People Web International

By PWI Reporter South East England

SOUTH EAST, UNITED KINGDOM - The Port of London Authority have been recently commissioned by the RAF Museum in Hendon to survey a WWII wreckage of the Kent Coastline. The Aircraft, a 1930’s design Dornier 17 flown by the Luftwaffe in the 2nd World War, went undiscovered until 2 years ago. It is sitting just 15 meters deep at Goodwin Sands, Kent. The plane is thought to have been shot down during the battle of Britain approximately 70 years ago, after taking heavy fire it made an emergency landing at sea, 2 of the 4 crewmen died but 2 survived the crash who became prisons of war.

The RAF museum at Hendon in London are very keen to raise and preserve this extremely rare Dornier 17 as it is thought to be the last of its kind. Surprisingly, the aeroplane is in excellent condition and is still intact. RAF Head of Collections Ian Thirsk was on board the Port of London Authorities high-tech vessel at the end of last month as the sonar scanning took place. He is planning to have it displayed at Hendon in a state of preservation as opposed to having it fully restored. Mr Thirsk believes this aircraft is a unique aeroplane and it's linked to an iconic event in British history, so its importance cannot be overemphasised, nationally and internationally. According to Mr Thirsk “It's one of the most significant aeronautical finds of the century.”

Photo source: http://www.pla.co.uk/display_fixedpage.cfm/id/4040

Contact: south.east.england@peoplewebinternational.com

By KT, PWI Reporter Wiltshire

WILTSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM - The Wiltshire public are being asked by their local libraries to volunteer to help keep libraries open.  Some librarians and staff will either lose their jobs or be asked to work more flexibly. And opening hours will be halved at all but the bigger libraries. 

Wiltshire Council decided on these steps in response to the government’s 28% reduction in their budget as a result of the banking and financial crisis. Taken together, the measures have to achieve savings of £0.5m over two years for the county’s budget. 

By this week more than twenty volunteers had shown interest in the small town of Wilton in the south of the county. Typical of many communities, its small library boasts books, DVD’s, free internet access, a local history section, a home library service, children’s activities, and a local information service. Staff are well-informed, friendly and put themselves out to help. 



 
















The changes are all part of Wiltshire Council’s new vision for the library service approved in January. The county plans to keep open all 31 of the county’s libraries and ensure they remain at the heart of their communities. Ten will be community libraries, funded by the council and supported by its professional staff, but operated entirely based on volunteers. 

Libraries are also expected to increase in importance as the council’s local face for information about its services.

The establishment of free libraries in Britain followed The Public Libraries Act of 1855 which established the free access to books to raise public literacy. Counties and cities in the UK established large central libraries with smaller branch libraries and mobile library services covering rural areas. 

Wiltshire’s response to the drastic budget cuts sweeping UK public services is therefore in marked contrast to those councils which completely close libraries. However, success in the county is dependent on establishing a sustainable level of volunteering. 

Time will tell, but the first signs in Wilton bode well.

-- by KT - PWI Reporter Wiltshire - wiltshire@peoplewebinternational.com

By PWI Reporter South East England

ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM - Plans to build windfarms of the South Coast have recently been given momentum after the renaming of the project formally known as “The Eneco Wind Park”. Following a competition and public vote the name “Navitus Bay” has been chosen.

The windfarm will stretch the Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight coastline and will power approximately 700,000 homes. Plans for similar farms in other areas of the UK have been announced after the success of places such as Norfolk where their windfarm has become something of a local tourist attraction, in turn helping to boost the local economy. In most cases the turbines will be positioned far out to sea but in some cases like Bournemouth they will be closer and will be visible from the coastline on a clear day. Local opinion seems to be mixed on weather it will ruin the sea view’s or be a local sightseeing hotspot.

Various local meetings have taken place over the last two weeks where local residents have been invited to meet the Dutch energy company Eneco who won the contract back in 2008. They have been able to ask questions and see plans for the project. Eneco hope to start construction in 2016 and have the turbines up and running by 2019

-- by PWI Reporter South East England - south.east.england@peoplewebinternational.com

(Photo Source: http://www.ison21.es/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/offshore-wind-turbine.jpg)

By Ken Taylor, PWI Reporter Wiltshire

WILTSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM - English Heritage are to carry out a complete 3D laser scan at Stonehenge using recently developed high-resolution technology.

They expect to gain a much better idea of the extent of the carvings on the famous stones, and a greater understanding of the monument and the ground in its immediate surroundings.

This latest survey follows intensive archaeological investigation and study across the whole Stonehenge landscape in recent years. Theories have widened on the purpose of the 10,000 year sequence of timber, stone and earth structures spread over this south-east corner of Salisbury Plain. Was the area a place of healing or a domain of the dead?

Some academics believe that it was both and that processions took place from the land of the living to the land of the dead, passing up the nearby River Avon to Stonehenge and its nearby groups of burial barrows.

Stonehenge is located in Wiltshire 120km west of Heathrow and 12 km north of the cathedral city of Salisbury.  English Heritage owns and manages the stone circle and the surrounding landscape is owned by the charity The National Trust. 

-- by Ken Taylor - PWI Regional Reporter Wiltshire - wiltshire@peoplewebinternational.com

By PWI Reporter South East England

PORTSMOUTH, UNITED KINGDOM - The Aircraft Carrier HMS Invincible set sail for the last time yesterday, it’s destination is Turkey where it will be broken down at a scrap yard. She was decommissioned on the 3 August 2005 following budget cuts.

Invincible’s former captain, now Admiral Sir Jeremy Black, was there at Portsmouth Harbour to pay his respects. Without this ship Britain would not have reclaimed the Falkland Islands.

Invincible was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. Launched by HM Queen Elizabeth in 1977, she was the flagship of the Royal Navy’s fleet and led the South Atlantic campaign during the conflict. Half a million people turned out to welcome her victorious return in 1982, including the Queen herself. HM Prince Andrew served aboard as a Naval Helicopter Pilot. The Invincible was also deployed during the Yugoslavia and Iraq campaigns.

This is the seventh ship to carry the glorious name HMS Invincible whose battle honours include victory over the Spanish at the Battle of St Vincent in 1780 to the Falklands War of 1982. The HMS Illustrious is now the British Navy’s flagship.

-- by PWI Reporter South East England - south.east.england@peoplewebinternational.com

WILTSHIRE - The small town of Wootton Bassett in west Wiltshire became well-known in the UK in recent years, as townsfolk and the streets often stood silent for the funeral corteges of service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The tradition developed spontaneously, in a county where 20% of the population are military or connected with it making the impact of the war felt widely.  

Now that honour bestowed on the dead by townsfolk is itself being honoured. On 16th March 2011, the Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the Queen will rename the town Royal Wootton Bassett, ‘as an enduring symbol of the nation’s admiration and gratitude’. The re-naming will take place before the nearby Royal airforce base at Lyneham  is closed, with military transports relocated to Brize Norton in nearby Oxford by the end of 2011.  

The town joins Royal Leamington Spa and Royal Tunbridge Wells.  Both of these spa towns petitioned for the honour in recognition of their antiquity and Royal patronage of their facilities.  Leamington Spa was granted the title in 1838 by Queen Victoria, and Tunbridge Wells in 1909 by King Edward VII.  

Military personnel have long been an important part of the community, employment and traditions of Wiltshire. The army camps and training grounds of Salisbury Plain dominate the high chalk downland in the centre of the county. The civil population of the surrounding areas are used to seeing Chinook and Apache helicopters wheeling on manoeuvres, and to hearing the thump of artillery practicing in the distance on the Plain.  

-- by Ken Taylor - PWI Regional Reporter Wiltshire - wiltshire@peoplewebinternational.com

WILTSHIRE - Towns and villages across Wiltshire have been asked by their county council to pinpoint areas of flood risk given the more severe weather expected from Climate Change. Communities should each appoint flood wardens who will pull together the information, then coordinate any local action required by householders or the emergency services when severe weather and floods occur.

One small village, Quidhampton, lies in a valley at the confluence of the Rivers Nadder and Wylye, close tothe Cathedral City of Salisbury.Like many other rural communities in the county, Quidhampton developed hundreds of years ago sited above water meadows where sheep were grazed. No-one remembers rising river levels causing flooding in the village, although it’s normal to see the meadows covered with water most winters.  Nevertheless there are flood risks to act on. A broken and blocked drain and the subsequent flooding often affects a fast main road, and a potentially dangerous accident happened in December when a motorcyclist fell off. Residents also recall rainwater coming into their houses and cellars in very severe rains several years ago. 

Many other town and villages across the county are not half so fortunate. The new 1:1000 flood level predictions, mapped out nationally on the Environment Agency website (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/), put the low lying parts of some townships and parts of the city of Salisbury itself below the predicted extreme flood levels.

The County’s plan to tackle increased flood risk is just beginning. Their order of priority for funding flood prevention measures is first risk to life, then main roads, property, and finally minor roads.

Indications are that communities who are not raising awareness of their risks won’t see funding allocated to them any time soon. And that couldn’t be a more challenging test to the UK government’s Big Society initiative which urges communities to take more responsibility for themselves.