Maltby le Marsh Parish Newsletter December 2021, Issue 57.
Festive Greetings.
On behalf of your Parish Councillors and myself, may I wish everyone in our village a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. After a year of Zoom meetings, it was enjoyable to meet face to face in July. Let us hope the vaccine will keep us all safe in 2022 and beyond.
David Whitehouse Chairman, Maltby-le-Marsh Parish Council.
Remembrance Day Service.
A Remembrance Day service was held outside the Village Hall on Saturday 13th November to commemorate the fallen of WW1 and all other conflicts throughout the world. The service was led by Nigel Collins and wreaths were laid by Chairman of the Council David Whitehouse and Graham Cullen. At 11.00 am the last post was played by Mike Green and afterwards refreshments were available in the hall.
Beesby Church Christmas Concert.
The Beesby team were overwhelmed with the support we received at our annual Carol Service, an evening of entertainment provided by Charlotte and her Rhythm & Steel group and our readers, who as usual, stepped up to the mark to amuse and re-live the Christmas story. Josie’s Mince Pies and Mulled Wine rounded off a jolly evening.
Santa Claus visits the Village Hall.
It was a great surprise at the Christmas Coffee morning when Santa Claus made an appearance, stopping off for a quick coffee and to give out a few early presents to the
children before heading on to the North Pole! The Coffee Morning was well supported with all the tables being full of villagers and guests and each person was given a plate of Christmas food including a Mince Pie, Christmas cake, and some Yule Log and of course a glass of Mulled Wine. The Christmas Tombola stall created a lot of interest everybody hoping to win the star prize of a bottle of Whiskey, also, if you didn’t win at the Tombola there was a chance to win in the well-stocked raffle! Many thanks go to the committee who spent a lot time organising the event, they all wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
More Than a Yarn at Christmas.
More Than a Yarn enjoyed their Christmas get together for the last session of 2021. We had a lovely turnout with nibbles, crackers Secret Santa and laughter. We missed our regulars, who for various reasons were unable to be with us. It’s been another ‘strange’ year full of sad stories and losses, however we go out of this year with some positivity. Our new calendar starts in a couple of weeks and as from Thursday 6th January from 1.30pm—3.30pm, we will be having weekly groups, we look forward to seeing old faces and new, to share smiles, laughter and much more crafting. If there is anyone wishing to join us, please contact either Wendy (07722188683) or Julie (07789916462) or just come along on 6th January. Our Face-book page; More Than a Yarn (Maltby le Marsh Craft Group). We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy, heathy and safe Christmas.
Maltby le Marsh W.I.
Once again the ladies from the W.I. provided an evening of Christmas spirit in the well decorated village hall. The Withern Singers provided a well re-rehearsed programme of well-known and less familiar Christmas melodies. After the concert, guests were treated to a buffet to round off a very popular annual event.
Oham Lakes Shop.
For all of your last-minute shopping, the shop at Oham lakes will be open at the usual opening times but will be closed Christmas Day.
Car Park Payments.
A few years ago......alright, a bit longer than that, it was easy to pay to park your car in a car park. Usually, a parking attendant would be there when you drove in to request the amount needed. On receipt of payment a ticket would be given in return. This may be torn from a large roll or extracted from a ticket rack similar to those used on omnibuses and trams. Later, mobile machines, with dials and handles would be uses to a ticket/receipt. As the white heat of technology gathered pace customer operated ticket issuing machines came into use. I think the best of these was where the appropriate coins for the period of time purchased were placed into the machine, a button pressed, and ticket/receipt produced. The operators of car parks suddenly realised that they were losing the odd tuppence ha’penny here and there because part unexpired tickets were being handed on to others by some kind hearted souls despite being marked as “not transferable”. To combat this, machines now require registration details to be entered so that the ticket only applies to one vehicle. In addition, the vehicle driver can be traced. It is well known that Government, banks etc. are aiming for a cashless society and many citizens are happy to go along this path. Covid-19 has provided the impetus to speed-up this aim so we now have machines which encourage payment by card. They do not want us to pay in cash so they make it as difficult as possible to do so. As many machines accept card or cash there far too many steps to go through. In addition, seeing the screen instructions is difficult when the sun is shining on it and the whole exercise of paying and getting a ticket is an experience I for one can do without so bring back the old machines is what is say. That will not happen of course but I am pleased to note that many other people whether paying by cash or card, have been seen having the same problem as me. I have also heard them uttering the same comments, which I will not relate to here. Don’t even get me started on hospital parking!
Gordon Pack.
Interesting Times.
The weather never ceases to amaze me! A different year altogether, the previous 2 autumns have been horribly wet and this year has been one of the kindest for a long time allowing most farmers to get all their winter crops in as drilling for next year’s harvest started early. We needed to get the land work done for 2 reasons, firstly after the last 2 years we were worried that another wet autumn would mean we wouldn’t get the winter crops in the ground and secondly, we had to get the cattle in from the fields early as we had T.B. testing before the end of October. This was no mean feat as it is impossible for us to test the cattle in the fields due to a lack of handling facilities and it takes up to 3 weeks for Jack and I to get them all back to the yard. It didn’t help when I fell off a ladder and broke my arm! My role in the testing was somewhat reduced, a good job we had family members to call on to help out and Joanne kept us all supplied with bacon butties, I think the vets quite like visiting Beesby AG.
As we say we live in ‘Interesting Times’ in the farming world with crop and livestock prices all moving upwards due to worldwide shortages, pandemics, globing warming who knows why? But everything else has gone up in price much more in comparison. Fuel prices have increased dramatically which has also meant that fertilizer prices have seen an unprecedented rise from£200 per ton in July to £360 per ton in November. Machinery prices have risen by up to 25% and waiting lists for tractors etc., is as long as 18 months! Obtaining staff for agriculture work is also a big problem as it is in many industries which seems at odds when there are approximately 1.5 million people unemployed surely it would better to match these people up with the available jobs and give them a sense of worth rather than being on the dole? We are having to run a farm of 750 acres and nearly 500 head of cattle, working 7 days a week and there are only 2 of us plus help from various contractors. It doesn’t help to hear that people don’t want to work! I think that lockdown and working from home has changed many attitudes to going out to work and now they are reluctant to go back to the ‘treadmill’ that was their working life but the economy is suffering and this will lead to their own finances being put under pressure as all domestic price increases take effect. There has to be a return to ‘normality’ to get the country back on track. Hopefully this Christ-mas we will not be put under anymore Covid restrictions. I think everyone has had enough of ‘lockdown’ but with any luck the vaccine boosters will protect us (had mine) and normality will be here to stay. Enjoy your Christmas festivities, stay safe and buy British to support your local farmers where you can, it really is appreciated. May 2022 bring you health and happiness and I hope to bring you some exciting family news next time I write.
Merry Christmas, Anthony White.
New Parish Councillor.
My name is Steve Hill-Andrews and I am the new Parish Councillor for Maltby le Marsh. I moved into the village five years ago and have been involved with activities for most of the time. Currently, I am the Secretary of the Village Hall and have served on a number of
committees over the years. I have qualifications in electronics and a BA (Hone) in History. With my involvement in the village over the years I hope I can be an asset to the Parish Council and the village in general. Steve Hill-Andrews.
Village Hall News.
The virus was relativity kind to us in the second half of the year but one should be ‘(aware) of Greeks bearing gifts’ and with the appearance of the Omicron variant of COVID, this a good illustration. There are new rules in place, which are going to affect us all. Nonetheless, with the lifting of restrictions in the middle of this year, through the summer, the Village Hall committee have been active organising events for the benefit of the village and from August this year we held our first monthly Coffee Mornings. With another gift from the ’Gods’, who knows what 2022 will have in store?However, with sanguinity the village hall committee wishes you all seasons greeting and hopefully a better new year.
Steve Hill-Andrews
Thank You.
Thanks go Tom and Janet Pratt, Kevin Proctor and Wendy and Steve Hill-Andrews for delivering the newsletter, thanks also to all the contributors who help to make the newsletter a success. If you would like to contribute an article or any news, don’t hesitate to contact me on my email address: john.alldridge771@gmail.com
A merry Christmas to all.