by David Birch | May 26, 2024 | Recent Articles
The Lord’s Taverners v the Lords and Commons, Tipton Playing Field, 4th May 2024
As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, Tipton St John Cricket Club was delighted to take the opportunity to host this 20/20 match, part of a three-cornered tournament which concluded at Sidmouth CC on the following day – and was rewarded with a rare afternoon of glorious sunshine and a good-sized number of spectators.
The Taverners were led by Scottish actor Gordon Kennedy,notable for his appearances in the TV series Robin Hood and Redcap, and The Lords and Commons were skippered by James Daly, MP for Bury North, who opted to bat first. The Taverners were boosted by the presence of Tipton, Ottery and Devon junior players Brendan Coles and Will Smart, and last-minute Tipton recruit Tom Birch.
The Lords and Commons innings was bolstered by a solid 31 not out from Pragash Sharma, who steered his team to a respectable 116 -9 on a slow, damp wicket. The stand-out Taverners bowler was Brendan Coles, whosewrist spin yielded 3-6 from 4 overs.
In their reply, the Taverners fell 13 runs short, reaching 103-6 despite a fluent 26 from Coles and 16 from Kevin O’Donnell. Pragash Sharma was as effective with the ball as the bat, taking 2-5 from 3 overs and Sidmouth Ladies’ player Albertine Symes produced excellent figures of 2-15 from her 4 overs.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, offers tips on keeping order to the umpires
Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, attended the match and local MP, Simon Jupp, presided over the post-match awards: Brendan Coles was the Player of the Match and presentations were made to the Tipton officials, umpires David Birch and Jem Gillham and scorers Dave Alford and Phil Wright.
The healthy crowd’s generous donations raised over £700 which will be shared between the cricket club and the PFA’s plans to redevelop the pavilion.
David Birch, Chairman Tipton St John CC
Photos by Phil Mingo: Copyright Pinnacle Photo Agency -PPAUK
by David Birch | May 26, 2024 | Recent Articles
TASC was started in reaction to the commencement of a Governor public consultation about the relocation of our village school to Thorne Farm in Ottery St Mary. TASC’s aim is to surface and share information, collate views and questions and hold decision makers to account to ensure the best possible solution is found for Tipton St John School. We want to ensure that any decision is made on solid information and risk assessments and is a positive final resolution for the community whom this school has served for 180 years.
We currently have an active WhatsApp group where we discuss different topics and concerns each day and are surfacing lots of new information. We are also having regular meetings. We are open to everyone so please come and get involved. We would especially appreciate support from anyone with a legal background or professional knowledge about flooding.
How can you get involved?
- Join our WhatsApp group.
- Keep an eye out on village notice boards for dates of upcoming TASC meetings
- Join the ‘KEEP Tipton St John school IN Tipton St John’ group on Facebook.
- Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/keep-tipton-st-john-school-in-tipton-st-john.
- Write to our MP, councilors, DCC etc. with your views.
- Respond to the schools consultation by emailing your views to admin@tipton-stjohn.devon.sch.uk marked ‘Consultation on relocation’ or by post to; Board of Governors, Consultation on relocation, Tipton St John Church of England Primary School, Tipton St John, Sidmouth, EX10 0AG by the 19th June.
Dear Neighbours (A personal letter from a parent’s perspective)
I jokingly refer to my three bouncy young boys as your friendly walking alarm clock, as we walk through the village every morning to school (apologies if we do wake you up).
When we moved here we were delighted to move the children into this lovely village school, with such a personal touch and community feel. Everyone knows everyone and our children are well provided for despite the state of the buildings and lack of internal space. But as Simon Jupp has said many times, ‘our children and teachers deserve more’, so does our village. The school has served our community and surrounding villages for 180 years and for decades it has needed investment. Now it finally has been awarded funding for a rebuild but we are informed the ‘only deliverable solution’ is to move it out of our village. For the safety of our children, it is proposed that it will move:
- over 2 miles out of the village, down country roads that flood regularly,
- to a high traffic area of Ottery St Mary,
- to be sited on the main Exeter Road, where traffic speed will need to be reduced,
- 1 mile away from Straitgate Quarry, near enough for children to be at risk of breathing in particulate matter.
For my youngest son a school move could mean being put on a school bus each day, no longer walking with parents and friends or stopping to greet neighbours and their dogs and no more treats from Alita’s shop on the way home. He won’t be able to walk himself home or go down to the playing fields with friends after school, which instills in them a real sense of ownership for this wonderful community asset. He may have to use his inhaler more at school and he will lose education time being regularly bussed back to the village for church. If major flooding occurs like it did last May, we would be cut off from him. Instead of getting him home at 5.30 after seeing the community valiantly pull together, I wouldn’t have been able to get to Ottery to pick him up from school until 7pm. Or, worse still, he may have been abandoned by a school bus as King’s School children were. I do not believe my children will feel the same sense of community when they attend Tipton St John School, Exeter Road, Ottery St Mary. I also feel Tipton St John is rare, as a thriving village with a school, shop, pub, garage and lively community, we can’t let it become a sleepy forgotten place.
I know people have been fighting to keep the school in the village for many years but this time it’s crunch time, so please stand up and voice your opinions. It may be our last opportunity. The Head of the school reminded me, ‘we are only custodians for a short time’. Moving the school out of the village may end up being the only option, but we should be absolutely sure that it is. Please take every opportunity to attend meetings, send letters and voice opinions so that as a community, and as custodians, we hold the decision makers to account to ensure the best outcome for current kids of the school and future generations of our village.
Many thanks
Nikki Peckham
by David Birch | Mar 27, 2024 | Recent Articles
Water Leak in Higher Metcombe
As you have probably seen, water has been pouring down the road from Higher Metcombe towards Tipton for more than a month. I know that many residents have reported this to South West Water. When I contacted SWW earlier this week to find out why it hasn’t been fixed they told me that they had been out to inspect the flow on 11th March and had not located any leak. I think it is highly likely that this IS a water leak and I have written to the CEO of SWW and requested SWW come out and re-inspect with their engineers as a matter of urgency. Not only is it a terrible loss of water but it is causing damage to the highway and it needs to be resolved.
Tipton St John Primary School
I continue to press for the release into the public domain of the Department for Education report on the possible school sites. It is vital that everyone can see what has been written. Devon County Council has also carried out its own work and this needs to be released in conjunction with the DfE report. My position remains unchanged in that I wish to see the school rebuilt on a flood-free site in the community of Tipton St John.
Footpaths
The River Otter is a very active river and it’s playing havoc with the adjacent footpaths which are enjoyed by many of us. There is erosion at multiple points which has resulted in footbridges being shut or at risk of closure, narrowing of footpaths and the total collapse of one stretch of footpath at Ottery St Mary. Whilst there are excellent footpath wardens at Devon County Council there just are not enough to deal with the issues caused by such an active river. My group (the independent and Green group) at DCC put forward a budget amendment to increase the capital spending and number of footpath wardens. Unfortunately, this was voted down by Conservative led DCC.
Roads
I don’t think I can ever recall the roads being as bad as they are now. This is the result of a decade of underinvestment by the government. Across the country it is estimated that the one-time catch-up cost has increased by 16% to a record new high of £16.3 billion and the work to address it would still take a decade to complete. This is the amount needed as a one-off at today’s prices to bring the road network up to a condition that would allow it to be managed cost effectively as part of a proactive asset management approach.
Please continue to report local potholes online via DCC’s website and notify me of any that are of particular concern and I will do my very best to push for them to be fixed.
Cllr Jess Bailey 01404 814056 jessica.bailey@devon.gov.uk
by David Birch | Mar 27, 2024 | Recent Articles
Thank you to all our loyal supporters who came to see National Treasure in February. I think everyone enjoyed it, not least the cast, and it was fantastic to have so many of our members taking part, with age no barrier!
Many of you will have seen the wonderful review by ‘Tricia Barclay in the Sidmouth Herald, accompanied by photos courtesy of Shan Merritt – a whole page to ourselves!
A representative called Katie Jones came to do the official review for NODA, the national organisation to which we belong and she too wrote a very complimentary critique.Talking of NODA (the National Operatic and Dramatic Association) we have recently heard that we have won the Achievement Award for our district for 2023.
We have also been nominated for the ‘Company Crafted Award’ for the juniors’ version of Snow White last October. We will find out if we have won that at the NODA South West awards evening in May.
NODA issues a quarterly magazine and we featured twice in the most recent edition, with ‘Tricia’s review of Snow White and an article she wrote about our AGM last year, describing how to encourage attendance. We made it into a more social event with a bring and share supper and also provided entertainment with some rehearsed play readings.
I wrote in the last Tipton Times that we are proposing to hold a workshop open day. We are still proposing to do so but, instead of May, it is now going to be held in June – more details will be in the next issue of TT. Besides planning our workshop day, we are also in the process of looking for a play (or plays) to put on in our usual October slot. More of both next time.
Yvonne Kellett
by David Birch | Mar 27, 2024 | Recent Articles
What is planned for the 2024 season?
We are pleased to announce some events which we hope will attract a lot of support and interest. On Saturday 4th May, at 2.30pm, we are delighted to host a match between the Lord’s Taverners and a Parliament XI. The Lord’s Taverners are usually well supported and often field former professional and celebrity players. The Parliamentary XI generally includes a number of former and current MPs. Admission will be free but donations will be very welcome!
The main focus of our celebrations will be on our 50th Anniversary Festival of Cricket which will take place around the August Bank Holiday and feature the following:
- Tipton St John v Incogniti, Thurs 22nd August
- Tipton St John v Boffins, Sat 24th August
- Softball Cricket Fun Match and BBQ, Sun 25th August
- Tipton St John v Ascott-u-Wychwood, Tues 27th August
We look forward to welcoming back these touring sides, with whom we have a history of competitive and friendly cricket. Incogniti, founded in 1861, are one of the best-known nomadic clubs. Boffins are also a distinguished nomadic side, last visiting in 2015 as part of their annual Devon tour. Oxfordshire-based Ascott-under-Wychwood have been welcome regulars here since 2021.
Supporting the Playing Field Association’s Pavilion Redevelopment Plans
We welcome the Playing Field Association’s aim of redeveloping the pavilion. Any funds we raise this season will be divided between the PFA and cricket club. We are therefore launching the Tipton St John CC 50th Anniversary Appeal with two main fund-raising aims:
- To support the PFA’s pavilion redevelopment fund
- To update and overhaul our increasinglyelderly and unreliable equipment and machinery
How can you support our anniversary appeal?
- Come and play cricket, either as a regular occasional player. We are always on the lookout for new blood!
- Come along and support our matches
- Get an 8-a-side mixed age and gender team together for the community cricket fun day on 25th August. No experience necessary – this is just for fun!
- Consider offering sponsorship, either for a single match, or throughout the season.
- Sponsors are acknowledged on our fixture card and in our match reports and press releases.
Keep in touch with club fixtures, results and match reports, and updates to our anniversary events through our website: https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/tiptonstjohn/ and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057807483472
Tipton Times will carry regular updates on our season and the pavilion redevelopment plans.
Email our Treasurer Phil Wright for details of sponsorship and donations: wright3@blueyonder.co.uk
David Birch, Chairman Tipton St John CC (07929 822940)
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