All the latest from Markfield WI

From Lynda Owen

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OUR PROGRAMME for the new year got off to a wonderful start with a talk by author Rachel Greaves about her creation Ruffle the Railway Dog. Ruffle is an Airedale Terrier who has adventures on a steam railway. Rachel brought Ruffle along to the talk and it’s fair to say we all fell in love with him.

Rachel gives talks to various groups using puppets and props which she had mainly made herself which she also brought along.

Some of Ruffle’s stories have been written for local and national charities to raise awareness of their work including one featuring a child with hearing aids who teaches Ruffle to do a trick and another featuring first aid. She has also written a book with a WW1 theme highlighting the contribution of Airedales and other animals during the war delivering messages and aid to the front lines (and wearing gas masks).

Rachel was an excellent speaker and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening and were as enthralled as any of the children hearing the talk in assembly. Our speaker in February will be Bill Haley talking about Life on the Royal Yacht and as always we welcome visitors and new members.

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Lots going on at St Peter’s Thornton!

JANUARY was a busy month for St Peter’s for many reasons.

During the Christmas Tree Festival, which was a wonderful event (thank you everyone) the main entrance door handle kept coming off in people’s hands! Dave Morris, a local blacksmith, has kindly repaired the handle and latches on the inner and outer doors. Thank you Dave.

Another of our wonderful beech trees very sadly had to be felled. Meripilus Giganteus, a fungus that rots beech tree roots, was in plenty of evidence. Without its felling the tree could have fallen at any time. The advice from the HBBC tree officer was that it should be removed as soon as possible as it was close to housing and a wellused public footpath. Thank you to everyone who donated money in exchange for wood to help pay for the felling. A local woodturner,

Chris Ford, is using some of the wood to make items for St Peter’s. Chris is also repairing the lid of the font which has quite a bit of death watch beetle and wood worm damage.

Twelve new saplings

In December and January churchyard working party volunteers planted twelve sapling trees including Rowan, Crab, Bird Cherry and Alder, and 30 metres of hedging which included Hazel and Hawthorn. All these were very kindly donated to the church by HBBC.

New bench installed

Thanks to the fund raising of a local resident, we are well on the way to having a bench properly installed part way up the public footpath that runs through the churchyard. I am sure it will prove a welcome stop on the way up this steep path.

Roof repairs carried out recently will hopefully stop the few leaks the church continues to experience. We live in hope that we now have a watertight roof! All the gutters have been cleared once again. It is a job that needs doing at least 3 times a year. I am very grateful to our window cleaners, Chris and Dave, who carry out this task.

A new piece of wood has replaced the rotten threshold into church. It also had suffered from a beetle attack!

As many of you know, despite the fully operational heating system, it is really difficult to satisfactorily heat our much loved, ancient church. So church services during the winter months are being held at Thornton Community Centre.

Thank you to you all for your support for St Peter’s Church.

Shirley Garlick