It’s spitting with rain, cloudy, which is giving respite from the heat and with a bit of luck rain will be here by the evening! Flaming June, it certainly has lived up to it’s name.
Back to 9th June, Friday and book group. The first outdoor one of the year held in Sally’s lovely garden. Thank you Sally for hosting, baking the delicious cup cakes, taking notes and writing the review! Brilliant. The book under discussion was “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, which everyone really enjoyed giving an overall score of 8.
Saturday 17th in Alton, St. Nicholas’ church had a stall representing Steventon, headed by Marilyn & Paul and helped by three other couples. It was the Jane Austen Regency week, part of a 9 day festival held in Alton and Chawton. We were, as were many others, dressed in costume! Panto days came flooding back! Everybody looked great, although there were a few that would have had Jane’s eyes raised in disapproval. Quite a hot day, however, every stall had a large gazebo for shade, plus the ice cream parlour was just opposite! Great day, enjoyed by all.
Sunday morning of the 18th saw many villagers descending into Oakdown House lovely gardens, unloading and erecting marquees, gazebos, tables and chairs in readiness for the village Fete in the afternoon. After a slow start, families and friends soon had everywhere abuzz with laughter and lots of chatter as everybody enjoyed the afternoon. Wonderful to see lots of children joining in all the games Charlie had organized in the back field. Sack race, egg & spoon race to name a few, enjoyed by all, also some of the adults. Such a variety of stalls, amazing raffle, all of which did exceedingly well. Teas and cakes enjoyed under the shade of the trees, whilst catching up with friends in gorgeous surroundings, lovely. Having said that, the Tug of War was cancelled at the end of the day, as rain was looking like it was about to descend, so everyone quickly packed away, the marquees, gazebos etc were taken down, loaded up and transported back to the village hall. Just in time, as the rain came, we were called indoors and treated to cold glasses of Pimm’s. Thank you so much Simon and Harriet for allowing us to transform your gardens once again for this traditional event, Pimm’s, your kitchen being taken over! and of course your good selves, wonderful. A big Thank you to all stall holders and of course to you all who came and supported this fabulous event. An amazing amount of £3,067.45 was raised, to be shared between Steventon Church and the Village Hall. Wonderful to see Tony there with his family.
Breakfast Together on Saturday 24th was well supported and enjoyed by all. ‘Caring for God’s Earth’. A presentation given by Belinda Bown, her enthusiasm and knowledge was a joy to behold. Plants, insects, soil, regeneration, crop management, to name just a few, kept us all enthralled as we listened to how things are changing for the good of the environment. Also of course, how we can all play a large part of this within our own gardens for the benefit of us all, however small. Belinda is also overseeing the wild garden in the Church grounds which has already seen wild flowers appearing, by next year will be even better. Thank you Belinda.
Monday 26th Coffee & Cake took place in the village hall, unfortunately numbers were down from other months with holidays and commitments elsewhere. July’s Coffee & Cake is Monday 17th, would be lovely to see you.
The United Benefice choir has been busy with many engagements this month, the next one being at St Nicholas’ Church here in Steventon for the Jane Austen Evensong on Sunday 9th July at 6.00pm. Singing came to an end last night, for the summer, starting again in September. A big Thank you to Paul & Marilyn for all the encouragement, fun and laughter all these weeks, enjoy the time off together. Lovely to see Jackie last night, the ladies definitely outnumbered the men!! We would love to see more men come to sing, you don’t have to read music, just a sense of fun and joy to sing. The garden has been so full of colour, as have everyone’s. Elder flowers are now in abundance in the hedgerows, maybe cordial in the making? The red clover was spectacular in the fields. We have spent many early mornings sitting outside with a cuppa, so quiet just the sound of the bird song. Hare have been just a few yards away from us, sometimes up to 5, as they have frolicked around in passing, fantastic. A cock pheasant made Mike jump a foot, as he came out of the porch, the pheasant was having a lovely time in the tub of water, I don’t know which one was more startled! The male blackbird has worked out how to get the sunflower seeds off the feeder by landing on it, hovering and the same time knocking them off with his beak. Quite a feat to watch, it has taken a while, but now the female has started to do the same. Hedges have now been cut, as all birds have fledged. Grass is slowing down with lack of rain, the wild flowers still manage to burst forth. School holidays almost here, exams finished, hurrah, time to enjoy.