newsletter@higherkinnerton.org.

uk March 2019

OURVILLAGE
Higher Kinnerton Cricket Club Kinnerton Walking Group
It’s only March but HKCC is already planning for the coming On 24th January we were very pleased to have had
season. We will be playing in the Chester Midweek a presentation by Lorna Jenner who is the author

Your Monthly Higher Kinnerton Community Newsletter

Twenty20 League in Division 5.
Our home games will again be played at Dodleston on a
Tuesday evening and our away fixtures are normally on
Wednesdays. We will be out practicing in the nets in early
April and anyone wishing to join the club will be made very
welcome.
We are trying very hard to keep the team consisting of
players from the village so anyone new to the village this is
your opportunity to join in.
Any umpires or scorers or spectators or any capacity just
ring Jim on 660548, Terry on 661661 or Mike on 660974 or
ask in The Swan.
Higher Kinnerton Indoor Bowls
Indoor Bowls will finish for the season on Wednesday 27th
March 2019 and there will be a recess over the summer
months.
Bowling will recommence in September with the new
2019/2020 season.
In the meantime if you would like further information on
Indoor Bowls as played in Higher Kinnerton please contact
Mel on (01244 660784)
of the Official Guide to the Wales Coastal Path.
Wales is the largest country in the world with a
continuous coastal path (870 miles). The lecture
though was limited to the Flintshire section which
is from Saltney to Talacre and she regaled stories
about the ship building in Connah’s Quay, Flint
Castle and the history of the River Dee before
Liverpool existed and many other stories from
saving the Victorian main office building at John
Summers to the TSS Duke of Lancaster (fun ship).
We were also treated to some sea shanties with Welcome to the March edition of Our Village Newsletter. We hope you are enjoying the new format with more
photo slideshows and then the obligatory tea and local news and pictures.
cake.
On the 7th February we went to Alyn Waters for a Our focus this month is on “get active for spring”. Some of us will have spent the last few months wrapped up
4.3 mile walk through the country park on a lovely warm and not doing an awful lot, so we have included in this month’s edition four walks by the village walking
afternoon, it was special to see the River Alyn in group which we hope you may enjoy around our lovely village. Each walk is approximately 3 or 4 miles of easy
full flow following the heavy rainfall before walking so ideal for the early part of the year. We hope to publish more walks for you as the year progresses.
invading the cafe.
In March we will be walking a circular route around The Community Council is delighted to report that we have secured a grant to employ a fitness trainer who will be
Caergwrle from Honey’s Cafe/Bakery which is running keep fit sessions on the outdoor gym equipment on the MRRG. The training is in response to residents
situated on the bank of the River Alyn behind the who told us they would like to use the equipment as part of a group but needed a bit of help and encouragement
Bridge Inn. to get started.

Castell Alun Bowls Club Anyone wishing to join us will be made very
welcome, just call Rosalind on 660440, Geoff on We will start running sessions starting on May 19th so watch out for more news in the newsletter and on the
Castell Alun Bowls Club would welcome new members, 661090 or Mike on 660974 village website and Facebook page on how to register.
whether bowlers or not. Here you can see the group photo from the trip
The green opens at the end of March and subs are £25.00 a round Alyn Waters
year.
For further information please contact Norma Humphreys Village Day 2019
on 01244 660447.
This year’s village day event will be on Saturday 22nd June. We are hoping to build on the success of the 2018
event and see even more of you coming along to enjoy yourselves with friends and family.
Last year’s Village Day raised £1,000 which was donated to Cancer Research. This year we will be raising money to
contribute towards buying a defibrillator to be placed outside the Village Hall. This is in addition to the
defibrillator Ysgol Derwen have funded to be installed outside the school.

This year sees the return of the popular Scarecrow Competition running from June 14th to July 20th. So put your
thinking caps on and put the dates in your calendar and watch out for more news in the coming months.

PCSO Peter Jones 07989 169127 Flintshire Street Scene 01352 701234

Cllr Mike Allport 01244 660796 Kinnerton Village Hall 07563 159012

Flintshire County Council 01352 701234 Castell Alun School 01978 760238

Ysgol Derwen School 01244 660291 HK Community Council 01244 660277

A Note from the Newsletter Team:

Entries to the newsletter can be made by emailing us at newsletter@higherkinnerton.org.uk or by submitting in person at 3 Main Road, by the 18th of the month. The
newsletter is produced by Higher Kinnerton Community Council (HKCC) on behalf of the community. HKCC reserves the right to amend submissions to ensure best fit. All content
provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and HKCC makes no representations as to the accuracy of any information contained herein.
Walks in and around Higher Kinnerton
Walk 1 : Approx 4.1 Miles
From the Village Hall walk down Bennett’s Lane to
the crossroad and turn left onto Sandy Lane.
Continue down Sandy Lane and at the end turn
Right onto Main Road.
(take care on this next section as there is no foot-
path on Main Road)
Walk down Main Road in the direction of Lower
Kinnerton and turn Right into Moor Lane.
Follow Moor Lane all the way back to The Green in
Higher Kinnerton.
Turn Right then left and follow the road back to
the village hall.
Walk 2 : Approx 3.4 Miles
From the Village Hall, walk down Bennett’s Lane
and turn right onto the Old Railway Line bridle-
path.
Walk up the bridlepath to the bridge at the top of
Main Road.
Turn left onto Main Road and continue up the road
to Bramley Lane on your right. (take care on this
section as there is no footpath)
Follow Bramley Lane to the junction with Kinner-
ton Lane and turn right down to the Royal Oak.
Turn right onto Main Road and back to the village
hall.
Walks in and around Higher Kinnerton
Walk 3 : Approx 4.3 Miles
From the Village Hall turn left down Bennett’s Lane and
join the Old Railway Line bridle path on your right.
Continue up the bridle path to the junction with Main
Road and turn left.
Go over the bridge, and opposite The Beeches house,
cross the stile onto fields and follow the public footpath
down to Sandy Lane Farm and Sandy Lane.
Turn right onto Sandy Lane and follow the road past
Frazer Turf and Snips Pawfect dog grooming on your
right. Go past Grange Farm on your left and after a
short distance you come to a turning on your left hand
side. Take this road.
Continue along the road until you come to the bridle-
way sign on your left. Take the turning down an un-
made road. Go past Talwyn Cottage set back from the
road on your right and shortly the bridle path bends to
the left. Follow the bridle path, past a sign that says no
access but ignore this as the public right of way. The
path continues through the electric gate at Talwyn
Lodge Farm. Walk across the front of the house and re-
join the bridle path past the farm out buildings. After a
while the bridal path turns sharp right and down past
Hafod Farm onto Stringers Lane.
Turn left, passing Moor Lane on your RHS then turn left
onto Green Lane and back to the village hall.
Walk 4 : Approx 3.6 Miles
From the Village Hall, walk down Bennett’s Lane and go
up the Old Railway Line bridle path on your right.
Walk to the end of the bridlepath and up to Main Road.
Turn left over the bridge and follow Main Road until you
come to the bridle path on your left.
Turn left down the bridlepath, past Oak Cottage on your
right and shortly after the bridlepath turns at right angles
away from the brook.
Continue along the bridle path to the end. Go straight
ahead and join Lower Mountain Road.
Turn left, then at the cross roads, turn left again into
Kinnerton Craft Group
Kinnerton craft group meet on the first and third Friday
of each month in Kinnerton village hall blue room at
1:30 pm. Everyone is welcome.
Bring along any craft project to work on or try a new craft
with our group, we also share tips and ideas.
Entry is £1 includes a drink and biscuit.
On the 1st March we are making embroidered broaches
and on the 15th March we are doing Easter crafts.
For more information call Margie 661090 or June
660615 .
Photograph shows members painting salt dough.
Women’s Institute
Upcoming Meetings:
7th March. Pauline Holbrook - special treatment for
children with movement difficulty.
4th April - Jane Moore - the History of the National
Garden Scheme & NE Wales.
6th April - Walk
Februarys Meeting was a very interesting talk & video by
our President Marion about her recent trip to Patagonia
and the history of the Welsh settlers.
Newsletter Delivery Volunteer
There are about half a dozen properties occupied
on Kinnerton Meadows at the moment but there
will eventually be 56.
We are looking for a willing volunteer who can take
on delivering the monthly newsletter to the new
development.
If you have some time to spare and would like to
take on the task, please contact
gareth@higherkinnerton.org.uk
Keep Kinnerton Tidy Campaign
This year we are joining the Spring Clean Cymru
Campaign and hosting our own event on March 24th
starting at 10.00am meeting at the Village Hall.
Why is it important? Spring Clean Cymru is part of the
Great British Spring Clean. In 2018, 371,556 Litter
Heroes joined forces – despite the Beast from the East
– to collect litter at 13,500 events across the UK.
In 2019, the goal is to make spring clean bigger and
better than ever! So, join our Spring Clean Cymru as
we band together and declare that litter is not
acceptable in our village.
We will be collecting litter, weighing it and recycling as
much of the litter as possible. The volunteer group will
be out and about sprucing
up various areas in the
village.
So, come and join us and
make many hands light
work. You don’t need to
bring anything just
yourself and a smile.
School Parking
As reported in an earlier edition of the Newsletter, Community Council representatives along with the head of
Ysgol Derwen School, Flintshire highways engineers and a representative of the Police met to discuss the
continuing problem of parking outside the school.
On the morning of the meeting, maybe because of the presence of the police and people in high visibility jackets,
most people were parking responsibly – apart from one parent who thought it ok to stop on the pedestrian
crossing to let her child out to cross the road into school! The meeting was not about how to penalise parents but
to raise awareness of the dangers to children and motorists by inappropriate, and in some cases, dangerous
parking.
The Head Teacher reported that in his time at the school there had been two minor incidents involving cars and
children and everyone was keen to avoid further and potentially more serious incidents happening.
The areas identified as needing action were:
• How to alleviate the bottleneck around the junction of Llys Derwen
• How to stop vehicles parking on the footway and causing a potential hazard to children and passing
motorists
• How to make the footpath wider for parents who park on The Royal Oak car park and walk up to school.
Highways engineers will look at the road markings opposite the junction with Llys Derwen to alleviate the
bottleneck and stop it continuing to be a blind spot. It was also confirmed that the Scout Headquarters car park is
not suitable for school parking due to safety issues within the site as well safety issues on entering and exiting the
area through a single gateway. Community Council members also informed the meeting that due to restrictions
within the Scouts lease, parking there could not be considered. The Community Council is investigating putting
planters on the wide parts of the footpath close to school entrance to prevent vehicles parking on the path and
blocking visibility of drivers passing the school. Over the years, the hedge leading from the Royal Oak has become
wider and it was agreed to investigate if the hedge width could be reduced and make the footpath wide enough
for a parent and pram to walk safely. Traffic enforcement officers, as well as our PCSO, will continue to provide
unannounced visits at school start and closing times. It is accepted however, that on occasions, a parent may
quickly stop on the double yellow lines to let a child out into school and then leave. What isn’t acceptable is for
children to be dropped off inside the zig zag markings, stopping for a prolonged period on double yellow lines,
parking on the pavement or double parking within the layby. Parents and residents are asked therefore that if they
witness any of this type of incident could they can take a photo and send it to contact@higherkinnerton.org.uk
which can be found on the Higher Kinnerton website. The photos will be sent to our PCSO and if REGULAR, REPEAT
offenders are identified they will be contacted and spoken to by the police. We are not encouraging a campaign to
victimise busy parents or getting involved in a confrontation outside the school gate. We do want to help make the
area outside our school a safer place.
The Community Council is doing what it can but at the end of the day it is down to parents and guardians to act
responsibly and decide if their action is acceptable outside a busy school. We are aware that not all parents live
within the village and may not read this article or be aware of the concern the community shares on this subject,
so we will publish the article in full on our Community Facebook page as well as on the Higher Kinnerton website.
We would also appreciate parents sharing the article as widely as possible.
Volunteer Group Meeting
We will be holding our first meeting for the group in the Village Hall Blue Room on Saturday March 9th starting at
10.00am and agree which jobs the group will tackle including the “Keep Kinnerton Tidy” campaign.
If you weren’t able to get to the launch meeting in January but still want to be involved then you are more than
welcome to come and join us.
The Plight of Biodiversity All Saints Together
We are pretty much all aware that nature needs our help. News articles, TV programme, advertising campaigns
from organisations like the RSPB and Friends of the Earth are regularly reminding us wildlife is plummeting. The Thank you to all those attended the Christingle
World Wildlife Fund reported in October 2018 that the findings of their Living Planet report showed that global service, it was great to see so many in the church
wildlife populations fell by a staggering 60% since 1970. This is a global problem and one Governments and corpo- and having lots of fun. It was especially nice that
rations have to take responsibility for but we can also do our bit by understanding the cause of the problems and the Rainbows and their families joined us. #
doing what we can to make a difference. Also as we celebrated an early ‘Pancake Day’ in
preparation for Lent.
Albert Einstein predicted that humans would only be able to survive for 3 years without bees and I’d rather not live Our next meeting is on 17th March when we will
in a world where we got to see if he was right or not. Bee’s are under severe threat from disease pesticides and be thinking about mums and other women who
loss of habitat. Wildflower meadows in the UK have decreased by 97% in the last 70 years. Out of town shopping are important in our lives, and we prepare for our
parks, housing and farming practices have all contributed to this but thankfully we have become aware of the Mothering Sunday service on 31st March at
problem and hopefully it’s not too late. 10.00am.

Climate change is also affecting Biodiversity, changing weather patterns affect habitats and food chains, for exam-
ple have you noticed some cherry trees blossoming as early as January or even December? This means that when
the Queen bee wakes up in the spring then lays her eggs, when the new worker bees appear one of their early
food sources, the blossom has already been and gone.

Neat and tidy and low maintenance has become the homeowners mantra, so where once we had hedges we now
have concrete posts with wooden panels meaning the vital habitat of our beloved hedgehogs has declined severe-
ly. Our use of pesticides has seen a drop in insects, a food source for bats.

The list goes on and on and can get quiet depressing but the good news is there are lots of little things we can all
do as a community to ensure Higher Kinnerton stays Biodiversity Healthy. We can create new habitats, plant the
right kind of flowers and shrubs in our gardens or install support systems such as bat boxes and hedgehog homes.
LENT
Over the coming months we will share with you some of the information and ideas featuring a different topic to You are invited to join us for our LENT LUNCH on
show you ways you can help. In the meantime, take a look at the RSPB website and look up their give nature a Wednesday 13th March, 12.00-1.30pm.
home section, it’s full of ideas and inspiration. Homemade soup, sandwiches, shortbread, tea/
www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/ coffee for only £4!
This LENT don’t give-up something, just GIVE,
donations for FLINTSHIRE FOODBANK will be
gratefully received at ALL SAINTS CHURCH or 63,
MAIN ROAD. Thank you.

ALL SAINTS CHURCH DIARY OF EVENTS

3rd March at 9.30am – Morning Worship
6th March at 7.00pm – Ash Wednesday –
Communion Service
10th March at 9.30am – Holy Communion
13th March, 12.00-1.30pm - Lent Lunch
17th March at 9.30am – Holy Communion
17th March at 4.00pm – All Saints Together -
‘Mum’s the Word’
20th March, 10.30am-12.00noon –Coffee Morning
24th March at 9.30am – Holy Communion
31st March at 10.00am – Mothering Sunday Family
Worship

Everyone is welcome to join us at these events.