The Village Show

Our Annual Village Show.

For a full report follow the link to my other blog...https://oldcooks.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/village-show.html ... sorry, but I am too tired to type it all out again!

It took some effort, but we managed to put on another show.  Hurrah for village life!

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.

Tea and Buns in the Village Hall

The tea urns and kettles were boiled, rows of cups lined the counters while plates of cakes, buns and tarts tried to seduce the customers.      Little Bunting's last ever village show was under way.

These pretty, fine bone china cups and saucers always set me wondering - they look far too pretty to have been bought by committee, so I wonder whether they were donated, no one seems to know.  Could they have been someone's cherished tea set, for they were expensive in their day.   Whereas the plain blue coffee cups are far more utilitarian and robust, exactly what you would expect, thick and clunky, typical village hall stuff...just as well, for I was also doing the washing-up.

First thing this morning we had an hour and a half to stage our exhibits, fill in the forms, and pay our 25p per item entered.   It is a time for chatting, meeting up with friends and for a little healthy competition.

This was the loaf of bread which I entered as my speciality bread, in truth I had never tried the recipe before.   I just liked the sound of the recipe and the way the loaf looked!   It was a roasted garlic loaf.  I started the loaf last night, left it to prove in the fridge overnight, and then continue again this morning.   We have just tried it and it is delicious.    It is sure to become a favourite to eat with soups, etc.  I'll make some next time you come home, Poppy.

One of the most hotly contested classes was a chocoholics showstopper chocolate cake...

Another well subscribed one was flower arranging.   The hall began to look like a flower shop, there were jugs and vases of roses, dahlias, sweetpeas, mixed blooms, etc.   A visual delight, but also one where I wish smelly vision were possible.   The place smelt like a flower shop.

11am came and people were asked to leave as the judges arrived, to begin their work.  

Who'd be a judge?   

It's just as well they work in isolation and leave before the crowds arrive at 2pm, 

all eager to scan for the results of their endeavours.

The lovely lady in the middle of this photograph won a very special prize, a plate which is awarded once a year in memory of a much loved and missed former stalwart of the village and the WI, Sheila.

Poppy, this was my showstopper cake.   I probably spent almost as much time and effort in cutting out the paper frills, as I spent on making and decorating the cake.   It was fun, but I don't think I want to look at another chocolate cake for quite a while.   Lemon seems so much more appealing - actually, anything but cake would do me.

It was awarded a first - I think the judge was a real chocoholic and the combined waft from over 400g of very good quality dark chocolate, plus masses of dark cocoa powder, overcame her for it certainly wasn't the most beautiful cake!

x

My First Cookery Book

When I was very young I would spend hours drooling over my mother's one and only cookery book.   It was a huge black volume -  Good Housekeeping's Cookery Book.     I probably still have it on a bookshelf.   It was mostly in black and white, with just a very few pages in colour, quite unlike modern publications, which are lavish with colour photographs, but often short on content.

I was given this Children's Cook Book when I was 8 years old.   It was an interesting gift, I adored it and would spend hours poring over it, drooling.  That messy spine repair should really be tidied up and I should give the book to our grandchildren, but right now I am enjoying my little excursion down Memory Lane.

The funny thing about this gift was that we were living in Hong Kong at the time and a trip to the kitchen was not often possible.   It was presided over by Ah Foung, who was always smiling and happy, but she liked to cook alone, it was her kingdom.  

I was occasionally allowed to wash the fruit, that was it.   It had to be done properly, using some purple crystals which were sprinkled into the water.   These crystals were there to ensure that we didn't succumb to some dreadful disease or other.   Goodness knows what they were, or what they did to us.

 So it would have been more than 3 years later before I was able to put any of this into practise...

Hold sharp knives, boil kettles, roast meat...

...do the washing up?

These days the thrill of cooking and baking has well and truly passed.   However, with the annual village show looming, I have had to think about which classes to enter.  A few cookery books have been consulted.   A couple of items have been tried out - dismal failures - although the cake did make a great trifle and the birds enjoyed some experimental bread.

Don't worry, Dom.    You definitely have nothing to fear from this quarter.