RoundRound AboutAbout the villages of Langford Budville and Runnington March 2015 1 CONTENTS 1 Welcome 2 What's On 4 All About Round About 5 Green Fingers: Pruning 6 Village Hall 10 News from the Villages 12 David Percy 13 Community Contacts 14 Mad March Hares 16 A Walk Back in Time Part 2 18 News from the Churches 22 Dairy Delights: Bread 23 Langford Ladies 24 Langford Budville Arch 25 The Night Sky 26 Young Buddies 27 Our School 35 Magazine Info/Ad Rates 36 Bus Timetable 2 Welcome... ... to the March edition of Round About. We’re Out and About with Hares this month, as you’ll guess from the cover. We’ve illustrated our article with images taken, with permission, from the work of local artist, the late Richard Pocock. March sees the days lengthening, and spring seems well on the way with snowdrops brightening our gardens, and tempting us out of doors— where we are faced with the need to shape up in the garden. Green Fingers will give you some hints! In Village News we welcome several recent arrivals in the villages, and congratulate our Bell Ringers on their recent ringing success. We also bid farewell to a former resident. Once again Marilyn goes walking around Langford Budville as it was in the 1940s, in the second half of a Walk Back in Time. And we wonder if anyone recognises where our own Arch was erected—and when? Those of us who enjoy the lovely Soup Lunches at St Peter’s church will welcome our Dairy Delights recipe this month—we feature Trevor Pritchard’s delicious bread recipe. You can find out when the next one will be from What’s on, and while you’re there, make a note of the chance to view a partial eclipse of the sun, courtesy of The Night Sky’s Keiron McGrath (weather permitting of course!) Our School had a visit from a Very Important Person - the High Sheriff of Somerset! One of the pupils has written a report for us. And there’s a March Maze for our Young Buddies too. We’ve put in a request for some new blood fo help us at Round About, but we also need to hear from you what you want to see in the magazine – what you’d like more of – or less of! If you have an interesting story to tell us, please get in touch. If you know someone else with an interesting story, ask them if they will share it with us. And if you know of a local craftsmen or tradesperson that you can recommend please pass on their details so we can approach them about advertising in the magazine. Saranne Cessford on behalf of the Editorial Team COVER PICTURE: Lepus europeaus—Wild About Britain website. This website has some wonderful pictures of British Wildlife. www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk. 3 What’s On Haddons, 10.25-10.35 Runnington Wed 18 March Mobile Library White Post Wed 15 April 10.40-10.55am Wed 13 May Jubilee Hall 11.00-11.20am Mon 02 March Police surgery Jubilee Hall 7.00-8.00pm Tues 14 April Show: Come to Jubilee Hall Sat 7 March 7.00pm the Cabaret Parish Council Jubilee Hall Mon 9 March 7.30pm Meeting Wellesley Contact Langford Ladies Tues 17 March Cinema cinema Soup Kitchen St Peter’s Church Wed 18 March 12.00—2.00pm Solar Eclipse Jubilee Hall viewing—see (Weather Fri 20 March 8.26 to 10.41 am Night Sky permitting) Wellington Choral St John’s Church, Society 75th Wellington - see Sat 28 March 7.30 pm Anniversary bleow Concert Defibrillator Jubilee Hall Tues 7 April 7.00pm training Easter Coffee Runnington Sat 11 April 10.30-12.00noon Morning Church Spring get- St Peter’s Church Sat 18 April Morning/lunch together Friends of St Peters St Peter’s Church Sat 9 May 2.00pm Open Day Wellington Choral Scoiety will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise and of excerpts from Messiah at St John’s Church Wellington on Saturday 28 March at 7.30. Tickets from Nurtured by Nature, South St., Wellington or online at www.wellingtonchoralsociety.org.uk. 4 Defibrillator Awareness Training South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust are holding another defibrillator awareness training session at the village hall on 7th April at 19:00. We would love to see more locals attend so they can be trained on the use of the village and many other community defibrillators should it be required for themselves, their families or just someone in need. The paramedics will show you the use and safety of the defib on adults and children. All are welcome, you can't be too old or too young to learn how to use a defib or advise someone else how to. Please visit www.swast.nhs.uk to find out more about the Ambulance Service, what they do and how you can help. Nynehead Local History Society meet on the second Friday evening at 7.30. For dates and subject contact Susie Kenward 01823 662856. Appley Cross WI meet on 2nd Tuesday each month in Bathealton Village Hall. Contact Anne Hendy for details 01823 400476. 5 All About Round About The editorial Team of Round About Magazine hosted a party on the evening of Sunday 15th February to celebrate one year of publication, and to thank all those who had contributed to the success of the magazine and without whose help the magazine would never have seen the light of day. We tried to invite everyone who had made a contribution, and hopefully did not miss anyone. On the evening we had a good turn-out and it was an enjoyable celebration. Marilyn Lilley on behalf of the editorial team thanked everyone for their contributions and presented Laighton Waymouth, our wonderful printer, with a couple of books which we hope he will find time to enjoy. The Editorial Team currently consists of Marilyn Lilley, Saranne Cessford, Laurian Cooper, Barbara Hughes and Sue Osborne. We are all volunteers and we get a great deal of satisfaction from doing the job. To our immense regret Barbara is leaving the team and we need to replace her. Now we need your help. We understand that you are busy but we really need someone to help us with our accounts which Saranne has been doing along with her other jobs. Whoever takes this on needn’t do more than keep the books, and send out invoices etc. unless they wish to do so. They need to understand basic book keeping but the excel spread sheet we use is already set up, so it would be largely record keeping. We need another person on the editorial team too: We’d welcome help from anyone with ideas, and particularly from younger people. Marilyn is stepping back for a month to concentrate on updating the Village Website, and Saranne will try and fill her shoes during that time – so please send contributions to her ([email protected]) or to the Round About email address - [email protected]. Saranne Cessford 6 Green Fingers - Spring Pruning Hints The dilemma when pruning is to know not only HOW to prune but WHEN and WHAT to prune. A general rule of thumb is to prune summer and autumn flowering shrubs in the dormant season i.e. January through to March, and to prune spring flowering shrubs when the flowers have faded in late summer or autumn. Not quite so simple as it sounds: What about repeat flowering shrubs like roses, hydrangeas and clematis.? Roses, other than climbers and ramblers, can be pruned any time between January to March depending on the weather, old woody stems removed and the rose cut down by about a third to a good outward facing bud. Climbers and ramblers are best pruned in the autumn after the flowers have faded. Hydrangeas: those with the flattened head and smaller leaf (serrata) can be pruned now in March and the large mophead one (macrophylla) when the flowers have faded in late summer. Neither need hard pruning just shaping and the weak branches taken out. Clematis are tricky as it depends when they flower. The ones that need attention now are the late-flowering varieties. Cut these back to a pair of strong buds about 1 foot from the ground. Other shrubs needing spring pruning: Wisteria - cut to about the 2nd bud. Buddleia - cut down to a strong bud. Fuchsia can be cut down to almost ground level. Spirea - cut down to about 9inches above ground level. All the books advise one to be brave, “If in doubt cut it out” seems to be the message. So all you need is a sharp pair of secateurs and a nice warm day. Sue Osborne 7 Future events at the Hall Come to the Cabaret - Saturday 7 March 2015 at 7.00pm For one night only, Changing Faces present something a little different - a cabaret evening with entertainment from a variety of local artistes. Tickets £10 include a light supper. See page 3 for contact details. Defibrillator Training - Tuesday 7 April 2015 at 7.00pm The training session will last about an hour, is free, and no previous experience is necessary. All are welcome. Please see page 3 for details. Solar Eclipse - Friday 20 March in the morning The eclipse will be a partial one within the UK. Here in the South West the Sun will be 85% eclipsed. Starting at 08.26 and ending at 10.41am it should be an impressive sight.