Open Letter to HPC
Dear Members of Haddenham Parish Council,
Lets be honest: the state of St Marys Church End Pond over recent years hasn't exactly been the parishs proudest achievement. Ever since the liner was yanked out, our 1,000-year-old village focal point has spent more time looking like a dusty lunar crater than a historic duck sanctuary.
However, fateand the entertainment industryhas just handed you a massive win on a silver platter.
As many in the village now know, a major TV production company is heading to Haddenham next month to film around Church End. Naturally, they want a pond that actually contains water. Their current plan? Paying astronomical sums to haul in fleet after fleet of industrial water tankers to temporarily fill it up.
Tankering in thousands of gallons of water is the ultimate short-term fix. Its money literally being poured down the drain, leaving us back with a mud pit when the film crew packs up their cameras.
Here is where common senseand council redemptioncomes in.
The production company appears open to a much smarter idea: taking that tanker budget and investing it directly into a permanent borehole pump and a reconstructed fox-proof duck house.
This is a win-win scenario so obvious even a Muppet could see it:
The TV Crew invests in the community, avoids logistical headaches, and gets an instant PR triumph by leaving a permanent legacy in the village.
The Star of the Show gets a shiny new duck house named in their honour.
The Residents of Haddenham finally get our iconic pond back without relying on endless red tape or parish tax hikes.
And The Parish Council... gets a rare, golden opportunity to turn past missteps into a triumphant success story!
Decouple the pond pump from the churchyard bin store saga, give this project the green light, and work with the production team to make it happen. It costs the council practically nothing, solves a multi-year headache, and restores a piece of Haddenham history.
The ball is in your court, councillors. Let's not let common sense get tanked!
Yours with hopeful optimism,
Harry Haddenham
