ISSUE 63 DECEMBER 2017 News and views from our wonderful village of Tiffield in Northamptonshire Yes, it’s a very Merry Christmas and hopes for a prosperous New Year to all our readers in Tiffield and Caldecote! Here is the Christmas edition of your favourite reading matter, containing a wealth of information about recent events in the village and what is planned for 2018. Many, many thanks to all those who have contributed to this TT, and particular thanks to those who keep all our various clubs and societies going! They do need new blood to maintain their impetus, so don’t feel afraid in coming forward! Phil & Mary Leggett Well-known resident leaves village Residents may have noticed that since October Skittle is no longer taking Eric Welch for a walk round the village. We have seen Skittle grow up from a ‘too cute for words’ pup to ‘debonair dog about village’. Skittle has now left the village to pursue his dream of being a Guide Dog for the Blind. 1 News from the oche................. It’s still a struggle I’m afraid for both our teams in the Gayton & District Skittles League. At the time of writing the A team have been boosted by three recent back to back wins, giving them 10 points from 14 games, but the B team languish near the bottom of the table (below) with just two wins to their name. But, hey ho, it’s only a game, and most Thursdays provide an enjoyable tussle against Your editor as depicted by Chris popular opposition! Reed on his ipad P W D L Pts 1 Eykyn Arms A, Gayton 14 14 0 0 28 2 Compass, Milton Malsor 13 13 0 0 26 3 Wooden Walls, Collingtree 14 12 0 2 24 4 Towcester SSC 14 11 0 3 22 5 The Bull, Harpole 14 9 1 4 19 6 Towcester Mill 14 9 0 5 18 7 Sun Inn B, Nether Heyford 13 8 0 5 16 7 Bakers Arms, Bugbrooke 13 8 0 5 16 9 Drunken Duck, Kislingbury 14 7 1 6 15 10 Sun Inn A, Nether Heyford 14 7 0 7 14 1 1 Royal India, Fosters Booth 14 6 0 8 12 12 Eastcote Arms 14 5 1 8 11 1 3 George A, Tiffield 14 5 0 9 10 14 Old Red Lion B, Litchborough 14 3 1 10 7 1 5 George B, Tiffield 14 2 0 12 4 15 Old Red Lion A, Litchborough 13 2 0 11 4 17 Eykyn Arms B, Gayton 14 1 0 13 2 18 The Boat, Stoke Bruerne 14 0 0 14 0 2 St John the Baptist Church Let There Be Light! The Church is going to be floodlit for the Christmas Season. Come along and have a look. Here is a reminder of the regular monthly pattern of services in Tiffield: st 1 Sunday – 11.00am Holy Communion 2nd Sunday – 9.30am Family Worship 3rd Sunday – 9.30am Morning Worship th 4 Sunday – no service Services at the three other local churches in our benefice can be found on the noticeboard outside the church door. We have been in vacancy since June when our previous Rector left for a role closer to her family. I am pleased to say that we have successfully recruited a new minister, the Reverend Canon Káren Jongman, currently minister for a group of four churches north-east of Northampton. We are delighted to have attracted a minister with Káren’s capability and experience. She is working through her notice period and will be licensed to our benefice at a service on Tuesday 6 March. Details will follow. We have just begun the season of Advent, which is the beginning of the church’s year. The season of Advent is all about looking forward and being prepared - we look forward to remembering Christ’s first coming as a baby at Christmas, and to his promised second coming in the future. At the Sunday services leading up to Christmas Day we light a special candle each week in our Advent wreath to remember in turn Christ’s ancestors (the patriarchs), the prophets, St. John the Baptist, Christ’s mother Mary, and a final fifth candle at Christmas itself to celebrate Christ’s birth. We had the Live Nativity (with real beasts!) on 11 December with a procession to the church starting at Bridge House – a different start point because of ongoing building work at the school. continued................... 3 ............continued Services in St John’s Tiffield for the Christmas period include: Carol Service on 17 December at 3.30pm, with refreshments afterwards Christmas Morning Family Service at 11.00am, followed by mince pies and mulled wine Amelcote Benefice communion service at 9.30am on 31 December Everyone is welcome to come to any of our services at this special season or any other, so please come and join us. Phil Titheridge, Churchwarden The George Autumn Quiz Many thanks to all the twelve teams that turned up for an entertaining evening back in October. The quiz was won by serial champions Jake Roberts, Martin Steele, Jane Proctor and Mike Davies, with The Brighton Beach Bums (the Burbidge family) coming runners-up. The champs generously donated their winnings to the Pocket Park fund. The Interval Quiz was won by Marc Leggett, Lou and John Burrows and John Beasley. Look out for the next one in the Spring! Make a note – Saturday 17 March There have been calls to There is no problem with hold additional quiz that – all we need is evenings (aside from the volunteers to organise Spring/Autumn events). them! See Jane or Russ! A plea to our dog owners..... There have been a number of recent instances of dog’s mess on public and private land throughout the village. Please please can you ensure that you clean up after your pets! 4 Tiffield Village BBQ Saturday June 30 2018 at 6.00pm on the Village Green Hi all, Next year 2018 is the opportunity to have a village BBQ on the Green opposite the Primary School. It is open to all in the village, so just turn up, bring your own food and use the BBQs provided. If you wish to bring a gazebo to erect before the event then please bring one down on the Saturday morning. Now a plea for anyone with a musical bent, be it singing, playing, dancing etc., would you please make yourself known so that a programme of village entertainment can be arranged on the stage that will be erected on the green for you. As you can see that we have had royalty come to one of our previous events. Brilliant! Mr H 01327 353172 5 Tiffield Gardening Society We will be holding our AGM, with Wine and Cheese, in the Church Room at 8.00pm on January 8. Do come along and help us plan our programme for the coming year. For further details contact [email protected] THE GEORGE XMAS OPENING TIMES Sunday 24 December – 12.00 to 00.00 Monday 25 December – 12.00 to 14.00 Tuesday 26 December – 12.00 to 21.30 Wednesday 27 December – 12.00 to 15.00 and 18.00 to 23.00 Thursday 28 December – 12.00 to 15.00 and 18.00 to 23.00 Friday 29 December – 12.00 to 15.00 and 18.00 to 23.00 Saturday 30 December – 12.00 to 23.00 Sunday 31 December – NEW YEAR’S EVE – 12.00 to 00.30 Monday 1 January – 12.00 to 22.30 then back to normal Neil and Jane of High Street South Winners of The George’s Halloween Costume Party! 6 MET SOMEONE FAMOUS? THE VILLAGE WEBSITE Evie Burbidge recently bumped It is fair to say that the current village website has not been successful! The web provider that we employed had into Chris Eubank, former World good references from two other local Parish Councils. Middleweight Boxing Champion, However, in recent months the service received has at a fitness exhibition at the NEC declined, culminating in the site not being visible for several weeks. in Birmingham The Parish Council is now in the process of developing a new website, which it is hoped will be live before Christmas. The new site will be far superior to the previous one, and will contain full details of all the organisations and events in the village. Those who organise village activities will have the opportunity to provide input to their own pages, and there will be an interactive calendar. There will be links to the websites of local services, facilities and businesses. Please contact me to be sure that your organisation or business details are included. Simon Loake, Clerk to Tiffield Parish Council 7 TIFFIELD PRIMARY SCHOOL We have had an incredibly busy first term at the school. We welcomed six children into our Reception Class in September and they have settled into school life amazingly well. Also in September some of the Year 5 and 6 children went on a Federation Residential to the Isle of Wight and from the stories they came back with it sounds like they had a brilliant time. For some of them it was the first time they had stayed away from family and we were very proud of the way they got on with things. Well done! Some of the other events we have taken part in so far this year include the McMillan Coffee morning (although we had a cake sale), and we joined Stoke Bruerne School at their church for Harvest Festival and from donations generously brought in by the children we were able to take a large delivery of food over to Towcester Food Bank.