Clophill’s SPOTLIGHT is a well-established monthly magazine that serves to inform the village community of current events and of issues that may be of concern. Its production is organised by a small team of volunteers from within the village. It offers the local business community an advertising medium and is distributed by several local residents, reaching up to 500 households at an annual cost of £4 each. It is also sold through the village shop.
Other outlets for publicity in the village include the Post Office and Village Hall notice boards that are open and free to use, and several lamp posts are used to publicise events.
Virtually all households receive free weekly copies of local newspapers the Mid Bedfordshire Edition of the ‘Times & Citizen’, which includes Property Today, and of ‘Bedfordshire Today’.
Clophill Parish Council meets monthly in the Village Hall to discuss and decide on local issues, for example those relating to housing, transport and the environment. There are 10 Parish Councillors, including the Chairman, who serve the village and represent the views of villagers, as appropriate, to Mid-Bedfordshire District Council and, on occasion, to Bedfordshire County Council. Villagers are able to attend meetings of the Parish Council, either to listen to the deliberations of the Council or to raise individual concerns during the public forum part of the agenda. The Council has use of a covered and restricted notice board at the Post Office to notify residents of important matters.
St Mary’s Church (C of E) and the Methodist Church are part of Churches Together in Clophill. This is a collaboration of four local churches that work together to promote Christianity and produce a Newsletter every 6-8 weeks that informs villagers of services and joint future activities. Church volunteers distribute the Newsletter to virtually all households. There are formal links between the Churches and the village School There are informal links within the village between the School and Beverley Court, a Sheltered housing / retirement scheme of 24 flats for the elderly established since 1976 in Readshill, Clophill. Beverley Court has resident management staff and a community alarm service, and is part of the Aragon Housing Association.
As Bedfordshire has been the first county in the country to extend its No Cold Calling Zones to cover the entire County, Clophill benefits from this initiative to deter cowboy workmen and unwanted doorstep sellers. Each household in the village has an information pack about the scheme including a sticker to display near the front door to deter unwanted callers, a list of telephone numbers for public utilities and a Bogus Caller Hotline to report those nuisance doorstep callers. The County employ Special Police Constables to enforce this scheme and their work has led to a significant reduction in crime.
