Blewbury News

Blewbury Village Society

June 4, 2024

This year’s Beer Festival was a huge success!

Thank you to everyone who made it: the sun was shining, and you were clearly in need of hydration as the kegs were almost emptied and the gin bar was drained! Thank you to all our fantastic performers, and to the PTA and Pre-School for running the food and soft drinks/cakes stalls. Most of all, a massive thank you to everyone who helped and supported and made the event happen. Profits will go to the UNICEF Ukraine appeal, Blewbury Pre-School and the BVS, which will help us to continue to put on the many other village events that run on a break-even basis throughout the year.

Summer Dance – Saturday 22nd June – The annual Summer Dance will be held on the evening of Saturday 22nd June in the wonderful gardens of Ashbrook House on Westbrook Street. Local band McFunky are back by popular demand after their fantastic performances in previous years. This is a great evening to get together with your village friends and beyond, to enjoy “bring your own” food and drink in beautiful surroundings, listen and dance to great live music. Gates open at 7:30pm; dancing until midnight. Bring your own picnic and drinks (no bar). Gazebo set-up at 4–5pm; collect by 11am on Sunday. Tickets are £15.00. They can be bought in advance from Blewbury Post Office, via email to blewburybvs@gmail.com or at the gate on the night. See also the separate advert on page 4 of the printed Bulletin.

Blewbury Garden Market, Saturdays, 9:15–11:00 – The BGM is back for its 15th year on Saturday mornings at the garage forecourt. It is a community venture, giving local people an opportunity to sell excess home-grown or home-made produce and plants, to promote local food and reduce waste. We welcome all types of produce for sale, including fresh fruit and vegetables, cut flowers, seedlings, bedding plants and perennials, free-range eggs and home cooking – such as jams and chutneys, bread, cakes and biscuits. Producers set their own prices for their sale items; the BGM takes a 10% levy to cover costs. See blewburygm.co.uk for more information.

BVS marquee for hire – The BVS has purchased a marquee that we would like to make available for other groups, societies and individuals in the village. It measures 12m × 6m and has sides if needed. If you were at the Beer Festival, or have supported the Fireworks or Summer Dance you may have seen it in action. We would ask for a small donation to cover ongoing maintenance, and you’ll need to put it up and take it down yourself. If you are interested, please email blewburybvs@gmail.com and let us know what the event is and dates.

Thank you to the outgoing BVS Chair – The BVS committee would like to thank Caroline Pettigrew for her hard work, great leadership, tact and patience during her seven years on the committee (four as Chair).

Blewbury Women’s Institute

Blewbury WI generally meet on the 4^th Wednesday of the month in the Vale room. An interesting speaker plus a little light refreshment, what’s not to like?

Most of all we are a group of friends and support each other at all times. Just look at our packed calendar below – join in as much or as little as suits you.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday 26 June “Dragons and Rescue Dogs – my inspiration to write books” – intriguing! Debi Evans will give us an Illustrated talk. Her books are full of history and loved by children and adults. Rolo, her real life rescue Jack Russell, makes things happen in history, magical!

There is a fantastic new element to the benefits of being a WI member. At no extra cost to members, National WI offer a range of online courses at the “Learning Hub” which will give you the freedom and control to learn anywhere, empowering women to further their ‘learning journey’. Courses are generally 1 hour long and held on Zoom. At the time of writing there were 50 courses coming up and over 60 on ‘catch up’ – they are available for a week after the live course. Topics range from history, travel, craft and well-being to exercise classes, art and business skills.

If you’d like to come to Blewbury WI with someone else or find out more, ring our Secretary, Joy, on 850543 or email blewburywi@gmail.com. New members can join at any time and pay a ‘pro-rata’ rate for the rest of the year.

Calendar of events

Monday afternoons	2.30pm	Mah Jong	Sharon
Wednesday 29 May	2.30pm	Afternoon Scrabble	Judy
June date to be advised	7pm	Evening Scrabble	Joy
Thursday 6 June	10am	Walk	Jane
Friday 7 June	7pm	Craft evening	Karen
Monday 10 June	10.30am	Coffee morning	Trish
Thursday 13 June	2.30pm	Rummikub	Susanne
Tuesday 18 June	2.30pm	Afternoon Scrabble	Jane
Wednesday 26 June	7.30pm	Main meeting	Joy
Friday 28 June	7pm	Book Club	Karen

Blewbury Wine Tasting

Do you love tasting new and interesting wines, presented by enthusiastic and entertaining experts? The Blewbury Wine Tasting group usually meets on the 3^rd Friday each month, in the Village Hall and always welcomes new people.

At each event, you can discover new wines, learn more about familiar ones and enjoy sharing the experience with other enthusiasts – no prior knowledge is of wine is necessary.

There is no membership, you can just come to the tastings that are of interest to you. We normally charge £22 per person, and typically taste 7-9 wines over a couple of hours, in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. You are welcome to bring small plates of food to accompany the wines.

Our tastings are run by either someone from Grape Minds, the Wallingford wine shop, or Tim Syrad who runs his own wine tours, tastings and sales business. Why not book a place and come along to give it a try? We would be delighted to see you! To make a booking or to find out more email blewburywine@gmail.com

Sustainable Blewbury

Nature Reserve. This remains closed while the birds are nesting, except for guided bird-watching walks. The next is on Sat 8 June leaving the village hall at 0930 lasting 1.5 to 2 hours.

Reserve your place by emailing the secretary (address below). There are only three places left. During the first two walks, we have seen or heard 28 species of birds, thanks to the help of Martin Latham.

Repair café, Sun 30 June, 2 to 4pm, Village Hall Bring your household items including clothing, electrical, and gardening articles for mending, tools for sharpening and bikes for fixing for free. Refreshments available. Donations welcome to cover costs. Thanks to all our volunteers who come to do the fixing!

BLEWBURY FREECYCLE FREE ITEMS TO A GOOD HOME	E-MAIL	TEL NO.
Preserving pan, diameter 36cms, depth 17cms.	Anita Rendel	850131
Round, wooden garden table, 5ft. Heavy, sturdy table in reasonable condition. Painted in cuprinol ‘stone’.	Rose Buckel	01235 850401
· 2 walking poles· 30 Dick Francis paperbacks. Dick Francis was a resident of Blewbury, and these crime novels were set in our local racing stables.	Alison Clark kafenken@internet.com
To freecycle your item please send a short description, email & phone number to Lydia Inglis (lydandmuz@gmail.com)

If you want to know more about Sustainable Blewbury and become a supporter who receive occasional newsletters, email secretary@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk

Repair Café

There is a Sustainable Blewbury Repair Cafe on Sunday 30th June, 2 to 4pm.

Do make use of our bike repairers. They are very good, and completely free on the Sunday. If you need something complicated done, you will need to pay for the replacement parts. Jo Lakeland

BlewShed News

BlewShed products: have been very popular this month and sales of garden trugs in particular have been booming at Savages. One of our range, a horseshoe handled wooden tray, was even posted on Blewbury Village Society’s FaceBook page by its proud new owner! As with all our products this was made from useful and valuable materials that would otherwise have been binned or burned. The horseshoes were salvaged from our village farrier’s skip and most of the wood from broken or non-returnable pallets from Savages or local building projects. With a bit of work such items can be repurposed for useful and attractive items. If any of you have been disappointed because items have sold out at Savages, please be patient as we are currently catching up with demand and you can always place an order for them either with Savages or with BlewShed when we are open.

DIY for beginners: Our next DIY workshops are in planning and will focus on helping DIY beginners with their individual projects using techniques they learned over the winter. More experienced members have been using the workshop facilities for progressing their own projects of varying levels of ambition ranging from a replica ‘Studley’ tool chest, making replacement boat parts, designing electronic measuring devices, renovation of a late grandfather’s tool chest, restoration of antique tools, carving traditional wooden spoons and many other items.

Community Projects: Recently BlewShed made and fitted a replacement turned wooden handle for the Blewbury Allotments Association garden roller, and several new projects are currently being planned, more news later.

Meetings: Members enjoyed a convivial social evening at the Blueberry and those who attended agreed this should be repeated more often. Watch this space. The next BlewShed club night will be Tuesday 11th June, 7.30pm at BlewShed, when member Mike Wrottesley will give a talk on rocking horses. All welcome.

BlewShed opening times and membership: Tuesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons 1.30-4.00 pm and Thursday afternoons 2.00-4pm for electronics, non-dusty work and a chat. BlewShed annual membership subs are £25 for individuals, or £37.50 for a family. This includes expert advice from members and use of a very well-equipped metal-working, woodworking and electronics workshop. BlewShed is here to help members and DIY beginners learn various woodwork, metal-work and other practical techniques, so come along and acquire some new skills, or just have a cuppa and chat. Everyone is welcome to club night meetings on the second Tuesday of the month.

Mike Wrottesley, BlewShed secretary https://blewshed.home.blog/news/

Blewbury Croquet Club

CROQUET CLUB – OPEN EVENINGS

Have YOU ever thought about having a go at croquet? Whether you want a social afternoon with friends, or are looking for a new competitive sport, our club caters for everyone from complete beginners to elite players. Blewbury’s courts are rated amongst the best in the country, as evidenced by the England internationals who’ve trained here. But we’re first and foremost a village resource, and would love to get more Blewburians involved.

We’re currently offering free open evenings, on Mondays (5:00-6:30 pm) from now until 1st July, for any adults (or accompanied teens) who want to give it a go. Please wear flat-soled shoes (e.g. trainers), but otherwise just turn up as you are and we can supply all the equipment you need.

If you want to take it further, full membership costs £200 a year (April-March). But we offer family discounts and, in this sport, anyone under 25 is classed as “junior” and only pays £40.

There’s a lot more about the club on our website, but feel free to give me a call if you’ve any queries.

David Long (07484 360169) secretary@blewburycroquetclub.org.uk

Post Office News

Hello! As summer approaches we hope you are enjoying the warmer weather. Just a reminder that from the 28th May to the 31st of May, during the School Half term, we will be operating our reduced hours of 9am – 12pm, Tuesday to Friday. Thank you for your understanding during this time.

We have tickets for the summer preschool raffle for sale. They have some excellent prizes so please do come along and buy some to support your local preschool. Tickets for the BVS summer dance are also available.

We have fresh kitty’s eggs and local honey on sale as the hay fever season kicks in. We have a variety of sweet treats, ice lollies, chocolate and cool drinks available to help keep cool this summer.

As well as sending parcels, you can also do all your banking at the post office, including cash withdrawals, cash deposits and cheque deposits.

We look forward to seeing you in the post office soon. Thanks so much, Sarah, Karen and Andrew

Bridge Club

The Chairman represented the Club at the Annual Parish Meeting on 15th May and gave a short report on the Club’s activities.

Tuesday evening face-to-Face sessions will continue in the Vale Room through June. Our online Realbridge sessions will be held on Thursday evenings at 7pm on June 6th and 20th. We will join the Wantage Bridge Club sessions on the 13th and 27th. Attendance at our weekly online Funbridge sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays seems to be dwindling. Michael Allen 851870

BLEWBURY CRICKET CLUB

May 5, 2024

New members and supporters welcome

As we (hopefully) start to bid adieu to a long, wet winter and the daffodils start swaying in the spring breeze, attention drifts to warmer months and the bucolic sound of leather on willow. Blewbury Cricket Club is always looking for new members and passionate supporters. We market ourselves as a club for all ages and abilities with everyone welcome.

Since Covid lockdown where outdoor sports were permitted, we have seen somewhat of a renaissance of cricket in the village. We are a club of about 50 members with fixtures taking place from mid-May to the end of August. We tend to host three different types of matches throughout the season. Midweek games are generally 20 overs and played against local opposition or indeed scratch teams. They start at 6pm and are normally finished by 9pm; they tend to take place on Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday and Thursdays. On Fridays we have an interclub turn-up-and-play match with two teams (The Badgers and The Roosters) playing a T20 against each other. These are fun for all the family with a well stocked bar and non-cricketers watching or indeed playing around the outfield. Finally we hold a few Sunday 40-over games against local opposition for those who like to take their cricket slightly more seriously. There is a pay bar at the ground and changing/toilet facilities. Thanks to the invaluable support of BlewShed we have had our gang mowers serviced which will no doubt improve the quality of the outfield. In addition this season a local team called The Berkshire Royals will be using our pitch every Saturday and may well be looking for some eager cricketers to play for one of their teams. If you are interested in becoming a member or indeed just simply coming up to watch, contact details for some of the committee members are below as are the links to join the club WhatsApp group and the new club website (thanks to Adam Stockley). Fixtures will appear on the club website and WhatsApp group shortly. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Parish Council for their ongoing support of the cricket club.

Contact details: Rob Southwell-Sander (Club Captain) rsouthwellsander(at)yahoo.co.uk; Ian Bacon (Chairman) ian.bacon(at)blewburton.com; James Barratt (Secretary) james(at)ashbrooklets.co.uk; Club website: https://www.blewburycricketclub.co.uk/; Whatsapp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Ini9dXhahm48Gb0Z8LRLgS