Old Sodbury Times Issue 85 November 2020 Dates for your Diary: Post Office returns to Chipping Sodbury None due to Covid Restrictions After much campaigning we are pleased to see the presence of a Post Office back in Chipping Sodbury. OK it’s only there on Tuesday afternoon, 13.30 to 15.30hrs in the back of a van, but it’s a start. Eventually it is hoped to be in the back of the old M & Co building when it is converted to a Spar. How ironic it is that when Old Sodbury lost its Post Office we were told ‘there is another only a mile away in Chipping Sodbury’. ————— On behalf of Green Community Travel, Michaela Turner would like to thank everyone who donated their unwanted clothes etc. to the recent Bag2School initiative. A total of £357.00 was raised. ————- Chapel Lane is soon to have a consultation about having a 20mph speed limit in the section between Landcare and the main road. Do please take part in the consultation. South Glos Council have asked the Town Trust, who manage The Ridings recreation area at Chipping Sodbury, about the possibility of putting a Covid Testing Station there Monday to Friday each week. At the October meeting of Sodbury Town Council (held on Zoom) members heard of the proposal to build 16 ‘starter homes’ on the former Transport Yard (former home to Rex Boucher’s repair yard) on the A432 just down from the old post office. Also discussed was a report by Councillor Steve Spooner on traffic speeds along that road. The Council meeting papers can be viewed on www.sodburytowncouncil.gov.uk/ town-council/meeting-papers/full-council/ Meetings can be seen by emailing [email protected] for the appropriate link and password. Nature is gradually taking over the pavement to Chipping Sodbury with brambles and scrub at head height and grass coming onto 200 Club Winners the tarmac from both sides. A resident has written to South Glos September No 116 Mrs V.Walker £200 September No 59 Mrs C. Rowland £25 asking for both those matters to be addressed and cut back. October Not drawn yet Congratulations to those who completed the Pumpkin Trail around the village in half term. What a lovely idea and we hope F.O.S.S.A will do an event for Christmas. Welcome to Katrina and Darren Ryemill who moved in to Church Lane in August. They really hope to have an active and positive involvement in the community. They are really happy n their new house... if just a little busy with work being done around the house. Old Sodbury Community Orchard and Woodland At long last some positive news to report. Sodbury Town Council have been sent the terms of sale of the land from Network Rail. The proposal to plant a Community Orchard has received an offer of support in the form of a substantial grant which should not only pay for all the fruit trees and bushes but also associated works such as fencing, protective guards, maintenance and tools. Please Help—Does anyone record the daily rainfall? Pauline and Richard Wilson 01454 310540 have recorded it every day since 1986. When they were away during the first week of October their gauge was overwhelmed by the downpours and a week’s record was lost. They would be grateful if anyone can help. PAGE 2 OLD SODBURY TIMES Old Sodbury School by Jenny Jackman What a fabulous start to the new school year we have had. We have welcomed new children into our school family and all the children have been fantastic, quickly adapting to their new way of working within their bubbles. The refurbished classrooms look amazing. We have been trying to make the most of the outside before the weather turns and the children have been focussing on Autumn. This term we had a grand launch of our new class names linked to the trees in the forest. We have Hazel, Chestnut, Sycamore and Oak and the children have been making some wonderful clay art for the trees and getting in touch with nature and the seasons. Younger children have been making autumn inspired tree art for their classrooms. The children are still loving their skipping and are enjoying their mastery of the skills needed. During half term F.O.S.S.A. held a pumpkin trail around the village. So if you saw a stray pumpkin lingering by a footpath that is the explanation and we hope you didn’t take it home to make Pumpkin Pie ! (see recipe on Page 3) Sodbury Short Mat Bowls Club It is now nearly 8 months since we played Short Mat Bowls in our Village Hall and our members are missing the games and competitions but most of all the regular meeting of friends . Our Bowls committee are discussing via Zoom the Risk assessments and how to achieve “Safe Bowls Status” before we can play games again. Some larger Bowls clubs are playing in limited groups of 6 players but as we are a small club this poses more difficulties with putting out equipment and storing it away whilst observing social distancing rules etc. We look forward to welcoming members back to play as soon as possible but in the meantime we hope everyone keeps safe and well. When we resume play on Monday evenings we will be able to accommodate some new members, experienced or otherwise, and invite anyone who is interested to get in touch with Chairman Richard Gilpin 01454 321323. SERVICES AT OLD SODBURY CHURCH Services are held 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month at 11:15 a.m. as below: November 1st 15th December 6th 20th Sunday 8th November 10.45am: A short act of Remembrance Friday 25th December11.15am: The Christmas Day Service Prior to each service please confirm your attendance by phoning 07788 695911 CHURCHYARD CLEAN-UP We will be tidying our beautiful village churchyard on Saturday 7th November at 10:00 a.m. CANCELLED DUE TO COVID All helpers are welcome. Please bring gloves and gardening tools. ISSUE 85 OLD SODBURY TIMES PAGE 3 OLD SODBURY W.I. Our proposed WI meeting in September had to be cancelled due to further Covid 19 restrictions so it is now eight months since we last met in the Village Hall. When we can meet again it will be a very special celebration, but we have no idea when this will be. The Book Club continues to keep us inspired with our reading. This month we have two books to read “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens and “ The Beekeeper's Promise” by Fiona Valpy. We will be discussing these on Zoom at the end of October and some lively discussions are likely with these two good reads. The National Federation of WI is offering on line lectures which some of our members have enjoyed. There are cookery and handicraft demonstrations, yoga sessions and historical tours to name a few. Unfortunately Denman College, a residential facility for WI members with a wide variety of educational courses since 1948, has had to close as it is no longer financially viable. For many years a bursary has been awarded annually to a member of our WI to enable them to attend a course. On a sunny morning early in October I was a delegate representing our WI at the Avon Federation AGM. This has often been held at the Winter Gardens in Weston-super-mare, where we can enjoy listening to guest speakers, mix with around two hundred delegates and relish the sea breezes at lunchtime. This year the meeting was very different and took place via Zoom at home for 40 minutes with 59 faces on a screen! Village Hall Garden. In 2012 our WI garden was created in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. A group of WI ladies and partners worked over a couple of weekends to remove a huge heap of rubbish from the corner of the car park. We filled a large farm trailer twice! Landcare Nursery kindly donated native species of hedging and members were shown how to plant them. Now the garden is flourishing and the hedge is neatly trimmed. Thanks go to a few members who regularly maintain it. We keep in touch with members by sending a monthly newsletter and they are encouraged to send their contributions such as photographs, recipes and news. If we cannot meet in a large group at least we can meet a friend or two for a coffee or have a chat on the telephone! We hope that all our members, friends and families keep safe and well. Old Sodbury WI will meet again on the third Wednesday in the month as soon as possible. If you would like to know more about it please contact Sue Leah 01454 315161. Pumpkin Pie (to use up all those pumpkins) Ingredients : Pastry 150g Plain flour, Pinch salt, 75g butter or margarine, 1 egg yolk, ½teasp. Sugar or use ready made shortcrust pastry Ingredients: Filling 100g soft light brown sugar, 25g butter, ¼pt double cream, 2medium eggs separated ½ pt. pumpkin purée, 50g Plain flour, ¼teaspoon each of Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Allspice Oven: 200°C / gas mark 6 22cm flan tin Make pastry: Sift flour and salt in mixing bowl. Rub in butter until resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 2 tablesp. Water to egg yolk and mix into flour mixture. Add sugar and work together to form light dough. Roll out on floured surface to fit flan tin. Prick base and chill for 30 mins.