BROAD TOWN NEWS - APRIL 2022
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
2nd & 4th Wednesday every month.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who attended our March fundraising coffee mornings. Refreshment sales, jigsaw contributions, the sale of raffle tickets and other donations resulted in a grand total of £250 which has been donated to Prospect Hospice.
Our April coffee mornings will be from 10am to 12 noon on Wednesday 13th and Wednesday 27th with children's Easter activities available on the 13th so please come along.
We look forward to seeing you!
FOOD BANK
The next village collection at the Hall will be on Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd April 9am to 4pm. It is predicted that Food banks will struggle to cope in 2022 as the cost of living crisis takes hold.
Please continue to be as generous as you are able to. Thank You.
CHRIST CHURCH SERVICES
3rd April - 10.30am - Communion followed by the Annual Parochial Church meeting –
All on the electoral roll are able to vote at this meeting. Any parishioner is welcome at the meeting.
10th April - 10.30am - PALM SUNDAY Communion
17th April - 10.30am - EASTER Communion
24th April - 6.00pm - Evening Worship
PARISH COUNCIL UPDATE
Spring Clean time! Broad Town Road has benefited from a visit by the Wiltshire Council road sweeper and also the gully sump lorry clearing the drains.
You’ll also notice a few cosmetic improvements to the local neighbourhood over the next few months as we replace the worn-out bench opposite Queen Elizabeth cottage and install the barrel planters with flowering bulbs alongside each village bench. The playing field at Redhills has also had its first cut of the year.
The latest SID analysis for 20 Feb – 20 March is available in the ‘Your Community’ section on the Parish Council website https://www.broadtownparishcouncil.org.uk. This shows an average of 939 vehicles travel south into Broad Town each day.
A date for your diary : The Annual Parish Meeting will be held at 6.30pm on Monday 16 May in the village hall. This is not a council meeting but is an opportunity for all village groups and associations to share with the village the activity they have undertaken in the past year and their plans for the future.
BROAD TOWN CUT FLOWERS
If you have been walking on one village footpath you may have noticed that part of a field has been converted to a Cut Flower Garden. In this first year I am experimenting with what will thrive in our soil and climate and am currently selling daffodils but from May will be selling seasonal cut flowers, if interested in the project or buying locally grown flowers then please get in contact, chrisstuart47@hotmail.com
CHURCHYARD WORK MORNINGS
Dates for these will be 9 April, 7 May, 11 June, 9 July, 6 August and 9 September. 10 am to 12.30.
VIEW FROM THE VICARAGE
On Wars and rumours of Wars
And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.*
This has indeed been a season where while the sun shines here with reassuring warmth and the blue sky and new growth of spring provide me with moments in most days to find delight and beauty that the news is all about war.
I find it helpful to be reminded from these ancient words from the Bible that people have often lived in the midst of struggle and horror and that the tendency to think because our times are challenging that the ‘end is nigh’ is not only a phenomenon of nowadays.
It would perhaps be easy for me to leap straight from the fear and anxiety that many of us feel about end times to the ‘Christian’ answer of Easter and the resurrection narratives of Jesus. However, I write this before the journey of Holy Week – a time when people are invited, to face and meditate on suffering and death. These are things that very often we avoid thinking about until we have no other choice.
I know I can only allow myself to do so because of my trust that there is a deep truth in the Resurrection hope which enables me to live in trust and optimism, even in times of loss, fear and pain (and although optimism is not my natural habit).
However, it also seems clear that if we focus on our anxieties about end times, whether nuclear war, climate change or something closer to home that this can become paralysing and that even when we have to face and live with grief and loss, this can be eased when instead of feeling paralysed we are moved to respond with action.
This might be a decision to change how we garden, or farm, or eat or when we offer a room for someone seeking refuge or the listening of our heart to someone who is sad. Whenever we remind ourselves that the end times are not yet we can be encouraged to hope that our actions as individuals but even more as communities can bring peace, hope and light.
May you discover this over the Easter Season and find the blessing of being enabled to act for goodness and love, no matter what you believe.
Rachma
BROAD TOWN VILLAGE HALL
The Annual General Meeting will be held on 25 April at 6.30 pm in the Hall. Come along to find out more about the Hall – we will be pleased to see you.
We’re sorry to be saying goodbye
Words alone cannot even begin to express how deeply saddened we are to hear of the passing of Sandie Davis. Our thoughts are with Ben, Henry and Zoe.
Sandie’s funeral will be on 12th April at 1 o’clock in Christ Church.
WHITE HORSE LIMING 15th MAY 2022
Weather permitting, White Horse liming will take place on Sunday 15th May. The plan is to meet at the end of Chapel Lane at 0930 or at the Horse at 1000hrs.
Protective equipment will be available at the site in the form of eye protection and face masks. All participants are requested to wear appropriate footwear and work gloves. If possible, they should also bring a tool that can be used for removing weeds or for spreading the lime.
The event will be open to all those who wish to be involved with the only stipulation being that participants should be physically fit and in good health.
Would anyone who wishes to be involved please contact Andrew Law on 01793 731472 or andrewlaw456@gmail.com . Fuller details will then be provided to all volunteers.
BROAD TOWN W. I.
At our AGM in March, the members of Broad Town WI agreed that our WI should close. Broad Town WI started up in 1926, the same year as The Queen’s birth. Who would have thought, all those years ago, that Broad Town WI would reach its 95th anniversary and that The Queen would be celebrating 70 years on the throne. It seems fitting that our WI will be closing on a celebratory note and that its members can look back on many years of joining in with village events, being involved in diverse, interesting and informative activities at meetings and supporting the WI campaigns for raising issues that specifically affect women. It was a difficult decision to close our WI after all these years; however the pandemic has meant that our members have seen changes to their career paths or have taken on new family responsibilities, or simply want to spend more time with their families. We can still keep in touch with each other in different ways. We are delighted that the balance of WI funds will be donated to Brighter Futures, Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Prospect Hospice as well as a small amount being retained by Wiltshire WI Federation for the possibility of a new WI starting up in the future.
We’d like to close by thanking all members and committee members past and present, to the Village Hall committee for all their help – and everyone else who has come to our meetings or offered support. Goodbye!
BROAD TOWN SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
Fundraiser “A Night at the Races” Charity Event- Saturday 14th May
All proceeds go to the Broad Town Primary School.
On your marks, get set, go!
Come along to a fun filled evening including 8 horse races to bet on.
There will be delicious food, fully stocked bar and an auction, this is an adults only event.
@ Broad Town Village Hall, Saturday 14th May -19:30-23:00
£5 a ticket
For tickets: broadtownschoolassociation@gmail.com / 07855 035894
HISTORY
If you want to browse the social history of Broad Town take a look at https://www.broadtownhistory.com/. Please contact Malcolm on 01793 731567 if you have any pictures or stories you would like to add.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to Jules & Matt Rawlins on the birth of Toby.
BROAD TOWN CELEBRATES HM QUEEN PLATINUM JUBILEE 2nd - 5th JUNE
Along with the Parish Council, Social Club and other community groups, we have been working on a timetable for village celebrations in June. Both nationally and locally, the focus is very much on communities coming together to celebrate. If you and your neighbours want to organise your own street party, the village have a good stock of bunting, trestle tables & chairs which can be loaned out.
In the week leading up to 2nd June, the village shelter will be decorated with artwork from the village school and pre-school.
· Thursday 2nd June – Lighting of Beacons (upper and lower end of village).
· Friday 3rd June – 10.00 am – 12.00. A special Village Coffee Morning hosted by the regular Community Coffee Morning group. Contact Margaret Manley (731564).
· Friday 3rd June – PM “A Right Royal Quiz” 7.30 start. By kind permission of the Social Club, the village quizmasters will be setting questions to test your knowledge of all things Royal! Free entry. Either prebook your table (teams of 6/8) or contact us and we’ll put you in a team. Bar Open. Contact: Rosie Law (07828023941 rosiehlaw@gmail.com).
· Saturday 4th June – Once again the Social Club will open their doors to screen the Jubilee concert live from Buckingham Palace Gardens. Timings tbc. Bring your own snacks and join the party! Let us know if you are coming, and your table will be ready for you. Contact: Anne Granger (AnneBroadTownVEDay@hotmail.com or 07916701844).
- SUNDAY 5TH JUNE – THE BIG JUBILEE LUNCH Get together with your neighbours to run your own street party; let us know by 1st week in May so we can distribute bunting, etc; Contact: Rosie Law (07828023941 rosiehlaw@gmail.com). You can apply for your road to be closed off @ http://www.streetparty.org.uk/road-closures/
- Free street party packs are also available to help you get organised @https://www.edenprojectcommunities.com/get-your-big-lunch-pack-0.
Get involved and make memories to last a lifetime
SOCIALISING
The Social Club opened its doors on the 8th Jan 1971 and it has been loyally serving Broad Town every Friday 8pm to late ever since.
News from the social club / fourways bar, now that the restrictions have been removed, and we have lighter nights, [ clocks having gone forward ] why not pop along and renew your membership, or if not a member drop in and see what’s on offer. Membership is only £2.00 for the year and with the very reasonable prices you may even recoup your membership fee`s in one visit.
We have Wadworth`s 6x as our draught bitter and Carlsberg as our draught lager, we also have other bottled beer and ciders, and an assortment of wines. To find out more you can email t.hillier1@sky.com or just drop in on a Friday and we will see what we can do for you.
REMINDER
This is a reminder that we have a defibrillator in the Village. It is sited outside the Village Hall and is available for anyone to use. It is simple to use and talks you through what you must do. It is a requirement though, that you RING 999 FIRST to get help on the way as soon as possible. The ambulance service will also tell you what to do and support you while you wait for the ambulance. If you are within 200m of the Hall they will automatically tell you about the defibrillator and tell you the access code. If you are further away but have someone who could fetch it for you quickly, you will need to ask them for the access code.
AROUND THE PARISH
After almost 3 years of not being able to have the Plant Fair we are happy to say that planning is going ahead for 2022. We sincerely hope that as in 2018 and 2019 we will have the 1000 or so visitors back again!
Within the lovely grounds of this 18th century Manor House there will be some 30 stalls scattered around the garden with plants, crafts, food and other related products as well as the ever popular bacon butty BBQ and home made refreshments. A plant crèche enables people to stroll around without having to carry purchases. For the younger people there will be outside games to keep them occupied.
Money raised will go towards the St Peter’s Church Roof Fund, a Grade 1 listed building in Clyffe Pypard
The deadline for items for the newsletter should be with Margaret or Ray by the 22nd of EVERY month
Margaret Green (01793 854200 or e-mail margaretgreen@waitrose.com)
Ray Manley (01793 731564 or e-mail raymanley1@btinternet.com )