The Village of Wark

Archive for September, 2010

One of the things I like about living in this area is the punctuation throughout the year of events and activities that give you an indication of where you are in the seasons. The fact that we had the fishing competition last Sunday can only mean that autumn is well and truly here and that the end of the fishing season is in sight. About a dozen or so members of the Wark Angling Club joined the competition and tried their luck. I understand that a few fish were missed, but I trust people enjoyed being out by the river whatever the result. In the end only two fish were landed, giving a clear winner. Roy Bell landed the biggest fish with Richard Bell being the runner up.

I understand from the newsletter of Wark First School that it has recently acquired a ‘rag bag textile bin’. This is another opportunity to recycle stuff you do no longer need rather than putting it in the general waste and it ending up in landfill somewhere. The school children have been given a collection bag to take home and I understand that the school has plenty more.

Anne Hutchinson of the Haining has asked me to let you know that the collection she held to celebrate her birthday a few weeks ago raised an incredible £1200 for Tynedale Hospice. She’d like to thank everybody who gave donations so generously.

Via Margaret Davison I have learned that the Macmillan Coffee Morning last Friday raised the fantastic amount of £340, which is more than £100 more than last year. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

If you’re looking for something to do on a Friday night, you could do worse than joining the Carpet Bowls Club in the Town Hall. The club is starting again on Friday 8 October at 7 p.m. and the first evening is a free night to give you a chance to have a go. New members are very welcome.

Finally a quick reminder of the Highlights event in the Town hall tonight, Friday 1 October 2010. Ken Patterson, Richard Scott and Chris Bostock will entertain with an evening of songs and stories with the title ‘Doon the Waggon Way’, which has been touring in the region. The performance starts at 7.30 p.m. and you can get tickets at the door. As usual there will also be a bar and a raffle to help Town hall funds. It promises to be an entertaining gig and you’d be made most welcome.

The Leek Show this past weekend was a very positive affair, with a fantastic range of produce, 46 stands of leeks and a much improve display of flowers compared to last year.  The hall was full of entries, and after 4.15 very full of people come to have a look.  We had a new winner this year with Gavin Potts claiming top spot.  Gavin also claimed the best leek in show.  The smallest leek, which qualifies the grower for the giant wooden spoon, went to Terry Weatherley.  Over recent years we’ve become the respect.  Having tried some of the gingerbread I can vouch for the quality!  To tempt people to stay for the sale, it had been brought forward to start at 5.30 p.m. this year and it is true to say that it raised a large amount of money.  This was helped by the spectacle created by auctioneer John Walton, who raised a phenomenal £800.  Thanks go to the members of the Leek Show Committee who put in many, many hours, both in the run-up to the show, on show day itself and also with the clearing up afterwards. The Leek Show wouldn’t be possible without them.

Tim Dalling’s gig at the Hall on Thursday of last week, brought in just under 40 people for a very interesting and thought provoking evening.  The Unhappy King, in the first half, tells the story of a king who is never cheerful.  A doctor of sorts arrives in the country and sets about creating the circumstances that are supposed to cheer him up.  To explain what happens would spoil the enjoyment of others still planning to go and see the show elsewhere, but I can reveal that the methods are unconventional to say the least and very, very dark.  The second half of the evening was filled with songs comprising a wide variety of stuff including some poems by Irish poet Louis Macneice set to music by Mr Dalling himself.  The set was beautifully judged and the evening ended on a high. The Highlights programme brings some fantastic events to rural venues like ours, and this was no exception. I’m pleased to be able to report  that the Hall cleared about £150 on the night.  As importantly is to know that the next Highlights event is already on the horizon; we’ll have ‘Doon the Waggon Way’, an evening of songs and stories performed by Ken Patterson, Richard Scott and Chris Bostock.  They’ll be in Wark on Friday October 1^st at 7.30 p.m. Tickets are available from Judith Weir on (01434) 230250.

This Friday, on 24^th September 2010, is the Macmillan Coffee Morning, billed as the Biggest Coffee in the World.  I urged you last week to drop in at the Town Hall to support this important cause and will do so again this week: just about all of us have experience of cancer somewhere in our family or among our friends and Macmillan does a fantastic job. The Coffee Morning takes place between 10 a.m. and 12 noon.  Entry is £1.50 and you’ll find a raffle and a bring-and-buy stall as well as the coffee and biscuits. 

Finally a mention of the St Michael’s Harvest Weekend. Harvest Festival itself is this Sunday 26 September at 6 p.m.  Then on Monday 27^th there will be a Harvest Supper at the Westacres Community Centre starting at 7 p.m.  Admission is £3 which includes home-made soup, bun ‘n butter, a sweet and tea and biscuits. Of course everyone is very welcome.

An energy company have recently announced a programme to install and maintain a solar panels on roofs that can generate electricity. They can be fitted to private houses, churches, sports clubs, and business premises. The deal is that the benefits are shared between the company and the house or business that the panels are on. The Mid Tyne Trust have arranged for a representative of the company, to visit Wark on September 30th to discuss this proposal at an open meeting in the Town Hall starting at 7.30 p.m.  Anyone interested welcome

It’s the Leek Show Weekend! The growing done, the feeding and the watering over. It’s now just a matter of selecting the best three leeks from the trench and hoping that they’ll make the grade. With 45 members there’s plenty scope for a bit of healthy rivalry, and not just on the leeks themselves. Over recent years the open baking classes have proved very popular and with 14 to choose from that’s perhaps no surprise. Gingerbread, cheese scones, strawberry jam or ginger snaps, they are relatively simply to at least have a go at. The number of entries in the flower classes has been a bit limited over the past few years, but those that do arrive make you realize just how fantastic they are. All exhibits have to be staged by 11 a.m. and the show will open at 4.15 p.m. The sale of the entries will start at 5.30, which is a bit earlier than in previous years. It’s worth coming to the sale for the entertainment alone, but it’s also a great opportunity to buy some excellent local produce and to support the Leek Club in the process.

Next week, on Friday 24^{th September 2010, is the Macmillan Coffee Morning, billed as the Biggest Coffee in the World. I hardly need to introduce the cause, but I will all the same. Macmillan Cancer Support improves the lives of people affected by cancer. They provide practical, medical and financial support and push for better cancer care. They’ve set themselves the goal to reach and improve the lives of everyone living with cancer and the Coffee Morning helps raise funds to realize that ambition. The Wark contribution will be at the Town Hall between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. Entry is £1.50 and you’ll find a raffle and a bring-and-buy stall as well as the coffee and biscuits. Most of us will have experience of someone in our immediate surroundings who’s been affected by cancer, so I’m sure this is a cause we can all support.}

We’ve received a message from the Surgery in the village that the seasonal flue clinics are about to start again. These clinics are aimed at those of you who are 65 and over and at those who have chronic illnesses. The first clinic is on Monday October 11st between 1.30 and 6.30 p.m. The second clinic follows on the 18th of October, again between 1.30 and 6.30.

Finally a quick mention of the next Highlights Event in the Town Hall, which also takes place in October , on Friday October 1st. Doon the Waggonway is a celebration of the lives of people in the North in music, stories and painting. The show starts at 7.30 p.m. and tickets are available from Judith Weir on (01434) 230250.

The coffee morning at the Community Room on Westacres a few weeks ago, made a fantastic £542 for Tynedale Hospice Homecare at Home. I have said this before, but I don’t think you can say these things often enough: people are incredibly generous with both their money and their time.  Yvonne and Susan organized this coffee morning and deserve thanks for that and of course the same goes for those who attended.

 Wark Church of England Aided First School will re-open this week after the long summer break.  I trust both pupils and staff will be well rested and ready for a new year.  We welcome new Headteacher, Mrs Lewis.  Mrs Lewis is also the headteacher at Greenhaugh and will divide her time between the two locations.  We wish her well in this new challenge.

As I mentioned last week, the Town Hall will host its first Highlights event of the season on Thursday 16 September with a performance by Tim Dalling. Tim has been entertaining audiences for many years as a musician, a clown and as an actor. Although he  has worked tirelessly in his career, to reduce audiences to helpless laughter, over the last few years he has been composing a body of serious songs that encompass a whole range of other emotions.  The combination of his soulful voice, funky accordion, years of experience entertaining, and a batch of exciting, moving and original songs will make for a good night. Tickets for Tim Dalling’s gig ‘The Unhappy King’ are now available from Judith Weir on (01434) 230250 and cost £6.50 and £4.50 for concessions.  The performance starts at 7.30 p.m.

Also rapidly approaching is the Wark Leek Show, which will be, as is the custom, on the third Saturday in September, which this year is on the 18^th.  The leeks have been stamped, the schedules are out and it is just a matter of a few days before we will know who will carry off the trophies this year.  If you fancy being part of the show and put entries into the open classes, you’d be very welcome to do so.  I believe the post office has schedules which will tell you what classes there are this year, and if you’re stuck you can always ask one of the Leek Club members.  There are 45 of them, so you should be able to find one.

The shock news that the County Council is going to do work on the bridge a few weeks ago will by now have sunk in and if everything goes according to plan the first bits of work will begin to happen this week.  The idea to spread the work (and the cost) over a number of years is a pretty crafty one and County Council staff deserve recognition for this creative bit of thinking.  It’s also clear that the persistence of our County Councillor Edward Heslop, the Parish Council and the people in and around Wark is beginning to pay off.

The Jumble Sale in the Town Hall a few weeks ago raised a whopping £400.  I understand that there are not many second hand sales at this time of the year which means that buyers were queuing to get in.  It’s amazing to think that collectively we continue to find stuff to donate to jumbles sales and I sometimes wonder where it all comes from.  I suppose one shouldn’t knock it: this is £400 for the Town Hall that it didn’t have before.

Also in Town Hall news, I’ve been told that the little room upstairs, next door to the library/ snooker room has now been replastered and that it will be painted once the plaster is properly dried out.  That will make the whole of the upstairs properly useable and the Town Hall Committee will set its mind to organizing an official opening of the library at its next meeting.

On the events front  the Hall will host its first Highlights event of the season on Thursday 16 Spetember with a performance by Tim Dalling. Tim, who is a member of the popular New Rope String band, will perform ‘The Unhappy King’ a strange fable where the hunt for happiness turns the nation upside down.  In the second half he’ll perform songs, showing of his excellent accordion playing and his very comic tendencies.  Tickets are now available from Judith Weir on (01434) 230250 and the performance starts at 7.30 p.m.