Telscombe

RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION: Telscombe Residents’ Association meet on the first Thursday of each month from 7.15pm to 9.15pm in the Civic Centre. Email the secretary at christinebowman [email protected] for a copy of the meeting agenda.

SUPPORT GROUP: Breast Cancer Support Group meet on the first Wednesday of each month from 1pm to 3.30pm in the Civic Centre. Contact [email protected]

YOGA: With Natalie Heath every Tuesday from 6pm to 7pm in the Civic Centre. Contact Natalie Heath email: [email protected] phone: 07738538094.

LIVING LIGHT PILATES: Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning in the Civic Centre. £6.50 per class or class pass for £44 (eight classes plus one free session). Contact Nicola Murray-Smith email: [email protected] phone: 07776 457752.

FITNESS PILATES: Every Monday morning and Thursday evening in the Civic Centre. Get fit, tone up, prevent back pain, improve flexibility and posture. Equipment provided, just bring some water. Only £6 per class or £40 for eight weeks. Contact Jennie Palmer email: [email protected] phone: 07825 702775.

CITZENS ADVICE: Drop in advice surgery on the last Tuesday of each month from 10.30am to 12.30pm in the Civic Centre. Advice can also be gained via their website www.citizens advice.org.uk. Adviceline 03444 111 444.

YOGA: Every Monday from 7.15pm to 8.15pm in the Civic Centre. Contact Jane email: [email protected] phone: 07703 167895.

DANCE CLASS: Little Stars Pre-School Dance Class for pre-school children aged 2 to 4 years, every Tuesday 9am to 9.30am at the Civic Centre. £3.50 per session. Contact Anneli Smith 07930 490058.

STROKE ASSOCIATION: Support Group meet on the first and third Thusday of each moth from 2pm to 3.30pm in the Civic Centre. Come along to your local stroke group and meet other people who have been affected by stroke. Website: stroke.org.uk. Helpline: 303 303 3100.

FOOTNOTES: In years past in this country, tramps, or gentlemen of the road, as they were sometimes called. used to have a code or symbol that they would chalk on a gate or fence of a property to indicate whether the resident was friendly and ok for a gift of money or clothes, or was likely to chase off any tramp that knocked on his door, and was thus to be ignored. Conan Doyle used this information in a story, The Dancing Men, he wrote in 1903 for the Strand Magazine. The reason that it sprang to mind was because I have began to wonder if there is a chalk mark on our fence for the benefit of the council’s recycling collection team, saying we are not to be approached. During the course of a fortnight, we have three collections. Ordinary waste, garden waste and recycling. All gets collected without hassle except for the last one. Visits to their web-site and telephone calls are met with polite answers and vague promises, but nothing ever happens. Chaplin and I have carefully inspected our front fencing, but nothing can be seen. Meanwhile we begin to sink under an ever growing and overflowing recycling bin. Tramps still exist, or at least they did in West Somerset a few years ago when I lived there. We had a gentleman of the road, who was all of that, call on us regularly around the start of summer. There would be a knock on the cottage door and there he would be, shaved and clean and poorly but neatly dressed. He told me over a cup of tea once that he travelled the UK all the year round, but preferred the South during the summer. He would spend the night in our barn, thank us profusely over the breakfast we gave him, and then would be on his way, and we would not see him again until the next year. I sold the cottage on the strict understanding to the new owner that ‘our’ tramp had to be treated properly. This wonderful weather continues, so enjoy it wherever your life takes you. And go safely.