Bomere Heath Village

Shropshire, England

TIME LINE 1990 - 2008

Date	Event
1990 May 15th	The New Venture Club host the Shropshire Association of Women’s Clubs Drama Festival at the Village Hall.
1990 May 18th & 19th	The Village Players presented ‘The Haunted through lounge and recessed dining nook at Farndale Castle’ at the Village Hall. [Source: Parish Magazine May 1990]
1990 Jun 11th	B.B.C. Radio Shropshire’s Gardeners’ Question Time recorded at Bomere Heath C. of E. Primary School Hall. [Source: Parish Magazine Jun 1990]
1990 July 8th	Open Day at Leaton Knolls Forest - with many more attractions than last year. [Source: Parish Magazine Jul 1990]
1990 Dec 7th & 8th	The Village Players present the pantomime ‘Dick Whittington and Wondercat’ at the Village Hall. [Source: Parish Magazine Nov 1990]
1991	The hand (water) pump which was erected at Dunnsheath in 1862 was given a tidy up with all the foliage being removed from the front so that it was clearly visible. See Photo taken 1991 Some slight damage to the right hand end of the stone work was repaired later in the year.
1991 Apr 21st Sun	Census (Not available for public viewing until 2092)
1991 before Jul	Chip Shop in small building removed from Red Lion Pub car park.
1991 Jul-Sep	Extension built on south end of Sefton Stores.
1991 Aug 6th	At 1.37pm on this day the Internet or World Wide Web (www) was invented by Tim Berners-Lee but it would be December 2003 before high speed broadband would reach Bomere Heath.
1991 Oct 7th	Leaton Church Harvest Supper held at Bomere Heath Village Hall at 7.30pm. Tickets were £5.00 each.
1991 Oct 8th	B.B.C. Radio Shropshire’s Gardeners’ Question Time recorded at Bomere Heath C. of E. Primary School Hall. [Source: Parish Magazine Oct 1991]
1992 Spring	Gas mains laid in the village.
1992 July	This issue of the Parish News includes a List of Village Organisations and Contacts.
1992 Autumn	New Roof put on Village Hall.
1992 Oct 17th & 18th	The Ladies Fellowship celebrated their twenty-fifth Anniversary with a Dinner.
1992 Nov 5th	The Cricket Club held a Bonfire and Firework display on the Cricket Field.
1993 Jan 16th	The institution of the Reverend Peter Goldthorpe is held at Leaton Church.
1993 Jan 28th	The Gardening Club hosted the recording of BBC Radio Shropshire’s Gardeners Question Time in the Village Hall at 7.15pm
1993 Feb 4th, 5th & 6th	The Village Players presented Jack and the Beanstalk in the Village Hall.
1993 Apr	The Parish News included an additional double sided sheet describing Merrington Green including some of its history. This had been prepared by Shropshire Wildlife Trust.
1993 June	The Parish News reports that Daffodils and trees had been planted in the village.
1993 July	This issue of the Parish News includes a List of Village Organisations and Contacts.
1993 July 21st	Mr Malpass retired after being Headmaster of Bomere Heath C of E Primary School for 26 ½ years.
1993 Summer	New digital Telephone Exchange brought into use serving the Bomere Heath exchange area. Existing six figure telephone numbers will remain the same and the national dialling code remained as 0939. [Source - letter from BT dated 11 August 1992]
1993 Summer	Mal Billingham (Mal-the-Post) retired after thirty two years delivering the post to Bomere Heath and surrounding villages. He was a real ‘character’ and very popular with everyone who knew him.
1993 Sept	Mr Martyn Vincent became Headmaster of Bomere Heath C of E Primary School.
1993 Sept 10th-12th	A Festival of Village Life at Holy Trinity Church, Leaton - many exhibits from local people, clubs and businesses are exhibited in the church.
1993 Nov 5th	The Cricket Club held a Bonfire and Firework display on the Cricket Field.
1993 Dec 3rd	The Village Players presented “Reading between the Lines” an entertaining evening of murder, mystery, mayhem and madness in the Village Hall.
1994 Jan 26th, 28th & 29th	The Village Players presented “Aladdin” in the Village Hall.
1994 April	This issue of the Parish News informed readers that Sue Hulme had taken over as Tawny Owl with the Bomere Heath Brownies which she continued until 2005.
1994 May 24th	The 1st Bomere Heath Scouts celebrated their Diamond Jubilee with an illustrated talk in the Village Hall.
1994 June 5th	A Forest Fayre was held on the Leaton Knolls estate.
1994 July	This issue of the Parish News includes a List of Village Organisations and Contacts.
1994 Sept 3rd	A party was held on this date to celebrate 25 years of the Playschool in the village.
1994 Sept 10th Sat	Gardening Club 1st Annual Show at the Village Hall.
1994 Nov 5th	The Cricket Club held a Bonfire and Firework display on the Cricket Field.
1994 Nov 18th & 19th	The Village Players presented “Deathtrap” a hit of Ingenious murder and deceit.
1994 Dec 2nd Friday	The Butchers Shop in Shrewsbury Road closed for business for the last time.
1995 Jan 25th & 28th	The Village Players presented Cinderella at the Village Hall.
1995	Building started of the Cornfield Close estate.
1995	The children’s Play Area which had been at the Shrewsbury Road end of the Cricket Field since the early 1970's had deteriorated so much that it was removed.
1995	The Grange Farm (just outside the village) changed hands.
1995 April	Water mains in village re-lined.
1995 Apr-Jul	Telephone dialling code for Bomere Heath exchange changes from 0939 to 01939.
1995 May	This issue of the Parish News includes a List of Village Organisations and Contacts.
1995 June 11th	A Forest Fayre was held on the Leaton Knolls estate.
1995 Sept	Bomere Heath C of E Primary School had 78 pupils at the start of the new school year, a few more than last year.
1995 Sept 9th	Gardening Club 2nd Annual Show at the Village Hall.
1995 Sept 30th	New Chip Shop opened on Shrewsbury Road in former butchers shop.
1995 Nov 5th	The Cricket Club held a Bonfire and Firework display on the Cricket Field.
1996 Feb 1st, 2nd & 3rd	The Village Players presented the panto Babes in the Wood in the Village Hall.
1996 June 9th	Leaton Forest Fayre - Country Games, Shire Horse, Woodland Walks, Nature Trail, Timber Sawing, Woodturning, Country Crafts, Model Railways, Pony Rides, Tombola, Light Refreshments & Home Made Cakes.
1996 July	This issue of the Parish News includes a List of Village Organisations and Contacts.
1996	Cornfield Close estate completed.
1996 Aug	Extract from The Independent Sport Wednesday 21 August 1996, “Martin Coales, chairman of Bomere Heath Cricket Club, in Shropshire, talks of “money beyond our wildest dreams” to describe the GBP 50,865 and GBP 28,500 that have come to the club from the Sports Council and the Foundation for Sport and the Arts respectively. A new pavilion (replacing a wooden Nissen hut) and new ground facilities that together have cost GBP 130,000 will be officially opened at the start of the next season.”
1996 Aug 29th	A Public Meeting was held in the Village Hall regarding the Local Area Plan which included several proposed developments.
1996 Sep 7th	Gardening Club 3rd Annual Show in the Village Hall.
1996 Nov 5th	The annual Bonfire and Firework Display provided by the Cricket Club was not held this year because of the Club’s move to the new Cricket Ground.
1997 April	This issue of the Parish News (pages 3 and 4) carries a tribute to Gwynedd Margaret LLOYD 1897-1997 formerly of Leaton Knolls.
1997 June	This issue of the Parish News included a loose leaf ‘Stop Press’ notice, “And the Good News - It gives me great pleasure to announce that Bomere Heath Village Hall has been offered £87,390 by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of England towards enlargement and improvement of the facilities offered by the Village Hall.” Signed Harold Cooke.
1997 June 8th	Leaton Forest Fayre 1pm to 5pm.
1997 June 29th	Official opening of new Cricket field near Leaton crossing.
1997 Sept 6th	Gardening Club 4th Annual Show.
1997 Oct	This issue of the Parish News includes a List of Village Organisations and Contacts.
1997 Oct	Mission Church and Wale Room completely renovated and completion announced in this issue of the Parish News.
1997 Oct 11th	Open Day on the Leaton Knolls Estate - New Ways of Managing the Countryside.
1998 Jan 30th, 31st & Feb 1st	The Village Players presented Sleeping Beauty in the Village Hall
1990's	The New Venture Club is renamed Bomere Heath Ladies Club.
1998	Red Room and Storeroom extensions built on Village Hall.
2000	The village consists of about 502 houses.
2000 July 21st-23rd	Millennium Celebration of Village Life at Holy Trinity Church, Leaton.
2000 Oct	The Cub Pack ceased to function.
2000 Nov 5	During the 24 hours of 4th - 5th November 2000 35.8mm (1.4 inches) of rain were recorded at nearby Preston Montford. This was the highest recorded daily rainfall since they started keeping records at the site.
2001 Apr 29th Sun	Census (Not available for public viewing until 2102)
2002 May	Photograph of Leaton Railway Station. (Source: Shrewsbury to Chester by Mitchell and Smith Pub: Middleton Press 2010 ISBN 978 1 906008 70 3)
2002 Nov	Theft of sundial from St Martin’s Churchyard, Preston Gubbals. The sundial (which stood on a sandstone pedestal on the east side of the path from the churchyard gate to the church door) was stolen after being there for 364 years. [ See original entry 1638] Fortunately two members of The British Sundial Society had seen the sundial in 1996 and May 2000 and taken full descriptions and photographs. Just by chance the member who had seen it in 2000 was visiting a Scientific Instruments Fair in London in October 2006 and recognized the Preston Gubbals sundial being offered for sale. The sundial was bought and sold once or twice more before it was eventually traced to an auctioneer back in Shropshire where it was recovered with the help of the police in November 2007. The sundial has since been kept in safe storage by The Churches Conservation Trust until a decision can be made for its long term future.
2002	Scout Hut off Whitehouse Lane demolished and site cleared.
2003	New House Farm, Merrington Road - demolished.
2003	The tennis courts next to the Village Hall were re-surfaced with green Tarmac.
2003 July 16th	The Harlescott to Bomere Heath road was closed for a time whilst firefighters tackled a blaze in a barn at Woolascott Farm. Fifty firefighters spent two hours trying to control the fire which started shortly after mid-night.
2003 July 18th	Afer ten years as Head Teacher at Bomere Heath C of E Primary School Mr Martyn Vincent left today to move to another appointment. The new Head Teacher starting in September will be Rose Canham.
2003 Dec 3rd	British Telecom announce that high speed Broadband Internet access will be available in Bomere Heath from this date.
2004 Apr	A document about possible new railway stations to improve local access to the rail network includes a reference to Bomere Heath. See http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk /NR/rdonlyres/59C99DD6-96E8-41A8-80DC-D7A4EBF9BC0E/0/wmrus_appendix_final.pdf
2004	Building starts on new estate of mixed houses on former New House Farm site, Merrington Road.
2005 Spring	Merrington Carp Fishery received it's first stocking of "Welly Carp".
2005 May 9th	Ground work started for the new housing estate on the ‘Pool Meadow’.
2005 May - June	Residents start moving into the new houses on the site of the former New House Farm, Merrington Road. This road is now named Percy Thrower Avenue in memory of the famous local gardener who lived at Merrington during the last years of his life.
2005 May 22nd	The Licensee of the Red Lion Pub changed.
2005 May	The 50th wedding was celebrated in the Methodist Chapel, Baschurch Road - the first was on 27th Sept 1904. [Source: Bomere Heath and District Parish News March 2006]
2005 June	The grass has been cut on the new Football field on Shrewsbury Road adjacent to the Cricket Club ready for the forthcoming season.
2005 August	The main talking point in the village for a large part of the month was the noise and vibration from the driving of large concrete piles on the new building site at Pool Meadow between Windsor Lane and Preston Gubbals Road. There appear to be several of these for each house and they are driven down until they reach firm ground. Many people experienced items rattling in their houses while this was going on. It didn’t stop until the end of the month.
2005 August	The goal posts were erected on the new football field over the August bank holiday weekend.
2005 Sep 4th Sun	At 10am the Football Club played their first home match on their new football field in Shrewsbury Road. On the same afternoon about thirty people from the village met in the Village Hall for a birthday tea to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Village Hall. A special guest was a lady from Myddle, who as a child in 1930, had presented a bouquet of flowers to Mrs Bibby who had officially opened the Village Hall all those years ago. The youngest guest in 2005 was my granddaughter who was just four weeks old.
2006 May	The Bomere Heath Cricket Club had their own web site but this was discontinued in 2009.
2006 May	A pedestrian foot bridge was installed over the re-aligned stream at the northern end of the Pool Meadow building site by the Preston Gubbals Road so that pedestrians could cross the stream into the site and then follow the road to the other end into Windsor Lane.
2006 May-June	The Leaton Level Crossing was closed from 30th May until 11th June 2006 whilst repairs and improvements were carried out to the approach road leading from the Harlescott to Bomere Heath road near the Cricket Club. This resulted in an enormous increase of traffic through the village during this period.
2006 June 11th	On this Sunday there is another chance to enjoy a walk in the countryside at the Leaton Forest Open Day by kind permission of the Hon Charles Bridgeman. It starts at 2.30pm from Leaton Sawmill with admission costing £4 (£10 family) including refreshments and is organised by Leaton & Mission Churches.
2006 July 16th	This Sunday afternoon, in extremely hot sunshine, a village garden walk had been arranged by Leaton Parochial Church Council. Ten gardens actually in the village of Bomere Heath were open to visitors, plus one at Old Woods and two at Walford Heath. All proceeds in aid of charity.
2006 Autumn	A footbridge was installed over the stream at the northern end of the Pool Meadow building site to allow pedestrian access from the Preston Gubbals Road to the unfinished road through the site.
2007 January	The Parish Council employed someone to lay the hedge between the children’s playground in Preston Gubbals Road and the new housing estate on the Pool Meadow.
2007 February	A web site of Ballads for Bomere Heath came on line. This was the result of work done by Dave Reeves in connection with the Parish Plan. The Ballads site includes lots of interesting material about our village and comments from residents.
2007 March	Although no work has been done on the new housing estate on the Pool Meadow for several months the builders spoke on Radio Shropshire to say that they do intend to resume work, perhaps towards the end of 2007.
2007 Mar 26	Commencing this date the road from Bomere Heath to Shrewsbury was closed for two weeks between its junction with Magnolia Close and the junction to the level crossing whilst drainage work and road re-surfacing is carried out at the edge of the village. At the same time some repairs and surfacing were carried out on the footpaths alongside the Shrewsbury Road through the village.
2007 April	On the 16th, 18th and 21st April a series of Facilitated Workshops were held in the Village Hall by a group called Neighbourhood Initiatives who are undertaking work on behalf of Galliers Homes who may build more homes around the edge of the village.
2007 Apr 29	An early-voting unit will offer voters the chance to go online and register their vote using special consoles at Bomere Heath from 9 am to 12 noon. This is the first time that such online facilities for voting have been available in the village.
2007 Sept	Building work started on the new houses on the Pool Meadow.
2008 January	The first residents moved into a house on the Pool Meadow building site now named Oakwood Grange by the builders.
2008 Feb 14, 15 & 16	The Bomere Heath Village Players present Cinderella at the Village Hall, Bomere Heath.
2008 Mar 5th	Some residents of Yew Tree Bank and Back Lane lose a retrospective planning application to convert land from agricultural to domestic use after purchasing 12 metres of the field adjacent to their back gardens.
2008 Oct 1st	The Red Lion public house in Shrewsbury Road closed. At the time the village could only wonder if this was possibly for the last time, after several changes of licensee in the last few years this could have brought to an end just over 160 years of a pub in Bomere Heath.
2008 Nov 7th	After being closed for just over a month The Red Lion public house in Shrewsbury Road, Bomere Heath re-opened on Friday 7th November 2008 and is now being run by a family who moved from Hadnall.
2008 December	At the beginning of December 2008 the Bomere Heath village Co-Operative grocery store was closed for a week and a half whilst the interior was completely re-fitted and a new front including an automatic sliding door was fitted. This resulted in the whole shop having a very fresh look.
2008-9	Following the disappearance in the 1990's of a public footpath which used to run between two houses from near the junction of Back Lane and Yew Tree Bank to the field behind the houses a new route was constructed for this path behind the four bungalows at the northern end of The Crescent starting by the barrier across the road.

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This file was updated 11 Feb 2018