Sign up for Better Broadband (Again)
- Published on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 07:01
You have yet another chance to express your views on the poor state of rural broadband by signing up to the West Sussex Better Connected campaign.
The District Council is urging residents and businesses to register their need for faster broadband and show their demand to suppliers. They are aiming to provide internet access to everyone in the county while also looking into offering superfast broadband services to 90 per cent of West Sussex homes and businesses by April 2015. They say you can help by signing-up online at www.westsussex-betterconnected.org.uk or by completing a form at a nearby library. Registering does not commit you to any new services.
Have You Ordered Oil for the Winter?
- Published on Tuesday, 18 October 2011 20:06
Without a mains gas supply, Cocking homes are largely dependent on oil for central heating. The remorseless increase in the price of heating oil will be a concern to many in the village and the increases rate of VAT has made matters that little bit worse.
So it is probably a good idea to keep an eye on the prices. Here is a graph covering the last two years. So if you haven't stocked up yet, maybe you should think about it.
A two-year version of this graph is to be found under the Features menu.
Stagecoach's New Clean Machine
- Published on Friday, 24 June 2011 17:06
You will have heard the saying that you can wait for an article on buses for years and then three come along at once. Well it's true and this, the third article, is a follow up to the news of the improved buses on the No. 60 Route between Midhurst and Bognor Regis. The new buses that now run on the service were officially launched on 22nd June and appropriately, for a 60s theme, the 'Beatles' were in Chichester to give the upgrade a colourful send off.
All right, the Bus Beatles were Directors of Stagecoach (pictured above from the left) Tom Bridge, Mark Turner, Andrew Dyer and Richard Alexander. Surrounded by the Fab Four is Director of Pallant House Gallery, Stefan van Raay who got in on the act because the livery design of the new environmentally friendly - Clean Machines - includes a painting of the Beatles from the Chichester Gallery.
The complete Stagecoach press release can be downloaded by clicking here and we leave bus articles for now with the Beatles striking what looks like a ZZ Top pose, as the splendid new bus drives off, presumably into service.
South Downs Presentation to Parish Council
- Published on Saturday, 09 July 2011 19:18
On 19th May, Bruce Middleton, Central West Area Manager for the South Downs National Park Authority gave an excellent presentation on the new Park to the Parish Council's Annual Parish Meeting in the Village Hall, Cocking. The talk provided the audience of councillors and villagers with a comprehensive guide to the purpose, scope and working of the National Park as well as some of the challenges facing it in its early days.
We hope that Bruce and his colleagues will be able to provide future updates, but in the meantime this presentation will be of interest to those who didn't attend the Parish Meeting and as a reminder of the details for those who did.
Note: Our article covering the 2011 Annual Parish Meeting can be viewed in a new window or tab by clicking here. The presentation below can also be viewed full screen by clicking on the icon at its bottom right corner.
Forward to the Past
- Published on Saturday, 18 June 2011 17:46
... where this time the 'Past' means the (19)60s and we are paraphrasing the title of a once popular film series. It seems that the Stagecoach bus company is sticking with its 60s theme of psychedelic paintwork on the local No. 60 route that passes through Cocking. Not content with that however, they now intend to give their customers an even more 'groovy' experience by introducing nine brand new buses to the route.
These new vehicles are not the stainless steel time travelling DeLorean cars from that popular film, Back to the Future, but they do come with new 'green' engines, CCTV and low floor entrances rather than gull wing doors for easy access and time travel capabilities. Yes, the buses probably have 'fab' paintings of rainbows and flowers on them too.
To explain all this with absolutely no references to Hollywood blockbusters, full colour leaflets about the service and its improvements should find their way to every Cocking household via the July edition of the Parish Magazine - out soon. These leaflets even contain discount vouchers, but if you don't receive one or would like a preview, just click on the leaflet image to the left.
P.S. There is a picture of a DeLorean DMC-12 in the FEATURED spot on this page in case you have forgotten, or have no idea, what it looked like. Even if you didn't watch the film, you may well have helped build the car that starred in it. By the time the DeLorean company went bankrupt in 1982, the Northern Ireland Development Agency had invested something like £100 Million in its production at the Dunmurry factory, motivated by the desire to create local employment.
