The Parish Magazine
November '26
BERWICK ST JAMES
WELCOME to Limsreng Hy. And also to Tyler Finnegan and Courtney Churcher, Archie and Hudson. We hope all of you enjoy living in Berwick, we welcome you.
CHURCH NEWS.
Firstly, my sincere thanks to all those who made the Harvest Supper and Harvest Festival service such a success. The Harvest Supper raised over £400, split between the church and the Trussell Trust. As ever, Jane Rowe and the ‘team’ did a splendid job in providing such a lovely supper. Thank you.
Sincere thanks also to all those who decorated the church for Harvest Festival and who provided fresh produce, tinned and dried goods, which was donated to the Womens’ Refuge in Salisbury, who are most grateful.
For November, we have three services. In addition to the regular Holy Communion service at 9.30am on 1st November and the Matins service at 11.00am on 15th, we have an additional Communion service at 9.30am on Sunday 8th November, which is Remembrance Sunday. The Remembrance Service itself is being held this year at Winterbourne Stoke (it migrates between the 5 churches in the valley) but there is a requirement to hold a Holy Communion service each week in the Benefice, so we have been asked to hold one at Berwick at 9.30am. The thinking is that some communicants may want to come to Communion before travelling on to Remembrance.
CHRISTMAS FAYRE in the READING ROOM
START CHRISTMAS IN THE VILLAGE READING ROOM by joining us on Saturday 28th November at 10.30am. Come along and have FREE COFFEE and TEA and enjoy good company. GRAND RAFFLE, TOMBOLA, CAKE AND PRODUCE, CHRISTMAS STALL. ELLIE O’NEILL–STREET’S lovely cards and gifts – Christmas Patterns will be there. We would love to see you. The Reading Room will be open for donations from 3pm to 4pm on Friday 27th November. We will be especially grateful for cakes and biscuits, and raffle and tombola prizes. There may be mince pies!
BERWICK BRING AND SHARE CRAFT.
The first ever Berwick Bring and Share Craft evening was a great success, with 12 people joining together to enjoy some time to work on their projects with refreshments. Please join us for the next group on Thursday 12th November. All welcome from all villages – no minimum skill required. All hobbies and Crafts welcome. 7.30 – 9pm in Berwick Reading Room. £2 donation for room hire.
PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE to 12th. This is to avoid clashing with the Bootin Tootin Bonfire Night Event at the Boot Inn.
TEA AND CAKE AND CHAT
Lovely to see you all in October, and hopefully see you in November too! The November teas and chats are on Tuesdays 3rd and 17th, and the December ones on 1st and 15th. 2.30 - 4pm in Berwick Reading Room. Everyone welcome from all our villages – all ages. Free of charge. If you would like to bring a cake to share that would be great but don’t worry if you can’t.
PLANT PRODUCE and FLOWER TABLE supporting CRUK
Hello villagers and neighbouring villages.
What a season it has been, drought, fruit falling off the trees prematurely, a hose pipe ban and essential ponds for wildlife drying up.
Not only has the lack of rain effected us as gardeners but our precious wildlife has suffered badly, one of them being our iconic hedgehog that is now on the red list of endangered native species.
I have hardly seen a slug or snail in my garden that means no food for the thrush other birds and frogs.
What can you do.. put out water for all wildlife, cat biscuits for hogs, if you provide it they will find it, be hog hero!!, and of course bird food.
Ok that my rant for now, so back to our table, we have come to the end of plants but its not over until the gardener sings LOL
I would personally like to thank all of you for your amazing support this year, long may it continue.
Yours Aye Christine.
THE OLD FORGE CAFÉ AND FARM SHOP
Wreath Making: Wednesday 25th November 1pm, at the Café.
Wreath Making: Sunday 6th December 2pm, at the Café. Prices to be confirmed.
Pizza nights every Friday 6 -9pm.
The Café and Shop will be selling turkeys from Oliver’s farm at £16 per kg. Collection up to Christmas Eve – please enquire at the Shop.
THE BOOT INN
The Boot is up and running and ready to welcome all, after passing a CAMRA visit with flying colours we are now turning our attention to weekly and monthly events. Quiz and Pizza night every Wednesday, great fun to be had with silly prizes and delicious stone baked pizza. Thirsty Thursday, great drink deals every week, coming soon…. We have our pizza and full menu available Saturdays – check in for new specials! Sunday roasts have been met with wonderful reception from our patrons – make sure to book to avoid disappointment!
A DATE FOR BERWICK RESIDENTS’ DIARY: 7pm on 14th December
The Village Meeting will be holding a Christmas Cheese & Wine & Chat evening for Berwick residents at the Reading Room on Monday 14 December from 7pm. Keep the date free and join us for a very informal evening of drink, eat and mingle.
WEATHER in Berwick. WINTER 2025-26
December 25. January and February 26.
After the hot and dry summer we have just had (some statistics in last month’s magazine), I thought it might be interesting to see some statistics from the weather from last winter. We have a small, amateur weather station in our garden in Berwick.
These details cover December 25, and January and February 26.
It was wet!
The average of the previous 13 years for December was 87.43mm; December 25 103.5mm
The average of the previous 13 years for January was 84.37mm; January 26 159.9mm
The average of the previous 13 years for February was 71.21mm; February 26 108.3mm.
So in total the average of the 3 months (previous 13 years) was 243.01, and the 3 months this winter 371.7mm. That is 128.69mm more than the average.
It was really wet.
I also looked at frost days (when the temperature dropped below 0.00 degrees). December and January were much the same as the 13 year average. December average 8; December 25 10. January average 11; January 26 12. But for February a very noticeable difference. February average 11, February 26 none. No other February had no frost days. It has been commented that spring is getting earlier.
Nicky Street.
WILDLIFE WATCH
The RSPB recommends returning to feeding a full range of bird food, including seeds and peanuts, mealworms, fat balls and suet from 1st November. Birds need high-energy, high-fat foods during cold weather. The recommendations are to clean your bird feeders and water baths at least once a week and move the feeders regularly to prevent a build up of old food underneath. This is to prevent the spread of disease. Please see the RSPB website for more details.
A great report of a Peregrine falcon flying up and down the River Till in mid September. Also Small and Great Egrets, lots of Red Kites, and Buzzards too.
Butterflies still round at the start of October – Small White, and a bright yellow Brimstone. Lots of Hummingbird Hawk moths. Also Ivy bees, all over the flowering ivy. They are solitary as they each have their own nesting cell. The males find the females who lay eggs in a nest cell, the bees die off in the winter and the larvae will emerge next year. They are non-aggressive. Many thanks to the correspondent who advised the Biota website.