July 2021
Village Hall News.
The Village Hall committee are pleased to start welcoming back the community as restrictions continue to lift. There have been many changes since we were last able to meet together. An AGM was held where a new Chairperson was voted as Isobelle decided it was time to hand over the reins, she continues to be an active member. Our long-standing Treasurer, Maureen Townsend, has now moved to start a new life near her family, she will be greatly missed, but has decided to continue as Treasurer. Due to ill health, we are very sorry to announce that Philip Baildon has resigned from the Committee, he will be greatly missed as we are all aware of the massive commitment he showed to our village hall. We would like to thank Steve Hill-Andrews for stepping in as Secretary, those left by Phil are big boots to fill, but we are on no doubt that Steve is the right man for the job, thank you. The Committee would also like to thank Tina, who after 18 years of cleaning the hall decided to hang up her mop, again, thank you for her commitment which she continued even at this very difficult time. We would also like to thank Julie Montgomery for organising a customer survey and distributing leaflets to residents of our three villages. We have had a number of responses and hope that functions might be better attended and would ask if anyone Is interested in running a club based at the village hall, we have wonderful amenities and would encourage any interest be directed to our Secretary for bookings.
We are very pleased to confirm that our first coffee morning is due to be held (restrictions permitting) on Saturday 10th July 2021, we are looking forward to seeing you all for a much needed get together.
Julie Jenkins, Chairperson.
W.I. News.
The sun is shining and everything is looking so much brighter and at last Covid restrictions are being lifted tentatively. We will be holding all our meetings on the third Monday of each month at 7.30pm at The Village Hall except for our December meeting which is always held on the first Monday of that month. Our first meeting is for members only and will held on Monday 21st June at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. We will then review our present situation and make plans for an open meeting on Monday 19th July at 7.30pm so that any ladies in the village will be able to pop in for a social evening. If you have lived in the village for years or are a relative newcomer this will be the time for getting to know each other, having fun, making new friends and finding out more about the WI. Some future meetings will include visits from guest speakers who are interesting and often humorous. Other extra activities and visits are also arranged from time to time. Further notices with more information will be posted on the village noticeboards. So, keep an eye on them or contact our President, Brenda Williams on 01507 450246 for a chat. We look forward to meeting you and you can be sure of a warm, friendly welcome.
Maureen Walters, Secretary.
Best Kept Garden Competition.
Time is running out to get those gardens ready for this year’s Garden Competition. The competition is sponsored by Woodthorpe Hall Garden Centre who will be donating a garden voucher to the winner, you will also have your name engraved on the Anne Graves Cup. The gardens will be judged in July and the judges will not go into your garden but will judge it from the roadside.
Beesby Church Coffee Morning.
Looking ahead to November, a coffee morning in aid of Beesby Church will be held on Saturday 6th November between 10am and 1pm. All will be welcome.
Notes from the Farm.
Here we are nearly halfway through the year and the year and the weather has only just warmed up! As you will it has almost been a repeat of spring 2020. The crops went into a reasonable seedbed but just sat for 2 months as if it were in a blast chiller and didn’t germinate until May. It proved you can do everything right but the weather can have other ideas and we just have to work with it the best we can!
The cold frost most nights in April also restricted us when it came to turning the cattle out to grass. Young calves can be badly affected by frosty nights outside after being in the warmth of a straw filled shed so turnout was delayed. There was also very little grass in the fields as you will have noticed with your lawns not growing until recently.
As cattle farmers we are very worried about all the stories being put out in the media that cows are bad for the environment. In my opinion cattle are good for the environment, yes, they produce methane but this is balanced by the grass they graze which is a huge carbon sink! If we are forced to reduce cattle numbers there will be huge areas of grassland which can’t be used for food production because a lot of this grassland is poor quality or difficult to cultivate. On top of this would you rather look at an empty field producing nothing or a field with cows producing quality beef? I can tell you we have many admirers who stop their cars to gaze at our cattle. Nothing is said about humans producing gases which are numbering billions whereas cattle numbers are counted in millions! It is said that a jet taking people on holiday will burn 300,000 litres of fuel in 1 trip, we could run our farm for 20 years on that amount of fuel!! We would produce 1200 tons of beef, 12000 tons of wheat, 8000 tons of barley and 2000 tons of oilseed rape in that time feeding thousands of people!
I believe that a lot of political decisions are being made under pressure from many single-issue groups that have manoeuvred themselves into position near government. We need a bit more common sense to be used when making major decisions in government, (dare I mention HS2, destroying countryside and costing billion! Yet no money to fix the roads that we all use everyday).
Anyway, enough of the rant! On the farm the crops are looking surprisingly good after another wet winter and a very cold spring, here’s hoping the weather for harvest is much kinder.
Enjoy the summer and its freedoms.
Anthony White.
Looking After Your Dog.
When out and about a dog should be kept close to the owner at all times. Walking on a pavement or country road a dog should be on a lead at all times. There have been thefts in this situation and it is important that the person in control of the dog is aware of their surroundings and maybe people acting strangely so that they are ready for potential trouble. If exercising in a permitted area, say the beach or a park the dog should not be allowed out of sight when running free off the lead. Ideally the dog will have been trained to respond instantly to a recall.
Every dog should be microchipped and wear a collar with the appropriate tag attached. Obviously up to date details need to be advised to the microchip provider in the event of any changes to address, telephone numbers etc. In this way a quick recovery can be made in the event of the dog being found after a theft etc. It is also suggested that up to date photos of the dog should be kept. At the moment, as far as the law is concerned, the theft of a pet dog is treated in the same way as if any other ‘thing’ is stolen from someone. It is hoped to make pet theft a specific offence which would involve more appropriate penalties given the true nature and upset caused by this crime. Gordon Pack.
An Unexpected Visitor.
Whilst gardening in the middle of June, I noticed what I thought was a piece of twig stuck to my sleeve. When I went to pick it off, I was surprised to find that it was soft and furry. On closer inspection, I dis-covered it was a moth. It turned out to be a Buff-tip moth apparently quite common but not often seen-I had certainly never seen one before. They only fly at night and their camouflage is excellent. We transferred it to a branch of our Cherry tree and it stayed there for the rest of the day, but by next morning it had gone.
Janet Pratt