We are huge supporters of parish councils. Those that man them are all volunteers who, in theory, give up their time to support the community but sometimes they do themselves no favours. When they make poor decisions, they should accept that being volunteers does not absolve them from being held to account. I say in theory because in all parish councils - even the one as small as ours - there will be at least one who rolls up to just waste oxygen. There are some members for whom I have a great deal of affection but I'm afraid there is a collective responsibility here.

Our parish council has raised the precept by more than 20%. At a time when household bills are rising dramatically, to further burden residents with this increase is morally indefensible. Not everyone in the parish is a millionaire landowner. Other parishes are not raising their precept and Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC) is not raising the Council Tax. And yet our councillors are raising your household bills without batting an eyelid.

One councillor stated that the rise for a band D property is still below the national average. What on earth has that got to do with anything? No one is interested in the national average. It's what happens in the village that matters. It's all very well boasting about the new clerk working hard and introducing new policies and procedures. These have just been cut and pasted from other council websites. Parish councils are about people, not words on bits of paper which do nothing to enhance the lives of residents.

The claim is that the parish council needs to raise reserves. It should be looking at other ways to raise money if it is that desperate for funds without abdicating its responsibilities to hard pressed residents. Despite some of the frankly stupid comments - made by people who should know better - that I almost bankrupted the parish council, there was more than a year's precept in the bank when I was forced to step down.

The JPAG practitioners guide for parish councils states that there should be between three and twelve months precept in the bank. Yet more than 50% of the parish precept is now being spent on the clerk's salary. Other local parishes pay way less than this which is why I wrote to the parish council and offered to fulfil the role free of charge. This would have saved circa £10,000 on the cost base but the parish council has declined the offer.

When the clerk was hired after Mrs Butler left, it had a golden opportunity to reset the clerk's salary. Mrs Butler had actually asked for a reduction in her salary because she didn't feel the role warranted what she was being paid. The new clerk is clearly well versed and knowledgeable in the role but why hire a Rolls Royce to do the job of a Ford Fiesta?

I suspect whoever interviewed her never gave a thought to the cost base when they hired her. If this is the case then it smacks of financial mismanagment. If I were in their shoes, I would have no hesitation in accepting that I got it wrong and would make the morally correct and decent decision by tending my resignation.

Another 6,500 trees are now planted next to Almshouse Wood and Jubilee Plantation.

A great many hours were spent to organise the paperwork for this exciting project. Our son George is the forestry officer for Severn Trent, so he and John designed and planned our latest environment enhancing scheme to partially offset the carbon emissions from the Commonwealth Games in 2022 (yes, really!) That means Severn Trent pay towards the cost of the trees, planting and fencing, but we retain all ownership and rights of it. Hopefully a win-win situation!

Unlike the Archers' rewilding we won't be having beavers, as none of our three pools are suitable habitats.

For our last woodland planting in 2021 we were lucky that many kind locals helped us plant 1,000 trees, but for 6,500 we used a commercial company. Four people took five days to put stakes in, spray round each one, plant, then put the guards on.

The trees are a mixture of native broadland species, except ash, as we have ash dieback in some parts of the farm. Mostly the new trees are oak, rowan, field maple, lime, sweet chestnut, wild cherry, hornbeam, silver birch, holly, hazel, blackthorn and spindle. In the wetter area there is willow, alder and aspen, so we hope they will eventually be a good asset for the parish.

We may be mad doing all of this so we are calling the new area Follywood!

For anyone that's interested in seeing the new wood, we will be having an open event on Thursday, May 8th. This will be followed by a picnic to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Unlike previous events, no food or drink will be provided so please bring your own BBQ, drinks and chairs. Anyone is welcome to attend either or both events but please let us know (using the contact details below) how many of your friends and family will be attending with you.

It's great to hear that the parish council applied for free defibrillators from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and from Worcestershire County Council. The latter turned down the application on the grounds that there is already a unit in the village. As yet there is no word on the application to the BHF.

There is the opportunity to apply for a defibrillator from the Football Foundation. They require a 25% contribution to the cost and I am aware that there is a resident who is willing to contribute to this amount.

Parish councillors have already agreed to purchase one defibrillator so we may get two to supplement the existing ones at the school and the Bruff Centre. I had occasion to speak to Councillor Karen Hanks on another matter and the subject of a defibrillator came up. She very kindly offered to supply some funding so I informed the parish clerk. Sadly, she failed to contact Karen.

Where any new defibrillators will be sited we don't yet know. One councillor did state that if any residents wish to purchase a defibrillator then the council will pay for the upkeep. A positive move.

You may have noticed in The Sphere that Suckley Parish Council wrote about the benefits of the mobile phone mast and I concur that improved coverage is of benefit to the whole community. I'm very fortunate with my provider in that I get good coverage over the whole of the village only losing out over Crews Hill. Whilst I agree with the highlighted points, there is another point to be made regarding calls to the emergency services.

Obviously you can only call 999 when there is sufficient signal strength. Even when you have barely any signal you may notice SOS ONLY or a similar message on your phone. At this moment you don't have enough signal strength to make a normal telephone call but if you were to ring 999, your service provider will drop other calls that are taking place to enable your emergency call to go through at minimal signal strength.

When you have no signal and a 999 call won't work, a text might. Sending a text requires much less signal strength and the phone will keep trying to send the text meaning there is a greater chance of the message getting through.

Emergency SMS is a simple and innovative system that is designed to aid people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment and is finding favour as an insurance policy for people in rural areas. To register your phone, text register to 999 and follow the simple instructions.

Another benefit of using text messaging to the emergency services is that it eliminates background noise such as high winds.

This local walking group was established by local ornithologist and 'outdoors man' Garth Lowe back in the mists of time - well at least over 20 years ago. When Garth decided to 'hang up his boots' a few years back, I decided that I'd ask him if I could take on the challenge of leading 'local' walks. Garth was only too pleased that the walks would carry on and with his support and guidance that is exactly what I have done.

When we moved to the area some 14 years ago, Marian and I were keen to get involved and, as we both enjoyed walking, we joined Garth's walks. Not only did this help us to get to know our new area but, and perhaps in retrospect more importantly, we got to know a lot of local folk who enjoyed the countryside. Many of these fellow walkers have over the years become very good friends and have helped make us feel welcome and established in the area.

The walks happen every month on different days of the week although these are mostly on a Monday or Tuesday due to other commitments. The walks themselves are approximately between 3 and 6 miles and generally happen whatever the weather unless it is likely to be very wet. The term local is rather vaguely defined here but mostly they are within a 10-mile radius of the Alfrick, Suckley and Leigh Sinton area and can be flat or hilly and include some stiles. My aim is to introduce people to walks that are often not too far away but which include footpaths that they have perhaps never ventured onto.

The April walk is at 10am on Tuesday 29th April and starts from The Wyche Inn at the Wyche Cutting and is about 3.5 to 4 miles long. The May walk is from The Red Lion at Stiffords Bridge through the Netherley Estate and is about 5 miles in length.

At the end of the walks there is a Macmillan Cancer Care collecting tin where, if walkers so wish, a voluntary donation can be made. Last year we made over £220! We always welcome new walkers so why not give the walks a try - it is a very relaxed and social group. We have continued to attract new members in the last few months so you will not be the only new member.

What, another election? Yes, it's time for the County Council elections and the opportunity to choose who will represent Malvern Link which includes Suckley Parish.

The Suckley Eye is not a political magazine. We sit on the fence and will continue to do so which gives us the ability to both criticise and praise, without any outside interference, when our elected officials do good things and conversely make poor decisions.

Despite the result of the last General Election, I suspect most people in this country are Conservative voters who occasionally vote Labour. I'm very much a centrist who varies from time to time to either left or right. I went left when Boris Johnson was running the country but have since moved back to the right. In local politics I don't think party politics are so much of an issue. It's more about personalities and who can do the most good for a particular ward or, in this case, who can do the most for our parish.

Karen Hanks has been a major benefactor for this parish. She supplied almost £1,300 in finance for better broadband coverage in Church Lane which was of great benefit to the school. She supplied a basketball hoop and tennis net for the playing field. During my time in office, she supplied over £1,000 in financial aid for two new benches at the playing field.

Without her financial intervention, the two new boundary markers on the Knightwick and Cradley roads would not have been erected. Only a few weeks ago I spoke with her regarding defibrillators and she immediately made a positive response regarding funding. She has been a major supporter of efforts to get a proper speed limit on the Knightwick Road and continues to lobby on our behalf.

She was a constant source of support to me during my time as Chair of the Parish Council assisting me at all times with my battles with the Highways Department to get pathways repaired, potholes attended to and drains unblocked. She was always on hand to point me in the right direction and for all these reasons, I am supporting her in her efforts to get elected to support our parish. And, apart from all this, she has a very cute dog!

Drifting? No, not snow but a form of motorsport and we have one of the country's top exponents of the art working amongst us down at the Bruff, 31 year old Josh King of JK Services. I met up with Josh recently who very kindly took the time to explain just what the sport is all about. It's rather more than a bunch of hooligans performing tyre smoking doughnuts in a supermarket car park.

It requires a huge amount of skill based on speed and fluidity, angle accuracy, line and style. It is a non-contact sport and almost like a form of ballet on wheels and takes place on proper racing circuits around the country and is sanctioned by Motorsport UK.

So how does it work? Drifting is a technique where the driver purposely oversteers allowing the rear of the car to drift. This is achieved by putting prodigious amounts of power through the back wheels so that they lose traction and the rear of the car starts to spin. A bit like losing control on an icy road so that the driver has to apply opposite lock to prevent the car from spinning. In this case, though, the driver wants the car to spin, drift, and controls it all by applying just the right amounts of power and opposite lock whilst trying to keep unabated momentum.

There are usually three methods of getting the car sideways. One is a handbrake turn, another is rapidly disengaging and engaging the clutch to cause the rear wheels to break traction, and the other is to flick the steering wheel. This is where with the car approaching, for arguments sake a right turn, the driver flicks the wheel left whilst lifting off the accelerator and dabbing the brakes. This causes the weight transfer that rotates the rear of the car towards the outside of the turn.

Steering into the turn and releasing the brakes while applying full throttle, the car then rotates into the corner. All this happens in fractions of a second and when properly executed lines the car up for the exit of the corner. Please don't try this on the road - you will inevitably finish up having a major accident. And don't try it in supermarket car parks or any other car park as you will be breaking the law.

Drifting takes place on a variety of circuits round the country such as Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Cadwell Park. But not all of the circuit is used, just a few linking corners with drivers being judged on each corner. In qualifying, the cars run singularly with points being awarded by the judges based on the criteria already mentioned.

In the heats, drivers are paired off and have two runs, or passes, with each driver starting a run alternately and the losing driver being eliminated. There are several criteria that drivers must meet:

• Overtaking the lead car under drift conditions will automatically be eliminated from that run. Spinning also forfeits a run.
• Increasing the lead helps to win the run.
• Drivers must also clip boxes painted on the outside edge of a corner.

Maintaining a close gap to the car in front whilst under drift conditions can also help to win the run. Touching the car in front reduces your chances of winning. The art of driving behind is to mirror the performance and angles of the leading car as exactly as possible . And that requires a huge amount of driving ability and intense concentration. And yes, there is a lot of spectacular tyre smoke produced.

The car Josh uses started life as a white, 1996 BMW 318i saloon producing 100bhp and used as a family runaround. As you can see from the pictures, it's a little different now!

When Josh took ownership, he and his team began a lengthy and detailed engine rebuild so that the car now produces a tyre shredding 720bhp with the intention of a further increase to over 1000bhp in the future. To put that in perspective, a car in the British Touring Car Championship produces around 350bhp whilst a modern Formula One car produces around 950bhp.

I won't go into all the technical specification as it would take up too many pages and most of us wouldn't understand all the engine, gearbox, suspension and interior modifications. The car runs on wide treaded tyres costing around £275. They last just three laps.

If you want to see Josh in action, visit his website www.joshking.co.uk where you will find much more information and videos. You'll note the signature on top of the roof is that of The Stig of Top Gear fame who took the car around Brands Hatch. He couldn't get anywhere near the times Josh set.

Thank you Josh and good luck for the season. We will be keeping any eye on you and be posting some updates.

About three years ago, John and Jill Hammonds planted the Jubilee Plantation and I thought how wonderful it was but believed I would not live long enough to enjoy it. How wrong I have been thankfully.

Last summer I walked through the plantation and Almshouse Wood with my dogs. There were wild flowers and grasses in abundance as well as a small pond frequented by butterflies, birds, bees and all manner of insects. It made me think how much more insect life was there as well as reptiles, mice, the inevitable rats, birds of prey, seeding birds and so much. It's a wonderful, wonderful area.

Some of the spring flowers in the plantation and Almshouse Wood

During the first week of March, I had a catch up with Mark Gardiner, the manager of our adopted football team St. Johns. I wanted to know when the next home game was as I had lost track of the fixtures. As it happened, it was the following Saturday, and he told me that he was having difficulty getting someone to mark out the pitch so I volunteered my services.

I went to the playing field on the Thursday morning, got the line marker out of the garage and then couldn't get the thing to work. It's a simple enough contraption with a holding tank containing a large wheel and the line marking fluid. As you push the machine along, the wheel rotates and coats itself in fluid which then transfers to a smaller wheel that connects to a larger wheel on the front of the machine which makes contact with the ground and marks the pitch.

A very simple procedure and one that has been used for decades. Except the wheel in the tank would not rotate. Try as I might, I could not work out the problem. So I rang my friend Roger Luton who is a constant source of help with all things mechanical. He met me at the field and, sure enough, he solved the problem. It turned out to be nothing more complicated than getting the shaft that holds the tank wheel cleaned thus allowing the wheel to rotate.

With this done I set off to mark the pitch. The lines were just visible which made life much easier but when I got to the goal area furthest from the pavilion, I noticed a patch about three metres square which had been severely scuffed up. There was no evidence of vehicle intrusion so it had to be animal made. We thought a badger. Clearly there was no chance of football being played.

I rang the Chair of the Playing Field Committee but got no response so I left a voice message. I sent a text to Mark informing him of the situation and decided I may as well finish marking the pitch to refresh the lines to make life easier for the future. As I was packing up to leave, a member of the Playing Field Committee arrived and we inspected the scuffed area. He took some pictures, rang a local farmer who confirmed that he thought it was badger.

The following morning I got up early and went down to the playing field with a watering can and rake. It's lovely down there early in the morning. A special place.

I must have made a dozen trips from the pavilion to the goal area with my ten-litre watering can. Water is quite heavy and I'm not the strongest of blokes. I filled in the holes with the bits of turf, watered it, tamped it down with the reverse side of the rake and then walked all over it. By the time I had finished I felt it was now good enough, and safe enough to play on. Not perfect by any means but I've played on worse. I am an ex-referee so I feel qualified to judge.

I rang Mark and told him the news and he told me that his son was going over later in the day with a roller so it was game on. Or at least it was until that evening when Mark contacted me to say that the opposition couldn't raise a team and had pulled out. Ah well, at least it was three easy points for St. Johns as the game would be classed as a walkover and I did get some useful exercise. I did see the funny side. Just.

Our adopted football team kicked off February with two defeats before a return to form saw them unbeaten in three games. Cheltenham Saracens proved to be a more obdurate opponent than the league position would suggest. The Jonners fought back from a two goal deficit but still lost out by 3-2.

AFC Cheltenham were next up with the second in the table side proving too strong putting six past the Jonners without reply. A 2-2 draw was next against Tredworth Tigers who were second from the bottom of the league. Points were dropped again against lower-placed opposition but in the reverse fixture a couple of weeks later, the Jonners were comfortable 4-0 winners.

The Jonners remain fourth in the league and too far back to challenge for the title but with four out of their remaining five games at home, a strong finish could well see them third which would be a brilliant achievement for this very young team.

It was great to see the support for the home game against Tredworth with quite a few youngsters down the field having a kickabout. All positive for the future.

I first began campaigning for a village lottery some three years so I am highly delighted that the Parish Council is launching what should be a great fundraiser. It is a ticketed lottery rather than online but it is a positive step forward and I fully applaud the initiative. Tickets will be available from the post office in Longley Green, The Hop Shed and The Cross Keys.

On the Parish Council Facebook page in February, a PC spokesman states in relation to the precept rise that "Cash reserves at £14,000 are very low and should be maintained close to twelve months expenditure." As stated elsewhere in this edition of the magazine, the PC's reserves were well within the guidelines in 2023/24 with the then precept standing at just over £15,000.

The writer also quotes from the November 2023 meeting minutes: "Councillor Gray has applied for grants for the work on the pavilion and for new boards around the all weather pitch". They then state "that the grant did not materialise for unexplained reasons and hence council expenditure was higher than anticipated".

Expenditure was not greater than anticipated. In September 2023, councillors approved expenditure of £14,725 for remedial work at the playing field. This was before we found out that we may be able to get a grant and, when we tried to make an application to the Football Foundation, we were informed that as we had already begun work we would not be eligible for a grant.

If wild garlic isn't available try fresh rocket instead. Always wash and dry leaves thoroughly before use. When stored in sterilised jars, the pesto will keep in a fridge for a couple of weeks.

Despite some harsh criticism of the parish council both here and on the Suckley Eye Facebook page, the council is to be congratulated for actively chasing funds for more defibrillators, for launching a village lottery (see Village lottery launched) and for organising a pub quiz at The Cross Keys to raise funds for the playing field.

These are all very positive steps and I hope everyone will give these initiatives their 100% support. It's also great to see that the work continues down at the playing field. It's just like the old days.

See you in July.