So, what's been going on in the village? Well, the answer is, as usual, not a lot. Or is it?

There have been quite a few sizable parties in the village. Some of which the webmaster attended, some which he could not make, and some (must have been good) that he honestly can't remember if he was there or not! But they all went off very well.

The hosepipe ban has taken its toll on pot planting through the village, and many people simply haven't bothered to plant up their pots this year as watering would be too much hassle. There are rumours that certain upstanding members of the community are getting round the hosepipe ban by devious means. But those are only rumours, of course!

Recently Brian and Eileen have been seen back in the village. Most people go on holiday to the Isle of Wight, but Brian and Eileen have turned this habit on its head, by doing it in reverse. The S family could do a lot worse than having such staunch Neighbourhood Watch members house-sitting for them.

Web visits have gone down during July, to an average of 83 people a day visiting our site. This is probably a combination of no new content (thanks to you webmaster being very lazy) and people going away on holiday. The webmaster remembers (vaguely) that last July was down on the previous month too.

The latest Parish Council meeting took place in July, and you can click here to read the minutes. There's lots that may affect you, so do take the time to look at them. For instance, are you a thatcher? Or do you know one? The bus shelter's thatch needs renewing (as does the webmaster's, but that's another matter). Do the village a favour and get a quote into the PC. Amongst other matters was a question about fire hydrants. Now, we all know there are a lot of dogs in the village, but isn't this taking pet-pampering a bit far? Then again, there are also a lot of thatched cottages in the village, and the river is getting drier by the year, so a hydrant or two might not be such a bad idea. It was also noted that trees in the recreation ground had been chopped down. It's a matter of opinion whether this is a crime against the country, silly vandalism, or just kids having fun!

The village has embraced the new waste recycling initiative by our council with gusto. So have the maggots. And the flies. We should all salute the council for taking this into their hands so decisively, but there are a few things they should have thought through more clearly. We are told that they will not collect plastic or cardboard, and that we should take them to tips at Eversleigh or Devizes. Now, those are both lovely places to visit, but has the council thought how much petrol would be consumed if each home in the village was to make that trip specially once a week? The webmaster is no oil sheik, but guesses it would be quite a lot. Not to mention the extra atmospheric pollution that would be unnecessarily generated. And as anyone with kids knows, disposing of food-tainted plastics and cardboard is not easy. Cereal packets, crisp packets, meat wrapping, and so on. All these are difficult to dispose of under the new regime. The Council needs to put pressure on the supermarkets who insist on packaging everything in vast amount of plastic and cardboard.

And the flies. Well, with the recent spate of hot weather caused by global warming, combined with leaving rubbish in the black wheelie bins for 2 weeks (it used to be just one week) has some revolting results. Your webmaster opened his the other day on collection day, to find the inside crawling with thousands of maggots. And this was after wrapping everything very carefully before it was put in there. The Council has no solution for this, and does not even give out black bags any more. Those unfortunate enough to have to store their bins for 2 weeks inside their homes in this weather face a serious health issue. So wake up, Kennet Council, do something fast before you have to spend millions on curing people who have become ill as a result of your new policy.

As a result of the mass sell-off of houses in the village, new faces are appearing all the time, not to mention the black London cab which is now resident here. So, a warm welcome to everyone who is new to the village. 

The red kites are still to be seen circling the village in their leisurely manner. Could be something to do with the pub's landlord feeding them scraps. And there seem to have been more butterflies than normal this year. The webmaster has spotted the following in a garden in the centre of the village: Brimstone, Red Admiral, Peacock, Cabbage White, Comma, Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, and even (just today) a Chalk Blue. Check out www.britishbutterflies.co.uk if you'd like to see them all. Although it takes ages to download, it's a beautiful web site.

Finally, back to that old chestnut, the village fete. Does anyone out there want to be chairman (or woman) for next year? Unconfirmed rumours from a reliable source have it that the chair for the last two years has resigned, as has the treasurer. There are lots of people here in the village who are younger than the outgoing chairman who, in his twilight years has decided to stand down. Any volunteers can email the webmaster who will pass on any message to the outgoing fete chair.

Well, the webmaster, who is also in his twilight years, thinks that's enough for now. There's a risk of RSI developing from all this typing. Email the webmaster if you have any news to report.

They have been responsible for supporting much that goes on in the village, from sitting on the parish council for many years, to their active involvement in many activities in the village.  There are fears that the village hall may fall down because Brian is no longer the maintenance officer, and he did much for keeping the hall together. But Mr F has stepped in and so we hope the village will be spared a derelict building in its centre.  There is also the risk that crime may become a major issue in the village, as Brian was a dedicated Neighbourhood Watch community liaison volunteer.  And of course, meetings in the hall will take on a different character without Eileen's meticulous secretarial skills..

So the Isle of Wight gains two valuable new members for its community, and we lose two. C'est la vie! We wish them well.

The web site stats for March are now with us, and we had a record 112 people a day visiting the web site, with no less than 240 on 31 March alone. Wow! Considering pur population is just over 300, this really is quite remarkable.

As it was Chilton Foliat's rush hour, traffic was backing up in both directions, and there was complete chaos.  Mrs Smith, whose car was one of those wrecked, and the webmaster became human traffic lights, stopping the traffic going one way so that the road could clear.  Without walkie-talkies, it was a bit of a challenge, but we managed it until the fire engines arrived.  The webmaster's other half supplied a much-needed cup of tea to the distraught lorry driver.

Two fire engines and two police cars came quickly, and very soon the centre of the village resembled downtown L.A. .So what had happened?

A low-loader lorry was driving along minding his own business going west, and all of a sudden one of the hydraulic legs shot out on his right side, straight into the parked cars.  Luckily nobody was in the cars at the time, so there were no injuries. But the three cars were write-offs. The poor lorry driver was more shocked than anyone. Peter B, from the village, happened to be driving behind the lorry, and saw everything!

Needless to say, the owners of the cars are not particularly happy, but on the other hand are glad they were not in their cars.  The local garage (Stag Service Station) came down immediately to see if they could help, and got some instant new business. It was a lovely sight to see John from the garage reversing one of the mangled cars (a white van) all the way up the road to the garage.

But it's bad news for the traffic speed in the village. The three cars, who always park there, act as a traffic calming measure that does not cost the Parish Council a penny. In the short term, anyway, they won't be there any more, and Chilton Foliat's rush hour will become even more hairy than it is already.

Don't forget, you read it here first on the Chilton Foliat web site.

Finally, just as everything was being cleared up in the village at about 10.15am, news came via the postman that there was a bad accident up by the Pheasant pub at Shefford Woodlands.  Traffic was being diverted down Stag Hill, adding to the traffic chaos in the middle of the village.What a morning!

Ramsbury, our neighbouring village, suffered a massive burglary on Wednesday night which made the national headlines.  Ramsbury Manor was the victim of a professionally organised job, and £30 million pounds worth of valuables were stolen.

Yesterday saw yet another visit by the local fire engine.  A Range Rover caught fire in the parking area next to the Tanyard, and the firemen were called to deal with it.

And of course, the panto cast have been rehearsing furiously most nights. With the first performance this Saturday, the village is waiting with baited breath to see what the team comes up with.  Should be fun.  And check here for photos after the first performance!

After all that, 2006 is upon us and, amazingly, Chilton Foliat is still in one piece.  

Chilton Foliat, like every community, has experienced its share of births, deaths, weddings and funerals. It has seen sun, a little snow, rain (not enough for the river though), and the frost earlier in 2005 messed up a load of people's gardens, including the webmaster's wisteria. There have been parties and wakes, the pub has changed hands again (and is now a very popular community centre), the village had a the best-attended fete ever (come on, you're biased - Ed.), and the Canada geese more than doubled the village's population almost overnight a few months ago. The youth club did have some ideas to reduce the goose population, but nobody donated the catapults required. The web site is now over a year old, and on average 60-70 people visit it every day.  If you want a more detailed review of the last year's village events, you need look no further than this gossip column.  Read on - because you're probably in it somewhere!

The webmaster would like to wish all the web site's visitors a very happy new year for 2006, and he has even created a web card to say it to you. Click here to see it.