5 Villages Youth Group – String Orienteering in May
A band of village children had a great time following a string course through fields and woodland to test their mapping skills at the May, 5 Villages Youth Group. They were given a coloured map of the course, with the topographical features marked, and a key to the icons. The kids had to orientate themselves on the ground to the printed map, and then set off on the string course.
The Beacon to celebrate the Queen’s birthday was a roaring success. A clear, if a bit chilly, evening was perfect for the bonfire on Telegraph Hill, or Salmon’s Sideland, which is its old name. A small group of villagers congregated around the fire and enjoyed the views across the valley. Sadly we could not see another beacon from our viewpoint.
The 5 Villages Youth Group had a fantastic time at their April meeting, when the kids produced home-made bird feeders. They threaded circular shaped breakfast cereal onto pre-shaped garden wire and also included some blueberries amongst the cereal, to produce some lovely shapes: hearts, spirals, twists, apples, triangles; completely filled with food for the wild birds.
The children who came to the March Youth Group session made a decorated mug filled with paper flowers to give to their mothers on Mothering Sunday.
The mugs made a lovely display.
A crowd of village children gathered in the hall in early February to make a vivid red lantern, decorated with Chinese characters, celebrating the Year of the Monkey which began on Monday 9th February.
A cold bright day was made only better by being at the Compton Dando Craft Day in the warm, bright hall with both old and new faces and a few young people (22 in all) as this date coincided with half term. Molly enjoyed learning to spin the fleece from their family alpacas; Gilly took to felting like a duck to water and made a stunning flower; a couple of people brought their spinning wheels for an overhaul and a professional diagnosis from Jenny Smart. Homemade bread, soup (Carrot and Leek and Potato equally popular today) and cake made by Harriette Dottridge, the organiser, were enjoyed by all. Harriette reports that a profit of £20 was made for the Compton Dando Community Association and most importantly everyone really enjoyed the day.
We had a lovely day with about 20 visitors for lunch. Eillen from Chelwood brought her beautiful needle felted owl, foxes and other animals and several people enjoyed learning how to do them: for the book follow this link (http://www.coriandr.com/item/
Whilst walking our dog today we met an amateur mycologist in one of the village fields who told us that he had found 43 different varieties of fungi during a couple of hours walking in the valley. It is amazing to learn things like this. I know that I occasionally see fungi on my walks, but was fascinated to discover that there were so many more. We just have to look a bit harder. Barend and Alison
The village quiz, held on Sat 7th Nov, was an all round success. We eventually had eight teams, ranging from a small, but determined group of 3, to several full houses of 6.
The evening got off to an appetite tempting start with a round on Food & Drink, which left the organisers table with only 1 point!
Other rounds included Sport, Religion, General Knowledge, Pop Music, Literature, Film, and finishing off with Geography. We also had a Bird Picture round and some challenging Dingbats to add to the fun.
The evening was billed as a fun event, without the need to turn a profit, but, largely due to Alice’s raffle [a must at any Compton event] we made a profit of £150.
The Edupet visit to the Youth Group in October has been covered by the Mendip Times, see page 85 of the November issue.
http://www.mendiptimes.co.uk/magazine.html