Ramsbury Village Diary - February 2006

Ramsbury & Axford Community

Village Diary - February 2006

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Contents:

Please may we have items for the March Diary by 18 February. They can be left with Sylvia Judge, 55 High Street; Ben Tottenham, Vicarage Cottage, Back Lane; at the Post Office; or by email to diary@pccare.ltd.uk

Nature Notes

A sunny morning at last, after so many dull days during the first half of January: after the showers of 16 January it is quite uplifting. The wild life also responds as, on a fine day about a week ago, a bumble bee was around the heather flowering in my back garden. It was probably a queen looking for a nesting site. I think that it was a buff tail, one of sixteen different types that occur in the country. The queens can be nearly an inch long and can build up a colony of about 150: unlike the honey bee only a new queen survives the winter.
Many of these bees of the Bombus family nest in holes in the ground. Recently, I heard a reference to mason bees occurring in this area. This is a smaller, slimmer bee of the Osmia family. It nests in wood or cracks in walls, hence its common name. It may also use the deserted nests of other solitary bees. It can be seen visiting such early flowers as crocii, violets, lungwort, hyacinths and also willow catkins. I understand that it is more common in Central and Southern Europe: when in South Devon, I watched a colony on the wall of a tumbled down stone barn. Perhaps their presence in Ramsbury suggests that they are moving northwards.
Recently bread or grain has been placed on the litterbin near the Knapp. I presume that this was for the birds but one morning, a brown rat or a bank vole, I am not sure which, was having a meal. Judging by the colour and the ease with which it disappeared into the brambles, I think that it may have been the latter. It is a pity we no longer see the water vole in the river by the bridge. Perhaps the water level is now too low most of the year.

As the days are getting longer and the birds are now singing at dawn and dusk one gets the feeling that spring is on the way even though we could still get frost or even snow.

Rosie Pauline

Bird Notes

I heard recently of eight Woodcock being flushed in just one beat in a local shoot. I got an almost perfect view of one of these shy birds when it was forced to fly up in front of a fir tree, displaying its beautiful mottled brown plumage. These birds are prone to irruptions when they migrate to hospitable areas. These birds will have come here from Central Europe.
I was most impressed by a Nuthatch feeding on a nut hopper. It had worked out that if it approached the hopper from the top it would be rewarded with a whole nut, whereas the Blue Tits and Great Tits were feeding around the sides and only getting a mouthful of nut!
Red Kite were seen at Membury and Harrow Farm. Water Rails have been seen all along the Kennet Valley. At Bolstridge Bottom there is a flock of about 250 Linnet. The Golden Plover are still on top of Spring Hill in good condition. A female Kestrel was left down at the Knapp; it is a stunning bird in the hand.

John Marshall

Rainfall

Rainfall for the month to 18 January was 1.75 inches, 10 year average 3.53 inches.

Community Bus Appeal

The Community Bus depends on volunteer drivers and committee members to provide scheduled services to Hungerford, transport to the Ramsbury Surgery and a range of excursions. For the last few years, Janet Webster (and before that Eric) has co-ordinated the rotas and made sure that the bus and about twenty drivers were in the right place at the right time.
Janet is now retiring and we need someone to take over as co-ordinator. If you think you can help to keep the Ramsbury Flyer flying in this way, please contact Janet on 520033 or myself on 521092 for more details of this vital role. Nigel Evans is also retiring as Treasurer, so that job is up for grabs too. Please call if you can help in any way. Peter Raper - Chairman

Ramsbury and Axford Link Scheme

The Scheme has been running now for over three years and the Co-ordinator Ken Taylor usually manages to find a volunteer for the various requests. However, now that the Surgery has moved to the east end of the village we are finding that more requests are being received for Surgery visits, or collections of prescriptions. Whilst we do have over 30 volunteers registered, we would like to increase this number to cover these additional trips.
We especially need drivers who are available mornings or afternoons on weekdays. Our Co-ordinator will ring a day or two before the task and naturally one can always decline if it is not convenient. Expenses are paid at 38p per mile.
Recruitment Officers are Joy Wilson on 520848 and Tessa Rissone on 520712 who would be happy to discuss the Scheme with anyone interested in becoming a volunteer.
Susan Findlay - Chairman

Greener and Cleaner

Congratulations to all Recyclers. The recycling record of Axford and Ramsbury shows continuous improvement, despite the odd blot on our copybooks by the premature appearance of piles of post-Christmas black sacks.
The normal pattern of recycling and waste collection continues until 1 July 2006.

Collection	Regular day	Feb. collections
Black Boxes	Every fortnight on Tuesdays	February 7 & 21
Green Wheelie Bins	Every fortnight on Wednesdays	February 8 & 22
Cardboard and Plastic Skips (at the Surgery)	Every four weeks on Wednesdays	February 22 (8 - 10.30 am)
Normal black bags	Every Wednesday	February 7, 14, 21 & 28

Ramsbury WI

Ramsbury WI will meet on Thursday 2 February at 7.45 pm in the Methodist School Room, Oxford Street. Dave Leake and Anthony Setter will be talking about their recent trek to Mount Kilimanjaro. New members and visitors are always welcome.

Ramsbury Roxy

Friday 3 February	‘Sixth Sense’	A thriller with Bruce Willis. A boy communicates with spirits with a dramatic twist.	Cert 15
Friday 17 February	‘Casablanca’	The classic film with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.	Cert U
Friday 3 March	‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’
Friday 17 March	‘Fargo’
Friday 31 March	‘Erin Brokovich’

Fish & Chips will be on sale on Friday 17 only. Doors open at 7.30 pm for pre-film drinks.
The film starts at 8 pm. Tickets from the Post Office £3.50, £4 on the door.

Axford Bingo

There will be Bingo in Axford Village Hall on Wednesdays February 8 & 22 at 7.30 pm.

Ramsbury Flyer

The next visit to Newbury will be on February 9, leaving the Tree at 11.30 am and returning from Newbury at 2.30 pm. Book with Muriel Lye on 520555.

The Community Bus also has its own page - just follow the link.

Ramsbury Amenity Group Guided Walks

There will be guided walks on Sunday 12 February to Membury (Walk 5) 4 miles, meet at the Tree to share cars, and on Sunday 26 February to Loves (Walk 9) 4½ miles, 2 pm at the Tree with dogs under control. Come and join us, all are welcome.

Ramsbury & Axford Parish Council

The Parish Council will meet at 7.45 pm on Monday 20 February in the Memorial Hall. All members of the public are welcome.

Ramsbury Horticultural Society

For those who were unable to come to the Society's AGM, please send your membership fee to Sue Arnold, Cranmer Cottage, Scholards Lane, Ramsbury SN8 2PL. The fees are unchanged for 2006 but prospective members may wish to know that these are:
Family membership £5, Single £5, Retired persons £4.
For any queries please email hortsoc@ramsbury.org or telephone Geoff Rissone on 520544.
For our Annual Quiz with Lambourn we fielded two new members in the Ramsbury Team and their debut was met with a particularly challenging and wide ranging set of questions compiled by quizmaster Carl Gill from Lackham College. The Ramsbury Team, comprising Sheila Glass, Yvonne Knibbs, Belinda Pleydell-Bouverie and Allan Davison just managed to hold, by 73 points to 71, the Lambourn Valley Challenge Shield.
The first talk of the year, 'My Organic Garden', will be given by Christie Leary on Monday 6 March at 7.45 pm in the Memorial Hall. Please bring along your friends.

THANKS

The Marshall family would like to thank everybody for their sympathy and support since Margaret’s death before Christmas. All the messages of support have been a great help to us as we try to come to terms with our very sad loss.

The Christmas Lights Appeal at Whitehill Close raised a grand total of £1,035. Thank you to all who took part in helping, and all our visitors who came to see the lights, and kindly gave donations to the Devizes and District Contact a Family, which helps support the family of children who have a disability of some kind. A date for the presentation of the cheque by the Major-Wrecks in full dress, will be available soon.

The total raised by the Carol Singers was £515 to be shared between Naomi House Children’s Hospice and Children in Distress (a Hungerford based charity) Many thanks to all who participated or donated.

Ramsbury Silver Band would like to thank everyone for their support in 2005, and look forward to the continued support in 2006. Christmas was particularly busy for us, and was well received by the village: Again we managed to wake a few people on Christmas Morning.

The Training Band will be continuing this year on Friday evenings starting at 7 pm (ready to play), finishing at 7.30 – 7.40. Please come along on the night if you would like to join.
A reminder for those who joined last year, and have not been to practice for a while: please can you return any instruments that you may have if you do not intend to return. Thank you.
Tracey Smart tsmar@kerridge.com

ADVANCE NOTICES

Tickets for the Marlborough Brandt Group Lent Lecture on Thursday 9 March to be given at 8 pm in Marlborough College Memorial Hall by Mark Malloch Brown, Chef de Cabinet to Kofi Annan Secretary General of the United Nations, are free and not required. There will be a retiring collection. If you require further details, call the Marlborough Brandt Group on 861116.

Project 2005 is running a Casino Night on Saturday 11 March at 8 pm in the Memorial Hall. Tickets at £7.50 are available from Ian Smith on 520871 and Clare Allman on 520233. The evening will have a James Bond theme and the ticket price includes a free Cocktail and Canapés. There will be a pay bar, Roulette, Black Jack and Craps. The proceeds will go to Project 2005. Please support us, and our new facilities for the youth of the village.

Axford Fete is being planned for Saturday 12 August. Please put the date in your diary now. If anyone would like to participate in any way beforehand or on the day please contact Di Barnett on 520139 or Maria Foster on 515633. Further details of the Charities that will benefit will be published in the diary by the organisers in good time.

The Diary is published in paper form, and is incorporated here by kind permission of the Ramsbury Amenity Group.