Cookham Matters

You know that expression “take time to stop and smell the roses”?  I was reminded of that today when I joined some of Cookham’s youngest residents on a nature walk led by Brian Clews of the Cookham Wildlife Supporters.    I met Bo aged about 6 (at a guess) and I watched her as she looked at an acorn.  It wasn’t even a particularly nice acorn – it was a bit squashed.  But she was completely absorbed in finding out what was inside and telling me how it had been nibbled by a Squirrel (something that Brian had just shown her on a pine cone).  Little people don’t have much interrupting their thoughts I guess.  She was not looking at the acorn at the same time wondering if the lasagne would de-frost in time for supper.  She and her friends with their enthusiastic little hands up and their stomping through the puddles and their waving sticks about, reminded me that we all need to take time to stop and have a really good look. I’ll leave you to read Brian’s review of the event today.  Par

We’ve all been there I suspect, “stuck” behind the pair of horses and a carriage that can be seen regularly in Cookham.  Might be quite annoying?  Slows your journey slightly?  Possibly calls for a difficult overtaking manoeuvre on the narrow roads – pass wide and slow and all that irritation?  So those horses come from The Forge in Cookham Dean and what you may not realise, is that they compete internationally, and at the highest level in this sport. The Forge in Cookham Dean is thought to have been in existence for 400 years and David Matthews (Junior) is currently on the reins of both the farrier business and the aforementioned pair.  As a member of the British Advanced Horse Pairs Carriage Driving Team, David and a second driver recently set out for the 3,700 KM round trip to the Lipica Stud Farm in Slovenia, home to the world famous grey Lipizzana horses and host of the FEI World Driving Championships for Pairs  between 20 th – 24 th September.  Team GB competed with 80 ot

So things have been quite busy at CM HQ recently and I have had little time for writing, and made it to few of the local events.  I couldn’t even attend the Gravity Grand Prix this year.  To have watched Donald Trump going down hill fast would have given me huge pleasure, and worse still, apparently I missed the opportunity for a selfie with Grant-Mitchell-I-Mean-Ross-Kemp *swoon*.  Frankly, I don’t know what I am more disappointed about. So to catch you up… Tree-gate has rumbled on.  For those not familiar with the story, click this link .  I pursued the council like a bad smell to understand what redress they would take with the contractors – if any.  Between  24th July and the 30th August I sent five emails.  Finally I received the following reply:   In an effort to try and reassure you that I really am not ignoring your request to be updated on what is happening about the contractor, I wanted to let you know that I have had a further discussion with my key officers tod