Month: <span>July 2015</span>

Peplow’s new community group recently enjoyed an evening of Crown Green Bowls hosted by the Wollerton Bowls & Social Club.
More than twenty members of the group attended the event which included an introduction to the game followed by three practice sessions. With this July failing to deliver warm summer weather, visitors and hosts had to contend with a cool, damp evening but this did not deter the Peplownians’ enjoyment. Coaches from the Bowls Club helped their guests get to grips with the basic skills of bowling. Thumb and finger pegs, weight and land were amongst new terminology they had to wrestle with.
The evening concluded with a buffet supper organised by members of the club.

David Jackson, chairman of the community group commented afterwards “Our visit to Wollerton Bowls Club was a very special evening. We are grateful to members who coached us and for the wonderful buffet provided. This was certainly something we would like to do again. We all felt that we were welcome which was really nice.”
Randall Hardy, who lives in Peplow and is chairman of the Bowls Club, said “The evening was a very good opportunity for two local groups to get together. Many club members worked really hard preparing the food and their efforts were greatly appreciated. We hope that the session encouraged some of our visitors to consider playing bowls regularly in the future, and we would be delighted if they did so at Wollerton.”
Click the following links for more information about the Peplownians and Wollerton Bowls Club.

Recently memories of yesteryear were evoked in the centre of Hodnet. On the Shrewsbury Street bridge a steam tractor was parked whilst its crew refilled its water tank with a hose from the stream below.Owner Ariel West, from Kinnerley near Oswestry, was taking the tractor to Norton-in-Hales to join other steam vehicles in celebrating the 100th anniversary of another steam Marshall Tractor called “Mascot” (No. 68754). His own vehicle, also made by Marshalls, is a Convertible Tractor (No. 78953) named “Moonraker”.
Ariel is pictured above (in blue) with his assistant (in the bowler hat) as they lifted water from the stream. The method used to draw the water from the stream is a venturi, which produces a reduction in pressure due to a constriction of the flow in a pipe. More information about how a venturi works can be found here and here. Technical information on “Moonraker” is available from this page.
At one time steam powered vehicles were a daily sight in the village and the cause of several thatched roof fires! Happily no fires were reported following Moonraker’s visit.