Our Community
The Village and its people 2011 / 2012
Years 2011 / 2012
The over 60s Christmas Lunch – Sunday 16th December 2012
The
annual over 60s Christmas Lunch took place in the Village Hall on
Sunday the 16th of December. Thirty-nine people attended this
popular village tradition. There would have been more but unfortunately
a small number of people had to drop out on the day. In addition to
a fine meal, all who attended also enjoyed a varied selection of musical
entertainment provided by the very talented musicians from Pat Glover’s
Active Music Club. |
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Kitchen
responsibilities fell to Jacky Sargeant & Danny Carpenter who
did such a professional job with the cooking. Jacky and Danny were abley assisted by Judi Gibbard and Sally Smith. |
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It
goes without saying that the efforts of many are required to bring
together an event such as this, so to this end we would like to also
thank Raymond Baker, Deana Carpenter, Sarah Gibbard, Wendy Smith,
Shannon Rodbourn, Tegan Gibbard, Brooke Gibbard, Jenson Gibbard, Henrik
Fairchild and Jasmine Fairchild for their dedicated work as the days
waiters and waitresses. |
Photos : Robert Glover
Text : Deana Carpenter
Village Clean- Up Day – Sunday 18th November 2012
Over
thirty men, women and children gathered together in the village on
a beautiful Autumn morning. Armed with litter pickers and bags and
dressed in high vis. Jackets (all courtesy of West Berkshire Council)
they set off round the village roads for the annual village clean-up
day. |
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Normally
at this time of year there would also have been teams scouring the
river bed but unusually the river is still in full flow, partly due
to its very slow start but also due to the exceptionally wet summer. |
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Whilst
the litter pickers were in action another group were planting daffodil
and crocus bulbs in the recently renamed Jubilee Meadow (formerly
known as the Open Space). Everyone is looking forward to Spring to
see the outcome of their endeavours. Well done and thank you to all
who took part. |
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A
special thank you to Carolyne and Colin of Carolyne’s Cabin (shortly
to be opening in the old community shop building) who provided very
welcome coffee and cake to all the hard workers when they had finished.
It was also an opportunity to have a preview of some of the furniture,
paintings and object d’arts which will be on sale – and it looked
a real Aladdin’s cave. |
Text : Chris Tonge
(Library) Photos : Ken Tarbox
Over 60s Coffee Morning February 2012
The
monthly over 60’s coffee morning held on Friday 24th February had
a birthday flavour to it as one of the members, Colin Pounds, was
celebrating his birthday. Around 30 people helped him celebrate
with a cup of coffee (a few of which had the addition of a tot
of brandy!) and a slice of birthday cake. |
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Sally
Wright and Trevor Butcher explained to everyone about the Food Boxes
Scheme which is being organised by the local churches. Quite a lively
discussion followed. |
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The
raffle was well supported and Monica Eyre who kindly donated a bag
of fresh croissants decided she would quite like them back when her
ticket was pulled out of the box!! |
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The
coffee mornings are increasing in popularity and the committee would
be pleased to welcome anyone in the village over 60
(or those retired and close to 60). The next meeting will be on Friday March 30th at 10.30 am in the Friends Meeting House. |
Text : Dawn Tonge
Photos : Jackie Breadmore : Dawn Tonge
Over 60s Inaugural Coffee Morning
It
was felt that whilst the interests of various groups in the village
were catered for there was something of a vacuum with respect to
the over 60's. Dawn's occasional Macmillan coffee mornings are so
enjoyable because they bring people together that otherwise tend
not to meet. Why not have a similar function on a monthly basis
(on the strict understanding that we do not impinge on Dawn's activities)
? The organising committee comprises of Jan Easterling, Barbara Dandridge, Pamela Arbuthnot, Jackie Breadmore, Rene Rookes, Betty Eley and myself (Dave Knight). The venue, the Friends Meeting House, was chosen because it was adjudged to be about the right size. |
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We had about 25-30 people present, many of them arriving at the start time of 10:30 or shortly thereafter and, perhaps a measure of it's success, few of them leaving before the finish time of 12:00. You will need to ask the customers what they thought but they appeared very appreciative and anxious to learn when the next session will be. The response was encouraging enough for the committee to want to repeat the exercise. we have started from a baseline of zero assets and will therefore need to build up a fund to finance future coffee mornings but any surplus above and beyond that we intend to donate to village related activities or worthy causes such as Macmillans. |
But
these are very much early days and we shall rely on the continued
support of our "customers". In conclusion it was
a very enjoyable event from our perspective not least because of
the excellent teamwork involved.
Dave Knight pp the Coffee
Morning Committee |
Text : David Knight
Photos : Jackie Breadmore
MacMillan
Coffee Morning
2011
Levelling the Millennium Field
The
Parish Council has for several years been trying to make the Millenium
Field more of an asset to the village, although it has been used
as a site for the fete for the last three years, its main use has
been for parishioners to walk their dogs. |
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The
Parish Council applied for a Planning Application to level the field
and after much negotiating with West Berks Council this was approved
about five years ago. The plans were put out to several local firms
and quotes were received which varied from £25,000.00p to £60,000.00p
which was way beyond anything that could be raised at that time. |
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Recently the Parish Council received a sum of £10,000.00p. from developer contributions. This is money that anyone who builds new houses etc. in the village has to pay for the upkeep or improvement to local amenities. |
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This
money was earmarked BY WEST BERKSHIRE COUNCIL
for the open spaces in the village. As the time limit on the planning
application was soon to run out it was decided to approach some
local contractors to see how much levelling could be done with the
£10,000.00p. Paul Jannaway from Fawley presented the best quote
and has done a great job considering the quotes that were received
five years ago |
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It
is hoped East Garston Cricket Club will be able to use it for their
home matches which could also bring extra revenue to the Village
Hall/Club. The Millenium Field is for everyone in the village
and the Parish Council hopes that the newly formed East Garston
Sports/Amenities Group, under the guidance of Freddie Tulloch, will
find more uses for it in the coming years.. |
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The
junior football posts will be re-erected for use as a newly levelled
pitch and the Cricket Club hope to be able to fund an artificial
wicket allowing them to play home matches within the village for
the first time in many years. The field will now be left over
the winter and Paul will work down the ground in the Spring to get
a good seed bed. It will then be reseeded. |
Photos : Ken Tarbox
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