Welcome to the January edition of the Bradworthy Newsletter.
Last year the Newsletter was plagued with production problems as it was being printed on a second hand laser printer. I have every reason to believe that the machine itself is quite capable of doing the work however the combination of North Devon dampness and a drafty house plays havoc with laser printers and their paper.
Following advice from a former professional printer with long local experience (John Crowley) I have now acquired a machine that does not heat, and therefore curl, the paper. This, hopefully, means that I can print both sides without having to iron the paper flat again between prints!!
January is generally a quiet month, of course, but the delayed Parish Council November meeting is reported in this edition.
Recipients of the excellent Mole Valley Newsletter will have seen that this month's issue is then, 500th. I understand this is only counted from when they started numerating their newsletters so the actual total is higher. At any rate, it must be quite an achievement to produce such a full newsletter so regularly for so many years on top of running a business like Mole Valley.
Please hand in any articles for inclusion in next month's Bradworthy Newsletter at the Social Club or send items for inclusion by e-mail to newsletter@bradworthy.co.uk or, phone/fax 241147.
Editor
Message from Santa
I would like to thank Dave, Fiona, Alfie, Merrie and Bertie Seggons, Helen and Josh Curtis, Keith Green and Shirleyann Andrews for all their help when I visited Bradworthy on 23rd December. It was wonderful to see so many good little boys and girls and their families and I hope they enjoyed their chocolates and mince pies. Thank you all very much for your donations totalling £224.00 which we divided between the Cub Scout Group, the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides, Pre-school and Toddlers.
Lots of love to you all from Santa.
Bradworthy Twinning Wine & Wisdom
Saturday 28th - Memorial Hall
Please 'phone Chairman, Roger Andrews on 241119 to book a table
Bradworthy Parish Council
The November 25th meeting was postponed to 9th December due to inclement weather. There is no Parish Council meeting in December.
Youth Work in Bradworthy
Progress continues to be made to restart the Youth Club. Any enquiries should be directed to Cllr. Mrs S C Hayes.
Grants to Local Organisations
The deadline for applications having passed, Councillors still need to study the information supplied and to get further details in some cases. The allocation of grants will be completed at the January meeting.
Christmas Tree
Councillors thanked Cllr. Richard Boughton for supplying the tree and organising its erection and lighting. Councillors are considering the possibility of having Christmas lights around the Square. They will be discussing this with shopkeepers and residents and would be pleased to hear from anyone willing to help sponsor the scheme or to provide practical help.
(Councillor Boughton would like to take this opportunity to thank Keith Bailey and Chris Millman for helping to extract, erect and light the tree this year. Oliver Boughton also helped.)
Light on Path to St John's Drive.
The Council thanked Mr Peter Wade for waiving, again the charge for electricity used.
Millennium Garden
Mrs Angela Yeo and Mr Walter Dayman have for the last five years maintained the garden on behalf of the Parish Council. They now wish to hand over this responsibility. Mrs Yeo also did all the work involved in getting funding and setting up the garden from scratch.
The Council would be pleased to hear of volunteers able to carry oil this task, perhaps oil a rota basis so that the work load can be spread.
Parish Clerk
To contact the Council: Paul Clarke 241313
St John the Baptist Church
A warm welcome awaits at any of the following church services.
| 8th | 10.00 am | Family Communion |
| 15th | 10.00am | Family Communion |
| 22nd | 11.00am | Covenant Service at Bradworthy Chapel. United service for the church and chapel congregations. All welcome. |
| 29th | 10.30am | Morning Worship. United service for the church and chapel congregations to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. All Welcome |
Christmas at the Church
May I offer my sincere thanks to everyone who supported the various events and services over the Christmas period. All seemed to go well and this was really all down to the many dear people who contributed so much.
Reverend Richard Dorrington 241411
Torridge District Council
The Torridge First newssheet will now be a quarterly publication and distributed within the Torridge District area.
The What's on feature will be a regular feature in the newssheet and we would like to publicise crowd and special events taking place throughout the Torridge area including Bradworthy.
Please contact Miss Jennifer Payne at 01237 428968 or jennifer.payne@torridge.gov.uk, fax 01237 424299 with details and note that the final copy deadline is two months before publication.
Social Club
There is a year planner situated just inside the Social Club. This is to ensure that events are not double booked and to inform people what is going on in the Memorial Hall and the Social Club.
Organisations are invited / encouraged to put their events on the planner at any time.
Bradworthy Bygones
There is a great deal of interest in the village and beyond in the history of local families and events that have taken place over the years. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of Mr Phil Mayhall we have a village website that posts this Newsletter as well as any other material that may be of general interest to residents, past and present, and visitors. The website is also a good point of contact for persons who are in some way connected with the village.
Thanks to the legendary Cecil Collacott and Rev Peter Sutton there are also extensive written village archives. These tend to focus on particular families and, of course, parish records but are an invaluable source of information for genealogists and the merely curious.
The Archives are held in the C T Collacott room up the stairs just inside the main door of the Memorial Hall.
In the coming quarter the room will be open to the public from 2.00pm until 4.00pm on the following Wednesdays:
- January 18th
- February 1st and 15th
- March 1st, 15th and 29th
- April 12th and 26th
Visitors seeking family trees or other research are able to do so by appointment with Mrs Daphne Nicholls at 01409 241202.
Another contact is Paul Clarke at 241313.
The Church Clock
Following my article in the November edition of the Newsletter, there has been quite a bit of feedback about the Church Clock.
There does not appear to be a full public record but I understand that the clock stopped completely in the late '80s / early '90s and that funds were raised to have it overhauled.
Over the years responsibility for winding the clock has rested with the Captain of the Bell Ringers. Since 1962, when they took over responsibility for the clock, the Parish Council have paid a fee to the appointed Winder for this service. I understand that this fee has been unchanged for many years, possibly since 196211 literally almost until his death six years ago this service. was carried out by hen Johns esq. who was a Bell Ringer and long time Winder.
Until very recently the village did not have a bell ringing team. I understand that the Rector has restarted this activity and hope that perhaps the history and future plans of this may make the basis of another article. Certainly it is clear from certificates proudly displayed in the church tower that this was once a successful part of village life.
As the current village Winder, I do my best each week to keep the clock going and reasonably on time. The mechanism is clockwork and so is subject to the vagaries of temperature and humidity. Unfortunately, from time to time the mechanism becomes positively soaked by water seeping through the stonework of the tower. I understand that the Parochial Church Council is considering plans to open up and make use of the lobby space at the bottom of the tower. In one corner of this space is the wooden casing that contains the weights that are wound up each week to make the clock work. It may be, therefore, that with one thing and another, the Parish Council may consider replacing the mechanism at some time in the near future. In any event I hope that the village will continue to enjoy the benefit of a chiming clock for many years to come.
A. Winder
Annie's
Annie's Tearoom is open next to the pub. A wide variety of beverages, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and meals are available along with a selection of gifts for sale. A warns welcome is guaranteed and the all day breakfast is particularly recommended.
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