8 minute read
Leigh
REPS: Philippa Toulson philippa.toulson@gmail.com Eddie Upton upton.eddie@gmail.com DISTRIBUTOR: Judy Tuke
Lime trees at Stones Farm
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Village
We have to start with a huge thank you to Emma Harris who has been Leigh Village Rep for the magazine for the last five years. She steps down and walks straight into a new career in teaching, for which we send our very best wishes.
The job of Village Rep is rather like a relay. In about 2009, Philippa offered to go to the bottom of the list to replace David Reason. She soon found out that the bottom was also the top. Six years later she handed over the baton to Emma.
The one problem here is that you’re not supposed to rejoin the race, but here she is again, though this time as a job share with Eddie.
Please make a note of our email addresses and send us your news, before the 12th of each month. Don’t forget to tell us if you have new neighbours so we can welcome them to the village.
Philippa Toulson and Eddie Upton
Photo: Morag Orchard
We’re very sad to say that, under the present circumstances, we don’t feel that we can start the pub again for the foreseeable future. We are making plans to re-launch and look forward to welcoming you back through our doors as soon as we possibly can.
Michelle Read
St Andrew's Church, Leigh – August 2020
We are pleased to report that we have now managed to hold a number of services in the churchyard. By holding open air worship, we are able to accommodate more socially-distanced people than we can inside the church, and we can take advantage of our own small and occasional group of professional singers.
Our clergy team is planning changes to our regular pattern of services from October but, in the meantime, they will continue to conduct a maximum of three services per Sunday in the whole Benefice during September. We don’t yet know how these services will be allocated so we are planning to conduct two services ourselves – an Evensong at 6.00pm on 13 September and a lay-led morning service at 10.00am on 27 September. This means we will have a clergy-led service on either 6 or 19 September. 24
Handbell band
Eddie is a member of The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain and, by the time you read this, will have taken delivery of a very smart 2-octave set of bells on a long-term loan. The plan is to set up a small handbell band to play tunes and do occasional local performances. If you are interested in joining please contact Eddie on 07813 089002 upton.eddie@gmail.com No experience is necessary and an ability to read music will not necessarily be an advantage!
Coffee morning
Don’t forget our monthly coffee morning, which will be on Tuesday 1 September from 10.30am. If the weather is fine it will be in the churchyard. Please try and remember to bring a mug with you.
Ride + Stride
Saturday 12 September is the date for this year’s Ride + Stride event when you will find people cycling or walking along our lanes to visit some of our lovely churches and raising money for Dorset Historic Churches Fund (DHCF). Alaistair is our local lead on this and he will tell you how you can sponsor him and thereby raise money for our own church as well as DHCF.
Finally, a request for help please. Les Wallis created much of our wonderful church woodwork, including the main gates, which he reckons are about 50 years old. Sadly, the ravages of time, weather and the occasional careless driver have taken their toll and we need to replace them. The new gates will cost in excess of £3,000 and we are inviting villagers to consider making a contribution towards the cost of something we hope will last for another 50 years.
Alaistair Cumming and Eddie Upton Churchwardens
The Three Platters
I was delighted, on behalf of the Leigh Village Hall Committee, to present Paul Orchard, Duncan Moore and Michael Morrell with a specially commissioned plate by Plaxy Arthur on their retirement from the Hall’s Committee and to thank them for their stewardship and commitment in guiding the Hall through its first decade and beyond. They will be a hard act to follow. Julian Turnbull
Duncan Moore, Paul Orchard and Michael Morrell receive their plates
After a summer to forget, one to remember. The Leigh Village Festival June 18-20 2021.
A multi-event weekend for everyone.Planned events include:
Saturday Night Band Summer Play Performance
Children’s ‘Mini-Festival’ Craft Fair
Book Events with guest author and ‘Tea with a Tale’
‘Say yes to the dress’ Bridal Exhibition
Contacts: Craft Fair Stalls: s.fudge054@btinternet.com Art Competition: julianturnbull@btinternet.com All other enquiries: leighvillagefestival@gmail.com
Art & Photography Show and Competition (16 to 18s)
Bar, Food Stalls and more.
It kicks off with a special Friday Night edition of Leigh’s renowned Pop-up-Pub, with music and food. Leigh Village
Save the date. It’ll be memorable. festival June18-202021
Bag it and bin it
I bumped into John Harvey the other day who was perambulating on his mobility scooter bedecked in flags and mirrors. In a brief chat I was surprised and horrified to hear that he collects a black bag full of rubbish roughly every fortnight. WHAT ARE WE DOING? Why do we find, on our roads and byways, ice cream wrappers, cider bottles, Costa coffee cups and plastic, plastic, plastic?
He reports that the main thoroughfares through the village – Hilfield Road, Three Gates and Batcombe – seems to have most rubbish.
John Harvey with the latest collection
So please – take it home, bag it and bin it for the refuse collectors.
There was a time when Stanley Waterfall and Paul Orchard would call for volunteers and we would do a clean sweep but only once a year. Now John is collecting every week.
We know that our rivers, lakes and seas are being seriously polluted and affecting our fish stocks. We in turn consume the fish that contain the nasty plastic. It can’t be good for us so PLEASE CONSIDER YOUR ACTIONS AND OUR FUTURE. It’s not much to ask, for all our sakes.
A grumpy old man
Correction to June 2020 Edition
The obituary for Chloe Sadler was written by her sister, Tessa Hill, and her nieces, not by Emma Harris as stated on page 25 of the June edition of this magazine.
Winners for the July draw:
1st Ball No 120 Mrs K Brazier 2nd Ball No 82 Mr R Cutler 3rd Ball No 123 Mr A Little 4th Ball No 26 Dr J Tuke £40 £20 £10 £ 5 CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR JULY AND AUGUST WINNERS. If you would like to take part, please contact: Julian Turnbull on 01935 873846 or Alastair Cumming on 01935 872401. It is only £1 per month
Winners for the August draw:
1st Ball No 84 Mr G Fudge 2nd Ball No 75 Mrs R Graham 3rd Ball No 48 Ms N Socks 4th Ball No 95 Mr Drabik £40 £20 £10 £ 5
Leigh Candle Auction 2020
This year’s socially-distanced candle auction was held in the village hall on 23 July. It was different! With no bar or food, and only the Trustees, the bidders and a couple of members of the public present, it was possibly the quietest auction since the ‘summer winter’ of 1879–80, when snow fell in July (and who now remembers that?)
Nevertheless, all present, having heavily sanitised themselves, sat on socially-distanced disinfected chairs to await the excitement of the first of the two auctions.
The first, for Bere/Beer Mill Mead, the piece of woodland close to Stake Ford, was a tightly fought contest between Yetminster’s Malcolm Wills and Leigh’s Charlie Read. There were 19 bids during the 19 minutes of the candle’s life (known in the candle auction trade as a ‘long burn’). Malcolm and Charlie, experienced candle watchers both, are well aware of how tricky the final seconds of a candle’s life can be, as roaring flame turns to tiny flicker, and back again. This year it was Charlie’s turn to judge the flame correctly, with a last millisecond bid of £225.00 that saw him through to victory.
The auction for Alton Mead, however, was a very different affair, with only five bids possible before the flame just .... died, after barely three minutes of life. Jen Greenwood was the successful – and lucky – bidder, as the owner of the mead kindly agreed to allow the successful bidder (£125.00) to make use of the summer grass, as well as the later, or ‘after’ grass that is the auction winner’s by right.
We hope that next year we can return to our normal arrangement of auction and social event. Time will tell. Suffice to say that the Trustees were very pleased to have been able to hold the auction.
Finally, the Trustees would like to say a public thank you to Simon Read, who came to our rescue when a tree in Alton Mead’s hedge fell across Leigh Lane, completely blocking it. Thanks Simon – a great help. (NB: for any reader in need of a tree surgeon, Simon’s telephone number is 07737 052477).
Pip pip
