Chatbox

Rob Dickinson
If you care to read my post agin you will see I was replying to David Higham !
Two I never mentioned asking the village clerk I suggested he contacted Cheshire east as it is nothing to do with the village council . Hope that clarifies things .

Well said Mr Dickinson, I'm sure we can all see the Council is doing it's very best at the moment and perhaps needs our support rather than constant badgering

Found a lost dog poo outside ours on woore rd. Fear not I've left it there if it's owner is missing it and wants to collect it. Medium sized and light shade, pics on request.

Thank you David for raising this issue. It is totally wrong to remove disabled parking spaces from the nearest point to the surgery, and I expect that ADCA's medical transport team will agree. Although it would be possible to drop off patients nearer the surgery, this doesn't help patients who drive themselves but cannot walk far.
It may be that the previous 11 disabled spaces mentioned by Lynette are an excessive number, but reinstating the 3 by the surgery in addition to the newly marked 6 by the far end of the Public Hall seems to me to be the sensible solution.

Ah the redoubtable Mrs Tilling – you ask do I have "any idea just how much work goes into monitoring the Chatboxes and Articles" – the answer is I don't – I just judge by what I see and the old conkers myth has been debunked so many times I find it hard to believe it wasn't spotted. Of course, in the post-truth era people seem quite happy to believe and propagate any old rot they want as long as it suits their mind set, amplified as it is by repetition on social media. As to your "belief" that there was a ban in a school 2 decades ago, it's quite probable, but not because of any accident but because some schools bought into the "ban" nonsense, thought it was true and so implemented one. The only known accidents per se are from kids hurting themselves collecting them – climbing trees etc.
It did all provide a lot of fuel for the Tory Party propaganda machine at the time, however, who exploited it relentlessly and then when in power found there was zilch to actually change. It's a good job politicians don't do that sort of thing these days.

I think if Lyne Hopkins wants to know about the white lining and has issues with it she should ask the council herself, as I cant see it anything to do with the parish clerk. With the state of the village at the moment Im sure he has far more important things to attend to.

Have you, Mr. Lechley, any idea just how much work goes into monitoring the Chatboxes and Articles which appear on AudlemOnline. Also the ones which don't make the cut. Some of mine fall in the latter category as I do get somewhat heated about it. I dare say you are correct although I believe a couple of decades ago one school in Cheshire did ban confers in school when a pupil was hurt. Of course I could be wrong but if you point it out be less superior please. Personally I am much too depressed by climate and political considerations. However if anyone has a conker I will happily try to nurture it , my grandchildren may see it mature.

Would have been good if the editors hadn't chopped a chunk out of the middle of my post – I know not why they chose to do so. The account from the headteacher, Shaun Halfpenny, who made up the story "The conkers-with-goggles story was a myth. I know – I started it" is here https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/dec/09/conkers-goggles-myth-health-safety.

The link actually given is to a page on the HSE website where loads of similar nonsense myths are discounted. Unfortunately all too many of the tabloids love to propagate this nonsense – as they say "never let the truth get in the way of a good story"

In the past three weeks I have noticed small piles of conker shells dotted around my garden. A friend has also mentioned this to me at her place. I presumed it was squirrels eating them but in your article you suggest not. What else could it be I wonder? I have never noticed this before and presumed that it was to do with always having a dog until now chasing the sqirrels off

There are only 6 disabled marked bays in the car park and they are close to the hall

Yes Joy, you are more than welcome to come and collect as many conkers as you can carry. I have just filled yet another wheelie bin full of conkers. My garden is rich in horse manure (no pun intended)and is literally littered with hundreds of horse chestnut seedlings every year where I have failed to unearth the conkers from beneath shrubs. So No, I don't need to plant any , they do that themselves.

When we had the ducks we were regularly visited by mink. Rosie was a dab hand at setting traps for them, The result was more or less a balance between a few ducks and at least one mink per season. The best I did the year or so after she died was 3 youngsters over a period of about 3 weeks. A few days later a dead female was on the road, no doubt on its way to Billy's hens. Equally destructive were visits from polecats. In our experience mink kill to eat whilst polecats like foxes kill for fun. Sadly I lost all the ducks to duck hepatitis during the last year but have been rewarded by a magnificent Heron taking up residence
Chris

A better use for conkers ................. take a deep plant pot with soil, place the conker in it, water as and when necessary and in a year's time, with luck, you will have a baby horse chestnut tree. Transfer it to a larger pot in the second year, don't let it dry out and plant it in it's permanent home the third year. Chestnut trees do grow very large so choose the site carefully. A great project for children.

I thought it was most likely to be an Otter, there have been plenty of sightings along the canal and the Weaver and the brook would be a perfect corridor for them to follow. I understand Otter will also leave the remains of their meal on the canal bank especially if disturbed. Otter can out-fish mink and have also been known to kill them so one of the many benefits of their return is decreasing mink numbers.

I see Mr Fousert is invoking the myth, which always surfaces around this time of year, that there is some sort of ban on playing conkers on the grounds of "health and safety". It's disappointing to see Audlem Online putting wind in the sails of this made up trope by repeating it – as a social media platform you have a responsibility not to spread misinformation. It's about as true as the bent bananas story. It all started as a publicity stunt by a headteacher – you can read his account here https://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/top10myths.htm. Perhaps the editors of Audlem Online could exercise a little more care before publishing this sort of misinformation.
It is however true that horse chestnuts are toxic, like some contributions to Audlem Online

David there are meant to be 11 disabled spaces on the car park in the village . I suggest you see if there still is ., if not ask the clerk to contact Cheshire east . I agree the one place they should not be moving them from is by the doctors absolutely ridiculous !!

Most likely to be a mink. Not unusual to find fish remains on the boat moorings beside the Turnpike Field. Whatever it is has disgusting table manners! We've always put it down to mink (not uncommon on the canals), but never caught it in the act.

Bob, here are some uses for conkers.
1. Extract aescin, an anti-inflammatory, for bruises and sprains;
2. Grind into Conker Flour, a Victorian recipe although comes with a severe health warning;
3. Put into wardrobe to ward off moths – the seeds contain triterpenoid;
4. crush the conkers and add to soap or shower gel as the seeds contain saponins. Popular among the Vikings!
5. Enjoy the colour and texture of the newly opened seeds.
There you are, hours of fun.

Full marks again to the the council department responsible for white lining recently in the car park. In addition to renewing the white they have removed the disable parking bays adjacent to the surgery entrance. This means that those people who have difficulty walking and need to visit the surgery, yes those oldies amongst us who need to visit the surgery usually quite frequently will have to walk 4 or 5 times as far as they used to. Solution those people giving them a lift will now park across the entrance to the surgery blocking the entrance to the car park whilst they help their passenger to the surgery.
Result frustrated drivers getting angry waiting to park their cars further into the car park .
Why didn't they remove 3 of the spaces from outside the public hall?
David Higham

Nigel, thank you. My guess was that it was an otter. This is good news as Otters and compatible with Water Voles. This was my target for the camera after a probable sighting a week before. Alternatively our mystery visitor was a mink. That would be bad news. Mink and Water Voles not compatible. Otters displace Mink which is good news!

At the moment there are 3 buses. I would imagine if its proves to be successful they might add more buses.

Might them there eyes belong to a Mink? Not seen one for years but, you never know. If it is and you get chance to have a chat; can you ask it if intends on replacing my hens it took off me all those years ago please. Having said that, it might not be the same one and even if it was, it probably wouldn't admit to the crime and, after all these years, I can't prove it. Might not have even been a Mink come to think about it. So, to sum up, don't ask it....it probably won't know what your on about anyway.

We think it could be an Otter.
Any other ideas other than a car, beaver or otter?

Adrian, thanks for the article on the Rhythm of Life. Excellent reading.
The Mystery nocturnal visitor looks, well, mysterious!
At first I thought it was a pair of headlights (which wouldn't surprise me at present!) then I looked closer and thought – is it a beaver maybe??

Is there a prize for the correct answer?

Thanks again Adrian and the Tree Planters.
Nigel.

Mr Lee has a very good point, surely the whole business model for this new service is flawed. It can only work well if very few people use it. At the moment people are using it as a private taxi which is great, but surely if the service became very popular throughout its service area the chance of you booking it at the time you wanted it would become less and less likely, and therefore you couldn't rely on it to get you somewhere in time so you would possibly have to make alternative arrangments.