A BENCH FOR THE
DUCHESS
As popular landlady Polly Bavin left on her last journey in November, dozens of people stood outside the Six Bells in Burghfield Village to pay their respects. Many others lined the road around the Hatch, the green in the centre of the village, as the hearse slowly passed by.
MORTIMER SCHOOLS
QUACKY RACES
W
FIRST VIRTUAL DUCK RACE
ho needs a great night at the races and a chance to win some amazing prizes?
On Saturday 20th March at 6.30pm Mortimer Schools PTA is running a VIRTUAL DUCK RACE! Anyone can take part you don’t need to be a pupil or even a resident in Mortimer! There are 14 races, each with a prize of £50 and a grand finale Champagne Race with a chance to win a luxury Fortnum and Mason Hamper, a bottle of champagne plus a CASE of wine! After the race, the children will then be invited into a special
Zoom Room for a Dolly Duck Disco - with some special guests! If you own a duck costume, now is your chance to wear it! Buy your ducks and find out more by searching ‘Mortimer Schools Quacky Races’ on Facebook. But don’t forget, ticket sales close 11th March. Your duck will be randomly allocated a numbers. You will be notified of your duck’s number by email. You can then watch all the races LIVE on Saturday 20th March, looking out for your duck, at 6.30pm on their YouTube channel! What a quacking idea!
When Mortimer resident, Helene Smit, suggested setting up a Seed Swap on a local Facebook page, she was overwhelmed with the enthusiasm from the local community. Not only was there general agreement that there is often too many seeds in one packet for one household, meaning a constant surplus of seeds, there have also been suggestions to share surplus seedlings and young plants and to extend the scheme to Burghfield. To start things off though, there are plans to set up a ‘swap station’ at the Free Little Library book exchange in the Street opposite the Avenue in Mortimer, so if you have surplus seeds and would like to swap them in return for something else, pop along and see what you can find.
FIND DOLLY THE DUCK ? Get your kids ready for the Quacky Races with Mortimer Schools on Saturday 20th March. Get them to hunt through this magazine & find the other SIX pages where Village Eye’s Dolly Duck is hiding. Sorry, no prizes - just a bit of peace & quiet!
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Polly ‘The Duchess’ Bavin as she was affectionately known, had been the landlady of the Six Bells for over twenty seven years. During this time she had made herself a friend to all who knew her. It was not unusual to hear people say, ‘I will see you in Polly’s’, rather than, ‘Meet you in the Six Bells’. That was how regular patrons of the pub recognised and felt about their local pub and the landlady.
Losing an icon like Polly Bavin is a loss to the village of Burghfield and certainly to the patrons of the Six Bells. Whilst the Six Bells public house, now taken over in partnership by three of the regulars, will still offer the same friendly service, there will be a space at the end of the bar that was usually occupied by Polly. It was here she sat providing advice and creating an atmosphere which ensured a friendly welcome to all who visited the Six Bells. To ensure Polly ‘The Duchess’ Bavin would not be forgotten funds were raised to purchase a bench in her name to be installed on the Hatch in a position as close possible to the pub she ran for so long. The amount of money donated far exceeded the amount required and the surplus is to be given to one of Polly’s favourite charities, ‘Wooden Spoon’. A ‘cutting of the ribbon’ is planned to officially open the bench to the public, after which everyone is invited to adjourn to the Six Bells and drink to the memory of Polly ‘The Duchess’ Bavin , a very special person. Follow Village Eye on social for updates.
Time for Summer The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time (called "Summer Time" in many places in the world) is to make better use of daylight. We change our clocks during the summer months to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. A time we all look forward to. Don’t forget to put your clocks forward an hour on 28th March and welcome the summer!
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