Issue 70

Old Sodbury Times May 2018

Welcome to: Richard and Nicole Jones have moved to the village. They write ‘along with our 2 daughters Lily

and Rosie, we are delighted to have moved into beautiful Old Sodbury.

We have had horses stabled at Hayes Farm for the last 3 years so we know a little about the village from a distance, but are now looking forward to village life up close.

Although our new property and our working lives will keep us very busy, we are looking forward to joining in with as many village social events as we can. We hope we will get to meet you all very soon.’

Don’t Forget Village Day 9th June

A bumper edition of the Old Sodbury Times in which you will find the details of the day’s celebration and how to enter the Mini Show. Do please have a go and show off your talents, even if you can’t cook a cake at least everyone takes photos (not selfies please). Should be a great day with lots to do so please come.

We had a marvellous afternoon unveiling the new interpretation board in Chapel Lane. We hope many Cotswold Way walkers will read it and learn something about Old Sodbury. And perhaps you, the villagers, may learn something too. Do you know where the bricks were made for the tunnel or where the mediaeval fishponds were? More details on page 6.

Many thanks to those who contributed to the board especially Sue Hope, our local S.Glos councillor, seen unveiling the board with Phil Rumney , Chair of Sodbury Town Council.

Many Thanks to John Edgar (seen studying the board) who has sponsored this larger edition of the Old Sodbury Times. Thanks also to The Chipping Sodbury Townlands Charity who have granted us £200 for future copies of the Old Sodbury Times.

At the consultation evening on the proposed Local Plan for South Glouces-tershire Old Sodbury was one of 35 areas for possible expansion of villages by 1500 houses. If averaged out that would be 50 houses each village.

The village was mentioned under 3 different categories so it would seem we are likely to have expansion of the village with a significant number of house.

200 Club Winners

March No 36 Mr K.Williams £25

April No 116 Mrs V. Walker £25

Dates for your Diary:

At the Village Hall:

16 May W.I. Birthday 7.30pm

20 June W.I.

Chipping Sodbury Town Hall

16-19 May Private Peaceful

12 June O.S.School Concert 1pm

Football Field

9 June Village Day 12 Noon

At The Dog PH

9 June Hog Roast +Music 5pm

At the Church:

27 May Every Sunday Teas pm

Chipping Sodbury Festival

8-17 June See enclosure

Congratulations to John Harris who

recently celebrated his 80th birthday. Here we see John and Joan , his wife, with daughters Deb and Nikki and their husbands Hartwig and Nick . John, formerly licensee at The Dog Inn, would like to thank all staff, friends and customers for their kind remarks and congratulations.

Photo by Sue Swanborough Photo by Sue Swanborough

PAGE 2 OLD SODBURY TIMES I SSUE 70

Sodbury Short Mat Bowls Club

The Bowls club has been well attended this season and

even the winter weather has rarely kept members away

from a game on a Monday evening.

Our Pairs competition for the Denis Hanks Memorial

Trophy is taking place on some Monday evenings

alongside our normal sessions, during the coming

months with the final planned for July.

This year on Village Day, Saturday 9th June, we will

be organising a Tombola for children, on the playing field. There will also be an adult Tombola run

by Jane Tucker with excellent prizes. We are happy to receive contributions towards each Tombola

so please pass any donations to a Bowls Club member as soon as possible. It has been suggested that

our proceeds might go towards improvements to the Village Hall floor.

If you are interested in playing Bowls you are welcome to come to the Village Hall on a Monday

evening at 6.15 or 7.30pm.

For more information ring 01454 315161

Old Sodbury School

We are having a RE afternoon where all the local community, parents, extended family are invited into school to find out about what it means to be a church school and see some R.E. lessons in action. There will be refreshments available. The children will also be running an act of collective worship. The R.E. afternoon is organised by our schools ethos committee and is on Wednesday 4th July starting at 1.30-3pm.

The school has its lunchtime concert at Chipping Sodbury town hall during festival week on Tuesday 12th June at 1pm. All welcome! The theme is “Come to the fair” and we have a lovely wide selection of songs to sing.

VILLAGE DAY MINI SHOW - SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

CHILDRENS’ CLASSES

1. 4 years and under - An Animal made from vegetables or fruit

2. 5-7 years - A Model made from recycled materials

3. 8-10 years - A Handmade Birthday Card

4. 11-14 years - Four Handmade and Decorated Cup Cakes

ADULT CLASSES

5 A Fruit Cake—Your own recipe

6 A Savoury Flan

7 A Shortbread

8 A Jar of Jam– any flavour

9 A Jar of Marmalade

10 A Jar of Chutney

11 An Item of Handicraft using fabric or wool

12 An Art or Handicraft item made from any medium excluding those in Class 11

13 A Landscape Photograph

14 A Floral Arrangement in a cup and saucer

SHOW RULES

1. The Committee will not be responsible for any loss or damage to Entrant’s property.

2. Entry forms to be completed and returned to the Village Hall Postbox by June 7th. Mark ‘FAO Jill Rumney’.

3. Exhibits and relevant fees will be accepted at the Football Field between 9 &10 am on June 9th

4. Exhibits are to be the work of the entrant and not previously entered in our shows.

5. One entry per person per class but several classes may be entered.

6. 1st,2nd and 3rd prizes will be awarded in the Childrens’ Classes but in the Adult Classes only 2 prizes will be awarded if there are 3 or less entries.

7. Entries may be collected from 4pm onwards. 8. The Judges decisions are final.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

SHOW ENTRY FORM

Contact Name Tel No Entry Fee Children 20p

Adults 50p

Name Classes entered Fees

Total £

Poppies in Sodbury—Centenary of the end of World War 1

Working with other groups and organisations within the parish , Sodbury in Bloom plans to commemorate the end of World War 1, all those who fought in the war and those who gave their lives in the conflict.

We have already obtained the support of Sodbury Town Council, the Parade Committee and the Town Trust to put displays of poppies around the War Memorial, Church Gates and gates to the Millennium Garden adjacent to the WW1 commemorative seat. The displays will be in place during November 2018 with the main focus being on the Remembrance Sunday Parade and service at the War Memorial.

We need a lot of poppies knitted or crocheted to make the project a success and are asking groups such as the W.I. and Townswomen Guilds to rally their members and pass on the information to all Sodbury residents. Patterns are available which I can arrange to deliver. I can come to speak about the project if required. Also look out for posters. Jane Lund Tel 01454 311180

For those wondering how the tollhouse may have looked, here is a side elevation and plan of one that was in Northamptonshire. On the narrow side of the building facing the road would have been a list of the charges probably on a carved wooden board. Imagine what chaos the road would be if we still had such a toll system now.

Turnpike Trusts were set up, by Acts of Parliament, from 1706 to the 1840s. Groups of local worthies raised money to build stretches of road and then charged the users tolls to pay for it – just like the ‘M6 Toll’ today.

The name ‘turnpike’ comes from the spiked barrier at the Toll Gate or Booth. The poor bitterly resented having to pay to use the roads and there were anti-turnpike riots. . From 1767, mileposts were compulsory on all turnpikes, not only to inform travellers of direction and distances, but to help coaches keep to schedule and the charging for changes of horses at the coaching inns.

The distances were also used to calculate postal charges before the uniform postal rate was introduced in 1840. At the height of the turnpike era, there were 20,000 miles of roads with milestones. A good example can be seen at Milestone Cottage in Horse St., Chipping Sodbury (seen here).

The newly opened board at The Dog PH . Do please have a look at it.

At our March meeting we learned that a group of giraffes is called a

“tower”! Jenny Bowen gave an entertaining talk and slide show about

how she set up her safari business ‘Sense Africa’. She was fresh out of

university and began by looking after students and a million hectares of Zimbabwe safari park.

She told amusing stories of living in a hammock, digging her own poo pit, huge spiders, a giraffe in the swimming pool, honking hippos and living with a spitting cobra while keeping a double barrel shotgun handy in case it should attack! Members appreciated this enthusiastic talk and we hope that our April meeting will be just as exciting.

How do you celebrate a 99th birthday? Old Sodbury WI ladies will celebrate by making buttonholes with Jean Bennett, eat birthday cake and have fun on Wednesday 16th May. On a serious note members will also discuss this year’s resolution which urges all WI members to recognise the importance of parity between mental health and physical health. The NFWI wishes to lobby parliament for better support for mental illness.

Our Craft group are busy with plans to enter Hawkesbury show with a scene from “Alice in Wonderland” and our Book club are currently reading “Birdcage Walk” by Helen Dunmore which features familiar places in Bristol.

A successful coffee morning at a member’s home has raised £155 towards a sound system in the Village Hall. We very much look forward to its installation as this will enhance our meetings and make them accessible and enjoyable for all participants.

Old Sodbury WI meets at the Village Hall on the 3rd Wednesday each month. Visitors and prospective members are very welcome. Contact 01454 315161 for more information.

OLD SODBURY W.I.

PAGE 7 OLD SODBURY TIMES I SSUE 70

Chipping Sodbury Library The library continues to

thrive and new ideas are

being tried and tested.

During the Easter school

holidays the Beatrix Potter Trail proved very

popular with over a 1,000 forms having to be

printed. Some because they got so wet they

disintegrated.

Children had to follow a trail of Beatrix Potter

characters round the town, collecting letters from

each figure which formed the name of a Beatrix

Potter character. Over 300 correct forms were

returned from which 4 were selected in a lucky dip

and will prizes awarded for each age group.

And the answer was HUNCA MUNCA from The

Tale of Two Bad Mice as seen here.

It was challenging and we even had

2 pub quiz adult devotees taking

their grandchildren round and the

adults couldn’t find the answer to

the anagram.

WELL DONE CHILDREN

Teas on Sunday at

Old Sodbury Church

from 2.30 - 4.30pm

Sunday afternoons

throughout the Summer

27th May - 16th September

Come and enjoy a cup of tea

in the tranquillity of the church

or outside with the

amazing view over the

Severn valley

Village Day June 9th TOMBOLA

We are running the Tombola again this year Any donations of prizes gratefully received.

Prizes can be left at my back door, or I will be pleased to collect .

Jane Tucker, Rose Cottage, Badminton Road. Tel. 313784

1st Team Games against Sea Mills and Hallen were called off due to

a waterlogged pitch at Old Sodbury. A rare win and a sound

performance away to Highridge 3-1 followed with a brace for Sam

Makepeace and one from Ben Weaver. There was a great result away

to Sea Mills. After going a goal down inside ten minutes, the team drew level when the pace of Sam-

uel Gilchrist saw him brought down for a penalty which Jamie Yarndale converted. In the last mi-

nute Matt Ellery scored a great goal to clinch victory.

Three costly defensive blunders and two missed penalties cost the team points against Shaftesbury.

Then a 4-1 away win at Totterdown with Gilchrist’s pace causing havoc all afternoon which led to

three goals, one of which he scored himself. Others were scored by Tom Edmunds , Ben Weaver and

an own goal. A Sam Makepeace goal ten minutes from the end of the match gained a valuable 3

points in a deserved away win at Talbot Knowle.

Lebeq snatched a late winner to win 2-1 on Thursday 19th. A loss against A.E.K. 3-1 was a little

unjust because the side were depleted by injuries. On 24th April there was another loss 9-2 away at

league leaders Olveston United. On 28th April an exciting match saw Old Sodbury win 5-4 at home

to Hallen. With 2 home matches to go Old Sodbury are 11th, 5 points ahead of the bottom club.

The Reserves saw 2 games called off due to wet grounds and then went to Frampton and had a good

win 4-0 with Ben Weaver scoring twice. Against high flying Bendix who are unbeaten, the lads lost

6-0. A 4-2 defeat away to Highridge didn’t show a true reflection of the game. Then a 3-1 defeat to

third in the table Bradley Stoke was also a little unjust to the young side. Another home defeat 4-0

against Iron Acton on Monday but then on the

21st the team had a rare victory 3-2 against

Frampton with excellent goals from Miller,

Dwyer and Kurton. On 25th April the reserves

suffered another defeat going down 4-1 away

to Nicholas Wanderers. The team are now

bottom of the league with 2 away games left.

Fixtures-1st Team

30 Apr Sea Mills H

2 May Winterbourne H

Fixtures– Reserves

1 May Olveston Res A

3 May Lawrence Rovers A

Old Sodbury Football Club

Please send in your news to Pauline Wilson Tel: 310540 Email r.pwilson@yahoo.co.uk or Michelle Dash Tel: 318081

Deadline for May edition is 15th June. For Village Hall bookings contact Carol Rowland Tel: 314923 or

www.oldsodburyvillagehall.com THANK YOU TO ALL who have helped with this edition. WE ALWAYS WELCOME

MORE CONTRIBUTORS Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed or implied within this publication are not necessari-

ly those of the editors. Any articles submitted are on the basis that they can be edited and must not be anonymous.

WHY IS EVERYWHERE SO MUDDY?

For the past 32 years we have been recording daily rainfall figures at Old Sodbury.

Up to this year the average rainfall for March was 61 millimetres, normally one of the driest months of the year.

Last month we recorded 147mm which is the highest we have ever recorded for March over those 32 years easily beating the previous high of 117mm. Other months have registered more e.g. December 2012 = 214mm but then one expects heavy rainfall in December.

With a few days to go in April we are on 68 mm, just above average. Wet springs probably have more impact because the winter rains have thoroughly soaked the ground and the water table is high.

Richard Wilson