SPOTLIGHT Seend & Bulkington Dec 2009/Jan 2010 DIARY DATES FOR LATE NOVEMBER 26th Annual Meeting of Seend Community Centre, 7.30pm 27th Seend School Christmas Fayre, 6pm 27th Ladies’ Pamper Night at Keevil School, 6.30pm 28th WI Good as New Sale, from 10am in the Pavilion 28th Battle of the Bands, Seend Community Centre, 8pm 28th Craft Fayre at Cleeve House, 10am-4pm DIARY DATES FOR DECEMBER 1st First Steps service 2nd Shuttle Christmas Shopping trip - phone Terry on 828203 by 30th Nov to book 2nd Bulkington Lunch Club at the Well 2nd Quiz Night, Pavilion 6.30 for 7pm start 4th Beetle Drive, Bulkington Village Hall, 7pm 5th Table top steam railway, Bulkington Village Hall, 11.30am to 4.30am 5th Snowball at Trowbridge Civic Hall in aid of Keevil School 6th Ramblers meet 9.30am Rusty Lane 7th Mobile Library - 9.35 am The Lye; 10am telephone box, Seend Cleeve; 10.55am Tipsy Toad car park, Bulkington 12th Due Voci Christmas Concert, Seend Community Centre, 8pm 12th Christmas Concert, Bulkington, 7.30pm 15th Carols by the fire, Cleeve House, 7pm 16th Christmas Nosh and Natter, 12 for 12.30 Seend Community Centre 19th Christmas Bingo, 7.30pm Seend Community Centre 20th Carol Service, Holy Cross 21st Mobile Library - 9.35 am The Lye; 10am telephone box, Seend Cleeve; 10.55am Tipsy Toad car park, Bulkington 22nd Carol Service, Bulkington DIARY DATES FOR JANUARY 1st New Year’s Day Walk, 11am Rusty Lane 4th Mobile Library - 9.35 am The Lye; 10am telephone box, Seend Cleeve; 10.55am Tipsy Toad car park, Bulkington 5th First Steps service 6th Shuttle Shopping Trip - phone Terry on 828203 by 4th to book 16th DEADLINE FOR FEBRUARY SPOTLIGHT 16th Quiz Night, 7.45pm Seend Community Centre 18th Mobile Library - 9.35 am The Lye; 10am telephone box, Seend Cleeve; 10.55am Tipsy Toad car park, Bulkington 20th MU AGM 23rd Burns Night Supper, 7.30pm Community Centre 24th Ramblers meet 9.30am Rusty Lane 27th Nosh and Natter, 12 for 12.30pm, Seend Community Centre Newcomer to Seend? Call in at the shop/PO and ask for your copy of the Welcome booklet, which tells you all you need to know about the village. And visit www.seend.org.uk for village history, Shuttle timetables, What’s On, useful links and back numbers of Spotlight and Happenings! 1 Welcome to the Dec 09/Jan 10 issue Firstly, we’re sure all churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike will want to extend a warm welcome to the Rev Renée Coulson who is now in post to serve Seend, Bulkington and Poulshot. Secondly, there has been a request from some Bulkington readers that all Bulkington news should be in its own section - as it used to be some time ago. We’ve tried that in this issue and any feedback will be welcome. As you would expect, there are plenty of things happening in our villages over the Christmas and New Year period, details of which are inside this magazine..Due to one of those unfortunate quirks of fate that sometimes happen, we have two Christmas Concerts on the same night - December 12th - one in Seend and one in Bulkington. Please try to support one or the other! There is Christmas Bingo on 19th in the Community Centre, and a Christmas Nosh and Natter lunch club on 16th (book in advance please). Bulkington Lunch Club’s Christmas gathering is at the reopened Well on 2nd December. There are a couple of events for railway enthusiasts in Bulkington on December 5th and 26th. You can tax your brain with quizzes on 2nd December and 16th January, and join in a Beetle Drive on 4th December.. You can sing carols by the fire at Cleeve House on 15th December, and join in the Carol Service at Holy Cross on 20th (contact Phil Springate on 828294 if you want to sing or play at the Service). Start 2010 with the New Year’s Day Walk of some 3 miles or so - followed by refreshment in the Community Centre. And dig out the tartan gear for a Burns Night Supper on 23rd January. Whatever you do or don’t do, the editorial team of Spotlight wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year. And if your New Year resolutions include becoming a volunteer, there are lots of village organisations just waiting to hear from you! The Spotlight Contacts Contributions for the February issue (copy deadline 16th January) can be e- mailed to [email protected] or delivered to Seend Post Office or, for Bulkington contributions, to Jo Bell at 1 Northfields, Bulkington (e-mail to [email protected]). Comments and queries to Joanna Goddard on 828488, Tessa Doe on 828617 or Tina Yockney on 827139. Emails disappearing into the ether: All too often, an email to Spotlight goes astray for no obvious reason. If email correspondents don’t receive an acknowledgement by the end of the Monday after the Spotlight deadline, please ring Tessa on 828617 to check if all is well. And please read the following: N.B. Would those sending emails to [email protected] please include the word SPOTLIGHT in uppercase as the first word of the Subject. This will help the editorial team sifting through all the messages stopped by the SPAM filter, which quite often include genuine messages for SPOTLIGHT, maybe even your important message! 2 EVENTS IN LATE NOVEMBER Seend Community Centre Annual Meeting - 7.30 pm Thursday 26th November ‘Battle of the Bands’ - 8pm Saturday 28th November Seend School Christmas Fayre From 6pm on Friday 27th November in the School Hall Christmas Craft Fayre at Cleeve House Saturday November 28th 10am - 4pm EVENTS IN DECEMBER For details of Great Bulkington Railway and other events in Bulkington, see Bulkington News pages 10-12 3 Christmas Concert Saturday 12th December at 8pm in Seend Community Centre ‘Due Voci’ Barbara Gompels and Paula Boyagis of White Horse Opera (with piano accompaniment) bring us songs from the shows plus a bit of opera, mixed with comedy and seasonal favourites. Tickets £6 (from Shop/PO and Community Centre) include tea or coffee and mince pies! Bar and raffle. Christmas Carol-singing by the Fire Cleeve House, Seend Tues 15th December at 7.00 pm Everyone is welcome to join in this traditional celebration of Christmas by singing together. Featuring a beautiful contribution from ‘Potterne Handbells’ The collection this year is for Relate Mid Wiltshire. Amanda Foyster will give a short talk on their valuable work in the community. The event will be followed by refreshments in the Salisbury room. Parking and entry are free 01380 827129 - www.cleeve-house.com Nosh and Natter Christmas Lunch Club in Seend Community Centre 12 for 12.30pm on Wednesday 16th December All ages welcome Please ring 01380 828540 by 12th December to book as John and Lilian really need to know numbers. The next Nosh and Natter will be on Wednesday 27th January 4 Christmas Bingo Fun for all the family! in Seend Community Centre 7.30pm Saturday 19th December Free entry; pay per game. Lots of prizes! and Seend Community Centre Christmas Draw Friday 18th December approx 10pm EVENTS IN JANUARY New Year’s Day Walk 11am start in Rusty Lane Soup and other snacks afterwards in Seend Community Centre Seend Community Centre NEW YEAR QUIZ 7.45pm on Saturday 16th January Teams of 4 £2 per head Generous cash prizes! Raffle & refreshments Prize for best team name Book your table by phoning 01380 828617 All proceeds to the Communty Centre 5 Seend Community Centre Burns Night Free tot to toast the Haggis Three-course Scottish specialities Scottish entertainment Saturday 23rd January 2010 7pm for 7.30pm Tickets £15 Tel: 01380 828756 or 828508 ANNOUNCEMENTS (Please let us know of any births, marriages, deaths, special birthdays, thank-yous etc that you would like to see included here.) Matt, Sarah and Olivia Hill of Seend Cleeve are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and sister, Poppy Grace Elizabeth Hill. Born on October 18th 2009. A big thank you to all of our visitors and card senders! __________________________________ John A’Bear’s family would like to thank everyone for the cards and comforting words, and thank you for donations and support on the day of the funeral. Also, a big thank you to Pam Muller. __________________________________ A big thank you to ALL who helped at and supported the craft fair last Saturday. Your presence at the various church fund raising events is so much appreciated. We raised in excess of £400. Next one, and final for 2009, is the Quiz night so come along,bring your friends and no doubt I'll be in touch again before long asking for your help and support yet again ! Tina WANTED - THREE WISE MEN!!! This year’s Crib service will take place in the Vicarage garden at 4.00 pm on Christmas Eve. We will need some shepherds and angels – all suitably attired. No lines to learn, just turn up and join in. There will also be carol singing AND REFRESHMENTS! Please do come – we need YOU. Aspiring angels & shepherds especially welcome! 6 CHURCH NEWS GOD WITH (all of) US… Let me start by saying a huge "THANK YOU" for the wonderfully warm welcome you gave me on the 2nd (November) and for all the help that has been given so far in helping me to settle into the Vicarage so quickly (mind, I still have boxes to unpack and tidying to do!).