Bomere Heath Village

Shropshire, England

TIME LINE 2015 to date

Date	Event
2015 Jan 5	With the start of the new school term Joanne Hillier became the new Head Teacher at Bomere Heath School.
2015 Feb	Shropshire Council received an outline planning application for the construction of three houses on the outskirts of the village on the south side of Baschurch Road adjacent to the Grove Estate.
2015 Mar	In mid March 2015 each house in the village received 'Bomere Heath Neighbourhood Standards Agreement (NiSA) Questionnaire' so that local people could make their thoughts about the village known. (See entry in Nov 2015 for follow up)
2015 May 10	The sixth 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.
2015 Sep 5	Bomere Heath Gardening Club 22nd Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm.
2015 Sep 9	A letter from the Chair of Governors was distributed to the parents of all children at the school concerning a Proposal for Bomere Heath C. of E. Primary School and St John the Baptist C. of E. School, Ruyton XI Towns to form a Federation. A 'Response Form' was included with the letter so that parents could register their comments.
2015 Nov	A booklet 'Neighbourhood Standards Agreement - Bomere Heath' was distributed to all houses in the village. (See entry in March 2015 above)
2015 Nov 2	The Automated External Defibrillator that was installed on the wall of the Co-Op shop some months ago was taken into use following the training of some local volunteers.
2015 Nov 3	A letter from the Chair of Governors was distributed to all parents of children at the school confirming that Bomere Heath C. of E. Primary School and Ruyton XI Towns C. of E. Primary School will form a Federation with effect from 9th November 2015.
2016 Apr	The Bomere Heath Parish Council now has its own web site with information about council matters, planning tracker, bus times and a map of the parish area.
2016 May	The 1st Bomere Heath Scout Group now has its own web site for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts giving the days and times of meetings and their location.
2016 May 22	The seventh 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.
2016 Sep 3	Bomere Heath Gardening Club 23rd Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm.
2016 Nov 17	A tornado, which started on the Welsh coast at Aberystwyth, moved east across Wales and into Shropshire with Bomere Heath in the centre of its line of destruction. Numerous trees or branches of trees were blown down blocking most of the roads into the village. Residents trying to return home had to make considerable detours to avoid the problems and at one stage the only road that was still open into the village was that over the level crossing at Leaton. Fortunately a number of people were able to use their own chain saws to cut up fallen branches. The road was also blocked in Preston Gubbals where a branch had also brought down the electricity cables.
2016 Nov 22	At nearby Preston Montford they recorded 37mm (almost 1 1/2 inches) of rain in the 24 hour period 21st - 22nd November 2016. This is the highest daily rainfall they have ever recorded at Preston Montford beating the previous high of 35.8mm recorded on 5 Nov 2000.
2017 Mar 8	Following a domestic incident at a bungalow in Bomere Heath two air ambulances were called to the village to take two people with stab wounds to specialist hospitals. A third person with head injuries was taken by land ambulance to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. None of the injuries were life threatening. One male has been remanded in custody in connection with this incident.
2017 March	The West Midland Ambulance Service Automated External Defibrillator (WMAS AED) is now installed on the front wall of the Village Hall from where it will be used by a number of trained local volunteers. In addition, another AED provided by the Co-op is available for any member of the public to use without authorisation, and is stored behind the counter in the shop.
2017 May 21st	The eighth annual Dash & Dawdle event, which was organised by the Friends of Bomere Heath School to raise money which will be used to provide extra facilities for the children at the school, took place on footpaths near the village. The 2017 route made a clockwise loop starting from the village and going to the west and north west, crossing the Baschurch Road then continuing north west to Old Woods then north east to Merrington before turning south and returning to the village.
2017 Jun 7	Residents of the village received a letter from Severn Trent Water because they are currently investigating flooding in and around Bomere Heath. Included with the letter was a questionnaire asking for details of any flooding in the past to help establish the extent of the problem.
2017 Jul	The old wooden fence at the front of the Village Hall was replaced by a metal fence which had been specially made for the location.
2017 Aug	Preparatory work started at the site where the new mobile phone mast is to be erected.
2017 Aug 25	The Red Lion Inn reopens following a £35k refurbishment carried out over the past few weeks by craftsmen from the owners, Joule's Brewery based in Market Drayton.
2017 Sep 2	Bomere Heath Gardening Club 24th Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm.
2017 Nov 17	The Co-Operative shop in Bomere Heath re-opened after a three week internal and external re-fit.
2017 Nov late	Work commenced on the new housing estate located on the old cricket field on the west side of Shrewsbury Road.
2017 Dec	Snow before Christmas. On Friday 8th and Sunday 10th December 2017 we had unusually heavy snowfalls of at least 10cm (4 inches) on each day with the second fall arriving on top of the first. Fortunately there was no drifting but the depth of snow still brought most things to a standstill.
2017 Dec 11	Most of the schools in Shropshire were closed due to the snow. They remained closed on Tuesday 12th.
2017 Dec 12	During last night nearby Shawbury, which is just five miles away as the crow flies, was the coldest place in England with a temperature of minus 13 degrees C, so the temperature in Bomere Heath would have been very similar.
2018 Feb	The Bomere Heath Village Hall now has its own web site and Facebook page with photographs and information about the hall.
2018 June 12	Planning permission was granted for the construction of 13 new houses to the west of the village on the south side of Baschurch Road on a piece of unused land.
2018 Sep 1	Bomere Heath Gardening Club 25th Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm.
2018 Sept	The first residents moved into the new houses on the former cricket field to the west of Shrewsbury Road.
2018 Oct 11	A planning application was submitted for the Installation of 20m steel lattice structure including radio antenna equipment at Grange Farm. If this is approved the mast will be used to provide wireless internet to properties and businesses where a traditional fibre solution cannot be used.
2018 Oct	The builders constructing the new housing estate on the old cricket field created a new footpath from Whitehouse Lane to the football field and then on to the present cricket ground so that residents of the village can walk from the village to both of the sports grounds and be away from road traffic because the new path is behind the roadside hedge.
2018 Nov 11	The residents of Bomere Heath joined the rest of the country to remember the end of World War I on the 11th November 1918. A cascade of hand knitted poppies was draped from the Altar at Leaton Church for the morning service of remembrance. At 7pm a beacon bonfire was lit in the field to the west of Merrington Road to coincide with other beacons being lit throughout the United Kingdom.
2018 Jan-Dec	The year 2018 weather roundup. Over the centuries many references to unusual weather have been recorded, often by local vicars in their parish registers. 2018 has seen such varied and extreme weather that it seemed worthy of recording here. The 1st day of spring saw an extremely cold easterly wind which became known as "The beast from east". This produced snow and the coldest March day on record. Move forward to April when we had the warmest April day since 1949 which was followed by the hottest early May holiday on record. We had a heatwave in the summer. It was the driest start to summer on record and summer 2018 became the joint hottest on record. We had an unusually early snow fall in the UK at the end of November 2018. The source for much of the above was the Weather World programme on the BBC News Channel.
2019 Jan	Work commenced on the construction of a small development of 13 houses on the outskirts of the village on the south side of Baschurch Road and adjacent to The Grove estate.
2019 Jan 9	The opening night of Bomere Heath Youth Club at the Cricket Club Pavilion.
2019 Jan 22	An initial announcement was made today that the Government will fund the construction of the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road which should take a lot of traffic away from Bomere Heath when it is constructed.
2019 Jan 23	Half way through January and we woke up to the first snow of the winter. It was a modest amount of about one inch (12mm).
2019 Feb 28	A 20m steel lattice structure including radio antenna equipment for Airband home broadband which was subject of a planning application on 11 Oct 2018 was erected today just north of Grange Farm. It will be used to provide wireless Internet access to properties and businesses where traditional fibre broadband cannot be used.
2019 Apr 18	Shortly after 4am an attempt was made to steal the ATM cash machine from the Co-Op shop in the village when thieves managed to wrench the machine from its fixings and drag it to the doorway where they abandoned it and fled in a vehicle. Damage was caused to the front of the shop causing it to be closed for most of the day until temporary repairs could be carried out allowing it to reopen later. See this Shropshire Star article for more details and photographs.
2019 Sep 7	Bomere Heath Gardening Club 26th Annual Show in the Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm.
2019 Sept 13	Bomere Heath - 100 Years in Pictures. A slide show in the village hall.
2019 Sep 21	Bomere Heath Fete and Fun Day from 2pm
2019 Oct	The October 2019 issue of the Bomere Heath and District Parish News (page 16) carried an announcement headed "Presbyterian Church of Wales" "Due to the present situation and many other factors, we are no longer able to maintain our regular Sunday Services. This seems very sad after nearly 200 years of continuous Services. A small group of men and women decided to hold the first church in Bomere Heath in 1827 and collected together £250 to build it (a lot of money in 1827) and Services have been held here since that date. We hope to hold a special Service, when all the administration and formalities have been dealt with, to give thanks for the life of the Church and for the help of all those past and present who supported it. Foot note! We still have the original Pulpit Bible from when the Church first opened, with the Rev. George Rogers handwriting in it. (Signed) Ron Haynes (Secretary)"
2019 Oct 26	Following thirty six hours of heavy rain when a month's worth of rain (about 50mm or 2 inches) fell in this area most of the roads into and out of the village were flooded to some extent. There was also flooding around Shrewsbury.
2019 Nov 30	A robbery took place at the Co-Op shop in the village when a woman with a hand gun threatened staff and made off with a quantity of money. A picture of the woman taken by the shop cameras was published and a 21 year old female from Harlescott was subsequently arrested for the offence.
2019 Dec 8	A Christmas Tree Festival and Festival Eucharist was held at Holy Trinity Church, Leaton to celebrate its 160 years 1859 - 2019.
2020 Jan 11 Sat	Announcement on Bomere Heath & District Parish Council web site, "It was with sadness that over eighty people, including past Clergy, attended the last service at the Zion Chapel, which was held last Saturday afternoon January 11th 2020. Elder Ron Haynes played the organ for the last time, something he had done for fifty-eight years. It was renamed the Presbyterian Church of Wales. It was indeed a very moving and emotional service for all concerned, in particular for Ron and his wife Gwen. Gwen had worshipped at the Chapel since she was six years of age."
2020 Feb	Residents started moving into the thirteen new houses which had been built over the last year on the outskirts of the village on the south side of the Baschurch Road.
2020 Mar	Work started on the construction of new houses on the 'Donkey Patch' at the rear of the Red Lion public house.
2020 Mar 23	Residents of Bomere Heath together with all other residents of the UK were subject to 'Lock Down' to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus which started in China and was rapidly spreading around the world. On the 8th April each household received a letter from the Prime Minister explaining what the Lock Down meant for everyone and which essentially meant that everyone had to 'Stay at Home' except for very special reasons. All schools were closed as were most shops and work places.
2020 Aug	A new coloured surface was applied to the tennis courts in the village.
2020 Sep 21	The Bomere Heath Fete and Fun Day which had been planned for this day had to be cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic COVID-19 which had swept all round the world.
2020 Oct	An excavation was made in Shrewsbury Road to connect services to the new houses which have been built on land at the rear of the Red Lion pub.
2020 Oct	Residents of Bomere Heath received a letter from a company named Airband informing them that Shropshire Council had commissioned the company to build a brand new, ultrafast FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) broadband network in the area.
2021 Mar	Residents started moving into the five new houses which had been built on land previously known as the 'Donkey Patch' at the rear of the Red Lion Public House in Shrewsbury Road.
2021 Jun 3	The Bomere Heath Village Hall held its Annual General Meeting when a new committee was formed.
2021 Jul	The July / August 2021 edition of the Bomere Heath and District Parish News included information about the Village Hall AGM and the fact that four councillors from the Parish Council have taken up their seats on the Village Hall committee to strengthen ties and assist with future plans.
2021 Jul 3	After many months of campaigning contractors removed the raised island on Shrewsbury Road at the entrance to the housing estate on the former cricket field. The raised island has now been replaced with a flat white circle at the junction.
2021 Oct 13	The Bomere Heath Post Office, which has existed in the village since at least 1870 (151 years), is to permanently close at the end of business on Wednesday 13th October 2021 when the postmaster retires. Sadly for the village and the surrounding area it has not been possible to find anyone else to continue the business which means that Bomere Heath residents will have to travel at least about four miles to the next nearest post office in future. The building was subsequently converted back to a residential property.
2021 Oct 18	At 08:09 on Monday 18th October 2021 Severn Trent Water sent out a text message to residents of Bomere Heath to inform them that they were working in the surrounding area and making some changes to the (water) network. At the same time it was realised that our water pressure was lower than normal as forecast in the text message but this was back to normal later in the day. It was then discovered that a fleet of about six massive tanker lorries were delivering water to the reservoir above the village from the Weeping Cross area of Shrewsbury in order to keep the village and the surrounding areas supplied with fresh drinking water. The tankers were working twenty four hours a day to keep the reservoir topped up. On Thursday 21st October 2021 a large crane was seen at the water pumping station in Merrington Road, Bomere Heath but this had left by late afternoon presumably having replaced a substantial piece of equipment in the pumping station and after this the tanker lorries ceased.
2022 Feb	The February 2022 edition of the Bomere Heath and District Parish News includes (on page 11) a brief note that the clock in Leaton Church is being changed to an automatic winding system. Many people will not be aware that since the clock was installed in the Church Tower in 1873 every week someone had to climb up the steps into the belfry and then a further climb up a very steep wooden ladder to the location of the clock mechanism. Once there it was necessary to wind up three different very heavy weights which would keep the clock running during the following week.
2022 Feb	A Community Coffee Shop was created in the village hall to allow residents to meet in an informal atmosphere two or three days a week in the former committee room at the side of the main hall. Various days of the week were tried but eventually it settled on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 10am to 1pm.
2022 Mar 2	A planning application to use the former Zions Hill Presbyterian Chapel, Baschurch Road, Bomere Heath as a Children's Day Nursery (7.30am to 6pm) has been received by Shropshire Council. The application was subsequently refused by Shropshire Council.
2022 Nov	All residents of the village received a letter from Severn Trent Water explaining that they were intending to make improvements to the sewers in the area between November and March 2023.
2022 Dec 3	The 576 bus service from Shrewsbury to Oswestry through Bomere Heath, which has been operated by Arriva for several years, will change to being operated by Tanat Valley Coaches from Saturday 3 December 2022. The route and bus times will remain the same.
2023 Feb 23	All residents of the village received a letter from Severn Trent Water that they intended to upgrade the water supply pipes by removing any old lead piping which might have been installed prior to the change to copper piping.
2023 Apr	Following requests from local residents a small tarmacadam area was constructed on the grass verge in Merrington Road between Percy Thrower Avenue and Brook Road to allow people coming from Shrewsbury to alight from the bus onto a clean flat area.
2023 Apr	Having been a feature of village life since 1930 the Bomere Heath Women's Institute closed after the AGM in April 2023 because no-one could be found to run it.
2023 May 10	A planning application for a change of use to use the former Zions Hill Presbyterian Chapel, Baschurch Road, Bomere Heath as a residential dwelling has been received by Shropshire Council. The application was granted by Shropshire Council.
2023 May 10	The UK Government website announced Project Gigabit network build contract - North Shropshire to provide around 12,000 premises across the North Shropshire surrounding areas with access to gigabit-capable broadband.
2023 May 24	Severn Trent Water organised a drop-in event in the Village Hall to explain the proposed works to remove any remaining lead water supply pipes.
2023 Jun	A circular was received from a company called 'Airband' offering an alternative broadband supply not using traditional copper telephone wires but connecting to a mast which they had installed previously just north of the village.
2023 Jul	Work commenced to repair the flat roof at the rear of the village hall but when the work was only part done a massive storm created even more problems.
2023 Jul 24	Severn Trent Water started digging exploratory holes in Shrewsbury Road near the village hall to establish whether any of the drinking water supply was still using lead pipes. It is intended this work will continue the full length of Shrewsbury Road and then along Merrington Road.
2023 Aug 4	The BBC Midlands Today weather forecast reported that nearby Shawbury weather station had recorded that July 2023 was the 8th wettest July in 74 years with 191% of normal rainfall.
2023 Nov 20	In recent years the main road through the village (Shrewsbury Road and Merrington Road) had suffered from the weather and many holes and trenches being dug along and across it so on Monday 20th Nov 2023 Shropshire Council contractors began work which lasted until Tuesday 28th November 2023 to completely resurface the whole length of the main road through the village.
2024 Feb-March	The first edition of a completely redesigned Bomere Heath and District News was issued to replace the former Bomere Heath and District Parish News. Like its predecessor which began in the early 1970's by the Revd. Michael Hill the new magazine will be delivered free to every household in the area but now has a coloured cover and some coloured pages.
2024 Apr 20	From the end of December 2023 the mobile phone mast operated by the Vodafone and O2 phone companies and situated on farm land just north of the village ceased to operate due to flood water damage to the electrical control cabinet. Due to the continued heavy rain the control cabinet remained partly submerged in a lake and was therefore inaccessible to engineers to repair it until mid April 2024 so that everyone in the village connected to the Vodafone or O2 mobile networks was without a signal for nearly four months. The mast started working again on Saturday 20th April 2024 much to the relief of everyone.
2024 April	After five years as the licensee of the Red Lion Pub the previous licensee moved on and a new licensee and his wife took over.
2024 May	Planning permission granted to build 62 houses on land at the south of the village between the houses on the old cricket field and the present cricket field.
2024 June 3rd	Some contractors arrived in the village to insert ropes in the existing telephone ducting in the footpaths ready to insert fibre optic cables in the future so that they can eventually replace the existing copper telephone cables. At the same time some notices have appeared in places where there are no existing ducts below ground stating that telephone poles will be erected at those locations to carry the new fibre optic cables overhead.
2024 Jul 10	Announced that Cameron Homes has received planning permission to build 62 houses on land on the southern edge of the village between the location of the old cricket field and the present cricket field.
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This file was updated 13th July 2024.