On Tuesday 20th of March a meeting was held in the Pavilion to discuss the recently adopted Titchmarsh Emergency Plan. This is the document which would be used to coordinate a response in the event of a major emergency. As well as detailing procedures for how to tackle an emergency it also provides a list of the villagers with skills and equipment who can be called upon to help. There are, for example, quite a few health professionals who live in Titchmarsh as well as plumbers, builders, people with access to chainsaws, winches and generators, etc. There are even details about where people could sleep and where to get blankets from.

The meeting was attended by Jo Maddams, from the Emergency Planning Team at Northants County Council. She gave a short talk and then discussed how the village might want to approach various scenarios should an emergency unfold. She was overwhelmed by the support in the village and awarded our plan 9.5 out of 10!

Jo said the only thing we haven’t done is test the plan. In order to ensure a coordinated response, the Emergency Planning Team encourage communities like ours to hold simulated emergencies. This could be a major vehicle collision, a bomb or even a zombie apocalypse! This last suggestion isn’t a daft as it may first appear. Studies have shown that the one event that could quickly bring a community to its knees is a major outbreak of a disease. This would create dangerous no-go areas that emergency responders would need to work around. If we were to simulate such an event in Titchmarsh it would also give villagers an opportunity to dress up like the Walking Dead! This would be far more fun than pretending that a jumbo jet has crashed into the village green.

More on the Emergency Plan can be found here »