5 minute read
Beer Hackett
REP: John Parker johnwincanton@gmail.com DISTRIBUTOR: Susan Ferdinand
News from St. Michael’s Church
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Our opening on Wednesdays and Sundays for private prayer is continuing. We do look forward to when our church can be open every day as it should be.
On 2 August we hosted the third Sunday service in the current Gifle Valley rota within the overall Three Valleys Benefice.
We took the opportunity to have a thorough clean and polish and were delighted to welcome an attendance of twenty seven adults and children, including the Matthews family who moved to Clifton Maybank last July.
Richard Mentern played three hymns on the organ and the congregation were able to follow the words even though we were prevented from singing.
Veronica Crane kindly supplied this simple but beautiful rose decoration from her garden.
Photo: Nick MacBean
We will be holding our Annual Parish Church Meeting (APCM) in mid September and hope for everyone’s sake that the lockdown rules will permit safe progress into the autumn.
We should also thank our Three Valleys clergy team for their regular, thoughtful and prayerful support via the internet on Zoom and Facebook.
This has certainly become part of our ‘new normal’. Well worth a try if you haven’t already.
John Bingham
Happy Hacketteers
Our village Covid WhatsApp group (formerly Help In Isolation) has proved to be such a useful community communication network with villagers that it has now been re-named as the ‘Happy Hacketteers’ to sound a more optimistic note.
If you would like to join, contact Susannah Keene on: susannahjkeene@gmail.com
Thornhackett Parish Council (THPC)
There will be a vacancy for a Beer Hackett representative on the Parish Council from 1 November.
If you are interested in joining THPC, please contact the Parish Clerk on thornhackett@dorset-aptc.gov.uk or Cllr John Parker on 07812 105721.
Friends of St Michael’s Church
Unfortunately due to COVID, many of the ‘Friends’ fund raising activities such as the popular Village Lottery and the annual Village Tea Party/Music Event have had to be halted or postponed.
AGM Friends of St Michael's Beer Hackett Saturday 26 September 3.00pm Venue: St Michael's Church – outside (weather permitting) Members and non-members are cordially invited to attend Social distancing in place subject to any further Coronavirus regulations coming into force. Please note: paid up members only can vote
If you are interested in joining the ‘Friends’ or have any queries about subscriptions, please contact: Olive Davison, Secretary on firemoon2015@ hotmail.com or 07552 818389
Membership Renewal – a courtesy reminder: If you have not yet paid your subscription, you can do this by cheque, BACS or Standing Order.
Farewell to the ‘Pillar Box Lane’ Post Box
Sadly Beer Hackett bade farewell to the Post Box that sat at the junction of Pillar Box Lane and the busy Thornford Road. The Post Box was vandalised earlier this year and the Post Office took the decision to remove it, though with a view to possibly reinstating it nearby at a safer location that would comply with current Post Office guide-lines.
The box provided a useful 4.30pm collection time.
A Post Box had been located there since Victorian times and was originally housed in a brick built column.
John Parker
Finding Beer Hackett – the perfect home!
Our recent move to Beer Hackett was entirely by chance! Yes, Andy and I were keen to move away from the Heathrow sprawl but, due to our rather precise requirements of a bungalow with annexe and ample garage space, we found ourselves considering numerous locations from Shaftesbury to Chard and everything in between, without success.
Feeling despondent after a day of fruitless viewings, Fate or, more precisely Fortune, intervened! Mary, the landlady from the Rose and Crown, where we were staying, had to go out early. So, we made use of the extra time and drove to Beer Hackett to look at a property we had previously seen on the internet. Approaching from this direction we realised that it was only a couple of miles from Bradford Abbas, where an old friend of ours was already living, and was much easier to get to than we had previously thought. Things were falling into place at last.
Happily, Andy and I moved in on 27 November 2019. We were lucky to have a huge amount of help from friends, a great removal company and a very professional fish transporter, as not only did we have our possessions to move, but also a pond full of fish! Not to mention our cat Jeeves, and an elderly buzzard called Selwyn, which we foster on behalf of the Hawk Conservancy in Andover.
A local gas fitter and an electrician (both of whom were excellent) came on the day we moved in to connect our cooker and talk us through the operation of the central heating system. And the neighbours couldn’t have been more welcoming – leaving us cards, helpful notes, gifts and mountains of useful information. We also met Sarah, delivering the post, who suggested we keep wellies in the car, and cautioned us never to drive through “the dip” after heavy rain! On 18 December we attended the Carol Service in the beautiful St Michael’s Church, followed by seasonal refreshments, which gave us the opportunity to meet and chat with other villagers, some like us who had recently relocated and others who had spent their whole lives in the vicinity.
In March came lockdown during which Beer Hackett neighbours really came into their own, setting up a WhatsApp group offering practical help, inspirational words and photos, birthday messages and generally keeping in touch with one another. We also discovered the benefit of local shops and the selfless dedication of those who run them. Not forgetting the pubs offering take-aways, and greengrocers and butchers who were willing to deliver.
We spent the time, like many, gardening or decorating and enjoyed the lifestyle so much that we also took the decision to close our industrial training company and for Andy to join me in retirement and rekindle his love of motorcycling and all things mechanical.
In the fullness of time, we are hoping that my sister-in-law, Helen, who is currently a full-time carer to her Mum, will join us here.
We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have been in a position to move to such a beautiful part of the country, to find ourselves part of a small community, and to be able to look forward to many happy years in Beer Hackett.
