East Coker Society
Newsletter
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April
2008 Free Issue No 130
Chair: John Sugg 863435
Newsletter Editor: Lesley Lindsay 862868
Secretary: Sarah Owen 862218
Treasurer: Keith Helliar 863700
EAST
COKER SOCIETY
SCARECROW COMPETITION
21
By
popular demand, we are giving you an opportunity to show off your creativity in
the 2nd East Coker Society Scarecrow Competition. It is open to all residents and ages, clubs
and organisations of the parish. We hope
to put on an impressive display, which will form the basis of a mapped walk
over the week-end of Saturday 21 and
1.
Children 2. Adult 3. Clubs and Organisations
Please ensure your entry form is
submitted by
Maps
outlining all entries will be available from the Helyar Arms and the Post
Office from
Scarecrows
will need to be displayed by
Please
complete the entry form below and put it in an envelope with your entry fee of
£2 and drop it off in the Scarecrow Competition collection box at the Post
Office or send to East Coker Society, c/o Sarah Owen, Paddock Cottage, East
Coker, Yeovil, BA22 9JP, tel 862218.
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EAST
COKER SOCIETY SCARECROW
COMPETITION ENTRY FORM
Name
..
. Contact tel no
.
Club/Organisation
(if applicable)
..
...
.
Address
& post code
..
.
..
.
Scarecrow
name
. Entry class
.
Entry
fee £2 enclosed
...
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ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING
The Annual General Meeting of the East Coker Society
will be held in the Dampier Room, East Coker Hall, on
RECEIVE THE
NEWSLETTER VIA E-MAIL
We greatly
appreciate delivery by e-mail as it saves money on our printing costs so if in future you would
like to receive the Newsletter via e-mail, please e-mail Lesley Lindsay with
your name and postal address so you can be removed from our delivery
lists.
Your e-mail address will be kept entirely
For those already receiving the Newsletter by
e-mail, please e-mail Lesley Lindsay if you change your e-mail address.
A NEW
'MUST-HAVE' ITEM!
The new East Coker Bag is a 'must-have' item if you live in East Coker! The cotton shopper is available with either
long or short handles, and has the East Coker Cockerel on one side. Environmentally friendly, and good for the
'green' consumer! Available from the
East Coker P.O. & Store or Lesley Lindsay 862868
Village Clubs and Organisations
VILLAGE BREAKFAST ADVANCE NOTICE
SUNDAY 15 JUNE
Come and enjoy a full
English breakfast bring all your family and friends. Sunday 15 June from 9.30am
Tickets will be
available from 1 May from East Coker P.O. & Store.
Penny Marpole 863055
or Cherry Sowerbutts 863313
CROQUET CLUB
Following the interest shown in the formation of a
croquet club mentioned in Februarys Newsletter,
taster-sessions are being organised in the village as soon as the weather
improves. Those who have already
contacted Pauline Gubbins will be notified.
Anyone else wishing to join in should contact John Sharpe and Kathryn on
862362
THE
CHURCH AND VILLAGE
FETE
The fete will be held on
Saturday 5 July at
The
Circle continues to attract excellent attendance despite the fact that it has
had to hold its meetings at different locations, due to the temporary closure
of the East Coker Hall. The Circle met
at Odcombe in March, and in April and May members will have travelled to Halstock. The Circle has been unable to find
accommodation on its normal meeting night and as a result has had to move to
Tuesday and Thursday respectively. The
Circle hopes to be back 'home' for its Annual General Meeting and commercial
wine tasting in June.
The
committee is currently planning an exciting programme for the new year, with
the usual Summer event being held in East Coker, on Sunday 13 July. Anyone interested in joining the Circle
should contact the Secretary, Mary Horsley 471072
THE COKER 400 CLUB
John
Bryan £100; Mr P Moore £50; Miss S Hedges £40; Mr C Bingley £30; Mr P Hobday
£20; Mr A Leng £15; Mrs A Charles £10; Mr P Pritchard £10.
If
anyone would like to join the 400 Club £20 a year payable quarterly by Bank
Standing Order please contact Mike Weston 862472, Gloria Mead 862384 or Mary
Ashley 862263
EAST COKER ACTION MEDICAL RESEARCH
Cream Teas We have for the last three years delivered
Cream Teas to businesses in Yeovil, Crewkerne and Sherborne. This event is growing each year and several
people have asked if we could deliver to homes in East Coker. Our delivery date for this year is Friday 27
June. The Cream Teas cost £5 each
and are delivered in individual boxes consisting of scones, jam, clotted cream
and strawberries. If you would like to
receive one please order by Friday 13 June from Angie Mead 862972 or Barb
Raison 862553.
We will be holding a
Woman's World evening on Tuesday 7 October at the East Coker Hall. More details in the next Newsletter.
Another date for your diary!
We are delighted that the Rt. Hon. Ann Widdecombe
MP has kindly agreed to come and speak to us about her life. This will be at a lunch on
EAST COKER PLAYERS
Due to the East Coker Hall renovations, the May
Production had to be postponed.
We hope to be holding a fund-raising event in early
July, and a December Social Evening with members and guests 'being the
entertainment'!
Put your thinking caps on now. How would you like to entertain your fellow
members? Try a monologue or poem, get
together with someone else and sing a duet, play your musical instrument or
tell a few jokes! Each act to be approximately four minutes.
Proposals for a Pantomime in February/March 2009
have been put forward watch this space for further updates.
For further details contact Hazel Love, Secretary
429163 or Nora White, Treasurer 477897
EAST
COKER W.I.
Our 90th year
is proving to be the year of the challenge.
With the East Coker Hall being out of action for so long we had to
reschedule the Jumble Sale, our monthly meetings and the Whist Drives. The 'Open Evening' programmed for March with
the broadcaster and naturalist, Chris Sperring, who was to speak about The
Birds of Prey, will now be held at the East Coker Hall on Thursday, 28 August
at 8.00pm Visitors are welcome.
Until the East Coker
Hall reopens, all monthly meetings will be held at the Christian Fellowship
Hall at the end of
The postponed Jumble
Sale scheduled for April will now be held on Saturday, 12 July at
The birthday celebration
dinner which is booked at the East Coker Hall on Friday, 20 June at
Dates for diary
17 April Whist Drive Tithe Barn, East Coker
24 April 'Blue Vinny Cheese' Christian Fellowship Hall
29 May No Knickers Christian
Fellowship Hall
20 June 90th Celebration Meal East Coker Hall
8 July W.I. Outing
12 July Jumble Sale East Coker Hall
As this is a special year
for us, we are compiling a 2008 scrap book of, not only our Institute, but also
a snap shot of the village and what is happening in this year. If you have a birth, marriage or death in
East Coker in this year and would like the event to be recorded in our scrap
book please let me know on either 862816 or e-mail da.jo@virgin.net
Joyce Pryor
EAST COKER
PAVILION FUND UPDATE
The building work is progressing well, and the electric
poles have been relocated at a much reduced price thanks to Tim Dyer &
Western Power. The roof is hoped to be
on in early April.
The Annual Village Quiz was, again, a great success
with 19 teams competing for the 'Cockerel'.
The result was a close-run thing, with the Gardening Club being the
victors. Unfortunately, we were unable
to hold the event in the East Coker Hall, but the venue in Odcombe turned out
to be a cosy alternative. A grand total
of £812 was added to the fund.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all
who assisted and competed in making the Quiz such a great village event.
Our next large fund raising event will be an
'Auction of Promises' later in the year.
Bridget Sugg
EAST
COKER FLOWER SHOW
& WINE FESTIVAL
The Photography classes are: Stones Single
flower Insect
Spring (Novice class - not
to have won a 1st) A barn
One photograph each (6in x4in max) of four
generations (on one mount not exceeding 15in x 12in).
There will also be fruit and vegetable classes,
flowers, Floral Art, home-craft, craft classes and children's classes. All are welcome to join in or visit the
wonderful displays on the day.
EAST
COKER GARDENING CLUB
After
the end of January, the Club, like so many other local groups, could not use
the East Coker Hall while it was undergoing major repairs. A variety of venues were used for the rest of
the Spring quarter's meetings. In
February, Brimsmore Garden Centre hosted an enthralling evening when members
heard of the adventures in the designing and setting up of a demonstration
garden at the Hampton Court Flower show.
In March, the Club met at The Castle Inn, West Coker, when a cheque for
£320 was presented to the Free Wheelers (hospital dispatch riders), before the
talk on Fruit and Vegetables by a member of staff from John Rowsell's
small-holding at Barrington, who brought some unusual samples for display. The April meeting on 'Rock Gardens and
Alpines' was held in
From
7-9 April a group of members went on a three-day coach trip to
On
8 March, Club members proved to be the 'brains of East Coker' when the team
came first in the Village Quiz in aid of the Pavilion Fund.
Early Summer Programme
Thursday 8 May Den Bridel '
Wednesday 11 June Visit to
Thursday 12 June John S Stuart 'A Portrait of
Thursday 10 July 'The Barn Owl Trust'
Further details from the Secretary, Catherine Denney
862294 or the Treasurer, Stan Shayler 42029
EAST COKER
VILLAGE HALL
As I am sure most people are only too aware, the
East Coker Hall has been closed since late January. At that point the wooden block floor had been
forced up at several points making it unusable.
Investigations showed that this had been caused by water leaking from
the heating pipes which are laid under the concrete floor. The extent of the damage indicates that this
must have been occurring for many months.
It was almost certainly the very wet weather in January, and the
consequent rise in water table levels around the Hall, that caused the water to
escape by rising through the floor rather than escaping by other routes.
The Management Committee had decided, before this
problem arose, to use two recent legacies to replace the radiators and also the
windows and doors with double-glazed units.
The intention here is to improve heating efficiency, save on heating oil
costs, cut down on heat loss through windows and doors, improve security and
reduce the noise levels escaping from the building. We have, also, now decided to cut off all
under-floor pipe-work and to re-route it above ground. This is the third time that underground
leakages have caused significant problems and this approach will prevent any
repetition.
The work to take up the old floor, and to begin the
preparations for the laying of the new one, started on 18 March. The heating contractor started work on 25
March. The work schedule we have agreed
should see all the heating work completed within three weeks. The heating system will then be run 24 hours
a day to help with the drying out of the saturated concrete floor. As soon as it has dried sufficiently, the
next stage of the work to lay the new floor membrane will begin. The double-glazing contractor is aiming to
start replacing the existing doors and windows on 21 April. This work should take about a week. Once this has been completed the final stage
of relaying the wooden floor will begin.
If all goes to plan, we hope to be able to re-open the Hall in June.
However, it is impossible to give any firm
guarantee at the moment. Everything
hinges on how long it will take the concrete floor base to dry out before the
necessary repairs and preparation work can begin. It is very wet indeed. Also, because of the damage to the concrete
base, it may be necessary to undertake more repair and preparation work, prior
to the laying of the new wooden block floor, than was originally envisaged.
Nevertheless, we are confident that, once we are
able to re-open, the community will find it has the use of a beautifully
refurbished facility and that the major problems that have occurred with the
floor and the heating system will be a thing of the past. The Management Committee would like to thank
all users of the Hall for their patience and understanding throughout this very
frustrating period for us all and would assure you that we are working hard to
ensure high quality repair and improvement work and a re-opening as soon as
possible.
John Hollis, Chairman East Coker Village Hall
Management Committee.
EAST
COKER HALL CHARITABLE
TRUST AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the Trust will be
held on
Any organisation wishing to have a representative
on the Committee must apply to the Secretary, Mrs H Styles, 21 Mill Close, East
Coker BA22 9LF, in writing before the meeting.
All residents of East Coker Parish aged 18 years
and over are eligible to attend.
EAST COKER POETRY GROUP
Tuesday 29 April
'We have heard Ravens' Catherine Simmonds and Gini Astley present
original poetry and music inspired by the journals of Dorothy Wordsworth.
Tuesday 27 May
'Italian Evening' Hosted by Sue Hedges with art by John Carter
Tuesday 24 June
Jane Williams prize-winning poet Jane Williams from Wells presents an
evening of her poetry
All meetings are at The Helyar Arms, East Coker,
Young People
EAST COKER
SCOUT GROUP
Scout Jumble
Sales
Due to repairs to the East Coker Hall we have cancelled our Spring Jumble
Sale, however, our Autumn Jumble Sale will proceed as normal on Saturday 18
October at the East Coker Hall at
Please save your jumble for this event. Remember we will collect. Contact Max Bugler 862186
Waste Paper
Collections: Saturday 26 April Saturday
31 May Saturday 28 June
BARN DANCE THE YETTIES
A Barn Dance, featuring
'The Yetties', will be held on 27 June,
Tickets £8, to include a
'ploughman's' (cheese or pate). Contact
Nora White 477897.
Proceeds will go St
Margaret's Hospice, Yeovil.
EAST COKER BROWNIES
The Brownies have,
unfortunately, been suspended until further notice, due to the change of times
and workload of the leaders. If anyone
would like to know more details about other units in Yeovil, please contact
Anna Shutler, Yeovil Division Commissioner 848768
Yeovil Division Guides (Bright
Fund-raising events
3
May Jumble Sale, St Peter's Hall,
11 May Dog
Show and Fayre, Davis Hall, West Camel,
7 June
EAST
COKER PRE-SCHOOL PLAYGROUP
There is great excitement at the Pavilion. The children are thrilled to be at first-hand
to see the new building literally rising from out of the ground. The clever planning has meant that the
disruption is minimal to the group and the playgroup plays on. The group is always eager to utilise the
wonderful outside facilities and this is true, as the building work is
carefully fenced off. In fact, it is
even more exciting going outdoors as there is something new to see each day,
and we all know how much children love construction and all associated with it.
The wealth of experience of our fully qualified
staff offers quality childcare and education through play, exploring the wider
environment and local community with project-based activities. Ofsted have consistently given the group
excellent reports and commended us for the interaction and encouragements
between staff and children, partnership with parents, teaching, management and
the emphasis on fun.
Children can join us from the age of 2½, and
Nursery Education Funding is available from the term after the third
birthday. We are open during term time
every weekday morning, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and offer optional lunch
cover for children who like to bring a packed lunch. The playgroup offers extended opening hours
(a breakfast club and after-school club for pre-schoolers) please contact
Kay Strode if you would like more information of this exciting opportunity on
your doorstep. For more information and to put your child/children on
the waiting list, please contact Kay Strode on 07798 812540 or after
Please
keep your eyes open for information on a fundraising 'Messy Morning' (postponed
due to work at the East Coker Hall), and for information on the Playgroup
Annual Fair to be held on the playing fields.
The playgroup will be open, subject to demand, over the two-week school
holiday on 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 April.
Please contact the number above for a Booking Form.
The Churches
ST. MICHAEL'S
CHURCH
Services
Sunday 20 April Celebrate
Saint George.
Sunday 27 April Rogation
Procession.
Thursday 1 May Ascension
Day.
Sunday 4 May Family
Service.
Sunday 11 May Pentecost.
Sunday 18 May Trinity.
Sunday 1 June Family
Service.
Church AGM Tuesday 29 April,
Annual Plant
Outing
Tuesday
3 June, 8.30am a coach of parishioners to visit Special Church Silver
Exhibition at the Goldsmith's Company,
Church and Village Fete
Saturday
5 July
BIBLE MID-WEEK
MEETING
Until June we will be holding our meetings at the
East Coker Christian Fellowship Hall, Burton Lane, (in June we hope to return
to the East Coker Hall).
The dates for
the next meetings and speaker are on Ezra are:
Wednesday 16 April 7.00pm Edward Armistead Ezra 6
Wednesday 21 May 7.00pm Ed Moll (
Wednesday 18 June
Do join us and bring your friends with you. Refreshments are served after each meeting
For further details contact Roy Hodder 862519 or
Edward Armistead 862785
EAST COKER
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP,
Weekly Meetings
1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays 11.00am Worship
Service. On the first Sunday of each
month this service incorporates Communion.
Please note, approximately
once a month we have a joint meeting with the
Kevin Chapman is available in the village each
Wednesday between 9.30am and 4.30pm. He
can be contacted on 0781 2726853 or e-mail ec.cf@hotmail.co.uk Please do feel free to contact him if you
have any queries about the Christian faith, or if you would like someone to
pray with you.
Coffee Stop
As from Wednesday 2 April the Hall will be open for
coffee and tea from 11.15am until 3.15pm each Wednesday. All are welcome to come along and it is
simply meant to be a place where friends can get together for a chat. There will be no charge for refreshments.
Walking Group
We are looking to form a walking group (or two) in
the Village. We have in mind one group
as a conventional walking group who get together at regular intervals to tramp
across the countryside and use the Hall as a base for meeting and starting out
from, and a place for coffee and banter after each walk. The second group would be what we can only
describe as a 'pushchair friendly walking group', primarily for young mums and
dads (and their children) we suspect somewhat shorter walks, probably via
swings and slides, and again ending up at the Hall for coffee and banter. If anyone is interested please contact Kevin
Chapman either on the above mobile or e-mail or on his home telephone number of
422594.
Marriage Course
On 1 May we are commencing another Marriage Course. It will run on a Thursday for seven evenings until 3 July (as you will gather they are not consecutive evenings). Each evening lasts from about 7.00pm until 9.45pm and includes a meal. Many people think that Marriage Courses are only for marriages which are in trouble thats not the case. They are intended as a sort of MOT for marriages. Again, if anyone wants further details, please telephone Kevin Chapman as above.
ALL
SAINTS' CHURCH CLOSWORTH
Closworth
Family Services
On 20 April at 10.0am at the Family Service, I
shall be talking about the events after the Resurrection.
Trinity Sunday 18 May, I shall be talking about the
coming of the Holy Spirit
Sunday 15 June, the speaker will be Roderick Baker,
a Reader from
Monica 862834
ALL SAINTS
CHURCH SUTTON BINGHAM
Churchwardens: Mrs Carol Blackmore 862192 and Anthony Dening 47294
There are no services in April whilst the Vicar is
away.
Holy Communion
Services May to July
Sunday
4 May
Sunday
I June
Sunday
6 July
According
to the architect's Quinquennial Report, the church porch should be repaired as soon
as possible due to the fact of the damage to the roof and the theft of the lead
flashing. A Coffee Morning will be held
at The Helyar Arms on the 29 August to help raise funds.
Village News
S O S
- SAVE EAST
COKER POST OFFICE
As
you will know, the Post Office is threatened with closure, but East Coker has
risen to the challenge. All the
Societies have written letters of protest, the petition in The Shop is doing
well, and many individuals have written and e-mailed with their objections. Even children have joined in with drawings
and messages.
The
consultation period ends on 9 April, so you still have time to play your
part. It is important that we feel we
did our best.
Write to Network Development Manager
Post Office Ltd
c/o National
Consultation Team
FREEPOST CONSULTATION
TEAM or e-mail consultations@postoffice.co.uk PLEASE
However,
our campaign does not end there. As you
know, many villages have also lost their shop when the Post Office closed. We are lucky to have Paul and Vicki who have
transformed the shop in the short time they have been there. Their two daughters are happily settled in
the school and playgroup. We know they
will do their best to keep the shop going, but we all need to support them and
use the shop as much as possible.
A
village without a shop is a village without a heart. It's a lifeline to the elderly, the
vulnerable and the non-drivers.
What
will we do if we can't walk to the shop every day for our newspapers and
necessities, for our laughs and chats and updates on village life? That is what keeps us all so hale and hearty!
So,
please, let's all pull together and save our happy way of life.
Diana
Bugler
The
mobile library visits on a Thursday the times and dates for the stops in 2008
are:
East Coker
Helyar
Arms
Meadow
View
Sutton Bingham Bower Farm
Dates: 17 April 8 May 29 May 19
June 10 July 31 July 21 August
CALIBRE AUDIO
LIBRARY
The
Helyar Arms has kindly arranged to hold a Coffee Morning on
Membership
of this library is by individual recommendation but one doesn't have to be
blind or visually impaired to be recommended.
It is a free service of books, on cassettes or MP3, on a wide range of
subjects modern and classic novels, thrillers, westerns, romance, fantasy,
history, travel, biography, etc. The
books are expertly read and unabridged, therefore opening the world of
literature to those whose disability, whether visual or physical, makes reading
impossible.
This
service has been of great benefit to me over the last three years and I am
delighted to have this opportunity of expressing my appreciation. I look forward to seeing all my friends and
others at The Helyar Arms on 27 June
Sally
Jackson
PLANT
We will be holding our 4th plant sale in aid of St.
Margaret's Hospice on
Plants on sale will be geraniums many different
species: Salvias, marigolds, tagetes, mesembryanthemums, mimulus, gaillardia,
nasturtiums, lobelia, cosmos, gazanias, osteospermum, rudbeckia, antirrhinum,
salpiglossis, verbena and more.
We are situated up the lane adjacent to Cross
Cottages. Parking is extremely limited
and we would ask people to park on the road by the school. There will be signs directing you to the
sale. I have a willing husband with a
wheelbarrow to carry your plants to your car!
Looking forward to seeing you.
Christine and Glenn Seymour 863961
THE DRAKE'S
LEGACY TO THE
VILLAGE
I wonder if the average inhabitant of East Coker
knows how much we owe to the generosity of Betty and Francis Drake, who over
the years have donated a great deal to the welfare of this village. The family owned the webbing mill that was
replaced by the housing estate known as Drake's Meadow.
In their lifetime they gave the village the land on
which East Coker Hall was built. Their
gift ensured that it was to be run by a charity managed by villagers. Then a few years later they increased this
gift by donating half the field to the west of the Hall to this charity. A by-product of this gift was that the Hall
charity was able to benefit when the present estate was built on the site of
their factory.
In their wills they also bequeathed a high
proportion from their estates to the Hall and the Church. The Church was able to repaint the chancel
and repair the roof and the Hall will be able to update its heating and to
double-glaze most of its windows.
EAST COKER A
VILLAGE ALBUM
The second edition of Abigail
Shepherd's book 'East Coker - A Village Album', with its anecdotes of village
life and over 190 photographs, is being reprinted, price £12.50.
Advance orders are now being
taken. If you wish to reserve a copy,
please fill in the form below, enclosing £12.50 per copy ordered, and leave it
at the East Coker P.O. & Store, or to Lesley Lindsay at Little Meadow,
Coker Marsh, by
If you wish to have the book posted
either within the
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EAST COKER A
VILLAGE ALBUM
Name
. Contact Tel No
.
Address
(in case we need to contact you)
..
.
Number
of copies @ £12.50each
..
.
... Payment
enclosed
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SPONSORED CYCLE
I am cycling from
The journey in stages goes from
Your support would be welcomed not only when I am training, but in
helping me raise as much sponsorship as I can for a very worthwhile local
cause. You can contact me at 5
Broadacres, East Coker, 862826 or e-mail AMcdoug105@aol.com
Andrew McDougall
THE
HELYAR ARMS
Charity Coffee Mornings
Friday 25
April Hope & Homes for Children
Friday 30
May F.A.C.E
Friday 27
June Calibre Audio Library
Friday 25
July Almshouses Charity
Friday 29
August All Saints' Church, Sutton
Bingham
STANCHESTER
SPORTS CENTRE
Its exciting times over at Stanchester Sports Centre and
wed like to shout about it! Our already
top-class gym facilities have just gained the GP referral accreditation,
another crown on our steadily growing list of accolades.
Being a GP referral Centre means that we now have
staff and facilities at a high enough level to accept members of the public with
a number of differing medical conditions, from diabetes, to osteoporosis, and
high blood pressure. Our specially
trained staff will take you through the gym process, giving you a full
induction to ensure you are confident with using the equipment, and write you a
programme tailored to your specific needs.
Our top of the range fitness room ensures that you
are never on your own. Your personal ID
number, given to you during your induction, means that each piece of equipment
knows who you are as soon as you enter your ID into it. Each bit of kit will bring up your programme,
and guarantees that you are completing the exercise with the correct form and
tempo. It evens records exactly what you
are doing during your workout, so both you and your instructor can work from a
true set of results.
Your highly qualified instructor will review your
programme and send you regular messages about your progress and any changes you
may need to your programme. It means
one-to-one contact with your instructor is always at your fingertips.
Fitlinxx and our gym facilities are open to the
general public as well as GP referral clients, for more information contact
Stanchester Sports Centre on 825261, or visit www.fitlinxx.com
to find out about the amazing potential to meet your exercise goals. Contact your local GP to find out more about
the GP referral programme and how you can start to enjoy exercise today.
THE
HELYAR ALMSHOUSES CHARITY
Further to our Appeal in
the January edition of the Newsletter, we are more than pleased to report an
encouraging response and that initial donations, loans and promises has
resulted in over a quarter of our target of £40,000 having been raised.
We are now seriously
looking to begin the conversion this Summer, but we do, of course, urgently
need your help in raising further substantial sums of money. Any donations or loans, however small, will
be greatly appreciated.
An early date for your
diary is a Coffee Morning to be held at the Helyar Arms on Friday 25 July. Arthur Rees, 862828 Roger Burt, 862125 (Trustees).
NOTES FROM
THE OBSERVATORY
Vernal Equinox
The old saying about March, that it "comes
in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" or vice versa, was not true this
year. We had the lion's roar in the
middle of the month with severe storms along the south coast on the 10 March. Strangely, the severest gusts in the village
were not on the forecast day but a day later.
After a changeable January and a sunnier February, which brought forth a
spell of frosty weather, March has been disappointing, but the sun is getting
noticeably stronger.
This year we have had 10 frosty mornings, only
one in January, but eight in February and, so far, one in March. Rainfall this year has totalled 211mm
(8.33ins). The barometer fell rapidly
during the night before the storms of March, from 990mb to a very low figure of
960mb.
I received a report that the March new moon, a bright
thin crescent, just before the storms, had a visible old moon held in the
crescent. This beautiful sky feature has
always been regarded as an omen of stormy weather and so it came to pass this
time. There is a reference to this
visible old moon being a warning of storms in a 14th Century poem 'Sir Patrick
Spens' when Sir Patrick wishes to put to sea, to the alarm of his crew, one of
whom says:
"late,
late yestreen I saw the new moone
Wi' the auld moone in hir arm
And I feir,
I feir, my deir master
That we
will come to harm"
They put to sea and all were lost in a
storm. Another precursor of bad weather
appeared in the afternoon sky on 30 January.
The sun had a large halo around it. The following day was dull, wet and
windy.
Some very mild days in January gave a splendid
early show of daffodils down Bunford Hill.
As they were in full bloom from the turn of the year I rang the Council
to congratulate them on the display and learned that the variety was Early
Sensation. By the middle of January
many daisies had appeared on the lawn and I saw the first Bumble Bee flying on
2 February, when the day was sunny but cool at 6.7C (44F). A correspondent reported the first butterfly,
a Small Tortoiseshell, flying on 9 February.
Another correspondent saw a pair of juvenile Barn Owls in the garden, a
very welcome sighting.
Less welcome was a pair of bullfinches rapidly
stripping my ornamental cherry of most of the flower buds. Evidently gray squirrels dislike Magpies, for
I watched a squirrel chasing a large Magpie along the branches of several trees
as if the bird were a threat, perhaps to some young squirrels. Magpies seem to be increasing in numbers, for
a lot have been visiting the garden in March.
Goldfinches were active feeders on the seeds of over wintering Evening
Primroses. Celandines gave a bright,
brave show in late January, while this year's show of Forsythia in front
gardens has been particularly good. Less
so has been the number of frogs in my garden pond. Two years ago I had over 20 frogs, last year
there were ten but only a solitary frog has appeared this year. I wonder if this is due to the reported
fungal disease of frogs, now a world-wide threat to the species.
Saturn has been a prominent sight in the southern night sky. Mars is far to the west of Saturn and will
soon move out of sight. In the next
couple of months Saturn will move to the west to be replaced by Jupiter, low in
the south-eastern sky at night. A total
eclipse of the moon on 21 February was at the inconvenient time of 3.25 am and
doubtless seen only by dedicated moon-watchers.
But the whole eclipse was visible from this village.
Francis Cloke
SOUTH SOMERSET
CHORAL SOCIETY SPRING CONCERT
2008
The Spring concert features music from the
classical period, a Te Deum by Franz Josef
Haydn, which is Haydn at his most cheerful, and, if you like that, you will
almost certainly enjoy the Mass in Bb by one of his pupils,
Johann Hummel, and Handels Organ Concerto 13 in F Major,
'The Cuckoo and the Nightingale.
The programme also premieres a new work by the
Musical Director, Richard Barrell.
Written in memory of Graeme Scriven, 'Wings of the Morning' is
also melodic and cheerful. We are
pleased to welcome soprano, Mary Morgan, and the organist of Lichfield
Cathedral, Graemes brother Philip, as our organ soloist. All in all, a concert not to be missed!
Programme as
follows:
St. Marys Church, Chard at 7.30pm, Thursday, 24
April 2008
The
Tickets cost £10.00, (£5.00) for students.
Telephone bookings and information 850483 or 01460 30305. Tickets
are also available from: Emery Newsagent (Chard); Minster Pharmacy (Ilminster);
Tyries (Crewkerne); N & D News Ltd (
The Wessex Morris Men will
be dancing in the village on two occasions this Summer.
Monday 9 June, 8.15pm The
Forester's Arms, Holywell, East Coker.
Monday 14 July, 7.30pm
Outside The Helyar Arms, East Coker
NEXT ISSUE
The next issue of the Newsletter will be in July
2008. Copy, please, to Lesley Lindsay,
Little Meadow, Coker Marsh, East Coker or e-mail Lesley Lindsay or to the East
Coker Post Office & Store by