Yarcombe Voices ISSUE No. TWO HUNDRED and SIXTEEN PRICE 80p MAY 2018 EDITORIAL loved six-year-old wolfhound mascot, has a dodgy hip and Many years ago a friend of mine and his camera, the time has come for him to be retired from official duties. accompanied by a guide, spent a week taking photographs The Irish Guards' first honorary Colonel of the Regiment on safari in South Africa. Late one afternoon they came was Field Marshall Lord Roberts, whose granddaughter, uponthedelightful sceneofatower(group)ofgiraffesand Beryl, lived for many years in our neighbouring village of theirtwocalves. Despitewarningsfromhisguidenottogo Stockland and she had many stories to tell of 'The Micks', any nearer, enthusiasm overtook caution to snap the as the Irish Guards are affectionately known. But perhaps perfect picture and so when the giraffes inevitably became you think that Britain shouldn't possess an army, air force edgy the only place to escape was up a conveniently close or navy? "Do we need our armed forces and which is the tall tree. It was fortunate that as a boy my friend had learnt mostvalued?"isthetopicunderdiscussionatMay'sFriday to shin up trees as fast as possible to evade the wrath of his Forum at 12.30p.m. at Glebe Farm; sandwiches and coffee grandfather for misdemeanors minor or major, because always provided before the talking gets under way. this particular day he had to go high into the branches to One of the joys of sitting on the Tote on Terrier Racing avoid those long-necked beasties. There he sat, scratched evening is watching the assortment of dogs in the field; and bruised, while the giraffes munched on the tree's large and small, mutts and pedigrees, they are a source of leaves and the noises of the evening grew ever louder and endless interest to any dog lover. If you are new to this more worrying. After what seemed an aeon, the animals community you will soon realise that Terrier Racing, now wandered off, my friend slithered to the ground and hot- in its 44th year, is the highlight of the village calendar. But footed to the Jeep and he and his guide raced back to their the only way to make a success of this evening of family lodge. Fortunately, too, the camera survived and the entertainment is with the help of a great many willing pictures were marvellous. George and Pat Bright are keen hands, so please do attend the planning meeting on photographers but one trusts they didn't get up to such Tuesday 8th May. Give Lin Box a phone call on 01404 scrapes on their African safari; they'll be telling the tale at 861400 if you can't make the meeting but would like to the Community Lunch on May 16th. assist in some way. Irish wolfhounds may not be as tall as giraffes but they Inourincreasinglyurbanisedcultureweareindangerof arethegiantsofthecanineworldandassuchtheirlivesare losing touch with the land. Surveys are published showing short, usually no more than seven or eight years. It was that many children have no idea that milk comes from reported recently that Domhnall, the Irish Guards' much cows or that hens lay the eggs that are on the breakfast table. Rogation Sunday is an important point in the Finally, this year's Annual Parish Meeting takes place on agricultural calendar and follows a tradition that is as Monday21st Mayat8p.m.,andisyouropportunitytoraise ancient as wassailing and similar in purpose: to bless the any concerns or points of interest you may have about land and pray for the protection of crops within the parish village life; at the end of the meeting Barbara Salter will boundaries. Yarcombe Church's Rogation Sunday Family present the first John Salter Memorial Award. Service is on May 6th and, I am informed, green fingers are Miranda Gudenian needed! IN THE COUNTRY 'PLEASE FORGIVE ME' Please forgive me, I don’t know The Latin names of every flower, Or families of trees and plants. I only know I love their leafy shapes, Bright petal scent in summer’s heat, Wet chilling touch in autumn’s wash. Forgive me for my lack of city sums, Of learning born of dusty books. I only know the country words, Comparing looks with common place, Of pretty heads now peeping out, In drowsy, twisting, summer lanes. The changing colour of the hedge, As sunrise comes through misty dawns. The darkness of cold, frosted boughs Of blackened oak against the sky. The shy, white snowdrop as she wakes To feel the touch of early spring. Oh please forgive my lack of names, For pale unfurling beech leaves, Musty smells of rotting wood, As spring rain drips from leaf to flower, To shake the slender bluebells copse And wave their colour in the sun. To catch blue Bird's-eye peeping out Amongst the Milkmaids by the stream, And see proud Lords-and-Ladies bend Beneath tall foxgloves at the wall. I pause with wonder to observe The sparkling rain on buttercups. Those fresh emerging morning sounds That bear the wild’s first chattering songs, Press through the dark to meet the dawn, A symphony to praise the sun. These humble voices need no script To sing the notes of this new day. John Carter, from his book 'A Country Collection' SPECIAL INGREDIENT (from a recent letter to The Daily Telegraph by Patrick Mountain): Sir - Judy Nicholson says one of her colleagues used to stir his tea with an upside-down pencil. Many years ago, while serving at the Royal Naval Air Station Hal Far in Malta, I was in the habit of having a very long gin and tonic after a hot game of tennis. I would give this a good stir to reduce the fizz and make it more drinkable. While doing this one evening with the pencil used to sign bar chits, the bar steward, a Maltese petty officer, said: "I wouldn't do that if I were you, sir." "Oh," I replied, "why not?" "Well," he said, "That is the pencil I clean my ears with." Page 2 YARCOMBE WEATHER ~ MARCH 2018 2018 2017 2016 Av. Max. temp. 8.2°C 11.5°C 9.5°C Av. Min. temp. 2.2°C 6.0°C 3.6°C Av. Overall temp. 5.2°C 8.8°C 6.0°C Rainfall 213.2 mm 105.3 mm 117.6 mm Wettest Day 14th 31.5 mm 21st 19.9 mm 27th 26.2 mm Sunniest Day 25th 9.5 hrs approx. 26th 11.5 hrs 31st 11.5 hrs Warmest Day 25th 14.3°C 30th 16.0°C 21st 12.5°C Coldest Night 1st -6.2°C 23rd 1.1°C 7th -0.6°C Sunshine hours 81.0 hrs. approx. 98.0 hrs 126.5 hrs This year, March came in with a roar and went out like a damp squib. The first couple of days we had a heavy snowfall with freezing rain covering the top of the snow; it took two weeks for the snow to melt, but then we had another blizzard. It was the wettest and coldest March for a decade: we had double the average rainfall and the month was very cold, wet and dull. In other words, best forgotten. Tony Newman OUR THATCHING LIFE Featuring….Ferrari the Thatcher and Daisy his Apprentice Rain. I've had a bit too much of it lately. LuckilyourcustomersIanandJennyhave the patience of saints, but I will say my generally cheerful character has gotten more tetchy with each new rainy day. I think Metoffice has had several hundred hits per week from each of us, checking ourphonestoseewhattheweatherhasin store for us hour by hour. Lord knows why we bother; my phone will say it's drizzle, Daisy's will say it'll be dry all day, meanwhileifwehadthesensetojustlook out the window we would see what it is. Rain. We'll work weekends and evenings to catch up when family commitments allow, but that hasn't been enough to counter March and April's efforts. Hopefully the sky has wrung itself out to something near dry so Daisy can look forward to my mood lightening in line with the improved progress on the roof. Here's to a run of dry weather! Alan Ferrari ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ WORDS OF CONTEMPLATION WHAT lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. - Ralph Waldo Emerson REMEMBER to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't give up. - Professor Stephen Hawking THE secret to a happy marriage is if you can be at peace with someone within four walls, if you are content because the one you love is near to you, either upstairs or downstairs, or in the same room, and you feel that warmth that you don't find very often, then that is what love is all about. - Sir Bruce Forsyth AGE doesn't matter unless you're a cheese. - Sir Ken Dodd ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Page 3 SERIOUSLY BAD POEMS FOR MAY EVOLUTION: I like it - it’s very caring. Just look at the way a bald spot evolves on your head just far back enough so that you can’t see it in the mirror. It spares your feelings and means you’re free to pretend you haven’t got one at all. You can only pretend to yourself of course, so you’ll have to acquire the skills needed to ignore your riff-raff mates who’ve unfortunately evolved into filthy micky-taking swine, but that’s just a minor inconvenience.