The Parish Magazine
October '24
BERWICK ST JAMES
CHURCH NEWS.
Pet Service.
Many thanks to Yvonne Allen for taking our Pet Service on 1st September. 15 dogs, 1 sheep and 1 pony, 31 adults and 8 children attended and with dry weather we held the service outside in the churchyard. Everyone and every animal enjoyed the experience and we are very grateful to Yvonne.
Harvest Supper.
On 13th September we held our Harvest Supper and approximately 50 people, young and old, sat down to a delicious supper. Huge thanks to Jane Rowe, who cooked the main course, a task made significantly more difficult by a non-functioning cooker in the Guide Centre. Through ingenuity, we overcame the obstacles and special thanks also to Ailsa Bush, Janey Campbell-Johnston, Rosie Gairdner and Wendy Armstrong who worked like Trojans throughout the evening. Sincere thanks also to all those who helped set up, cleared away, donated puddings, raffle prizes and indeed for attending. Thanks also to Elspeth and Rosalind Carpenter for so ably helping with the raffle. It was a jolly evening and we will have raised several hundred pounds, to be split between the Trussell Trust and the church. During the evening we sang Happy Birthday to Jeremy Metcalfe for whom Ailsa Bush baked a birthday cake and we expressed our thanks to Maggie Metcalfe for everything she has done in the village over the last three years.
Harvest Festival
Turning to October we celebrate Harvest Festival on Sunday 6th October at 9.30am and the church will be decorated with flowers and produce as usual. After the service, the produce will be taken to the Women’s Refuge in Salisbury. They accept fresh and tinned produce so if any village resident wishes to drop off produce in the church on either Friday 4th or Saturday 5th, we will gratefully accept it and include it in the display in church.
ART APPRECIATION in Berwick-St-James
The Middle & Late Rembrandt
Following on from the first Rembrandt presentation, where the focus was on his early career, on Thursday the 17th October, I will concentrate on the period from the mid 1640’s, until his death and committal to a pauper’s grave in 1669. These were the years, when he conjured up a particular series of masterpieces, Bathsheba, Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph, Lucretia, The Return of the Prodigal Son, etc, each one confirming an intense empathy with all human experience and an astonishing pictorial imagination, that which constitutes Rembrandt’s genius and makes him such an enduring gift to mankind.
Meetings take place in the Berwick-St-James Reading Room (opposite the Boot Inn), commencing 7pm, with doors open 6.45. Entry on the evening £5/person to include a glass of wine, with all the proceeds donated to the Reading Room Fund. For further information, see the Berwick-St-James web-site, contact Brian Armstrong on 07999 325804, or email [email protected].
BERWICK ST JAMES VILLAGE MEETING
Our next Village Meeting will be at 7pm, Thursday 3rd October in The Reading Room. If you have any queries please contact Julian, Carolyn or Bill at [email protected] Everyone very much welcome.
TEA and CAKE and CHAT
The Tea and Chat on 3rd September was cancelled due the repainting in the Reading Room (it looks lovely). The first one in October will be on Tuesday 1st October, and the second on Tuesday 15th October. Everyone welcome for free tea and coffee, cake and biscuits. Come to the Reading Room at any time between 2.30 and 4pm for a lovely chat with friends. As the Autumn comes and the evenings get darker, then it is so nice to chat with friends in the daytime!
READING ROOM
We have repainted the main hall, and it looks great. We are sorry for having to cancel events and bookings and hope it didn’t cause any problems. We are looking into further ways of dealing with the damp in the lobby and cloakroom, and also to improve the tin roof, and work on the cob part of the wall.
HARVEST TIMES.
The farming year is re-starting now. Harvest is over and drilling (planting the crops) has begun.
Here on Berwick Hill Farm we started Oilseed Rape harvest on 27th July, and Winter Wheat on 5th August. In the last 16 years we started harvest (excluding oilseeds) earlier than 5th August in 5 years. The earliest was 2018 (20th July), the latest 2008 (20th August). We finished harvest on 28th August. Only 4 of the 16 years were later than this. The latest being 2008 (18th Sept). The earliest finish 2014 (8th August).
So, this year started a little earlier than average, and finished a little later than average. It was the 4th longest harvest in the 16 years.
LOCAL HISTORY; OUR PAVEMENT.
With the re-opening of the A360 the traffic through the village has returned to a more reasonable amount, having the pavement did make our lives so much easier.
I realize that not many of you will even know that our pavement has a history!
Mr Ernest Terah Hooley (a fascinating man – look under “Landowners” in the village website) bought Berwick as part of a large land purchase in 1896. Straight away he started restorations and improvements, one of which was to put in the pavement. The village was sold in 1898.
From the Sale Catalogue “..Village of Berwick St James … clean street with paved footway fringed with picturesque cottages…”
This pavement on the west side of the road, ended outside the Reading Room (it is said that is the point at which Mr Hooley went bankrupt). It ran down the right hand side of the village in front of the cottages as far as Lodge Cottage (the entrance up to Berwick House).
It appears that the west pavement from Berwick House south to the river wasn’t there for at least another 25 years, probably added at the same time as the pavement by the church.
The pavement on the eastern side of the road is rather patchy even now. The pavement outside the church and Old School (now Gryphon Cottage) and Rose Cottage seems to have been built in the early 1930’s.
The pavement running from the Dairy House around the corner to what is now the Guide HQ (then the New School) was probably put in for the school, which opened on 14th January 1937.
When was the pavement extended beyond the Reading Room? It seems to be after the Second World War, perhaps when North View was built – the first four in 1949 and the second two in the late 1960’s.
Do you remember when any of these bits of pavements were made? Or have photographs which show them? Please ring me on 01722 790309, or email [email protected] or catch me as I walk the dog – and I could drop in for a chat! Nicky Street.
Written and researched by Nicky Stree
WILDLIFE WATCH
The swallows and House Martins are gathering for their migration. We were lucky to have two House Martin nests on the house, with one nest having two broods.
Three Marsh Harriers were seen over the west of Berwick, and also (presumably the same ones) over Winterbourne Stoke.
Delighted to have reports of rare fungi. In early August (sorry I left this out last month) a rare Warted Amanita, and also a White False Deathcap at the end of August. Hopefully this will be a good autumn for fungi.
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