I have not included the letter from Aurthur Mashford a previous Chairman of the Parish Council who reminds us that it is generally best to politely ask people who obstruct the pavement to attend to the matter rather than involving the authorities.
Ed.
Dear Friends,
Easter already ! Well, nearly… and the daffs will certainly be out in good time, even though Easter is so early, because Spring comes so much earlier than it used to - that’s not just an opinion, that’s a fact.
We probably grew up thinking that the seasons were somehow immutable. Some winters might be colder or wetter than others (and English summers were always too wet !), but basically the seasons didn’t change. Now we know different. Spring is starting up to a month earlier, autumn a month later, the summers are getting hotter and drier, and the winters are getting milder, wetter and windier.
But then, there’s a lot of things that we used to take for granted that no longer seem to apply. Morals, politics and religion seem to change as often as fashions. Some deplore this, others seem to find it liberating. We live in a world where the `goalposts` don’t just move, they change shape ! And predictions about our planet’s future get ever more dire.
Most people’s reactions to recent (and not-so-recent) predictions about global warming, with rising sea levels and changing weather patterns, are actually ostrich-like. We bury our heads. We think, `it won’t happen in my life time` or, `it won’t affect me` or `I can’t afford to change my habits` or, `it’s someone else’s job to sort that out` or, simply `we can’t do anything significant to change it, so why bother ?` And I have real sympathy with all those points of view !
The fact remains that our planet is changing fast and we are ill-prepared to face the consequences. Ninety per cent of the world’s population live below the level that the oceans will rise to when our glaciers have melted - and we think we have a problem with immigration now !
Of course, we have never been good at taking on board new realities. Jesus’ disciples, despite having been told consistently by their Lord that he would rise again on the third day after the authorities had put him to death, had real trouble getting their heads around the fact of the Resurrection. We still do. Yet, when they had got used to the fact that his tomb was empty and that increasing numbers of them had actually seen Jesus and spoken to him, and even had breakfast with him, they all committed their lives to sharing this amazing Good News with the rest of the world - a world that, by and large, reacted in disbelief. Well, you would, wouldn’t you ? I mean, a man rising from the dead, and then able to appear or disappear anywhere, any time… When someone’s dead, they’re dead, aren’t they ?
No, because Jesus isn’t. And his new life is so much greater and more wonderful than before - not least because he offers to share it with us. Now, isn’t that much better news than the dire predictions associated with global warming ? If God can do that, then the future is ultimately good, not bad… but we need to have faith, not bury our heads.
Happy Easter !
William Lang.
While I was on holiday recently, I watched the film “Shallow Hal”. Maybe some of you will know it but if not:-
Hal is a young man, probably late twenties, nothing special to look at, but certainly not ugly, who is in search of a partner. Hal and his friend focus on trying to set up a relationship with a beautiful woman. Looks take priority over personality – hence the name “shallow Hal”.
However, Hal is “hypnotised” by someone in such a way that when he looks at a person, male or female, he no longer sees looks, rather he sees personality. This results in him making good friends with society’s physical outcasts – the short, the fat, the scarred and, yes, the ugly, much to the astonishment of his friend. Hal sees and finds inner beauty to the point that those, whose beauty is only superficial appear ugly to Hal.
Inevitably Hal falls in love with someone who is hugely overweight and the subject of constant ridicule but he sees her as perfect. Towards the end of the film the “hypnosis” is reversed and although Hal is shocked to see his “beautiful” girlfriend as she really is, nevertheless the lesson remains learnt. Beauty, real beauty is not about bodily shape and facial features, rather it is about what lies within – personality and heart.
Which is how Jesus sees us. Not for how we look but for who we are. And which is how we should see ourselves, and which is how we should see others.
Rosemary
We were lucky to have a fine day for the Pancake Race last week
and nearly 70 runners took part.
Callum Hedges won the 3-5 years race;
Oli Millward won 6-10 race;
Mitchell Hucker won 11-14 race
Jake Hancock won the adult race.
Mitchell also won the pancake tossing competition. We usually have lots of pancakes left which we freeze to use for the races the following year but this year we ran out of pancakes. We shall have to make more next year! Three year old James Hancock and ten year old Anna Keith won the junior fancy dress competition with, pancake race stalwart, Mrs Sue Briggs winning the adult fancy dress. Six year old Sarah Charters collected the most sponsorship money and she plans to give her share of the money raised to The Hydestile Wildlife Trust. We do not have a final total yet but expect to have raised about £450 to be shared between Hydestile and Elstead Youth Centre. Thank you to everyone who gave so generously and to all those who helped on the day and to those who took part. I will prepare a fuller report for the next edition.
Ann Tann
The Annual Council Meeting is on 18th April at 8 pm in the URC Hall. At this meeting we report on the year's work and plans for the future, answering questions from members of the public from Elstead. Further details will be given next month.
As a result of strong representations from the Parish Council and local residents the telephone post disfiguring our village green has been removed.
After considerable pressure by Parish Councillors ,the contractor to Waverley Borough Council has at last properly cleaned Thursley Road and the Village Green Roads. They were getting into a terrible state with the adverse impact on the drainage system.
We have decided not to carry out a Village Spring Clean Day this year. The reason ? If less than a dozen people turn up which is normally the case then we think that this is pretty poor support from a village of 2500 people ! There seems to be little point in organising an event such as this as we must assume that everyone is satisfied with the look of the village. (Some villages have a working party of volunteers meeting every month).
Denis Holmes Chairman
The winter of our discontent is passed!
And the cold earth yields grudgingly to Spring.
The tide of life engulfs the world at last
With hope reborn in every living thing .The up thrust spears of tender green adorn
The grass around the graves, and each heart fills
With wonder at the burgeoning of Spring -
The miracle of golden daffodils!And old St. James, through winter wind and snow,
Has stood secure for countless generations,
Welcoming with warm and loving arms
The people who make up the congregations.And now, where snow once lay, the flowers bloom,
And little birds remember how to sing -
Awake ye souls! And praise the risen Christ,
Awake, for it is Eastertide - and Spring!
As some of you will know, Daphne had a stroke and hasn't been able to speak
for four years so it seemed appropriate that these verses (which she wrote when
she was a slip of a girl of 80 Springs!) should speak for her and for all of
us this Easter!
Karen Considine submitted the above.
The days are getting longer and brighter, it is time to find where you left
the gardening tools last year and get ready for some exercise, digging, weeding,
or pruning; or perhaps at least thinking about it . The grass has already started
to grow but not enough for the lawn mower to be got out.
We were given two birds nesting boxes for Christmas (I suppose it was the birds who were given the present, not us) which means that I have another job to do before too much of February will have passed putting them up in the garden (the birds wedding day is said to be St Valentines day). This caused some discussion on where, and facing in what direction. A book on bird boxes (also a Christmas present) was consulted but apart from not facing them due south, the information therein was quite vague, in fact it did not say where to place them or in which direction.
Due consideration and the comments by a friend many years ago produced the following yardstick. My friend said that he had no success placing a nest box facing the sunlight ie. southeast; he reasoned that the birds could not see danger when they flew out because the sun would be in their eyes.
This seems sensible. We have had birds nesting in the eves of the house in the barge board on the north and east sides so we will mount them on these sides and see what happens.
Many years ago there were some cast iron drain pipes leaning against the shed. One of the little birds built a nest about a foot down inside the end and raised a brood; there must have been terribly hot as the pipe was in the sun for much of the day. Apart from putting the boxes up I also have to put a metal shield on the outside around the entrance to stop woodpeckers from tearing their way in and eating the young birds. An empty food tin opened out and nailed on should work, something that is stronger than the birds beak and with a hole in it for the entrance.
The cock pheasant that has recently claimed our front garden now has some admirers. Three young hen pheasants came boldly marching down the front lawn one morning. There was no sign of the cock bird himself but he won't be far away.
There was a great deal of excitement in the bird world recently, Waxwings had been spotted in Elstead and had caused quite a stir as they are rare winter visitors from Scandinavia. When they do visit they arrive in large flocks. It is a small finch like brown bird distinguishable by the buff crest, it gets it's name from the red tips that are on the upper flight feathers. They flock together feeding on berries such as Rowan, Juniper, Rose hips, Holly and Hawthorne and invade gardens in search of berries when they become scarce in the countryside. Thank you to the person who rang me, if you see anything in Elstead please let us know.
Richard Terry
We were very lucky to be selected by Waverley to have breakfast in school last week as part of the events to publicise Farmhouse Breakfast Week. John and Georgina Emerson from Hunts Hill Farm in Normandy arrived to cook it for us. They brought locally produced sausages, eggs, bacon, mushrooms and wonderful bread rolls that had been baked earlier that morning. Parents and their pre-school children joined the pupils and staff. It was such a lovely way to start the day and the children are still talking about it. We have followed up the event by talking about healthy eating and the importance of starting the day with a good breakfast. I was surprised to find out how many children do not regularly have a breakfast before coming to school. It was very useful having so many parents join us because it has encouraged the children to discuss this issue. It also made the breakfast all the tastier for knowing that the food came from free range animals.
Years 3, 4 and 5 recently spent the day at Butser Ancient Farm as part of their study of the Anglo Saxons. They made jewellery, clay pots, wattle fences and they spun wool to help them understand what life was like all those years ago. Their teacher commented that the atmosphere in the round house that day was very evocative, being dark, smoky and rather cold! Experiences like this bring history alive to children and it was wonderful to greet them as they returned and to see their enthusiasm about all they had learned.
Ann Tann
The first meeting of the year was well attended, when members were able to get their programmes and show schedules for what promises to be an action packed time ahead, and to sample the delights of a new plant sales table which will be a regular monthly feature as well as the raffle.
Three members showed slides of their garden and holiday visits during the year. Caroline and Richard Poyntz-Wright showed pictures of the wonderful garden of the Lakeland Horticultural Society, which is located in the grounds of a Cheshire home. There are three national collections housed there - hydrangeas, astilbes and ferns - very suitable for the wet climate- they get roughly seven inches of rain a year! Largely maintained by volunteer labour, the gardens are truly magnificent, and the Society's annual plant sale raises over ten thousand pounds, which makes our efforts look like very small beer indeed!
Susan Holmes then took us to France, to the Savoy Alps, where she was camping beside a warm lake, very crowded at weekends, but virtually deserted during the week. Visits were made to Aix-Les-Bains, and Annency, a very attractive old town, and Rances, where flowers were everywhere all around the Mairie, the town hall, and in great profusion by the road side. The limestone mountains almost always formed the backdrop for some very impressive scenery.
Finally, Brian Deaville took us on a tour of some gardens in the British Isles, first travelling west, to the Hillier Arboretum, to Furzey Garden in the New Forest, and to Athelhampton in Dorset. We then headed into Wales, to Caernarfon, north of the border to gardens around Oban, on the west coast, and in Melrose, on the borders. We then turned south again, via Harlow Carr and Diss in Norfolk, to Nymans, and Fulbrook house, in Elstead, ending with some of the rhododendrons in the garden of our late president, Lady Gordon, at Hethersett. Keith Pierce then explained that there would be a potato growing competition later in the year, with the best potatoes grown from seed being judged at the autumn show. He took us through the various stages of growing potatoes, in bags or containers, and explained that we would all be issued with seed potatoes in March to have a go!
Dorothy Eade was presented with a certificate to celebrate her life membership of the Club in recognition of her significant services. Susan Holmes read some amusing "gardening snippets" from magazines, and this concluded a varied and interesting evening.
Our next meeting is on February 14th, when Mrs S Holmes will be talking about "Gardens of Devon and Cornwall" in a change to the published programme. Its at 7.45 p.m. in the URC hall, so we do hope to see you there.
Gillian Drew
By the time that this edition of the Village News is published, the new boiler should have been installed in the Village Hall and our future warmth and well being for the next 30 years will, hopefully, be assured.
This is not, however, the end of the story as we need to keep both the Village Hall and the Youth Centre building in good repair. This is the job of the Management Committee. We need new blood on the Committee as we face the challenges of the coming years, which will include the internal and external decoration of both Halls.
Have you ever thought of joining the team? Can you spare a few evenings each year to keep the Village Hall and Youth Centre going? We’d love to hear from you.
Peter Hartley (Chairman)
2, Hazelwood, Elstead
(01252-703 461)
Just a reminder: the Village Hall will not be available for bookings between 2nd and 10th April as PETS will be putting on their Spring production.
The Spring catalogues are now available. New items of food include African Forest Honey from Zambia and two fruit cakes – Cherry & Walnut and Dark Genoa. I have the dark Genoa cake in stock at the moment. Traidcraft have now introduced decaffeinated tea bags to their range of teas.
There are now two suppliers of candied ginger, Kerula in India and Panay Island
in the Philippines. The ginger now produced is no longer tooth-breaking hard.
The Spring fashions include Mirrorwork T-shirts from St Mary’s in India
and the Tie Dye Beach Top from Aarong in Bangaldesh.
With Easter in mind, there are the usual small chocolate eggs on their own or
in a small gift bag.
The new catalogue will be at the Lent Lunches and at the first Saturday in the
month coffee morning at the U.R.C. Hall from 10am-12 midday.
Jean Wheatley
They say that time flies when you are having fun and here at Rainbows with more of the spring term behind us than in front we look back with smiles at a term of exploring Winter and forward with excitement to the warmer days of Spring and Easter celebrations.
The Spring term gives the children a great opportunity to explore, learn about
and enjoy this great time of year. Through our look at winter our children planted
an indoor garden, made a day and night collage and explored ice in many forms.
Each week the parents and staff at Rainbows love to see the great range of colourful
paintings, drawings and collage that follow a new theme being introduced –
much of the work is displayed around the Village Hall and enjoyed by the children
and visitors alike. The only disappointment is that the wonderful wall of glitter
decorated snowflakes and frosty pictures is the nearest the children have come
to snow (so far) this term .
Our senses are treated weekly - on Tuesdays and Fridays - the delicious smells
of baking waft around the hall and on Thursdays the joyful sound of children’s
voices singing to the piano, fill the air. Our pancake day celebrations proved
very popular with children mixing and helping to toss the pancakes before enjoying
them with the sweet and sour delights of sugar, lemon and fresh fruit prepared
by the themselves.
The ever popular dressing up corner has seen a hectic term of vets and doctors appointments, many successfully attended emergency situations by the eager Fire, Police and Ambulance services and countless satisfied customers at the shop and café. Although the favourite with both boys and girls is the “Home Corner” with baby needing a bottle, a cuddle and a dinner to get on the table! Also proving very popular and testing our sharing skills is the arrival of the new airport with aeroplanes and helicopters that has been a great hit with both the older and younger children alike.
We look forward to saying “Hello” to you at the “Explore Your Village” Exhibition at The Village Hall on Saturday 26th February 2005 and if we miss you there please call Jane to arrange a visit – 01252 702414 Term time or 01483 424503.
Helen Duke.
It is always a pleasure to hear of talent being recognised, and members of Elstead Afternoon W.I. were delighted to be told, at the recent February meeting, that Audrey Barnes, who runs the Art Group, has won the Bacchus Prize in an open competition at Denbies Wine Estate, with her pastel picture of Rocks and Water.
Muriel Ragless was thanked for organising the discussion group lunch on 20th January, which was a great success with 28 members present.
The president Ann Moon welcomed Betty Moxon as a new member.
The W.I. now has a Membership Communication System, which is an internet based service, accessed through the NFWI website, making it available to all members. Joan Dalton has offered to give 4 members per sitting an introduction to the system at her home `Blue Haze', Ham Lane, Elstead.
In the unfortunate absence of the advertised speaker, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Hillman stepped in at short notice, speaking on `Images of Northern India'. Keen bird watchers and photographers, they illustrated their visit to Corbett National Park tiger reserve, Bharatpur bird sanctuary and Ranthanbhore, with many superb slides. They brought to life images of painted storks, night herons, a magpie robin, white breasted kingfisher, hoopoo, spotted owl, cinnamon bittern and many more. Animals included the maccac monkeys , striped squirrels, a sloth, wild pigs, a giant monitor lizard and turtles. Once the early mists had cleared, an elephant ride was taken in order to observe these myriad creatures. The highlight of the trip was a close-up sighting of an Indian tiger, now becoming a rare occurrence.
In inhabited villages, cow pats are used for fuel and weed is dragged from the lakes and dried to provide feed for the cattle. Villagers were friendly and welcoming, wanting their visitors to stay longer than was possible.
Back in the bustling city with overloaded bicycles, trucks and rickshaws, the travellers concluded their trip at the magnificent Taj Mahal.
Diane Tulett proposed a vote of thanks, and was also the winner of this month's competition with a photograph of a black spaniel.
The next meeting will be on 3rd March 2005 when the speaker will be Joan Young
on an `Easter Flower Arrangement'.
Report of Meeting held on Tuesday 1st February 2005
May Deaville welcomed members and a visitor from Witley and Ann Chandler gave details of the events organised by the Surrey Federation including days on Interior Design, Fitness for Fun and various coffee mornings in aid of charity.
Mr Brian Whitworth, ex Head of Art at Guildford Royal Grammar School was then introduced to give one of his talks on Taking Pleasure in Pictures – An Artistic Visit to Siena.
This medieval Tuscan city lies sixty miles south of Florence, is built on three hills and is surrounded by four miles of walls. We entered through one of the many ancient city gates and were led up a narrow canyon of a street with high stone and stuccoed houses on either side. The curving route led us to promised sunshine and opened out into the Piazza del Campo a large shell-shaped open space designed for leisure and pleasure. Along one side is the Palazzo Publico (town hall) built with imposing gothic windows and typical bands of inset marble. Among the many interesting architectural features are beautiful ironwork city lamps and various columns surmounted by a she-wolf suckling two infants (sons of Remus). The early 15th century fountain also has marble reliefs depicting the same scene, a Sienese symbol. Mr Whitworth informed us that Siena is divided into sixteen, very clannish districts. They each have their own brilliantly coloured silk flag and evoke intense personal patriotism.
Inside the Palazzo Publico we were shown wonderful examples of early 14th century medieval/renaissance paintings. A delicate, stylised Madonna and Child by Simone Martini symbolising the Queen of Heaven and on the opposite wall, by the same artist, a picture showing almost ‘toy town’ settlements and the General who had conquered them. In the Salle de Nova there were three important allegorical frescoes depicting Ideals of Government. All these paintings were in stunning colours of reds and blues with a brilliant gold nimbus on the heads of all the saints.
In Siena Cathedral is a masterpiece dated 1311 by Duccio, the founding father of Sienese painting, showing a colourful procession with heralds flying their banners and a decorated cart carrying the altarpiece of the Virgin in Majesty glowing in gold and rich colours. On the rear of this painting are balanced and symmetrical scenes of Christ’s ministry and passion.
Mr Whitworth finished his wonderful slides with a view across the rooftops of Siena to the distant Tuscan hills beyond. He was thanked by Caroline Poyntz-Wright for his excellent talk, which everyone enjoyed.
At the end of the meeting May gave details of the Annual Council Meeting in Dorking on 14th March, with the main speaker being the Rt. Hon. Anne Widdecombe. We were also looking forward to the monthly walk on 11th February, a visit to Watts Gallery, Compton and the musical Jesus Christ Superstar at the Ben Travers Theatre.
Diane Tulett
Our January Meeting was the time for our A.G.M. when we looked back on happenings in 2004, our Treasurer read our financial report, and subscriptions were due for the coming year. We gave a welcome to one new member.
Chair gave a brief resume, we had unfortunately lost several members who had been very loyal to the Club over the years, who had passed away, and another having moved to Dorset. Strangely the very morning of the meeting, a letter had been received from her, giving us a very descriptive run down of life and happenings in her new village, and saying she was about to join the equivalent of our Club in her new surroundings, which we look forward to hearing about.
We had been very well served with speakers on a wide range of subjects Parks and Gardens Animals, India, National Health, Music a Sale, etc, four outings, and a Christmas Lunch out, and of course a Christmas Tea. The Committee were thanked for their help and support during the year, and all were willing to stand again. There being no nominations or volunteers for Chairman, so Yours Truly is in harness for another year
Chair and Betty Batty, did a little skit on some of the happenings in the life of Gervase Phin a newly appointed inspector of Schools in the Education Department, some years ago in Yorkshire, which turned out to be quite amusing and brought a few smiles. Letters of thanks were read from some guests who attended our party.
A good tea was served by the ladies 'in the kitchen' and the raffle was drawn.
It is hoped that we may be able to recruit some more new members during the year to swell our numbers. We do not do boring things, there is always something we can learn from the various subjects to expand. our knowledge, no one is ever too elderly to learn, even if you are 60 or upwards!
Our subscription will not break the bank at a mere £3.50. p.a.
Why not come along and try us out, March will be a Bring & Buy afternoon.
Freda Sheppard
St James Ladies Fellowship didn't realize quite what a treat we had in store when Myra Hardy came to talk to us about Middle Eastern dance at our first meeting in the church room in January.
Not only could Myra explain the background to Arabic dance, but she also changed into one of her beautiful costumes and gave us a demonstration of actual dances. The most important thing to stress, she said was that female middle eastern dancing was not belly dancing. This had been given all the wrong connotations by Hollywood and the tourist industry. Traditional Arab dancing was very graceful, using the hands to tell a story, and with the steps handed down from mother to daughter. There are specific dances for particular events in life, and many of the musical accompaniments are traditional, using very ancient instruments. Dances have a deeply spiritual significance, and the colour of the costume is important. Myra appeared in a magnificent purple dress for her dance. She showed us three dances - the first very slow and stately, the second a stick dance, showing the strength and superiority of women! and the third an Arab flamenco, using a fan, and every bit as graceful and beautiful as the Spanish version.
Myra gives regular dance displays for charity, and she values it for this reason as well as for exercise, and as a way of making friends, and forming links to a very troubled part of the world, where different cultures do not always understand each other.
We distributed our programme for the coming year. Our next meeting in February sees Barbara Bartlett talking on the subject of foster care - "Other People's Children". On March 22nd, we have "Desert Island Discs", where you are invited to bring along a CD or cassette of the piece of music you would like to have with you if you were cast away on a desert island. All meetings are in the Church Room at 2.30 p.m.
Do put Saturday May 14th in your diary now. Its the date of our coffee morning in aid of the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in the Youth Center, from 10.30 to 12 noon.
Gillian Drew