Welton News and ViewsPage: 1 WE DID A PANTO OH YES WE DID!! FULL COLOUR REVIEW Issue 243 - February 2020 Brought to you by your Parish Council Page: 2 From the Editor…… “Stir, stir make a spell, use a scary voice as well!”. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you missed a treat. Our annual panto returned with a performance of Rapunzel and it was one to lift the spirits and served as a reminder to visit one of the many barbers in Daventry. This looks like a wonderful time to be a Weltonian. Even after witnessing first-hand the many, varied and sometimes distinctly odd talents of The Welton Players, I have had plenty of evidence land in my inbox of forthcoming events and attractions to keep us amused and entertained. There’s the forthcoming VE Day celebrations run by The White Horse and The Village Hall, A new Welton Village Produce Show coming in the Autumn and some great events for Mothering Sunday and Easter run by our local church. Oh, and Mr. Heath is giving a talk on the history of pantomime in March (page 6). Latin panto = ad innuendo? We’ve had some exciting, unexpected visitors, too (page 5), which I only had the opportunity to tell you about because I was a bit thin on the ground this issue, but it’s your gain. If you would like to contribute to the magazine, please drop me an email or give me a call. Yes, 2020 is beginning to get a bit of a nice rhythm to it already. Remember, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing! VILLAGE HALL BOOKINGS Contact: Hendrika on 07767 751386 or [email protected] 2020 Annual Advertising Rates (same low pricing as last year!) £60 - 1 page Advert £45 - ½ page Advert £30 - ¼ page Advert Please contact the Clerk if you wish to advertise. Noreen Walsh, Clerk to the Parish Council [email protected] or [email protected] 01327 876023 Front Cover: Welton Players performing Rapunzel, photos by The Welton Players. Welton Parish Council Page: 3 Chairman’s Report Planning After Christmas comes the Spring clean and for some very organised residents, that means more space is required in the home, planning applications have been received by the Parish Council, responded to and subject to Daventry District Council’s approval. We look forward to seeing some very thoughtful extensions being built. Precept for 2020-2021 Next year’s precept was presented to the full council for their approval by the finance sub-committee at our January meeting. The precept was set at £15,519.00 This is an increase of 3.42% on the precept for 2019- 2020. Dog Fouling Yet again, it has been reported that dog fouling is still a problem around the village. Footpaths and areas around the school where parents and children walk, it appears we still have irresponsible dog owners. There are four dog-fouling bins and a number of waste bins where you can deposit your poo-bags. Remember: BAG IT & BIN IT Street Lights In issue 236, July 2018, it was reported the Parish Council was going to replace our ageing street lights. I can now confirm that all street lights have been replaced. The mixture of Sodium and Mercury bulbs (70-90W) have been upgraded to LED units (15-20W). Some of the benefits of the new LED lighting; 1) Better light quality; 2) Lower energy consumption and therefore lower bills; 3) Reduced maintenance costs; 4) Less night pollution, reduced Carbon footprint; 5) The new LED units have a manufacturers warranty of 10 years. Derek Smith Chairman, Welton Parish Council Page: 4 Welton Recreation Trust Quiz : The Spring Quiz will be held on Thursday 23rd April 2020. Please contact Chris Smith if you wish to participate. Reminder Defibrillators : The two defibrillators in the Village are located at the School car park (available 24 hours per day) , and inside the village hall (available when open). For the School Car park defibrillator you have to ring the number and the emergency services will provide you the code to unlock the door. For both defibrillators, take the defibrillator out, and use on the patient by following the instructions given by the unit. Funding : The Recreation Trust would like to continue to promote differ- ent recreation activities in Welton. We have assisted the Welton Good Neighbour Scheme and the 2020 Village Produce Show. We would be pleased to support for any new ventures. Welton Recreation Trust : John Edwards, Peter OMahoney, Jack Perry, Chris Smith, Sarah Souter, Duncan Webber Welton Recreation Trust – Walking Group We’re reinventing the Welton Walking Group using WhatsApp to ar- range the walks. Initially the aim is for one Sunday walk a month, plus regular mid-week sorties if there is enough support. The idea is to use WhatsApp to arrange dates, times and plan local routes. All ages and abilities are welcome for what we hope will be friendly walks in the fresh air. Please contact Richard Proto to join 07802 981655 Page: 5 What’s going on here, then? There I was, quietly shirking my responsibilities during the set-up for this year’s village panto, when I heard a buzzing noise. From the sky! Well, I looked up, didn’t I? Like anyone would with little else to do. And what did I see? Aliens. Well, not aliens ex- actly, but it was a UFO. So I took this photograph to prove it. Then I realised that it was drawing a bit of a crowd. Three blokes were standing staring at it and one had a device in his hands, presumably attempting to bring the strange craft down before it started abducting the locals, conducting strange experi- ments on them and then killing Ian Threadgold’s sheep! He wasn’t having much joy, though as it was seemingly intent on taking a very close look at St. Martin’s church. In particular, the stonework. Being a curious chap, I went over and spoke to the Men in Black and they ad- mitted to me that this strange craft was indeed very interested in the old church’s stonework and was collecting photographic evidence to submit to its’ leader in order to assess the wear and tear of the building and was paying par- ticular attention to the roof and any crack that may have appeared during it’s time on Earth. Such knowledge these guys had, I was blown over. I didn’t even think these things even existed. I asked one of the ET agents what he was going to do about it, but he just shrugged and said he’d bring it down, download the photographic evidence and write up a survey on the church. Well I never… If you’re not at all interested in this kind of story, please prevent any more in the future by advertising in or contributing to the WNV. Ed. Page: 6 News from the Welton History Group Our December event (Shake the History Tree) turned out to be the story of “The Winter’s Tale”. Our visiting theatre group supplemented their rather small cast of 3 with members of the audience. Oh, how we did laugh! In January, we held an informal evening in the White Horse, looking old artefacts, documents and photos. It was a pleasant and relaxed evening. Anyone is welcome to turn up to any of our meetings. We don’t have a formal membership; so there is no need to contact us before coming. Forthcoming meetings: Monday February 24th 2020, 7.30pm, Village Hall Admission £3.00 “The Mystery of the Whilton Stone” Anthea Hiscock When a carved stone was unearthed in a field near Whilton, Anthea could not resist another research project. How old was it? Where had it come from? How had it found its way to Whilton? Monday March 23rd 2020, 7.30pm, Village Hall Admission £3.00 The History of Pantomime Martin Heath We were so bowled over by Martin’s talk last Oh no it isn’t? Oh yes it is! year that we persuaded him to make time in his busy schedule to talk to us again. Martin regularly provides the music for the Welton Players, and no doubt there will be more than one reference to them in this talk. Look out, he’s behind you! News from the Welton History Group contd... Page: 7 Monday April 27th 2020, 7.30pm, Village Hall Admission £3.00 The Follies of Northamptonshire Andrew Plumridge Andrew is a leading expert on Follies and founder of the Folly Fellowship. There are a plethora of follies across the country and North- amptonshire is no exception. Find out about some of these An odd building! odd buildings and what inspired them. Welton History Group: About us The Welton History Group is a non-profit making group, aiming to pro- mote local history. We have a number of different speakers each year and sometimes we organise trips out to places related to the history of Northamptonshire or local villages. We don’t have a membership sub- scription; people just come to the meetings they are interested in. We now have a new programme for 2019-20. Copies are available in the Church. Also, see “Save The Date” on page 15 Group contact: Jackie Hibbert 01327 312514 [email protected] Page: 8 The Percival Guildhouse We moved to Welton from Wiltshire, nearly 3½ years ago, to be closer to our fami- ly (one of our sons lives in Rugby).