Household batteries to be collected from next week as part of Wiltshire kerbside recycling service

Wiltshire Council are pleased to confirm that from Monday 5 December, we’ll be able to collect some types of small batteries as part of our kerbside recycling service.

You’ll be able to put small household batteries in clear, sealed sandwich bags on top of your blue lidded bin and they will be collected for recycling. Please do not put batteries out for collection earlier than this date.

The batteries you can put out for collection are D, C, AA, AAA, 9V and button-type batteries, and these will be kept separate from other recyclable materials on board the collection vehicles.

For more information see the Wiltshire Council Website.

Notton House Academy are recruiting Academy Councillors

Notton House Academy are recruiting Academy Councillors.

For more information see the flyer.

Notton House Academy Facilities Available to Hire

Notton House Academy facilities available to hire:
Sports Hall, Astro Pitch, Football Pitch, Fitness suite, Various Classrooms, Outdoor classroom (Forest school).

All facilities available for £25 per hour (30-minute bookings also available).

For more information see our flyer. To make a booking please visit www.Schoolhire.co.uk

Do you want to know more about fraud?

Join the SWROCU Regional Fraud Protect Advisor for a one hour fraud safety webinar at 7pm, 8^th September 2022 covering all aspects of the most common crime in the UK – Suitable for any person seeking an improved awareness and understanding of fraud.

The Regional Fraud Protect Advisor at the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, is offering online fraud safety webinars. These sessions are designed for anyone, who seeks to enhance their knowledge around fraud and be better protected against the most common crime in the UK. They are approximately 1-hour in duration and are interactive (taking Q & A from the audiences at the end).

These sessions have a max capacity of 1000 attendees and are not area specific, so anyone from anywhere may benefit from attendance – so please feel free to make use of this resource within your community areas, they are ideal for the public, professionals or anyone seeking an uplift in fraud awareness.

Link to all events: Regional Fraud Protect Advisor Events | Eventbrite

Are you supporting a young person who is interested in starting their own business or already running one?

We are working in partnership with the South West Enterprise Fund (SWEF) to provide business grants of £2,000 to young entrepreneurs in Wiltshire and Swindon that are aged between 18-30. As part of the programme, SWEF provides the opportunity to join a network of peers who are also in the early stage of starting their business to share ideas, experiences and learn.

To be eligible to apply, you need to be:

• aged 18 to 30
• living in Wiltshire or Swindon
• planning to start your own business within the next 6 months or running your own business which has been trading for no more than 2 years
• without easy access to other sources of finance

Grants can be used towards capital items and running costs such as:

• stock, equipment or materials
• rent or business-related bills

Further guidance on the programme is available here and you can apply online via our website WCF – South West Enterprise Fund Grants

Jubilee Mugs – For Sale

Unique Lacock Platinum Jubilee mugs are now available for sale! Pick up one of these limited edition mugs from the shops around the village.

Reminder – Lacock Parish Council – Annual Parish Meeting

A reminder that the Annual Parish Meeting for Lacock will be held in the Village Hall, East Street, Lacock on Tuesday 17 May 2022 at 7.30pm.

Please CLICK HERE for more details.

Energy Rebate

In February, the Government announced that all households in council tax bands A to D are entitled to a one-off council tax energy rebate payment of £150. You do not have to pay this back.
The quickest way to receive your rebate
If you pay your council tax by direct debit, Wiltshire Council will use your bank details to pay the rebate straight in to your account. You do not need to do anything.
Look out for a letter if you don’t pay your council tax by direct debit
If you are eligible for the energy rebate but do not pay your council tax by direct debit, you will receive a letter through the post inviting you to submit your bank details via the Wiltshire Council website. This will ensure the rebate can be paid into your bank account. You do not need to call us; we will write to you in early May.
If you do not pay council tax
There are some households in Wiltshire that do not pay council tax because they receive a council tax reduction. We will be writing to these households and inviting them to provide their bank details so that the energy rebate can be paid to them.
Properties in council tax bands E – H
The Government has given the council a discretionary fund to help households on low incomes who live in properties in bands E-H. Visit the Wiltshire Council website for further information about the scheme.

Updates on the rebate and discretionary funding will be posted on the Wiltshire Council website at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council-tax-energy-rebate

Lacock Primary School – Co-opted Governor Vacancy

The governing board provides strategic leadership and accountability in schools. The governing board is made up of 11 governors and the school is currently looking to fill a vacancy for a co-opted governor.

There is no requirement for you to have an understanding of the education system, just the necessary skills, character and time to contribute as well as a love of learning and a wish to see this developed in others. There is plenty of training and support available to help you learn about education.

Interested in finding out more? Please have a look at the full details of the governor vacancy.

If you are interested, or would like to find out more, please contact our Chair of Governors Simon Winfield s.winfield@lacock.wilts.sch.uk to have an initial conversation.

Recycling collections to resume from 21 March

Hills Municipal Collections and GMB Union have confirmed they have reached an agreement, which means the waste collection strike has now concluded with immediate effect, and our recycling collections will resume next week.

Our contractor Hills Municipal Collections has confirmed those workers that were on strike will return to work on Friday 18 March. Therefore, our kerbside recycling collections will resume as normal from Monday 21 March.

Please put your blue lidded bins and black boxes out on your scheduled day from Monday 21 March. Due to the recent disruption there may still be slight delays to the collection due to the higher volumes of materials we expect, so if your recycling containers aren’t emptied on your scheduled day please leave them out, and they will be collected as soon as possible.

You will still be able to leave additional recycling that has mounted up during the disruption; please leave any additional recycling materials in non-black bags or containers (such as plastic crates) next to the recycling bins and the crews will collect them.

Household and garden waste collections will continue as normal so please put those bins out on your normal scheduled day. If those are not collected as scheduled they will be collected as soon as possible.

In summary, the key things you need to know:
• Recycling collection services will resume from Monday 21 March
• Please put out your black box and blue lidded bin on your scheduled day from 21 March
• If recycling bins are not emptied on your scheduled day please leave them out, and they will be collected as soon as possible
• Any additional recycling materials stockpiled during the disruption will be collected. Please put those items in non-black bags or containers (such as a plastic crate) next to your recycling bins
• Household and garden waste collections continue as normal so please put those bins out on your normal collection day. There could still be slight delays so please leave your bins out until collected

Recycling collections suspended until 21 March

Due to industrial action, Wiltshire Council have made the difficult decision with Hills Municipal Collections to temporarily suspend recycling services in the county until 21 March, to prioritise household waste and chargeable garden waste collections.

Please continue to put your household waste and garden waste bins out on your scheduled collection day by 7am, and if they’re not collected, leave them out and where possible they will be collected the next day.

For the latest updates on any disruption or changes to waste collection services, please keep an eye on the Wiltshire Council Twitter feed.

If you need to get rid of any excess rubbish or recycling before your next collection date, all household recycling centres remain open.

Nominate Your Village Hero to Light the Jubilee Beacon!

We want to hear who you think should light the Lacock Jubilee Beacon. All residents are invited to nominate someone form the parish who positively contributes to our community.

Please send your nominations with the reason why they should be given the honour of lighting the beacon to stewardpc@btinternet.com Nominations must be received by 15th MAY 2022.

To find out more about the planned celebrations in Lacock please visit our Platinum Jubilee page.

Lacock Spring Clean

It is time to give Lacock a tidy up, and we are looking for volunteers to help with a litter pick around the village. Please come and join us on Saturday 26th March, starting at 10am at The Bell Inn, and help make our village sparkle!

For more information please contact heather.shepherd@lacockparishcouncil.gov.uk

Lacock Cemetery Path Repairs

You may have seen some highways equipment in the village on 23rd February. This was for relaying the footpath in the cemetery on Melksham Road. It has been at least 30 years since the path had any major maintenance so inevitably is was starting to deteriorate. The Parish Council arranged for Thornbury surfacing to relay the path.

Regular maintenance of the cemetery will continue with support from probation services, who carry out grass cutting, hedge trimming and general maintenance on a fortnightly basis.

The Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust

The Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust (WBVT) works in partnership with the Wiltshire Police to provide a home security service and online safety service for over 60s, 18+ with a registered disability and victims of domestic abuse throughout Wiltshire and Swindon. The charity funds the operation of three Bobby vans that provide mobile workshops for Bobby operators to secure homes whilst the team of Stay Safe Online Volunteers offer one to one home visits and community talks on online safety. They have released their latest flyer explaining in more detail the services they offer.

You can also find out more about the Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust, including ways you can help support the charity, on their website.

Grab a jab on the COVID-19 vaccination bus next week

Wiltshire Council are helping to bring the NHS COVID-19 vaccination bus to various sites across the county, including the Wiltshire College campuses on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

The team on the bus will be ready to welcome you for a first or second dose, as well as the all-important booster vaccine.

There is no need to book an appointment and you can just turn up on the day.

The bus will be at the Wiltshire College sites as follows, and many more locations in the coming weeks:
• Wiltshire College, Trowbridge Campus, 10am to 4pm, Monday 14 February
• Wiltshire College, Chippenham Campus, 10am to 4pm, Tuesday 15 February
• Wiltshire College, Lackham Campus, 10am to 4pm, Wednesday 16 February

St Cyriac’s Jubilee Bell Ringing – Sunday 6th February

A band of bell ringers from Lacock and Corsham will be ringing a Quarter Peak at St. Cyriac’s on Sunday afternoon  from 3pm to mark the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen’s accession to the throne. The ringing will comprise 1,260 changes of Stedman Doubles and is expected to take around 50 minutes.

To find out more about Lacock’s Jubilee celebrations please have a look at our new Jubilee page.

Changes to General Household Waste Collections

From 28 February 2022, the residual ‘general waste’ collection days will change for most Wiltshire residents. Kerbside recycling and garden waste collection dates will not change.

During February letters will be sent to residents, and hangers will be left on bins detailing the changes, so please keep an eye out for these.

Discover your history with the launch of updated Wiltshire Community History website

The Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre has launched an updated, more intuitive version of its Wiltshire Community History website. With a more modern feel, the site gives users the opportunity to gain a greater understanding and connection to the place where they or their ancestors lived.

More information about the update is available at the Wiltshire Council website.

Anyone interested in carrying out their own research can visit the new website at https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory

For further information or advice please contact the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre at archives@wiltshire.gov.uk

Affordable Homes, Rowden Brook, Chippenham

Are you looking for Low-Cost Home Ownership?

Brand new 2 Bedroom Shared Ownership Houses now available to move into at the Rowden Brook development, Chippenham. Built by Redcliffe Homes to a high quality, specification and energy efficiency, with allocated car parking and enclosed gardens, available to purchase with as little as a 25% Open Market Value Share.

Please contact AndrewM.Mead@Wiltshire.gov.uk , or 01225 716672 for further details.

Lacock Village Christmas Tree 2021

This year the village tree has been kindly donated and erected by Lackham College, decorated by the children from Lacock School and Wise Owls Nursery, and lit by The Red Lion – a great community effort

Thank you to all involved!

Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022

Would you like to be involved in organising the Lacock Parish celebrations to mark next year’s Platinum Jubilee?

This will be a great time to share in and celebrate this significant milestone as a community, and fun to take part in the planning.

If you would like to be involved in this project please contact Lana Steward, Clerk to the Parish Council, stewardpc@btinternet.com