Cookham Matters

Posts

Back to the future at Winter HIll

August 28, 2019

We are blessed with a scarce and declining habitat in Cookham. The Chilterns offer one of the few remaining areas of chalk grasslands in the country. But everywhere, this specialist environment is under duress, including in our village. The way we farm has changed - the use of intensive fertilizers enriches the composition of the soil and livestock grazing practices have moved on, both of which have a detrimental effect on this dwindling habitat. Factor in development, and our species determination that every open space should be available for recreational purposes and you start to understand why we have lost over 80% of chalk grasslands since the Second World War. Cookham villagers were a generous (and foresighted?) lot back in the 1930s because the 46 acres of water meadows and chalk grassland, from Cock Marsh to Winter Hill were purchased by the village and donated to The National Trust in 1934. For donkey’s years this area has been grazed. Just the right amount of

Keep reading

"A full and true relation of the death and slaughter..." in Cookham. Yes really!

April 29, 2019

Many of us are familiar with tracking the local film sets of Midsommer Murders. The day I had to inch over half a tonne of very reluctant equine past Detective Inspector Barnaby, a funeral parlour and the crew camp (including catering unit) opposite The Jolly, is a day I shall not forget. However, all that murder and mayhem is very far from the Cookham we know and love right? Well actually, no...we have had our fair share of drama and so here I am to tell you about some of it. To quote Julie, “Let’s start at the very beginning…” when the peoples of Cookham lived alongside the river, following its course as it changed. The Thames acted as a boundary between clans from "Bourne End" and "Cookham" and over time, Bronze Age settlers used Cockmarsh as a burial site. The small hills that you will pass if you are heading to The Bounty are tumuli or burial mounds, and they contain the bodies of a woman, a small child and a tiny horse! When the Romans arriv

Keep reading

The Law of Unintended Consequences and Sheep

January 28, 2019

The Law of Unintended Consequences – “in the social sciences , unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes that are not the ones foreseen and intended by a purposeful action.” Now there is a certain amount of objectivity in this. Could David Cameron have foreseen the exact outcome we are living through prior to calling the referendum? We’ll leave that discussion for another day perhaps, so let’s take another example…sheep worrying is an ongoing problem for farmers in the UK. Sheep do not always behave like those on One Man and His Dog and in fact, nor do dogs. As far as most sheep are concerned, your Cockerpoo is an apex predator of which instinct dictates, they should be scared, very scared. As far as your dog is concerned, sheep can be at worst prey or at best (some would argue) “playmates”. Either way, it’s bad news for the sheep and whilst I am sure no one sets out on a dog walk thinking “let’s go and worry som

Keep reading

Chequing out the Wild West

October 22, 2018

Back in the day, there was a whiff of the Wild West about Cookham. Hard to believe I know! The problem was basically The Dean. Harder still to believe? Even in the 1800s, Cookham Dean was already a very old, higgledy piggeldy group of settlements. There was no centre at such, people had set up home where they landed - The Mount, Starlings Green, Cookham Dean Bottom and Winter Hill - and these settlements were barely connected by tortuous roads. At this time, Cookham Dean was hugely agricultural, the hillsides were covered in fruit trees – lots of cherries as you may know, but apples, walnuts and even soft fruit like strawberries too. With this, came great poverty and transient labourers. Grubwood Lane marked the boundary between Cookham and the Bisham estate and so it was also a gypsy encampment. With little respect for the law and a partiality for poaching, they knew that the jurisdiction of Cookham’s distant police constable could be outwitted simply by stepping from one s

Keep reading

More wine Vicar?

July 30, 2018

Some of you have been around long enough to know that just occasionally, I go To Church. Indeed, I went To Church Saturday and I can honestly say it was a triumph! Cookham villagers Karen and Trevor Davison, and the team from their own Live Wire Productions , laid on a rare treat for us with the first of their innovative live music series christened (do you see what I did there?), Live@... and in this case, it was Live@the church - our very own Holy Trinity. Karen is a Lighting Designer for The Royal Festival Hall and so by the time we arrived, the church was beautifully highlighted with lasers and specialist lighting. There was a small stage where Father Nick The Vic is normally seen to pace with his hands in his pockets and, oh joy of joys, there was a bar behind the font. Of course there was, who doesn’t have a bar behind the font? So there I sat, on my slightly uncomfortable pew, enjoying a glass or two as we waited for the line up - Gitta de Ridder followed by Grizzly a

Keep reading

I think it's time to tell you about The Chicken.

March 05, 2018

I think it's time to tell you about The Chicken. Some time ago I was heading to the woods with the dog via the view point at Winter Hill. Just as I got to the National Trust car park, I came across The Chicken. A happy, pecking chicken would have been some what of a surprise but actually, this was an even greater surprise because it was an oven ready chicken (although no sign of the cooking instructions). She was spread eagle on the grass, with all four little limbs akimbo. Oddly, my first thought was "Lucky, lucky Foxy Dog" not "Why is there an un-cooked chook at Winter Hill". The dog dragged me ever closer and that is when I noticed the used condom. Now I am the product of a Newlands Girls School education in the era of Mrs. Leighton and her quite remarkable legs (water retention, as I now know). In that era, we were still referred to as "gals" in clipped Home Counties accents. Communal showers convinced us without doubt, that each and eve

Keep reading

How wildlife friendly can you make your garden?

February 17, 2018

Something BIG is stirring and I don’t just mean Spring! Over the Winter, a hard-working group from WildMaidenhead and WildCookham have been germinating a plan! It’s a plan that they hope will help get the village all fired up and even more enthusiastic about our local wildlife and in particular, what we can do in our own little way to help nurture it at home. Over the coming weeks you will start to see the group introduce the “Wild About Gardens” scheme. It will be open to ANYONE in the Cookhams with a private garden – no matter how large or small. Now it’s not a traditional competition, there is no winner as such, but I am told there is a party planned where they will be awarding special certificates, and there will be a Priceless Plaque (think of something that is definitely, almost certainly like the FA Cup or even better), that they intend * cough * will be handed down through generations to come in the village. So here’s the scoop, ahead of the press and directly from C

Keep reading

I’m going to talk trees for a bit.

January 16, 2018

Back in July the 100 year old Lime tree at the junction of Alleyns Lane and Dean Lane was felled because of damage to its tree roots. You’ll remember that the drainage contractors dug a trench across the small green and through the Lime’s fine network of roots. And then they cut straight through the electric mains. South East Electricity had to come in to repair, and they caused more damage to the root system as they were trying to reconnect us to the network – hence we lost the tree. There was a huge hoo-haa because it was an iconic tree in the village AND because the contractors had very likely breached all sorts of rules by doing what they did. So to bring you up to date… The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) at least felt there was action (or inaction) by the contractors that required investigation. However, here we are 7 months later and information on the progress of that investigation seems to be impossible to obtain. The outcome (if there has been on

Keep reading

A Devine solution...

December 21, 2017

Christmas 2016 and I wanted a wreath for the front door. I am Yorkshire tight and every time I looked at them in a florist, I found myself thinking "They want HOW MUCH for a bit of holly and a desiccated slice of orange"? Shortly followed by "How hard can it be? Surely I can produce something that looks charmingly home made as if by Kirstie Allsop herself?" Poor naive woman-child. So I purchased the perfect base to set my creative talents afloat - a rustic looking wood bound love heart from a charity shop for £2.99. And I then set sail to the the garden centre to buy appropriate glittery things. Only sophisticated glittery things obviously, no multi coloured tinsel, no tired looking fake mistletoe. Granted I was a little surprised to realise that I had spent £23 on classy glitter but hey ho, what price for talent? As soon as I started affixing the glittery things, I knew I was in trouble. To cut a painful memory short, by the bottom photo you will fully

Keep reading