My word, there is the yellow ball in the sky once again!! brilliant, best make the most of it…..Back to the evening of Friday 17th January in the village hall. The Men’s Popup Pub evening took place and once again, thoroughly enjoyed by all. A great way for the men to get together over a pint, game of darts etc. have a laugh and put the world to rights! Thanks to Jeff. Coffee & Cake on Monday morning of the 20th was held in the village hall. Many thanks to Tamsin, Anita and Jan for hosting and baking, delicious as always. The Flower ladies met at Emma’s the following morning to mainly discuss plans for J.A. events this year. Thank you, Emma, also for delicious coffee and cake. Very productive meeting which you do so well. Needless to say, there are numerous meetings going on behind the scenes involving so many for this momentous event, hats off to all. There were even a few that left Steventon at 6.30am to arrive at Chawton for Breakfast TV on the very wet morning of Tuesday 28th!!! The joy of Jane Austen.
1st of February, yippee. The mighty Quiz Night had arrived. Well, what can one say except, it was the most Brillant evening. Six teams of six, lots of chatter, fun and laughter. Best Quiz yet, I know I say each time that it is, however, this definitely was! Huge Thank you to Sally and Laurence for all the organization, such fun and varied questions. 10 categories, a Joker to be played for each team which doubled your score. During the interval Sally handed out very small chopped up packets of herbs/spices? Ingenious. This round was called Forensics. Great fun, which also involved tasting. We thought one was Horlicks powder, wrong! it was baby milk powder! 1st place ‘My Personal Favourites’ with a score of 96. 2nd ‘Austentcious’ 93. Joint 3rd ‘Pedigree Chum’/’Waltham Wanderers’ 87. 5th ‘Usual Suspects’ 85. 6th ‘Ashe Crowd’ 83. The winners were presented with a super wooden trophy with a question mark, also in wood, on the top. Made by Jeff, brilliant. We are all looking forward to the next superb Quiz, no pressure, you will come up trumps yet again Sally & Laurence.
Book group met on the morning of Friday 14th at Sally’s. A lovely cosy gathering, plenty of chat and good humour. Thank you so much for hosting, also for making the most beautiful Red Velvet cake with a red heart on top for Valentine’s day, delicious. Also, to Rachel for her special fruit loaf with ginger. ‘Circe’ by Madeline Miller was discussed. A novel that retells the Greek myth of the witch and goddess Circe, from a feminist perspective. A compelling story with vivid characters and settings. A score of 6 overall was given. On the morning of Monday 17th, Coffee & Cake once again was held in the village hall. Many thanks to Rachel, Marilyn and Barbara for delicious cakes and of course coffee. Always lovely to see everyone and have a catch up. Half term this week so no Yoga or Paracise in the village hall. We look forward to the start of the new term next week. Beth has a new class on Thursday mornings with Paracise, same time, 9.15am which is great, as well as Mondays. Brilliant for the mind, balance and exercise all to music. No jumping around! very friendly, great class. Steventon Singers have been very busy, apart from our Tuesday evenings in the village hall which we thoroughly enjoy with Paul & Marilyn, we have been joining other choirs at their individual venue for extra rehearsals. Not long now until the 1st March and the Lord Mayor’s concert, hopefully a sellout. We have Breakfast Together to look forward to on the 22nd March and British Summer Time at the end of March, wonderful.
A few frosty mornings looking just like a dusting of icing sugar have been beautiful, snowdrops everywhere and the catkins hanging like yellow dewdrops greet us round every corner. The robins have been the first to sing early mornings and the owl has given those that have seen it, so much pleasure it fills the soul. Not long before buds start to burst forth! Spring will be a great joy to all. Unfortunately, the sun has now gone, all is quiet and still. The birds still feeding like mad, so gorgeous to see, especially the robin balancing on the edge. Most joyous news, a couple of Thrushes have been heard and identified around the village, fingers crossed they successfully breed and raise a family. The fire will be lit soon, first time for a while as we are actually in tonight. Bliss, time now to think about dinner!