Dirty Weekend.

 Yesterday, (Friday) we had planned a walk in the surroundings of our village, approximately 4 miles.
The day started nice enough but by the time our walk started the heavens opened.

Five of us turned up - including the guide John Roberts. From the left, Anne (neighbour), Karen (neighbour and best friend) Moi, Shirley (friend from pottery class).

 

John took us through Rosecroft wood and we came back to the village hall for soup, roll and some home baking. Other people from the village popped in for lunch and we had a raffle. Fortunately we had prepared everything before setting out as when we returned around 12.30pm there was no running water - until 5.30pm.

These are our new neighbours - Jay and Graham. I have known Jay for over 20 years as I taught her son.

Alison and Sue Stevenson (Daughter in law and Mother in law, and John Roberts our guide.

As well as no water we had a flood through the village.

Today, Saturday the flood was not as bad but still a significant factor affecting our litter-pick. The village, like many other communities took part in the national "Clean for the Queen" campaign in preparation for the official celebrations for the Queen's 90th birthday in May. We will be holding a village tea party where all the village will be invited to the village hall for afternoon tea on May 15th.

Our local Asda store sent their community worker (2nd left) and the community offer from the borough council came too, supplying high visability vests, litter pickers and plastic bags.

So...considering we have had a flood, were without running water and torrential rain we had two productive events and raised £100 for village hall funds.

Village matters.

Our village hall management committee held the AGM at the end of January. A couple of people stepped down and the remaining members were re-elected, Jon and myself included. Jon is chairperson again, I am a member of the fund-raising committee. 

Every Wednesday I meet up with my friend/neighbour Karen and we thrash through a few ideas and more importantly we set the plans into action. 

I prepared a newsletter which will be delivered into every neighbour this weekend.

By the way - any Archer's fans out there (yes I am one) will have heard the "Clean for the Queen" campaign mentioned last night - we are all ready on the case! 

 Liverton Village News

 February – March 2016

We are thrilled to share some of the exciting plans we have in store

for 2016, a very exciting year as we celebrate 80 years of our village hall.

Lots to  come.

Coffee Morning

The monthly coffee mornings commence

on Saturday February 27th at the usual times, 10am—2pm.

Once again we will be serving food throughout the period,

lunches, home baking and the inevitable corned beef pies.

We are offering a healthy option to ease away any excess pounds gained over the holidays.

We are serving hot chocolate too, hope to see you there.

Any unwanted Christmas presents are always welcome

 for future raffles and tombola.

Any baking will be most welcome, ingredients for baking too.

If you have a free hour and fancy helping out just shout up.

Photograph Competition

We are having a photograph competition—details to follow but in the meantime as you are taking photographs around the village bear this in mind.

Guided Walk

Come on a guided walk on Friday 4th March to appreciate some of the beautiful area around the village.

We meet at Liverton Village Hall at 10.00am for a hot drink then walk along Rosecroft Lane

before returning via Rosecroft Wood.

The walk will be led by John Roberts, famous for his local knowledge and familiarity with walks in the area

There’ll be vegetable soup and a bread roll at the village hall on return.

Cost is £5 with proceeds going to village hall funds.

This is a gentle walk with moderate ascents and descents; please wear suitable clothing and footwear.

Dogs under proper control are welcome on the walk but would need to be tethered outside  the Village Hall.

If you are unable to take part in the walk you are still welcome to come for the lunch in the village hall—we will be having a raffle and there will be a home baking table.

Booking is advisable for walk, lunch or both

01287 644932

Friday 18^th March

Chocolate Making Workshop

The workshops we organised last year were very popular—our first workshop this year will be a chocolate making session on March 18th where people will make their own easter egg.

Either you – or someone you know – loves chocolate, that’s no surprise, but what is surprising is that chocolate can actually be a health food.

Our workshop on March 19^th will be an opportunity

for you to make your very own healthy easter egg.

The type of chocolate we will be making is the really rich,

high quality, low sugar chocolate that contains 85% or more cocoa.

Raw chocolate is made from cocoa beans which haven’t been roasted.

Roasting changes the structure of cocoa beans and lowers the overall nutritional value.

We’ll be using a recipe which includes raw cocoa rather than roasted. 

You’ll notice a huge difference between the two.

All ingredients are supplied.

Cost £10.

We will be having a raffle (Easter Egg of course)

And refreshments will be available.

10am—12 noon.

Call 01287 644932/641209/

to book a place.

Saturday 19^th March

Easter Fun Day

We will be holding our Easter fun day on Saturday March 19th.

There will be something for all the family, games competitions, 

tombola and the usual refreshments.

More details to follow.

Valentine's Day.

Had a lovely meal out with friends last night at a local restaurant - I taught the chef lol! Karen is my partner in crime on the village hall fundraising group so when we returned to our house for "the port" we played some games - along the lines of what we do for our fundraising events. All very silly but we had a laugh - well I say we had a laugh they could have just been patronising me - but I think not.

We always have "name the teddy" or something similar - last night we played "guess the name of the chair!" (Jack lol) We also had a small tombola - 3 prizes for Jon, Karen and her husband - another Jonathan, referred to as Jon.

Today my Jon and I had a lovely afternoon on the beach - I am cooking tonight - roast lamb with all vegetables.

Enjoy your day.

2016

Happy New Year - 1.

New Year's Eve has become a village event now - this year we were invited to our neighbours over the road but the evening commenced with happy Hour at ours. I made some cocktails and we had a fun couple of hours.

Wendie (in the hat) is a great amateur dramatic fan so the hat provided a could prop for many hours of entertainment.

After 10 years of the same spring like curtains I often talk about....

I decided on a change........

We visited a few neighbours homes (we had been invited) and got to bed quite late.

This morning Jon made us bacon sandwiches for breakfast and we have sufficient nibbles and party food for later.

I have a week to clear and prepare the porch as we have had a huge leak on the roof. As we don't tend to use the porch a great deal, chosing to use the kitchen door as an entrance, we were blissfully unaware of the rainwater coming in from the flat roof extension. About 5 months ago the local roofer "patched up" the corroded felt but after the heavy rain a more permanent solution was needed, so he replaced it all but now we have to have the ceiling repaired, possibly replaced. We will know when the decorator comes next Monday. The carpet needs replacing so we are replacing the hall carpet too. Once everything is finished, together with some additional storage we will use the porch as the main entrance. Currently a pale yellow I am once again exploring the world of bold colours and going for a grey theme - dark grey. The carpet, currently beige will also be grey...watch this space!

The Archers

I've been quite busy of late, what with this that and the other but before we know it, ABC Wednesday is back for another round....16 would you believe. Basically a group of us post a weekly contribution with a particular letter of the alphabet. The group is scattered all over the globe and has been going for 8 years. I am humbled to think I started it off all those years ago and it is still going strong to this day, now with Roger  at the helm and a great team. myself just being part of the team.  Friendships have come about this project as well as visits and meet ups. I sometimes have a theme for each round - last round was based on my garden this round however I am just going to see what pops up!

A then has to be The Archers. I listen to this programme every day. We don't watch any soaps on TV, this is the nearest to it I suspect. We live in a farming community and I can identify with some of the issues. I listen to Radio 4 most of the time - I don't  like a quiet house and some music stations have a lot of adverts between the songs. Definitely a Radio 4 fan and most certainly an Archer's fan!

This is how the BBC introduce the programme.

First of all, what exactly is The Archers? Well, it's a radio soap opera set in the fictional English village of Ambridge. It aims to provide essential drama from the heart of the country.
So what does that mean you'll be hearing? Ambridge is a twenty-first century village, with all the pressures of modern rural life. You'll become involved in the characters' personal and business struggles, their love affairs and all sorts of village activities from saving the local shop to the annual fete. There are plenty of lighter moments too.
These characters then... Several of the main families are farmers. At the heart of the programme are David and Ruth Archer at Brookfield Farm. David once had cause to regret employing a handsome cowman, but they're pretty stable nowadays.
Their cousins Pat and Tony Archer farm organically at Bridge Farm. That's a dairy farm as well, but they also keep pigs and grow vegetables. They sell their own yogurt, ice cream and cheese.
At the opposite end of the farming scale are well-off Brian and Jennifer Aldridge at Home Farm, which is the biggest in the village. That little boy who lives there is Brian's son from a torrid affair. When his mistress died, amazing Jennifer agreed to take Ruairi in.
The Archer family is related to the Aldridges, and to several other Ambridge families, including the Hebden Lloyds - she runs a riding school and he's a vet.
If that all sounds a bit posh, there are lots of less well-off characters too. Most of them live and work in and around Ambridge - on the farms, in the local pub The Bull, at the village shop, at Grey Gables hotel or St Stephen's church.
Those sons of the soil the Grundys are particularly good value, both for the scrapes they get in and the fact that Emma Grundy isn't Ed's wife, as you might think, but the ex-wife of Ed's brother Will.
You can look up all the current characters in the Who's Who section of the Archers website.
By now, I expect you're keen to know how you can hear the programme, and it's very easy to start, because the episodes are only thirteen minutes long. They're broadcast on BBC Radio Four every day, Sunday to Friday at seven p.m. And they're repeated the next day at two p.m. - except on Saturdays.
Or if you want to catch a whole week's worth in one go, there's an omnibus edition, on Sunday morning at ten a.m.

Over on Facebook there are a few Archer's groups, I am a moderator  of the Ambridge Addicts Group. We discuss current story lines etc. and all in all often the drama far surpasses anything which occurs in the programme.

T is for Tea Day

The  tea day I organised was a great success. Thanks to the lovely friends I have we produced some fantastic cakes and it looks as though we will raise getting on for £200 for Cancer Research. The cakes that were not sold are now in our freezer and we'll do it all again in December. Friends also made jams and donated raffle prizes.