Lois Weedon and Weston Newsletter July/August 2011 – Summer Edition From the Editor Summer? You must be joking… Still all the signs are here. Drama Group Summer Production – “Fairway to Heaven”, Horticultural Show catalogue, Open Gardens, May Day Results (almost) and the School Fete. But we start by welcoming two new families to our community. Welcome to Tommy and Ashley and their 3 children who have moved into 3 The Green, Lois Weedon and to James and Deborah Thurman and their two children who are soon to move into 17 High Street, Lois Weedon. Welcome to our community and I hope you enjoy living here. A lot of space is devoted in this edition to one of my sponsors - The Parish Council. Firstly we have included a summary of ALL the reports that were presented at the Parish Annual Meeting in May then a report from Council‟s AGM which occurred the following week and finally as a result of the most recent council election resulting in vacancies on the council, there is an advertisement for candidates to be co-opted to fill the vacant positions. The Horticultural Show, another biggy !! – This edition includes a summary of the show schedule with all the details of classes of entries , recipes and entry forms. If you don‟t want to cut up your newsletter you will be able to pick up a copy of the Show Schedule at one of the usual locations. Finally, a “May Day” reminder. After one of our most successful events we are considering requests for donations. If you are part of a Village organisation that has need of financial support and you have a project you would like us to help fund, then write to us, explaining what you want to do and how much money the project needs. The next edition of the newsletter will be in September 2011 and all material for that edition should be given to me by Saturday, 20th August 2011 (that gives me a couple of weeks to round up “stragglers” and still get it out before the Horticultural Society Annual Show.) Paul Smith, 8 Vicarage Rise (01327-860626) Email: [email protected] Dates for your Diary (For details of some events - see inside the newsletter) Fri/Sat Jul 15/16 Weston & Lois Weedon Drama Group - “Fairway to Heaven” – Lois Weedon Village Hall, 7:30pm. Details: Page 8 Sat., Jul 16 St Loys School Summer Fair. Everyone welcome; at the school from 2.00 pm Mon., Jul 25 Parish Council Meeting, Baptist School Room (WCP), at 8:00 pm Sat., Sept 3 Horticultural Society Annual Show and Dance – Details on page 11 Fri., Oct 7 Horse Race Night in Village Hall in aid of the Church Water Fund & Village Hall – Details nearer the time Fri., Oct 21 Evening lecture at the Weston Community Project: Paul Tischener on "Isambard Kingdom Brunel Sat/Sun 17/18 Dec Christmas Tree Exhibition with Mulled Wine and mince pies, Lois Weedon Church - Details nearer the time Dance Class For Fun Neighbourhood Watch - Reminder Just a reminder for everyone. Peggie Clarke, North End, Weston, is our Dance Class is having a break for two weeks from 20 Neighbourhood Watch representative. June to 27 June and will recommence on Monday 4 July If you need to contact Peggie, either to report anything at 7.00pm looking all tanned and lovely we hope! suspicious or to find out information, her contact details We have decided not to have a long summer break and are: Tel: 01296 768133; Dance Class will continue through the summer holidays email: [email protected] until the next break in September - so if any of you fancy joining us don‟t be shy - you will be made most welcome. We meet in the Village Hall Monday Coffee Morning evenings from 7.00pm onwards. At Looking forward to an „energetic‟ summer. Paddy Elkingtons, Gravel House July 12th 10:30am – 12:00 Sandie (01327 860176) In aid of Church Funds Winners of Village Hall ‘100 Club’ Lottery April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 Mrs Hilda Wilkins 73 Miss Jess Smith 14 Mr John Maleham 26 Mrs Terry Tyler 29 Mrs Diane Hunt 43 Mr Paul Smith 34 Mrs Pam Palmer 77 Mr Hugh Tyler 1 Mrs Sylvia Hall 42 1 Parish Council News – Parish Assembly Here is the report from The Parish Assembly which took place on May 9th at 7.30pm at Weston Community Project. There were 5 councillors and 5 members of the public Apologies: Will Adams, Ben Smith, David Clarke, Dave & Joy Kirkham, Rob Hazelgrove and Silas Wilde. Minutes of the Annual Assembly held on 10th May 2010 were approved as a correct record. Report on the Parish Council for the year to March 2011. The Chairman reported on the past year. We started the year with the building of the car park at the school and hoped this has helped, if not cured the traffic problems in Astwell Lane. The village agreed at an open meeting to implement a 30mph speed limit through the two villages which I am informed is taking its course through council procedures. The Parish council is also meeting with the Strategic Housing Officer to discuss a need and site for possible low cost housing within the community. The proposed wind farm between Weston and Sulgrave was withdrawn for various reasons and the council has had a number of other planning applications to consider throughout the year. The roads and drains continue to bring debate to the council meetings although at last we seem to be making progress with the water that stands in the High Street by the bus shelter. Jenny Wilde continues her crusade against the litter louts and the council has made a donation towards her costs. We also support Paul Smith for his continued hard work. We lost two members of our committee at the recent elections and will be considering the option of co-opting members. Anyone interested contact Trevor George, Parish clerk. Report from Parish Organisations. Church of St Peter & St Mary, Lois Weedon - Will Adams. I wish to express my sincere thanks for all the help and support I have received throughout the year. As always folk throughout the Astwell Benefice word tirelessly to support the worship and work of the church. Without their help and commitment I would not be able to fulfil my role. Total number of services = 550 I was interested to discover how many services were held across the Astwell Benefice throughout the year. The total is 550. This included Sundays and weekdays and all types of service. Home Communions were counted as one for each first Monday in the month, whereas normally four separate services are held in people‟s homes on these occasions. This amounts to more than 1.5 services every day of the year! Funerals, baptisms. Weddings and confirmation The figures below show the data for all churches in the Astwell Benefice for 2010. These figures will have changed since January 2011. Benefice Wappenham Syresham Lois Weedon Radstone Helmdon Whitfield Other total Funerals 2 5 4 1 3 1 (3) 16 Baptisms 1 6 3 0 13 3 (2) 26 Wedding 0 2 1 1 3 2 (3) 9 Confirmations* 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 3 3 13 9 2 21 6 0 54 *We have adopted the policy of holding Confirmation services in the benefice in alternate years – the odd years. 2010 was not a targeted year for confirmation. However nine candidates were confirmed in April 2011 and these figures will appear in next year‟s report. Special Services There have been many special services across the benefice: the following relate to the parish of Lois Weedon. The annual church calendar, beginning at Advent, has now many familiar special services. It would seem to me that the following stand out as either new or having distinctiveness in 2010. Benefice Specials i) Rogation Sunday at Oakley Bank Farm, Plumpton on Sunday 9th May 2010. It was a delight to have Bishop Donald, our new diocesan bishop with us. We are grateful to Judith Allen for being our generous host. ii) William and Laura Sitwell served us with a delicious breakfast before we set out for our annual Whit Walk from Plumpton in late spring and we were welcomed to each church by the Lois Weedon bell ringers as they rang out a peal from all the towers. The Reverend Miles Baker, Diocesan Mission Enabler, kindly preached at our Pentecost Service in Helmdon. This year the weather was splendid and many folk with their dogs enjoyed a very pleasant walk through the beautiful South Northamptonshire countryside. 2 iii) Sock Sunday has now become a regular feature of the church calendar. Both in January 2010 and 2011 at Weston Baptist Chapel and Helmdon church respectively, we enjoyed a large congregation and gathered many sack-fulls of socks for The Hope Centre in Northampton. Lorna Robjohn was our stimulating guest speaker on both occasions. Parish Specials i) Dedication and Blessing of the new school buildings at St Loys VA School in Lois Weedon. Bishop Frank left Wappenham on 7th July where he consecrated the enlarged graveyard to visit the splendid new school hall filled with pupils, staff, governors and invited guests at St Loys School. Bishop Frank had a tour of the school and led a service in celebration of the new buildings. The school hall was named the John Gregory Hall in thanks to the hard work of the previous Chair of Governors. ii) Sunday School in Lois Weedon. Early in 2010 a group of parents whose children attend St Loys School came together to help run a Sunday school every third Sunday in the month in church.