Popley Matters    
 
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Popley Matters 
Goodbye from Popley Matters.
I can’t believe that this is the last Popley Matters; it has been a large part of our families lives for twenty-four years. Back in late 1996, a group of us residents were talking about the terrible name Popley had and we all knew that it wasn’t true. It was not deserved. Popley is really a great place to live and bring your family up in.
Ken and I moved to Abbey Road in January of 1971 with our baby Paul, then aged 6 months. We loved our new home so much from the very begining, and 50 years later I am still here in the same house and Paul with me, now my carer. Our second son Tony lives in Marnel Park.
Back to the story of the beginning of Popley Matters. We called a meeting held in Popley Fields Community Centre: How could we change things, how could we get rid of this undeserved misconception of Popley? Someone said, “Well there was a news-sheet but there had only four copies in 5 years”. I didn’t remember it, nor did most of the others, so I asked “What was it called?”. “Popley Matters,” they replied. “That’s it,” we said because Popley really does matter to us all. We decided we would apply for a grant from the council and in May 1997, we produced the first one, 3,200 copies. It started as a quarterly issue but it soon became obvious that it needed to be monthly as there was so much news and the content sometimes got out of date or events were not always known three months in advance. Paul said he would show us how to layout a copy, “Just one,” he said. The following year, Paul still doing all the layout then said, “Why not go that much further and do a bookle?” I said it would never work but Paul insisted it would and, of course, he was right. We went monthly and at thirty six pages long to fill, we needed to sell enough advertising to pay the printer a challenge but we met it.
After a year, and the family getting even more involved with the community, we thought Popley seemed to be at the end of the queue for improvements and the council appeared not to know where Popley was at that time. Remember the old saying “If you can’t beat them then join them’” so the best way then it appeared was to see if we could get elected. I had been to just about every full council meeting for well over two years to learn but there was no public speaking then so your voice could not be heard. Only one way then! I stood in the 1998 election and won by a nail-biting only 26 votes. The following year Paul got elected so our long journey as Councillors wanting the best for Popley began.
So why after all these years is Popley Matters going to stop? After being Councillors for a couple of years we realised to make changes and achieve what was our dream for Popley and its fantastic residents that we needed to do it as a full-time job. We got frustrated because borough would say, “That’s a County issue” and County said it was borough so to beat them at their own game, I would do both and if you look around Popley, I think you would agree it worked. Sadly, Ken got terminal cancer and we lost him in 2011. His last wish was for us to look after Popley, so we stepped up the fight for the dream of a family park, good schools, care homes and all that is here in Popley now and, of course, all the welcomed new homes that were so needed for our families. We have had so many battles and were so close to fulfilling the complete dream when, with the fast growth of houses tin Basingstoke, it meant the Boundaries Commission drew new boundaries and cut from four Councillors to three in Popley East and Popley West and that meant a new type of selection process. Although everyone said what a great job the present four Councillors were doing and no one would break up the team, it seemed it was a case of which one of us four would step away. But it didn’t turn out that way; David and Janet suddenly left the party and went Independent as they did not like the way things were going. We were shocked as we knew nothing about their plans until five minutes before it was announced in the press. We were elected as your local Councillors and would stay that way. Paul lost the selection by the narrowest of votes. I was the only woman and one had to be a woman so automatically I was selected but Paul and I were hard-working active team and eventually I said I could not stand without Paul. Paul was also my ears with my failing hearing and, as I don’t drive, he was the one who got us to all the many meetings, and I am not getting any younger! So here we are no longer your Councillors and Paul will build a new career, perhaps back in the world of IT where he was once a senior technician for Microsoft. Now we will put all our efforts into a new career for him, especially hard now as so many other people are jobless too due to the pandemic. We knew because of the hours and efforts to get Popley Matters out each month we could not carry on. We tried for eighteen months to get someone, or a group, to take on Popley Matters as a community magazine but no one wanted to, once they realised how much work and time it took. It just about broke even and many times in the past ran at a loss, also lugging around heavy boxes of magazines was another factor. Everyone involved was a volunteer and we have so many people to thank for sticking by Popley Matters: Terry the Chairman; Chris the treasurer; Lorraine our proof reader; all our amazing deliverers; Martin our printer who also helps to deliver; and Jeremy who also helps with deliveries. I will continue with my charity work for the disabled and Paul with Rotary;you may have seen him volunteering at Hampshire Court Hotel while it is the main vaccine hub for many miles around. He also is delivering food parcels. We hope you understand why we have had to close down Popley Matters; it was our time to step back and take another direction. I can still be found on Popley Matters Facebook page. It may be goodbye Popley Matters but our love for Popley will always be here. Jane Frankum
You can contact the Editor of Popley Matters via on Email editor@popleymatters.org.uk

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Popley Matters 50 April 2006
Popley Matters 49 March 2006
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Popley Matters 45 November 2005
Popley Matters 44 October 2005
Popley Matters 43 September 2005
Popley Matters 42 August 2005
Popley Matters 41 July 2005
Popley Matters 40 June 2005  
Popley Matters 39 Feb 05 - May 2005
Popley Matters 38 December 04 - February 2005
Popley Matters 37 September 04 - November 2004
Popley Matters 36 June 2004 - August 2004
Popley Matters 35 March 2004 - May 2004
Popley Matters 34 December 2003 - February 2004
Popley Matters 33 September 2003 - November 2003
Popley Matters 32 June 2003 - August 2003
Popley Matters 31 March 2003 - May 2003
Popley Matters 30 December 2002 - February 2003
Popley Matters 29 September 2002 - November 2002
Popley Matters 28 June 2002 - August 2002  (Volume 3 issue 17) 10th Anniversary Special
Popley Matters 27 March 2002 - May 2002 (Volume 3 issue 16)
Popley Matters 26 December 2001 - February 2002 (Volume 3 issue 15)
Popley Matters 25 September 2001 - November 2001 (Volume 3 issue 14)
Popley Matters 24 June 2001 - August 2001 (Volume 3 issue 13)
Popley Matters 23 March 2001 - May 2001 (Volume 3 issue 12)
Popley Matters 22 December 2000 - February 2001 (Volume 3 issue 11)
Popley Matters 21 September 2000 - November 2000 (Volume 3 issue 10)
Popley Matters 20 June 2000 - August 2000 (Volume 3 issue 9)
Popley Matters 19 March 2000 - May 2000 (Volume 3 issue 8)
Popley Matters 18 December 1999 - February 2000 (Volume 3 issue 7)
Popley Matters 17 September 1999 - November 1999 (Volume 3 issue 6)
Popley Matters 16 June 1999 - August 1999 (Volume 3 issue 5)
Popley Matters 15 March 1999 - May 1999 (Volume 3 issue 4)
Popley Matters 14 December 1998 - February 1999 (Volume 3 issue 3)
Popley Matters 13 September 1998 - November 1998 (Volume 3 issue 2)
Popley Matters 12 June 1998 - August 1998 (Volume 3 issue 1)
Popley Matters 11 April 1998 - May 1998  (Volume 2 issue 7)
Popley Matters 10 February 1998 - March 1998 (Volume 2 issue 6)
Popley Matters 9 December 1997 January 1998 (Volume 2 issue 5)
Popley Matters 8 November-1997 (Volume 2 issue 4)
Popley Matters 7 September 1997 - October 1997 (Volume 2 issue 3)
Popley Matters 6 July 1997 - August 1997 (Volume 2 issue 2)
Popley Matters 5 May 1997 - June 1997 (Volume 2 issue 1)
Popley Matters 4 December 1996
Popley Matters 3 March 1994
Popley Matters 2 August 1992
Popley Matters 1 May 1992
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  All rights reserved. To pass back ideas, comments, suggestions, articles or to offer help please write to:– Popley Matters, 405 Abbey Road, Basingstoke.RG24 9EL
email: editor@popleymatters.org.uk or Phone Jane Frankum 01256 819924.   
   The views on this website and in the publication are not necessarily the views of the Editorial Team. or the members of the committee of  Popley Forum/Matters.        Website written by Paul Frankum email paul@popleymatters.org.uk with any comments or questions.    Last Modified 1/05/21 12:00:00