North Cotswold Villages Childswickham, Murcot, Aston Somerville Broadway and Leedons Parks, Willersey, Hinton, Bretforton 16,924 hits on the internet in the first half of 2017 Village News July 2017 And don’t forget STOP PRESS http://www.village-news.org.uk FUTURE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY • Sunday 2nd July Outdoor Shakespeare at the Fleece Inn • Sat. 22nd, Sun. 23rd and Sun. 30th July André Rieu in Regal Cinema • Tuesday 25th July Beauty and the Beast at Broadway Cinema Club, Lifford Hall • Saturday, 26th August Childswickham Summer Fete • Friday, 15th Sept. Elvis is appearing at the Inn and Brasserie http://www.village-news.org.uk Send emails to [email protected] Visit the Childswickham web site http://www.childswickham.org.uk Next issue September 2017 Deadline August 10th Village News July/August 2017 Childswickham Church St Mary the Virgin Sunday Services at 10.30am Communion 2nd, 4th, and 5th Sundays Mission, Praise and Prayer 1st and 3rd Canon John Thompstone 01386 852930 Joan Barnet (Church Warden) 01386 858309 Carol Strotten (Church Warden) 01386 852312 Sunday services continue each week at 10.30am. We are always very pleased to welcome visitors and newcomers and believe our Ploughman’s Lunch welcome is second to none! th Wednesday, 26 July Sunday, 11th June Trinity Sunday Childswickham Hall 12.00 for 12.30pm From the Registers:- £8.00 Two courses inc cordial Baptism Florence Jennifer Louise Cumberland Bring your own wine & glass Interment of Ashes Edward Charles Amey In aid of flower fund and Ann K Tredwell Tickets available from Burial Henry Martin Agg Dawn Bindoff or Pat Hackett 830341 Cleaning Contacts Childswickham Coffee Rota June 30th Mrs Anthea Smith Joan Barnett, Churchwarden 858309 June 25th Mary Burfitt Carol Strotten, Churchwarden 852312 July 2nd Sarah Deakin July 7th / 14th July 9th Brenda Wadsworth Mr and Mrs Watson July 16th Brenda Stewart July 21st / 28th Mrs Bindoff and Mrs Braithwaite Bell ringers: July 23rd Pat Hackett Tower Captain, Graham Lee July 30th Joan Barnett Aug 4th / 11th 01386 858422 Mrs N Simms and Mrs R Simms Aug 6th Margaret Flanagan Aug 13th Jackie Saville Aug 18th / 25th Mr and Mrs Watts Aug 20th Susan Morris Aug 27th Angela Kirk House of the Open Door Childswickham House, Buckland Road, Childswickham, WR12 7HH email : [email protected] HOUSE OF THE OPEN DOOR COMMUNITY MEN’S BREAKFASTS These are held at 8.30am on the first Saturday of each month, and gentlemen you are welcome to come and “taste and see”. Good food followed by good singing and prayer, if you would like to stay. No charge, but donations welcome if you can. Let us know in advance if you are coming and if you have any particular dietary requirements. Please contact Tom at: Email: [email protected] Tel: 01386 852084 Next issue September 2017 Deadline August 10th Village News July/August 2017 The Friends of St Mary's Church, Childswickham For over 850 years, the Church has played a pivotal part in village life and is a valued and much loved part of the village community. To ‘keep the lights on’ and to preserve the fabric of this beautiful Grade II listed building, and also to ensure on-going maintenance for future generations to enjoy, ‘The Friends of St Mary’s Church’ has been formed. To register as a Friend and to receive the latest news, invitations to forthcoming events and fundraising updates please contact [email protected] or send your details through the post to Anona at 2 Atkinson Street Childswickham WR12 7HF Fundraising events this year are: 18th June Village Open Gardens and Church Afternoon Teas 26th August Village Fete 30th September Harvest Supper (Tickets are limited, please contact Mari- on Houghton 853617 or [email protected]) Would you like to help? Please contact Anona or the Treasurer at [email protected] to make a donation. These may be funny, embarrassing, and…oh, just read them yourself. Enjoy, and share SMILE them with someone who needs a laugh! My father had a medical condition that meant regular visits to hospital. The local funeral director was a family friend, and had been very helpful giving dad lifts to and from the hospital. On one occasion, a few hours before he was due to come home, the ward sister approached my father with a grin. “Your wife is on the phone,” she said; “She wants to know what time you will be ready for the undertaker to collect you?” A notice outside Chichester Cathedral advertised lunchtime concerts with the encouragement that: “Sandwiches may be eaten.” Someone had scribbled underneath: “So if you are a sandwich, don’t come!” 15th July St. Swithun (or Swithin) - A Saint for a rainy day St. Swithun is apparently the saint you can blame for rainy summers. It is said that if it rains on his special day, 15th July, it will then rain for 40 days after that. It all began when Swithun was made Bishop of Winchester in 852 by King Ethelwulf of Wessex. It was an important posting: Winchester was the capital of Wessex, and during the 10 years Swithun was there, Wessex became the most important kingdom of England. During his life, instead of washing out people’s summer holidays, and damping down their spirits, Swithun seems to have done a lot of good. He was famous for his charitable gifts and for his energy in getting churches built. When Gnome sweet gnome he was dying in 862, he asked that he be buried in the cemetery of the Old Minster, just outside the west door. As you get out and about this If he had been left there in peace, who knows how many rainy summers summer, you may notice the English may have been spared over the last 1000 years. But, no, it was something new in people’s gardens: the gnomes are back. decided to move Swithun. By now, the 960s, Winchester had become the first This Spring alone, there was an monastic cathedral chapter in England, and the newly installed monks wanted astonishing 42 per cent increase Swithun in the cathedral with them. So finally, on 15 July 971, his bones were in their sales. eBay has reported dug up and Swithun was translated into the cathedral. selling 20 gnomes a day. But That same day many people claimed to have had miraculous cures. that is nothing; Asda has sold Certainly everyone got wet, for the heavens opened. The unusually heavy rain more than 93,000 gnomes so far this year. that day, and on the days following, was attributed to the power of St Swithun. Swithun was moved The gnomes are no longer just rose-cheeked again in 1093, into the new Winchester cathedral. little men. Nowadays appear in all forms, from His shrine was a popular place of pilgrimage girls taking a selfie, or dressed up as a ninja, throughout the middle ages. The shrine was or even as a zombie. No one knows why the destroyed during the Reformation, and restored in gnomes have returned. Is it part of the same 70s nostalgia for ruched and fringed 1962. There are 58 ancient dedications to Swithun lampshades, tracksuits, soft plastic ketchup in England. tomatoes, and crocheted blankets? Next issue September 2017 Deadline August 10th Village News July/August 2017 Day Time Activity Contact Monday 7 pm-10 pm Carpet Bowls 01386 853752 Tuesday 9.15-10.15 am Keep Fit Tess 01386 858796 10.30-12.00 noon Yoga Aston Colley 01386 870893 2 pm- 4 pm Carpet Bowls Robert Simms 01386 853752 6 pm-8 pm Puppy Training Sue 07857 277184 Wednesday 10 am- 12.00 noon Quilting Georgina 01242 820423 2 pm – 4 pm Evergreens 2nd/4th week of month Dawn Bindoff 01386 858769 7 pm – 9 pm WI ( 1st & last week) Innes Cole 01386 852740 Thursday 7 pm – 9 pm Dancing Ballroom Kleo 01386 858905 7 pm – 9 pm Parish Council 1st week alternate months 01684 773236 Friday 9 am-12 noon Art Group Claire Watson [email protected] 10am-12 noon U3A winter months only nd 2 Friday Sunday 7 pm-10 pm Ballroom Dancing Phil Milward Charges Main Hall Residents £6.50 Non Residents £11.50 Helen’s Room Resident £6.50 Non Residents £11.50 Snooker Residents £4.50 Non Residents £5.00 For more information and to make a booking please contact Anne Wood 01386 854955 See web site for Rules and Conditions http://www.childswickham.org.uk Childswickham WI Held at Childswickham Memorial Hall on Wednesday, 7th June 2017 With a change in the advertised programme President Innes Cole introduced the speaker for the evening. Was it Jane Austin or Little Bo Peep? Dressed as a Georgian lady, the Blue and Green Badge guide Sandy Cale took the members on a pictorial walk around Georgian Worcester. The city had largely been destroyed for its Royalist connections by the Parliamentarians during the civil war. A new city featuring the distinctive Georgian architecture soon revived the fortunes of its citizens. It became the centre for the manufacture of gloves, porcelain and Worcestershire sauce. We ‘visited’ a number of existing Georgian buildings. The county gaol with 190 cells and underground tunnel to the Infirmary where bodies were taken for medical research. Then to the Guildhall which is renown as one of the finest baroque buildings in the UK and dates from 1721. It has 3 holding cells in the basement with stairs to the Courtroom above and on the upper floor the stunning Assembly Hall. St Swithun’s Church is another Georgian gem. It is light and airy with boxed pews and a three-decker pulpit.