Horse-drawn caravan passing Farthingdown on London Road recently – which sorted out the speeding traffic. We note that they had been to Tesco.

(Copyright Bernard Mattimore).

A few days later on 6th April, the first real snow this year, if only for a few hours

(Pictures copyright Stephen Richards)

This web site which is run by the Bulletin has looked much the same since it was started ten years ago. It was set up to be fast to access in the bad old days of slow (non-broadband) internet access, and it has worked very well doing that - there have been almost 100,000 accesses to the home page in the past ten years. However its appearance has become a bit dated, so we are changing the look of the website as from 1st May. We are very grateful to Roy East for advice about its appearance.

The information on it is the same as before, and you get to it in much the same way. The individual page names are not changing.

Easter Duck Race

Thank you to everyone who turned out on a very cold and windy day for the annual Duck Race. It was good to see so much support for the event despite the weather. The results of the race were as follows:

First:  Penny Brassell
Second: Pippa West
Third: Meirion James

The winner of the 'Name the Penguin'  (very apt for the weather!) was Gary Thwaites who guessed the penguin's name was 'Ted'. The event raised over £450 towards ongoing maintenance costs for the tower
and bells in St Michael's. Thank you.     Richard Loyd

The Egg Report

After warm sunshine for the Duck Race we were greeted by a very cold breeze at the head of the chalk pits. A very good turn out considering the conditions, and those hardy soles came with a competitive spirit!

First up was best dressed egg, A really tough day for our judge but it was eventually won by a six year old boy with a Superhero Egg, a great effort! The standard was so high that our judge asked for a second prize to be awarded to a young lady for Artistic merit. Sadly neither egg could be saved from the hill!

A number of tactics were employed for the egg rolling from dodgy paint to layers of tape but it seams that nothing can beat a well boiled egg! Some eggs failed to even make it down the track, making the conditions a little sticky for others!

We had a couple of International entrants this year from Australia, but they that failed to make to the final (no surprise there then).

The winners were U5 Ruby & Conner, U8 Elisabeth & Tyler, U11 Mariella & George, U16 Holly & Todd and for the adults Kirsty and Alex. No pensioners this year, but the pets prize was won by Bitsey! Let’s hope for better weather next year and thanks to all the entrants.    Cheers Lonsdale

We are still looking into the history of the village pubs, so if you have a tale about one of them, then do ring Bruce Brock (01235 850730) or Audrey (01235 850427). We were, for example, told recently about the stock pot that was always on the go on the fire at the old Barley Mow, where passing carters or shepherds or farmworkers could dip their hunk of bread in for an old penny. Thanks to Meg Prior for that nice tale. Next meeting is at Robinsons, Tuesday May 13th at 8 pm, newcomers welcome.

What Improvements Have You Made?

At the start of the Blewbury Energy Initiative (BEI), many villagers kindly filled in Home Energy Questionnaires that allowed us to get a ‘snap-shot’ of the energy efficiency of Blewbury homes.

The key findings were –

•  Whilst many homes had a degree of loft insulation, the majority would benefit from a top up to 10-12 inches in depth

•  There was scope for a much larger uptake of low energy light bulbs within Village homes

•  There were still homes with cavity walls that had not had them insulated

•  A reasonable proportion of homes would benefit from improved hot water tank lagging and the installation of a hot water tank thermostat

Early next year we will be re-surveying Blewbury homes to see how successful (or otherwise) the BEI has been in encouraging change and improvement in energy efficiency within the village. So, if like the author, you have been a bit slow off the mark in undertaking improvements, such as those listed above, the next few months would be a good time to commence. See www.blewbury.org/energy for assistance, or call Ian Bacon on 01635 817420.

Finally, if you have old bills with meter readings on them for your property going back for any period over 12 months, we would find this information very useful and would treat it in strict confidence. We can accept information via the e-mail address on the website – www.blewbury.co.uk/energy , or in hard copy, posted through the letterbox of 4, Bridus Mead.

News April 2008

Auditions have been held and we are on our way to what we hope will be a fantastic performance of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales directed by Tim Welton. Performances in the week ending Saturday 19th July; for details see the advert elsewhere in the Bulletin. We were very heartened by the numbers coming forward for auditions, old and new, lots of youngsters too, which bodes well for the future. We would still like to hear from anybody who would like to help off stage, it’s great fun honestly. The box office will again be at the Vale Room of the Village Hall on Saturday14th June for both the Summer Play and the Garden Opera Company’s production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, details elsewhere in the bulletin. As the tickets for the play and the opera are sold on a first come first served basis, it pays to come along on the Box Office day. The Opera only runs for one night and is always fully subscribed. After box office day, Savages Greengrocers and Nurserymen have agreed again to run the Box Office , Monday to Friday 9.00 – 6.00, from their premises on London Road for which we are very grateful. Apparently, they also do a good line in fruit and veg. Later in the year we have a couple of things planned, more in the next bulletin. If you have any queries about the Players or would like to join us, contact our secretary chrislakeland@hotmail.com or evenings and weekends on 0775 3880607 , or via our website www.blewburyplayers.co.uk

The Friends of Blewbury Players

go from strength to strength but there is still time to join us. Fill in the form residing on our website or contact our Friend’s secretary Julie, address on form.

UNITE WITH US AGAINST BREAST CANCER

At MIDNIGHT on Sat 17th May 2008 Sam Jones (n&#eacute;e Fairhurst) previously of Blewbury and friend Emma Lawson from Chilton will once again be taking part in the Playtex Moonwalk, donning our all new pink flashing bras!! The 26.2 mile power walk through the streets of London is to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research and cancer care.

Any donation WILL make a BIG difference to this fantastic cause, and knowing you are behind us, will make our combined 560 training-miles worth every step! If you would like to support us, you can safely sponsor us online at www.justgiving.co.uk/lovelylunatics alternatively Doreen Fairhurst (Sam's mum) will have a sponsor form available at 3 London Road, Blewbury if you would prefer to sponsor in that way. To find out more about Walk the Walk fundraising events and how the money raised is used, please visit www.walkthewalk.org .         Sam Jones

Egg Rolling

Christmas Cards Project 2008

– after the recent snow in April we would like to give one last call to submit any Wintery/snowy images that you may have captured by May 6th. Please submit these in jpeg (as high res as possible) to bvs_mail@tiscali.co.uk, or normal photos which we could scan, to Ian Bacon at 4 Bridus Mead.

BVS Annual General Meeting – 27 April, 7.30 pm at The Load of Mischief – all welcome

The BVS is for everyone in the village and by living in Blewbury you are automatically a member. The BVS committee work hard throughout the year to bring you some of the events that make this village special, such as the Summer Dance, the Fireworks, Santa’s Sleigh and the Boxing Day Walk. From time to time the committee needs new members and this is currently the case; so if you can spare some time, are keen to be more involved in village life and would like to have some fun along the way, please contact Ian Bacon on 01235 850321 or bvs_mail@tiscali.co.uk for more details.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Village Green Day, Saturday 17 May

– includes Village Litter Pick, Gravelling Paths & Refreshments for those taking part. This will be a bi-annual event and will hopefully keep the village looking clean and pleasant. Many hands make light work!! Meet 10am at the Vale Room - please bring gloves, spades & wheelbarrow.

Summer Dance, Saturday 21 June

– the BVS are delighted to announce the details of this year’s 'Mid-Summer Dance'. The beautiful gardens of Ashbrook House (or if wet, the Village Hall) will provide the fabulous backdrop for an evening of entertainment headed up our band for the night 'The Xenons'. There will be a raffle with some great prizes and a prize for the group with the 'best picnic'. We are also very grateful to the Cricket Club who will be running a bar. Put the date in your diary and buy your tickets ASAP - available from 1st May from the Post Office or Garage.

BVS website

www.blewburyvillagesociety.org

Croquet Coaching for Beginners

On 10th May Blewbury Croquet Club is running a beginners coaching course suitable for all ages of people who want to learn the game of Association Croquet. It will be led by nationally qualified coaches and held at our lawns on Tickers Folly Field. It is free for members and costs just £10 for non-members which will be refunded if you subsequently join the club this year. For more information or to book a place on the course please contact Nick Butler 01235 851581 or Jim Bartlett 01491 873307.

Blewbury players were very successful at the recent final of the Waller Bowl, held at Windsor Leisure Centre - all 4 pairs finished in the top 30, out of a total entry of 93, with Alan Prior and Nigel Carter finishing in a very good 6th. place, and another pair winning the prize for best 2nd. half performance (outside the top 8 main prizewinners). A good advertisement for Blewbury bridge!

Matters affecting the future of Duplicate Bridge in England , and therefore how it may affect our club, are beginning to reach a climax, with the English Bridge Union recently publishing its final proposals for the future strategy of the game. There are certain issues with which the committee are not entirely happy and, by the time you read this, we will have held an Extraordinary General Meeting in order to determine our response to the Strategy as published, and to determine whether to support it or not at the consultative meeting to be held on May 1st. by our County Association, representatives of whom will be among the 'shareholders' of the EBU who will vote on whether to accept the Strategy at the EBU early in June. Depending on the result of this, the club will then have to decide at our AGM on how we will fit in to any new arrangements and what the future of our club should be.

There will be a 'Novices' evening on May 15th. - subsequent evenings will, unfortunately, have to be temporarily cancelled for a few months.               Michael Allen 01235 851870

I missed the last bulletin because I hadn’t got my brain around the fact that bank holidays late in the month brings the deadline forward by a week, I am now hopefully up to speed on this phenomenon!

Our next talk is on Wednesday 7th May, at UPTON Methodist hall, 7.30pm, when David Day will give us a talk on “ Small Gardens – The Pendon Museum”, now I don’t know about you, but there are times when I wish my lawn was as easy to cut as the miniature gardens would be, astro turf all the way! However, if anyone needs a lift, then let me know and I will arrange one for you (01235 850219).

Our next treat is on Saturday 7th June, when a small group of us will be going to RHS Wisley, coach cost will be £15, entrance free, as we are an affiliated group. Names to Maggie or Austin on 01235 850364 please, spaces are limited, and names on the board at the next talk will be taken first! Members only though, join now! Available at the post offices or a committee member, or ring any number mentioned here!

So my fellow gardeners are complaining about the weather, the ground is too wet to prepare in the vegetable patch, too windy to prune things, too cold in the greenhouse, last year we were complaining about too little rain! We can’t win! My garden is also slow to start off, when the weather warms up, so will I!

Don’t forget that as members you can hire tools etc, ring Joyce on 01235 850388.

Happy gardening, Karen Brooks