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and the content sometimes got out of date or events were not always known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
Online
Version
Popley
Matters 231 May Last
Edition
Popley
Matters 230 April
Popley
Matters 229 March
Popley
Matters 228 February
Popley
Matters 227 January
Popley Matters 226
December
Popley Matters 225 November
Popley Matters 224 October
Popley Matters 223
September
Popley Matters 222
August
Popley Matters 221 July
Popley Matters 220 June
Popley Matters 219 May
Popley Matters 218 April
PDF of Popley Matters.