Issue 13 - February 2006
BLAKENEY DIARY A SUMMARY OF NEWS AND EVENTS MONDAY COMMUNITY BY THE PEOPLE WITHIN Gentle Keep Fit. 0930-1100 weekly in Village Hall. Enquiries 822553 NEWSBRIEF IN AWRE, BLAKENEY AND
Tots. 0930-1130 weekly termtime only in Church Rooms. Enquiries: Sam 516692 SURROUNDING AREAS Junior Youth Club (7-11yrs) Weekly 1800-1930 in Youth Club
TUESDAY COMMUNITY Playgroup. 0930-1200 weekly termtime only in Church Rooms. Enquiries: Kathryn 517237 WEDNESDAY
Tots. 0930 -1100 weekly in Village Hall. Enquiries: Louise 516099 Art Class. 1830-2030 weekly in Church Rooms. Enquiries 516050 Blakeney Garden Club. 1930 2nd Wednesday each month in Village Hall. Enquiries 510349 THURSDAY Playgroup. 0930-1200 weekly termtime only in Church Rooms. Enquiries: Kathryn 517237 Over 60’s club 1400-1530 weekly in village hall. Enquiries: Joan Thorne 845092 FRIDAY Playgroup. 0930-1200 weekly termtime only in Church Rooms. Enquiries: Kathryn 517237
HALL BOOKINGS AWRE DIARY Blakeney Village Hall – Graham Nussey – 510089 Tuesday 14 February – Valentine’s Day – Bring and Share Supper and Blakeney Youth Club – Tina White – 516894 Drinks. A romantic evening with music and dancing, suitable for over 16s. Awre Village Hall – Tricia Cowan - 516260 This event is in aid of Awre Village Hall Refurbishment Fund . RECYCLING
Why throw it away? - Your metal cans can be made into anything from a fridge, a car etc and more metal cans! Did you know that one new aluminium can take the same amount of energy to make as 20 cans made from recycled aluminium?
Your glass bottles and jars too can be made into anything from insulation to more glass. You will have to take your plastic and cardboard to either Gloucester or Chepstow to recycle, but we hope that the Forest of Dean District Council will start up recycling places for those items in the future. If you have access to the internet, go to www.recyclenow.com where you will find plenty of ideas.
BLAKENEY GARDEN CLUB
Our first meeting of the year was a talk by Mr Chris Smith on “Heritage Vegetables.” He was humorous and had a fascinating knowledge about vegetables from years ago. Did you know that over 100 years ago carrots were white, purple & yellow? To keep peas from getting eaten by the mice you can soak them in paraffin before sowing. To ward off unwanted mites and pests on your vegetables sow parsley and garlic in between the plants. Mr Smith talked at length about potatoes explaining that there are different varieties and tastes and also one that has two layers of skin one red and one blue but with white flesh. Years ago many people grew round cucumbers and courgettes and you could get different coloured beans. These are now coming back into fashion and he actually had brought some wonderful seeds of all different coloured vegetables for us to buy, along with some very nice plants and bulbs from his nursery in Somerset. We had a very happy meeting and it was good to see so many members turn up on such a cold evening.
A date for the Diary: Wednesday March 1st, St.Davids Day, Viney Hill Sports & Social Club 7pm Blakeney Garden Club is arranging a flower demonstration by Katherine Kear which will have a St..David’s Day theme. Katherine is very good at reciting myths and legends of the era she has chosen whilst she is demonstrating and is excellent. There will also be a Cheese and Paté Supper, all for £8. Katherine will raffle her arrangements at the end of the evening and we will also have a good raffle of our own as we are making this one of our fund-raising events. This is open to everyone, not just garden club members, and it will be a good evening. To obtain tickets please contact:- Christine on 01594 510349 by mid February, please, as we need numbers for catering.
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Issue 13 - February 2006 ALL SAINTS'CHURCH, BIAKENEY REFURBISHMENT FUND ALL SAINTS' CHURCH,, BLAKENEY
'LUNCHES IN THE CHURCH' ' GRATEFUL THANKS' SATURDAY We are very grateful and delighted to report the receipt of a replacement 18th FEBRUARY 2006 kitchen for the Church. Our present kitchen is very limited and has become 12 NOON - 2 PM very tired! The replacement, when fitted, will provide us with much more Filled Jacket potato or ploughman's lunch, cupboard space, both in floor units and wall units, along with a new sink selection of mouth-watering desserts. and even a cooker. Come along - give your support! Proceeds to Refurbishment Fund Blakeney Church PCC wish to sincerely thank Mr & Mrs Terry Prictor of the 'Kunming' Chinese Takeaway, Forest Rd, Lydney; for their very YOUR CEMETERY generous donation, also Mrs Tessa Evans for her help with transporting Generations of local people have been laid to rest in the kitchen to the Church, and to everyone who helps to organise and Blakeney Cemetery. The Parish Council is aware of this valuable asset and does its best to maintain it in a safe and support our monthly Saturday lunches. tidy condition. The cost of maintenance is not cheap, yet the contractor is continually hampered by local people It’s All Looking Good! As you will have read above, All Saints’ Church is a have a new dumping bottles and rubbish inappropriately in the kitchen, and so too is Blakeney Village Hall which will complete grounds. Someone even dumps their grass cuttings in the this phase of its refurbishment. It now has separate meeting room cemetery. from the main hall for smaller groups and the bar area has been The Council raised significant funds to repair and restore updated. Awre Village Hall has had its windows replaced and is the Lych Gate and that has already been vandalised by now at an advanced stage in the development of its plan to provide local children. facilities for the disabled, a new kitchen, toilets and a new heating This is a ‘Sacred’ place which deserves respect. Please and ventilation system. All of these changes cost time and money do your bit, and if you see others abusing it in any way and we are grateful to everyone who has given their time and used please report them. The Street Wardens have been alerted imaginative ways to raise funds. We hope that the residents will and will be patrolling the area. make as much use of the new facilities as they possibly can, both At the end of the day it is tax payers’ money which has to for private celebrations and by supporting organised community be used to clean it up and repair damage. events whenever they can.
Farewell Andy and Lindsey are leaving The Cock Inn and moving to Bristol. They have decided to give up the pub trade in advance of the birth of their forthcoming first child. We wish them all the best for the future and would like to express our thanks for all that they have done within our community. They have organised a number of special events during the year and most especially hosted the summer village fair which brought together various clubs and organisations, which despite bad weather was a huge success. They have made The Cock a very popular pub with a great atmosphere, good quality food and a well-stocked bar. Sarah and Sue will be staying on with the new owners and we look forward to welcoming them to our village.
St. Valentine's Story Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings. Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law! Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers. One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death. I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love. One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine." I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, 14 February 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!
If you have any comments or articles for Community Newsbrief you can contact the editorial team by email to: editor@awre- parish-council.org.uk or by letter to Awre Parish Clerk, Lambrook, Bridge Street, Blakeney, GL15 4DY or by phone 01594 516808