Bomere Heath Village
Shropshire, England
TIME LINE 2009 to 2014
Date |
Event |
2009 March |
The Ball Park During the first three months of 2009 a brand new Ball Park was constructed on part of the school playing field between the School and the Village Hall. The school children will use it during the day and the public can use it in the evenings, on weekends and in school holidays. The official opening took place on Sunday 10th May 2009 at 3pm when the park was dedicated to the memory of Councillor Brian Rees who was instrumental in getting it constructed. |
2009 June 5th - 7th |
Holy Trinity Church, Leaton 1859-2009 - 150th Anniversary - A Celebration in Flowers, Music and Craft. |
2009 Jun 28th |
During the early hours of this Sunday morning from about 1am to 1.45am the village was struck by a severe thunderstorm which resulted in about half the school playing field being under water. Despite the fact that the Fire Service were using two large water pumps to clear some of the water there was still sufficient there in the early evening to make an impromptu swimming pool for many local children. There were also patches of water covering the cricket field and some properties were damaged by water. The Fire Service had been called to one house in the middle of the night and another had all their carpets hanging on railings to try to dry them. The effects of this storm were made worse because there had been another less severe one in the early evening of the previous day. |
2009 July 4th |
Bomere Heath School Summer Fayre 2pm-5pm - Fun for all the family. |
2009 Aug 6th |
At 7.30pm an evening concert was held in Holy Trinity Church, Leaton to introduce the new Allen digital Organ which has been installed at the back of the church, adjacent to the choir stalls, so that the organist can move easily between this and the original historic chamber organ built by Daniel Gray in 1860 which is listed on the British Institute of Organ Studies (N08073) and was awarded a ‘historic organ certificate’ in 1999. |
2009 Aug 22nd |
Leaton Parish Fayre 2.00pm - 5.30pm at Albion Hayes, Baschurch Road. |
2009 Sept 5th |
Gardening Club 16th Annual Show. |
2009 Sep |
Some work started on the school to improve the facilities for the children. |
2009 Sept 13th |
A farewell party was held at The Red Lion public house in Shrewsbury Road by the family who had run the pub for the past ten months. |
2009 Oct |
The lower part of Brook Road, which had seen flooding on the 28th June this year, was marked up with several different coloured paint sprays indicating the location of all underground services. Similar markings were also placed at the lowest part of Preston Gubbals Road. |
2009 Nov |
The Nov 2009 issue of the Bomere Heath and District Parish News included a full page plan showing proposals by Shropshire Council to erect 9 bollards along the footpath opposite the Village Shop to prevent people parking partially on the footpath. In addition to the bollards, on the opposite side of the road, outside the shop, artificial narrowing of the road would be achieved through hatching and edge of carriageway road markings. |
2009 Nov |
Test drilling was carried out in the small grassed area around the children’s playground in Preston Gubbals Road in preparation for work to alleviate flood risk in the lower part of Brook Road. |
2009 Dec |
In mid December one of the most prolonged and severe spells of winter weather for about thirty years commenced with many overnight frosts as low as -7ºC and about 1 inch (25 mm) of snow falling on 23/24 December. |
2010 Jan |
In the week commencing 18th January the road through the new Pool Meadow estate was given its top surface signalling the near completion of this estate. |
2010 Jan 25 |
Work started in the lower part of Brook Road and the footpath through to Preston Gubbals Road to do some preliminary investigations in connection with the flood alleviation measures which are planned for the area. |
2010 Jan |
The very cold weather which started in mid December more or less ended in the middle of the month after two more small falls of snow here, but in many parts of the country large amounts of snow caused lots of problems. We did have a further fall of snow at the end of the month plus a night where rain or sleet froze when it landed on the ground. |
2010 Jan 31 |
The village of Bomere Heath consisted of 580 properties including houses, shops, churches and flats over other premises. |
2010 Feb |
Over several days in the middle of the month a length of Armco Crash Barrier was erected at the side of Huffley Lane around the bend where it runs adjacent to the railway line at Wollascott. |
2010 Feb |
Since the Cricket Club moved to its new site in 1997 the entrance off the road has looked rather messy but that has now changed with kerb stones being placed on each side of the entrance and a short distance along the road in each direction and the space between the road and the entrance gates has been Tarmaced. |
2010 Mar 2nd |
A series of bollards are erected on the edge of the footpath in Shrewsbury Road opposite the Co-Operative Village Stores to prevent customers of the shop parking cars partly on the footpath. |
2010 May 23rd |
Bomere Heath Dash & Dawdle, a fund raising walk and BBQ, raised over £430 for the Friends of Bomere Heath School. The route had left the village by Dobell Lane to Great Wollascott then to Preston Gubbals, Pim Hill and Merrington before returning to the village. |
2010 June 5/6th |
The sighting of a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) was reported over Bomere Heath around midnight by a local resident who saw it from their conservatory. See the UK UFO Sightings web site for full details. (It may be necessary to scroll back some pages to reach the 2010 entry.) |
2010 Jun 10th |
Shropshire Council receives a full planning application to build five houses (three terraced and two semi-detached) on the land at the rear of the Red Lion Public House, 32 Shrewsbury Road, Bomere Heath. Details and drawings of the proposed development are available on the Shropshire Council web site The application was withdrawn on the 14th July 2010. |
2010 June |
Shropshire Council distributes a 20 page leaflet asking for views on Issues and Options for an important Development Plan Document covering the needs for the period 2006-2026 especially with regard to the need for additional housing in various parts of Shropshire. A map on page 10 shows several areas almost all round the existing village of Bomere Heath which are indicated as ‘Sites for Consideration’. See Planning for a flourishing Shropshire (no longer available on the Internet) |
2010 July |
A new 6 feet (2 metre) high fence was erected around the south and east sides of the school playing field connecting with existing fencing at each end. |
2010 July |
Bomere Heath Cricket Club under 12s played their first ever match against a strong Wem U12s team. Wem were the winners. |
2010 Sep 2nd Sat |
Gardening Club 17th Annual Show in the Village Hall. |
2010 Oct 14 |
In the middle of October Shropshire Council temporary signs appeared at each end of the village (Shrewsbury Road and Merrington Road) advising that ‘Resurfacing works starts here from 26th Oct 2010’. This was welcome news because the main road through the village had numerous patches from trenches which had been dug along and across it over the last few years. |
2010 Nov 2nd |
Teams of contractors moved into the village for the day to resurface Shrewsbury Road from the cross roads at Baschurch Road / Preston Gubbals Road to it’s junction with Windsor Lane. For the first time for many years we now have an even surface along the main road through the village. |
2010 Nov |
We had an extremely mild spell of weather at the end of the first week in November with day and night temperatures reaching 14 degrees C (58 F) but by the middle of the month day and night temperatures were just below freezing and the end of the month saw record cold temperatures and some snow. Shawbury had its coldest November night for twenty five years and whilst Bomere Heath only had about one 1inch of snow (25mm) on two different days at the end of the month some parts of the north east of England and southern Scotland had substantial falls. The very cold weather was predicted to last up to two weeks because a weather system was bringing the air flow in from the north east. The last week in November saw overnight temperatures varying between -2 degrees C (28 F) and -9 degrees C (15 F) with daytime temperatures at zero or below for the last four days. |
2010 Dec |
In December the overnight temperature only rose above zero on six nights (10th, 11th and 27th -31st) with the lowest temperature being -13 degrees C (9 F). The daytime temperature remained below freezing point for about half of the month making it the coldest December in the UK since records began. In Bomere Heath we had about one inch (25mm) of snow on the 1st plus 5 inches (127mm) in the middle of the month followed by another 2 inches (50mm) on the 21/22 so that we had snow lying on the ground over Christmas. It started to thaw on the 27th which brought some mist and fog. |
2011 Jan |
There are now 585 houses in Bomere Heath. |
2011 Jan |
The final section of security fencing around the school grounds was erected along the northern boundary from the Ball Park to the vehicular access near the kitchen and playground. |
2011 Feb |
Two electronic signs were erected on the approach to the village to remind motorists of the 30 mph speed limit through the village. They light up automatically if you approach them in excess of the speed limit and it is hoped this will persuade drivers to slow down to the legal limit or less. One sign is situated on Shrewsbury Road at the junction with Whitehouse Lane and the other in Merrington Road at the junction with Brook Road (the end near the pumping station). |
2011 Mar |
A purpose built Bed & Breakfast (B&B) extension was added to Penn Peel Cottage in Windsor Lane providing two ground floor rooms, one with disabled access. This was the first such venture in the village but has since been closed. There is another B&B at the former Leaton Railway Station which has been running for several years and self catering accommodation in the former outbuildings of the old Leaton Vicarage by the Church. |
2011 Mar 11th |
At 2.46pm (local time) on this date a massive magnitude nine earth quake struck Japan having been centred some miles offshore. It was the most powerful for a thousand years and lasted for about five minutes causing considerable damage but this was nothing compared to the damage caused by a tsunami which struck the coast about twenty minutes later. This was so powerful that it placed cars on top of three storey buildings and completely destroyed some towns and villages washing buildings and everything else away in front of it. The final death toll will probably never be known for certain but is likely to be in excess of 20,000. To add to all this the tsunami also damaged some nuclear power stations on the coast creating even more problems. |
2011 Apr 29th |
No doubt many people living in the village joined an estimated 2 billion people worldwide to watch the wedding of Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London. Some towns and villages held street parties to celebrate the wedding but we didn't have one in Bomere Heath however the Red Lion pub organised a special day for their customers. |
2011 Apr 30th |
After a particularly cold winter April was remarkably dry and warm with only about 13mm (half an inch) of rain for the whole month and that all fell in the first half. |
2011 Apr |
This April was the warmest since records began. |
2011 May 4th |
More than 50 people attended a public drop-in event in Bomere Heath Village Hall organised by National Grid in connection with the possible erection of electricity pylons and 400kV overhead power lines from the existing line which runs just west of Bomere Heath to a new Sub-Station and wind farm which is being planned for Mid Wales. It is far from certain that the new power lines will come anywhere near Bomere Heath with at least two other link-up locations being considered. |
2011 May 8th |
The second Dash & Dawdle event which was organised by the Friends of Bomere Heath School was even more successful than the first event held last year managing to raise over £600, a fifty percent increase on last year. The money will be used to provide extra facilities for the children at the school.
The 2011 route made an anti-clockwise loop starting from the village and going to the west and north west, crossing the Baschurch Road then continuing north west to Old Wood then north east to Merrington and then east to Pim Hill before turning south and returning to the village. |
2011 May 12th |
Two brand new street lights were erected in Brook Road to replace the old lamps which had been there since the estate was built in the 1970's. The new lamps are of a revolutionary design with LED's instead of bulbs so they use much less energy but also produce a much better spread of light around them. A vast improvement on the previous lights. |
2011 June |
The Garage on Merrington Road, Bomere Heath finally ceased trading after a gradual decline during the early months of this year. Whilst car servicing had been carried on to the end MoT tests had not been done here for about the last two years. The village has lost another familiar sight. |
2011 June 1st |
The Met Office announced that we have had the driest and warmest spring for 101 years. |
2011 June 19th |
The Churches Conservation Trust launched the Edible Churchscapes Project at St Martin's Church, Preston Gubbals between 12md and 3pm on Sunday 19th June 2011. The aim at Preston Gubbals in 2011/12 is to bring people together in the special historic environment of St Martin’s and learn techniques that will produce a local space for everyone to enjoy and eat! |
2011 June 25th |
Summer Fayre organised by The Friends of Bomere Heath School was held on the school field between 2pm and 5pm to raise funds to help the school. |
2011 July 3rd |
The Dragons of Merrington - a chance for everyone to visit Merrington Green between 10.30am and 3pm to discover some of the ancient and amazing creatures with a professional guide, Ian Cheeseborough co-author of Dragonflies of Shropshire. This was a free event run by Shropshire Council Countryside Ranger Sian Edwards. |
2011 July |
2011 was the coolest July since 2000. |
2011 Aug 20th |
Leaton Parish Fayre on the School Field, Bomere Heath from 2pm to 5pm. |
2011 Sep |
In some parts of the UK, including Bomere Heath, we have had the driest summer for 35 years but round here it was not particularly good. |
2011 Sep |
During the summer the Red Lion pub on Shrewsbury Road was repainted on the outside and new signs erected. |
2011 Sep 3rd |
Bomere Heath Gardening Club 18th Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm. |
2011 Oct |
The Bomere Heath CofE Primary School secured a unit in the Charles Darwin Shopping Centre in Shrewsbury town centre during October to display the beautiful hand crafted class banners created by the children at the end of the summer term. The display was available for viewing during normal shopping hours throughout October 2011, on the top level of the Darwin Centre, opposite Marks & Spencers and next door to Boots Opticians. Members of the public could just walk in and look round the children's art work. |
2011 Oct 1st |
The last week of September was exceptionally hot with the highest September temperature for many years. The 1st October saw the highest recorded October temperature (since 1985 in Cambridgeshire) of 29.9 degrees C (85.8 degrees F) in Kent. Our local temperature was not far behind and was very pleasant. |
2011 Nov |
Bomere Heath was the featured village in the November 2011 issue of the Shropshire Magazine with photographs of several local people and their stories about life in the village. |
2011 Dec |
During November and December the damaged sandstone behind the old water pump at Dunnsheath has been repaired. |
2011 |
This year saw wetter than average weather in Scotland but the Midlands and south east were very dry. We had the second warmest Autumn on record. |
2012 Feb |
New fencing and a pedestrian gate have been erected at the entrance to the footpath into Pool Meadow Close from the bottom of Preston Gubbals Road. |
2012 Apr |
Some exploratory work was carried out by the Severn Trent Water Authority in Shrewsbury Road near the junction with Whitehouse Lane because of problems in recent years with water lying in the corner of the school playing field. After spending several days digging two or three holes in the footpath the initial work did not seem to achieve very much because a few days of rain immediately afterwards caused the corner of the school field to flood the same as it has been doing after any rain. |
2012 Apr 17 |
The 1st Bomere Heath Scouts, incorporating the Beavers and Cubs for young boys and girls, was started in the village and meet in the Wale Room, Beavers on a Tuesday evening 6pm-7.15pm and Cubs on a Thursday evening 6.30pm-8pm. |
2012 May 13 |
The 2012 Dash & Dawdle village walk, organised by the Friends of Bomere Heath School, took place around a route of about seven miles (with shorter/longer options), taking in woods and farmland around the village. |
2012 May 30 |
Bomere Heath resident Graham Furber was chosen to carry the Olympic torch for part of its journey through Shropshire. |
2012 May 31 |
New work has started on the school playing field, in the low corner near Shrewsbury Road, to prevent the flooding which occurs each time we have any heavy rain. |
2012 July 2 |
Today it was confirmed that June 2012 was the wettest June since records began more than 100 years ago. This is being caused because the ‘Jet Stream’ is running south of the UK instead of to the north where it would normally be at this time of year. About 104mm (4 inches) of rain fell in Bomere Heath during June, at least double the normal monthly average. |
2012 Jul 18 |
Bomere Heath entertained a small group of children from the area near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986. |
2012 Aug |
At the end of August the northern end of the sandstone surround at the back of the old water pump at Dunsheath was taken down so that it could be rebuilt to match the southern end which was repaired after damage some months ago. |
2012 Sep 1 |
Bomere Heath Gardening Club 19th Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm. |
2012 Dec 31 |
We started 2012 with the country worried about a severe draught for the first three months but then the weather changed and we had a very wet summer with heavy rain and floods continuing right up to the end of the year. In England 2012 was the wettest year on record and only the second wettest year after 2000 for the whole of the UK. |
2013 Feb |
From the beginning of February 2013 it was necessary to close Broomhall Lane to through traffic because the side of the road collapsed into the ditch leaving a one metre drop off the side of the road. Access to houses was maintained from both ends.
|
2013 Feb |
Plans to build twelve homes on the eastern side of Merrington Road on the northern outskirts of Bomere Heath were rejected by Shropshire Council's planning committee on Thursday 7th February 2013. There were a number of reasons for the decision not least of which was local concern that the sewerage system cannot cope with any additional housing being connected to it. (See Shrewsbury Chronicle Thursday 14th February 2013 page 16) |
2013 Mar 24th |
Sponsored 80 mile Cycle Ride from Bomere Heath Cricket Club (Shrewsbury) to Christie Hospital (Manchester) Sunday 24th March 2013
|
2013 March 31 |
March 2013 was the second coldest March since records began more than 100 years ago. Only March 1962 was colder. |
2013 Apr |
Cubs have returned to Bomere Heath as of April this year. Beavers and Cubs are collectively under 'The 1st Bomere Heath Scout Group'. Beavers now meet at the Wale Room 6pm - 7.15pm on Tuesdays and Cubs on Thursdays from 6.30pm - 8pm. All open to boys and girls. |
2013 Apr 8 |
From the night of 20/21 March until the night of 7/8 April 2013 we endured 18 consecutive nights where the temperature went below freezing point and for nearly half of those days the daytime temperature didn't go above 5 degrees and this was made much worse by a biting east wind. This all felt much worse because the earlier part of March had 8 nights where the temperature fell below zero and the highest night temperature was only 4 degrees. |
2013 Apr 18 |
High winds battered Shropshire and one result was that a length of wall about six feet (2 Metres) high across the full width of a bungalow at Preston Gubbals was blown over onto the grass verge and footpath with some bricks landing on the road. Reported in the Shropshire Star 22 Apr 2013 |
2013 Apr 19 |
A leaflet describing the Friends of Bomere Heath School was produced and given to each child to take home so that all parents would know the benefits this group bring to the school and thus to their children. See the Info page on the Friends web site to learn more about them. |
2013 Apr 21 |
The annual Dash & Dawdle organised by the Friends of Bomere Heath School took place on Sunday 21st April 2013 starting at 11am from the Red Lion car park. The event raised over £400 for the school funds. |
2013 Apr 22 |
At 4.45pm a Steam Train was seen passing through Leaton Station on its way from Shrewsbury to Chester. There were two engines pulling several coaches, presumably a steam enthusiasts excursion. |
2013 Apr 23 |
Following two summers when the south east corner of the school playing field has been unusable due to flooding today saw the start of its return to full use. The actual cause of the flooding was dealt with some weeks ago and now the low spot has been raised with soil and the grass which had been fenced off and uncut for many months has been cut with machinery which also collected the cut grass. |
2013 Apr 29 |
The May 2013 issue of the Bomere Heath and District Parish News included the usual page of news from the Bomere Heath Football Club but this time it says, "With little prospect of raising a full team for our last two league games we have taken the decision to resign from the league." The report continues, "It is important to note that whilst we have resigned from the league the football club has not folded, what we have done is bought ourselves some time to regroup and hopefully we will be back playing the season after next." |
2013 May 2 |
The Air Ambulance landed on the old sports field off Whitehouse Lane presumably to transfer a patient to hospital. |
2013 May |
The block of elderly persons bungalows in Chapel Close beyond the community centre was demolished to make way for new properties. |
2013 Jun 1st |
The Met Office announce that 2013 has been the coldest spring for 50 years.
|
2013 Jun 14 |
A sign advertising two luxury four bedroom homes appeared at the front of the Red Lion pub car park but this seems to be at variance with a Planning Application submitted to Shropshire Council (Ref: 13/02072/FUL) for two three bedroom and one four bedroom houses on the land at the rear of the pub car park. |
2013 Jun 15 |
The Bomere Heath School Summer Fete was held on Saturday 15th June 2013 in the school grounds. Having made contingency plans because of the poor weather forecast in the end the afternoon passed without any rain and a large number of people attended and raised a substantial sum of money for the school. This will benefit all the children in the coming months. |
2013 Sep 7 |
Bomere Heath Gardening Club 20th Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm. |
2013 Sep 10 |
As part of the planning application for the erection of 12 new houses on the east side of Merrington Road it was discovered that there is a slightly raised crop circle about 60 metres (66 yards) in diameter in the field to the north of the bungalows in Brook Road and to the east of Merrington Road. The centre is situated at Ordnance Survey map reference SJ 475 201 Latitude 52.775928, Longitude -2.779083 and can be clearly seem on Google Maps by following this link. Whilst this circle is clearly ancient in origin I am not aware of any work that has been done to establish a likely date for it.. |
2013 Sep 10 |
Plans to build 12 new homes on the east side of Merrington Road (opposite the water pumping station) have been allowed after a planning appeal. See the Shropshire Star report Tuesday 10th September 2013 |
2013 Sept |
An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) was mounted on the wall of the Co-Op Shop in Bomere Heath and the group co-ordinator, Richard Williams, is now looking for volunteers to attend training sessions. For contact details see page 21 of the March 2014 Bomere Heath and District Parish News. |
2013 Nov 11 |
Severn Trent Water Authority delivered a letter to homes in Brook Road and roads running directly off Brook Road concerning a Drainage Survey in collaboration with Shropshire Council to further investigate flooding from sewers and a watercourse. The survey will be carried out from 13th - 29th November 2013. |
2013 Dec 4 |
Severn Trent Water Authority delivered a letter to houses in the Bomere Heath area advising residents that Severn Trent are planning to renew some of the water mains in the Bomere Heath and Leaton areas.
|
2014 Feb Mid |
As part of the move to superfast broadband in Bomere Heath a new cabinet for fibre optic connections has been erected in Windsor Lane. |
2014 Mar 20 |
The home of former celebrity gardener Percy Thrower at The Magnolias, Merrington was demolished today following problems with subsidence. It had been built in 1963. |
2014 May |
Work commenced on the new group of 12 houses in Merrington Road opposite the water pumping station. |
2014 May 4 |
The fifth Dash & Dawdle event which was organised by the Friends of Bomere Heath School took place on footpaths near the village to raise funds for the school. |
2013 May 30 |
Shropshire Council received a planning application for the construction of 30 houses on a green field site (part of Grange Farm) north of Preston Gubbals Road, Bomere Heath on the outskirts of the village. |
2014 July |
Work started to update and improve the children's playground in Preston Gubbals Road |
2014 July 11 |
A large branch fell from a 90 foot tall Wellingtonia tree in the garden of a house on The Grove, Bomere Heath. Fortunately no-one was hurt but it could have resulted in serious injury if any of the family had been in the garden. The tree had been subject to a tree preservation order since the estate was built and the family had applied for permission for the tree to be removed some months ago but this had been refused by Shropshire Council, a decision hastily reversed after the branch fell off. The tree was removed over three days 22-24 July 2014. |
2014 Sep 6 |
Bomere Heath Gardening Club 21st Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm. |
2014 Sep |
In early September 2014 Shropshire Council received a planning application for the construction of 34 dwelling houses; associated estate roads and amenity space on land to west of Shrewsbury Road, Bomere Heath |
2014 Sept |
As part of the move to superfast broadband in Bomere Heath, using fibre optic connections, British Telecom sent out letters at the end of September 2014 inviting residents to change to the new technology. |
2014 Nov 10 |
A serious collision occurred between two cars near the railway bridge in Baschurch Road, Bomere Heath at about 9.55am. The injuries were so severe to a couple believed to be in their 80's in the one car that the Midlands Air Ambulance and the Wales Air Ambulance both landed in a field nearby and subsequently airlifted each of them to Royal Stoke University Hospital. |
2014 Nov 11 |
The Shropshire Star newspaper carried a report of the road accident at Bomere Heath the previous day. It reported how the crew of a bin lorry had been one of the first vehicles on the scene. |
2014 Dec 19 |
When the school broke up today for the Christmas holiday Mrs Rose Canham retired from her position as the Head Teacher which she had held for 11 years and one term. |
|
|
If you spot an error in this Time Line please let me know the correct information.
My contact details are at the foot of the main page of the web site.
This file was updated 26th May 2024