Well, we did it !! ‘Alice in Wonderland’ 19th-21st February, has been and gone. The hours of stitching, painting, hammering, singing and dancing, timeless rehearsals, finally paid off. There were moments when we had our doubts, however, as the saying goes, it WILL be alright on the night proved to be so very true. The lighting, sound effects, scenery, props and costumes were spectacular. Everyone pulled the stops out and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Particular praise has to go to ‘Alice’ Gemma Raymond, who had so many lines to learn, yet rose to the occasion and shone. The ever lasting vision of the ‘Village People’ and YMCA brought the house down and will remain with us for a very long time! We look forward to the DVD as quite a few of us were on stage at the time so only ever viewed them from behind!!
Thanks to Matt, who provided extra heaters, we were all lovely and warm in the Marquee. The children were brilliant and so good when not on stage, just such a great community feeling all round. On Sunday the weather held for a very jolly working party to take down the marquee and get the village hall back to normal. Conversations would suddenly spur on a song or a line and have done for quite a few weeks!! A big Thank You from us all to all those who were involved and of course to all of you, the audience, who came and supported us.
Have to say a big Thank You to Charlie, who back in January, organised a Quiz Night in the village hall. The questions were interesting and great fun, without being over difficult, which saw the 7 teams in great competitive spirits. Excellent company which resulted in a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
A group from the village joined North Waltham on Monday 23rd February, to share in a soup lunch at the Rectory for the start of the Lent course with Rev. Julia and Dave Foster. The soup was delicious, also the soda bread that Dave had made.
3rd March saw the start of rehearsals for the Ukuleles’ followed by singing in the village hall. After a while we noticed that certain songs already seemed to have a theme for next years Steventon Goes Wild West!!
UFO on Thursday 5th was at Rachel’s, where a lovely cosy fire greeted us, followed by delicious cake and coffee. Once more a great afternoon, thank you Rachel.
7th March the village hall was used this time for ‘Saturday Soup’ lunch. It was a beautiful spring like day which encouraged a few to walk over from North Walham. Lovely to see so many different people enjoying one another’s company creating a great atmosphere. There were 4 different home made soups to choose from, all delicious. A wide variety of bread and rolls, all made by Paul and by hand too, which were amazing. Thank you also to George, who had made a loaf and brought it along to share.
The book club on Friday 13th February gave a score of 6.8 for Zorro by Isabel Allende. This month’s book, Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup which had a score of 6.9.
Saturday 21st March the village hall will be the venue for the Pudding Evening, another evening of great entertainment. The Easter Market is on Saturday 28th so there is much to enjoy in the village for the rest of March, ending with Palm Sunday with a walk or drive to North Waltham afterwards.
3rd April is of course Good Friday, Saturday the church will be once again be full of flowers to take us to Easter Sunday.
April 25th is the Bluebell Coffee Morning, in aid of St Michael’s Hospice at The Garden House, thanks to Julian and Sally Pilcher, who once again invite us all to share in their beautiful gardens and of course the Bluebell Wood.
There have been a few beautiful warm spring days, sign of things to come. The larks were singing, lambs frolicking in the fields, violets in the hedgerows, bread and cheese buds opening! Colours of spring flowers, a joy to behold.
I had to stop just now, as I thought it was getting extra cloudy, only to discover of course that it was the Eclipse of the Sun, even though we couldn’t see it. I remember many years ago when I was with a group dog training, by a lake and surrounded by trees. There was a total eclipse of the sun, but because it was a cloudless day, it was particularly amazing. Everywhere went very still, our dogs were all by our sides. The birds had stopped singing and the ducks on the lake had all suddenly put their heads under their wings as if to sleep! We were all quite overwhelmed at what we had experienced and within a short time all had returned to normal.
Baking I think is the order of the next few days with the cake stalls needing to be filled, as a lot more will be thinking the same thing! The fire will be lit once again this evening, and I think a glass or two to welcome in the weekend maybe!