Handcross

My comment last week: about no longer being able to get a bus from the village to Haywards Heath and the Princess Royal Hospital must have caused some ripples as I was informed at the weekend that there has been a change to the bus routes in our favour! With effect from Saturday, 23 April the 271 from Crawley to Brighton will now be via Haywards Heath, calling at Haywards Heath Station, South Road, the Hospital and then on to Brighton via Wivelsfield, and Burgess Hill. Full details of the new timetables (Crawley-Handcross-Burgess Hill-Hassocks-Brighton/Brighton-Hassocks-Burgess Hill-Handcross-Crawley) for both the 271 and 273 can be downloaded from metrobus.co.uk and you may be pleasantly surprised to see how early the first 271 to Brighton is!

It has been mentioned to me: that some of you may have received a mailshot trying to sell you water softening equipment, highlighting the possible problems from hard water and how you can avoid them by purchasing their equipment. Our water is supplied by South East Water and it is possible from their website to check the hardness of water by postcode. After doing this, the result showed the parish to fall into the ‘moderately soft’ category; therefore, don’t be fooled, there is no requirement purchase any equipment to ‘soften’ your water, unless you really do want to!

At the Parish Council meeting: last week it was mentioned that their Annual Meeting is due to be held in the not too distant future and as such a date was agreed on: Wednesday, 1 June in the Pavilion. I would assume that it will be a 7.30 pm start but I will let you know nearer the time. I understand that they will be looking to invite a couple of local groups to speak once the business has been dealt with; again, full details to follow in due course. What is the point of this meeting I hear some of you ask? The purpose of the Annual Parish Meeting is to let the parish know what the Council has achieved during the past year and to give a brief outline as to what their aims/goals are for the coming year. As it is a busy time for the councillors with the Neighbourhood Plan still to be completed, it will be an opportunity to get an update on where we are now that the consultants have been appointed and if it will be ready to be voted on before the year is out. Put this date in your diaries, Wednesday, 1 June 2016 at 7.30 pm, your support will be greatly appreciated!

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