Milton Abbot Village Hall is a wonderful village community asset at the heart of beautiful Milton Abbot.
It was originally granted to the community on a peppercorn rent by the Duke of Bedford Estate.
A charity , the Milton Abbot Village Hall (charity number 267714) was established in 1974 with the intentions to support the community in its purpose;
A VILLAGE HALL FOR THE USE OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE PARISH OF MILTON ABBOT WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS OR OTHER OPINIONS, INCLUDING USE FOR MEETINGS, LECTURES, AND CLASSES, AND FOR OTHER FORMS OF RECREATION AND LEISURE-TIME OCCUPATION, WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE FOR THE SAID INHABITANTS.
There are currently four local trustees and a dedicated committee who oversee the governance of the hall.
Sadly, recently there have been some structural problems and the hall is closed for use, however the committee are engaged with an exercise of exploring the root cause of the problem and identifying with the relevant professional help, the best path forwards to restoring the facility as soon as possible.
Fundraising activities and payment options are likely to be announced in early 2024.
See just how much we’ve used our hall in recent times, residents of all ages making great use of our vital asset.
Some recent fabulous uses of our amazing hall!
Please watch this space.
If you’d like to help in any way please use the form below to get in touch and register your support.
Some time ago, a very special girl at Milton Abbot primary decided to write to the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez, highlighting the road safety issue in our village.
Our speed safety group have also previously written, but the letter from local girl Isabelle, touched Alison, who wanted to visit personally, meet Isobel and learn about the issues in our village and learn how she might, along with Devon Highways representative, Councilor Stuart Hughes, help us to address these problems.
Her visit happened today on the 23rd of November in Milton Abbot around lunchtime.
After meeting the group and Isabelle, a special presentation was made, with Isabelle gifting a special bell made from the wood of Milton Abbots St Constantine’s old oak bell frame. In turn, Alison gave Isabelle a special gift of a Vision Zero backpack and other goodies. Mr. Luxford and Isabelle’s mum joined Sonia, Chris, and Angus in the meeting.
The Police and Crime Commissioner then joined us in the village hall to be talked through a short presentation on our efforts thus far in the village, learning about the walking school bus, our fundraising and grant applications, and the new QR code for reporting incidents.
We then all walked to the school, experiencing and observing firsthand the issues of speeding traffic and narrow pavements.
We are now being given offers of support with tangible solutions to address these issues and look forwards to sharing updates once we finalise details in due course.
A wonderful moment in reward of the hard efforts of the speed watch volunteers, the school, pupils and headmaster, and the wider village community.
Left to right- Alison Hernandez -Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner, Emily, Isabelle, Angus, Sonia, Mr. Luxford, Chris, Stuart Hughes -Cabinet Members for Highways Management
Make use of the new QR codes along the walk to school to report any bad driving behaviour, you witness. If possible take a photo or video, and then report it to us using the online forms! This way we continue to record incidents and build a true picture of the issues we wish to resolve.
On Friday 19th November 2021, the Police visited Milton Abbot School to talk about road safety, as part of “Brake” Road Safety Week”. “The Police were represented by a Community Support Officer and a Police Officer, plus two members of Milton Abbot Speedwatch Volunteer Team. Working together the four presented an Assembly for the whole school, with a presentation on Road Safety, traffic speed, its dangers, the need to be visible and keep safe when walking or cycling. There was time for a lively question-and-answer session.
Following the Assembly, the whole school went into the playground and the pupils took turns in having a go with the “Radar Gun”. This involved taking turns to use the gun whilst another pupil ran towards it. There was an element of competition to see who in each class could record the fastest run. Additionally, every pupil also had the chance to see the Police car with all its equipment; lights, siren, radio, stinger, etc.
It was evident that the School enjoyed the session, whilst conveying in a constructive way the serious message of road safety and the dangers speeding traffic presents today.”
It’s that time of year again Milton Abbot residents!
With the worst of the pandemic hopefully behind us, it’s a great time to refocus on communicating our village commitment to the speed watch campaign and delivering road safety for all users in particular the village school children and their right to a safe walk to and from school.
This year, we invite you to register for free with Brake Road Safety Week and display proudly your speed awareness and speed limit signs safely in the village as before.
Let’s see how many signs we get this year! Together we can send a message to motorists traveling through the village that we care passionately about road safety and will work tirelessly to ensure our speed limits are respected by all road users.
Craig is organising with Emily a special large scale kids walk to school with high viz vests and we will invite local media to cover this event. Details to be on village social media. We invite all, not just parents and kids to get involved.
Ask your kids to start designing posters and notices to display in your windows/ walls/ parked car windows to share the 30mph speed message and inspirational road safety messages.
We will be approaching local land owners to seek permission to repeat previous years signage positioning and hopefully we will have another famous ‘speed crow’ to grace the roadside.
A committee of parents will liaise with the school to arrange complementary activities of the children who have excelled in previous years.
Please do get involved! Use FB and the village Massive WhatsApp pages to share your support! You can also comment on this post.
Sadly our village speed camera is in a sorry state and the powers that be need a kick up the posterior to mobilise them into action.
We deserve a funtioning, calibrated speed camera as a basic provision in the campaign for road safety.
What can you do? ….Glad you asked!
Please send an email OR letter compalining that the current speed notifiaction sign is malfunctioning and demand its repair or replacement as a matter of priority.
Here are the contact details;
Meg Booth, Head of Devon Highways, Devon County Council, Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon, EX2 4WD. Her email is csc.roads@devon.gov.uk
Lets take action individually to provoke a swift resolution and action and get our village safer for all! Thank you for your participation!
Dear Milton Abbot residents, we have achieved so much in quite a short time and our long-term planning has been galvanised following much discussion and vital feedback from the community. It’s important, we feel, to explain our goals and strategies so that everyone in the village feels connected to our activities and can understand the wider context i.e the ‘big picture’
From the start we have recognised that road safety defines our concerns, making our roads safe for all. Whilst speeding is at times the most obvious failing of motorists, we see too often poor roadcraft and poor road positioning putting people’s safety at risk.
We are at a real cross roads in our campaign and ask for your help.
Our campaign seeks to deliver the long term goal of proper road infrastructure to deliver safer roads through our village. What might this mean? We would like the return of modern speed cameras that are dynamic and report exact speeds to motorists. We would welcome speed calming measures such as rumble strips or boundary gates that signal physically the entry of a new speed zone. We would like safer wider pavements so that kids can walk freely and safely to the school in all seasons.
To deliver all of this we are communicating directly across a number of Government agencies such as local Government, Police and Highway authorities and local transport companies. This work requires time, focus, and some financial resource so please if you can, give a £5 to our gofundme page. More importantly, we welcome any volunteers who could support some administrative tasks such as email and letter writing. Perhaps you are retired and could offer your polished communication skills for a few hours a week? See our key projects below.
We are currently seeking to register the walking school bus, a process that adds legitimacy and weight to the children’s daily route to school. We have consulted with the parish council and will now formally canvas the Highways agency for better road and speed safety measures. One idea is to explore a time-specific 20MPH zone around the school for arrival and departure times.
We’d welcome volunteers to drive these two specific projects forwards-could you help??
Our speed watch campaign starts very soon- you may have read in the Tavy Times of the support of the Police Commissioner , Alison Hernandez, around this initiative. We have our speed gun and preliminary training has commenced, however, I stress that this exercise can only deliver within Covid regulations. The on site training is on hold until the police deem it Covid safe to progress. We must sadly be patient , as we all have done so this year!
Perhaps the biggest talking point in the village was our amazing signs. We’d like to announce a call to restore the signs again in December between the 13th and 24th, please! Many of you have asked why can’t the signs remain permanently, so let’s answer that transparently. The large round signs were erected with specific permission of landowners on the basis of a short, timed campaign. We wish to honour the goodwill upon which permission was granted. Furthermore, we have not, pending local feedback, demanded specific speed signage action, from the Highways agency yet. We now have consulted at local parish council level and can progress our requests. It remains an option of pressure to reinstate our signs if, over time, the Highways Agency does not yield to our requests. Some of you, with your own signs on your own property, may wish to keep your signs up permanently, having seen the positive effect they yield. We respect this too, as some feelings run high. What is ultimately important to us, is that you can now understand the wider and longer-term goals we have. It is the responsibility of the authorities to provide solutions, with our focus, direction and applied pressure, rather than our temporary valiant effort.
If anyone needs a laminated A3 sign please ask Sonia who can help you-email below.
If anyone needs a free high viz vest to walk safely in the village also let us know!
We are also planning a radical art based speed safety project for the summer and need the help of knitters and or crochet fans- can you help- you might be 8 or 80! Once again Sonia is your contact on this one. It’s super exciting!!!
So, in summary, please continue your wonderful support. Get your signs up on the 13th!!!!! Please if you can, keep donating! Please if you can, offer your time and energy to help our small yet growing committee to get better results, sooner! To volunteer please email Sonia@miltonabbotspeedsafety.org
The parents today , Friday 13th November, did a trial run, using their new high viz jackets, of a walking school bus , meeting at the pub and walking safely in a long chain to the primary school.
Cars seemed to take much more notice and safety appeared to be improved.
If you need a high viz vest to make your walking in the village safer please let us know, we will provide you with one thanks to our generous partners.
Would you like this to become a regular thing?
Please leave comments!
Todays’ trial run of walking school bus in Milton Abbot
Milton Abbot Speed & Road Safety 