Village Voice by Rosie Warrillow 24th February

I sincerely hope everyone has survived the awful weather this week without too much damage. I lost my patio table, a huge thing cast iron with a plate glass top, just tossed around by the wind as if it were paper, but apart from that we were ok. There has been damage around the parish with a load of tree debris on the road, one or two fallen trees, and the dreaded wheely bins flying around too! The weather isn’t greatly improved for this week, so please take care on our roads.                                                        

Some good news, the swings have now been replaced with lovely new ones which are now ready to be played on! The old ones were so dilapidated they had to go, work is continuing to improve, repair and replace items on the play park but its great to have the new swings in place for this half-term week.                                                                                                                                                                 

Our hearts go out to the family whose home was destroyed by fire recently. The house, just outside A.G was completely burnt out, leaving the occupants with just the clothes they were wearing. Everyone inside the house, including the family’s pet dog were able to escape, thankfully. There is an online page raising money for them to help them rebuild their lives, organised by family friends, more details of this are on the go fund me website and on the village website/facebook page.                                

An A.G resident celebrated an important milestone this week. John who lives in Walnut Major celebrated his 100th birthday with a card from the Queen. John is a long-standing resident in our community, and just a lovely person, I’m sure people will remember him walking his dogs around the parish, Many happy returns John!!                                                                                                                                             

When the work started on the green, many of the snowdrops were dug up and relocated. The evidence of this rescue is now that they are in full swing of flowering in their new homes! Under the trees around the parish these lovely heralds of spring are doing a grand job of cheering everyone up! Some were replanted at Deer Wood by Lisa and they are doing very well for them too.                                                         

The memorial bench for local resident Shirley Mitchell is now in place on the Tidal Road and splendid it looks too. It was donated by Shirley’s partner John Yeabsley and will provide a welcome place to watch our lovely river.                                                                                                                         

St Andrews will have a Holy Communion service this Sunday starting at 1am with Rev Matt Rowland leading the service . All are welcome and there will be refreshments after the service.