myKnaphill

The KRA often hears from local residents that speeding in the area is a big worry. Most of our roads are 30 mph, and 40 mph in just a few areas, but the average speed at which people travel through our village often seems significantly in excess of that. With a high proportion of elderly and young people in our village, we felt it time to take action.

Together with our councillors, a number of the committee have undertaken the training to implement Community Speedwatch (CSW), and in the last month we have begun our first monitoring sessions. We hope to make this a monthly activity.

CSW is a national initiative where active members of local communities join with the support of the Police to monitor speeds of vehicles using speed detection devices. Volunteers receive appropriate training, and are supported by neighbourhood policing team (NPT) staff. Vehicles exceeding the speed limit are referred to the Police with the aim of educating drivers to reduce their speeds.

The CSW is free to take part in, and entirely run by volunteers, so if vehicle speed is of a concern to you, and you would also be interested in supporting us to try to make our village safer, then please do get in touch.

Our aim is to make the streets of our village safer by making drivers aware of their speeds and when they are exceeding them.

Written by local resident Kate Kett

I decided that now was the time to start offering local people the chance to refill without having to make a special journey.

Kate Kett, owner of Kate’s Eco Shop

Starting something like Kate’s Eco Shop is an idea I’ve had for a few years but for various reasons hadn’t pursued. This year has been great for Woking with Bare + Fair and Refill and Refuel opening in the town centre and Noel’s Farm Shop expanding his range. Unfortunately living in Knaphill I don’t often get to those places and it’s the same with a lot of people I know. Whilst people comment about Knaphill’s variety of shop it does have everything I need on a regular basis with Post Office, library, pharmacy and many more.

So I decided that now was the time to start offering local people the chance to refill without having to make a special journey. I have always been interested in environmental issues and since my first son was born 8 years ago and working part time I’ve had time to get involved in a variety of environmental volunteering opportunities including setting up Woking Nappy Library giving people a chance to try out cloth nappies as an alternative to disposables before committing to buy them which I still run.

In the shop we have a variety of toiletry and cleaning products available to refill, just bring along your old container (or another suitable one), they are all ecofriendly brands. We also have a variety of loose foodstuffs and some other food items. The vast majority are organic as this method of farming helps to protect our environment in a variety of ways. There are also recycled household products, reusable menstrual products, and locally made upcycled cloth products.

Opening hours are currently 2 days a week but I am hoping to extend as and when I can. Thursday’s are 9am-11am perfect for visiting straight after the school run. Saturday’s are 10am to midday.

Please contact me if you have any questions or visit me at the shop to see the range I offer.

Facebook @katesecoshop

Instagram @kates_eco_shop

Located at Eddystone, Chobham
Road, Knaphill, GU21 2TD
Thursday’s 9am-11am
Saturday’s 10am-12pm

Autumn is just around the corner, but wait, it’s not a time to be gloomy – the new issue of myKnaphill magazine is here! Our volunteers are aiming for you to get yours this week. In case you don’t receive yours (or if you’re too impatient to wait!) then you can download your copy by clicking here, or any of the previous issues.

The excitement of the annual Knaphill Village Show is over again for another year. But what a year it was! Our 10th anniversary event brought out the biggest crowds we have ever seen, and even the weather behaved itself.

I’ve got to admit that as the time was drawing near, the weather forecast was looking decidedly dodgy, and the KRA organising committee were sending each other regular updates and comparing MET Office versus BBC. In fact, even with only just over an hour to go before the start, the heavens opened in a dramatic downpour, but this was clearly just to get it all out of the way, because by the time the show began, at 1pm, it was bright, sunny and warm (but fortunately not scorching like 2018!) and remained so for the rest of the day. Someone was clearly smiling down on us!

Maybe it was the good weather, maybe it was the fact that it was our tenth annual show, maybe it was because the KRA organising committee have been working harder than ever to make it our biggest and bestest show yet, but whatever the reason, the general public turned out in force, giving us our highest attendance on record (a staggering 2000 attendees!).

Unfortunately, with such a popular event, the car park, manned by our dedicated volunteers, became full on a number of occasions leaving a few frustrated attendees. We always lay on a free minibus to shuttle visitors from the village down to the event and back again, so that you can ‘park and ride’ as it were, and I’m thrilled to say that this year we had much greater take up.

The fun dog show, organised by Oscar pet food, took place, as it does each year in the cool, calm of the central clearing, and they too had their busiest year so far, with 97 entries. It was a lovely enthusiastic crowd down there, so even if you’re not a dog owner, it’s definitely worth checking out next Summer (although we might need a little lie down in a darkened room before we start thinking about next year!).

On the theme of animals, this year we had two new additions that proved to be the shining stars of the event; Pentangle Aquatics and Little Magic Ponies. The latter were a huge success for the little ones to ride on, and the former had constant queues forming of adults and children eager to meet their guestsssss!

A new area for this year was the handmade marquee; located in the cool shade next to Mizens ticket office, this space was filled with local residents who proudly brought their homemade wares to sell. It was lovely to have them along, and we were super impressed with the wide range of crafts they all made. We hope you were too!

Our official photographer, Claire Bemister Photography, was busy snapping throughout the day. A few of her highlights can be found here, but a full gallery will follow soon.

As always, we have to thank our fantastic musicians and entertainers who really gave the whole event a wonderful vibe, with something to suit all ages. In no particular order, thank you to Scott No Fans, Ukejam, Ruth the harpist, Ukeaholics, Punch & Judy by Mr Magic, BellyTricks, Chobham Morris Dancers, and finally the newbies to our little show, Hartbeeps who entranced and engaged our youngest visitors.

As every year, we are always thrilled and staggered at the generosity and support of local businesses for our event, so for one final time, I’d like to thank our sponsors and also those who kindly donated to our raffle. As always, any profits from the event are donated to a local charity, so check back here soon to find out how much we raised, and to whom the money is going.