September 2021
Maltby le Marsh Parish News Letter, September 2021 Issue 56.
Maltby le Marsh Scarecrow Festival.
This year’s Festival was a great success with 21 entries, slightly down on last year due to the short notice of the competition but it was a fantastic display of real creativity and a real problem for the judges to decide on the winners but it was a unanimous vote that “Gingy from Shrek” by Julie Marshall would be the winner and receive a £60 voucher for Gerardos Italian Restaurant. Our gratitude to our local sponsors of the prizes and in particular to Helen Lanzetta of Gerardos Italian Restaurant who also arranged the trophies and Lincs Signs who gave us the signage. 2nd prize of £50 voucher from the Stables Restaurant went to “Police & Burglar” by Jenny Precious. 3rd prize of £50 from The Louth Hotel for “The Escapees” by Pippa Williams. 4th prize of 2 tickets for the Lowen Cinema to “Scare the Crow” by Wendy Hill-Andrews. 5th prize of locally grown veg. box to “Aunt Sally & her Chickens & Clarkson & his Sheep” Thank you to all who entered the competition.
W.I. News.
Our meetings are running again as usual on the third Monday of each month at 7.30pm and our promotional offer of £1.50 per meeting still applies to all those ladies who would like to attend. We have already welcomed some potential new members and are encouraged by their response. Having enjoyed a social evening and an entertaining talk by author Joy Wood we look forward to having a Harvest Social time on 20th September and an illustrated presentation ‘From Latrines to Flushing Toilets’ from Graeme Thomson, an independent charitable worker in African villages on 16th October. In November we will be looking at Christmas Crafts with Wendy Hill-Andrews. We hope to see you soon, a warm welcome awaits you! Maureen Waters.
Anne Bolles Educational Foundation.
Nominations are invited from local families for grants from the foundation to help towards educational expenses for school aged children and any grant applications will be considered at the next council meeting in November. Application forms can be obtained by contacting Cllr David Whitehouse, Tigh-Geal, Main Road, Maltby le Marsh, Alford, Lincs., LN13 0JP, tel. 01507 450811. Further details will be put in the notice board in October.
Village Hall News.
As the Covid ’winter’ gradually thaws it seems appropriate to be cautiously optimistic for the future and to make planes for the year ahead. During the past year or so and abiding with the myriad of regulation, the Village Hall committee have been busy, ‘behind the scenes’ planning the reopening of the Village Hall for the benefit of the community, which I am glad to say has developed over the winter. Sadly, however, Maureen Townsend (our treasurer) has left the village to be closer to her family in Derbyshire, but was persuaded to carry on as treasurer with the help of our Chairperson, Julie Jenkins. To modernise the Village Hall LED lighting has been installed inside the main hall and also security lights inside and outside of the hall. This lighting is not only more efficient but also reduces the electricity used. Unfortunately, the ‘cold snap’ lasted a little longer than anticipated and the planned first Coffee Morning, for over a year, on Saturday 10th July had to cancelled, with much regret, due to ongoing COVID restrictions. It was hoped that we could greet all the regulars for a drink and a natter, play Tombola and buy a home-made cake; in addition, encouraging many new faces to our friendly gathering and hopefully, welcoming many of the newcomers in the village. However, the Coffee Morning on 14th August was a great success, with a cacophony of new and familiar voices drifting across the hall; enjoying a catch-up and a drink before the winner of the gardening competition was announced. Wendy’s cakes were a great success and the one hundred club was promoted enthusiastically by Sally. In the past there has been much enthusiasm for the Film Night and Bingo, (not sure which is the attraction?); a date will be announced later in the year. The Village Hall committee always needs help at functions, such as the coffee morning, serving drinks etc. If anyone has any free time to help, in any way, please contact the secretary on 01507 451843.
Best Kept Garden Winners.
Another year for the judges to decide on the winners of the Best Kept Garden Competition but with much deliberation it was finally awarded to Paulette Pack (Shepherds Dene) who received a garden voucher for £25 and gets to hold the Anne Graves Cup for the year. Runner up this year was Julie Marshall (Back to Front) who also received a voucher for £20. The awards were presented by Anne Graves. The Council appreciate the continuing support of Woodthorpe Garden Centre who judge and donate the vouchers.
Beesby Church Diary.
Looking ahead to the autumn, Beesby Church will be holding a Harvest Festival on Thursday 7th October at 7.00pm. Remembrance Day Service on Sunday 14th November. Carol Service 2nd December 7.00 pm. All parishioners are welcome.
100 Club Winners.
August; No 36 Bernie Emerson £43, No 23 Alan Wisdom £22, Village Hall £22, Total £87.
Great Care Required.
Some folks refer to it as Beesby crossroads, others, Saleby crossroads. The junction of A1104 (Alford—Mablethorpe), B1373 (towards Woodthorpe) and Rye Lane is a very dangerous area, whatever name is applied. Yes, I know we do not have dangerous roads, only dangerous drivers but the layout of this junction lends itself to ignoring all the rules by those that are so inclined, as well as having its inherent hazards. Some drivers, from any direction, intending to go straight ahead, as they see it, ignore all the signs and just keep driving at speed as though there is no junction at all. Many drivers take the bend of A1104 too fast. This applies to those travelling in either direction. From Alford and wishing to stay on A1104, if you are being tailgated (whatever happened to “Only a fool breaks the two second rule) by someone who is going on B1373 towards Woodthorpe and has no intention of slowing down for the junction, you worry that you may get hit in the rear as you brake for the bend. Turning from A1104 to B1373 can be hampered by being unable to see vehicles coming from Alford due to hedges. Many cut the corner regardless. Turning from A1104 into Rye Lane from Beesby is a problem. Again, vision can be hampered by hedges and how do you indicate your intention to others that you wish to make this manoeuvre? There have been many incidents at this junction and something needs to be done to reduce risk. Maybe a mini roundabout is required? On an historical note, I understand that some years back a RAC or AA box (remember those?) was situated at this junction. Gordon Pack.
More Than a Yarn.
Our newly launched group, More Than a Yarn, got off to a great start in August where new members joined us to share their delightful crafts. We would like to encourage anyone wishing to join us with new crafts & old, or just wishing to sit with their knitting or crochet and natter. You are most welcome. Dates for your diary: September 14th, October 2nd & 12th, November 6th & 16th and December 4th. Wendy and Julie look forward to seeing you soon.
Autumn News.
With another harvest drawing to a close it has been yet another challenging year on the farm. The weather has again been very variable from long periods of wet in the Winter to cold, dry days in the Spring which became hot just before harvest but when the combine came out to harvest the wheat the days turned cool and cloudy. The yields have been ‘average’ at best but prices have risen slowly which helps a little. Just on a point of fact we were receiving £100 per ton for wheat in 1984 and the price for wheat this year is around £160 per ton, a 60% increase in almost 40 years! Has your car, house or weekly food bill only gone up 60% in the time?
The cattle have summered well, there was very little grass in the fields in April but come May there was an explosion of growth and by June the cows couldn't eat it fast enough! Recently the growth has slowed considerably and it looks like we will have to supplement the feed in the fields. As our area has been caught up in the increase in T.B. this has created extra work and stress for us livestock farmers. Close neighbours have had cows which have tested positive and have been sent for immediate slaughter, no 4-year reprieve for them! Why does 1 alpaca garner press and support from animal right activists when tens of thousands of cows are slaughtered every year? I don’t want to see any animal destroyed but T.B. has got out of control mainly because it has infected the wildlife such as badgers and deer which live in the fields. Why then is it ok to slaughter cows but not control the wildlife that carry the disease? I have been on the farm for 60 years and the problem has got much worse over the years as successive governments have bowed down to political pressure from minorities instead of listening to the farming community and doing it right! Now we are no longer a member of the EU we need a strong government to do what is best for this country and the majority of people and not to be run by minority issues. We also have a big problem with the lack of labour in the countryside. We have a population 60-65 million yet there are not enough lorry drivers, veg pickers and food processors etc., but there are many unemployed looking for work, I’m sure with encouragement some of these positions could be filled. As summer ends, we look forward to a kind Autumn so that next year’s crops can be planted on time and provide the country with much needed food. The circle of farming continues.
Stay safe. Anthony White.
Short Mat Bowls.
We meet every Tuesday between 2.00pm and 4.00pm in the Village Hall and we welcome new faces to join our group. It’s not a problem if you haven’t played before, we have members who would be delighted to show you how to play. You won’t even need your own bowls; we have a set here that you can use too. We ask for you not to wear outside shoes though, just a casual pair you use indoors, and at £2 per session, it must be value for money!