Council leaders have given Gloucestershire residents a choice over county council tax rises next year, presenting three clear options for public consultation.

The unprecedented move comes as Gloucestershire faces tough budget challenges following the summer floods, with costs spiralling to around £35 million.

Cabinet today (18th December 2007) agreed to consult residents on three possible council tax options, which includes an increase to help pay for more drain clearance work to help protect against future flash flooding.

Councillor Barry Dare, Leader of Gloucestersh

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. Reproduced with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Celia Hargreaves enthralled the Mickleton Society at the November meeting when she described her experiences in the Sahara Marathon in 1996.

Celia first became interested in marathons in 1980, competing in the London marathon in 1981. Her interest in the Sahara marathon stemmed from an article in the Financial Times and the fact that a British woman had never competed in this. Celia changed that and entered.

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. Reproduced with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Report by D J Atkinson

Preamble

Chipping Campden is peculiarly susceptible to flooding when prolonged heavy rain or sudden thaws occur in an already sodden catchment area. To a large extent this is due to the size and peculiar character of the catchment area, most of which drains into the river upstream of the Care Home and Guild site and Sheep Street It is also due to the confinement of The Cam's channel and choke points through the town.

In the recent past, serious floods occurred in the wake of long periods of bad weather affecting the region usually in winter, 1947 and others, but also in July 1968. Park Road has suffered from lesser floods periodically, especially in the 50s and 60s, the last in spring 1993. Obviously drainage has become a much more concerning problem for the town over the last century and particularly over the last 50 years with much new building (spreading and infilling), property improvement, the raising of road levels and much more hard standing. The situation has also worsened due to changes in land use, farming methods and land drainage in the area.

(From the noticeboard section of the Chipping Campden Bulletin. Reproduced with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Readers will be aware that Court Barn in Church Street has been renovated by the Guild of Handicraft Trust and has been transformed whilst still retaining its present external appearance. It is the site of an exhibition, meeting room and study centre celebrating the craftsmen who have lived in Campden and surrounding towns and villages since the beginning of the last century. There will be exhibits devoted to C R Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft, to FL.Griggs, Alec Miller, Paul Woodroffe, the Harts and Robert Welch; and to others, like Gordon Russell and Katharine Adams from Broadway and the potters Michael Cardew and Ray Finch from Winchcombe.

This article, however, is about the barn itself. It stands on the edge of the grounds of Old Campden House and was built about 300 years ago. How ever did it come to intrude into the gardens of that magnificent house? After Sir Baptist Hicks's new manor house was burned to the ground in 1645, its grounds and gardens and yards were gradually turned over to agricultural use. There is a deed dated 1691 by which the Hon. Susanna Noel, the mother of the six year old 3rd Earl of Gainsborough, leased it to Mary Rutter, a widow.