Batcombe

Batcombe Cream Teas

Sadly, we have decided not to hold our Batcombe Cream Teas this year. We will return next year on Father’s Day at the Friary at Hilfield.

Batcombe Church

The Church has recently undergone a Quinquennial Inspection Survey, which shows that there are many repairs to be undertaken in the next few years in addition to repairing the beetle-damaged roof. So, the Church will be needing funds to deal with this exceptional expenditure.

David Vincent has kindly asked me to arrange to sell a framed, signed print for the benefit of Batcombe Church. The print of the church and the surrounding landscape by James Lynch (www.jameslynch.co.uk) was previously owned by David’s late mother, Doris. The original painting is owned by General Sir Richard Vickers and this print is one of ten signed by the artist in 2011. It is in excellent condition (pictured below). Offers in the region of £125 to me please.

REP & DISTRIBUTOR: Johnny Gibbs jg@intramar.co.uk 83187

WhatsApp group

Batcombe’s WhatsApp friends group is going from strength to strength and helps to engender a brilliant community spirit. A recent focus on bird identification caused much animated discussion, as well as home security, the exchange of locally produced honey, eggs, plants, mushrooms and charity shop items to name but a few.

Summer competition

Hilary Brocklehurst is organising an Initials Competition; questions are free from Hilary (hmbrocklehurst@gmail.com)

There is a prize of £20 so, if you wish to enter, submit your answers by email or to Scotley Farmhouse with a £2 donation to PCC Batcombe (bank details available on request) by Saturday 18 July. This might be a bit of fun for you and your families.

Out and about

Along with many in the village, we have been using lockdown to increase our exercise by walking further. This has meant discovering footpaths and walks, which have been there all along but which we have hitherto been too lazy to explore! We have seen beautiful views and listened to extraordinary birdsong. We have been struck by the variety of wildflowers, i n c l u d i n g several types of orchid. Walking on Gore Hill on Batcombe ridge through a field of rapeseed we saw splashes of colour such as these. 7

The Batcombe church lottery prizewinners were:

MAY 2020

1st 43

2nd 2

3rd

17

JUNE 2020

1st 27

2nd 10

3rd 16 Louisa Macpherson Jean Lilly Hilary Brocklehurst

Jack Shelford Robin Sellick David Broadbent

Thought from the Rise of the Wriggle

Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation and foresight can build up in a hundred years. Edmund Burke

St. Valery commemoration

On 12 June at 1000 hrs, Poppy Scotland organised a nationwide piping event to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the action of the 51 st Highland Division on the same day in June 1940. Just days after the successful mass evacuations at Dunkirk, thousands of British troops still remained on continental Europe under French command. Largely comprised of men from the 51 st Highland Division, they fought almost continuously for ten days against overwhelming odds until eventually surrounded by German forces, commanded by General Erwin Rommel, at St. Valéry-en Caux, near to Le Havre on the French Channel Coast.

However, a combination of fog and the proximity of German artillery above the town prevented the awaiting flotilla of ships from reaching shore. Those who were not killed in the fierce fighting, or who fell to their deaths from the cliffs trying to escape, were captured and marched hundreds of miles to PoW camps in Eastern Europe, where they endured appalling conditions for five long years.

The 51 st Highland Division, initially about 20,000 strong, comprised nine battalions of the Highland infantry regiments with supporting arms and services, including elements from England such as the Duke of Wellington Regiment.

To mark the 80 th anniversary, Highland pipers around the world were asked to play the Pipe Tune Heroes of St. Valery. General Sir Andrew Graham played from atop the Bell tower of Batcombe Church. An appropriately distanced gathering in the churchyard was held. James Troup from Chetnole filmed the event from a drone; a former Gordon Highlander and former two Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were present.

Johnny Gibbs and James Troup