Here we go again!

The recent wet weekend brought a repeat of the old drains problems - with stormwater surcharging the sewers and pushing raw sewage up through manholes at the lower end of the village.

Storm water pushes sewage up through the manhole at the
junction of The Rudge and the A417.  Severn Trent say they
won't be doing anything about it for at least the next 10 years,
yet they raised no objection to building another 45 houses that
will add to the problem.

The Parish Council has continually raised this problem with the relevant authorities.  It also made the strongest possible representations to Tewkesbury Borough Council against allowing more houses to add their sewage and storm water to make the problem worse.  It was all to no avail, as Tewkesbury are under such pressure from central government to give permission for extra houses.

Maisemore FC helping the community

After hearing about an elderly gentlemen in Cheltenham who was recently the victim of rogue traders, and as a result lost his life savings and was left with a dangerous and unsightly driveway, the guys of Maisemore FC felt compelled to offer their help and support to put things right.

The helpful team, from left to right, are Vince Rawle, Ed Knight,
Ashley Tipping, Jay Bubb, Adam Causon, Tim Bloxham,
Darrell Hobbs, Debbie Lancett, Kim Powell and Aaron Boote.

The team gathered at the White Hart Inn at 7:30am on Saturday 17^th October and headed over to Cheltenham in a convoy of vehicles - which included a John Deere tractor kindly supplied by Dirtworks of Maisemore. Jay Bubb and Ashley Tipping led the operation, providing some much needed expertise, supported by a rabble of enthusiastic (if not all that able!) men. Since these men are usually to be found sat behind a desk, it’s fair to say that Jay and Ash were pleased to at least have the experience of Tim Bloxham and Kim Powell in the team!

Like every good army, every good ground works team relies on a full stomach! Breakfast consisted of the finest bacon and sausage rolls, generously donated by Gurneys Butchers and perfectly prepared by Debbie Lancett, who was later to be seen joining in the fun, swinging a sledgehammer with alarming vigour!

The morning wasn’t exactly incident free, with some mechanical failures as well as, perhaps unsurprisingly, a few human failures too (we won’t mention any names, Darren Hobbs knows what he did!). But, only seven short hours later, the job was completed, and a lovely elderly gentlemen had had his faith in human nature restored.

It was a fantastic day and everyone involved had a brilliant time. The day was followed by a great evening in the local pub with delicious curry kindly donated by the team at the White Hart (many thanks go to Kesh, Bimal, and Dev) and a bottle of bubbly courtesy of Phil.

When setting up Maisemore FC last year, I never imagined that such good would come of it, and I’m extremely proud of the whole team. My sincere thanks go to everyone involved, as follows: Jay Bubb, Ashley Tipping, Debbie Lancett, Kim Powell, Adam Causon, Aaron Boote, Tim Bloxham, Ed Knight, and Darrell Hobbs.

My thanks also to the local businesses that provided materials, equipment, and refreshments, as follows: James Bubb Landscaping, Dirtworks, Complete Irrigation, Gurneys Butchers, QA, and of course The White Hart. Additionally, I would like to publicly thank B&Q who willingly provided materials at a significantly discounted rate.

Finally, weekend family time is extremely precious, so my thanks to all the wives and children who lent me their husbands and fathers for the day.

Vince Rawle