The Village of Wark

Members of the Leek Club gathering for their AGM in the Grey Bull last Sunday heard how the club is in a financially sound situation with enough money in the bank to ensure the future for another few years.  As a result it was decided that subscription will stay the same for 2009/10, as will the prize money.  As usual there was some discussion about the various classes.  Few people have entered long beetroots over recent years so members decided to end that class for now and replace it with a class for any cabbage.  The cake for next year will be a chocolate one, baked in one tin and with a filling of any description.  Jams will be strawberry and blackcurrant and by deciding that now members have plenty of time to prepare for that for 2010! The Committee was re-elected en block with Jocka Armstrong as president and Robert Baty as Chairman.  All in all, the club can look back on a successful year and look forward with confidence to 2010.

Children at the school have been planting spring flowering bulbs with members of the local community this week.  The new head teacher, Mrs. Henry is keen to develop the links between the school and the wider community so there may be more opportunities in due course.  In the mean time it will be interesting to see what will come up in the spring.  The school will be having a whole host of  Christmas activities a little bit later in the year, which I will mention in November, but for now you might just want to make a note of the Christmas Fair organized by the Friend of Wark First School on Thursday November 19^th at 3.30 p.m.  A number of craft stalls have already confirmed their attendance, so the fair will give you n opportunity to do some Christmas shopping while helping the Friends at the same time.

As you may remember, there will be a Fashion Show next week, on Thursday 29 October 2009 at the Town Hall.  The Fashion Show is showing clothes from Get Smart II from Blagdon and the whole evening is organized by St Michael’s Church Ladies’ Guild.  Tickets are £8 which includes a glass of wine and a light supper.  The Fashion Show starts at 7.30 p.m.

Then on Saturday the 31^st of October- yes, on Halloween- there will be a Local Music Night at the Town Hall with local musicians and singers performing in aid of Town hall Funds. Included on the bill are locals like Mike Gibson and Stephen Fry, but also musicians from a little further afield, like Tristram Robson, who is a champion player of the Celtic Harp.  There will be songs and tunes with guitar and flute, a swinging saxophone quartet, the Unlikely Ladies Barbershop Singers and Marilyn Framrose and Ian Dunsmuir with a range of songs from Scotland, Ireland and beyond.  All in all it promises to be an excellent night. You can get tickets (£5 each) from Judith Weir on (01434) 230250 and there will be a shared supper and a bar.  Tickets will also be available on the door.