AYLESBURY OLD TOWN RESIDENTS ASSOCATION

AOTRA NEWSLETTER October 2014

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the Old Town Residents Association will be held on Tuesday November 18th in the Town Council Chamber, 5 Church St., at 7:30 pm. This is an occasion to review the activities of the year, to elect a committee for the coming year, and to enjoy some refreshments afterwards. The meeting will be preceded by a short presentation or talk. We will also be pleased to welcome potential new committee members.

AOTRA Xmas Dinner

This year's AOTRA Christmas Dinner will again be held at the Temple Street Wine Bar. We have booked two evenings (Thur Dec 4th, and Tue Dec 9th) in the hope that more of you will be able to join in. Cost will be £25 per head, including service. Buy your own drinks on the night, pay for the meal in advance by cheque made payable to Aylesbury Old Town Residents Association. Please enter your requests on the menu overleaf (as soon as possible) and pass it to Rachel Lucas (18, St Mary's Square), with payment cheques payable to AOTRA (or cash), by November 28th.

We do hope that you'll be able to join us for a delicious and festive evening...a wonderful start to the Christmas celebrations and a chance to get to know your neighbours!

Want to give the Wine Bar a try? – 2-4-1 Lunch offer Mon-Fri. Take this letter along!

Secret Gardens 2015

We will try to get a Secret Gardens event organised in 2015. A number of gardens were not going to be available this year and so the committee decided to have a break. The event has been a feature of the Old Town for 21 years, and gardens – and gardeners – occasionally need to lie fallow.

Zone H Residents Parking Scheme

Discussions have been held with BCC about features of the operation of the parking scheme – the impression we have is that some changes might be made when they

can be organised into a package, as the cost of publishing the necessary legal orders

is considerable. Among the suggestions we have put forward are:-

·  provide 10 or so additional Zone H Residents Only parking spaces in the lower part of Rickfords Hill.

·  confirm that new dwellings in Zone H, including conversions from offices, do not qualify for Resident's Permits

·  make some changes to the Visitor Permits scheme to reduce pressure on the limited spaces available in the evenings and overnight

It should be noted that many of the offices to flats conversions currently underway or proposed in the town centre (including Heron House, Midland House and others in Buckingham Street, those above Friars Square and those at Hampden House in the Hight Street) lie outside Zone H and therefore do not qualify for Zone H permits to park on the highway. We assume that they might qualify, however, for residents season tickets (currently £80 pa) in certain AVDC off-street car parks.

St Mary's Churchyard Tidy-up

Back in July members of the committee joined with other residents and members of St.Mary's congregation to undertake our annual AOTRA tidy-up. We do this because the normal maintenance schedules are inadequate to maintain the area reasonably. We would like to see the situation improved, but what should it look like? I put some thoughts of mine onto paper and would like to see some discussion started which might enable a target to be agreed which all parties could aim for. If you have thoughts on the matter please contact me with them, and/or get a copy of mine from me (see below). Also, come to our AGM, for a chance to join a discussion on this and other subjects.

AOTRA 2014 Xmas Dinners Menu

Starter Choices from / Guest 1 / Guest 2/3..
Smoked mackerel paté, etc
Soup du Jour (V)
Charcuterie platter, marinated olives, flatbread
Goats’ cheese and plum tomato bruschetta, basil pesto
Main Choices from
Roast turkey, sage & onion stuffing, roast potatoes
Venison casserole, savoy cabbage, herby potatoes
Mildly spiced couscous with broccoli, chick peas & feta
Seabass fillet with crayfish & lemon risotto
Daily Selection of desserts

Cheque enclosed for …...... from …......

Contact details(Phone/Email...... Date 4th,9th,either

Letter Welcoming New Residents

The committee aims to give a welcome letter describing AOTRA to every new resident of the Old Town. If you are a recent arrival and have not yet had a copy of this letter please contact any member of the committee.

Diana Amies (6, Castle Court) / Graham Aylett (10, St Mary’s Square)
Gay Titley (24,Granville Street) / Malcolm Nickolls (27,Rickford’s Hill)
David Vowles (21,Chadbone Close) / Mike Doe (12,Castle Street)
Angela Neal (35 Castle Street) / Steven Mitchell (26, Ripon Street)
Adrian Harford (29, Castle Street)


NEWSLETTER EDITOR: ADRIAN HARFORD (tel. 01296 415107) OCT. 2014 VOLUME 16 ISSUE 1

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