Whatlington

A big thank you to everyone who joined us for Royal Oak Day last week and made it such a wonderful evening. I think the feedback was that Mike surpassed himself with the steak pies and that it was nice to get together with friends mid-week - there was a great community atmosphere! We’ll have to think of a reason to do it all again soon.

We also had a great time at Irish Music Night at The Royal Oak last Friday and thanks as ever go to Jo and Paul for organising such a super night. The next Irish Music Night will be on Friday 28th June.

Quiz night at The Royal Oak has become quite an event, with as many as 11 teams competing last week! If you are interested, don’t be afraid to put a team together and come and join in. We quiz every Thursday evening from 8pm, entry is £1 per person for teams of up to six.

The Boules season is well underway and matches are every Wednesday evening, with the next home match at The Royal Oak being on June 12th. This is always just a good excuse to have a mid-week drink in the garden, so please feel free to come along and support your local team - all in the name of sport!

Tonight (Friday 7th) is Film Club night at The Royal Oak when we will be watching Argo, the Oscar and Bafta winning movie based on apparently real events from 1979. Following the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran, 52 Americans are taken hostage. But six manage to slip away to temporary safety at the home of the Canadian ambassador. Realising it would not be long before the escape was discovered, the CIA and Canadian authorities appoint a specialist in such matters to hatch a plan to get the six out of Iran. The idea? To disguise the rescue team as a film crew scouting locations for a sci fi movie called Argo. It’s the sort of plot that could only happen in Hollywood. Except that it happened in Iran. Ben Affleck stars and directs a film generally agreed to be the best movie of 2012. For further Film Club info, please contact [email protected].

We’ve had lots of interest and offers of help for our Village Fete on Saturday 15th June which is the main fundraising event for the Village Hall. Our traditional village fete will have all the usual stalls and games for children (and adults!), plus a Vintage Car display, competitive game of stoolball (if you would like to be in a team, please contact Alex on 01424 870492), BBQ, ice-creams, tractor rides, plus live music from Glashin. Hopefully the weather will be good and we can all enjoy a drink and BBQ in the sunshine, so don’t forget to put the date in your diary.

An update from Jeffrey, the Church Warden:

Church Services: Next Sunday, the 9th is the Whatlington monthly All Age Worship, held in the Village Hall at 10.30am and taken by Reader, Mrs. Jacqueline Kemp.

Whatlington Church now has its new West Window and also a new Nave window fitted, these are by designer Mel Howse and are significant items in their own right. Mel is an acclaimed glass designer, who has made these windows using basic ideas from the PCC.

The West window has a clear background, with yellow twists running through it, which capture both a theme of flames to mark the fire as well as the idea of wheat sheaf’s thus tying in with the origins of the village name.

The new Nave window carries a Royal Coat of Arms to mark last years Diamond Jubilee, we had to gain approval for this from the Palace and it is quite special.

The church has been very fortunate to have received an offer from Charles Moore, former editor of The Daily Telegraph and the official biographer of Lady Thatcher, for him to give a talk about his recently published biography of Britain’s first women Prime Minister. The talk will be given to raise funds for the church’s Appeal Fund, which is paying for a range of improvements to the building incorporated as the post fire restoration proceeds.

The Charles Moore talk will be held at 7pm on 28th June at Leeford Place Hotel, Whatlington, by kind permission of the manager, admission will be by ticket only. Tickets, priced at £17.50 each (and to include tea or coffee and biscuits) are available, either direct from The Royal Oak, on the A21 in Whatlington, or by post, enclosing an S.A.E. from: Jeffrey Bridges, The Cedars, Whatlington Road, Battle, TN33 0NA, cheques made payable to ‘Whatlington PCC’. Telephone enquiries to 01424-772535.

Copies of Charles Moore’s Authorized Biography, Volume One, will also be available for sale on the evening, signed by the author.

If you have any news or events you would like included in the Village Voice column, please email [email protected]