Chair's Reports to AGM

January 2026

Dr Keith Milmer, Chair of HVS, writes:

Gosh, it hardly seems like a few months since our last AGM – clearly a sign that your Chairperson is knocking on a bit! But here we are, 12 months later, and the start of another New Year for the Haddenham Village Society – a year in which HVS will reach its 60th Anniversary, no less. I feel very privileged to be at the helm of such a long-standing community organisation.

In preparing the Chair’s report, I have been revisiting the published aims and objectives of HVS in case these are in potential need of revision – but they still appear to be in good alignment with the committee’s understanding of our raison d'être and I hope our members agree:

The Aims of the Haddenham Village Society are:

• To reflect the culture of the village, drawing from the traditions of the past, looking to encompass the living styles and environmental concerns of the present, and to preserve a heritage for the future
• To champion the visual appeal of the village, whilst recognising the need for appropriate development of housing, businesses, shops, services roads and other amenities within the village
• To be a point of contact for new arrivals and of reference for existing residentsTo help foster and maintain a sense of ‘one community’ as the village grows in scale and diversity
• To strive for safer means of moving within and beyond the village, by lobbying planning authorities for dedicated walking and cycling routes and the maintenance of public footpaths.

In seeking to meet these aims, I am especially grateful to our committee members, who offer their time and skills as enthusiastic volunteers. Like any good committee, we have some dedicated roles. In no particular order, I’d like to acknowledge and thank them for their vital inputs:

Richard Hirst for his focus on planning matters, and his skills in writing and submitting formal commentaries on behalf of HVS to the Bucks planning authorities, on all local housing developments – and as we all know, there seem to be an ever-increasing number of these now.

Mike Cottrell, as Treasurer, for his keen attention to detail in recording our financial dealings and helping to keep the Society solvent. We currently do not have a Vice Chair, but I regard Mike as my closest support in that regard.

Teresa Roberts is our Minutes Secretary and somehow manages to produce a first class record of all our committee meetings despite all the demands of her professional income-earning role.

Sarah Heydon, as our Meetings Secretary, is another committee member who also manages to juggle a demanding professional role with the planning and organising of our programme of public meetings. We are delighted to have her on the committee.

Roderick Floud, our former Chairperson, continues as a committee member on whom I rely heavily for sage advice, especially when it comes to dealing with potentially political (low case ‘p’) decisions – of which there are many in an increasingly diverse community. Roderick has also kindly accepted the role as our Society President, following Brian Bowman’s retirement.

Robyn Cook continues to provide a much valued input to committee decision making and has been a key liaison person with the staff of our community library, so that we have continued and easy access to the building as our primary meetings venue. In collaboration with Loraine Milmer, Robyn also provides us with welcome refreshments at our public meetings.

Brian Bowman is a long time servant of the Village Society, much valued for his willing ‘hands-on’ approach to the practical needs of our meetings and activities, not least in hosting the annual Witchert Chorale concert, the Fete PIMs tent and, of course, our guided walks – the latter benefitting from Brian’s keen historical knowledge in relation to both city and rural locations. Brian has also served as our President for several years, a role from which, sadly, he has now decided to retire.

Juanita Hughes, our membership secretary, has played a key role in communicating with each of you, our Society members. I am especially grateful that we have been able to benefit from Juanita’s strong admin skills and, not least, her ability to make the MailChimp system work for us in a way few other committee members know how to do! So it is with personal sadness that I have accepted Juanita’s notification to retire from the role at this AGM.

Alan Thurley is a co-opted member of the HVS Committee who is Chair of HADDswac, the walking and cycling group that operates under the HVS umbrella. Alongside David Stevens, Alan has done a great job in lobbying for cycling and walking initiatives and keeping local residents very well informed with updates on these objectives. For the first time in many years, we can feel optimistic that such efforts will result in new Greenway routes being created in the near future.

Jim Robins stood down as our Vice Chair since the last AGM and I would like to thank him for continuing to assist us in resolving some some long-standing hassles over bank accounts and contactless payment systems long after he stepped away from the committee.

I cannot conclude my list of personal thanks without mentioning folk who are not committee members and yet offer a very valuable service to the Society:

Henriette Webb, who is a frequent contributor to our refreshments team, despite having “retired” from this role some time ago!

Pete Summerskill, who continues to assist us in providing extra seating for our meetings in the library, loaned from the village hall, despite receiving much too short notice on repeat occasions. We very much appreciate his cooperation and patience!

Cynthia Floud and Zoe Bowman who continue to offer willing assistance to various HVS events, in support of their ‘other halves’ and greatly appreciated by the committee; on various occasions in the last 12 months, we could not have managed without them.

HVS Activities in 2025

i. Planning Issues
During the past year the Village Society submitted additional comments via the online Bucks Planning Portal in relation to planning applications by Redrow, Richborough, Rectory, Land Improvements and other developers. We also encouraged residents, as concerned individuals, to do likewise.

ii. Communications
In its capacity as a registered charity, the Village Society acts as the ‘accounting authority’ for funds donated for the maintenance and running of the village website, haddenham.net

The editorial and photographic inputs are provided on a purely voluntary basis, but the domain registration and server hosting services incur fees that are paid for by kind donations from individual residents, local companies and fundraising activities (e.g, by the Haddenham Mummers).

Funds directly associated with haddenham.net are ring-fenced by the Village Society and included in the annual accounts prepared by Mike Cottrell, the HVS Treasurer. The committee regards haddenham.net as an effective communications platform and views the provision of our cost-free admin support as totally consistent with the aims of HVS, especially in terms of providing information for new arrivals and helping to help maintain a sense of ‘one community’ as the village grows.

iii. Public Meetings & Events
The Society has continued to offer members a varied programme of public meetings over the last year, covering a broad spectrum of interests. Speakers and Themes have included:

Matthew Barber – The Role of the Police & Crime Commissioner
https://www.thamesvalley-pcc.gov.uk/your-pcc/

Winchendon Brass – An insight into their instruments with a concert performance
https://www.villagesociety.org/news/winchendon-brass-concert.html

Brian Bowman – Led a popular ‘City Walls’ Walk in Oxford

Adrian Marshall – Restoring the Chinnor Windmill
https://chinnor-windmill.blogspot.com/

Mark Smith – “The Man in Seat 61”: Negotiating Train Travel in Europe
https://www.seat61.com/index.html

Jim Usherwood – insights into locomotion: “Wings, Legs & Robots”.
https://jimusherwoodresearch.com/

Other HVS Events

In May 2025 the Village Society organised hustings for candidates in the Buckinghamshire Council Unitary Elections. The meeting was held in the wonderful lecture theatre of Daff Trucks and was ably chaired by Brian Bowman. We streamed the event live via Facebook although the sound quality proved to be a little disappointing.

On 14th June, the HVS provided the PIMMs tent at the village fete, the HVS Chair having joined the fete committee earlier in the year to ensure that good communications could be established to the benefit of both organisations.

On 9th July, we held a delightful Summer Garden Party for HVS members, in the glorious setting of Cynthia and Roderick Floud’s garden.

On 29th November the year of HVS public events concluded with another delightful concert by Witchert Chorale, co-hosted with the choir in St Mary's Church.

Serious Gaps in the Committee.

Following the retirement of Jim Robins, we are still looking for a Vice Chairperson and, with the retirement of Juanita Hughes at this AGM, we desperately need to find her successor as Membership Secretary.

I’m very sorry to end this annual report on a rather serious note, and I certainly don’t wish to appear melodramatic, but Village Society’s 60th year may prove to be its last if we are not able to fill these roles.

Keith Milmer
Chair, HVS
January 2026