BROAD TOWN NEWS – NOVEMBER 2024
Keeping everyone in touch with what is going on in and around our parish.
A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
As we welcome November, the days grow colder and the nights last longer. The Autumn’s last month may be dark and cold, but it makes the warmth and the light all the more inviting. Come along to the coffee and craft mornings for a nice warm drink with friends, wrap up warm and go walking and smell the comfort of the chimney smoke or maybe you would like to sit by the fire watching your favourite seasonal films whilst knitting a sweater. There is excitement to be found for all in these little things, even in the darkest months of the year. The darkness can bring us to find comfort in one another and bring us together, strengthening our community. Look forward to the fireworks, they look the most beautiful in contrast with the blackest skies.
CHURCH SERVICES
3rd November (All Saints) 10.30 Communion
10th November (Remembrance) 10.50 Remembrance Service
24th November (Patronal Festival) 10.30 Communion
BISHOP’S LETTER
Known Unto God. The Somme battlefield takes you by surprise. Visitors pull into a car park in a quiet lane and wander into what looks like a leafy National Trust property. A few yards in, though, and you see the trenches. Gently undulating now, softened by time, but unmistakably the dreadful, snaking pits of our imagination. The Somme, of course, is a river: but, for the last century, a name inseparable from the battle that claimed 60,000 young British lives on its first day. Scattered about the fields nearby are dozens of small cemeteries, of which the majority, with telling anonymity, commemorate simply ‘A soldier of the Great War’. I recently had the opportunity to visit this intense landscape for the first time and the impression made was deep indeed. Most affecting, I think, was an inscription that will be familiar to many on these nameless stones: ‘Known Unto God’. However war may distort the human image, those three words underscore that its dignity is a divine gift that even the most appalling tragedies cannot erase. In this month of recollection, as we give thanks for all those gone before us, the idea that each of them – and us – is ‘known unto God’ is a deep consolation. May each of you find peace in this remembrance. +Andrew Ramsbury
‘MADE IN BROAD TOWN’
During October we made pinecone angels and a big thank you to Jenny and Carol W for running our festive card making session which was very productive and enjoyable.
Glass Painting Our last October meeting will be on the 30th when Terri will be back to demonstrate some Christmas glass painting ideas. If you’d like to bring something of your own along to paint, please do so but do remember that items need to be baked in an oven afterwards to cure the paint, so please only bring items that are purely glass e.g. a drinking glass, jam jar, bottle or vase etc. We will also have some items for you to paint e.g. tea light holders and bottles, so don’t worry if you don’t have anything to bring along.
Appeal for toilet roll and kitchen roll tubes Please save empty toilet roll and kitchen roll tubes which we would like to recycle into decorations for the Christmas themed shelter. Please give them to anyone who comes to the craft group or bring them along to the village hall on a Wednesday morning – they can be left on the doorstep if the hall is shut. Thank you!
November Meetings - Our meetings will take place on Wednesdays the 6th and 20th. The sessions run from 10 – 12 noon in the village hall, all welcome, the £2 suggested donation is voluntary.
CHRISTMAS COFFEE MORNING & CRAFT SALE NOVEMBER 30TH
Please see the poster elsewhere in this newsletter. This is a great opportunity to buy Christmas gifts, edible festive treats and decorations that have been made in our village. All proceeds to Alzheimer’s Support Wiltshire
If you haven’t been to a Made in Broad Town session before we’d love to see you. Especially now the days are getting chillier, a reminder that everyone is welcome to come along for hot drinks, biscuits and a chat – join in with our craft session or bring along your own craft/hobby or you are very welcome to just watch what others are doing while enjoying some refreshments. We also always have other activities available such as colouring sheets, jigsaws, playing cards and dominoes etc. Our sessions are always on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday mornings of the month, new crafters and hobbyists are always welcome! Please email us if you have any questions.
Email: Linda Boyden- lindaboyden12@gmail.com Helen Greer- hjgreer1@gmail.com
COMMUNITY COFFEE MORNINGS
On October 9th the choir from our village school gave a fantastic performance of autumn songs from their repertoire. We would like to thank all the children for their enthusiasm in sharing their music with us! Thank you also to everyone at the coffee morning who in total donated £100. This has been given to the school to use for their activities. Our November coffee mornings will be on Wednesdays the 13th and 27th from 10-12 noon. As always, we meet on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday mornings of the month, and everyone is very welcome. Please join us for coffee, tea, hot chocolate, homemade cakes and sausage rolls in the village hall from 10-12 noon. If you’re new to the village, it would be lovely to see you - it’s a great way to meet new people.
ALZHEIMER’S SUPPORT.
There will also be a fundraising coffee morning and craft sale on Saturday November 30th from 10am – 12.30pm with all proceeds going to Alzheimer’s Support Wiltshire. This local charity provides people with dementia and their carers with much needed advice and support in the form of award winning day clubs, home support, memory cafes and more than 40 community activity groups throughout Wiltshire. Their team of trained advisors are often the first port of call following a new dementia diagnosis and provide invaluable support and advice to help people with dementia to continue to lead as normal a life as possible, keeping both minds and bodies active whilst reducing social isolation. We would love to see you at this charity Christmas coffee morning.
BROAD TOWN COMMUNITY BIG BREAKFAST
A letter from Prospect Hospice: Thank you for supporting Prospect Hospice. We cannot say thank you enough for choosing to support Prospect Hospice with your recent gift of £1,048.00 towards our work, with the Broad Town Big Breakfast event you recently held. All of us here at Prospect Hospice are committed to ensuring that all individuals with a life-limiting illness can access our services when they need them across our community of 300,000 people in Swindon, Marlborough, Northeast Wiltshire, and the villages of Lechlade and Fairford in Gloucestershire, delivering care both in patients’ homes and at our hospice in Wroughton. We are so proud and humbled by all the continued and new support given to us by so many people in our community; it is because of you that we are able to provide outstanding support and care to our patients and their families when needed the most. Your support at a time when we are all affected by the cost of living crisis, really does mean a lot to us and your donation will play a crucial part in ensuring that we can continue to be there. With thanks from all of us here at Prospect Hospice.
Beth Goodyear Fundraising Coordinator.
A THANK YOU
Many thanks to the villagers who have given their time and energy to making Broad Town look so good: • To Judy, ably assisted by Lucy for replanting all the tubs through the village. They look great! • To the churchyard working party for all their work throughout the year, keeping it so tidy and beautiful for everyone who visits. • And to those who set up the planters outside the village hall cheering up the car park. All your efforts are much appreciated.
CHURCHYARD WORK MORNINGS
The April – October monthly work mornings for 2024 are now behind us but as you can see, the Churchyard is looking magnificent, thanks to the small number of villagers who volunteer on a regular basis to mow, strim, cut hedges, tidy/restore graves etc. etc. Thanks also to Margaret for providing all the refreshments. Our goal for 2025 is to “sign up” some more willing volunteers. As the saying goes “many hands make light work”.
BROAD TOWN SOCIAL CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)
The AGM will take place on Friday 15th November 2023 at 7pm in the Village Hall. Why not come along to find out what we do and how we do it, hear about our financial situation and put forward questions or ideas about future events. EVERYONE WELCOME!
Food for Thought Evenings Food for Thought are selling their delicious Fish and Chips (and burgers, sausages, scampi etc) outside the Village Hall from 5 – 8pm on: • Friday 25th October • Friday 29th November • Friday 20th December (carol singing evening) The Social Club opens at 5pm through to 11pm for you to enjoy your takeaway in the Village Hall with a drink or two. Feel free to bring your own cutlery and crockery if you wish but please take it home with you afterwards to wash up! Menu on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FoodForThoughtSwindon. For vegan, GF and other dietary requirements please contact them directly to discuss. They have limited space to carry stock but will gladly try to meet all requests. If you would like to pre-order or have any queries, they can be contacted via text, WhatsApp or Messenger on 07515 288414.
WHAT OUR S.I.D. SAW LAST MONTH
The SID has been located at Broadacres monitoring Southbound traffic (entering the village from RWB) • The SID counted 26,850 vehicles passing which equates to approx. 926 a day. • 25% of vehicles were speeding.
PARISH COUNCIL
Keep up to date at https://www.broadtownparishcouncil.org.uk Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Survey Wiltshire Council are carrying out a survey of where electric vehicle charging points could be located in rural communities such as ours, where residents are forced to park on-street and therefore unable to install private charging points. The survey closes on 31 October so if you have any suggestions please email the Parish Clerk at btpcclerk@outlook.com before that date, or else complete the survey yourself at: https://surveys.wiltshire.gov.uk/Interview/bdc32af3-87ba-44b1-9681-7e09407158e4 Parish Steward The Parish Steward visited again this month and cleared all the gullies along the Broad Town Road and also filled the potholes which had appeared outside the village hall, Pye Lane and on the road by East View. The gullies had become clogged with leaves and straw. Next month he may be on gritting duties so please help him (and everyone else!) by moving leaves off roadside drains if you see that they are causing an obstruction. For more information on Flooding and Potholes visit Wiltshire Council’s update at: https://mailchi.mp/ef43a07d0d9d/000000000-567262?e=a340d16ab2 How would you prioritise Wiltshire Council’s spending? Wiltshire Council is looking for views on how they should target their budget for the coming year – if you would like to have an input please complete the survey at:
https://surveys.wiltshire.gov.uk/Interview/a1a3f516-d175-4d83-9279-891255e5fc56
Next PC Meeting - Monday 11th November The next Parish Council meetings will be at 6.30pm in the village hall on 11th November. All are welcome and the agenda will be posted on our website and on the notice boards in due course.
PLEASE NOTE that all copy to be included in the next edition should be emailed to: BroadTownNews@gmail.com by the 22nd of EVERY month.
* Next edition will be for December & January 2025*
For any queries, please contact Ray Manley 01793 731564