The owls are certainly very vocal at the moment and this morning there were three replying to each other as you could hear them in different directions. This went on for a good couple of hours! At this moment the overhead cable is laden with large rooks evenly spaced, against the dark sky it looks quite eerie as they are very close… However, back to the beginning of November, Sunday 8th, to the short Act of Remembrance Service in the churchyard. How very amazing it was, so wonderful to see so many villagers, all self-distancing of course. Marilyn officiated, readings by Ian & Barbara, names of villagers Remembered, read by Julian. Then through the quiet, misty stillness, George played the Last Post on his trumpet beautifully, very emotional. There followed the two minutes of complete silence as we all remembered, just the robin singing as if to give us all hope for the future. The silence was broken by Laurence as he began to play “Flowers of the Forest” on his bagpipes. Magnificent. A very moving and special service.
On Wednesday 11th a small group of villagers arrived at the village triangle in time for the three minutes silence at 11.00. Already there, a very friendly cyclist had stopped and asked if he could join us. Mike read a few words that Marilyn just happened to have with her, a very special moment. Poppies had been placed in each of the tubs round the triangle, which looked lovely, thank you Rachel. A few individual poppies had also been placed in remembrance of loved ones.
Book group met on Friday 13th via Zoom, to discuss “The Derring-Do-Club and the Empire of the Dead” by David Wake. Not well-received unfortunately which related in the score of 2.5, which did nothing to dampen a very jolly meeting.
Saturday 14th a quite triumphant event took place via Zoom. The Village Quiz. Our thanks go to Laurence for setting up, a feat in itself! Great variety of questions, especially the three rounds which were all to do with the village. Also, to Sally, who managed brilliantly to keep track of all the scores. The winners of the group were ‘Not Going Out’, Cheesmans & Robbs with 84 and the couple were ‘Make Steventon Great Again’, Sykes with 72. Both groups received a mug, printed on it was a figurehead of Jane Austen in a mask! With the date 2020. Never to be forgotten! Great evening.
Our very bold and cheeky robin continually chases off the blue-tits from the bird feeders, as he has just done again! Not so many around now. I think due to the sparrow hawk that flies up and down the village. The colours have been beautiful on trees and hedgerows alike, so much so that a few yellow hammers blended in completely with their yellow and brown plumage until they moved, quite lovely. Mincemeat, cake and Christmas pudding have been made, sloe gin sampled, even singing along to Christmas songs! It is going to be very different this year, so we must try and make it even more special. One thing we must never forget is that we will all be surrounded by love no matter what. So as this is the last Parish Magazine of the year, thank you to all our wonderful volunteers and all our wonderful friends. Cheers everyone, stay safe and Happy Christmas.