Suzie Wilde and Noni Needs bring you today’s essential information for Petersfield and its villages.
We include the latest household instructions on bins and recycling and guest Abigail McKern updates us on community projects active in the village of Buriton.
Send information updates or thanks to those who’ve helped you to team@petersfieldradio.uk or call 01730 555 500.
We share information with the Petersfield Coronavirus Resource Hub, the Petersfield Voluntary Care Group and other local agencies.
Information transcript
East Hants District Council continues to empty our bins, but is asking for our assistance, to help keep the hardworking crews safe during the coronavirus pandemic. All crews have been briefed using industry guidance from the Waste Industry Safety and Health on social distancing and, wherever possible, are adhering to these.
But here’s how we can help keep everyone safe and the waste service operating efficiently by:
Putting the right things in the right bin
It’s not enough just to recycle. It’s important to recycle correctly. Items should be clean, dry and loose in your recycling bin. For helpful hints on what you can and can’t recycle visit the EHDC website.
Protective equipment such as overalls and masks should be placed in your general rubbish bin. If you have come into contact with anyone who is ill or self-isolating, your overalls and masks should be double-bagged and only placed in your rubbish bin after 72 hours.
Double bagging personal waste
If you are ill or self-isolating, please double bag any personal waste – for example tissues, cotton buds and anti-bacterial wipes. This waste should be kept separate from the rest of your rubbish and only put in the main bin after 72 hours.
Park sensibly on collection days.
With more people at home the crews are having difficulties getting into and travelling along some roads because of parked cars blocking access. Please make sure there is enough room for the refuse vehicle to pass your car on bin collection day.
Suzie: I know from personal experience that Mill Lane Sheet can be especially bad. And remember, this week your bin collections are a day later than normal; even if you normally have yours collected tomorrow, it WILL be collected on saturday instead …
Washing your hands before and after touching your bin
We should all be washing our hands more often, and especially before and after touching something that other people might touch. By washing your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water before and after handling your wheeled bins you can help keep your family and the crews safe.
Being responsible with your waste
Hampshire County Council’s decision to close the Household Waste Recycling Centres means that you cannot take your unwanted items to the tip, as it’s more commonly known to you and me (dump, if it’s me!). If you find you have items that you no longer want or need please store them at your property until the centres re-open. (I’ve already seen fly-tipping)
If you cannot wait and choose to contact a professional to take your waste away, please ensure you use a registered waste carrier that holds a licence issued by the Environment Agency. If you don’t and your waste ends up fly-tipped it’s you who could end up with a big fine.
Recycling other items
Visiting recycling banks (textile and glass) is considered an unnecessary journey. Please store your items somewhere safe at home and recycle them once the restrictions are lifted.
Reducing and reusing as much as possible
EHDC is aiming to keep collections running normally, for as long as possible, but now is a good time to start trying to reduce how much waste you create and how much you throw away.
Composting
During this period of self-isolation and working from home, many people are finding they have more time to do things they’ve been putting off for years. If you’ve never done it before, why not consider setting up a compost bin – it will help get rid of all your peelings and gardening waste and as a result you’ll make your own compost which can enrich your soil.
The Wisley website has had five times as many hits on compost-making than this time last year. And a previous Morning Report guest, TV gardener Ann-Marie Powell, has tips on all this live every day at 12.30 on Instagram at @myrealgarden.
Community
As stricter distancing measures are introduced in order to help slow the spread of the virus, it is likely some of our Petersfield community will start to feel very isolated indeed.
Let us help each other as best we can to get through this period of anxiety, uncertainty and potential loneliness. Please think about the needs of your neighbours, especially (but not exclusively) the elderly and vulnerable.
Give them a call to see if they are okay, make sure they have food and other essential items. And don’t forget, the Petersfield Coronavirus Help Network is coordinating local support efforts such as shopping and prescription collection. It can be contacted on 01730 779 296.
A new helpline has been launched for frail and vulnerable residents to call if they need help during the coronavirus pandemic. East Hampshire District Council has joined forces with Hampshire County Council, voluntary groups and other districts and boroughs across the county to set up the Coronavirus Hampshire Helpline.
The line can be used by residents who do not have support from families, friends or their local community, and who need urgent assistance with essential food or household supplies, collection of medication, or who are at risk of loneliness.
The number – 0333 370 4000 – will be manned seven days a week, from 9am to 5pm.
Butterflies Bereavement Support has had to take some significant decisions on how to keep working effectively at this time of great need and support. It remains fully committed to the provision of bereavement support services throughout these difficult times, and, for the duration of the crisis, it’s undertaking telephone and Facetime support for anyone who benefits from person-centred support.
Rest assured, all those undertaking these sessions have relevant professional experience.
There is capacity for more counselling and listening sessions as needed and a very small waiting list. Additionally, it has launched a listening service for those who are lonely, with no close family to ensure they are not alone, and has someone who phones for a chat and provides a link with the outside world.
It also has two online support groups – one for generic bereavement and another to support those who are bereaved through suicide. Contact info@butterfliesbereavement.co.uk or call the local branch on 02381 550 066 or 07889 009 393.
The Petersfield-based Kings Arms youth organisation has closed its doors for now, but the team has been frantically developing an alternative way to deliver youth work that supports recommendations from the government and meets the needs of our young people.
To begin with, it has launched a new website, thekingsarms.org.uk, and, each day, will be posting a new blog with activities, videos, inspirational quotes, exercises and more. It can also be found on Instagram.
It still aims to be a resource for young people: it just looks different and it will be constantly developing. If you have any ideas or requests to add to the team’s creative thinking, please email info@thekingsarms.org.uk.
Chloe’s and Sophie’s Special Ears Fund is a small, local charity aiming to ‘Brighten the lives of Deaf children’. It is looking for help from family members of deaf people, British Sign Language students, and parents of deaf children. There are many support groups for getting shopping, picking up prescriptions etc and the team can work with these support groups to enable deliveries to a deaf person. Email karenjackson@cssef.org
Also, it wants to support the NHS by sending out batteries. If your deaf child needs batteries for their hearing aid or cochlear implant during the coronavirus crisis, they will post them directly to your house. For this, please email wishes@cssef.org.
The current restrictions on movement may mean that home-visiting and group work can’t be offered, but Home-Start Butser is working tirelessly to stay connected with families and continues to support families remotely when they can’t visit them in person.
Home-Start Butser volunteers are making regular contact with families, offering a listening ear and practical advice. It is also working alongside partners in the local community to ensure families get vital food, baby goods and other supplies delivered to them during the outbreak. If you are able to make a donation to their appeal, or if you are in need, please visit homestart-butser.org.uk.
Do you enjoy driving? And do you have some free time? Petersfield Voluntary Care Group, based at Winton House, needs drivers under the age of 70 to take patients from Petersfield and Froxfield to their doctors, hospitals, dentists, and opticians, and to shop for the housebound. Expenses are reimbursed. Call 01730 266 046 if you’d like to volunteer.
Staff working in the science labs, design and technology classrooms, and IT at Ditcham Park School have all helped to support the national COVID-19 response.
Boxes of visors, goggles and glasses used by pupils in science and design and technology – and additional bands produced from the school’s 3D printer – have been given to Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Laura Hoad, Head of Science and Alan Richards, Head of Design & Technology gathered and boxed up their classroom stocks ready to be given to clinical teams looking after COVID-19 patients in Chichester and Worthing Hospitals.
Food and drink
The Folly Wine Bar, in College Street, is currently offering what used to be known as ‘off sales’ – it may still be known as that in fact. But the important news is that it has both Doombar and London Pride at a pound a pint for you to enjoy at home or in the garden.
Bring your own containers to fill. To order please send the team a message beforehand, via social media. They are doing everything to abide by government guidelines and there will be minimum contact during collection, which will be from 5-7pm. Check out its Facebook page for further details.
The Five Bells, in Buriton, has reopened after the Easter break and is back to deliver hot food from 5.30pm. It has a wide selection of items, and can make smaller portions on request. Email frances(UNDERSCORE)_vesey@btconnect.com with your choices, name, full address and telephone number to order, or leave a clear message on the answerphone at 01730 263 584. And there’s more from Buriton now …
It’s time for our daily round-up of travel and weather news – and we go over to our specially erected, cardboard-and-string, pandemic-resistant, travel and weather desk with Suzie Wilde.
Travel news
There are overnight roadworks between 8pm and 6am on the A3 each evening until Sunday. The northbound lane between the A272 Petersfield North (Sheet Link) and the junction with the A325 for Bordon will be closed and may cause some disruption.
This coming weekend, the level crossing in Petersfield will be closed overnight so Network Rail can lift out and inspect the crossing panels. Expect the level crossing to be down overnight also on Sunday night and Monday night.
Hampshire County Council says it plans to fix a bollard and slab outside the Hong Kong House takeaway, on Lavant Street, tomorrow. If the work goes ahead there will be traffic control, on Lavant Street, while it is replaced.
A reminder that if an essential rail journey takes you or someone you know through Guildford then Network Rail’s major engineering work isn’t scheduled to finish until Sunday, which will cause substantial disruption to journeys.
Trains were already on a greatly reduced timetable anyway, so definitely worth double checking if you have to travel. And remember, the only travel that’s legitimate right now is for essential shopping, to get medical supplies, or to get to work if you absolutely can’t work from home.
Weather
The Petersphere remains sunny today, until this afternoon, when skies will cloud over. Overnight, it will be frost free and rain will arrive on Friday, we’re not sure when, but you can bank on it.
Say thank you
Do let us know if somebody’s kind gesture has helped you or a loved one. And we can say thank you to them on your behalf. And if you’re a pub, restaurant, takeaway, or glitzy nightclub and you’re currently providing a different sort of service please let us know so we can tell your potential customers.
Get in touch on Petersfield 5 55 500, that’s 01730 5 55 500 or email team@petersfieldradio.uk.
Get involved and get in touch
We’ll be putting your financial questions to our money expert Martin Bamford for Monday’s programme, so if you have any questions about the furlough scheme, what happens with tax, benefits and rates, or any other aspect of keeping your head above water financially, do send them to us at team@petersfieldradio.uk and we’ll put them to Martin on your behalf.
Have you found an unusual way of passing your time during this lockdown? Let us know what you’re up to. You can even send us pictures or videos which we may use on our website.
We’ll be putting your financial questions to our money expert Martin Bamford this week, so if you have any questions about the furlough scheme, what happens with tax, benefits and rates, or any other aspect of keeping your head above water financially, do send them to us at team@petersfieldradio.uk and we’ll put them to Martin on your behalf.
Get in touch on Petersfield 5 55 500, that’s 01730 5 55 500 or email team@petersfieldradio.uk.
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