Wickham Skeith Newsletter
March2023
Feb2022
All in the Village Hall unless otherwise stated.
March 2023
Wednesday 8th Lunch Club 12 for 12.30 Advance Bookings Please
Thursday 9th Mobile Library van: 2 stops between 9.45 and10.20am
Saturday 11th Crafternoon 2-4pm
Saturday 11th Italian Night 7pm
Monday 13th Parish Council 7.30pm All Welcome
Tuesday 14th Hilltop Women’s group – Food Museum talk 7.45pm
Wed 15th Alistair Govan’s “Village Videos” 7.45pm
April 2023
Saturday 1st Friends of St Andrews Church Quiz evening 7.30pm
Thursday 6th Mobile Library van: 2 stops between 9.45 and10.20am
Saturday 15th Pub Night at the Village Hall 7pm
Welcome
To Katy and Pete who have moved into Summerseat in The Street. We hope you will enjoy living here.
We are very grateful to everybody who contributes in any way to the success of the Village Hall. Please support us when and where you can!
Recent Events:
Burns Night: Thank you to Margaret for the organisation of the Burns' Supper which made a very good profit!
Future Events:
Italian Night 11th March 2023:
We hope that this will be a successful family event starting at 7pm at a cost of £5 per person with Primary age children at £3. There will be no need to book tickets and money will be taken on the night on the door. The bar will be open, of course, with Italian wines and beer. Other wines, beer and drinks will also be available! Hopefully we have willing volunteers who plan to provide- Pizza, Meat Bolognese, Veg Bolognese, Carbonara, Fusilli Pasta and Linguine, Focaccia. Ice cream for dessert
There will be a fun Italian table quiz too.
AGM and Pub Night 15th April 2023:
This will start at 7pm with the AGM being very short! We promise! Please come along and listen-you will not be pressured into joining the committee although... We really do need someone to become the Treasurer. You won't have to be on the committee to do the finances!! If you do have the skills required, please speak to a committee member to get the low down on what is involved.
Flower, Produce and Craft Show
Two things...firstly great thanks to the Garden Club for having run this event for the last few years but, with their demise, we are not planning one this yearALTHOUGH if anybody feels able to organise it for the Village Hall Committee, we will be very happy for it to go ahead and would support it wholeheartedly. Please speak to a committee member!
And secondly...is it possible to have all the cups and other silverware back please! We will display it in the Village Hall but would really like them back. Bring them along to an event at the Hall or drop them in to a committee member. Thank you.
We have a new First Aid kit in the hall in case of accidents too.
Thank you for reading through this and please help us where you can.
Future Events from the Village Hall Committee
Coronation Weekend: The Hall will be open from 9:00am on Saturday 6th June 2023
with the event being projected on the screen in the Hall. The bar will be open and there will be sausage rolls and croissants and tea and coffee also available. On Sunday 7th June 2023 there will be a “Sharing Lunch” on the Green with everyone being invited to donate food. There will be a communal Village Photograph at 2:00pm and the Bar can be open until 6:00pm.
Summer Fete 24th June 2023
Music on the Green 9th September 2023: in light of last year's successful event we hope this can go ahead again.
Other potential Events: a bat walk around the Grimmer, village green and possibly down to the church. We hope this may be possible in October.
Lunch Club
In February Margaret Knights cooked a tasty pork and parsnip casserole for us and Margaret Jones Evans prepared a great cheesecake with a huge bowl of delicious fruit. In March we meet as usual on the second Wednesday of the month which this month is the 8th March, eating at 12.30pm. The cost is £4 and we do cater for food requirements such as diabetics, vegetarians and gluten free diets, just keep us informed.
If you wish to book a place please contact Jenny Elphick by Friday 3 rd March by phone 01449 766885 or mobile 07745416091 or email at jenny.elphick@sim.org
‘Crafternoon’ Saturdays
Whatever your art or craft bring along your current project.
Share skills, ideas, tips and techniques. Inspire and be inspired in the company of other creative people. If you have an ‘arty’ or ‘crafty’ friend then bring them too.
Surplus art/craft items & books to sell? Bring them for the bring and buy table.
Next Crafternoon on 11 March 2-4pm
Entry: £2.00 per person (inc. tea/coffee/biscuits).
History Group
On Wed 15th March we have three films to fascinate & intrigue.
Our first film covers the memories of those horsemen & farm workers born in the village at the start of the 20th century. The second film, entitled “The Grimmer Dig 1991”, shows how the pond was drained, reshaped & refilled. Our final film shows the fund-raising efforts to restore the six Church Bells of St Andrews in 2003/4. This proved to be a fascinating & tuneful process.
All are welcome so do join us in the Village Hall at 7.45pm on Wed 15 Mar Entry Fee £3, including tea/coffee and biscuits.
Contact: Pete Davidson 07951 020998 or pjdavidson42@gmail.com
Hilltop Women’s Group
The February meeting was an evening of origami which was well received and well attended and well led by Jonathan and his daughters.
The March meeting on Tuesday 14th at 7.45 in the village hall will be a talk about The Food Museum in Stowmarket. ( Formerly known as The Museum of East Anglian Life)
Our own Melinda Appleby will be talking about this important venue in her capacity as a Trustee of the Museum.
The competition will be an old family recipe. Written version only required . (No extra points will be awarded for the made version, but we are partial to anything chocolate!)
Visitors always welcome for a £3 fee which includes refreshments and members just £1 as usual.
Do come. Enquiries to Margaret Knights 01449767708.
59 Club
Recent winning numbers: Jan – 25; Feb – 56, 50, 29.
Friends of St Andrew’s Church Quiz Evening 1st April
At 7.30pm in the Village Hall we shall have another of Pete’s quizzes.
The cost of £5 per person includes a half-time supper. The bar will be open. Teams of 8 but teams will also be made up on the night.
Please book as a team or an individual email: pjdavidson42@gmail.com
eadavidson42@gmail.com
phone: 01449 766622 or 07951 020998
The Suffolk Mobile Library van stops in the lay-by outside the chalet bungalows, from 9.45 to 10am. Then outside Haymead House in The Street from 10.05 to 10.20.
Next visits –9 March and 6 April 2023
Florist workshops
Rose Cottage Flowers - Floristry Workshop
Thursday 16th March 09.30-1.00 in the Village Hall
Theme is Spring and the cost of £30.00 includes refreshments, ideas for home arrangements and all materials required to make your own piece to take away. Numbers are limited, so book as soon as possible with either your phone number or email contacts and I will send details the week before the event.
No experience necessary!
Margaret Knights
rosecottageflowers@hotmail.co.uk
01449767708
Also Wednesday 3rd May
There will be a Coronation themed floristry workshop from 09.30am-1.00pm £30.00 to include refreshments, all materials and a completed piece to take home. Numbers will be limited, so book early for this one.
Oil Syndicate
The next oil syndicate deadline will be 31st March 2023. If you’ll need oil, please email jerrybassett@icloud.com, or call 765908 if you don’t have email, up to and including those dates.
St Andrews Church Tower Roof – in need!
We are fortunate to have a fine ring of bells in the tower of St Andrew’s, hung on a good 19th century oak frame under an oak roof which is covered in lead. Lead roofing lasts a very long time but, as temperatures fluctuate, it expands and shrinks, any weak spots crack, and water gets in. During 2022 we had extreme temperatures and new cracks have opened up which will only get worse. The interior wood is getting wet so we need to do something about the small area of the tower roof ….now. The main roof leadwork has been repaired many times and it now urgently needs more repairs. If left, it will require total replacement. FOSA have received an anonymous match-funding donation of up to £1000 on condition that the Church can raise another £1000. If you can help, please talk to Liz Davidson or Margaret JonesEvans.
Apart from that problem it costs St Andrew’s about £1300 per month to stay open to the public for worship, funerals, weddings, concerts and visiting. Prices continue to rise, even for the church. We get no government help and have to raise all the money ourselves. Can you help? You can give a one-off donation or set up a regular payment. You can use the donate option on our page on A Church Near You (https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/2088/) or visit www.parishgiving.org.uk and then search for “St Andrew’s, Wickham Skeith” or scan the QR code in the church porch & village hall noticeboard or use the card machine in church or speak to Liz or Margaret about how you could help.
Toads on the Road
A reminder that if we get some damp evenings with temperatures above 5 or 6 degrees, we expect to see our local toad population making its way to their breeding ground in the village pond. Please look out for them as you drive round the Grimmer. We have a toad patrol that goes out collecting at dusk until traffic subsides. If you would like to volunteer to help on one night a week, please contact Melinda (details back page)
Members of Wickham Skeith Parish Council are summoned to a Parish Council Meeting to be held on Monday 13th March 2023 at 7.30 pm at the Village Hall, Wickham Skeith.
AGENDA
1. Apologies for absence
2. To receive members’ Declarations of Interest and requests for dispensation from Councillors
3. To resolve that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 9th January 2023 are a true and accurate record.
4. Public Forum: questions and comments relating to business on this agenda. Any other matters should be reported to the Parish Council or Clerk at another time
5. To receive a report from the County Councillor Stringer
6.To receive a report from the District Councillor Warboys
7. Planning matters:
a. Application for works to tree in a conservation area – DC/22/06365 – Proposal: Fell 2no sycamore and 1 no conifer, 2 sycamores (there are 3 others and these two are being crowded out and it makes this part of the garden dark), 1 conifer probably leylandii but is currently dying. Location: Place Farm, The Green, Wickham Skeith
b. Application for Listed Building Consent - DC/23/00202 Proposal: Listed Building Consent - Repair to wall and gate following impact by vehicular damage Location: The Old Swan House, The Street, Wickham Skeith has been withdrawn
c. Application for Planning Permission - DC/22/06310 Proposal: Full Planning Application - Conversion of barn into 1no. dwellinghouse with single bedroom annexe. Conversion and extension of an existing brick garage into a workshop and double bay cart lodge. Location: Street Farm, The Street, Wickham Skeith
8. Finance:
8.1. To receive financial report and note any income received
8.2. From the financial report authorise payments made since the last meeting and to be made
8.3 To agree the purchase of a commemorative bench for the King’s Coronation (£750) and commemorative mugs at a cost of (£500)
8.4 To approve and sign the Annual CIL statement for 2022-23
9. Community Infrastructure Levy Survey: To discuss the results of the survey and any actions
10. Working Parties: Village Green and the Grimmer. Update on a proposed zoned management plan for the Grimmer
12. Speed of traffic in village: update on ANPR camera
13. Matters for the next agenda
14. Date of next meeting
Wickham Skeith Village Events
6-7 May 2023
Saturday 6th May Morning
Watch the Coronation Live on the Big Screen with friends and neighbours in the Village Hall, Bar Open and light refreshments.
Sunday 7th May lunch-time
Wickham Skeith Big Lunch on the green from noon. Please bring food to share as part of our celebratory community get-together. Come and meet old and new neighbours. Come dressed for the occasion, if wished, and enter into the Coronation spirit.
At 2pm gather round the Village Sign for a community photo.
Wednesday 10th May
The Lunch Club will hold a special King’s Coronation Lunch in the Village Hall from 12 noon.
Coronation Mug
It is hoped that the Parish Council will be able to give a King’s Coronation Mug to all under-16year-olds in the village who apply by 31st March 2023. Over 16 and want a mug? Please let us know. We anticipate these will cost £9 each.
Request for Coronation Mugs
Please reserve insert number mugs for the following under-16s living in Wickham Skeith:
Insert name of child(ren)………………………………………………………………….
I would like to reserve insert number mugs to be purchased @ £9/mug.
Name & contact details……………………………………………………………...
Please return order to village hall letterbox or email coronationmug@proton.me by 31st March 2023
Further details of events and timings in forthcoming newsletters as they become available. Save the dates to celebrate with friends and family in the village and let us know if you want to order the Coronation Mug.
Wickham Skeith Coronation Picture Show
As part of the events for the Coronation we would like to create a photographic record of our village community. We are looking for photographs of individual households (people, pets, gardens, your favourite village view) plus photographs of village groups (Hilltops, Lunch Club, PCC etc).
If you would like your household or group to be part of the record, please email a maximum of 3 photographs per household/group to: ws.coronation@proton.me The maximum file size you can send is 25MB. If the photos you wish to send will, in total, exceed 25MB (highly unlikely) please contact me and I will refer you to technical support - my son Jonathan!
Your photographs will need to be received by 21st April 2023 and it would be good if you could give the name/title of your household/group, so in years to come people will know who we were!
A slideshow of the photographs will be shown at the Village Hall during the coronation events on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of May, so we can all enjoy seeing our wonderful Wickham Skeith community on the Big Screen!
If you need help with the photography and/or email please let me know.
Thank you for your support.
Julie Keable (Joint Parish Council/Village Hall Coronation group) 01449 766771Church of England, Wickham Skeith
Facebook: @bactonbenefice
Rector: The Revd Carl Melville, The Rectory, Bacton, IP14 4LJ 01449 781650, email: carlmelville@hotmail.com
Wardens: Liz Davidson 766622 and Margaret Jones-Evans 767121
Services in March 2023
All services at 9.30am in church unless otherwise stated
3rd March, Friday 2pm World Day of Prayer, Wickham Skeith
5th March Holy Communion
12th March Café Church
19th March Mothering Sunday All Age Service
26th March Morning Praise
2nd April 10am Palm Sunday Benefice Service, Wickham Skeith
For other benefice services, please view our Facebook page.
Weekly Email and News – if you’d like to sign up to receive our weekly news email, please contact the Rector.
Please join us for the World Day of Prayer service at St Andrew’s on March 3rd. This year the service is entitled ‘I have heard about your faith’ and has been prepared by the women of Taiwan. It is always an interesting and enjoyable service, everyone is welcome (not just women!) & we look forward to seeing a good crowd.
As last year, we start Holy Week with Palm Sunday at Wickham Skeith where we will process with a donkey! Meet on the Green ready to walk to church at 10am. Do come along but if you don’t want to walk the church will be open for you to go in and take a seat.
Flower & Cleaning Rota
Mar 5th & 12th Mrs E Davidson & Mrs J Willoughby
Mar 19th & 26th Mrs M Rowe & Mrs S Wright
April 2nd & 9th Miss R Elsden & Mrs J Keable
Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM)
This will be held on Sunday 30th April at Bacton Church following a 10am benefice service. Everyone welcome.
Church Electoral Roll
Everyone who comes to church and would like to vote at the APCM needs to be on the Electoral Roll by 7th April when the roll will be closed for revision for a week while the Electoral roll is being brought up to date ready for the APCM. Application forms are available from me – 01449 767121
Margaret Jones-Evans, Church Electoral Roll OfficerA letter from St. Andrew’s Church
As I write this there are people in Turkey and Syria who are suffering terribly from the effects of the recent earthquake. Thousands have died and, in some cases, whole families have been killed. The weather is cold and there is little comfort of any kind; the basic needs of shelter, food and water are being brought to the affected areas by aid agencies and the goodwill of people around the world. It is difficult to understand how terrible it must be for people in those countries.
Life is difficult for many here too. People are suffering from the cold because they cannot afford to heat their homes, they cannot pay their mortgage or feed their children. But there has to be hope.
The story of Pandora’s box is that Pandora was to marry Epimetheus. As a wedding present Zeus gave Pandora a box but warned her never to open it. Inevitably she couldn’t resist and on opening the box awful things flew out including greed, envy, hatred, pain, disease, poverty, war and death. All of life’s miseries! But one thing remained in the box and that was hope and today that is the thing we must cling on to, hope for the future.
There seem to be so many things to worry us and upset us at the moment but God gives us hope. When Jesus died, he sent his Holy Spirit to work through us and that is exactly what is happening in Turkey, in Syria and in this country. People are helping one another and the command from Jesus to love your neighbour has never been more relevant. We cannot, and should not, ignore the pain and suffering of others. There is always something we can do, however small, including prayer.
All our churches are collecting for those suffering from the earthquake and there will be other things that you can do to give hope to those who need it. God will listen to our prayers and His love will shine through, often quietly through the work of millions of people. Will you be one of those people?
God Bless - Elaine Miller Lay Reader
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ON THE LAST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH, 9am til noon
Traditional Suffolk Sausages £8.60 kg - packs of 8 , Sausage Meat G/F) £8.60kg
GOURMET SAUSAGES all 90% meat content £9.40kg - packs of 8 Stokes caramelised Red onion marmalade & Mature Cheddar, Old English Pork & Apple, Lincolnshire, Cumberland Chippolatas (G/F)
PORK BURGERS
BACK BACON SMOKED & UNSMOKED in 8 rasher packs £16.50kg
SUFFOLK ALE & BLACK TREACLE SLOW CURED BACK BACON £19.87kg
SMOKED STREAKY BACON £14.50 kg
Boneless loin of pork £10 kg
Belly pork Joints and Belly Slices £8kg, Pork Mince £8.60 kg, Tenderloin £9.60kg,
ORGANIC GRASS FED FREE RANGE HALF LAMB BOXES
5-6kg Frozen Vacuum packed and labelled £100
Sam at TAS Animal Care Knoll Farm, Wickham Skeith
Mobile: 077424 50908 Landline: 01449 768620
LOOKING AFTER YOUR ANIMALS WHEN YOU CAN’T
www.tasanimalandpoultry.co.uk
Business Adverts
Adverts are £5.00 per month, £25 for 6 months and £50 for one year.
Cash or cheque (payable to “Wickham Skeith Village Hall”) to Melinda Appleby at Haymead House, The Street, in advance of the advert being placed please.
This newsletter is produced by Wickham Skeith Village Hall Committee
All bookings of the Village Hall and its equipment should go to:
Gill Colchester Telephone 01379 788040 or Mobile 07850 641233 Email. gillyano@live.co.uk
From January 2023 the hire rate is £10 per hour. The rate is per hour or part thereof. Minimum booking period 2 hrs. A 30 minute "warming up" period will be allowed in cold weather conditions. 25% reduction for Wickham Skeith residents and Wickham Skeith village groups.
The day rate is £100 per day and the fee to official bodies is £250.00
Village Website
For information about Wickham Skeith, the Parish Council, and updates on events, visit the village website at https://wickhamskeith.suffolk.cloud/
And finally...
Please send all your village news and adverts for next month’s newsletter to:
melinda.appleby@mypostoffice.co.uk or call 01449 766879
By 25th March 2023