Sibford Scene Archive

Two years ago, the Ferris Parish Council, to provide a topic for the Annual Parish Meeting, asked Mr Burke from the Planning and Development Office of the District Council~ and Mr Barnes, the District Countryside Officer, to talk on the pros and cons of designating the village as a conservation area.

Mr Burke said the District Council had the right to preserve and enhance areas of special natural, architectural and historic interest by placing a conservation order on the area, and, to his mind, the Sibfords, Burdrop and the valley between formed such an area.

There was a lively discussion at the time, hut the Council did not feel that there was sufficient public support for the project to be put forward. Several areas in the county had been so designated in the last decade, but in many cases conservation area studies had been abandoned at a preliminary stage when it became apparent that there was not a sufficient degree of public support; so, for this reason, the District Council would wish to be assured by the Parish Council that the majority of people in the village actively supported the principle of conservation area status before statutory procedures are started.

From time to time in Council meetings under A.O.B., “what is the Council doing about conservation?” comes up, but before taking further action, the Parish Council would need to be sure that this is a widely held view. There are undoubtedly a few in the Ferris very much in favour, and others who are very much opposed, but for the majority, we really do not know.

The matter will be raised again at the Annual Meeting of the Sibford Ferris Parish on Wednesday 24th April, so if you have any views of any consequence, please let the councillors know about them, and do come along and support them and express them yourself.

John Gilchrist

As a result of the interest shown in the piece which appeared in the “Scene” two or three months ago, a “Sibford History Group” has been formed.

We aim to capture and record something of the flavour of life in our villages in the early part of this century. We plan to talk to (“interview” is too forbidding a word) older members of the community who may have reminiscences of their own or of their relations who lived here, and to locate and make records of any documents, photographs or artefacts which may help to illustrate or confirm what has been discovered from other sources. It is a fairly daunting task, though we hope that it will also prove enjoyable. Our intention is eventually to produce some readable summary of our achievements and to record them in such a way that they will readily be available when anybody wishes to refer to them or to use them as part of some exhibition of Sibford History.

Some of you may feel that, the villages having been even more different in bygone years than they are today, we should be talking of “Sibfords History”. O.K. you’re right, but “Sibford History” is easier to say! We have set ourselves no time limit for completion of the project – we may well find ourselves arguing later whether it can ever be quite complete.

WE NEED YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT!

First we need to have all the help we can get in locating people who might be able to contribute from their own store of knowledge, and we need offers (or suggestions of where we might solicit offers) of documents etc. which we might be allowed to borrow to photograph (or photograph in situ) to add to our records.

If you have any ideas or suggestions PLEASE let us know.

Second, we need more members. We are not necessarily looking for special knowledge or skills, but for enthusiasm for what we see as a worthwhile project.

We are pretty informal and unstructured, with no officials as yet, so if you have any ideas or think you might like to join the Group, or just want to know more, please contact Colin Frith, Barn Close, Burdrop. It would be helpful if you could do this by a brief written note, but if you would really rather telephone, try Swalcliffe 512; you might get a rather inefficient answering machine, in which case be warned that it will only record messages which last for no more than half a minute, so give your name and telephone number before anything else!

We look forward to hearing from you. If you decide to join us you may like to know that our next meeting will be on Monday 11th March, probably at Barn Close, Burdrop.

Colin Frith