We are running a competition for children in the village at key stage 2 to design a front cover for the April Edition of LINK. The Primary School has agreed to assist us in this, but the competition will also be open to children living in the village who go to other schools.

The rules are:

· The picture is to be in black and white and should be submitted on A4 size paper in portrait mode (which just means upright not sideways)

· The theme is to be spring (see tips and suggestions below)

· Entries must be submitted by 29th February 2008 and should be given to Jim Inch, 16A High Street or any member of the LINK Committee.

· The entries will be shortlisted (depending on number); and then judged by a panel. It is intended that the panel will include one member of the school staff, one member of the LINK Committee and one other village representative. The Panel’s decision will be final.

· The picture must be entirely the child's own work.

The winning entry will be used as the front cover of the April edition of LINK. The runners up will be featured inside the magazine; and all shortlisted entries will be published on the LINK website.

The winner and runners up will receive  prizes in the form of art materials.

Tips and suggestions

The theme is spring, so the picture could be of things like nesting birds, spring flowers, lambs or other baby animals. Easter is early this year and will be over by the time the magazine comes out, so don't do easter eggs. But eggs in a nest, or bunnies, would be fine. Remember that the picture will be in black and white, so don't choose something that really needs colour. Badgers of course are great for black and white and so are magpies. If you want to do flowers think of ones that can be recognised by their shape. Remember too that the picture is going to be printed, so it needs to be quite strong. An ordinary pencil won't be dark enough. A felt tip pen is probably the most suitable, but anything that will produce a good dark line will do. You can always do it in pencil first and go over it afterwards with felt tip or whatever.

We hope to have a painting competition for Key Stage 1 pupils later in the year.

GOOD LUCK

Jim Inch.

Calling All Advertisers

If you are an advertiser in LINK, we hope to contact you shortly to assess the feasibility of taking advertising onto our website. Our intention is to build up a directory of all services and businesses serving the village to give the households of Bugbrooke easy to find information when they need help. If you already have a website, this would then LINK them directly to it. If you don't, we could build your own web page for you, giving you your own unique web address and allowing your business to be found via the main internet search engines. We will charge only a nominal amount for this service, our intention being to cover our website costs. Any excess will go to local good causes. 

We are also looking for a sponsor for our next colour front page for summer 2008. This will show the winners of a children’s painting competition for key stage 1 pupils. The additional printing costs associated with this are around £120, so if you would like to be a sponsor associated with this for part or all of the cost we would welcome hearing from you.

Geoff Cooke

Parish Council Report

Last year we conducted a village survey to which we received an overwhelming response. One aspect of that survey looked at housing provision and, of those who responded, 65% considered there was a need for affordable housing in Bugbrooke. As indicated in the last copy of LINK, SNC wants to take this further and carry out a detailed housing needs survey. You should have received a copy of this survey by now and I would encourage you all to complete and return it in the pre-paid envelope by the 22nd February. It is by knowing the views of the residents of Bugbrooke that appropriate plans for provision can be drawn up.  Contact Laura Welch on 01327 322372 for any help in completing the survey.

NCC have at last painted the correct double yellow lines adjacent to Wagon & Horses Green on the High Street as well as reinstating faded existing lines at various locations. The NCC Enforcement team now have the duty to enforce these parking restrictions and to ticket any vehicle parked unlawfully. We have also discussed provision of other areas for double yellow lines and we agreed to draw up a list for inclusion in the district review scheduled for autumn 2008. With respect to parking I would ask all residents to be considerate and think about others, in particular people using pushchairs or invalid carriages on the pavement, when they park their cars.

The Parish noticeboard on Meadway has recently succumbed to weather/vandalism and the remains have been removed. The various noticeboards around the village provide an important function of displaying Council related matters as well as allowing parishioners to promote events. It is the intention of the Council to replace this noticeboard in the near future.

There are still a small number of street lights around the village which have old fashioned concrete columns. Over the past few years the Council has had a programme of replacing these old columns and over the next few months these remaining lights will be replaced by galvanised columns. Please remember that if you see any street lights that are out please report them to the Parish office, quoting the number on the column if possible, and normally they will be repaired within 7 days.

Phil Bignell – Chairman   www.bugbrookelink.co.uk/parishcouncil

Immobilise

If you have received a new mobile phone, laptop, camera, sat nav or any other item with a serial number this Christmas make sure you register it with Immobilise or another secure personal property register organisation. Immobilise.com is a free service designed to protect your property. Registering your property will increase the chances of it being returned to you if it is stolen. You can register your property at www.immobilise.com

Thieves are opportunistic so make sure that you don’t give them the opportunity. Please take these simple steps to keep your belongings safe and help reduce crime:

Don’t leave your phone, sat nav or personal belongings out on show in cars, on pub/ restaurant tables or other public spaces.

Try and limit the amount of time in which you use your phone and personal music players in public.

Avoid using your phone near bus stations or when getting on and off the bus. Wait until you are further away from the stop or station.

Always assess whether it is safe to get your phone or personal belongings out.

If your phone or other belongings are lost or stolen, report the loss IMMEDIATELY to Northamptonshire Police on 08453 700 700 or in emergency call 999. Keep a note of the numbers that you would need to call if you lost your phone. Contact your service provider and ask them to block your SIM card and handset. This will ensure that the phone will not work, making it useless to the thief. If you do not have their number, contact the immobilise help line 08701 123 123 who will provide you with your service provider contact details.

When is Easter?

Wasn't it early last year? Or was that the year before? How early can it get, and how late? And why?

The latest date for Easter Day is 25th April, and it has been on that date twice in the past hundred years, in 1886, and 1943. It fell on 23rd March in 1845, 1856, and 1913 and is never in March two years running.

The mathematics are easy; what is hard is following the rules, try following this!  The canonical rule is that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the 14th day of the lunar month (the nominal full moon) that falls on or after 21st March (nominally the day of the vernal equinox). For determining the feast, Christian churches settled on a method to define a reckoned "ecclesiastical" full moon, rather than observations of the true moon as the Jews did. Eastern Orthodox Christians calculate the fixed date of 21st March according to the Julian Calendar rather than the modern Gregorian Calendar, and observe the additional rule that Easter may not precede or coincide with the first day of the Jewish Passover.

If you think this is complicated take a look at some of the statistics. Easter has not fallen on the earliest of the 35 possible dates March 22nd, since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It will however, fall on March 23rd this year, but will not do so again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25th, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038. However, it will fall on April 24th, just one day before this latest possible date, in 2011.

The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19th being the most common date, happening 220,400 times, or 3.9% compared to a mean for all dates of 162,857 times, or 2.9%.

Perhaps with all of the above it’s a good job that Christians celebrate Jesus' resurrection every first day of the week in any case and in Christ they live the resurrected life each and every day.

If you do not already; why not make this 23rd March, (which will not happen for another 153 years) the day when you start celebrating the Easter message each and every week.

The Revd Stephen R.J. French, Rector of Bugbrooke, Harpole, Kislingbury and Rothersthorpe

Mothering Sunday Service 

Bugbrooke church was full for last year's mother of all Mothering Sunday services – well it's happening again! On March 2nd at 9.45am (we know it's early but you won't have to wash up, the kids will have done it).

 There 's going to be live music this year, gospel singers and a VERY lively service. And posies! And cake! If you were there last year, you'll know how good it felt to thank God for mothers (and fathers, step-mums and dads, grandparents, whoever does the caring in your house) and we'd love to see you there again. And if you didn't come last year, turn up this time, bring the

kids and see what you missed, but better! We hope!
Lynne Clayson 830480

Tree of Light Service 2007

Many thanks to all who gave to, and helped with, the Tree of Light Service which provided an opportunity for an hour’s quiet reflection and remembrance of our loved ones in the hectic run-up to Christmas. Donations amounted to £711, which has been divided equally and forwarded to CLIC Sargent (the children's cancer charity), Arthritis Care and Bugbrooke Church.

Lynne Clayson 830480

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