The Village of Wark

You may not be surprised to hear that the Charity Lunch for 2010 is already in preparation and I am sad to say that the second sitting is already fully booked all on word of mouth! This year the Charity Lunch will be on Wednesday May 12^th and it clearly promises to be a sell out again.  Between the two sittings, the first one between 11.30 and 1 p.m. , the second one starting at 1.30, 200 people are catered for by an extensive band of volunteers.  The Charity Lunch is coming of age this year, its 21^st birthday and a phenomenal amount of money has been raised over those years.  It started with £722 for Hexham Hospital in 1990 and last year more than £3500 was raised for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.  All in all nearly £43000 has been raised in the past 20 years.  This year’s good cause is Tynedale Hospice at Home and I’m sure people will dig deep for such an important charity.  If you want a place at the first sitting you’d better be quick.  You can book by contacting Annm Bell on (01434) 230259.

Wark History Group had a visit from our neighbours from Chollerton Parish last week.  The Chollerton Parish History Society has carried out a village atlas project and brought their display and a talk to our village.  It was fascinating to see both the differences and the similarities between two areas so close together.  The area around Barrasford Quarry seems to be littered with very early pre-historic sites, which aren’t anywhere near as common in Wark Parish (or maybe they’re just not known about).  The field patterns around Barrasford also clearly still show small cow pastures, areas where smallholders would be able to graze their cow and perhaps a few sheep.  You can see the same near Birtley, but I have never heard about such small fields near Wark.   All very fascinating.

There was a bit of a ‘to-do’ on the bridge in the night between Friday and Saturday last weekend, when someone managed to get their car wedged between the bollards on the bridge.  The driving must have been ‘particularly interesting’ because normally you wouldn’t want to try something like that!

It is not too late to book a table for the Table Top Sale at the Town Hall next weekend, Saturday 20^th of February. The sale will start at 1 p.m. with sellers being able to set up from 12 noon.  You can book a table by contacting Judith Weir (01434- 230250).

And finally a reminder for the dance with live music from Joseph Oliver and friends,  this Saturday, 13 February.  Tickets cost £5 and you’re asked to bring something for  a shared supper.  There will also be a bar of course.  The dance starts at 8.00 p.m.