K i n g s w o o d    G r a p e v i n e

Issue No. 132                                                                                                                               FEBRUARY 2009     

Editors: Diane White (843783) & Gill Hemming (842734)

 

D a t e s   F o r   Y o u r   D i a r y

 

Sat         7th       Feb                   Mobile Police Station                             Chipping                                 11.00am-12.30pm

Sat         7th         “                     Afternoon Tea                                        St Mary’s Church Room             3.00pm-5.00pm

Tues     10th         “                     W.I – talk on Bellringing                          Village Hall                                            7.30pm

Wed     18th         “                     R.N.L.I talk by Huw Cordey                     Cotswold Edge Golf Club                        7.00pm

Fri        20th         “                     Mobile Police Station                             Chipping                                    3.00pm-4.30pm

MARCH  ISSUE  DEADLINE:                  FRIDAY  20th FEBRUARY

Sun      22nd       Feb                   ‘Pick your own beansticks’                     Lower Woods                               12.00-4.00pm

Thurs    26th         “                     Lent Lunches                                         St Mary’s Church                          12.00-2.00pm

Tues       3rd       Mar                   Village Association A.G.M                      Village Hall                                            8.00pm

Thurs      5th         “                     Historical Society                                   Village Hall                                            7.30pm

Sat         7th         “                     Gadabout                                              Village Hall

Mon        9th         “                     Bridgers Project A.G.M                          St Mary’s Room                                     7.30pm

Wotton-under-Edge and District R.N.L.I

Anuta - a South Pacific Paradise.   Huw Cordey, a Producer from the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol will speak about his recent trip to the South Pacific to gather material for a new BBC television series starting in April 2009. The talk will be at Cotswold Edge Golf Club, starting at 7.00pm on Wednesday 18th February.  Tickets, at £15.00 each, including a buffet supper are available from the Golf Club, Gill Hemming, 45 Walkmill Lane, Kingswood, or Andrew Harper, 21 Somerset Close, Kingswood. There will also be a raffle with a fantastic prize - a copy of a BBC Planet Earth book signed by David Attenborough and the Production Team!  Numbers are strictly limited to 100; Get yours now before it’s too late!

 
 

KINGSWOOD VILLAGE ASSOCIATION

Photographs of the KVA 2008 New Years Lunch in the Village Hall

Thank you to all of you who attended yet another successful New Years Eve lunch at the Village Hall. You may have noticed a lovely lady going around taking photographs of you during the event. These photos can now be viewed in The Spar. If you wish to have a copy of either this years or last year’s event, just fill in the form in the folder or contact James Smillie on 842467 and we will deliver your free A5 sized photo.

VILLAGE ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - TUESDAY 3RD MARCH will be held in the village hall Lounge at 8pm.  Do come along for free wine and nibbles and learn about our activities.  We are always keen to welcome new members to the committee and our meetings are really relaxed and enjoyable.

VILLAGE ASSOCIATION GADABOUT SATURDAY 7TH MARCH.  All households should have had an invitation in January to join in the Spring Gadabout.  If you have not received yours, please contact Sheila Alexander (telephone 843398 or sheilaplume@googlemail.com).  The final return date for replies is 7th February so if you haven't yet sent back your completed application form please do it soon.  This is a very social event and a most enjoyable way to get to know your neighbours in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.  You'll be talking about it for months afterwards!

 

KINGSWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY  Contact Sheila Alexander, The Old Plume 843398

HISTORICAL SOCIETY TALK on THURSDAY 5TH MARCH will be at 7.30 pm in the community room of the village hall.  It will be about 'COTSWOLD VILLAGES AND MANOR HOUSES’ and admission is by ticket available from Sheila Alexander (843398 or sheilaplume@googlemail.com) free to members and £3 to non-members. 

 

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust

This year's annual family event Pick Your Own Pea and Bean Sticks at Lower Woods will be held at the woods on Sunday 22nd February from 12noon to 4pm. So, if you are a gardener or allotmenteer in need of some rustic poles for your flowers, bean sticks for your runners or pea sticks for your ... er ... peas, why not drop in?!
You choose the sticks that you want from one of our coppice areas and cut them down yourself (thereby also helping to sustain valuable bluebell, bird and dormouse habitat). Tools, gloves and string are all provided if you need them, and there will be a charge of 20p per stick that you take away with you. Meet at Lower Woods Lodge, GL9 1BY.

Friends of St. Mary’s

Our second ‘Traditional Afternoon Tea’ will be held on Saturday February 7th, from 3.00 - 5.00pm, in St. Mary’s Room.

We will be serving; Buttered scones with jam; Welsh cakes; Assorted cakes; cucumber sandwiches etc.; tea and ‘proper’ coffee. There will be a piano accompanist.

Lent Lunches.  Lunches will be held each Thursday (12.00 - 2.00) for six weeks during Lent, starting on February 26th; the normal monthly lunches for February and March will be incorporated within this schedule. This year proceeds raised will be split between two charities – Water Aid and a charity for underprivileged children in South Africa. Please join us if you can.                                                 “May we eat simply, so that others can simply eat.”

ST MARY'S PARISH CHURCH

Our Christmas events were wonderful and 'thank you' to all of the people who supported the Carol Singing on The Chipping as well as in church. There were, according to those who know, over 200 of us there and the singing was good, as was the hospitality of the Dinneywicks. We seem to be rapidly moving towards Lent and Easter... the eggs are in the shops already...how fresh I wonder!... and we are discussing Lent study groups and lunches.* see elsewhere.

With our eventual joining with Wotton as far as Deanery things are concerned it might be worth mentioning that In Wotton during Lent there are a variety of weekly happenings.

These range from groups to outside speakers and other church events. Please get in touch if you'd like to know more.

Our own church and the Chapel will be sharing some study groups and again more information will be available soon.

As far as our restoration is going, we have to move into the phase when the outside is cared for rather than the inside...it's no good getting new paintwork if the roof needs repairing. The work is on going and so is fund raising.

Our youngsters continue to meet as a club...3 4 5 ... after Junior Choir on Thursdays and recently we went Bowling!! Great fun was had by young and old.... our next event might well be the Mothering Sunday flowers and then the Egg hunt. The 3 4 5 club is open to anyone...I'm hoping to complete the Kingswood Welcome Booklets... an initiative sponsored by the builders of the new houses, and coordinated by one of my 'clerical' wonder people. We'd have them ready for distribution if those who have said they want to be included could let me have their details!!!!

Although I shall be away for 2 weeks in February, the Parish will be covered by others... and please continue to leave a message or contact the churchwardens as usual.

The Local Ministry Team have just been away for a weekend where we tried hard to reflect, refresh and discover resources for our relationship as a team, with God and one another. We came back with a mixture of suggestions and hopes. I trust we will be able to put some of these hopes into action soon.

As Lent approaches, please consider doing something a little different... come to our soup lunches, join a group, meet with some friends for a time of sharing or just think about others.

May it be a time of blessing for us all. Viv K.

 

KINGSWOOD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Our 350th Celebrations now over we now look forward to the 200th Anniversary of our Sunday School.  We have started well with three new members being born thus far this year with twins eagerly awaited as I write.  We have another three new babies due for arrival later in the year.  What a start to the Celebrations!  We will be holding some special events throughout the year and more news about these will follow. 

Our services continue throughout February at 10.30am and 6pm. Communion Services during the morning service of the first Sunday and evening service on the third Sunday. 

If you are a new family to the village the children might like to come along to one of our Clubs.  We have Zion Club for primary school children, which is on a Monday night at 7.30pm. Friday evening we have Z+ for the older children at 7.30pm.  If you have a young family we hold a mother and toddlers group Kings Kids at 10.15am on a Thursday.

All these events take place in the Lower Schoolroom. 

We also have Bible Study on a Tuesday evening at 8pm. Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday there is a Women's Bright Hour at 2.30pm in the vestry. There is a warm welcome awaiting you. 

If you want to know more about us why not visit our website: www.kingswoodcongregational.org.uk

 
KINGSWOOD ABBEY WOMEN'S INSTITUTE

Our January meeting had speaker Matthew Adams talking about ‘our soil’. Beyond Organic was the title of the talk. He is from the charity “Good Gardeners Association” and gave some very interesting advice and information for our gardening techniques.

Our next meeting will be on Feb 10th, 7.30pm at the Village Hall and will be by Andrew Harper on Bellringing.

 

Kingswood Bridgers Project – Skatepark on New Road

The recent good news is that detailed planning permission has been granted for the sports development on the New Road site.  Our skatepark project is part of that development, so this is a key step towards our goal of providing a skate area for local youngsters.
We’re holding our Annual General Meeting on Monday 9th March at 7.30pm in the new Function Room at St Mary’s Church, Kingswood – to find out more about the project and our plans, please come along to our meeting, refreshments provided!

For more information, contact Barnaby Beere on 01453 844040

Kingswood Parish Council

Speed checks carried out in Wickwar Road between January 7th and 15th were completed and the results reported at the last Parish Council meeting. Measurements were taken at Peak Times, 07.30 – 08.30 and 14.30 – 17.30. At the point measured 93% of vehicles were exceeding the limit with an average speed of 40 mph. Sadly a large majority of the vehicles exceeding the limit belonged to villagers. There is a message here!

 

PCSO Street Surgeries will begin soon and dates will be made available as soon as they are known. Watch out for details.

Information can be passed on in confidence if you do not feel that you can register them at the P.I.P point.

 

The Village Diary can be viewed on the Grapevine website. For an entry please email Grapevine or telephone Gill on 842734.