Stitching Presidents

At a recent informal gathering
an older lady, a former village schoolteacher,
 came in to the village hall
hauling an enormous shopping trolley behind her.

We knew it must contain something interesting
because it had taken a lot of effort to drag it there
and
she only lives next-door-but-one to the hall.


A large and unwieldy bundle of white sheeting was extracted
and laid gently on the tables...

...carefully unfolded
 to reveal a large pure wool tablecloth
which has been embroidered with the names of all
the past Presidents of our village branch of
the Women's Institute.

The branch was formed in 1920
 and
 was extremely well supported for many years.

That support gradually dwindled
and
in 1998 the village branch was closed.

The corners have some white embroidery motifs which really lift the piece.

It's a really excellent piece of village history
of which
the woman with the trolley (a former President, for many years)
 has been guardian
since the branch was disbanded.

She feels that as it is a piece of village/WI/village hall history,
it should be out on display,
for the village
and
not left hidden in her wardrobe.

We all agreed.
I emailed the chairman of the Village Hall Committee
and he also agreed.

It will be displayed on a wall
for all to see and enjoy.

Such a shame that there is even less support for village hall activities
than there was when the local WI was disbanded.

Even the village hall committee has diminished in numbers
 people are dropping out like flies,
and
 others are reluctant to join in.

Signs of the times.




ps  I like the fact that one of those former presidents lived in this house,
many years before we bought the place. 

Little Bunting Village Show - Planning Meeting

The Little Bunting Village Hall Committee held their planning and job allocation meeting last night.

So much work allocated to so few, it is no wonder that those few become weary at wearing so many hats!

The show will go on and there should be little discernible difference for most people, though the organisers may all need two weeks in the sun afterwards.

Now we need the weather to cooperate, a fine and dry day would be wonderful, but we'll cope no matter what.   The Show will be fun and it will allow people to explore their secret, competitive side.  Much tea and cake will be consumed, there will be a lot of  merriment and good humour.

No doubt there will be the usual controversy over the cookery classes.   WI standards versus modern, cutting edge, cheffy stuff.   It all adds to the fun.

Little Bunting rarely has a 'Marrows at Dawn' episode, but in the past there have been some shocking moments in the baked goods department...

Sconegate was memorable, has gone down in village history and surely that can only be a good thing!

There are some fairly exciting new events being planned for the future, more of those as we get nearer the time.
x

The Decline of the Village Hall

There is an open meeting being held in the village hall tonight, something of a last gasp effort to try to keep this community resource in business.     I shall attend, of course, although I fear my feelings are somewhat mixed.

Of course we should do everything we can to try to keep things going but Little Bunting is a very small village and the hall is even smaller.    As always, there are those few who work hard trying to keep things going for everyone to enjoy, some who will turn up for events and disappear before the cleaning-up begins,  but there are even more who simply do not support any event.

In the past this small village, combined with the two even smaller ones nearby, used to have a real sense of community and the village hall was where everyone came together.

Times change, the demographic has changed, people no longer feel the need to come together in the village hall especially when what has been on offer is stuck in a time warp... bingo, beetle drives, and table top sales of the most cringe-makingly awful kind are simply not going to attract people, certainly not more than once.  

Anyway, a meeting has been called and I'll go along.

The tiny building in my header photograph is not the village hall, but it could be.

Well, that was a really interesting evening.   It began with just the Chairman and me, relief in his eyes when he saw that at least someone had showed up.    We set up a dozen chairs and a couple of tables, wondering whether we were being a little optimistic.

Threaten to take away their toys and you do get a reaction.

Twenty-two members of the community trickled in - some of them newcomers to the village, others who have lived there for a decade or more but who never support any of the functions.   They were surprisingly vocal.

The end result of this meeting, which deviated somewhat from the original aim, was that the residents of the village want their annual village show.   It is a huge event (for villages like Little Bunting, Butterbump Splash and Dovecot Dell) and it doesn't organise itself.  They want one to be organised ready for August 21st.

The people demanding it be thus have no idea of how much time and planning and sheer hard work goes into an event like that.   Normally the programme would be delivered to the community months ahead of the show so that people can grow the appropriate flowers, vegetables and begin making their craft/art projects, alcoholic drinks, etc.

Four weeks.  That is what we have got.


So the silent and inactive majority have spoken.  They want a show and they want their village hall kept open.   We'll jump through the hoops and perform a little miracle.  It is up to them to support it.  Fingers crossed, but don't hold your breath.

Village Life and a Village Death

Yesterday I attended another meeting at our tiny village hall.   It is a new group for the oldies and the new oldies, a new initiative by the local district council -  to show how much they care for country folk and the elderly.

I must extract my tongue from my cheek.

This is the same council which intends to make us pay for the street lighting in the village (eg they say the call-out fee would be about £700 to have someone change a light bulb... which could explain why we once had to wait almost two years for the only one near us to have the bulb changed) otherwise they will remove the poles and that will be that forever.

Of course this has stimulated much heated discussion within and without the village.  As ever there are those who want the lights left on, others don't see any benefit to themselves so are happy to opt out, while the rest simply don't care.

The jury is still out.   Either that or we just haven't been told of the final decision yet.

Anyway, they have some National Lottery funding burning a hole in their pocket and someone had the idea of opening up the village hall once a month so that the older folk (how strange it feels to be included in that group,  don't they realise that I am really only in my 20's?) can meet up and enjoy some social connection.

Yesterday's little gathering was attended by, perhaps, a dozen people.   Pretty good for such a tiny, and I do mean tiny, village.

We had cups of tea and slices of cake, lots of chat and discussion about how to proceed.    We will only meet once a month - funding can be found for the rent of the village hall and for expenses for someone to come in and give a talk, lesson, demonstration.   Doesn't sound too onerous, at the moment but that could change.

Although I notice it is the same ones as usual who have to set up the tables, make tea and then stack chairs, etc.   Nothing changes.

Miss Read, one of our village elders, a former school teacher, is going to get the ball rolling, which is nice of her.    Someone else wants to have an art class, another wants some plant advice from the more green-fingered among us,  and the idea of a meal at the pub was mooted too.    All pretty tame stuff.

But how about this?

Poppy, how about giving us a demonstration of how you can make these wonderful garnishes, or perhaps you could show everyone how you serve tea, Chinese-style?   The special tea would be purchased through expenses.

I think something like that would be well received and greatly appreciated by everyone.   Have a think about it.   Your audience would be tiny but very appreciative of your skills.

The tea ceremony would be something completely different and they would love the beauty and formality of it.

Enough of all that though.

The village has lost another elder, one of the truly long-term residents.  His family have lived here for generations - the old village blacksmith.

I posted about him on my old blog.  This was taken a few years ago when he had to give up working the forge due to ill health, so all the equipment was auctioned.  A sad day then and a sad day today.

The village signs acknowledge that we were once lucky enough to have a village blacksmith, so he won't be forgotten.

Time Travelling with Oscar

Image borrowed from bucksfreedompress.blogspot

Our very elderly neighbour, Oscar was on the village hall committee

and, locked away in his writing bureau, is a dull and tatty-looking blue notebook.

Did I say dull?    Absolutely not!  It is a priceless gem, packed full of village history.

Oscar read aloud from the notebook,  the minutes of the Little Bunting Village Hall Committee meetings  from long ago.

Back then it was a lively and well supported village hall which hosted bingo nights, scrabble games, jumble sales, dances, plays and pantomimes, trips were taken on coaches,  harvest suppers, quizzes, film nights, cricket was played on the village green* and there was the annual Gala, at which a Gala Queen would be chosen.

Oscar read out that the fireworks for the annual display cost the princely sum of £5.00 and we both had a laugh about that, I don't buy fireworks, but I doubt you would get much more than a packet or two of sparklers for that amount, these days.

His notes give the name of the woman who made toffee, another who provided hot dogs and the woman who made soup for everyone.   I can't remember all the details of the costings, but I know the soup-maker charged 99p for the 70 servings.

Image borrowed from telegraph.co.uk

I particularly loved the accounts of cricket on the village green, with a beautiful tea of cucumber, ham or salmon sandwiches with scones and cakes provided for tea.    .   

Wonderful stuff!    Is there anything more evocative of rural England than cricket on the village green?   Chaps in cricket whites and women in pretty frocks serving tea, the heat of a summer afternoon, the smell of grass, friends and rivals come together...

These days our large village green is occasionally mowed and rarely used.   There has been debate and argument on how the ground could be used by the community.   Some wanted it to be a playground for the village children but this was fiercely opposed by some people who thought it would be too noisy for them.  Others wanted the ground to be turned into allotments...

To the best of my knowledge, nothing has been done about it so far.

*If you click on this link it will take you to a map which I drew of Little Bunting.     It shows the location of the village green, hidden away, difficult to find.


So, Oscar and I whiled away an hour or two going down memory lane for him.   I think he enjoyed it almost as much as I did.     Armchair time-travel in wonderful company.


There was a reason that I spent so this time with Oscar, this morning he became a little upset over some work which has to be done to make some outbuildings, which back onto the public road, safe.  He was overwhelmed by the builder/demolition man's chat and didn't understand what was to happen.

So he rang Max.

Unfortunately, Max had a meeting which he couldn't avoid, so I said I would go along and talk to the builder and try to sort things out.     There wasn't really a problem, it was more a case of the builder not fully understanding just how difficult it can be for older people to deal with things like this.

It was quickly sorted and I managed to get Oscar to sit down, have a cup of tea and relax, which is how he got reminiscing, much to my joy.

I know that some of you have been concerned about Oscar, so let me reassure you that Max and I have had a good chat with his family, who are fully committed to doing their best for him.    They totally understand our concerns and we have jointly formulated a plan to help Oscar.