The start of the new tennis season provides an opportunity for children to learn new skills whilst enjoying exercise.
Wollerton Tennis Club is starting junior coaching sessions on Saturday afternoons from 26th March.
Full details available from the Club’s webpage.
Bar and hot food on the night.
Tickets £10 per team of 4 – entries to be submitted on the evening.
The Induction of Rev David Cassidy as minister to both Wollerton and Wistanswick United Reformed Churches at Wollerton URC, Wood Lane.
Everyone is invited to join both congregations on this occasion.
Following the retirement of long-serving Parish Councillor, Mr. Phil Perry, a replacement has been appointed.
He is Mr. Howard Trevor, who has lived in Hodnet all his life and has a young family. He also runs his own Landscape and Property Maintenance business.
Howard’s first meeting as a Parish Councillor will be on Thursday, 16th December.
Gerald Mothershaw, a well know local historian, has recently published his latest book. Called The War Years 1939-1945 – How Times Have Changed, it includes accounts of the experiences of servicemen based in Hodnet and other villages around Market Drayton during the war.
This is Gerald’s seventh book, and like the previous ones he is donating the proceeds from its sale to charity. On this occasion the beneficiary will be the armed forces charity Help for Heroes. Appropriately, the book contains a chapter about Corporal Simon Vaughan from Hodnet who was severely injured in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan in December 2008.
The book has been produced with help from The Muller Community Trust, Kate & Simon Johnston and The Weston & Whixall Church of England Schools Trust.
Mr Mothershaw, 75, said: “Over the last 12 years, I’ve written about Hodnet as the village’s historian and I thought I’d round things off by looking at the history of the village during the last war.
“I wrote it because of all the interest there is in World War II and because a lot of people asked me, ‘Is there a book coming out for Christmas?’
“It has stories in it about HMS Godwit in Ollerton, RAF Peplow, the airfields around the Market Drayton area and a brief history of the last war.
“I hope young children will find it of great interest because I go to Hodnet Primary School to give talks and a lot of the children there are interested in the Second World War.
“But for the grown-ups, it will bring back a lot of memories.”
Gerald Mothershaw’s previous books are:
Local florists Mulberry Bush Studios are holding a number of special pre-Christmas events. These are:
Christmas Showcase evenings: Monday 15th & Thursday 25th November, 7.00pm.
Everyone welcome, refreshments provided.
Floral Demonstration evening: Wednesday 1st of December, 7.00pm.
Tickets £8.50. Booking essential.
Wine Tasting Evening: Tuesday 7th December, 7.00pm
Liz Gledhill from Oldacre Wines will be bringing a selection to help choose the right wines for Christmas celebrations.
Tickets £5.00. Booking essential.
Open days: Thursday 9th & 16th December, starting at 11am.
Ideas for Christmas (door wreaths,table arrangements garlands & much more).
Bookings are also available for 10 or more friends to get together and hold a workshop day with us or just come along for a retail party.
For more information telephone Dorne or Amy 01630 685327 or email
We have been approached by the Chairman of the North Shropshire Neighbourhood & Farm Watch Association with a request to make known that they need to recruit a new local co-ordinator for the Hodnet area.
Would anyone interested in finding out more about what is involved, please contact:
Mr David Gilling
9, Gorse Meadow
Higher Heath
Whitchurch
Shropshire
SY13 2JF
Tel: 01948 840163
email
General information can be found on their website www.nshropsnfw.co.uk
The Lyon Hall is looking for new committee members
David Kiss whose Rocking Horse Workshop is in Hodnet village, has researched, written and now published a ground-breaking book on the heyday of his craft. “A Kiss of Rocking Horses ~ A Directory of British Rocking Horse Makers (pre-1950)” is now available and can be purchased at the shop or by mail order.
‘A Kiss of Rocking Horses’ is the most comprehensive listing of all known British Rocking Horse Makers, over one hundred and fifty in all. Each maker is listed alphabetically and, where known, the social background of each firm is reported on as well as the range of products that the firm produced. David has spent many hours researching old catalogues, magazines and newspapers for information on Rocking Horse manufacturers both large and small.
The book aims to equip the reader identify and name any model of British Rocking Horse by the means of over 720 colour and black and white pictures and illustrations. These are spread throughout the 520 pages of the book.
Designed as a directory the book seeks to include as much information about all British rocking horse makers established before 1950, who have put at least one model into production. David acknowledges though that the content is by no means definitive and his historical research is on going.
He adds, “The words ‘Rocking Horse’ can be used to describe many variations of a genre, from a very simple and cheaply made item, up to a large and fully sculptured animal, and because of this, this book features many different types of Rocking Horses.”
David has set up a new website dedicated to his book – www.akissofrockinghorses.co.uk This features information on price and how to order “A Kiss of Rocking Horses” as well a preview of some of the pages.
On Thursday 29th July, Shropshire Council’s Parks and Countryside Sites Service held its first Wildlife Photography Course in Hodnet.
With course members ranging from novices to those with experience of having wildlife photographs published, John spent the morning on a range of topics from the basics of photography through to describing some of the effort which goes into taking stunning wildlife photographs. He had brought with him some of the equipment he uses in the field and enlightened his audience with descriptions of their benefits and at times their weaknesses!
In late July the main attraction was a wide variety of insects plus water plants. The five pools offer an excellent habitat for wildlife and this group of photographers were kept happy for around two hours. The more enthusiastic had to be almost dragged away when the time came to leave.
Speaking afterwards, Lynne Dean, Countryside Ranger with Shropshire Council who organised the course said, “Parks and Countryside Sites team run a series of events throughout our 130 sites where we hope to encourage people to get out and enjoy the Shropshire countryside.
“The photographic day was designed for people like me who have a digital camera and want to take pictures of wildlife. That’s where John Harding came in and gave us some great advice on how to the get the best pictures possible.
“Wollerton is one of our newest sites as it was created as part of the Hodnet bypass in 2003. Seven years on, the flora and fauna there is stunning.”
At the end of a very enjoyable day course, participants who had come from places as far away as Birmingham, were asked to email John Harding with a selection of their photographs. John has put a selection of these on the Wood Lane website. Click here to view them.
To visit the Parks and Countryside Sites section on Shropshire Council’s website, please click here.