Jenny got people making Christmas decorations from her bottle tops and fabric, Eileen showed her amazing felted creations: the Green Man being a real tour de force, but also letting people have a go themselves.  Alice seemed surrounded by knitters and crocheters as well as Sarah quilting instead of working in her flower garden.  Pauline was making cards and Carolyn worked on her amazing whacky paintings.  Linda, Jenny and I all brought our spinning wheels and June is keen to learn next year.  Maggie had fun making covered buttons and everyone enjoyed the home made soups and bread with their lunch.  We had several other visitors who came to see what everyone was doing and the day finished with tea and cake donated by a couple of the villagers.

Thank you everyone for a lovely day. Next dates: Sat 27 Jan, Tue 12 Feb

This was a successful night financially as well as socially. We made £430.76 in total for CDCA funds, excluding the hire of the hall [£28]. A big thank you to Mabel Prescott for fetching our supper – a vital role, and we are sorry that she had to wait so long [due to a staff absence]. Winning team: Pfaffing Ladies, please note, that we would like the trophy back in time for next year’s quiz!! Alice and Alison hope that you enjoyed the depth and breadth of the topics and the challenges that some rounds gave us all!

Thank you to everyone who attended the barn dance on Saturday. It was a fantastic night enjoyed by all and we raised a grand total of around £1400 towards the new pitch and necessary equipment – great result.

Particular thanks go to Lynda and Tony for hosting and there was some enthusiastic talk of not leaving it so long before the next one!

The latest 5 Villages Youth Group meeting was a huge success – because everyone loves cakes! The kids formed two teams who made different recipes – one a sponge recipe and the other a donut recipe – for our Cake Pop machines.

It was difficult to be patient whilst the cakes cooked and even harder to wait for them to cool down enough to decorate with icing and sprinkles – but the wait was worth it!! All the cakes disappeared in a flash.

Mabel Prescott, one of the organisers, said: “There were a lot of sticky fingers and a few harassed parents at the end, but it was such fun.”

About a dozen kids had a green finger afternoon making a daffodil planter for Mothering Sunday – we now just have to watch the pots to see the bulbs grow. Well done everyone. Next meeting is Friday 7th April for Cake Pops.

The snowdrop planting in mid February went very well in spite of a very chilly and damp morning about a dozen villagers turned up to help and 2000 bulbs were planted in 45 minutes. The flowers are looking good. Thanks to Steve for arranging it all.

The kids made lovely tree lanterns in December and put them on the tree opposite the pub for a while. Here are a selection of the finished items. Youth Group starts again on 3 February.