The Five Villages

The Five Villages

Authors Note: This is a completely new idea for me, rather than weaving a story round several central characters, I decided to just write short snippets of information as seen through the eyes of a news reporter. All characters are fictitious, although some real names appear briefly. The villages are imaginary and situated somewhere in the English Midlands. The villages are Burton Agnes, Burton Downs, Burton Springs, Burton Woods and Burton Hollow. However, any major cities mentioned are real.

A cyclist was injured when the wheel of her bicycle became trapped in a rut on Hollington Hill, in Burton Agnes. The local authority had stripped the top surface the previous day in readiness for re-surfacing. The woman, believed to be in her fifties, from Burton Downs had her front wheel caught in a deep rut, from which she was unable to regain control. She ended up being thrown from her bicycle when the front wheel hit a high kerb. She was taken to hospital with facial injuries, but is not thought to be seriously hurt. The highways authority has declined to comment about the incident.

Two students from Five Vills Academy in Burton Hollow have been accepted on a new course to attract new people into the aviation industry. Stephen Bales and Pippa Holloway, both eighteen, will join a course to train commercial pilots. They will start in two weeks’ time with Ryan Air. The course lasts for two years and Ryan Air will guarantee them pilots positions at the end of the course. Both Stephen and Pippa are from Burton Springs and both have been involved with the local squadron of the Air Training Corps for a number of years. Both said they are really looking forward to the challenge.

Police were called to a residence in Burton Agnes following reports of a burglar alarm sounding at 2AM. There were no signs of forced entry and neighbours gave the police a key to enter the property, as the owners are away on holiday. The police officers and the neighbour were unable to turn the alarm off, so an alarm technician was called out. After investigation, it transpired that a cable feeding the system had been chewed through, probably by rodents causing the alarm to sound. A repair was affected and police remained on the scene until this was complete and the alarm silenced.

James Barrowcliffe, the owner of Burton Hall has decided to hold a music festival on his land in the autumn. Planning permission for the temporary tented accommodation has already been approved and several big names have agreed to appear over the three day event. These include Irish country singer Michael English, Taylor Swift and London duo Chas and Dave. Police, however have raised concerns about the vehicular access to the site but Mr Barrowcliffe has assured the authorities that he will lay a new access road into the site to alleviate their concerns.

A family from Burton Springs had a lucky escape yesterday while driving their car down Main Street. A large sink hole suddenly opened up in front of their vehicle. Peter Jackson who was driving was unable to stop in time and the car fell into the sink hole. His wife, Sandra and their two children, Marcie and Reuben were unhurt although the car was badly damaged. The sink hole is about forty feet long, eleven feet wide and about fifteen feet deep. The fire service was able to rescue the family using heavy lifting equipment and a hydraulic platform appliance. The local authority is investigating and preliminary findings suggest that the sink hole may have been caused by collapsed lead mine workings which were closed nearly a century ago. Main Street will likely be closed for up to two weeks while repairs are made. Police have set up diversions around the area and warn drivers that severe delays are to be expected.

The vicar of St Mark`s church in Burton Agnes had a pleasant surprise yesterday. When the vicar, David Knowles, took over three years ago he had a lucky escape when a chunk of masonry fell from the spire, narrowly missing a wedding party. Rev. Knowles immediately got in touch with a local builder who recommended a full survey of the building which dates from the early thirteenth century. He contacted a firm of structural engineers from just outside Manchester, about thirty miles away, and they duly carried out a survey. The news was not good, and they informed Rev. Knowles that even temporary repairs to the structure of the tower and spire would cost in the region of £100,000, and that was just to make the building safe. A full repair would have to be undertaken as well to ensure that the building remained standing for at least another fifty years, or without that work, the tower and spire would probably have to be demolished within two or three years. Scaffolding was erected to support the crumbling structure and is still in place. Rev. Knowles started fund raising immediately to raise the initial £100,000 and then to continue towards the final estimate for full restoration of £635,000.

Yesterday a blank envelope was posted through the vicarage door, which when opened was found to contain a cheque for £600,000 for the restoration work. The vicar`s fund raising has already made nearly £40,000 so whoever the donor is, was aware of this. Rev. Knowles has no idea who his mystery donor is as the cheque is drawn on a banker`s cheque from a big exclusive bank in London. He telephoned the bank to verify the cheque and the bank told him that the cheque was good but declined to tell him who the donor was. Rev. Knowles and all his parishioners are now thanking god for their good fortune. Full scale works will commence shortly with a company who specialise in this kind of work from London. Rev. Knowles says the church will remain in use throughout the duration of the works which are expected to take around a year to complete.

Like many other Fire and Rescue services throughout the country facing cuts to services to try and save money, our local county brigade is no different. Fire cover for the Burton`s is currently provided by a main fire station almost fifteen miles away which obviously means it takes a fair while for the service to respond to emergencies. The county brigade has decided on a complete re-vamp of its stations and as a consequence has purchased a three acre site at Burton Hollow on which it plans to build a new divisional headquarters station covering the south of the county. This will mean that the Burton`s will be far better protected than at present. Several small stations in towards the county town will be closed and services concentrated on the new building. The new station will carry eleven appliances and will open in around six months. John Defoe of Burton Hollow parish council welcomed the news and said it will make a vast difference to services and peace of mind for all the residents of The Burton`s. Chief Fire Officer Malcolm Higgins said that it was time the service re-vamped for the twenty-first century and is building three other new stations in addition to Burton Hollow situated at strategic points throughout the county which will eventually concentrate all services on these four new stations. All of the existing stations will close within two years by which time the new stations will be up and operational. The requirement for retained fire fighters is also being reduced as any retained personnel leaving or retiring from the service will not be replaced. The service is recruiting a further twenty five fulltime fire fighters over the next two years.

Ludo Polaski who has run the general store in Burton Hollow for the past forty years has retired. Ludo`s father came to the village in 1946, from Poland, just after the end of the second world war, and opened the store a few months later. Ludo took charge of the shop in 1956, aged eighteen, when his father died. He has opened the shop every day since, including Christmas, Sunday`s and all bank holidays, from seven in the morning until eleven at night, never taking a day off or taking a holiday. Ludo said that now he is approaching eighty years of age it was time to step down and relax a bit. His wife Amelia died several years ago and the couple had no children. Ludo says he might indulge himself in a cruise round the world. He said he`d never really had anything to spend his money on, so retired a wealthy man. The shop has been taken over by the One-Stop chain, which will modernise the shop and introduce new lines. The villagers are sad to see Ludo go after so many years but are glad that the store will remain. All Ludo`s customers and suppliers over the years wish him a very happy retirement.

The Burton Woods branch of the Women`s Institute is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. The Burton Woods branch was in the first twenty to be established when the Institute was formed in 1915. The branch has occupied the same premises on Garden Lane since its inception, so it is a double celebration. The building used to be the local school house but the Institute took it over when the school closed due to dwindling numbers. They are holding a series of activities throughout the summer to mark this important milestone in their history. There will be coffee mornings, bring and buy sales and evening concerts, culminating in an autumn fair in October. All the events are open to everyone. The current membership numbers 237 and this is the largest the group has been in its long history, and members are drawn from all walks of life. Any ladies interested in joining are asked to contact the branch secretary, Patricia Rose, to discuss their involvement.

The Acorn Surgery in Castle Hill, Burton Springs opened its new extension yesterday. The new extension is built on a two acre site, which was a disused meadow to the rear of the existing building. The new extension will bring much needed extra healthcare to the Burtons, as it includes an X-Ray suite, which includes a CT scanner and MRI scanner, the first time these items have been available outside of the general hospital in the county town. A Dental Suite, which can handle all dental treatment including sedation and other orthodontic specialities. There is a large walk in treatment centre, an eye care unit and facilities for day surgery. Senior partner Doctor Chris Stevens said they were thrilled with their new facilities. He said that they have taken on a total of eighteen new specialist staff and three more GP`s to cope with the expected extra workload. They also have recruited three new practice nurses and a paramedic to assist the GP`s with routine appointments. The new surgery complex will be open from seven thirty in the morning until nine at night, six days a week. Practice Manager Lorraine Copthorne added that the new extension was long overdue and she reassured all patients present and future that her team of five reception staff were looking forward to the extra challenges the new development would bring, and that services were only going to get better. The surgery also has its own ambulance now, with a full time crew as Doctor Stevens said that if an emergency arises in the complex it will be quicker to carry the patient to hospital themselves rather than waiting for the county ambulance service which could save as much as twenty minutes and might mean the difference between life and death.

A major search is underway at Burton Downs after a seven year old girl was taken from the playground of St Crispin’s primary school. The girl was taken during the morning break when all the children were outside in the playground. The gate to the road is kept locked during school hours, and Becky Sebastian, a teaching assistant who has only been at the school for a couple of weeks, was on playground duty when the incident occurred. Becky says she remembers seeing a young black woman outside the gate, apparently talking to several children over the gate. When the children were called back into the building at the end of break time, it was discovered that seven year old Tammy Stokes was missing. The fence around the school is only a little over three feet in height so it would have been relatively easy to lift a small child over it. Becky says the woman was in her twenties, wearing a blue polo neck jumper with a grey jacket. She was wearing faded blue jeans and black boots.

Tammy is quite small for her age, being only three foot four inches tall, she is of slight build and has long blonde hair and blue eyes. Becky says she didn`t recognise the woman as she has only been at the school a short time and doesn`t know all the parents yet. There are several black children in the school so that didn`t ring any alarm bells in her mind. Police were called and are conducting enquiries in the local area. A lady walking her dog outside the school remembers seeing a young black woman get into a grey Ford Mondeo and drive away minutes before break time ended. She was unable to tell if there was anyone else in the car, and was not able to get the registration number of the car. Police have circulated a description of the car. Tammy`s parents are at the school assisting the police.

Burton Springs Manor has been placed on the market. The fortified Elizabethan manor house has been in the same family for over three hundred years, but the current incumbents, David and Monica Epsom are selling up to move to Australia to be nearer their family who emigrated there forty years ago. They say that the house is too big for them now and they don`t feel they do it justice by remaining as they can longer afford the upkeep to keep the building in good order. David holds the title of Marquis of Tankerton, a hereditary title. The house has eleven bedrooms, three bathrooms and five reception rooms as well as a large kitchen, garaging for four vehicles and several outbuildings. It stands in a one thousand five hundred acre estate consisting of woodlands and rolling parkland. There are two tenant farms on the estate. The National Trust has expressed an interest in the property and hopes to secure the sale at the forthcoming sale by auction. The trust says that if it is successful, it will hopefully open the house to the general public, and that the two tenant farmers would be safe under their ownership. The property is expected to fetch a figure in the region of six million pounds.

Dale Rail a preserved steam railway which has its headquarters at Burton Woods has just carried its one millionth passenger. The line is an old branch line of the Midland railway and runs from Burton Woods through Burton Hollow on an eight mile trip to Howden Junction Station where it has a connection to the main line. The line is staffed entirely by volunteers and has been operating for just over four years. The original line was closed in the nineteen sixties under the Beeching plans and a lot of the original track work was lifted during the seventies and early eighties. Some buildings have been constructed on the old track bed which caused problems for the Dale Rail Society when they decided to try and re-open the line. It took thirteen years of hard work and numerous planning applications and a cost of over a million pounds, all raised by fundraising and private subscriptions to get the line as it is today. Where possible the society has used the existing track bed and has laid new track bed round the various buildings and other land on the route that is now privately owned. The route passes over several viaducts and through six tunnels on its route. Burton Woods house the headquarters of the society along with the locomotive depot and carriage sheds, all of which are open to the public. Much of the rolling stock is original Midland main line stock rescued from all over the country where it was in various uses including several camping coaches on the south coast. Its fleet of steam and diesel locomotives has come from various sources, including a Gresley Pacific locomotive “Spirt of Endeavour” which was found as a rusting hulk on Barry Island in South Wales and has been fully restored to running order by the team of volunteer tradesmen and other volunteers. The line carried its one millionth passenger last Thursday and the lucky passenger, Charlie Witt on holiday from his home in Devon, was presented with an engraved plaque to mark the occasion along with a lifetime travel pass for the railway. Charlie said he was delighted to be such a special passenger and said the plaque will take pride of place in his sitting room back home.

Three people were killed and a fourth seriously injured in a car crash just outside Burton Springs. The car, a Vauxhall Vectra, driven by Paul Williams, eighteen, left the road on a hairpin bend on a steep downhill section of road. As this is a minor road, there are no crash barriers at this point. The car left the road just after one AM on Saturday morning and plunged over a sheer drop of sixty feet before smashing through the roof of a house on a lower section of the same road. Paul Williams, his female passenger, Sarah Greenly, sixteen, died at the scene along with Eric Collier, seventy three, the owner of the property that the car crashed into. Eric`s wife Penny was seriously injured in the accident and is in intensive care in hospital. The car went through the roof and landed on top of the couple`s bed. Eric was trapped beneath the wreckage and doctors said he died instantly. Penny had gone to the bathroom and was just about to get back into bed when the accident happened. She was hurt by the collapsing ceiling and roof trusses and her condition is described as critical.

Police investigators say that Paul Williams had a blood alcohol reading of seventy nine micrograms, per 100ml of breath, the legal limit is thirty five micrograms. He came from Manchester and probably did not know the road, police say. His passenger, Sarah was found to have a high concentration of class A drugs in her system. Police say it was an accident waiting to happen. The house has been declared unsafe and will probably have to be demolished. Local residents of the area have been campaigning for crash barriers to be installed here and hope that now this tragedy has occurred, the local highways department will look again at their request.

Martin Coleman the vicar of St Thomas `s church in Burton Hollow will be leaving the parish at the end of the year. He is to take up a new appointment as Dean of Worcester Cathedral. Rev. Colman has been at St Thomas`s for nine years and has been a very popular vicar and village resident. He was born in Bournemouth and attended theological college in Salisbury, where he graduated with a MA. And DrTh. qualifications. He is currently studying through the Open University for a DrDiv. (Doctor of Theology & Doctor of Divinity) Qualification. His first post was as curate at St John`s church in St Albans in Hertfordshire before becoming vicar at St Thomas`s. He was described as a very able student by his ex -instructors at Salisbury and one said he knew that when Martin left the college he would go a long way within the Church of England. This new post is the next step on the ladder to becoming a bishop, which he has said has been his long term ambition since he left college. Rev Coleman is married with two teenage daughters. His wife works as a self- employed graphic artist, working from home at the vicarage. His family is really pleased about his promotion and are looking forward to the move to Worcester. His successor is Rev. Marie Donaldson who is currently the curate at St Thomas`s. She said she is looking forward to her new challenges that come with becoming the resident vicar.

Police were called to a supermarket in Burton Agnes yesterday after reports of a man brandishing a pistol in the street outside the Tesco Express store and yelling and swearing in the street. An armed response unit was sent to the scene but by the time they arrived, the man had disappeared. Police launched a major manhunt and a male person was apprehended an hour later between Burton Agnes and Burton Downs. He gave himself up to the police team once he was made aware that he would possibly be shot if he failed to comply. The weapon was found to be unloaded and the man said he had no ammunition for the gun. When police later searched his house, this was confirmed. He is said to be an ex-employee of the store who was aggrieved at his dismissal over what he considered was a minor matter. Neither the police nor Tesco will say why the man was dismissed. He was arrested and taken to the county town custody suite. He is due to appear in court tomorrow charged with threatening behaviour and having a firearm in a public place. Police did say that he has a history of mental illness and this is not the first time that this type of incident has occurred, the last one being in Birmingham two years ago.

Webster Hall on the outskirts of Burton Springs will feature in a new television series from the BBC. It will be a historical drama, title as yet unknown, and will tell the story of the plague that ravished England between 1665 and 1666. A local village is quite famous as “The Plague” village and the story will revolve round the various people whose lives were changed forever by the outbreak. Thousands died throughout England during this dark time in history. Martin Shaw is reported to be playing the part of the Rev Mompesson who was a major figure of the plague and the steps taken to stop it spreading. Filming is due to start in a month`s time and the first episode should be on screen by summer next year. Webster Hall is a large country house and as it has a large estate; it makes a good location for filming away from modern influences.

The Army Reservists who have been stationed at Montgomery Court in Burton Agnes for the past forty seven years will be leaving shortly. The Ministry of Defence is closing the barracks and moving its troops to other locations in the area. A spokesman for the ministry said that the building needs a lot of work to bring it up to twenty first century standards and that it is cheaper for the troops to re-locate to more suitable modern buildings. The barracks are currently home to 77 Bomb Disposal Squadron, Royal Engineers (R), 91 Squadron Royal Logistic Corps (R), 580 Training Squadron Army Air Corps (R) along with small detachments of REME and Army Catering Corps. All the troops stationed here are reservists apart from about forty full time soldiers. The units plan to beat the retreat in each of the five Burton villages before they leave. Staff bands from the RLC and RE have been booked for these events travelling north from their bases down south. It promises to be quite a spectacle with all the troops in ceremonial dress. The existing building has already been sold by the MOD and plans have been submitted by Regent Leisure from Burton Hollow to build a leisure centre on the site. This will include a swimming pool and squash courts along with a cafeteria and a small conference suite.

The Lance and Sabre public house in Burton Woods Market Place has just won a prestigious five star Michelin rating for its restaurant. The owners, Mark and Elizabeth Bailey have run the pub for five years and have been serving high class food in their cosy dining room for the past three. The restaurant is not large, having seating for only thirty five people but the emphasis is on quality not quantity. Mark spent twenty three years in the Royal Air Force as a chef, working mainly at RAF Northwood near London, the UK headquarters of NATO so is used to preparing high quality food for senior officers and politicians. Their son, Alan is also a highly skilled chef, coming from working at The Dorchester Hotel in London, he will be joining his parents in the pub and will have overall responsibility for the day to day running of the establishment, as Mark and Elizabeth intend to take a more passive role in operations as they are both approaching sixty and want to relax a bit more. Mark has said that any parties of four or more people who visit the pub will get a complimentary bottle of champagne to celebrate winning the Michelin stars.

Mary Bacon who runs Mary`s Hairdressers in Burton Woods has taken on larger premises to cope with her ever growing client list. She has taken on three new stylists, one of whom is a qualified hairdresser from London`s West End. Sarah says she is looking forward to bringing London style to a more rural location. The new shop has enough room for all four stylists to work at the same time. Mary has also recruited a nail and beauty technician to further enhance the services she can offer to her clients. The new salon will be open for longer hours now, including all day Saturday to give working ladies a better choice of available appointments. The new salon has the bonus of on-site parking for seven cars as well. It is hoped to start a mobile service as well shortly.

Farmer Jason Truckle from Brook Farm at Burton Springs had a severe shock yesterday when he returned to the farm from the cattle market. As he drove his Land Rover and animal trailer up the farm track he was amazed to spot a yellow helicopter in the field nearest the farm buildings in what he called home field. As he drew nearer he realised that the helicopter was in fact the county air ambulance. On arriving in the farmyard, he was met by his wife, Sandra and a man in an orange jumpsuit. It transpired that one of the farm workers, Alan Starr, aged nineteen, had been attempting to carry out some repairs to the roof of the main barn. He had leant over to reach something and had fallen twenty five feet on to hard packed earth. The man in the orange jumpsuit turned out to be the pilot and he explained that Alan had suffered serious injuries including a fractured skull. When Sandra heard a yell and then a crash she had rushed outside to find Alan unconscious with the ladder lying nearby. She had promptly called 999 for an ambulance. The air ambulance had been on its way back to its base after having dropped their previous patient in hospital and had been diverted to attend the incident, arriving only five minutes after Sandra`s emergency call. While the pilot was explaining what had happened two paramedics appeared from behind the barn with the unconscious Alan strapped to the trolley. His head was bandaged and he was immobilised on the trolley. He was accompanied by another man in orange who turned out to be a doctor and a nurse also in orange holding a drip up above the trolley. The team quickly loaded the stretcher trolley on board and made sure it was secure before they boarded and prepared to convey Alan to hospital. Jason and Sandra requested to travel with him but the pilot declined as there was no spare space for them to sit safely. The doctor told Jason that they were going to Manchester Royal Infirmary as that was the nearest major trauma unit. Once the air ambulance had departed, Jason and Sandra got into the Land Rover, after unhitching the trailer and set off for the hospital.

The Acorns surgery in Burton Springs saw an extra influx of patients yesterday when seventeen patients presented with severe food poisoning after a meal out in Burton Hollow. The friends had gone to The Golden Buddha Indian restaurant in the High Street for a retirement dinner for a colleague. Nine of the people required hospital treatment and a further three were unaffected by the illness. They had all had different food to eat and it seemed that the cause was unknown. However one of the unaffected people said that all the others had eaten some kind of home-made sweets with their coffee after their meal. Doctor Kim Richards saw all the patients and those that required hospitalisation were conveyed there in the surgery`s own ambulance. Halij Khan, the owner of the restaurant said that the sweets were a traditional Indian recipe and that they were always offered to diners after their meals. The sweets contain Cumin seeds and Mr Khan said that he had got the seeds from a new supplier as his regular one was out of stock. He had only picked the stock up that morning. The doctor was bound by law to inform Defra, the government agency tasked with food hygiene and safety. A preliminary enquiry by Defra established that the seeds came from India and contained traces of a chemical used only in a liquid mixture for crop spraying. Investigations are continuing and are expected to lead back to the farm in India which produced the seeds, to find out why there was a trace of the chemicals in the seeds. Apparently even very small doses of the chemical can cause severe food poisoning and if taken in larger doses can prove fatal. The nine people that required hospitalisation had eaten at least two of the sweets each. Mr Khan has since taken the sweets off the menu and has given his stock of the seeds to the Defra investigators to assist their enquiries. The supplier has also withdrawn all its stocks from sale and has issued urgent recalls to anyone who purchased the contaminated seeds.

A serious road traffic collision in Burton Woods has left one person seriously injured and a police officer dead. The crash occurred at around one thirty yesterday morning on an unlit stretch of road between Burton Agnes and Burton Woods. A car left the road when the elderly female driver suffered what is thought to be a heart attack causing her to lose control of her Ford Fiesta and plunge into a roadside drainage ditch. A passing motorist stopped and called the emergency services. One of the attending police officers, PC Dennis Wright was kneeling at the roadside examining the crash scene when another vehicle approached at high speed. PC Wright was hit by the car and thrown almost forty feet by the impact. He was declared dead at the scene. The car failed to stop despite suffering quite extensive damage to the front nearside. The car was later found abandoned several miles away, and had been reported stolen in Sheffield the previous week. A major hunt has now been launched by the police to find the driver. Forensic experts have examined the vehicle and have some DNA traces which they believe may belong to the driver. Police are urging the unknown person to come forward and tell them what happened. Traces of alcohol were found around the driver`s seat area making the police suspect that the driver was drunk.

Charles Rigby, ninety six, who lives in sheltered accommodation at Rose Hall in Burton Agnes, has gone missing. He is an ex-paratrooper having served in France and Germany during the Second World War. Despite his advanced years Charles is said to be fit and active and knows how to take care of himself. He went missing yesterday afternoon and no one has seen him since. Tomorrow marks the seventieth anniversary of the death of his brother, killed on active service in the closing days of the war aged twenty two. His brother James was a Captain with 3 Para at the time of his death. Charles himself also served with 3 Para, but he was not involved in the action that saw the death of his brother. He was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross for single handedly taking out a German machine gun post on the outskirts of Berlin. His son, Peter, thought that maybe his father had gone to Germany to better remember the anniversary of his uncle`s death. Despite an alert being circulated to all ports and airports there have been no sightings of Charles.

A local beauty spot in the high hills above Burton Springs popular with dog walkers has been closed by the local council following several reports from people about their dogs mysteriously becoming ill after having been in the area. No explanation has been given yet for the cause of the dog`s illness`s which causes vomiting, and dehydration, also affecting the limb functions of some animals. Of the eleven cases so far reported to the council, three dogs have died as a result of the illness. One distraught owner whose dog sadly died said the illness came on really quickly, one minute the dog was fine and within a few minutes it was writhing on the floor in agony. It died about an hour later. Vet, Terry Dobson performed a post mortem on the dog but the results are not known at this time. He suspects that some kind of poison, whether natural or man-made is responsible. The police and Defra have also become involved and currently have a forensic team on site examining the soil and natural vegetation. A police spokesman said that if the poison proves to man-made then they might have serious problem, particularly if the poison was laid down deliberately.

The residents of the Burton villages are angry with their local bus operator, a private company from Manchester, who provides services throughout the area of the Burtons and further afield. Until now the residents have enjoyed an hourly service connecting the five villages and running through to Manchester and Sheffield, which runs from half past six in the morning until eleven at night Monday to Saturday. There is no Sunday service. The bus is popular with pupils of Five Vills Academy and the college a bit further out at High Cross, as well as some business travellers and shoppers. The company has decided that the service does not pay and as a consequence has altered the route so that the bus only calls at Burton Agnes now on its way between Manchester and Sheffield. Several other villages along the route have also been dropped meaning that many people are now without public transport. The service has been re-branded as an express service between Manchester and Sheffield. Residents have appealed to the company and also the traffic commissioner to have the service re-instated but the company will not budge from its decision. The last service runs on Saturday.

Michael Jones who owns Mikes Auto`s in Burton Hollow has appeared in court on charges relating to the cars he sells. He handles used cars in the upper market sector, usually Jaguars, Mercedes Benz, Range Rover and Bentley, with an average cost of £11000. All the cars are no older than four years and all look good on his forecourt. He recently sold a Jaguar S series for £8500 to a gentleman from Burton Agnes. Within a week of purchasing the vehicle, it developed major problems which caused the buyer, Harold King, severe inconvenience as he was in London at the time on business. The car had to be towed to a garage that effected repairs at some considerable cost. They advised Mr King that there were faults with the vehicle and that he should take it back to the dealer for them to sort out. On his return home, Mr King went back to Mikes Auto`s, but Michael Jones said there was nothing wrong with the car and refused to even inspect it. Mr King then contacted the Motor Dealers Association for their advice. They sent an inspector out to examine the car and found that in addition to several serious mechanical faults, the engine number did not match that shown on the V5 registration document, the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) also didn`t match. Further investigation revealed that the car was in fact two separate vehicles welded together to make one vehicle, known in the trade as a “cut and shut”. Other cars on the forecourt were also checked and found to be the same and others to have false mileages. Trading standards were informed and they have since shut Mikes Auto`s down. Mr Jones was fined £5000, given a three month prison sentence and ordered to pay £8500 plus costs to Mr King.

There has been a series of break-ins to residential property in the Burtons. In all there have been fourteen reported break-ins over the past three weeks, with all sorts of property taken, totalling £12000 in value. Police have several leads they are following. At one break-in at Burton Woods, the robber cut himself quite badly on the broken glass from the window he smashed to gain entry. Blood was left at the scene and this matches that of a known serial offender from the Sheffield area. No surgeries or hospitals have reported treating anyone with these kinds of injuries despite being asked to provide details of anyone they treated, so police believe that the offender has probably self-treated but warn that he could still need hospital treatment particularly if the wound becomes infected. The suspect is known to operate with his two brothers, which ties in with the time frames of the break-ins as several have occurred several miles apart at roughly the same time. Police have informed their colleagues in Sheffield, but as yet no arrests have been forthcoming.

A baker from Burton Springs has won an award for her speciality cakes. Marion Yeats works from home in a specially converted garage and specialises in cakes for all occasions. She has made cakes for many local people and famous people as well. Her biggest creation went to London for the birthday of Prince Andrew. She was nominated by the local WI branch as she teaches baking at their centre on Thursday afternoons. She collected her award last week at a ceremony in London at the Astoria Hotel. She received a freestanding plaque depicting a five tier cake, an exclusive complimentary entry in the trade magazine, “The Baker”, which she would normally have to pay a thousand pounds a year for and a cheque for £2500. Marion says she can`t believe that she has got the award as she says the cake making only started as a hobby and has progressed to what it is now over a three year period. Marion expects to get more orders as a result of the magazine entry and write-up and says she will probably have to take on an assistant to help her cope.

Five Vills Academy is to host the National Junior Chess Championships in the autumn. The current winner from last year is a sixth form pupil at the academy and has been in the national championships three times before. Lucy Baggott has been playing since she was five years old. Lucy said that she got her love of the game from her father who was a European champion himself when he was at university. She said that when other parents used to read bedtime stories to their children, her father and she always played chess. Lucy is studying for her “A” levels and intends to go to university to eventually become an officer in the Royal Navy. Between her studies and chess she doesn`t have much time for a social life, but says she doesn`t mind as chess is her main love. When asked if she would continue playing when she goes to university, she replied that she definitely would and hopefully in the navy as well when she leaves university. The Royal Navy has a thriving chess community based on ships and shore establishments, with competitions between ships and shore bases and also against foreign navies. She says she would like to be world champion one day.

The Burton Springs branch of Barclays Bank is at the centre of a race storm after a woman complained about her treatment at the bank. Priya Patel, forty four, from Burton Springs went into the branch to conduct some business for the Indian restaurant she runs with her husband in the village. She was wearing a burkha and was refused entry to the bank. Mrs Patel said that as she entered the bank she was stopped by the receptionist who doubles as front of house security, and asked to remove her burkha. Mrs Patel refused to remove the item saying that it was her religious right to wear it. The bank staff explained that it was bank policy to ban the burkha on security grounds. As the burkha only allows others to see the wearer’s eyes, it is not acceptable. If an incident of any kind were to occur, a picture from a CCTV of a person wearing such an item would be useless. The bank said that they needed to be able to see customers faces and that the same rule applied to motorcycle crash helmets. Mrs Patel became abusive, insisting that she be allowed to conduct her business and eventually the police were called. Two officers attended and when Mrs Patel again became abusive, this time to the police officers, she was arrested. She has been charged with abusive behaviour in a public place and will appear before magistrates next week. The bank has since informed Mrs Patel that they are closing her account and that she should take her custom elsewhere. A bank spokesperson said that the rules were there for a reason and that the bank had a zero tolerance approach to breaches of its policy. The spokesperson added that if these people wanted to live in the United Kingdom they should act accordingly and abide by UK laws and not cover their faces as in Mrs Patel`s case. Mrs Patel has engaged a solicitor with the view of suing the bank and compelling them to accept her dress codes. Even the solicitor, who declined to be named, said that there was not a great chance of her succeeding in her quest. It appears that all the major banks have a similar policy regarding burkha`s, so Mrs Patel may have severe problems trying to open an account with a different bank. Her husband said his wife had been treated appallingly and that the bank should back down. Since the incident last Tuesday, many local people who use the restaurant, The Taj Mahal, in Burton Springs have boycotted the restaurant and some have even daubed graffiti on the windows. Mr Patel admitted that his takings are down by sixty percent, since the incident.

A retired army officer who purchased Grange Hall Farm at Burton Woods several years ago is planning to change the use of some of his land. Brigadier Colin Salisbury (Retd), is planning to convert two barns on the farm to holiday chalets, making three chalets in each barn, and also to place fifteen lodges on the land also as holiday lets. The lodges will look like large log cabins so will blend in well with the surrounding countryside. A separate area is to be converted to a touring caravan site with twenty fully serviced all weather pitches. A further barn will be converted to wash/shower rooms and toilets and a small shop. The whole complex will cater for adults only.

The farm has not been a working farm since 1997 and Brigadier Salisbury says it is time to make use of the land and obviously give him an income to supplement his military pension. Being ex-military, Brigadier Salisbury is a keen military historian and has written several books on the subject. A final change of use for the site involves the largest barn on the site, which is situated some distance from the holiday lets and caravan park areas, and will see that barn fitted out as a museum and memorial to the first world war. Brigadier Salisbury already has quite an extensive collection of military memorabilia from this period and says he has been promised many more items for the museum, including a Sopwith Camel aircraft, being donated by a close friend, Air Vice Marshall John Churchill. The Sopwith Camel is one of only three original aircraft still in existence. This one is the only flying example and has been flown regularly by Air Vice Marshall Churchill at displays up and down the country. The new complex is due to open fully in the spring.

A new shop has opened in Burton Springs High Street. Rail America is a model railway shop specialising in American image models, in gauges “O”, “HO”, “N” and “Z”. Owner Joe Hamilton says he has had a love affair with trains since a very young age and developed his interest in American trains not long after. He said that the American image always seemed more exciting and colourful. His life time dream has been to own a model shop and when he recently inherited a large sum of money, he decided to make his dream a reality. He gave up his job as head of security at East Midlands Airport and bought the shop which he says came on the market at just the right time. He has lived in Burton Springs for over twenty years and is a well-known figure in the village. He is a keen and enthusiastic model maker and is an active member of three model railway clubs.

The shop also sells everything that is required to make a realistic model railway, including a wide range of vehicles and buildings in all scales as well a vast selection of scenic items. He sells track in all the gauges and the components for making track-work from scratch. There are also many books on the hobby to choose from. The shop stocks materials for base board construction although this is a bit limited due to space. He is a certified technician by Hornby and several American manufacturers for doing maintenance and repair to model equipment. Joe says that the motors, chassis and frames are pretty similar no matter where they come from; it is just the bodies that are different. Control wise, Joe deals with DC and DCC control systems. He is offering a layout building service as well. He will be joined in the shop by his eldest son Clive who has inherited his interest from his father.

Joe said that many model shops tend to diversify into other branches of the model making hobby like radio control but says he will not be going down that road; his shop is all about trains. The shop will be a first for the Burtons, as up until now the nearest model railway dealer has been in Sheffield. The shop which covers nearly two thousand square feet is a veritable treasure trove for the model enthusiast.

Local author Becky Packhard from Burton Woods has just won a major prize with her first published book. The book, “The Secret of Howden Manor” is a fast paced supernatural novel set in this area about two hundred years ago. Becky has been writing short stories for years since she was at school and has had several published in magazines. This is her first full length novel and has gone straight into the best sellers list. She has just won the Man Booker prize for literature, which in addition to the prestige of the award gives her a prize of twenty five thousand pounds. Becky says she is thrilled to receive the award and said it was beyond her wildest dreams.

She has already been approached by a film company who have expressed an interest in making the story into a full length feature film.

Becky lives in Burton Wood with her husband Edward and her two teenage sons. Before turning to writing full time, Becky was a modern history teacher at Five Vills Academy.

A woman was attacked and raped in the churchyard of St Peter`s church at Burton Hollow while she was tending the grave of her husband. The woman who does not wish to be named is thirty three years old and a war widow. Her husband was killed on active service in Afghanistan three years ago. She was tending the grave, a chore she carries out each week when she was approached by a young man. The man was known to the woman and when she stood up to speak with him, she was attacked, thrown to the ground and then dragged behind some bushes where she was raped. The distraught woman was found about a quarter of an hour later with her clothes torn and muddy by a man walking his dog through the churchyard. The police were called and a male person has since been arrested in the village. The woman is being comforted by her family and a police liaison officer. She was taken to hospital by ambulance for a check-up and to have her cuts and bruises attended to. She was also given emergency contraception before being allowed home. The arrested male person is twenty years old and police have named him as Donald Vine, of no fixed address. Vine is reported to have previous convictions for rape and indecent assault and is on the sex offenders register. He was released from youth custody a year ago following a term in a Young Offenders Institute where he served five years for raping a girl when he was only fourteen years old. He appeared at a special magistrates court sitting within hours of his arrest and has been remanded in police custody pending social reports and has been told he will re-appear in court in a week`s time. He is then expected to be further remanded in custody for trial at Crown Court. He should expect a lengthy custodial sentence police say.

Farmers in the high hills above the Burtons have been experiencing trouble lately with dogs worrying and chasing sheep in the high pastures. The police put on extra patrols of the area but nothing was found. Bill Jenkins of Dale View Farm was out in his fields checking his boundary walls and hedges when he spotted four dogs heading across the field towards where his sheep were grazing. By the time he reached the field, the dogs had done their worst and Bill found three sheep dead and a further two savaged and seriously injured. These two also had to be put down by a vet as their injuries were too severe.

Bill contacted his neighbours and they set off to track the dogs. They located them a few hours later resting after their attack in a disused barn on a neighbouring farm. All the dogs were shot by the farmers and the bodies taken into Burton Downs police station. One dog was found to micro chipped so police went to visit the registered owner. It transpired that the dogs all belonged to the same family from Burton Hollow who said that the dogs just ran off a few weeks ago. Apparently they made no effort to catch and find the animals. Police have referred the owners to the CPS for further action. No arrests were made but the owners were warned that prosecution would follow. The owner and his family are gypsies and live in a run-down caravan parked in a quiet lay-by just outside Burton Hollow. The police told the family not to attempt to move away to avoid prosecution. They were told that if they moved and were seen on the roads anywhere in the area they would be arrested.

The local library service run by the county council has fallen foul of angry residents of the Burtons. Until two years ago all the five villages enjoyed a regular visit from the mobile library every week, for a two hour session in each village. Two years ago the service was reduced to a visit every two weeks with the length of the sessions reduced to an hour and a half. In an effort to save money the county council has now said that the library service will be cut even further, with a one hour session in each village once every two months. Residents are disgusted with this decision saying that this is far too long between visits. The library service has responded by saying that the maximum number of books that each reader can borrow at any one time has been increased from eight to twenty. Residents say this is laughable; they say that many of the users of the mobile service are elderly and cannot possibly carry twenty books. Again the library service has responded that the residents should purchase e-readers and has offered a discount on Amazon Prime which for a one off payment, readers can down-load and swap books on their devices. This has met with more derision from the residents who say that the majority of the users are not computer literate, don`t have computers or Wi-Fi to enable the devices to work as stand-alone devices, also they say that most of the users prefer to have a proper book in their hands rather than a piece of plastic with electronics inside. The library service is not budging on their decision saying that they have made every effort to alleviate the resident`s concerns. The cuts will see the mobile library service reduced from eleven mobile unit`s county wide to seven. This will make four drivers and a relief driver as well as nine part time librarians redundant. The revised service will commence operations at the end of the month.

Residents are now looking into the possibility of renting a vacant shop somewhere and starting their own library staffed by volunteers. Several well- known bookseller chains have said that if this scheme gets off the ground, they will donate books to the service.