Councillor Helen Bennett

"I have lived in Minstead for 24½ years - nearly a local! I am married to Peter, a merchant seaman who spends most of the year in China. We have a daughter Clare who is 17 and a son Guy who is 20.

As most of the members of our family spend large amounts of time away from home my constant companions for many years have been my 4 chickens.They have recently been joined by a retriever puppy called Poppy.

Over the years I have been secretary to Junior Minstead and the Parents Association at LyndhurstFirstSchool, and treasurer of the Minstead Flower Arrangers. I have also done a short stint on the Hall committee and am a member of Minstead players and occasionally the church choir.

I was born and brought up in a village where the sense of community and camaraderie was always very strong. This was coupled with a strong desire to maintain and improve the environment in and around the village - we have that in Minstead.

I love living in Minstead and I volunteered to be co-opted on to the Parish council so that I could help this village to continue to be the pleasant and vibrant community we live in today."

REV. Peter Murphy has announced his retirement at the end of April. His last service in the Benefice will be at St Michael's, Lyndhurst on April 10^th when a presentation will be made to him. To contribute please contact Sandy Aylen or Anne Ackroyd, or deliver it personally to the Village Shop.

Broadband

With the assistance of NFDC, and after a great deal of time and effort, Councillor Andrews has achieved his goal of connecting your Parish Clerk to Broadband. With very few initial hiccoughs the system is running smoothly and she can not imagine being without it.No more 'dialling up' or long waits - wonderful!

War Memorial

The Parish Council thanks everyone who has contributed to the War Memorial fund which now stands at £1503.44. We have paid a deposit to Wessex Memorials who have informed us that work should be completed before the end of March 2005.

Advertising on the Village Noticeboard

Space on the Village Noticeboard may be rented by anyone who wishes to advertise their business. Contact our Clerk.

Lengthsman

We thank Barney very much indeed for acting as temporary lengthsman while Stephen Short was recuperating from his terrible accident two years ago. Barney has done a grand job of keeping Minstead in its neat and tidy state.

We are glad to say that Stephen is fit and well again and has now resumed his work as Lengthsman.

Sewerage

The Southern Water engineer decided, after his inspection, to call in Atkins, a firm of consultants, who have made further inspections and have carried out a number of percolation tests the results of which we have still to learn.

Tsunami Appeal

A Bring-and-Buy sale that was held at the Minstead Village Shop raised a Grand Total of £1600 (including some very generous donations) that went to help rebuild the villages of Kamala and Laemsing near Phuket, Thailand which were devastated on Boxing Day. The local monastery, village school, shops, restaurants and most homes were destroyed and many local people lost loved ones. We have been promised updates on the progress of this particular project.

More Good Works

From underpants to pencil sharpeners,Minstead folk have been giving more than just money to good causes over the past few months!

Did you know...

·that practical items for homeless people are collected at MinsteadChurch throughout the year? A list of items needed is in the porch. Bring them along to any service, or call me to arrange drop off/collection.;

·that following the tsunami disaster, we collected box-loads of stationery items? These have now been delivered directly to schools in Sri Lanka where 'official' aid is slow to reach;

·that the collection in church on the second Sunday of each month goes to a good cause? See the list of charities posted on the church door;

·that we'll be holding another Christian Aid Café in Lyndhurst community centre on May 14^th? It was great fun last year, and raised nearly £2000 for the world's poorest people. So put the date in your diaries and look out for the posters!

If you'd like to know more about the charitable work going on at Minstead Church, please give me call on 8081 2486or email me at sarah@warefamily.org.ukSarah Ware

Dorcas

Dorcas is a registered local charity providing furniture, household goods and electrical appliances at low cost to people in need within the New Forest area.

They are able to do this by receiving and collecting furniture and other items given by local people. If you have anything to donate that may be of use please telephone 01425 619000.

New ForestNational Park

On 1^st March The New Forest was designated as the latest and smallest NP (with the largest resident population of all NPs in Britain). Your PC worked long and hard to try to head off this proliferation of bureaucracy but now have to be positive and work with the NPA for the best for our village. We tried to do this from "within" by nominating our Chairman to stand as one of the four appointed members from Parish Councils but she was pipped at the post. Undaunted she applied for one of the six Defra appointments but was also unsuccessful though partially mollified by being one of the very few to be short listed and interviewed out of the sixty applicants.

Entertainment at Minstead Hall

For the last 27 years Junior Minstead has put on a 'Panto' each March.This year it's 'The Lady of Shallott' written and directed by Sandy Aylen with a cast of thousands - well, at least 30 Minstead children between the ages of 4 and 14. Performance dates are 18^th and 19^th March. It's a real village event with parents and grandparents getting involved in painting scenery, helping with costumes, props and make-up, organising front of house and backstage, and playing in the live band. The children who perform on stage learn an enormous amount from the experience, whilst adults and children alike benefit greatly from their participation in this annual community event.

For the last 10 years the Minstead Players has put on regular November productions and occasionally June and September ones as well. In November 2004 they performed an OldTimeMusic Hall with much hilarity and good-natured audience participation, some audience members even came in Edwardian costume adding much to the atmosphere of the occasion.

In recent years the Hall's Theatre Subcommittee has been putting on professional entertainments, some of which have been sponsored by Hampshire County Council. All are carefully chosen to fit in with the local amateur productions. The idea is to make full use of the Hall for entertainments which will appeal to as wide a range of village residents as possible. Hopefully this helps to give villagers a real sense that the hall is there for them. With sufficient support for these events there is every chance that the hall may also benefit financially.

This winter season there have been two Forest Forge productions, 'GI Blues' and 'Tales from the Arabian Nights' - both excellent and well supported. In addition 'Getting Nowhere Fast' with comedian Mervyn Stutter was a thoroughly entertaining evening. The final event of the current season is on 15^th April: when 'Viva Flamenco', an internationally renowned Flamenco dance company, is to perform in the New Forest for the first time. For this special event we are putting on pre-show suppers at £6 per head (tickets to be bought in advance).

Through all these activities, the Hall is continuing to be used 'for the purposes of physical and mental training and recreation, and social, moral and intellectual development....for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Minstead' as set out in its constitution. Minstead Hall has also become recognised as a venue for high quality theatre entertainment.

Huge thanks to Rosie and Rae for their efforts in promoting and selling tickets for all the theatre events.Marian Young

All Saints' Churchwardens' News

We made a giant Christmas card and invited everyone to contribute a 'giant' greeting to their local friends and neighbours instead of buying and sending individual cards. The money that people would have spent on separate greetings was then donated to MukingeHospital in Zambia. This is a cause that we have supported for many years. We keep in regular contact with Michelle, a missionary nurse who works in the children's ward at Mukinge. We were able to send £550 to help to provide essential basic medical supplies for the hospital which was a great response, so "Thank you" to everyone who participated.

Several hardy Minstead folk took part in a "sleep-out" in Lyndhurst at the end of January in aid of Two Saints, the Southampton based charity working with homeless people.  With only their sleeping bags these brave folk spent a night on the ground outside St Michael's church. The charity provides many services including a hostel and a day centre. The sleep out was preceded by a bread and soup supper and an enlightening talk from one of the managers of the day centre. It's easy to forget, living in the comfortable surroundings of our warm homes, that the problem of homelessness exists almost on our doorsteps, and good to know that there are practical things we can all do to help. Over £500 was raised for the day centre.Sandy

Snippets from Isabel Yeo

·The Annual Parochial Church Meeting last spring was very well attended and was a first attempt to get the village (Church and non-church) to work together as a whole;

·The Advent service hosted a play that was cast, rehearsed and performed by people from Minstead Training Project;

·The annual Ragwort pull in July is a very necessary summer evening activity and it IS true, you DO get a free pint from the Chair of the Parish Council afterwards!;

·Minstead Players held a D-day celebration with memories from local people; a VictorianMusic Hall and Pantomime;

·Junior Minstead continues to thrive with autumn workshops and a 'Pumpkin Paraphernalia' (an afternoon carving pumpkin lanterns followed by an evening round the fire in the roundhouse) that was filmed last autumn for Southern Ways and that we're told is due to be shown in July. We have a Pantomime in production now with rehearsals twice a week. There are children from 3 -16 working together on and off stage;

·The Minstead Mummers followed Father Christmas and the Christmas carols on the village green. Our version of this traditional play was collected from a local lady by Nick and Jeanie Mellersh (in the 1960s perhaps?) and has been staged annually ever since. Last year it was organised in their absence by their son Justin.

So much is pulled together by Rosie and Rae at the village shop - what shall we all do without them??

You may view the Defra News Releasereferring to the designation, structure and details of the NFNP at www.defra.gov.uk/news/2005/050224a.htm .