S S U E :

Message from

the Chairman

Diary Dates

Subscriptions

Environment

From the Archive

D a t e s f o r y o u r D i a r y

February 2016

Wade Court Residents’ Association 1966-2016

Winter 2016 Newsletter

A major focus has been on safety and I’m sure you will have noticed that we have placed another 15mph speed sign near to the Ems-worth Road end of Wade Court Road and, at the re-quest of residents, another mirror at the exit of Willow Close. The new sign is fur-ther back to give drivers unfamiliar with the road more warning. Hopefully, this will help to moderate some of the excess speeding that I’m sure you would have all noticed. We have an association that works together to the mutual ben-efit of all. In this context, it appears that the establish-ment of the well-supported No Cold Calling Zone has been successful in its aim.

We have had a number of dogs escaping their gardens and wandering into the road. This is a concern for drivers - however slowly / fast they drive - and I sug-gest you make your gardens more secure before there is an accident. Likewise can I encourage you in the even-ing to wear something bright if walking around - I recently nearly hit a jogger (not a resident) who was wearing all black!!

WCRA AGM followed by a golden anniversary WCRA Garden Party at 16 Wade Court Road on Sunday 5

June at 3pm. Further de-

tails to come from your road representative.

Have you seen our website and Facebook page? It is there for your use and I would encourage you to use it and we would welcome your contributions! You can either go to https://wadecourt.wordpress.com or log in to Facebook and search for Wade Court Resi-dents Association.

Finally, if you have any questions about the road or the committee please get in touch either directly or via our website. At the AGM we were able once again to confirm that our existing committee mem-bers would remain in post. In addition to road repre-sentatives, Vernon Stradling (see below)

looks after our finances, Barbara Palmer (see be-low) the environment & Roger Palmer is the Neighbourhood Watch representative. Full details are available on the web-site and at the end of this newsletter.

Howard Pollard

Chairman WCRA

oil. Accordingly, until we are at the point of needing a road resurfaced, it will not be possible to confirm the accuracy of the figures used in our cash flow fore-cast for this expenditure.

Residents who attended the AGM will be aware that a suggestion was made from the floor that our subscription should be raised to £80 in order to increase the likelihood that we would have sufficient funds to hand when resur-facing becomes necessary. The Treasurer opposed this, having already recom-mended to the meeting that there was no need to increase subscriptions at this time. The Committee considers it preferable that, should any increase prove to be necessary, we

make one increase to a sum based on an accurate costing rather than make an increase now to an arbi-trary figure, followed by a second increase when more information is availa-ble. There is certainly enough in the kitty to re-surface whichever roads require it first and there will then be time to calcu-late the level of subscrip-tion necessary to complete the programme in an ap-propriate timescale.

There was some support for the proposal to in-crease the subscription from April 2016 but a ma-jority of attendees op-posed the motion. Thus the subscription will re-main at £71 for 2015/16.

Vernon Stradling

The annual subscription has been set at £71 since April 1998. This sum was sufficient to provide the capital needed for the re-surfacing of our roads be-tween 1997 and 2003 and, since that operation was completed, has been build-ing up a fund, currently £38,000, to be used for the next round of resurfacing. This is not expected to begin before 2017.

Our cash flow forecast shows that the Association should be able to complete resurfacing in 2020 while retaining – just – a positive bank balance. However, as was explained at the AGM, we have not been able to obtain a reliable estimate of the cost of resurfacing as this is dependent upon the (highly volatile) cost of

F R O M T H E C H A I R M A N ( C O N T . )

P a g e 2

F r o m t h e T r e a s u r e r —

s u b s c r i p t i o n s

“… a majority

of attendees

opposed the

motion. Thus

the subscription

will remain at

£71 for

2015/16.”

In South Close I met some of the residents to discuss the future of the turning circle and it was sug-gested that the planted area be reduced to one third of its existing size to make turning easier. It was also felt that it needed to be cleared completely and replanted with a small tree with some under planting. This would require road-works and the grinding of a large old tree stump.

In the main part of Wade Court Road clearance of leaves has con-tinued but work has been ham-pered by the wet weather and illness of our contractor. Fortu-nately, the trees have generally withstood the ravages of the re-cent gales. Michael Reed regularly looks at our mature trees to en-sure they are healthy and that they present no threat to road users.

Barbara Palmer

It is planned to issue a news-

letter bi-annually in Spring

and Autumn. The next issue,

therefore, is due in Septem-

ber and will update residents

on the outcome of the AGM

and the activities of the Com-

mittee on your behalf. Please

contact David Jordan if you

have any material for the next

issue or have a topic you

would like to be covered.

After much deliberation, the Society used the money to res-cue the Lymbourn Triangle, which was becoming an over-grown, neglected dumping ground, and created the begin-nings of the attractive area we enjoy today.

Finally, a little further afield I’m sure you will all have appreciat-ed the work done by volunteers at the bottom of Lymbourn Road. This area is the result of a bequest made to the Bosmere Hundred Society (founded 1975) which was given a sum of £5,000 by Mrs Harris, late of South Close, to be spent for the benefit of the Wade Court area.

E n v i r o n m e n t

F u t u r e I s s u e s

F u r t h e r a f i e l d

P a g e 3

We have been meeting once a month since the autumn to contin-ue tidying up the land at the south end of Shawfield Road. We have removed old laurel stumps and loads of ivy roots as well as nu-merous weeds. Also Michael Reed, the tree surgeon, took down a sycamore which would ultimately have created problems and he reduced the crown of a horse chestnut which was threatening to decapitate passers-by!

Barbara & team at work in

Shawfield Road

Wade Court Road, looking South

January 2013

Road Representatives:

Wade Court Road John Ayling, 16 North Close

Willow Close Ryan Mustchin, 1 Willow Close

North Close Jo Leggett, 19 North Close

South Close Will Denby, 7 South Close

Elm Road David Jordan, 6 Elm Road

Shawfield Road Howard Pollard, 2 Shawfield Road

Neighbourhood Watch

Roger Palmer, 1a Shawfield Road

The auction of Wade Court was held on the 17th April 1912 at The Bear Hotel in Havant. Two days earlier the Titanic had sank in the North Atlantic. Further extracts from the Auc-tioneer’s catalogue will appear in future newsletters.

Wade Court has an interesting story to tell. If you have any Wade Court historical contribu-tions we would like to see them, read them or hear about them!

Thanks

David Jordan

dncjord2@btinternet.com

WCRA

F r o m t h e A r c h i v e