Please accept our apologies for the lack of updates, it’s been a busy time for everyone and the days just disappeared. We haven’t gone anywhere, and the Galley Hill Residents Association are still working to get things improved in Galley Hill. Following a recent discussion on the Friends Of Galley Hill Facebook group someone asked what is the point of the GHRA if nothing gets cleaned up?

And that is where we will start, we need more of the community to get involved to help us to achieve the changes we all want to see. At our last committee meeting it was suggested we do a monthly litter pick, like the one they have at Fullers Slade which is organised by a local church group who have offered to help GHRA to organise the litter pick. We need volunteers to come forward to help on a weekend for an hour or two once a month.
Could you help?

On the subject of volunteers needed we are currently looking for Court Reps for Stanbridge and Manshead Courts. Being a Court Rep doesn’t have to take a lot of your time, all it entails is the delivery of the Noose newsletter once a month and the odd leaflet drop. Of course if you want to do more then you can attend the committee meetings and bring in the concerns of your neighbours too!

We would also like to remind everyone to be vigilant once again as there have been yet more break-ins in Galley Hill as well as the mugging and an attempted mugging in the area. One involved the theft of car keys, and then the car was stolen, and in a separate incident a garage was broken into, both in Redbourne Court and within a week of each other.
We do have a Neighbourhood Watch in place to help co-ordinate a concerted effort into keeping us all safe, and an idea was raised at a recent meeting to see if we can get help to fund camera doorbells in a few houses around GH. Any other ideas to help prevent the thefts?

Finally a little update on things which are happening. The GHRA have been making a lot of connections over the past year, including working closely with our local Councillors, Mick Allsopp and Paul Bartlett to get our area noticed. Additionally we have been pushing to get the Stony Stratford Town Councillors and various important people from MK Council to our meetings and to listen to the concerns of GH residents. These efforts are starting to yield results, as we recently had Cllr Liz Gifford attend a meeting and take questions from those attending. As a result of this Cllr Gifford raised concerns about missing street signs and as a result the Clailey Court sign was replaced within a few days of her getting involved and following it up (although Redbourne Court still remains anonymous to outsiders despite the sign having gone missing a long time before Clailey Courts).
The tree carving project is getting closer to completion as Roy has been in contact with the St. Mary St. Giles school again to get the final designs from the children to complete the bench.

We have also had Kate Nicholls and Sue Titchmarsh step up to the events team. They are already planning an Easter Egg Hunt in Galley Hill so keep coming back for more information.

To sum it up, to some it may seem that it is all pointless, but in the grand scheme of things GHRA is still taking baby steps, but starting to get noticed by the various bodies who make the decisions. Work is always going on behind the scenes, a lot of hard work by the volunteers behind the GHRA committee and court reps, and if more people come forward to offer any help they can then we will be able to do more for our community, together!

Thanks to all those who volunteer their time, turn up to meetings and help to make our little but important part of Milton Keynes better.

The GHRA Committee