Biddestone Broadsheet

February 2017 No 437

Page 1 Moviola @ Grittleton Village Hall on Wednesday February 22nd

Bridget Jones's Baby [15]

After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), Bridget Jones’s (Renee Zellweger) “happily ever after” hasn’t quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job as top news producer and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything com- pletely under control. What could possibly go wrong? Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing American named Jack (Patrick Dempsey), the suitor who is everything Mr. Darcy is not. In an un- likely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch…she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.

Tickets £6 adults from Lesley on 01249 783157 or email [email protected] Doors open 7pm, programme starts at 7.30pm

Future dates for your diary All Wednesdays March 29th A Street Cat Named Bob April 19th A United Kingdom

Page 2 Dec/Jan 17

COVER PICTURE thanks to Julie Walton for this months picture taken at The Biddestone Stud

WELCOME A warm welcome to Tania and Nick Jeffrey who have moved into Hawthorn Cottage and to Derek and Chris Harland, who have moved into Kingsmead, Little Challows. We hope you will all be very happy in Biddestone.

JANET HARTLEY It is with great sadness that we must report the death of Janet Hartley. Janet & her husband David were Biddestone residents for very many years and have contributed much to Biddestone village life.

Janet’s funeral will held on Wednesday 1st February at St Nicholas Biddestone at 12.30 p.m.

LADIES OF BIDDESTONE, HARTHAM AND SLAUGHTERFORD The W.I. needs more members, to bring fresh life and new ideas to our meetings. We are working on the programme for this year and will publish it shortly in the Broadsheet. 15th February AGM 15th March Mrs. Daphne Atkinson will give an illustrated talk on "Royal Wedding Dresses" We meet at 2.15pm in the Village Hall

Please consider joining us as a member or a visitor; you can be assured of a warm welcome, a cup of tea and delicious cake.

MAISIE SHORT My Granddaughter – Maisie Short – who lives in Biddestone, is only 5 years old. However, in April, Maisie is planning to swim 1,500 metres –“ YES 1,500 metres” – in order to raise funds for The Marie Curie Cancer Trust. Maisie will be swimming this feat at the Corsham Community Pool as a part of a “Swimathon” that is being organised for The Marie Curie Trust.

Maisie currently has a relative who has terminal cancer, and hence the reason for her choosing this charity. If you would like to support Maisie and her charity swim, you can do so by visiting her Just Giving Web Site ;- https;//www.justgiving.com/fundraising/swimathon-2017-Ni

Thanks – Andy Short – Biddestone.

Page 3 FEBRUARY RECIPE

Seville oranges are in season at the moment, so instead of making marmalade, why not try this simple cake?

SEVILLE ORANGE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

3 Seville oranges 3 tablespoons golden syrup 175g butter 175g caster sugar 175g self-raising flour 3 medium eggs 2 tablespoons of marmalade

20cm deep sided greased loose bottomed cake tin on a baking sheet.

Preheat the oven 180C, 350F, gas mark 4.

Slice one of the oranges, arrange on the base of the cake tin and drizzle the golden syrup over the top. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and flour, a little at a time, until incorporated in to the mixture. Zest and squeeze the remaining two oranges and add the juice and zest to the mixture. Place mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50mins to 1hour, until a golden colour. Allow the cake to cool for 10mins before turning out on to serving plate. Warm the marmalade in a saucepan over a low heat until melted, then brush the glaze over the oranges with a pastry brush. Serve warm or cold with cream or yoghurt.

By Julie Walton

Record of Biddestone and Hartham Women’s Institute meeting on 18 January 2017

The President, Jo Hancock, welcomed eleven members and two visitors, and introduced our speaker, Gilly Madders. She gave us a most interesting talk, illustrated by lovely slides, entitled A Persian Odyssey. She told us that last Oc- tober she had fulfilled a life-long ambition to travel to Persia, now Iran. The group she and her husband travelled with were among the first tourists to be able to visit Persia (as she preferred to call it) since it became an Islamic state. Before they left they had the benefit of a talk by Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent. They flew via Qatar to Tehran and then embarked on a journey to many interesting cities which still contained beautiful mosques, palaces and gardens from the old Persian Empire of Cyrus, Xerxes and Darius. Gilly said that the country contains 21 UNESCO sites. Although the atmosphere was very relaxed, the ladies in the group had to wear head-scarves all the time. She emphasised that the people were really kind and welcoming, many speaking English, and the food was delicious. After Gilly had answered various questions, Val S-J gave the Vote of Thanks. We then enjoyed refreshments served by Beryl. The raffle prize she provided was won by Linda. Alison read the minutes of the December meeting, the Christmas Party, which was very enjoyable. Jo reminded members that the 2017 subscriptions, £39, were now due, and Carol issued receipts and the new WI book of special offers to all those who paid. Members who had decided on their choice for this year’s Resolution handed in their completed slips to Val, who would send them off the WI House in Devizes. Programme for 2017/18. Val said there were still one or two things to be sorted out, but these should be dealt with the following week and the complete programme would then be sent to Carol to make copies for all members. Jo mentioned that our WI Adviser, Lesley Holloway, would come to the May meeting when the selected Resolution would be debated. AGM. Jo reminded members that the meeting on 15 February would be the AGM. She said that the five members of the existing committee were all willing to stand again for election, but anyone who would like to join them would be most welcome. Correspondence. Flyers had been received about: Taster Day at Denman College on 21 April; a course on silk paper making at Heywood Village Hall also on 21 April; James Thomas’s programme on BBC Radio Wiltshire every Thursday at 3 p.m. talking about a WI recipe; an Introduction to Bell-ringing at St. Martin’s Church, Salisbury, Mar- ket Lavington and Charlton; a Treasure Trail through Chippenham on 14 May (which might interest Val R); and a talk by Lucinda Hawksley, Great-great-great grand-daughter of Charles Dickens on 11 April in Devizes (which Alison would like to attend). Finances. Carol reported that these were still healthy. She displayed a number of strange coins which had been put in the Coins for Friendship jar, which she was unable to bank, and asked members to be more careful when doing this. Challenge for the month (five things I would say to my younger self). There were two entries. Next meeting. AGM on Wednesday 15 February.

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Thanks to Hilary Noyes for her selection of poetry

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BIDDSTOCK 2017….Interview with Andrew Short What is Biddstock?

Our first Biddstock Festival was in July 2015. The evening was attended by over 275 people and we raised over £3,400 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Everyone who attended seemed to have a brilliant even- ing so we have decided to do it again!!

What can we expect to see there? Guests will enjoy great music and food. There is a beer, wine and champagne marquee along with a dedi- cated cocktail bar. We will have at least three local bands playing during the evening and some quirky en- tertainment.

Who are you raising funds for this year? This time, the fund raising is closer to home. The sports section and The Village Hall and Recreational Trust, plan to improve again the facility at The Village Hall, by expanding the size of the existing bar area. We hope to have completed this project over the next 12 months. This expansion will benefit both The Vil- lage Hall, as it will have a larger area to let, and also the sports sections as they will have a far more ac- commodating bar area. Once again we are hoping to raise in excess of £4,000 towards this project. This will play a significant part in getting great facilities in place for generations to come.

What else is happening that weekend? To make use of the infrastructure we are fortunate to have secured a Bath Legends XI who will play a Bid- destone Select XI. The 20:20 match will see past and present International stars whose squad include the likes of Matt Banahan, Matt Perry, Phil DeGlanville, Da- vid Trick, Henry Thomas, Lee Mears and many more. On the Sunday we will host an under 9’s village cricket festival.

How can people support? Biddstock tickets are already available, and we have been so pleased just how quickly these are being snapped up! They are at the same price as 2 years ago - £30 with food included within the price– and we hope that you will find the price as exceptional, for this type of event, as everyone found it last time ! To buy tickets get in touch! Mobile- Andy- 07795326518 Email- [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Facebook- Biddstock 2017 Website- http://heyevent.uk/event/tugmhk3wmygmqa/ biddstock-2017

BIDDESTONE BOOK CLUB

Thank you to Rosemary for hosting December’s meeting. Thank you to Mary for her hospitali- ty in January when we discussed ‘The Tea Planter’s Wife’ by Dinah Jefferies. It was certainly evocative of the beautiful land of Sri Lanka and the tea plantations, as Mary’s pictures con- firmed. On Monday 20th February, the meeting will be held at 7:15p.m. at Debbie’s house. We shall be discussing ‘A Year of Marvellous Ways’ by Sarah Winman.

If you have any questions please phone Diane on 712105.

Page 6 Farming Notes

Someone has asked me to write an article on farming and as I sat down to write my wife showed me a T shirt on the internet showing a definition of farming – ‘The art of losing money while working 400 hours a month to feed people who think you are trying to kill them’ Like all good jokes or slogans there is a grain of truth in this and it is that the world is awash with food, at least in the developed part of it and so people have the virtually unthinkable luxury of being fussy about what they eat and not having to bother about how they are going to get it let alone worrying about the harvest or even real- ly being aware that there is one. This is of course an eminently desirable situation for everybody fortunate enough to have been born in such times of plenty but to believe that this is a perfectly normal and natural state of affairs rather than one to be pro- foundly thankful for is to be nothing short of delusional as there are reasons for this state of affairs existing now as opposed to not for most of human history. The first is of course the weather, in the twenty thousand or so years since the last ice age ( which of course will return one day and at least put a stop to the cacophonous drivel about man made global warming ) the climate of the northern hemisphere has been largely conducive to farming and even in this generally favourable time the last one hundred and fifty years have been probably as good as it has ever been. There have been no terrible droughts floods or freezes on a scale bad enough to destroy our entire harvest. There may have been local disas- ters such as the great Deccan famines in India but generally what has been sowed has been reaped. The second inescapable reason for our general food wellbeing is the opening up of the New World. The great grass plains of North America . Two hundred years ago these were populated by buffalo and a sparse native population of hunter gatherers. Within a couple of generations these were replaced by hard working farming families, which was obviously bad news for the buffalo and native Indians but did mean that there were sud- denly millions of acres of good productive land which did and still does produce a massive surplus capable of underpinning the entire world food supply. To add to this, now came the great quantum leap of industrialization, the horse was replaced. Perhaps one third of all productive land was needed to feed the power source that was used to farm it, remove that and another great tranche of land became available to feed people. Finally science gave us inorganic fertilisers and chemi- cals to grow and protect crops to undreamt of levels of production. The distillation of nitrogen and the under- standing of plant nutrient needs and the means to protect these plants against disease and pests have allowed our whole city based civilisation to develop. Someone once said that civilisation is only five meals deep, those five meals are as well protected now as they have ever been. Those that decry modern farming would do well to realise that farming is not really a natural thing, it is a battle against nature, nature is the bramble and the weed and the forest and the swamp and the wolf, it is modern farming’s triumph that it has overcome these things and for those people that would do without it let them draw up a list of the seven in every ten who must die of hunger, presumably they and their families would not be on it.

Ian Smith

Classes available in Biddestone Village Hall Wednesday 10.00 – 11.30 am Iyengar Yoga Class Lydia Holmes – [email protected]

Monday 8.00 am – 5.00 pm Play Therapy Wednesday 10.00 – 12.00 am Writing Group Sarah Bentley – 07771923097 or [email protected] Tim Smith – 01249 714455 or [email protected]

Monday 9.45 – 11.45 am Painting Group Wednesday 2.00 – 4.00 pm Womens Institute Sue Tennant – 01249 720615 (3rd Wednesday in month)

Monday 6.00 – 7.45 pm Warrior Academy Thursday 9.00 – 10.00 am Real Life Yoga Juniors 6 – 7 pm & Seniors 6.45 – 7.45 pm Emma Goodwin – 07771662567 or [email protected] Instructor Vicky – 07809330576 or con- [email protected] Thursday 10.30 – 11.30 am Pilates for beginners/intermediate The Stonehouse Clinic -01249 700417 or stonehouseclinic.co.uk Monday 8.00 – 10.00 pm Hips & Haws Clog Jan Field – 01380 827140 or [email protected] Thursday 7.30 – 8.30 pm Zumba Heidi Collison 07716070956 or [email protected] Tuesday 9.00 – 10.00 am Real Life Yoga Emma Goodwin – 07771662567 or [email protected] Friday 10.00 am – 12 noon Yoga with Naomi (starting Friday 27th January 2017) Tuesday 7.00 – 9.00 pm Iyengar Yoga Class Naomi Seager 07727124097 or www.pranastar.co.uk Edgar Stringer - [email protected]

Page 7 Biddestone Walkers 2017- New Years Day Trudge.

In spite of the atrocious wet weather conditions and the worsening forecast, an intrepid group of 20 villagers consist- ing of hard-core walkers and those wanting to blow away the cobwebs of New Years Eve, set off from Bid- destone Church with a random selection of dogs, wet weather gear and footwear, all happy to be starting 2017 in good company. The walk followed the lane up to Field Farm and then across the footpath to Weavern Lane. We then turned right and followed the "muddy lane" towards Slaughterford. It was at this stage that many realised they had opted for the wrong clothing, but too late to turn back. By the time we regained the tarmac by Honeybrook Farm, we were all pretty damp and had thick mud attached to most parts. Some of the smaller dogs had changed colour entirely, much to the amuse- ment of everyone except their owners. We then dropped down to the brook in Slaughterford and wound our way along the By-Brook towards Ford. We bumped into some fellow villagers by the weir and a large pack of dogs had a wonderful time retrieving sticks from the river and shaking themselves over very wet ramblers. By this time the rain was coming horizontally into our faces and we were pretty much soaked right through, which caused some mutterings of dissent. However, everyone was by now picking up the pace with thoughts of a nice warm pub stop in Ford; not too far away. By the time we arrived at the White Hart, it was already very busy with other post New Year Revellers, but we managed to elbow our way to the bar and even the dogs managed to sneak into the snug. The warmth of the log burner and the restorative power of beer and hot drinks, was just the ticket. After some considerable time spent thawing -out, it was once again time to hit the road. The final leg back to Biddestone was on the lane, but mostly uphill, so by the time we had breasted Slaughterford Road, everyone knew they had done some serious ex- ercise. At the end of the walk and with all heads counted back, Adam and Julie very kindly hosted tea & cakes at the Rectory, which was very welcome after a strenu- ous afternoon in the great outdoors. All in all we were very pleased that we had braved the elements and had enjoyed all the glorious countryside that we are lucky enough to live near. Kate Jones

Page 8 This crossword was first published in The Honeycomb for FEBRUARY 2013

ACROSS 1. Garment for Spring Cleaning cut to sad, confused or- der? (8) 5. Hot beverage sounds like cold symptom with ecstasy! (6) 9. VC! Rich! Ali is all a flutter at her suitor. He’s so knightly! (9) 11. Cheated! Shot by Cupid’s arrow or a bee? (5) 12. Colossal iceberg sank it. Can it be reconstructed? (7) 13. Fodder crop grown for Swiss city? (7) 14. Number of clue for this romantic day in February pre- ceded by 2. (10, 3) 16. State staggers at these lively North American dances. (8, 5) 20. Rejected proposal stopping short at fence. (7) 21. Military marches included in the Para descent. (7) 23. Beginnings of oxygen, cubic centimetres, uranium and resistance happen. (5) 24. Church officer records collection re art user. (9) 25. Listen! Small unit goes from back to front to join up. (6) 26. I lie about, like Bermudian for example? (8) DOWN 1. Gold coins made of French felines? (6) 2. George? His ain’t found in February! Try 14 across! (5) 3. Change this for different programme or sound? (7) 4. Popular house plant of continental colour. (7, 6) 6. To prevent hearing loss I clear wax enclosing very small bone in ear. (7) 7. Elements providing dental protection if our sled tum- bles. (9) 8. Eyrie occupant’s gaze for close watch? (5, 3) 10. Visitors surround current diagram for beautiful writ- ers. (13) 14. Multipurpose lens unnecessary for 8 and useless for blind Cupid! (9) 15. Cry of Poe’s Raven loses start. Always! (8) 17. Takes out protection against flood damage. Finds con- tents in sure sandbags! (7) 18. Huge area found in Sacré Coeur as I affirm. (7) 19. Shylock, lender of one down as employer surrounds Abraham’s city. (6) 22. Risked by US lawyer embarrassed? (5)

Diane Ross Smith

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JOIN THE PEACOCK ARTS TRAIL

Local artists and crafts people are invited to join the Peacock Arts Trail which takes place from Saturday 30 September to Sunday 8 October. The trail focuses on Corsham and surrounding villages and sees individuals and groups showing their work in private homes and studios, as well as in public places like churches and halls. For more information please visit www.peacockartstrail.co.uk or email peacockart- [email protected]. Registration from 15 January to 30 April.

Page 11 Dates for your Diary 10 Feb Scrub clearance day at West Yatton Down SSSI 11.00 10 Mar Scrub clearance day at West Yatton Down SSSI 11.00 20 Feb Biddestone Book Club — Debbies home 19.15 22 Feb Grittleton Moviola from 19.00 3 Mar Gittleton—Rural Arts presentation of Gonzo Moose from 18.30 8 Jul 17 Biddstock Village Festival 22/23 Jul Biddestone Open Gardens

Church Services for February 2017

ST NICHOLAS, BIDDESTONE

5 Holy Communion 11.00 a.m. 12 Evensong 4.00 p.m. 19 Morning Praise 9.30 a.m.

ST NICHOLAS, SLAUGHTERFORD 12 BCP Holy Communion 11.00 a.m.

Every Wednesday morning there is a service at 9.15 a.m. This is either Holy Communion or Morning Prayer and includes prayers for the suffering.

Editorial Committee [email protected]

Linda Smith Home Farm 714475 Editor Mary Mullens (Treasurer) Parker Farm Bungalow 714399

Carolyn Madley Stonehaven The Green 712831 Judy Priest 2 Little Challows 713469 Copy date 2nd Sun in month delivered to any committee member or by Julie Walton The Old Rectory 701784 email to Annalisa Duff Willow Lodge 712247 [email protected]

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