A lawman with a Gun

A lawman with a gun rode into town today. It was not the first time. In fact he has been making regular visits.

Contrary to the image those words conjure up he was not a US Marshall - and he was armed with a speed gun.

Several times in the last few weeks this lawman has found a discrete position albeit wearing high visibility clothes and proceeds to checks vehicle’s speed as they travel through the village.

He checks 100 vehicles in a session and that can take hours because of the stops. Out of those 100 he expects around 10 to be exceeding the speed limit.

You may well be wondering to yourselves how much attention some of the motorists travelling through the village are paying if they don’t spot an officer dressed in fluorescent yellow, or do but don’t moderate their speed.

If a speeder is detected, depending on how badly they exceed the limit, the driver might be issued a ticket receiving a fine and getting points on their licence, or be required to take speed awareness advice.

It is not just speeders that get stopped. Recently a car and a motor cycle have been seized by the police during these checks because they were uninsured.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Did he get in 100 checks or 0nly 99?".

Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as he has a whole book full of speeding tickets and the fine can just blow your mind you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" - Well, do ya, punk?

Parish Council News Letter - Issue No 24

Farewell to Mike and Margaret
Councillors Margaret Lambert and Mike Hogan gave notice of their intention to resign their seats at the last PC meeting in March. Both said personal and family commitments meant they could no longer afford the time for PC work.

Vice Chairman Alan Buckley thanked them on behalf of the PC for their good work for Stanford Rivers and Toot Hill.

The PC has three vacant positions and anyone seeking a nomination should contact clerk Kay Hayden at: hayden-r1@sky.com or by telephone at: 01277 364764.

District Councillor Says Goodbye
Di Collins, the district council representative for the parish, has been thanked by the PC for all the hard work she has carried out on behalf of the residents of Stanford Rivers.

Mrs Collins, who is standing down from the EFDC later this year, was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Vice Chairman Alan Buckley at the last PC meeting to show appreciation for her service to the locality.

Councillor Collins said everyone should be proud of our achievements, particularly on waste management, where EFDC recycles more than 60% of waste. This is the second highest in the county and sixth highest in the country.

Speed Gun Training
We will be commencing training on the use of the radar gun in the coming weeks and would like to have a larger pool of volunteers to work from.

We plan to operate in teams of three and we would appeal to anyone that is interested to come forward. Applications are welcome from both sexes..

There will not be a fixed rota and there will not be pressure to turn out on a highly regular basis.

Each individual’s commitment will be different according to their circumstances. Contact Alan Buckley for further details.

Jubilee Mugs for Under 16s
We would like to repeat our call for the parents of children under 16-years-old to make contact with Parish Clerk Kay Hayden as we plan to present a commemorative Jubilee mug to all the children of the parish.

We really want to involve the younger people of the parish in the Jubilee commemorations and would kindly ask that parents who wish their child to receive a specially commissioned mug to register their interest with Kay by email or telephone. Her contact details are here.