Batcombe

REP & DISTRIBUTOR: Johnny Gibbs jg@intramar.co.uk 83187

View of the Wriggle Valley from Great Head, with autumn mists

Photo: J Gibbs

Batcombe Church

We plan to have the traditional Christmas Eve Children’s Carol service at Batcombe church at 3.00pm on Thursday 24 December, with mulled wine and mince pies. There will be some changes this year to ensure we are Covid-secure; final arrangements are yet to be confirmed but people will almost certainly have to book. Although no sung carols inside are possible, we will probably sing one in the candlelit churchyard at the end of the service. We hope that the traditional readings might be interspersed with music from our usual orchestra but, at the time of writing, this is still to be planned. Unfortunately, Covid restrictions mean that we will not be allowed a Christmas Day service at Batcombe this year.

Despite the scaffolding and the restrictions, we managed to hold a socially distanced service on 25 October. It was well attended with several friends from the Wriggle Valley and elsewhere. The Rev. Jonathan Herbert from the Friary officiated.

At the Remembrance service held on 8 November in the churchyard in Yetminster, Andrew Graham read out the names of the fallen from Batcombe and the other parishes – Hilfield, Ryme Intrinseca and Yetminster. A solemn and physically distanced service but, under the gentle light of the Autumn sun, it was also a very moving one.

Caper and Treacle sit attentively

Not much else to report except for an exciting and unusual sighting of two different hedgehogs on two consecutive nights between Leigh and Batcombe. Such a rare occurrence now.

The Batcombe church lottery prizewinners were:

October 2020

1st No 6 Archie Cameron 2nd No 35 Dawn Andrews 3rd No 43 Eddie Shelford

Thought from the Rise of the Wriggle

“Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.”

Nelson Mandela

Johnny Gibbs

Photo: J Gibbs