Ramsbury Village Diary - February 2009

Ramsbury & Axford Community

Village Diary - February 2009

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Nature Notes Bird Notes Rainfall Editorial Items Diary Items Thanks Advance Notices Calendar (current) Past Issues	Please may we have items for the March Diary by 18 February. They can be left at the Post Office; or sent by email to diary@ramsbury.org
	Nature Notes Having experienced one of the coldest spells for some years during the Christmas season, it is surprising how, in mid January, signs of spring are beginning to show. As I walked down Union Street today, 14 January, I saw a snowdrop almost open and others starting to show a touch of white. In the garden there is some bloom on the viburnum. I have also noticed daffodil leaves are now a few inches above the ground and the winter jasmine flowers, spoilt by the sharp frosts, are quickly producing new ones. It is not just plant life that is showing signs of reawakening. The other day on returning with my dog, a tiny mouse or vole was scurrying across my driveway, like a brown leaf when carried along by a light breeze. It was moving too quickly to be sure of its identity. With slightly milder weather, large creatures are also on the move, like the fallow deer that caused a traffic hold up on the approach to Chilton Foliat. I think it had been injured and had to be shot. As I approached, a rifle was put back in a car and the deer was being loaded into a vehicle. It will no doubt provide some good, healthy meals. Farmers during the cold period must have found it difficult to harvest vegetables, especially root crops, unless they had already gathered and clamped them. I was unable to dig any parsnips or leeks for about a week, as the ground was frozen too deep to get a fork into the soil. This made me think of the problems the cold was causing. Hopefully, it will have the advantage of killing some pests. May we have no more severe weather to bring bone-breaking, icy conditions on the roads and footpaths, nor ice patterns on cars and window panes, attractive as they are. Sunshine and no fog is what we hope for. Rosie Pauline Bird Notes The large flock of golden plover have moved even further south. Their place has been taken by lapwings and fieldfare all around the village. On one bitterly cold morning I was intrigued to see a number of fieldfare, each perched atop a mole hill. Presumably the chances of finding a worm in the freshly turned earth are quite high. Worms also feature in the diet of a number of raptors. I have often seen buzzards taking them but I have also a report of a kestrel repeatedly picking up worms as the ground thawed. Even red kite will take worms if little else is available, and a number of those have been over the village recently. The severe weather seems to have pushed a few unusual birds in our direction, with reports of a great black-backed gull on the Manor Lake, a redstart on Springs Hill and a water rail on the Kennet. A waxwing has also been seen in the village. Many hundreds have been driven over from Scandinavia and Russia by the bitter cold there and have been slowly working their way down from Scotland to the south. They particularly like cotoneaster berries and a single bird can consume over 300 in an hour - you have been warned! Paul Swan Rainfall Rainfall for the month to 18 January was 1.50 inches, average 3.53 inches.
	Sports Pavilion Vandalism - £500 Reward After five years of planning, fund raising and construction, the £300,000 sports pavilion was vandalised on the first day it was open. The pavilion is now closed and mothballed as the result of these mindless attacks. A reward of £500 is offered for information leading to the prosecution of those responsible. Please contact local beat officer PC Batchelor, in confidence, with any information that will lead to the conviction of the culprits on 0845 408 7000 ext.739818 or email jeremy.batchelor@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk. Alternatively call anonymously to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. You could qualify for the £500 reward and the thanks of the community. Waste Black boxes and green wheelie-bins will be emptied on Tuesdays 3 & 17 February. Black wheelie-bins and orange sacks will be taken on Tuesdays 10 & 24 February. Skips will be at Aldbourne Pond on Tuesday 3 February and at the Ramsbury Surgery from 8 to 10.30 am on Tuesday 17 February. Ramsbury Lunch Club Ramsbury Lunch Club provides hot meals for the older members of our community (over 60s). Transport to and from the Church Room can be arranged. Phone Diana Trickey on 520630 for details. Donations, committee members and volunteer helpers to drive and wash up are needed. Please contact Diana Trickey or Denise Milner on 520174. A big thank you to our retiring Committee Chair, Mair Reed. Advice on Chip and Fat Pan Fires The Community Safety Advisor has asked for the following advice to be circulated. In the past it was recommended that individuals deal with these small fires by trying to extinguish them with wet tea towels, fire extinguishers, and fire blankets. The advice has changed and is now - get out, stay out and dial 999. Newcomers' Welcome Pack The Ramsbury Amenity Group, the publishers of this Diary, also produce a Newcomers' Welcome Pack. Please contact Rolf Mitson on 521366 if you are new to the village and have not received a copy.
	Methodist Church Sunday services at 10.30 am on 1 February in Aldbourne and on 8, 15 & 22 February in Ramsbury. Coffee Centre every Thursday. The Methodist church school hall is available for hire and the new kitchen will soon be open. The Lucky Prize draw raised £148.21 and the total raised over the year was £1,021.99 shared between Ramsbury surgery, Bruce Trust, Prospect Hospice, Douglas Art Centre, East Kennet Community Bus and Ramsbury Methodist Church. Our thanks to Michael Franklin who made a beautiful altar cross for Ramsbury Methodist church from a piece of the old elm tree that once stood in The Square where the oak now stands. Horticultural Society Monday 2 February at 7.45 pm, a talk in the Memorial Hall - "Travels in Search of Remarkable Plants" by Robert Harvey. If you would like to join or re-join the society, then please send your appropriate fee (family £6, single £5, retired £4) to Michael Handford, Hon. Treasurer, Millstream, 9 High Street, Ramsbury, SN8 2PA, giving full address and details of names. Our talk on Monday 2 March will be on Pelargoniums. Ramsbury WI Ramsbury WI meets on Thursday 5 February in the Methodist Schoolroom, Oxford Street. Ian Purvis will speak on Treasure Seeking. Doors open at 7.15 pm and the meeting starts promptly at 7.45 pm. Visitors and new members are always welcome. Busy Bees meet on Thursday 19 February at 7.30 pm in the Lychgate Room. A Date with Music Saturday 7 February at 7.30 pm in the Memorial Hall. An informal, light-hearted musical evening when 14 singers and musicians will perform in aid of Arthritis Research and Jessie's Fund. Tickets £5 each (include a glass of wine) are available from Ramsbury Post Office or contact Caroline Franklin on 520496. Holy Cross Church There will be a working party to do the winter clear-up in the old churchyard on Saturday 7 February from 10 am until noon. Do come and join us with your secateurs and/or rake if you can. Coffee will be provided. Ramsbury Amenity Group Guided Walks Sunday 8 February to Mildenhall 4 miles. Sunday 22 February to Pentico (no. 10) 4 miles. Walk numbers are from the Ramsbury Amenity Group Short Walks pack available from the Post Office. Come and join us on our local walks, get to know the local area and make new friends. We meet at the Tree in the Square at 2 pm on the second and fourth Sunday of the month and everyone is welcome. Shared cars and dogs on leads. Further details from Sheila Morgan on 520501. Ramsbury Flyer The next visit to Newbury will be on <>, 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 Roxy The Other Boleyn Girl Cert 12A, starring Scarlett Johansson, on Friday 13 February: Anne and Mary Boleyn compete for the love of King Henry VIII. The Counterfeiters Cert 15, a 2008 Oscar winner, on Friday 27 February; based on the true story of a counterfeiter extraordinaire in a German concentration camp in 1944. Doors and bar open at 7.30 pm. Films start at 8 pm. Tickets £3.50 available in the Post Office. Parish Council Meeting The next Parish Council meeting will be on Monday 16 February at 7.45 pm in the Memorial Hall, Ramsbury. All Parish Council meetings are open to the public, who are welcome to attend. Unitary Authority Meeting Ramsbury Conservatives have organised a public meeting on Monday 23 February at 8 pm in the Memorial Hall, when Jane Scott, Chairman of Wiltshire CC will explain how the Unitary Authority will work. Bring and Buy Sale Bring & Buy sale in the Church Room, Back Lane on Saturday 28 February 10 am to noon in aid of Holy Cross Church. Any unwanted gifts, bottles, raffle prizes or de-clutter items ( you have time to look in your workshop, garage, shed, loft and cupboards!) will be most welcome (usable & portable items only!). Please deliver to the Church Room on Friday 27 February between 2 and 6 pm or contact Carol Howard 520783. Scouts' Quiz Night Ramsbury Scouts will hold a quiz night at The Memorial Hall on Saturday 28 February at 7.30 pm. Hot Supper included in the £10 ticket. Licensed Bar. Teams of 4-6 people. Contact Adrian Compton 520917 or email quiznight@comptons.me.uk
	THANKS The Crown and Anchor raised £1,657.91 for the Prospect Hospice between 4 April and 17 December. A quarter of this was raised by the sale of candles and fudge (now supplemented by the sale of beeswax hand- cream and polish) donated by Mark and Karen. The balance came from the Sunday quiz and swear box. Christmas lights at Whitehill Close raised a grand total £1,424.06 for the Prospect Hospice. Carol singing round the village raised a grand total of £227.85 for Action for Children.
	ADVANCE NOTICES If you are planning a local public event then, to avoid clashes with other events, please enter the details in the Village Events Diary, which can be found to the right of the Post Office Counter Window. Bella Voce, accompanied by White Horse Strings, will perform Vivaldi’s Gloria, and choral and string music by Tchaikovsky, Dowland, Bruckner, Franck and Vivaldi in Holy Cross on Saturday 7 March at 7.30 pm. Tickets will be on sale at Ramsbury Post Office, Midway Stores and Sound Knowledge, Marlborough. The Bella Voce AGM will be on Tuesday 24 March in the Memorial Hall at 7.30 pm. Ramsbury & Aldbourne Bowls Club AGM will be on Tuesday 10 March at 7.30 pm in the New Pavilion at Ramsbury Recreation Centre. New members are always welcome. The Parish Boundary Walk will be on Sunday 3 May. Axford plan to hold their Gardens Open day this year on Sunday 14 June. The Ramsbury Summer Fête will be on Saturday 1 August. The Diary is published in paper form, and is incorporated here by kind permission of the Ramsbury Amenity Group.