News

Christmas Fair

Weston Village Hall Christmas Fair:

Saturday, December 17th.

  from 2-30 pm.

Craft stalls with Christmas arrangements for sale.

Contact Christine on 01939 200656 for more information.

Evening at Weston Village Hall

Weston Village Hall are holding an evening with a difference.

Ludlow artist Dianne Jennings will paint 2 full sized paintings from start to finish during the demonstration.


Friday, November 25th from 7.30 pm in Weston Village Hall.

£5 to include light refreshments.

Tickets from Christine on 01939 200656.

Musical evening

Shrewsbury School Community Choir Musical Evening

St Lukes Church, Hodnet

Saturday December 3rd

At 7-30pm

Carols and community singing


For information and tickets please contact;

Tim Preston on 01630 685315

Ceilidh, Lyon Hall

The 2nd Hodnet Scout Group are Hosting a Ceilidh

Lyon Hall

Saturday 3rd December

From 7.30 p.m.

Free entry

Traditional dance music and caller

All are welcome

Bratwurst, Frankfurters, Sauerkraut, Pretzels, Beer

Prize raffle

Scout Group re-opens

The 2nd Hodnet Scout Group, which closed last December, re-opened on Thursday 3rd November.
The Group was forced to close because the number of children attending fell to just 3.  However, in January a new committee was formed and, by organising fundraising events and an awareness campaign to the local community the number of children wanting to join Scouts has made it possible to re-open.
The Scout Group will be a fantastic and much-needed facility for local children aged between 10-14 years.  There are very few activities within the village and surrounding area for this age group to get involved in.  Once the group is up and running, camping and other outdoor activities will form a major part of the scouting timetable.
Hodnet Scout Group, which also includes Beavers and Cubs, has recently been awarded a grant  for £1,600 by the Market Drayton Local Joint Committee to purchase new camping equipment. This will allow the Group to organise more camping trips and outdoor activities in the future.  Hodnet Parish Council have also offered to help the group by donating £200 in the next financial year.
As previously reported, the Beaver Group (age 6-8 years) faced closure earlier this year but now has a healthy number attending.  The number of Cubs (8-10 years) has doubled and seven of them have moved up to Scouts now that it has re-opened.
The new committee should be congratulated for the efforts that they and all the leaders and helpers are making for the young people in the local community.
Boys and girls are welcome to join any of the Scout groups who meet at the Hodnet Scout Hut.  Beavers meet on Tuesday evening at 6.15pm, Cubs meet on Thursday at 5.45pm and Scouts start at 7.30pm on Thursday evenings.
For further information contact Keri Coates: Tel. 07786-158064

Fancy a walk?

The Hodnet Footpath Group are holding their next local footpath walk on, November 20th 2011 – Note change of date.
We will be leaving from Lyon Hall at 10.00 AM, and walking around the Wollerton Wood area.
As a friendly local group, we welcome walkers of all ages/abilities – so why not come along.
Walks usually take about 2 hours though at 6.5 miles this may take nearer 3 hours. Please bring a snack/drink and suitable clothing.
For more information please email Mary Hardy

New '101' non-emergency police number

The Police now have a new standard telephone number for the public to use to contact their local force in non-emergency situations.
It’s intended to be simple to remember, as 101, and calls to it cost a standard 15p per call – irrespective of the time of day or the duration of the call.
In an emergency* you should still call 999
More information can be found at www.police.uk/101
*Examples of an emergency situation include: when a crime is in progress; when someone suspected of a crime is nearby; when there is a danger to life or when violence is being used or threatened.
 
 

Trugg and Barrows Garden Diary; November 2011

October was another dry month with only the one day of any rain to speak of. The ground is so dry that we are still irrigating the garden which is very unusual for this time of year. It has also been a warm month (with some fantastic sunrises and sunsets) which is delaying leaf fall and the die back of the tops of herbaceous plants. Although we are now well into what would normally be for us the end of year tidying up period, little of this has been done so far.
For those of you who do not mind their gardens being a little bit disheveled there is a lot of truth in the view that neat and tidy gardens can be environmentally unfriendly places. I hold that as gardeners we should consider ourselves in partnership with our garden, rather than its controller. As partners, we can begin to appreciate the balance between actions and the growth and survival of plant, insect and animal life. Birds, hedgehogs, frogs, toads, newts and insects all play a part in keeping everything in balance. They are nature’s gardeners and do a far better job of preserving plants than any chemicals or over-tidy human gardener. To this end, leaving the cutting back of herbaceous plants and the tidying up of leaves until late winter/early spring is good practice and is something that we should all consider. This is what I have done in my own personal little garden for years and have found no need to spray any chemicals. However I would strongly recommend not allowing fallen leaves to accumulate on your lawn for more than a week or so.
Delaying the cutting back of the tops of herbaceous plants in the garden until spring also helps to increase the survival rate of many overwintering perennials, especially those with marginal hardiness such as Penstemons and Salvias. On the down side, leaving the tops until spring may mean that along with the beneficial insects; pests and pathogens may be overwintered. From a pest control standpoint, removing the tops in the autumn may be necessary on occassion (but only if you absolutely have to).
Buried Treasures – Trillium, Arisema and Paris.
This month I would like to continue the planting theme but this time talk about those underground additions to the garden; bulbs, corms and tubers. You might have to search a little harder to find these unusual plants but this should not put anyone off.
Trillium.
Known colloquially in the United States as the ‘wake-robin’, the genus Trillium gets its name because everything comes in threes, from the paddle shaped leaves to the petals which surround the reproductive parts of the flowers.
The plants are native to both North America and Asia and there is a nifty trick for telling where some of the species originate. Trilliums are divided into pedicellate, where the flowers are borne on a stalk, and sessile where there is no stalk. Sessile Trilliums occur only in North America which in fact holds 42 of the approximately 48 species.
Adult plants arise from a shallow or surface creeping stem or rhizome and distribute seed by means of an elaiosome: a fleshy appendage which is extremely attractive to ants (myrmecochorous for those who enjoy complicated terminology) who take away the seeds to feed on the elaiosome, discarding the seeds which germinate only after two winters.
All Trilliums are spring flowering woodland perennials, that thrive in soil with plenty of leaf mould occurring in the upper layers. Once established, however, some species are remarkably adaptable and persistent.
Arisema.
These are some of the strangest looking plants that you might find in the garden. They do not flower in the traditional sense; rather they produce a spathe which is a hood-like projection surrounding the spadix where the reproductive parts of the plant are found. They look vaguely carnivorous and do attract insects for pollination.
The spathe is the most conspicuous part of the plant often striped vertically with green, purplish brown or white. The leaves emerge before the flowers from early spring to early summer and in autumn the spathe is replaced by a spike of coloured berries.
Naturally they are found amongst the leaf litter on the woodland floor, often underneath shrubs, and this can be where they are displayed to advantage in the garden. Arisemas form decent sized clumps that can be divided when mature.
Some of the rarer species can be difficult to establish but A. candidissimum is one of the easiest and prettiest, with a spathe which is striped rose pink and accompanied by a slight scent.
Paris.
At first glance you might think that this genus (allied to Trillium) has little to offer yet the more you look the more you find.
Native to the woodlands of Europe and east Asia they are perfectly adapted to the shade and moisture of the woodland floor. Just like Trillium they emerge in spring to take advantage of the light streaming through the deciduous canopy before retreating below ground as summer brings heat and less moisture.
The stems that emerge are erect and develop a whorl of four or more leaves at the top (a bit like a cocktail umbrella), above which sits the flower. This will not attract the gardener interested in showy colours but the four to six sepals and even narrower petals make it look as though a spider is perching on top.
Over the next month we will continue to tidy the kitchen garden and the pleasure grounds and this is the thing to do in your own garden, but remember, try not to be too much of a stickler for tidiness and the wild things in your garden will fair much better.
Recently a few poeple have asked me how to best look after ‘Christmas’ plants such as Poinsettia, so next month I’ll have a go at talking about this.
Please note: images have been removed from this pages because some of them may have been used without permission.

Hodnet Beaver numbers up

Before the summer holidays Hodnet Beaver Scout colony was experiencing unsustainably low numbers.   Membership had dropped to such a low level that subs were not meeting costs and it was looking like the colony may have to disband. The Hodnet Fun Day event organised by the scout group in May, was put on primeraly to attract new members to the group. 9 children signed up on the day, which made the day a great success. Since then another three have joined, swelling the colony to 13. This is fantastic and hopfully means that the colony will go from strength to strength.
There is room for more, so if you want to give it a go come along on Tuesday evenings (details below). In the next few weeks the group will be painting shields, going on a hike around the Battlefield site near Shrewsbury, learning knots and camp fire songs and lots more.
Beaver Scouts are young people, usually aged between six and eight years old. They belong to the first and youngest section of the Scouting family. Boys and girls can join Beaver Scouts in the three months leading up to their sixth birthday.
Easily recognised by their distinctive turquoise sweatshirts, Beaver Scouts enjoy making friends, playing games, going on visits and helping others.
Beavers meet  every Tuesday (Term Time) at the Scout Hut on Hearne Lane Hodnet,  from 18.15-19.15.
Cubs meet every Thursday (Term Time) at the Scout Hut on Hearne Lane Hodnet,  from 17.45-19.15.
After half term the Scout Group will be starting up again. This will be held on a Thursday evenings from 19.30-21.30.

Contact:
Keri Coates, (Group Scout Leader).
Tel: 07786 158064.

Hodnet to Marchamley footpath? Council seeks views.

This week the Parish Council are issuing a short questionnaire to households in the core areas of Marchamley and Hodnet, seeking their views on a possible new ‘permissive’ footpath between the two settlements.
Residents will be aware that the current roadside pavements between Hodnet and its neighbouring settlements of Marchamley and Wollerton are incomplete, making walking directly between them a hazardous experience .  This issue was raised in the Parish Plan, where one of the most positive responses was in relation to a question asking ‘would creation of a Hodnet to Marchamley (and Hodnet to Wollerton) pavement or footpath make walking easier/more enjoyable?
Having already investigated the possibility of new roadside pavements, the Council is aware that the high costs of building them (to meet regulations) coupled with a lack of suitable highway land rules out that option. However, working with the Hodnet Footpath Group, the Council is now looking at the possibility of creating new low cost ‘permissive’ paths over adjacent private land, i.e. paths built behind the roadside hedge.
Because of its shorter length and the need to only involve one landowner (who has indicated agreement in principle), the Marchamley to Hodnet project has been selected for initial consideration. The proposed path would run between the current Marchamley roadside pavement (at Eastlands) to join the existing Hodnet roadside pavement at ‘Sandybank’.
Before such a scheme can progress any further more detailed evidence of local support, and the expected type/frequency of use, is required; not least to assist in the necessary grant applications that would have to be sought to fund the work. A short questionnaire has therefore been drawn up and issued to households in those areas of the parish felt most likely to be able to use such a path.  
A good response to this questionnaire is key to moving this project forward, so if you have received one please take a few moments to complete and return it. If you live in Hodnet or Marchamley and haven’t received one by the the start of next week, please contact the Clerk to the Council – Mrs Maryjayne Rees Tel: 01630-685745 or email.