The High Street has now been 'resurfaced'.  This has left us with a noisy road surface that is  bald on the bends.  I wonder how long it will take for a biker or car to loose control on the smooth tram lines that follow these bends and major junctions.  It's a shame they didn't seek a professional road surface by looking to remove the pot holes and bumps in the old road and to reduce road noise.

Yet another bodge in our village?  I recon so.

It also seems that we will not get the illuminated speed signs on the Reading Road as planned and many of the other speed reduction measures seem to have been cancelled by our glorious Parish Council.  More on this to come later.

The weather obliged with a perfect day of warm to hot temperatures and full sun. The event started with a fly past and parade through the high street. The floats were adorned with many happy children's faces and I think I even saw the tractor drivers smiling with pride.

The sports ground was full to capacity with vintage cars, vintage tractors, a car boot sale, a huge tent of arts and crafts, bouncy castles and several arenas (with dog shows, ferret racing, morris dancing and more). The owl and the donkey deserve a mention here too as they were unfussed by the constant crowds.

My personal favorite was the cream tea provided by the Scouts. There is just nothing like sitting back on a nice hot and sunny afternoon in England drinking tea and eating scones.

We've had loads of emails praising the feast - and by that they are praising the organisers and the people who dedicated their time to make Harwell's annual feast a stunning success.

Ed Vaizey took the Wantage seat for the Conservative Party with a significant majority.    Here are the other candidates.

Ed Vaizey - Conservative
Adam Twine - Green
Mark McDonald - Labour
Gerald Lambourne - English Democrats
Andrew Crawford - Liberal Democrats

There was a 11.4% Conservative majority in the last election.  You can find out more from the BBC web site by looking at the BBC news web site.

Roadworks have been ongoing at all entrances to Harwell Village.  New speed reduction measures on the Grove Road are a great improvement.   One cannot imagine that the cheap looking wooden 'stubs' that have appeared at the entrances to Harwell Village will do anything to improve the look of the area let alone our house prices.   Just down the road Upton has  fine white painted gates that look superb and are a credit to the area.  Yet another poor selection from the Parish Council?

The Grove Road is also going to get a 40mph speed limit (this is on the common rat-run route from the north of Didcot to the A34 junction).  Lets hope that the planned Light up signs will also appear on the A417 showing the 30mph speed limit to speeding drivers.

Following the collapse of the wall at Rosemead Cottage on the High Street on the 8th Feb 2005, Councillor Jim Mulford used Parish Council ground staff and equipment to help remove the debris and tidy up.   

There would normally be no issue here, and we would think 'what a nice thing to do', except that this is Jim Mulford's friend, and we have no evidence to suggest that assistance has been offered to anyone else in the Parish.  Clearly some people see Jim's assistance and reallocation of Parish Council staff and equipment as an irresponsible use of our money to help his friends. 

One can only speculate if this sort of activity has led to the increased cost of the Parish Council this year. 

This is the second incident where we have reported 'friends' of Jim Mulford gaining preferential treatment - the appointment of Jim Mulfords friend as Parish Council clerk (without as far as we can see any advertising for the post) being the first.  Many in the Parish question Jim Mulfords ethics, and see this type of action as the cause.

This could be a mistake though, and Parish Councillor Jim Mulford may be honestly looking to help all members of the Parish.  We would like to see his plans for this (and we will certainly be looking through the Parish Council minutes for any cost recovery or admission of a conflict of interests from Jim Mulford), but in the mean time please feel free to contact him on 01235 835500 (number taken from the Harwell Parish notice board).  Do not hold your breath though as we have already heard from people who have been turned down by Jim.

We have a short addition to the article, the owner of the house did confirm to us in an email that Jim and Co. were helping.  She was at pains though to point out that it was a road traffic accident that demolished the wall.

The current Chairman of our Parish Council is June Blissett.  She and a few of the other B-list Parish Councillors have been shocked that they are being held accountable for what they do with our money.

This site has single handedly sparked debate within the village, with everyone from Postmen to Church Clergy talking about the issues and questioning the Parish Council's activities.

Parish Councillor and current Chairman June Blissett is understood to be furious that we can point out any misgivings and suspicious activities of the unelected Parish Council members.

In her attempt to close this site down, June Blissett's legal action admitted that she could not contest the fact's listed on the site, and that she could only attempt to change some of the words as they might damage her reputation.   We will leave it for others to decide if the fact's damage your reputation June, and to question why your spending our money proping it up.

This site invites Harwell Parish Council to respond to this, and anything else on this site.  Any statement they make will be published unedited on this site.   The mailbox is open....