Batcombe

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

Bluebells at Gore Hill Photo: J Gibbs

Batcombe Cream Teas on 27 June at Hilfield Friary

We are looking forward to welcoming as many as possible to the highlight of the Wriggle Valley calendar year - Batcombe Cream Teas in support of Batcombe Church – Bolster the Beams. This will be at the Friary, Hilfield on Sunday 27 June from 3.00-5.00pm, offering unbeatable value at £5.50 for tea, scones with jam and clotted cream and cakes, or £4.00 for tea and cakes. Also plants, cakes, tombola, bric-a-brac and a raffle. Spread the word and come if you can! 6

Experiences of Batcombe’s Man in Quarantine

Andrew Graham writes on his recent stay in a quarantine hotel: “Having returned recently from the United Arab Emirates to Britain, I was obliged to spend ten days at Her Majesty’s Government’s Pleasure in quarantine at a Holiday Inn close to Heathrow. It might be of interest to provide some balance to talk in the press about the quarantine programme and its ‘infringement of rights, its grimness, its deprivation ... blah, blah, blah’.

“First, the clue is in the title. It is quarantine and designed for a purpose. You can argue the “why me?’ and the “wherefore?” all you like but, in the scheme of inconveniences, horror and restrictions which exist elsewhere in the world, and for many in our own country over the past year, it is pretty first world.

“Second, the immigration process is steam-driven and tedious. Comparison with a country where the Al Hosn App records all your Covid-19 details as things occur (jab, test etc.) to one where such a thing is reportedly impossible, and with one where the immigration-toquarantine process takes a few minutes to one where you queue for five hours, makes you shrug your shoulders at the idea of ‘Global Britain/Open for Business’.... but hey ho, it chewed up 1.8% of the ten days.

“Third, count your blessings. I have had many worse haverbag rations, longer delays, and much more uncomfortable billets; and there are many in considerably worse conditions in prison or involuntary detention. If you have work to do, letters to write, thoughts to think, box-sets to binge on or, most important of all, books to read, then this is ten days of freedom that you may never have again. I took in two work laptops and a personal one, and ten books; I watched no box sets or catch ups and only managed to read Anna Karenina and half of A Concise History of the Arabs – time flew.

“Fourth, the staff are brilliant. No easy task managing 800 people for feeding individual meal choices, relaying online deliveries to your door, managing exercise outings and providing room and housekeeping services etc. The G4S security people and the hotel staff were unfailingly charming, helpful and polite and could not have tried harder.”

Proposal for 272 Holiday Lodges at Clay Pigeon

Thank you to everyone who objected to this resubmitted proposal, including High Stoy Parish Council. Let’s hope the local and institutional opposition is enough to sway the day against this contentious project, which would blight our community.

Batcombe Church Lottery

The prize-winners were:

April 2021

1st No 37 Isabella Graham

2nd No 2 Susie Graham

3rd No 22 Shirley Graham (no relation)

Thought from the Rise of the Wriggle

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.”

'Twelfth Night', William Shakespeare, 1600

Johnny Gibbs