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| Dateline: 20 July 2005 |
| Church bells were
heard clearly for some time on Monday evening throughout the
village. Congratulations to Alan Cook and his ringers
on providing such a pleasant background for a warm summer's
evening. |
| Dateline: 19 July 2005 |
We've just
received a plea from the panto
organisers, as follows: Can anyone in the village provide any of the following for the performance of Aladdin please.
*** Two very large linen baskets with the bottoms removed, can anyone make these from
cardboard or similar . They have to be big enough for a person to crouch inside.
*** Could anyone make / produce a very large looking rock flat face on a light frame so it can be carried easily to use as a cave entrance.
*** Has anyone any lamps that we could use, we will need three or four.
*** A periscope. (could be a children's toy) *** A very large old key, the bigger the better.
*** A hand bell. *** Any old unwanted costume jewelry, plastic
children's dress up stuff will do especially a large stoned ring, but anything that sparkles or glitters, necklaces, bracelets, rings, tiaras etc. etc.
*** Also another plea, calling all dress makers if you can spare time and could help with alterations or sewing please get in touch.
Contact Liz, details on the
'Aladdin' advert on this web
site. |
| Dateline: 16 July 2005 |
| More information
about the sighting of the BBC in the village on the
14th. Apparently they were filming the ladies of the WI,
who had got dressed up in all their finery for the occasion.
Three of our local ladies were interviewed, and this gossip
column will tell you all once it's revealed what they'll be
on. |
| Dateline: 15 July 2005 |
| Apparently the
BBC were filming in the village yesterday. If anyone
knows what it was about, please email
the webmaster, who will publish it here. |
| Dateline: 13 July 2005 |
| At last night's
Parish Council meeting, the go-ahead was given to
investigate the feasibility of building a tennis court in
the village. Will anyone who is interested in helping with
this important project, please email
the webmaster who will pass their details on to the relevant
contacts? |
| Dateline: 13 July 2005 |
| Book your tickets
for the village panto now. If previous years' events
are anything to go by, it will be well worth going to, so
book your tickets fast. Click
here to read all about it, and to find out how to book
tickets.. |
| Dateline: 11 July 2005 |
| It's the
webmaster's 50th birthday today. A small gathering of
family and close friends was held at his house
yesterday. Click
here to see the pictures. |
| Dateline: 10 July 2005 |
| The village
Hundred Club had a cheese and wine party last night in the
Hall. Your webmaster did not attend as he was busy
getting everything ready for his party at 1pm today.
However, he was delighted to learn that he had won the first
prize of £50 in the draw. There were (of course) cries of
"fix", but as he wasn't even there, he doesn't see
how it could have been rigged! And the balls were shaken up
by local worthy, Brian Keen. In fact, an vote was taken by
the audience as to whether he could keep the prize, and the
vote was in his favour. And Amanda
Weller's daughter
Emily (10
months old)
joined the 100
club at 7pm on Saturday,
and her ball,
number 20,
was the 3rd ball out,
winning her £25
on her 1st attempt. |
| Dateline: 9 July 2005 |
| Well, it's been
quite a week, with massive highs and lows. It started
last Sunday with the amazing Live 8 concert in London, seen
by an estimated 2 billion people worldwide. On
Wednesday, it was announced that Britain had won the
Olympics bid, which will be fantastic for this
country. Then on Thursday, coinciding with the G8
summit at Gleaneagles, terrorists detonated bombs in various
locations in London, killing people, and seriously injuring
many others. Londoners, and people who work there, have
decided that life must go on, and life is getting back to
normal. Of course, it will take years (if at all) for the
lives of those families closely affected by the bombings to
return tomorrow, and on behalf of this village, I would like
to send them our heartfelt condolences and sympathy. |
| Dateline: 7 July 2005 |
| Your webmaster
was going to upload some suitably irreverent gossip today,
but has decided not to in view of the terrible bombings in
London today. There are times when village gossip simply is
not appropriate. If you want to keep up to date without
switching on the telly, the BBC web news service is
excellent. Click
here to access it. And watch this space next week for
the latest on some interesting debates that are unfolding in
the village. |
| Dateline: 6 July 2005 |
| Kids' Irish
Dancing on Tuesdays has been cancelled because the
instructor cannot make it any more. A shame, because
the kids who went enjoyed it. But thanks anyway Jackie
H for taking the trouble to organise it in the first place. |
| Dateline: 4
July 2005 |
| The webmaster
will celebrate half a century of being alive (against all
odds) this coming Monday. It's a once-in-a-lifetime event
being 50, and he's looking forward to celebrating the occasion
with a few close friends this Sunday. That's if he's still
alive by then, which is debatable, but hopefully will be the
case. If by any chance he's not, everyone who has been
invited to the party is invited for the wake. If there's not
some good music and a great atmosphere, he'll probably turn
in his grave! |
| Dateline: 3
July 2005 |
| It's difficult to
know where to start today as so much has happened since the
last entry. There was a party last night in the village, and
it looked like the residents of a house on the south side of
the main road transformed their house to an American-style
ranch BBQ, complete with American flags in the car
park. It looked fun, but as your webmaster wasn't
there, this is as much as he can tell you.
Speaking of the webmaster, he
was woken at just before 8am on Sunday morning with a phone
call from his son Louis who is at school at the excellent
Christ's Hospital in West Sussex. He was (justifiably)
very proud of his first year's grades which he had just
received. Apart from a B in one subject, he got the best
possible grades he could achieve across the board, in every
subject. Yes, your webmaster is very proud of him!
The Village Hall was host to
local girl Katie's 5th birthday party. Her Mum (Mrs H)
made a fantastic birthday cake, and the lucky 14 boys and 14
girls who came went home with fantastic goodie bags shaped
like Princesses' carriages (for the girls) and Galleons (for
the boys). Judging by the sounds throughout the village, the
party continued all afternoon, and families and kids alike
had a great time. Pictures will follow (we're promised), so
watch this space.
And the rec was host to a
rather wonderful birthday party today for a another local
girl, Megan (8). Her party was held in the pub garden
(complete with balloons etc), and a mini-zoo of farm animals
was installed in the Rec (recreation ground). There
were a couple of goats, a pony, 2 sheep, ducks, rabbits,
chickens, a very loud turkey, and guinea pigs. Click
here to see some pics of it. What a fabulous idea
for a kid's birthday! And to add unscheduled
excitement, the pony managed to escape its handler, and made
a dash for it across the Rec and into the adjoining
field. It took a little while to recapture it. If
anyone wants to hold a similar event, contact the organisers,
some very friendly people called Jane Berkshire and Holly
Ireland (real surnames - I promise) at their web site, www.Farms2Ewe.co.uk.
The Wheatsheaf, as usual,
held the traditional Sunday meat draw. Now, as you may
have read (click here), the fete
raffle stirred up some controversy in the village apparently
with allegations
of fixing. Sunday's meat draw meat draw followed in the same
fine tradition. Run, as usual, by the estimable Mr F,
the webmaster (and fete chair) was asked to draw the first
ticket. Ticket 839 was picked out, but there were no
claimants for the prize. It soon turned out that Mr F
had put both parts of the ticket in the draw, and so there
was no winner. Then it transpired that Mr and Mrs K
(plants), had bought tickets, but their stubs had NOT
been put in the bucket at all. Shock, horror, collapse
of stout (very, in Mr K's case) parties. The prizes,
as usual, were won by locals, with the third and fourth
prizes being won by the landlords, and the barman,
respectively. Someone shouted 'fix', but there's
nothing wrong with that. Like everyone else, they had
bought their tickets and were entitled to win. Fair's
fair. Local Mr H (known, your webmaster thinks rather
unkindly, as 'Shagpile') took pity on the non-winning
webmaster and donated his other prize (he had already won
first prize) to the webmaster. Thank you Mr H. The
webmaster's family will be able to eat this week!
Last, but not least of the
day's news. Local, Terry ('The Pipe'), has just
discovered he has a 14-year old grand-daughter. One
could accuse Terry (64) of being a little forgetful in not
knowing about this, but it turns out there is a good
reason. Apparently, his ex-wife left him, together
with his daughter, 30 years ago. He hasn't seen his
daughter in all that time, despite numerous attempts to
contact her. Apparently his daughter had been trying
to contact him too for the last 12 years, and finally
succeeded. It transpires that she is 34 now, a
geologist at Durham University, and she has a 14 year old
daughter, Terry's grand-daughter. What great
news! We're all very pleased for Terry. |
| Dateline: 30 June 2005 |
| Check out the local
businesses page for a couple of additions that were
overlooked. Apologies to the proprietors for this oversight
that has now been corrected. |
| Dateline: 30 June 2005 |
| There appear to
be some rumours circulating about the village fete, some
unfounded, and some as a result of misinformation. It's the
job of this column to report gossip, so now's the chance for
some answers for everyone.
Some people want to know how
much money has been raised, and where it has gone.
That's a perfectly valid question, and the answer has been
up on this web site since the 5th
June. Click here
for more detailed answers. If anyone who was involved in the
fete would like a more detailed breakdown of how exactly
much each stall raised, please contact the treasurer, Nick
Fritz, either by email (click
here) or by phone on 01488 681604. He'll happily
provide you with a breakdown down to the last penny!
There is also gossip
questioning why the fete chair (who's also your webmaster)
has hardly been seen in the village pub (The
Wheatsheaf) since the fete. Amazingly, some people
have attributed this to his not wanting to be seen in public
and are suspicious of this. Well, the answer's very
simple. Organising the fete took a considerable amount
of time and energy, and the webmaster decided to spend more
time with his family after the fete. This wasn't
entirely a decision made on his own - his significant other
threatened to leave the nest if she did not see more of
him! He's also just been in Dublin on a family visit,
and, much as he'd like to, he can't be in two places at
once. It's true the chair had been seen in the pub
most days prior to the fete, for the simple reason that the
pub is an important community meeting place, and it is a
great place to see and talk to locals. Naturally, this was
essential to make plans for the fete. By the way, the
Guinness in Dublin was excellent, although the fete chair
will continue to enjoy the excellent Guinness served in the
Wheatsheaf. He sends his apologies to the pub if his absence
has damaged sales of Guinness, but promises to try to make
up for it!
It's also come to the chair's
ears that some people think the fete raffle was
rigged. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It was closely supervised by the licensee of the raffle, and
our village bobby was standing next to the draw. Anyone who
has attended the meat draw in our local pub on a Sunday will
know that the chair is one of many people who will shout
'rigged' or 'fix' if the meat draw organiser draws his own
ticket. And the same people will also know that this
is always said in jest. It's something that can easily
happen!
Hopefully the above has
cleared up any misunderstandings currently circulating, but
if anyone still has any uncertainties about the fete, please
contact the chair directly by emailing nick@chiltonfoliat.com.
(Phew - thank goodness that's over - Ed.) |
| Dateline: 28 June 2005 |
| The fete chair
has received a very complimentary letter from Colonel Steel,
treasurer of the Parochial Church Council, thanking the fete
for the generous donation made to the Church. And the
Village Hall Management Committee also expressed it thanks
for the fete's donation at its last committee meeting. |
| Dateline: 26 June 2005 |
| The Force was
with The School when Darth Vader opened the school fete
yesterday. And some children were heard to make
admiring comments about the alien's imposing physique. Many
enjoyed the judo display, and children from the village
displayed their skill at Irish Dancing. As usual, the school
was open with many displays of children's' work, which was
admired by all. The weather was kind, and the day
raised an impressive £3,700 for the school. Well done
to the organisers, and thanks to all helpers and visitors. |
| Dateline: 14 June 2005 |
| We've just been
given some photos of the Cook wedding on 21 May this
year. Alan and Yvonne made a huge effort to ensure
that their son and bride had a gorgeous setting for their
big day. Sorry the photos are not captioned, but the
subjects will know who they are! Click
here to see them. |
| Dateline: 12 June 2005 |
| Local resident
David Hickford was presented with a certificate yesterday by
the British Legion in honour of his sterling efforts in
helping them with, amongst other things, poppy sales for
Remembrance Day. Well done David! |
| Dateline: 10 June 2005 |
| We're Number 1 in
Google! If you do a search for "Chilton
Foliat" in Google, we come out in the first place out
of about 25,300 returns. This is great, because it
means anyone searching for Chilton Foliat will find us first
time in the search engines. Google uses a very
complicated proprietary algorithm that nobody (apart from
Google) understands. But it's all to do with links in and
out, and topical relevance. So we're doing really well
to be up there as number one. (That's enough anorak talk
- Ed.). |
| Dateline: 7 June 2005 |
| Yesterday we had
the busiest day on the web site - by a long day. A
remarkable number of people viewed the web - 175 in a
day. This is the most we have ever had.
Definitely a record! |
| Dateline: 5
June 2005 |
| The village fete
took place yesterday, breaking all records. More than
twice the amount of visitors came (around 1,000), and the
net profit raised for the village was almost double last
year, at around £6,000. Once the final figure is
know, it will be posted on this site. A great day was had by
all, and we even had a visit by the famous Red Arrows. Click
here for more on the fete. |
| Dateline: 27 May 2005 |
| Someone hi-jacked
our server yesterday, meaning that this web site was down
and nobody could access it. This has now been fixed,
but whoever did it should be ashamed of themselves. I
suppose it's a measure of our popularity that someone has
taken the trouble to do this, so in a way we should be
pleased. But it's a horrible thing to happen to anyone
with a web site so, whoever did it, please don't do it
again! |
| Dateline: 24 May 2005 |
| We've just been
given some great pictures of walks in Chilton Foliat in the
spring, taken by a local resident, Mrs H, who frequently
walks the village with another local, Mrs W. Click
here to enjoy them (the pictures, that is,
dummy!). |
| Dateline: 24 May 2005 |
| Here's some web
trivia for you. Yesterday, www.chiltonfoliat.com
had its most ever unique visitors: 111, bringing the new average
up to 48 people a day visiting the site for May. Your
webmaster has no idea who all these people are, or indeed
why they're interested at all, but you must be one of them because
you're here reading this now! Looking at statistics (or
"stats" as us propeller-heads call them) is a
mind-numbingly boring occupation, but your webmaster is
going to bore you with some now. The most popular point of
entry into the site was the home page. No surprise
there. The second most popular was the fete prizes
page (you avaricious lot!), and the third was (you guessed
it!) this page, AKA the Gossip page. Amazingly, a total of
34 people this month have looked at the Vulcan
Bomber story page. Your webmaster thought this was
long dead and buried since he made up the rumour in October
last year. But no, it still attracts interest! And
another story (not fictional this time) that continues to
attract interest is one about the ghost
in the pub. (That's enough boring stats for now.
Please give it a rest - Ed). |
| Dateline: 23 May 2005 |
| The first
pictures taken at the wedding have emerged. They're
not of the blushing bride and groom (watch this space for
those ones), but they do feature a couple of well-known
local characters caught in very strange poses. Click
here to see them. |
| Dateline: 22 May 2005 |
| The village was
host to a large family wedding at St Mary's Church
yesterday, followed by a lovely reception at the Cooks'
house in the main street yesterday. The bride and groom
looked fabulous and, despite the very wet weather, everyone
had a marvelous time. Photos are promised. Watch this
space. |
| Dateline: 19 May 2005 |
| Last night's
meeting to discuss final arrangements for the fete was very
positive. For a full breakdown of what was discussed, click
here to visit the fete page. |
| Dateline: 18 May 2005 |
| The final meeting
of the village fete meeting will be held tomorrow night at
7.45pm in the Hall. This is really to update everyone on what's
going on, and to make sure everyone is organised for the big
day on June 4th. We aim to keep the meting brief, so
see you there! |
| Dateline: 12 May 2005 |
| The Parish Council
Meeting was held at the Hall. Minutes will be
posted on this site as soon as they are available. |
| Dateline: 11 May 2005 |
| Sadly I have to
report that Denise Wheatley, ex-headmistress of Chilton
Foliat School, has passed away, after a very long illness
(writes Cilla Edwards).
There is to be a Thanksgiving Service in her memory at
Chilton Foliat Church. This will be held on Sunday 26th June
2005 at 3.00pm. It would be wonderful to see as many of her
ex pupils and friends as possible, and I think this would
mean a great deal to her family. |
| Dateline: 9 May 2005 |
| Nothing to report
of note, so here's an update on the fete. It's less
than 4 weeks away, so hopefully everyone has June 4th in
their diaries. Lots of attractions are now booked,
including a swingboat, bouncy castle, and giant slide.
And we've yet to have a 'no' from the Red Arrows. So fingers
crossed they may still turn up. Even if we don't there
will be some great aerobatics from our local vintage Tiger
Moth which, given past experience, promise to be
hair-raising. Don't forget to buy raffle tickets for the
fete today. Just click
here to go straight to the page and buy them now! |
| Dateline: 6 May 2005 |
| Yesterday's
election results are now in, and the country still has a
Labour government, albeit with a much reduced
majority. Looks like President Blair will be here for
some time yet. Let's just hope he does not decide to annihilate
the planet, along with Mr Bush, during that time.
Still, it's quite possible Mr Howard would do the same thing
in the same position. Back to local matters....the
sweepstake in the pub was won by Nick F, who had the closest
bet to the UKIP candidate, Nic C's, actual number of votes -
249. Nick F is also cock-a-hoop, as he was one of the
key people electioneering for the local Conservative
candidate, who gained his seat. This column is
strictly apolitical, and doesn't take any side in politics.
But Mr F should be congratulated for his efforts, whatever
side you're on. |
| Dateline: 6 May 2005 |
| It has brought to my attention that a new sweepstake took place in the Wheatsheaf
pub last evening, polling day. Following on from the Grand National and ever popular sunday meat raffle was a new sweepstake to determine how many votes the UKIP candidate would poll, namely Mr Nick
Coome.
It was a widely taken sweepstake with almost 80% of people in the pub taking part. ( 5 out of 7).
We await with bated breath for today's results. |
| Dateline: 4 May 2005 |
| So, it's election
day tomorrow. The village hall will be open as a
polling station. No doubt we'll have a heavily armed
police guard to protect against insurgents in the
village. Of which there are many, as you will all
know. SO, do use your vote. Don't waste it. And
if you want a very amusing (or so the webmaster thinks!)
take on our politicians, click
here. Enjoy! |
| Dateline: 3
May 2005 |
| Last thing at
night, your webmaster, having done a day's work (or what
passes for it), was playing a quick game of spider solitaire
before going to bed. He enjoys that kind of small pleasure.
So just imagine the calm, peaceful atmosphere prevailing (that's
enough of that - get on with it - Ed). Then his peace
was shattered by two of the most respectable ladies of the
village's establishment banging (yes - not knocking
demurely) on his window, and asking him why he was not
working. What a cheek! Your webmaster has few
pleasures at his advanced age in life, but spider solitaire
is one of them. |
| Dateline: 2
May 2005 |
| The village was
invaded by the Irish over the Bank Holiday weekend. Well, a
small proportion of that island's population, anyway.
So, stand up the Hynes family and be counted! What a great
invasion.... long may it last! |
| Dateline: 27 April 2005 |
| There was not
much enthusiasm to attend a meeting last night to discuss
creating the Village Design Statement (VDS). Paul Outridge
(who has taken on championing the plan) was there, and the
only other attendee for the first 45 minutes was your
webmaster. The chair of the Parish Council arrived late (he
had to drop his daughter off at a violin lesson), but stayed
for a chat for a while until Paul and the two Nicks decided
enough was enough and went home. It's a shame more
people did not turn up, because the VDS is a document drawn
up by residents, and used by the Council to help them decide
whether planning applications are appropriate or not,
according to the villagers. The upshot is that Paul will be
producing some documents, which hopefully will be added to
by various villagers, and we'll be creating a special page
on this website for the VDS. |
| Dateline: 24 April 2005 |
| Congratulations
to Cristelle and Alan Rolfe on the birth of their new baby
at 12.30pm today. After a long labour (not to mention
years of trying), Cristelle gave birth to her first baby,
Louis George Rolfe, weighing in at 7.7lbs. The
webmaster is particularly pleased, because his son, Louis
(12), now has a namesake in the village. Well done
all! And Alan's son, Stuart, told the webmaster today that
he will be getting a new dog next week and calling him Louis
too. No, that's Louis III! |
| Dateline: 23 April 2005
- St George's Day |
| Mr Alan Rolfe, an
upstanding community member who sometimes has trouble with
invasive rabbits (see passim), is very
upset that the St George's flag was not raised on the church
today (click here to see
it). Being St George's Day, that's
understandable. However, the captain of the church
bell tower is on holiday and so (again, understandably)
could not be in two places at once, and could not organise
it. We also have it on good authority that the local UKIP
candidate agrees entirely with Mr Rolfe, and is not afraid
to say this even though he's the chair of the Parish
Council. Mr Rolfe, by the way, has a permanent St
George's flag in his garden. That's enough of all this
(Ed.). |
| Dateline: 22 April 2005 |
| And speaking of
kids again, there continues to be trouble with the
skateboard park being used later than is agreed.
Please will everyone remember that the skateboard park is
only to be used until 7pm. After that, nobody should
be on it. This is for the peace of adjoining houses,
and was agreed about 4 years ago at a meeting of parish councilors
and parents. If this rule is not observed, the parish
council will close the skateboard park, something that the
children of the village would not want. So please children,
observe the rule. It's not unreasonable, and it's in
your interest to do so. |
| Dateline: 22 April 2005 |
| Speaking of kids,
they've now got a fantastic raffle prize in the fete raffle
to go for. Jewson Skoda in Oxford have generously
donated a brand new Salcano Nova Mountain Bike worth £299.
It's got 18 gears, front and rear suspension. Click
here to see what it looks like. This brings the total
prize value now to a fantastic £3,148. |
| Dateline: 21 April 2005 |
| Kids attending St
John's School in Marlborough yesterday had a great day off
school yesterday, as their bus failed to arrive. This
was nothing to do with the bus driver oversleeping, but
because traffic was diverted off the M4 which meant that the
school bus got held up. |
| Dateline: 21 April 2005 |
| We have it on
good authority that the chair of the village fete on June
4th is getting a little nervous about how many people will
be attending. Due to the publicity planned, over 50,000
people will be aware of the fete. This is from 20,000
leaflets which are being distributed, 120 posters (including
67 schools in the area), and publicity from BBC Berkshire,
BBC Wiltshire, GWR Radio, Kick-FM, The Advisor, and
others. If we assume that 5% of those 50,000 people
will attend, we're in for over 2,500 people visiting the
village on that day. And that's only the adults! When
you consider that last year we had 203 adult visitors,
that's a bit of an increase. So now Portaloos are being
seriously considered, as it would be asking the Wotsheaf pub
rather a lot to cope with those sort of numbers! If
there's anybody out there who's able to help, please, please
let us know. Just click
here to send your email. |
| Dateline: 20 April 2005 |
| Two
cows escaped last tonight and were seen running down the
B4192 towards Hungerford. Mr O (D) phoned the police and
hopefully they rounded them up. We suspect it must
have been entertaining to watch! |
| Dateline: 15 April 2005 |
| We're now
averaging 35 unique visitors a day to this web site.
In normal language, that means an average of 35 people each
day visit the web site. Considering the total adult
population of the village is only a bit over 300, that's a
significant number for a village of this size! |
| Dateline: 11 April 2005 |
| School's back for
most of the kids today. Many parents have breathed sighs of relief
because, although they love their little darlings massively,
even parents need a break sometimes! |
| Dateline: 11 April 2005 |
| The village had a
surprise flying visit last night from one of its past
residents, Don, a previous landlord of the Wotsheaf.
Everyone will be pleased to know that he has not changed one
bit. He even sang some Gaelic songs for us. Don was
celebrating his 21st birthday for the second time in his
life. And had obviously been celebrating it for most
of the day! Happy Birthday, Don! |
| Dateline: 10 April 2005 |
| The only problem
with today's meat draw in the pub was that Mr W did not win
anything. It was unkindly suggested
that it was a shame he had not won the bacon, as it would
have gone nicely with the eggs and tomatoes that were
chucked at his house on Thursday night. Shame on whoever
said that! |
| Dateline: 9 April 2005 |
| A working party
of villagers went to the recreation ground ("the rec")
to clean up the graffiti sprayed on the skateboard ramp at
Easter Weekend. It probably didn't take the miscreants long
to spray the offending graffiti, but it took seven villagers
several hours to remove it. Still, the park now looks fresh
and newly washed, ready for the summer.
And Charles and
Camilla finally got married today in Windsor. Feelings are
very mixed about this event, and it's an entertaining
subject that always raises a bit of emotion. Rumour has it
that Chilton Foliat was represented (unlike the
Pope's funeral), by a notable local villager, who happens to
be Prince Harry's godfather. The webmaster's cousin was also
there, as one of the close family at the civil service, but
the webmaster would not wish to embarrass him by naming any
names. The blessing (very entertaining it was too - all that
"I will forever be faithful" bit), was held in St George's
Chapel, where the webmaster was a professional musician for
5 years of his early life at the age of 8. Look where
that got him! There's a moral there, somewhere.
What a busy day its been
today. And it's not over. A local resident, who
is a pillar of the community, decided to light an enormous
bonfire at the rec. And enormous means over 10 ft
tall! He decided that, as there was a strong west wind
blowing any flames away from any house, this would be a safe
thing to do. However, another local resident, also a
pillar of the community, did not agree. He lives in
the thatched property closest to the rec where the bonfire
was lit. Witnesses were then given the privilege of
observing two prominent members of our community berating
each other with feeling. It has to be said that the
person who lit the bonfire was suitably contrite, and
apologised sincerely to the offended member. The tale has a
happy ending. Nobody's house was burnt down. And
I am assured that more thought will be given to the placing
of any bonfires in the rec again.
|
| Dateline: 9 April 2005 |
| The village was
taken by storm last night by the webmaster's mother turning
up at the Wotsheaf. It's always a traumatic event when
she appears, generally unannounced, and oblivious to
everyone and everything. And she doesn't drink at all, which
makes her antics even more scary. In fact, one of the stars
of this column, Mr M, nearly jumped out of his skin once
when she accosted him one night. The pub's landlord was very
worried when she turned up - he thought that she was one of
those itinerant gypsies who would start selling lucky
bunches of lavender any minute. He was relieved, but not
surprised, to learn her true identity. (For the record, she
has a very kind heart, even if she is a touch eccentric!). |
| Dateline: 8 April 2005 |
| Vandals have
struck the village again, on the 3rd Thursday night in a
row. At a little after midnight, several residents
living near the top of Stag Hill had their houses pelted
with eggs and tomatoes. At least 3 dozen Tesco eggs (they
left the cartons) were used in this mindless attack, and Mr
W's car actually had its roof scratched by the breaking
eggs. The police have footprints (it was a -4 degree frost
that night), as well as some details about the car
responsible. Investigations are continuing, and let's hope
this stupidity in the village will stop. It's getting
boring.
Oh, and in case anyone missed
it, the Pope's funeral took place today in the
Vatican. Chilton Foliat was, as far as we know, not
represented. Prince Charles was there, but had to
postpone his own wedding to attend. A great sacrifice,
and somewhat ironic since the potential future head of the
Church of England postponed his wedding to be at the funeral
of the head of the Roman Catholic Church. |
| Dateline: 7 April 2005 |
| Today's Newbury
Weekly News had an article about Chilton Foliat being
re-named Nick Foliat. They found it very entertaining
and appreciated the April Fool's angle. This view was not
shared throughout the village, and one "ex-mayor"
has been heard to say (helped by a few pints) that he
thought it was terrible and whoever did it should [be
shot. Almost. Sadly, the webmaster (although his
name was part of the village name-change) cannot help the
"ex-mayor" to find his firing squad victim, as he
does not know who did it. And even if he did, he'd
keep quiet! |
| Dateline: 3 April 2005 |
| Last night the
Wheatsheaf was host to about 7 ghost hunters from Ghost
Hunters UK, who stayed all night to investigate the
goings on. They included a medium, as well as people
with sound and video recording gear. They also
broadcast it live on their webcam. We don't yet have a
full report, but rumour has it that they found no less than
5 ghosts. |
| Dateline: 1
April 2005 |
| Anyone traveling
through the village this morning would have noticed that the
village's name had changed to 'Nick Foliat'. All the
three main pairs of road signs had been changed from reading
'Chilton Foliat' to 'Nick Foliat'. The webmaster thinks
this may have something to do with the entry in this gossip
column of October 2004 suggesting the village should change
its name to Nick Foliat because of all the Nicks there are
in the village. Click here
to go to the entry and find out who they are. And, of
course, it is April Fool's Day, and whoever put up the signs
has a great sense of humour! Your webmaster thought he
ought to take some pictures for posterity, so to view the
signs, click here. |
| Dateline: 1
April 2005 |
| The Adviser (our
local publication) has today printed a letter from Nic Coome, chair of the Parish Council, about the criminal
damage over the Easter weekend. Nic echoes the sentiments
expressed on this page (click here)
and says the Parish Council will not hesitate to prosecute
those responsible. He says that the damaged equipment
at the rec was bought and paid for by youth club, and is maintained
by the village. He goes on to say "We have plenty
of events lined up for the next few months, and it would be
a pity if a small minority of thoughtless people managed to
spoil things.". |
| Dateline: 29 March 2005 |
| We were lucky
with the weather (generally) over the Easter weekend, and
the weather was warm enough enjoy some leisurely meals
outside. Looks like someone took the corner by the
Littlecote turn a bit too fast at some point over the
weekend, as there was a car off the side of the road only
yards from where the last one ended up. There are no
reports of anyone being injured. Luckily. |
| Dateline: 25
March 2005 (Good Friday) |
| Chilton Foliat
woke up this morning to find that vandals had been active in
the village. The skateboard park had been sprayed with
graffiti, some of it obscene. And four cars had their
badges prized off; a Mercedes, a Renault, a VW, and a BMW.
Additionally, the same people (presumably) removed the
'Please shut the gate' sign from the gate on the square.
These are all senseless acts, and the assumption is that a
local person or persons were responsible. The police were
called, and are making enquiries. In the meantime, if
anyone has any ideas who might have been responsible, please
call Marlborough Police on 01672
512311 or 01380
735735 (24 hour). Our local Neighbourhood Watch
coordinator is Brian Keen, on 01488
682276, who would also be interested to hear anything. Hopefully
the rest of the Easter weekend will pass without incident,
and the person or persons who did these senseless things
will realise that they serve on purpose at all, and will not
repeat them. |
| Dateline: 20 March
2005 |
| Your webmaster
has finally got round to re-sizing and uploading some
pictures he took in February of the church,
graveyard, and the
village hall. Also, you
can see the state of the roofs (church
and village hall), and will
understand why so much money needs to be raised at this
year's village fete. Click
on any of the links in this article to see the relevant
pictures and pages. |
| Dateline: 18 March
2005 |
| The raffle
for the village fete is going great guns. We already
have £2,552 worth of prizes
committed, including a fantastic Pentium iV computer worth
£700. We'll soon be selling tickets online, so keep
your eyes peeled, and tell all your friends to buy as many
as they can afford! |
| Dateline: 17 March
2005 |
| Whoops. Your
webmaster got it wrong once more. Saturday nights do
for St Patrick's night was by the Boyd School of Irish
Dancing, not the Swindon school. Still, it had a very
nice write up in the Newbury Weekly News, complete with a
picture of 3 girl dancers wearing the stunning costumes. |
| Dateline: 16 March
2005 |
| Mr R isn't having
much luck with the batch of wood he had delivered
recently. A few weeks ago, he nearly chopped off his
thumb whilst cutting it up. Then yesterday afternoon
several villagers (including your webmaster) saw flames
shooting from the chimney. Much alarm, as Mr R was at
work and his heavily pregnant wife was dosing contentedly in
front of the fire she had just made up, oblivious to the
flames shooting out of their chimney. Local garage
proprietor, Mr C, was on the scene in a flash, using his
knowledge of chimney fires (he had had one himself only a
few months ago) to dowse the flames a bit. He was
closely followed by Mr O (D) and your webmaster, and then
fire engines from Hungerford and Ramsbury. Luckily the
fire was spotted in time, and no damage was caused. Who said
nothing ever happens in our sleepy village? |
| Dateline: 15 March
2005 |
| It was a bad day
for villagers' shopping yesterday. Mr M did his
shopping in Waitrose, Newbury, like the well-organised
person he is. Unfortunately, he got back home to
Chilton Foliat, only to discover he had left all his
shopping in Waitrose. And Mr D went to Hungerford's
Somerfield to do his shopping. It was only after he
had filled his trolley that he realised he had had no money
or credit cards on him. Luckily the bank was open,
which saved the day. Red faces all round! |
| Dateline: 13 March
2005 |
| The St Patrick's
night do at the Hall went off very well last night.
Organised by the indefatigable Jackie Hines, Swindon's Boyd
school of dancing performed incredibly well. And the
costumes (which apparently cost the parents about £500
each) worn by the girls were stunning. A good time was
had by all. Hopefully there will be some pics coming
soon. |
| Dateline: 8 March
2005 |
| The 350-year old
tree has finally (after a wait of at least a year) had its
base renewed. A very nice wooden frame has replaced
the old brick wall, which was in imminent danger of falling
down. Pic coming soon. |
| Dateline: 3 March
2005 |
| Local resident,
Oscar Davies (10) has also made it into the Newbury Weekly
news on account of winning a scholarship to Christ's
Hospital (see 25 February in this column). So go out and buy
the NWN, or Click here to
see it. Well done Ozzie! |
| Dateline: 3 March
2005 |
| The pub ghost
story continues..... go out and buy today's Newbury Weekly
News which features a photo of the ectoplasm, as well as a
story all about it. Click
here to see it in full. |
| Dateline: 1 March
2005 |
| Chilton Foliat continues to
grow. Mr. & Mrs. K were delivered a baby girl at 6am on Friday 25th. February, weighing in at a respectable 6lb. 9oz.
Mrs. K is a valued member of the WI and holds the position as treasurer on the village hall management committee.
Not wanting to shirk her duties, Mrs. 'K' was putting on her coat to attend the Bingo on Thursday night when she went into labour.....................what a Bingo session that could have been !! |
| Dateline: 29
February 2005 |
| Heard
in the pub on Sunday lunchtime.... A man is strolling
along a beach one day, and sees a glint in the sand.
Walking over to it, he digs it out to find it is an
old brass oil lamp. Instinctively, he polishes it, and
out pops a genie (as you might have expected!). The
genie says many, many thanks, as he's been trapped in the
lamp for centuries. He tells the man that he must
grant him one wish before he goes on to do the thousands of
things he needs to do after being trapped for so long.
The man says he has everything he needs; good health, a
warm home, money, a beautiful wife, lovely kids. He
needs nothing. But the genie has rules to follow, and
has to give him a wish. So the man reluctantly says
he'd like a bridge built from Cornwall to New York, right
across the Atlantic Ocean. Taken aback, the genie
tells him that even for a genie that's a very tall
order. So the man thinks again, and has an inspiration.
He'd like to understand how a woman's mind works.
Instantly, the genie retorts "so, what colour did you
want me to paint that bridge?" |
| Dateline: 25
February 2005 |
| The
webmaster has been very remiss in not posting this item when
it was first known, a couple of weeks ago. He is very
pleased to announce that his son, Oscar ("Ozzie"),
has won a scholarship to the prestigious Christ's Hospital
in Horsham, West Sussex. He will join his older
brother, Louis, who won a scholarship there last year. Both
boys have done very well, as over 500 children apply for
just 98 places, and there is a tough entry exam to select
the lucky children who get in. |
| Dateline: 25
February 2005 |
| More
on the ghost in the pub. Apparently a female ghost has
often been seen in the pub. Local legend has it that
it is the ghost of the mother of the new-born baby murdered
by Wild Darrell, the 16th century owner of Littlecote
House. Click
here for a link to an informative article about Wild
Darrell. |
| Dateline: 24
February 2005 |
| The
webmaster family's dog has made it into the papers. Click
here for the full story. |
| Dateline: 24
February 2005 |
| The
ghost pictures are here at last. Click
here to see them in their full glory, along with the
complete story. |
| Dateline: 24
February 2005 |
| Sad
news to report. Local resident Dougie Palmer, who lived on
the main street, passed away recently, aged 89. About
18 years ago he was chairman of the village hall, after it
ceased to be the Church Rooms. He did a lot for the village,
and is survived by his widow, Nora. A very good innings, as they say, and the village
is sad to see him go. |
| Dateline: 23
February 2005 |
| Our
ghost story seems to be creating a lot of interest. Since
the story 2 days ago, we have been contacted by a further
two ghost-hunters who also want to investigate what
happened. Your webmaster now has Finlay's original
photos, and will soon be uploading them to this
website. Watch this space. |
| Dateline: 22
February 2005 |
| Question.
Does anyone know anything about some people called Worrell (Warrell,
Warryll??.) who ran the pub around the early 1900s, or
during WW1? If so, please email Lynne
at the pub with info, as she has had an enquiry. |
| Dateline: 21
February 2005 |
| The
talk of ghosts in the pub has has attracted attention
outside the village. Within only a couple of hours of
the story appearing in this column (February 16, below),
Nick the landlord was contacted by professional ghost
hunters. Not only are they very interested in the
story, but no less than 7 of them will be visiting the pub
in April armed with cameras, sound recorders, and a
medium. Intriguing! Watch this space........ |
| Dateline: 20
February 2005 |
| Rumor
has it that a certain "Damn Yankee" (who used to
work behind the bar in the pub) might be visiting Chilton
Foliat on her holiday in March.... hmmmmm.... |
| Dateline: 19
February 2005 |
|
We
must also pass on our sincerest wishes for a quick
recovery to Dave, aka Andy (don't ask
why), who seems to have a bad back (or a bad leg)
from an old war wound. It
is rumoured that this only seems to create a problem with
his movement on a Friday music night when he is asked to
frequent the dance floor (that little piece of carpeted
area in front of the singer) by a certain lady. This said
it does not stop him from flying around behind the bar to
keep people's glasses topped-up when the barman's
nowhere to be seen.
|
| Dateline: 19
February 2005 |
|
It
is with joy that the dart board has been re-sited in the
pub. This was discovered on Friday evening at the musical
evening - a popular regular weekly event. (this week was
Elvis)
After
being used for some time by 2 well-known villagers it was
a joy to see Finlay displaying his extensive craft of
arrow-throwing, the knowledge of which was obviously
built-up during a mis-spent youth. After
watching his skills he was challenged to a couple of games
for a tenner but, even though the challengers had
diligently tried to empty the Baileys and Grouse bottles,
this challenge was not taken by Finley.
This
was of great disappointment as they were looking forward
to finishing the said bottles on the proceeds of the
winnings.
|
| Dateline: 17
February 2005 |
|
Last Wednesday the Junior YC enjoyed a visit to Swindon
cinema. 10 members were despatched promptly at 18.20
ferried in 2 cars. PW drew the short straw by having all
boys. TS enjoyed a more leisurely trip as he had all the
the girls + Ricky - he's quiet enough.
The trip was to see the new film Meet The Fockers, which
which was enjoyed by all. Unfortunately the Juniors now
presume that they can use the word Fockers in some context
or another without upsetting anyone. This was quickly
dispelled by PW and TS as parents may be concered to learn
that YC trips can expand their little cherub's vocabulary
at the same time as them enjoying 2 or 3 hours peace and
quiet.
Note: would all parents please ensure that they forward
their e-mail address to the webmaster as this is the
easiest way to contact everyone.
|
| Dateline:
February 18th 2005 |
| Nick at the pub
has now finished his brand new bar. It looks good,
thanks to his skillful engineering skills. At least
this has solved another mystery. The first your
webmaster knew about it was hearing a strange noise
emanating from the pub in the middle of the night which
sounded like an air raid siren. But you'll be relieved
to hear that the village was not under attack. It
turned out it was Nick the pub's electric planer making the
bar. |
| Dateline:
February 16th 2005 |
| Strange goings on
in the pub last night. Our resident Scot, Finlay,
decided to take a picture on his mobile phone of regular
Dave standing behind the half-finished new bar (see next
entry). Finlay was visibly shocked when he looked at
the result, as in the photo, Dave had white ectoplasm
covering his face, and taking up much of the top half of the
photo. Your webmaster, and Nick the landlord were both
present, and were so surprised that both had their photos
taken in exactly the same position as Dave, but with no
resultant ectoplasm appearing in their photos. There
was, of course, much discussion, but nobody has come up with
an explanation. And no, this story is not made up for
your titillation. It did happen! |
| Dateline:
February 15th 2005 |
| The oysters that
The Wotsheaf served for Valentine's evening last night were
a great success. So much so that the Webmaster went in
this evening hoping to buy a few of the leftovers, only to
be told there were none. Much disappointment in that
front! |
| Dateline:
February 13th 2005 |
| An 8 wheel 15
cubic meter lorry was seen making not one but 10 trips and
depositing loads on tarmac at the old milking parlour on the
Littlecote road. What's this all about? We need to be
told! |
| Dateline:
February 7th 2005 |
| On today's South
Today program at lunchtime, it was reported that seals are
"beginning to colonize unexpected parts of the
south". So keep your eyes peeled in Chilton
Foliat for seals. Will the first person to spot one
please let the webmaster know. If one does appear, it
would be a real newsworthy coup for the village, so look
under every bush...... |
| Dateline:
February 6th 2005 |
| We are lucky to have carpets of beautiful
snowdrops in some of the woods on the Hungerford side of the
village. Keep your eyes open on the east side of the road
between the bridge and the corner by the Littlecote
turning. They're opposite the spot where the blue car
came off the road the other day (marked by one of its tyres,
that remains there). |
| Dateline:
February 3rd 2005 |
| In his unending
search for news to bring you, the webmaster decided to ask
three regulars at the local pub if they knew any gossip for
this column. Not only were they completely
tight-lipped, but they would not divulge a thing for
fear of it being known that they were in the pub on a
weekday lunchtime. Shame on them! |
| Dateline:
February 2nd 2005 |
| The webmaster was
horrified to receive the following email today: "Rumour
is rife that the webmaster is 40 years old this year. Whilst
this seems unfounded it has been said that his party last
year was for his 40th but I hear on the grapevine that 'he
couldn't be 40 because he looks older than that'.".
What some people will do for a bit of publicity!
Thanks a lot, Mr W, for bringing this unsavoury bit of
gossip to our attention. |
| Dateline:
February 1st 2005 |
| From cars to
rabbits. Local resident Mr R showed he has a soft side
today when he found a rabbit with big fluffy ears in his
garden next to the rec. It wasn't one of the wild
rabbits that are always digging holes in the rec, but a
large domestic pet. And it was not looking too good,
as a large black cat had been having a go at it.
Mr R kindly took the rabbit to the local vet, only to be
told he'd have to fork out £50 for his troubles. But
despite this being the price of several drinks in the
Wotsheaf pub, he selflessly handed over the dosh. It
has to be said, though, that he has been a little less quick
in collecting the rabbit. Last we heard, it was still
at the vet's. |
| Dateline:
January 28th 2005 |
| After a fairly
quiet start to the New Year for locals, during the early
hours of Saturday morning, some villagers close to the main
road were woken up with a bang. A blue car (apparently
a Vauxhall Nova) careered down the street in the direction
of Hungerford, bounced off the wall near the bridge (leaving
quite a bit of its blue paint on the wall), and ended up on
the west of the road in the water meadows. Whichever
maniac was driving it appears to have got out unscathed, and
as far as we know nobody was injured as everyone was in bed
and the road was empty. But the car ended up on its
side off the road, and certainly didn't look as though it
was drivable. |
| Dateline:
January 6th 2005 |
| Apologies to Mr
M, who provides a lot of the content for the gossip
pages. Or at least, the pithy bits. There was some
inaccurate reporting of his life in earlier chapters and so,
in keeping with a long line of tradition going back to
Caesar, through Stalin, and ending with the current
government, it has been permanently expunged and did not
feature in this column. As we explained above, if
anyone does not like what's written about them, it will be
removed. Mr M, it has been! |
| Dateline:
January 3rd 2005 |
| Happy New Year
everyone! The news of the Tsunami disaster continues to
horrify everyone. In the village, a new idea has been
proposed. This is that the main effort of our
village fete on 4th June should be to raise funds for the
victims of the disaster. Watch this space. On a
lighter note, Mr M's tales of woe continue to provide us
with a seemingly unending source of amusement. His
latest mishap involving staying at a friend's house
recently, where he had to take an air-mattress with
him. It was only once he had fully inflated it that he
discovered that the mattress took up the whole room, and
prevented him from opening the door. It was only by
deflating the mattress that he escaped and lived to tell us
the tale. Keep 'em coming Mr M! |
| Dateline:
December 31st |
| Well, we got it a
bit wrong in the posting of 27th December. Unknown to
us, Pete F was in hospital over Christmas with a serious
breathing problem. The good news is that he is
recovered, and looks alarmingly well. And now for some
serious village gossip. We have to feel sorry for Mr
M. He announced on Tuesday that he had just lost a
lot of money on a horse. He was inconsolable because not
only did the horse not win, but it fell, broke a leg, and
was shot. Not a good day for Mr M. :-( |
| Dateline:
December 29th |
| This is not local
gossip, but the scale of the Tsunami disaster on Sunday is
so massive that it would not be right not to include it
here. Fatalities run into 6 figures, and those people
whose families have been affected are in the millions. If
you want to know about anyone who you cannot contact, the
International Red Cross has set up a web site to help locate
missing relatives. At the time of writing, it was not
functional, presumably due to server overload.
Hopefully this will be fixed very shortly. Try
clicking on www.familylinks.icrc.org,
and see if you can reach it. Otherwise, the
International Red Cross web site is at http://www.icrc.org.
The UK government's helpline for this disaster is 020
7008 0000. You can also go onto www.fco.gov.uk
for further information. |
| Dateline:
December 27th |
| Christmas itself
has now gone, and a happy and peaceful time appears to have
been had by all. No adverse incidents in the village that
the web site is aware of, which is good news. But of
course the village sends its sincere sympathies to the
hundreds of thousands of people affected by the disastrous
Tsunami in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, apparently caused by
the world's worst earthquake in 40 years. |
| Dateline:
December 24th |
| The village is
ready for Christmas. The pub promises to be busy tonight,
and hopefully everyone will have a lovely time. Much
to the frustration of some villagers, the Vulcan bomber has
still not appeared. But watch this space - there are
rumours that something is in the air on this subject! |
| Dateline:
December 21st |
| Sad news from the
village - two of our older residents have passed away, Doug
Shaw and Daisy Pricktoe, who had lived in the village for 20
and 60 years respectively. Our condolences go to their
families. |
| Dateline:
December 20th |
| The webmaster
must apologise for the lack of updates to the site over the
last month or so. There just have not been enough
hours in the day! But don't worry, come the New Year,
things will start to happen again. |
| Dateline:
November 28th 2004 |
| David Hickford's
Poppy Appeal Drive raised a magnificent £157 for this
worthy cause. Well done David for putting in many
hours of legwork round the village. |
| Dateline:
November 25th 2004 |
| Patrick has
resigned as Treasurer of the village Fete committee as he
decided he had too much going on in his life to commit to
yet another position in the village. But he remains
very active as Treasurer of the Youth Club. Indeed, he
organised a very impressive photographic presentation by his
Dad, Roger, at last night's Youth Club, which was very well
received. Keep up the good work Patrick! |
| Dateline:
November 24th 2004 |
| Yet again,
nothing much has happened in the village. Well, a duck
nearly got run over. That's about as exciting as it
gets. Oh yes, speaking of which. Your webmaster
was nearly totaled by a tractor tanking it through the
village. 30mph? What's that when you're in a
hurry to do the silage? So, a gentle (unlike your machinery
going through the village) message to local farmers.
Do us all a favour and tell your drivers that they are not
competing in the Grand Prix. Those things weigh a lot,
and all of us living here would rather not be flattened by
one as we go about our daily life. Sure, you've got to make
a living. We'd like ourselves, kids and pets to be
able to live please. Arnie may be the governor of the
world's fifth largest economy in sunny California, but we
can do without that attitude here. (OK webmaster, that's
enough ranting. Ed). |
| Dateline:
November 14th 2004 |
| Well, absolutely
nothing has happened in the village since the last
posting. Well, actually, it has. Nick & Lyn have
moved into the Oatsheaf (AKA the Wheatsheaf). We wish them
well and hope the brewery gives them every support they
deserve. That means investing lots of money (it
seems to have been seriously lacking from that direction
over the last few years - Ed.) so that the new landlords
can re-vamp the place and make it a great resource for the
village and its surrounds. As everyone knows, every village
needs a focus for the social life of the community, and
traditionally the village pub is it. So come on, Greene
King, give it your all! You could always start by replacing
the new sign to reflect the true name of the pub! |
| Dateline:
November 9th 2004 |
| So it's goodbye
Graham (and Helen). Thanks for stepping in, although the
brewery undermined you. Lots of locals dropped to wish you
well. |
| Dateline:
November 6th 2004 |
| It's rumoured
that Mrs Bouquet and DelBoy will be starting their own
gossip column on this web site. Watch this space. It
could be fun! |
| Dateline:
November 2004 |
| Well, the village
didn't bid high enough for the Vulcan bomber that was for
sale on Ebay (did anyone bid at all? Ed.).
A pity, because it could have been an excellent traffic
calming measure. If I was driving through a village
and was confronted by a Vulcan bomber, I would certainly
slow down. No, I would stop. Reverse. And get
out of there as quickly as possible. So maybe it's best we
did not get it after all! |
| Dateline:
November 5th 2004 |
| The brewery has
just done some building work in the Oatsheaf (AKA The
Wheatsheaf). Apparently the wiring has been brought up
to date. Great! We won't have to worry about
being electrocuted whilst standing at the bar supping our
drinks. And, most entertaining of all, they've put a door in
the back to help the landlords and staff have a bit more
privacy. There's only one problem. The door's on the
route of barrels to the cellar. And it's not big
enough to roll an 11 gallon barrel through. So, it remains
to be seen how long the door and frame will last. |
| Dateline:
November 3rd 2004 |
| We have it on
good authority that a member of the Parish Council has just
built a helicopter landing pad in his garden. Now, we
have no objection to this, but we wonder if it really is big
enough to land a helicopter in. And who's going to use it,
anyway? Is it for general village use, or private
only? We need to be told! Apparently, the person involved,
refers to it as 'decking'. Pull the other one, J, we
know its real purpose. Ostensibly for helicopters, we
think it's really a small landing strip for the rumoured
Vulcan bomber to fly the family in from Ireland! Click
here for full story. |
| Dateline:
October 31st 2004 |
| Apparently,
someone is going to place a Vulcan bomber in the
village. Click here for
full story. |
| Dateline:
October 2004 |
| Local resident Mr
M returned from his holiday in war-torn Beirut. He
decided to relax, have a quiet glass of wine and sit in his
favourite chair watching the telly. So he could not
believe it when he was rudely woken from his snooze by a
Police helicopter, complete with searchlights, and police
with sniffer dogs. And he thought he had come back to
CF for a quiet time. PS - there's a happy end The
police were searching for an elderly resident who had
wandered to the river. Thankfully, she was found and
is now safe and well. |
| Dateline:
October 2004 |
| Apparently our
local pub, the Wheatsheaf (sometimes known locally as the
Oatsheaf because of the sign), is to have new landlords in
early November. The incoming landlord's name is Nick, adding
to the proliferation of Nicks already in the village (Nic
Coome - PC chair; Nick Davies - Youth Club Chair; Nick Fritz
- fundraiser extraordinaire; that's enough Nicks - Ed).
Maybe we should change the village name to Nick
Foliat? And of course, we all know that the previous
landlord's Range Rover was nicked from outside the
pub earlier this year (please, that really is
enough Nicks - Ed.). |
