FULMER NEWSLETTER - Fulmer Village

NOW WE ARE FIFTY!
Yes, indeed – this is the fiftieth edition of the Fulmer Newsletter. We made our debut
in July 1987 and have been recording what has been happening in the Fulmer
community over the past 25 years and telling of the people who have made it all
happen in a variety of ways, from the initiative taken by the Parish Council; the
changes arising from the merger of our Church, after 375 years of independence, with
St James Gerrards Cross; the fight to retain our Infant School in Fulmer with the
celebration of its Centenary Anniversary and the visit of Princess Alexandra to open
the new Wing; the continuing success of the Nursery Schools in the Village Hall; our
many achievements in the Best Kept Village Competition and the contribution to these
made by the Fulmer Conservation Volunteers; the protection provided by the
Neighbourhood Watch Scheme which has helped to ensure a low crime rate; the
building of the new Pavilion and the Recreation Ground enhancing the superb location
of the Cricket and Football fields and the Tennis Courts with the Children’s
Playground alongside, making possible the successes of our Cricket and Youth
Football teams; Fulmer Day, the Family Activity Day, Bonfire Night, Christmas and
Harvest Thanksgiving Parties; the Community and Remembrance Day Services with
the never to be forgotten 400 th Anniversary celebrations of our Church; the activities
at the Scout Hut and the interesting talks and social outings of the Women’s
Fellowship; the focal role of the Black Horse in our community life, most especially in
the nine years when it was run by Brendan and Kay and Paul and Di before them.
Unrecorded, as they would wish to remain anonymous, is the work of those who care
for residents who become elderly or infirm, but it is right to express our gratitude
nevertheless. In 1996 we were still working hard to get the ‘Powers that Be’ to bring
Main Drainage to Fulmer, which gave rise to so many problems, not least the
prevailing stench when cesspools were being emptied into tankers. It was eventually
installed in 1994.
Nearly all the above has been achieved by voluntary work within our community and
the Newsletter has been proud to be associated with it and we pay our tribute to the
men, women and children who have made it all happen. But communities do not
stand still and if the 100 th edition of the Newsletter in 2036 is able to show that the
record of success through participation has been sustained, and hopefully emulated, it
will need sustained determination on the part of those who have the courage to keep
Fulmer great. The rural communities will have an increasingly important role in
influencing the way British Society operates in the future.
Following the introduction of the Fulmer Newsletter came Michael Saxby’s excellent
history of Fulmer “Featuring Fulmer”, the Gazetteer and “Fulmer’s Fallen”, the story
behind the nineteen sons from our Parish who lost their lives in the two World Wars,
have all been published. At the same time a team was formed to complete the
Archiving work in respect of Fulmer, which had been initiated some years earlier.
This was carried out in two parts – collating the material, documents, minutes,
photographs, maps, memorabilia of all sorts of event programmes and so on and then
cataloguing what had been produced from a wide variety of sources. The team,
operating out of Fulmer Gardens House Cottages, were amazed by the sheer volume of
what was handed in. At first it was felt that it could be housed in the Village Hall, but
exchange visits with the Bucks County Archiving team at Aylesbury convinced us that