Carnival Crisis Meeting
The dedicated team who have organised the annual Carnival every July for the past many years have, for very good reasons (family, work commitments etc), gradually dwindled to… zero.
Carnival 2006 was acclaimed to be among the best for many a year, but that had to be the swan song for the last few volunteers. We are grateful to them, and they leave on a high note of success. But unfortunately no-one has come forward to replace them. So at present it is almost certain that there will be no Carnival this year.
Unless… some individuals are sufficiently curious to come along to a sociable ‘Canival Crisis Meeting’ to be held in the MSC (probably the Pavilion lounge) starting at about 7.30pm, with refreshments (no promises on that front - but we’ll do the best we can), on Monday 16th April, to help us try to think up a simple alternative to the full scale all-day activity of previous events.
Give it some thought and then why not come along and tell us what you think we could do as a simple-to-organise alternative. All ideas will be most welcome. It would be a pity if 2007 went by without some sort of celebration on Flower Show day. Yes, the Flower Show is going ahead, but will there be any other celebration on the day?
The old chestnut applies… The village needs YOU. Could you help? Will you help?
‘Walking for Health’ - Dates and Venues
These are part of a regular programme of gentle walks lasting for 60 - 75 minutes led by trained Health Walk Leaders. All walks meet at 10.45 for 11.00 am unless otherwise shown. Please wear appropriate footwear and clothing for the time of year.
March
- Thursday 15th, Nowton Park, near Bury, led by Alan. Flat circuit through the Park admiring the daffodils.
- Weds. 21st, Kirtling, (4 miles west of Wickhambrook) led by Roger. Flattish walk of 75 to 90 minutes, one stile, around Lucy Wood and through the grounds of Kirtling Towers. Park at the new hall in the village centre.
- Weds. 28th, Coddenham, led by Jennifer. Spring walk via Shrublands and Broom Hill. Some stiles and slopes. Meet and park at the junction of B1078 with Sandy Lane, near cemetery, south of Coddenham bridge.
April
- Weds. 4th, Little Finborough, led by Jennie. Take B1115 from Stowmarket to Finborough, 2 miles past post office, left at finger post reading 'City Lane'. Park as directed. Rough underfoot and slightly uphill in places.
- Fri. 13th, Buxhall, led by Gary. From B1115 at Great Finborough, opposite school, take right turn and next left and park in church car park. Circular walk of 3 miles, some inclines, could be a little mud.
- Tues. 17th, Culford, led by Roger. Park at village hall in centre of main street. Flattish walk of 75 minutes, three stiles, along the lake and back through the grounds of Culford School.
- Thurs. 19th, Brandon Country Park, led by Allan. Park off B1106 from Bury just before Brandon. A longer walk of 90 minutes each way to High Lodge for lunch and return.
- Weds. 25th, Barking, led by Jennifer. Through farmland and Priestley Wood. Some slopes. From Needham Market take B1078, Barking road. After about a mile turn right (signposted Barking Church) and meet in car park.
Mumurations of starlings - and mini malls
Circumstances made it impossible for us to enjoy our usual autumn visit to Orgnac. Fortunately, we were able to rely on our good friend Ian to 'put the house to bed' and cover up the pool. By the way, you may be interested to know that Swiss near neighbours were still using their pool in November. Small wonder, I suppose, with early afternoon temperatures of 25C or thereabouts. No! I'm not going to mention global warming.
Do you remember starlings? I can't recall the last time I saw any in the garden. I remember them as greedy and very noisy. I rather liked them, with their oil-on-water plumage, comical antics and mimicking calls. If these amusing birds have all but disappeared from our countryside, they are far from scarce in Provence. 'What, haven't they all been eaten?' I can hear you say. It's true, the Southern French in particular, have a reputation for eating small birds, along with snails and frogs' legs. I've heard of one old lady, out in the wilds, who still makes thrush pate, which I'm told is delicious; and Robert Carrier in his book 'Feasts of Provence' mentions the practice of paysans taking a lunch of a baguette filled with whole, roasted finches and slices of ripe tomato drizzled with olive oil, into the fields. Before you write that irate letter to the R.S.P.B. let me remind you of the 'Four and twenty blackbirds' and confess that my wife's grandmother used to make something called 'Birdie Pie'. Mind you she was Cornish. So why is it there is no fricassee of starling on the menu in Nimes or Aix-en-Provence? If the French eat sparrow sandwiches, it can't be the size of the birds. Perhaps the taste of starling is so vile no amount of garlic, or display of culinary skill can make them palatable. Anyway, whether through bad taste or good fortune, starlings survive in the south and sometimes descend in a swirling black maelstrom like a plague of huge locusts.
You may know the untreated olive is inedible, fit only for making oil; and if you don't, just take my word for it. The olive you pop into your Martini, or nibble with an aperitif, has been cured in brine to take away the extremely bitter taste. I always thought the olive in its natural state was uneaten by any warm- blooded creature, whether animal or bird. The wild pig, for instance, will consume anything it comes across, including carrion, but it wont touch an olive. There was I, in my naivete, fondly believing that the olive crop was safe on the tree, until last November, when I was dismayed to learn that there is a scoffer of raw olives after all. Yes, you've guessed! It's Sturnus vulgaris, the common starling. Apparently, a great colony of these birds appeared in the village and fell upon the olives, which had ripened early. With no one in the house to scare them off - the villagers blast away with any artillery which comes to hand- this myriad of birds did considerable damage to what was an excellent crop. We might be buying oil from Waitrose this year.
I suppose the burning topic in Wickhambrook continues to be the destiny of the 'Top Shop'. (For the benefit of younger readers who may not know, the shop at Thorns Corner was called the 'Top Shop' to distinguish it from the older 'Bottom Shop' at Commerce House.) 2006 could have been called 'the year of the shop' in Orgnac, though not out of concern more of celebration. In July the commune opened its splendid new facilities housed in a tastefully designed low-rise development in the centre of the village, comprising nursery and primary schools, library, post office, some first-start apartments for local young couples, a petrol station and a village store. The opening ceremony for this impressive coeur du village had been planned well in advance and, in the event, clashed with France playing somebody or other in the World Cup. Sacre bleu! The air in the mayor's office was probably as blue as a French football shirt when the unhappy coincidence was discovered. Would anyone attend? Probably not. Disaster threatened. The mayor would lose face, maybe his job! However, pragmatically Gallic as ever, our resourceful councillors of the commune simply erected a large outdoor TV screen, laid on a buffet, complete with free drink of course, and, not surprisingly, most of the village turned up, content to stand around sipping a pastis and chatting to neighbours while waiting for the match to start. Meanwhile the big-wigs - the equivalent of an MP (all the way from Paris!), our member from the regional legislature, our department representative (that's a county councillor, sort of) and our very own, much-relieved mayor- were all able to make the same boring speech and persuade themselves we were listening attentively when, of course, no one was doing anything of the sort.
So there we are, Orgnac has a wonderful, posh new shop- incidentally, as in Wickhambrook, run by a group of lovely ladies- while here at home we're still biting our fingernails and wondering if we'll have to make do with the travelling baker. Now, I do not pretend to understand the doubtless Byzantine ways of French politics and government finance. For all I know there might well have been a bit of sur le table or a touch of 'le black' involved with Orgnac's prestigious development; though at least you can't buy a peerage in France, not since The Revolution! All I can report is what has been done, and wonder why nothing similar ever seems to happen here. The commune, with a population of less than five hundred by the way, now owns a range of brand new facilities, including two well-equipped schools, and is free to sell the old redundant buildings or convert them, for example, into apartments for locals who cannot afford to buy a house. There is just one mouche en la pommarde, or fly in the ointment, as you might say. The new development is well landscaped with shrubs and trees. The trees are olives! I wonder if the mayor knows about the so-and-so Sturnus vulgaris? Ah, well! He can always throw another party.
Tony Bowers
Finance Matters
Trusts (2) and End of Tax Year
In my last article I spoke about trusts and how or why they are used. In this article I will briefly discuss the taxation of trusts, following the implementation of the Finance Act 2006 (FA2006).
Taxation
The taxation of trusts, via income tax (IT) and capital gains tax (CGT), is quite complicated. It is mainly dependent on the type of trust and investment, and the tax situation of the beneficiary. Generally the taxation for a trust is higher than for an individual. This is because the annual IT and CGT allowances are half those of individual, and in many cases a 40% tax rate applies.
Without careful planning, trust taxation issues will inevitably require the services of an accountant. This is particularly so when income is being paid out of the trust, to ensure that the correct tax returns are completed and tax credits issued to the income beneficiaries.
Sadly, there are many trusts in existence that contain tax-inefficient investments or poor performing bank or building society accounts, resulting in unnecessary accountancy fees.
Fortunately the number of these cases is going down following legislation in 2000, which allows beneficiaries to sue the trustees for taking poor investment decisions. This has resulted in more trustees taking independent financial advice on the trust’s investments.
Inheritance tax (IHT) planning
FA2006 primarily affects IHT planning using Power of Appointment (PoA) trusts.
Prior to FA2006, a common way to reduce IHT was to place investments into a flexible PoA trust. The investments were treated as a Potentially Exempt Transfer and, providing the settlor survived seven years, there would be no IHT to pay.
Since FA2006, gifts using a PoA trust will be treated as Chargeable Lifetime Transfers. This is the same regime as applied to discretionary trusts (and the main reason why they were rarely used). Briefly, it means that, for gifts totalling greater than the IHT nil rate band (£300,000 for 2007/08), an immediate 20% tax charge will be made upon setting up the trust, and then additional periodic (10 yearly) and exit charges (max. 6%) will be made.
Do not despair
FA2006 has eliminated one of the main ways of avoiding IHT and greater care will now be needed to avoid paying unnecessary tax. However, there are still many ways of eliminating IHT and if the assets of the trust are less than the nil rate band then the PoA trust can still be effective.
Tax year end
Although tax planning should be done throughout the year, many people often either miss out on using their allowances or leave everything to the last minute. If you are one of these perhaps now would be a good time to:
- Invest in a tax-efficient Individual Savings Account (ISA) using your annual allowance (£7,000 maxi-ISA, £3,000 mini-cash ISA, £4,000 mini-stocks and shares ISA).
- Make a pension contribution and get tax relief at your highest rate.
- Make annual gifts to reduce IHT (£3,000 plus any number of £250 gifts).
- Use your CGT exemption (£8,800 for 2006/07). By selling an investment that has increased in value and then buying another, it is possible to avoid incurring tax on the gain, providing that the gain after taper relief and indexation is less than the CGT annual allowance.
Further information
Please contact me (details as per BV Services advert) or take a look at www.bv-ifa.co.uk.
Please note this article contains general information only and should not be viewed as specific advice.
John Bramwell
BV Services is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority
As you were… the hall is NOT for hire on Monday evenings
When the Youth Club were short of helpers they reluctantly planned to reduce their Youth Club nights during 2007 from weekly to fortnightly. Well the Good News is that they now have sufficient help to return to their regular weekly Monday evening slot.
So those who were planning fortnightly knitting circles, plasticine modelling skill certifications, ice carving demos, aboriginal haute cuisine classes (Mmmm those tasty witchety grubs!), country dancing for the over 90’s, or thought they had found a venue for the fortnightly meetings of the Fens Potholing and Mountain Rescue teams must, I’m sorry to say, be disappointed.
But it’s congratulations to the hard working Youth Club leaders. The village needs you and that’s a fact.
PS. Please keep the little dears off the stage. There is considerable stage activity planned for the coming weeks and months and other people’s kit will sometimes be placed on stage for safe keeping.
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