MADAM,

School’s out, and stretching before us are weeks of glorious summer holidays.

The town’s residents and visitors are fortunate to have the green grassy space of Chippenham Mead in which to relax. If I may, I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to the work of Friends of Chippenham Mead. We are an association with an open membership - anyone can join as long as they agree to abide by the constitution: the aim of which is to maintain and improve the village green.

We are a new group relaunching an older idea, and while our primary focus for the moment is on researching a better children’s playground on Chippy, we have the ‘long view’ that a village green needs a friends group that can promote things in its interest such as litter-picking and bench provision. We currently meet every fortnight, all are welcome.

Over the summer we hope to raise our profile and get our message out there more often. However, among our group are many parents, mostly with young children, and so we beg your forgiveness if over the hectic holiday season we are less ‘on the ball’ than we would like to be!

We are slowly but surely making progress, and proving that change is only a popular movement away.

Rachel Jupp,

(Friends of Chippenham Mead)