Here we are again for a new year of news and views from our community and I trust we have all had a good festive season, which as always seems to fly past. On January 1st a group of the Aune Valley Conservation Society met on the Tidal Road in the rain to take part in a litter picking exercise. The group, which included people of all ages, some of our more junior folk were also in evidence, walked for over an hour and managed to pick up a huge pile of rubbish from the foreshore. Well done to all those who took part and thank you so much for your time and trouble. Grateful thanks also to S.H.D.C, who collected the assembled rubbish very promptly. We are urged to recycle as much as possible these days, and more details can be found on the recycledevon.org  website, all very useful to keep our community beautiful.
Going back to the festive celebrations in the village, Sleepy Hollow won the Best Dressed Christmas Window competition. It was felt that over all attention to detail was just perfect and Maggie Skeates duly presented the lucky winners with a Christmas Plate. The Fisherman’s Rest received some praise from the judge for their Christmas light display but they were not eligible to enter for the competition.
South Hams Police are running a campaign to highlight the dangers on our roads during these dark dark evenings.Be seen and make sure you can be seen is the message. Do you have a dead headlight on your car? Well that can look like a motorbike in our narrow lanes, dangerous for fellow road users to say the least! Many local garages do offer a ‘Winter Check’ list for cars, maybe it could be a good idea to get a wonky light fixed. Pedestrians are also asked to make sure they have reflective wear on and to stay safe using any lighting that’s available, and cyclists make sure all your lights are working properly, better safe than sorry. The Police will be highlighting different aspects of road safety each month during the winter; more details can be found on their Facebook page.
The Village Hall Committee will be holding another “Soup and Puds” lunch on January 10th between 12 -2.00 pm. The cost will be £5 to include tea or coffee.The money raised will go to the Hall Refurbishment project.
In St Andrews this week there will be a service of Holy Communion, which will start at 11.00 am and the Rev. John Elliot will be leading the service.