East Coker Society
Newsletter
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July
2008 Free Issue No 131
Chair: John Sugg 863435
e-mail
Newsletter Editor: Lesley Lindsay 862868
e-mail
Secretary: Sarah Owen 862218
Treasurer: Keith Helliar 863700
EAST
COKER SOCIETY
SCARECROW COMPETITION
21
Congratulations
to the 29 entrants in the second East Coker Scarecrow Competition, who
demonstrated their impressive creative abilities and provided us with a great
deal of entertainment as we walked, cycled and drove round the 'scarecrow'
route during the week-end of 21 22 June. We were anticipating many more entries this
year, after the encouragement from so many of you who enjoyed the 2007 event
and specifically asked us to repeat it again. Although many of these failed to materialise,
this was more than compensated by the supreme efforts of those who did
participate. You brightened up the
village, and encouraged many people out and about! Well look forward to seeing some of them at
the Church Fκte.
The
standard of the entries was so high that the judges had a very difficult job. The first prize in the Childrens Category was
won by the Backhouse Family with their Slam
Dunk entry. Rosie and Katy Palmer and
Sam and Clare Barnes-Thornton were a very close runner up with Percy the Park Keeper. In the Adult Category, Flavia Leng won first
prize with Miss Flora Bunda. The runner up was Ann Coyne with Maurice Morris. Finally, the Clubs and Organisations Category
was won by Trebles Gone, entered by Don and Barbara Nicol and
friends of Ten Cottages. East Cokers
Christian Fellowships Cutting Edge entered
by Kevin Chapman was a close runner up.
Photographs
of all the scarecrows will eventually be on the website www.eastcoker.com
Sarah
Owen, Secretary East Coker Society
ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING
At the AGM of the East Coker Society held on the 10
June, the Executive Committee was re-elected en bloc. It was disappointing that only one villager
attended, as all villagers are automatically members of the Society. We would welcome some new members to serve on
the Executive Committee, so if you feel you could give your experience to the
Society, please phone the Secretary 862218
A NEW
'MUST-HAVE' ITEM!
The new East Coker Bag is a 'must-have' item if you live in East Coker! The cotton shopper is available with either
long or short handles, and has the East Coker Cockerel on one side. Environmentally friendly, and good for the
'green' consumer! Available from the
East Coker P.O. & Store or Sarah Owen 862218
ADVANCE NOTICE of the WINTER FAYRE
Book early!
Tables for the Winter Fayre are available. The price is £1. 50 a foot, for 4, 6, 8, 10
and 12 foot tables. Setting up of tables
will be from
Individuals or organisations who wish to reserve a
table should please fill in the form below, and send it with either cash or a
cheque, by 15 November at the latest, made payable to East Coker Society, to Carol Blackmore, Pippins, Higher Burton,
East Coker 862192. This will make certain your stall is
reserved.
%-------------------------%-------------------------%--------------------------%-------------------------%---------------------%
WINTER FAYRE
Name of Organisation
...
.
Type of Stall
.
Contact Name and Telephone Number
Size
of table at £1. 50 per foot
.. I
enclose £
..Signed
...
......
.
%-------------------------%-------------------------%--------------------------%-------------------------%---------------------%
RECEIVE THE
NEWSLETTER VIA E-MAIL
We greatly
appreciate delivery by e-mail as it saves money on our printing costs so if in future you would
like to help by receiving the Newsletter via e-mail, please e-mail Lesley
Lindsay with your name and postal address so you can be removed from our
delivery lists.
Your e-mail address will be kept entirely
For those already receiving the Newsletter by
e-mail, please e-mail Lesley Lindsay if you change your e-mail address.
Village Clubs and Organisations
EAST COKER ACTION MEDICAL RESEARCH
We are holding a
Womans World Evening at the East Coker Hall on
Tickets are £10
including wine and refreshments and are available from Angie Mead 862972 or
Barb Raison 862553.
A reminder of our lunch
with the Rt. Hon Ann Widdecombe MP on Thursday 27 November 2008 at the new
Tithe Barn, Haselbury Mill, Nr Yeovil. Tickets
are £30 to include a two-course lunch with wine.
There has been a lot of
interest in this event and tickets are limited, please ring Jane Donnelly
478409 for tickets a.s.a.p.
Cream Teas £2,300 was made from the 500 Cream Teas which
were delivered in Yeovil, Sherborne & Crewkerne. Thank you to all those in the village who
supported us.
STILL TO BE OPEN ALL HOURS
We start with the sad news that East Coker Post
Office is to close. We would like to say
a big thank you to all who supported us and fought with us during the campaign
to save the Post Office. We are sorry
that we were unsuccessful in our attempts and feel deeply saddened for the
village at the loss of a service that a great many people will miss. The date for the closure is set for
Anyway, time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves
down and move forwards. We are going to
continue to run the store under the new name East Coker Village Store. Due to the removal of the Post Office, we are
going to re-arrange the interior space and displays to hopefully improve the
Store. Please bear with us, as it could
take some time to get fully sorted. Along
with the changes, we are creating a website with details of stock offers and hopefully
a stock list, though again this could take some time.
You can check on progress at http://mysite.orange.co.uk/eastcokerstore.
We are fully aware of the importance of stock
control and stock holding and will continue to work hard as we have done over
the last 16 months to ensure availability of stock. We are also open to suggestions of products
and services that you would like us to supply or of any other ways in which we
can improve on what we do. If we get
enough demand for a particular item then we will try to source it at a
reasonable cost.
You can call into the store with any suggestions. Alternatively we can be e-mailed at eastcokerstore@yahoo.co.uk.
We are always on the lookout for
opportunities, as anyone who knows Paul will tell you.
Some of the recent new additions to our stock
portfolio are electronic items (TV with DVD and Freeview, USB portable Hard
Drive, Satellite Navigation, Remote Control Tank and Helicopters and more),
chemical toilet fluids for Campers and Caravanners, and DVDs (including some
new releases and a selection of other movies for all tastes).
We also have other ideas which we are investigating
at present.
At the time of writing this piece, we are in
communication with a company which, if things work out, will allow us to
continue to offer some Bill Payment Services and would hopefully add the
ability to provide electricity key charging amongst other services. We have had to buy the rights from the Post
Office to be able to continue to provide these services. We will keep you informed on this.
Paul is also a qualified driving instructor and is
looking to take on extra work. More
details on the driving school services will be available in store.
Ultimately, we are realistic enough to know that
there is only so much that we can do to make the store a success. In reality, it is our customers who make the
store what it is. We only hope that we
can continue to serve our community to the best of our ability for a long time
to come.
Paul, Vicky, Emmalia & Lillia Moorhouse
THE COKER 400 CLUB
£100
Mr J Mornement; £50 Mr J Sharp; £40 Mr & Mrs T Kimpton; £30 Mr D Jenkins;
£20 Mrs K Best; £15 Mrs A Mead; £10 Mr C Bingley; Mrs B Chatwin.
If
anyone would like to join the 400 Club £20 a year payable by quarterly payments
of £5 by Bank Standing Order please contact Mike Weston 862472, Gloria Mead
862384 or Mary Ashley 862263
EAST
COKER FLOWER SHOW
& WINE FESTIVAL
This will be held at
East Coker Hall on
Doors will be open to
exhibitors between
Good Luck everyone!
EAST COKER PAVILION
FUND UPDATE
Opening Celebration
The new Pavilion extension is complete and we are
having an opening celebration with complimentary light refreshments on Sunday
20 July from
On not quite such a positive note. There has been some minor vandalism with the
use of the new roof as a seating area, which has caused damage to the felt. May we ask all parents to ensure that children
realise the dangers and cost of these actions and actively to discourage anyone
seen on the roof.
A note for your diary, we are having an Auction of Promises on Friday 10 October
which we hope will raise enough funds to refurbish the old Pavilion. We are looking for promises from cakes to
holidays. Our last auction raised over
£8,000 and if we could achieve this again it would complete this very
worthwhile project. Please contact me on
863435 if you can help in anyway.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
Warman Builders for delivering an excellent job on time and more importantly on
budget and Robert Mead for all his efforts including project management.
Bridget Sugg East Coker Pavilion Fund
EAST COKER POETRY GROUP
Tuesday 29 July Joyce Smith & Betty Davis
Tuesday
30 September Travel, Caroline Mornement hosts an evening of travel poetry
with a display of textiles from around the world to accompany the verse.
Readers include Joyce Best and James Nash.
East Coker
Poetry Competition 2008 deadline for entries
The subject is 'Time'
Everyone is welcome to enter the competition. Your poem can be short or long. It can be in any form sonnet; limerick;
haiku. It must be mainly in
English. It can be typed or
hand-written. For details of the rules
please contact the telephone number below.
Entries should be sent to East Coker Poetry Group, Church Cottage,
Burton Cross, East Coker, Yeovil BA22 9LYor email to
info@eastcokerpoetry.org.uk
All meetings are at The Helyar Arms, East Coker,
TIME TO SHARE
The year began with a jolly Hogmanay Hop, with
musical accompaniment by the Misty Trio, plus a Bargain Bazaar to boost funds.
Then the change of venue which affected all those
using the facilities of the East Coker Hall due to its closure whilst major
repairs were undertaken. We gratefully
accepted the generous offer made by Kevin Chapman to transfer to his hall in
In February, a Poetry Please session was held, with
members submitting their own poems appropriate for Valentine's Day.
Nigel and Alison entertained us with their slides
and commentary of their second trip to
Bill Petheram projected some fascinating pictures
of his diving exploits in the
A
fun Sing-a-Long of old-time favourites had members waiting more desperately
than usual for their refreshing cup of tea served at the end of each meeting
such were their efforts to sing with gusto the familiar lyrics!
In
May, it was eyes-down for Card Bingo, and later in that month Bob Fox
entertained us with his hilarious recollections from a life-time of being
involved in the world of Old Time Music Hall Variety Theatre.
The
late Joan Bulcraig would have been delighted to see how we enjoyed the day trip
to Minehead she bequeathed the Club, including a Carvery meal at the Wellington
Hotel. It was one of those gloriously
sunny days that rarely happen when trips are arranged in advance of weather
forecasts being available.
The
half-yearly programme finished with Songs of Praise at St Michael's Church on 23
June, and now it's back to East Coker Hall for future events, with its
brand-new floor and shiny new windows.
Jean
Cooksey
Forthcoming Events
7 July Sing-a-Long a celebration! 21 July Travels in
4 August Quiz-time pit your wits! 18 August Birthday Tea Dance with the Misty Trio
1
September AGM and Bring & Buy 15 September Whole Day Outing
29
September Call my Bluff Larry Skeats 13 October History of the Swan Theatre Stan Law
27
October Craft Competition Gill Holt
The
Club meets in the East Coker Hall from
EAST
COKER GARDENING CLUB
After meeting in various venues for the past few
months, members of the Club were delighted to be back 'home' in the East Coker
Hall for the June meeting.
Since the beginning of April, members had heard a
helpful talk on 'Rock Gardens and Alpines' and had seen two splendid slide
shows of photographs of 'Somerset Wildlife' by Den Bridel, and a 'Portrait of
Exmoor' by John S. Stuart.
In early April, the Clubs spring holiday took a
coach-load on a 3-day trip to
On 11 June, a day trip went to The Chelsea Physic
Garden in
At the time of going to press, on 10 July the Club
will be hearing about the work of The Barn Own Trust.
The Club took part in the East Coker Societys
Scarecrow Competition with 'How Does Your Garden Grow' displayed in Mill
Close. It is anticipated that members
will put on a good showing at the Annual Flower Show on 16 August. This year the Club will also be presenting a
cup for one of the classes.
The programme for the rest of the summer is set out
below. The Club usually meets on the
second Thursday in the month at
14 August Marie-Elaine
Houghton from Hortus Nurseries on'Planting for Late Summer Interest'
11 September Pam
Lewis from Sticky Wicket on 'Gardening in Tune with Nature'
Saturday 27 September Day trip to Malvern Autumn Show leaving East Coker at
8.00am.
9 October Clem
Pryor on 'Roses and Castles
For further information contact the Hon-Secretary,
Catherine Denny on 862294, or the Hon-Treasurer, Stan Shaylor on 420291.
Young People
EAST COKER
SCOUT GROUP
Coffee
Morning Saturday 19 July by kind invitation of Tim
& Jackie Glover at The Old School House Closworth (next to the Church) 10
00am 12noon. Entry £2.00 to include
coffee and homemade cakes; bric-a-brac stall and raffle.
Proceeds to help fund the Scout Group's forthcoming
visit to the Irish Jamboree.
Waste Paper
Collections: Saturday 26 July 30
August 27 September
Autumn
Jumble Sale Saturday 18 October, East
Coker Hall from