BROAD TOWN NEWS – MAY 2023
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
This edition is packed with all the information you need about the events that are going on in and around our village to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. Broad Town Celebrates… Excitement is building as the Coronation gets closer and by next weekend everything for the Broad Town celebrations will be in full swing, starting with the Village Tidy-Up on Saturday 29th April through to the Church Yard Clear-Up on Monday 8th May. Details of these, and all the events in between, are in the poster below. We have 21 scarecrows confirmed – look out for these around the village from Friday 5th May. We have masses of cakes promised for the Afternoon Tea Party on Friday 5th May and some amazing raffle prizes, so get yourself along to enjoy all of these (and the great company of course!). Lots of super raffle prizes for the Live Music Event on Saturday 6th May too, just hope we can stop dancing long enough to do the draw! Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!
BROAD TOWN CELEBRATES KING CHARLES III CORONATION
Join us for a weekend of village celebrations 5th—8th May 2023 Please decorate your garden in readiness for the weekend & keep an eye on the Newsletter & Broad Town Facebook for more information about the event packed weekend
29th April, 10am - Litter picking followed by refreshments
5th-7th May, Royal Scarecrow trail around the village
Friday 5th May, 3-5pm – Royal tea party in the village hall hosted by Broad Town Coffee Morning Group
Saturday 6th May, 7pm-midnight– Live Dog House band, music and bar in the village hall hosted by the Social Club. Registration is first come, first served & FREE.
Fish & Chips available from the village hall car park hosted by Food for Thought; between 5 - 7 pm takeaway only, between 7 - 9pm open for takeaway and for those attending the evening event inside the hall.
Sunday 7th May 10:30 am - Service, Broad Town Church followed by refreshments
Monday 8th May 10:00 am – Churchyard work morning
Keep your eyes peeled for more details of individual events via posters and Facebook
BROAD TOWN SOCIAL CLUB NEWS AND EVENTS
Why not kick start the Coronation celebrations with a fish and chip supper next Friday night to get you in the mood for the Village Tidy-Up and everything that follows? Future dates for Food for Thought are:
Friday 28th April, 5pm – 8pm; Club open to 11pm
Saturday 6th May, 5pm – 9pm (Social Club opens at 7pm for those with tickets for the live music event, bring your fish and chips in to eat). Club open to midnight. Entry by (free) tickets only.
Tickets available from annebroadtownveday@hotmail.com.
Then, Friday 26th May, Friday 30th June, Friday 14th July, Friday 25th August; all 5pm – 8pm; Club open to 11pm.
Go to https://www.facebook.com/FoodForThoughtSwindon for details of the full menu and how to beat the queues through pre-order.
What’s your favourite tipple and do we have it in stock? There’s nothing worse than turning up for a night out only to find that your favourite tipple isn’t stocked is there? If our range of drinks doesn’t include your favourites, then let us know. Within reason we will try to stock them, but on the basis that you do turn up to drink them! Call in and tell us, email annebroadtownveday@hotmail.com, or put a comment on the Facebook pages that serve our community. Everyone welcome – the more the merrier.
BROAD TOWN REJOICES IN THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES III
Celebrate the Broad Town Church Coronation Project to preserve our beautiful Church. Following a nearly century-old tradition, you can share in this momentous occasion with a superb Keepsake Coronation Mug and Coronation Tea-Towel. The limited edition Coronation Mug and Tea-Towel are designed by the children of Broad Town CE Primary School and every penny raised will contribute towards preservation and maintenance of our Broad Town heritage Church building. Thank you very much for your generosity. Phone Ray or Margaret 01793 731564
PARISH COUNCIL UPDATE
May Village Tidy-Up Let’s give the village a spring clean ready for the King’s Coronation weekend. Meet us at the Village Hall for a village tidy and litter pick up. We will be providing litter picker tongs, gloves, bin bags and Hi-Viz vests to teams of willing helpers.
We are also looking for volunteers with spades/shovels and buckets to weed the pavements.
The next Parish Council meeting will be at 6.30pm in the village hall on Monday 15th May (due to the Coronation bank holiday). All are welcome to attend these meetings and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
Annual Parish Meeting - Monday 22nd May 6.30pm in the Village Hall. We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Parish Meeting. 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 CHURCH
Services for May: 7th - Coronation All Age Service 10.30am. Presentation of Scarecrow Certificates. Coffee/ Tea and cake. Everyone welcome.
28th - Evening Service 6pm
Annual Parochial Church Meeting At the recent APCM Ray and Margaret Manley were elected as Churchwardens and our new elected PCC is Rev Canon Rachma Abbot, Brian Joyce (Treasurer), Veronica Stubbings (Secretary), Fiona Holness, Carolyn Crocker, Janet Drury, Clive Green and Judy Rendell
Churchyard - The April work morning was cancelled due to bad weather. The next date is Volunteer Monday (8th May) 10.00am – midday and again on Saturday 10th June.
March church coffee morning We would like to say a big “thank you” to all the villagers who came to the coffee morning. We raised the sum of £260.55. With expenses we finished with £229.05. We were very pleased with the result – so well done to you all. We are not sure when the next church coffee morning will be.
We had our annual meeting on Thursday 20th April, when a new committee was elected including new Church Wardens. Thank you from Margaret Green (outgoing church warden)
Letter from the Bishop of Ramsbury, the right reverend Dr Andrew Rumsey
How does one crown a king? After much rehearsal and with a steady hand, I suspect – and bated breath around the globe in that solemn moment. There is a weightiness, not only to the physical act but its deep spiritual and symbolic import, which is hard to explain but nevertheless of immense value. For the coronation remains a profoundly Christian occasion, in which an ancient connection is made between earthly and divine power, and our monarch’s complete dependence on God for the grace to govern. The greater the authority - or majesty - the greater the need to emphasise this dependence. The Christian heart of our monarchy, much discussed and disputed, is an historic safeguard against vainglory and the abuse of power: it means that the anointing to rule becomes, inescapably, the anointing to serve in the pattern of Christ. These are ideas requiring careful translation in an era when we have almost lost what was once instinctive in our culture – humility before the Almighty, whatever our station. Sceptical of God’s existence and suspicious of those who aren’t, the Christianity of our monarchy and all the mythmaking of a coronation appears to some as no more than an eccentric kind of national window-dressing. Whilst it may be this – and no worse for it - I believe the impending celebrations are also a reminder to our fretful, forgetful age of the higher yet humbler calling to which we may yet respond, while the Lord is near.
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
Please come to our special Coronation Tea Party on Friday May 5th from 3-5pm. in the Village Hall. A wide selection of scones, cakes, and sausage rolls will be on offer together with tea, coffee and squash so please join us to celebrate the coronation! There will also be a raffle and proceeds from this, together with donations for refreshments, will be shared between Brighter Futures at Great Western Hospital and Prospect Hospice.
The flowering cherry in the churchyard that was donated by the community coffee mornings group has now had its brass plaque attached and looks magnificent . Many thanks to Ben and the other churchyard volunteers for planting the tree and installing the plaque so professionally.
The coffee mornings in May will be held on Wednesdays 10th and 24th from 10 – 12 noon in the Village Hall. We look forward to seeing everyone at all our May events to enjoy homemade cakes, sausage rolls, tea, coffee and hot chocolate!
CRAFT AND HOBBIES MORNINGS
The new Craft and Hobbies Group got off to a strong start with 20 people of various ages turning up to our first meeting on April 5th. A wide range of activities took place including knitting, crochet, colouring, bookmark-making, suncatcher painting, jigsaws, model railway-building, sketching, Lego-building and playing cards. The group met again on April 19th for more crafty activities. Anyone who hasn’t yet been to a meeting is very welcome to come along to our next sessions which are on the first and third Wednesdays of the month – May 3rd and 17th from 10 – 12 noon in the village hall. Meetings are open to all, and you don’t have to bring anything along – you are welcome to just drop in for drinks, biscuits and a chat, and we always have colouring sheets, pencils and felt pens available if you fancy being creative! There is a charge of £2 to cover hall hire, coffee, tea and biscuits – please come and join us!
BROAD TOWN PRIMARY SCHOOL
Summer Fete Stall holders wanted On Saturday 17th of June. A Summer fete will be held at Broad Town Primary School in partnership with Wootton Bassett Hounds Running Club.
A considerable footfall is expected, and we are currently looking for applications from small business owners to take stall spaces. The cost of a pitch is £10, and you will be required to provide your own table (and gazebo if you wish). The event will start at 1pm and we ask that you arrive no more than 1 hour and no less than 30 mins in advance to set up. The event will end at 4pm. Alongside an organised run there will be food and refreshments, entertainment and games including maypole dance, welly wanging and much more! All funds raised from the fete go towards equipment and activities for the children of Broad Town School. If you would like to apply, then please email: broadtownschoolassociation@gmail.com With: -Business name -Product -Email -Phone number Do not hesitate to contact us should you require any more information. Thanks The BTSA (Broad Town School Association)
FOODBANK
A big thank you to everyone who donated items for the Easter foodbank collection, which included over 30 Easter Eggs. Our next collection will be 10th & 11th June at the Village Hall. Thank you for your continued support.
BUSHTON MANOR PLANT FAIR AND OPEN GARDEN, SN4 7PX
Bank Holiday Monday May 1st 11am-3pm Last year, even after the break for Covid, we had more stalls than usual and we had over 1000 visitors! We sincerely hope that we do the same again in 2023! The gardens of the 18th Century Manor House are delightful and this is the only opportunity for people to visit. Plants, Crafts, Food and other related garden products are for sale. Stalls are scattered throughout the lawns and courtyard and there is even a Plant Crèche so that you do not need to carry your purchases around with you! You can sit on the lawns and enjoy home-made refreshments or maybe a Bacon Butty from the BBQ. There will be games and a Treasure Hunt to keep young people occupied. Entrance is £3. No charge for children or car parking. Dogs on leads are welcome. Money raised will go to the St Peter's Church Roof Fund, a Grade 1 listed building in Clyffe Pypard. Contact Barbara Davis 0796 223 6678
BROAD TOWN WHITE HORSE
Weather permitting, a group of Broad Town volunteers will be liming the White Horse on the morning of Sunday 30th April, prior to the Coronation. Information is available from Andrew Law on 01793 731472 or andrewlaw456@gmail.com. If you're walking in the area and see us, give us a wave.
The deadline for items for the newsletter is the 22nd of every month. Please email items to: BroadTownNews@gmail.com For any queries please contact: Ray Manley tel: 01793 731564.