Feast Week 2012 – the planning starts here

On behalf of the S&VA I am pleased to confirm that Feast Week this year will run from Saturday 23rd June to Saturday 30th June 2012; so please make a note in your diaries now! We have had fantastic weather for the last several years and we are hoping that our luck will hold firm again.  The traditional Fete will take place as usual on the last Saturday of Feast week which is Saturday 30th June 2012.  The last few years have seen the Fete Parade on the themes of “Dry Drayton on Wheels” (2008), “Dry Drayton at the Movies” (2009), Dry Drayton at the Circus” (2010) and last year’s “Dry Drayton by the Sea”.

This year in view of the Queen’s Jubilee and, of course, the London Summer Olympics, we thought that it was appropriate to decide upon the Parade and Fete theme of: “The Best of British” We hope that this theme will inspire costumes ranging from Kings and Queens, to Olympic athletes to a plate of fish and chips maybe! Certainly lots of Union Jacks in any event.

Start thinking about your costume now! The planning for the Fete, Parade and the whole week in fact starts now.  Next month I hope to report on the initial meeting which was due to take place as at the time of writing on 22 February 2012 and to provide a draft agenda for the week. If you or your group plan to participate in Feast week in any way, then I shall be pleased to hear from you and I will then add your event to the Feast week agenda.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Lorna Carter Dry Drayton S&VA

Tel 01954 780649 or email tlo@58carter.eclipse.co.uk

Annual Report of the Committee for 2011-12

S&VA COMMITTEE REPORT FOR 2011. Dry Drayton School and Village Association. AGM February 9th 2012.

Introduction

Many of those present tonight will know that the S&VA is a registered charity (Dry Drayton School & Village Association) and that we have been running since 1975! We work to support the school and the community by organising fundraising and social events throughout the year.  We own two marquees which are hired out and these raise a significant amount of funds year on year.  They also give our local men and school Dads (and Mums too!) a chance to get together as erecting the marquee is followed by a refreshing drink in the pub!  The monies raised from our activities are donated to the school to support library purchases, residential trips and many other things besides to benefit the pupils, which the school would not otherwise be able to afford. To that end we operate as a parent-friend association (a bit like the old fashioned PTA). As we are such a small school and village and as each is so important to each other, the village joins in with the parent association side of the S&VA to make it a real community group. We support the village as well, for example, by funding the newsletter and starting up other initiatives such as Baby Owls, Freaky Friday, the village coffee mornings and co-ordinating Feast Week and so on.

2011 events

2011 has been quite a year for the S&VA.  At last the long awaited new marquee was both purchased and named “William and Kate”.  We also named to “old” marquee “Peter and Paul” – thanks to Ellen Adler’s great suggestions.  Two celebratory events were held in fantastic weather at the beginning of September including a “Poems and Pint” night.  Thanks to those involved with St Giles Cricket Ground for allowing us to hold these events there.  Thanks also to the Press Relief Fund and to our private sponsors for making this possible.  The marquee team was hard at it again proving a major source of 2011′s income as Roger will report later.  Particular thanks are due to Robbie Hawkes, Neil Harris, Chris Mills and their supporting crew. We are always on the lookout for new recruits to the team. In February we held a Beetle Drive and in April a Chill Relax and Pamper Evening.  Thanks to Lorna Carter, Ali Arnold and Karen King for all of their help and organisation of the Pampering evening and to Gill Jones and Pat Carter for running the raffle on both occasions and for all of their help with the Beetle Drive. Thanks also to Fleur for organising the Beetle Drive. In April we had the Royal Wedding celebrations, in relation to which Fiona and Scottie on behalf of the S&VA worked with the Church to organise a fabulous street party and associated events. We even had our picture in the CEN.  Thanks to all concerned. It seems a long time since Feast Week but what a fantastic week it was!  All the events were very much enjoyed – Games Afternoon, the Fun Run, The Art Group’s inaugural Ploughman’s proved very popular, Bingo, The Forum Art Group’s Exhibition, Friday night’s Safari supper enjoyed a most beautiful evening, Saturday breakfast and of course the Fete and Parade on the theme of “Dry Drayton by the Sea”. Once more the Dry Draytonians excelled themselves with their costume choices and the Punch and Judy show had children and adults alike transfixed.  On top of all that, about £1,500 was raised for the S&VA – a great result from a week which is about celebrating our community. We would like to record our thanks once more to all those involved, especially the Feast Week committee co-ordinated by Lorna, the various event organisers and the Fete sponsors. A well attended and much enjoyed Call My Bluff Wine Tasting event was held in the village hall at the end of September.  Our thanks again to Stewart Travers and the team from Cambridge Wine Merchants for a great night and to Fiona for all her organisational and wine pouring skills! Thanks also are due to Fiona for the inaugural community market held in October.  The Bag2School second hand clothing collections have continued to be not only a significant fundraiser, but also an excellent incentive to clear out our wardrobes, and we plan two further collections in 2012. Thanks to Anne Deane and team for co-ordinating this for the S&VA again.  The S&VA fundraising year ended with our inaugural Advent Fayre in early December organised by Lorna and team.  Lots of children came to visit Father Christmas and enjoy the making of reindeer food, pinning the nose on Rudolph and Christmas art amongst other activities.  Thank you for all who helped in any way, in particular Father Christmas of course!  We raised around £240 which was a bonus as the event was mainly organised for fun.  This event is a good example of how fundraising is not always the S&VA’s overriding driver as we also organise activities aimed primarily at bringing people together. The Thursday Village coffee mornings continued to draw people together and at the same time produce a healthy income for the host organisations. On behalf of the S&VA, I would like to thank the team behind the S&VA-hosted coffee mornings and in particular Anne Deane who has been the driving force behind the rota.

Plans for 2012

Turning to 2012, this was always going to be a busy year with the Queen’s Jubilee, the London Olympics and the Football Euro Championships.  However we already have plans for a Beetle Drive, a Murder Mystery and a Pampering eve!  Plans are also afoot for another fun-packed Feast Week, Bag2School clothing collections, marquee hire and a variety of other possible events for 2012/13 including a possible Race Night. In regard to the marquees, 2012 will be an especially busy year as Neil Harris reports that we currently have gross orders in the region of £3,000.  So increasing the membership of the marquee team is particularly important this year.  Neil is very keen on having a ladies team!  As Roger will report in more detail, 2011 has been another successful fundraising year for the S&VA and it is safe to say that the S&VA is making a real difference. In terms of planned expenditure in 2012, the aim is to continue to support the School and our usual village expenses, with any special projects to be considered as they arise. The budget for 2012 will be agreed at the first termly of the year at 8pm on Thursday, 15th March in the School hall, so do please come along.

Thanks

Having just heard Kate’s report and the detailed report Mary Barnard gave us in October, I am sure you will join me in congratulating the staff, governors, pupils, parents and everyone involved, on the school’s many achievements in 2011. We look forward to participating in the school’s plans for 2012. We have really appreciated the time Kate and Mary have taken to report on the school’s activities at our meetings and I hope that parents in particular can see the impact the S&VA donations have on what the school can offer the pupils. In regard to the newsletter, Sylvia Pryer continued to do a stalwart job editing the Newsletter in 2011, ably abetted by various contributors and IT experts. Together with the Lorimers and the Newsletter delivery team, Sylvia has kept the village in touch throughout the year, despite some difficult times, and I know you will join me in thanking them all most warmly on behalf of the whole newsletter community. The committee would also like to thank our newsletter advertisers who generated income of £2,700 for the S&VA in 2011. Before I finish, on behalf of the whole committee I would like to thank everyone who has supported the S&VA in 2011 – your contribution is invaluable and essential to the success of the S&VA.  Thank you especially to all our families and partners without whose back-up it would not be possible to support the S&VA to the same degree. May I particularly thank my fellow Committee members very much for all their sterling work, especially Fleur Clegg for all of her hard work as Chair over many years who is now stepping down from the Committee.  Also thanks to Chris Mills who stepped down earlier this year. Finally, in terms of the Committee, we would very much like to have some new members who are also Parents at the school as this helps enormously with input from the School. We do not have a Chair at present but I believe that all of the existing members – with the exception of Fleur – are all willing to stand again.  I hope that the newly elected committee together with any new members can continue to count on the support of everyone connected with the school and village so that the S&VA can continue to make a difference to our community.

Thank you

On behalf of the school and the village, we thank Fleur Clegg for her energy, insight and leadership as Chair of the S&VA since 2007. She joined the committee a couple of years earlier and has been involved in most aspects, most notably setting up the very successful Bags for Schools, arranging advertising for the newsletter and helping with a wide range of social fund-raising events. She is standing down from the committee with the S&VA in good health and confidently looking to the future.

 

Feast Week is here – the marquee is up and signs and bunting decorate the village. The planning that has gone into the week’s events has been enormous and particular thanks are due to the (entirely voluntary) Feast Week committee, led by Lorna Carter and all event hosts and helpers. More on this in the next issue.

The next newsletter will not be until September, so keep a look out for events planned between now and the Autumn and note the August deadline for submitting items to Sylvia. Note the possible new marquee “launch event” on Friday afternoon on the 9^th September.  The next Bags2School second hand clothing collection will be in the Autumn – remember shoes, clothes, bedding, belts, handbags and soft toys are all accepted. The next termly meeting will be on 20^th October at 8pm and the acting head of the school, Mary Barnard, will be speaking.

Wishing you a very enjoyable summer!

Fleur Clegg

Feast Week Agenda and “Wanted”

Dear Friends

You will find in the newsletter and Village Diary a draft agenda of the events planned for the whole of Feast week.  Volunteers for any (or all) of the events are very welcome and much needed.  Please speak to one of the committee if you are able to offer any time or other help.  In particular we are looking for:

• Bottles and tombola items for the bottle and tombola stall
• Cakes for the cake stall
• Raffle prizes
• Helpers for the various stalls at the Fete
• Scones for the strawberry teas at the Fete
• Clean up patrol for the end of the Fete
• Marshalls for the Parade

“Table top” sale at the Fete

We are planning on including a table top sale at the Fete as we did last year.  Pitches will be £5 each for one pitch (i.e. per table).  Please bring your own table if possible and confirm with us in advance – pre-booking is necessary please.

Photo completion

We are also planning on there being a photo competition as last year.  The categories are:

1. Under 12s  – General category
2. Over 12s  – General category
3. The Seaside
4. Dry Drayton

Photos should be no larger than 8″ x 10″ and can be sent to Rob Howard beforehand or mounted in the marquee on the Friday, or Saturday before 3.00pm. Maximum per entrant is 3 photos, which are returnable. There will be prizes in each category.

 Please contact me or one of the committee if you are able to help in anyway.

Best wishes,

Lorna Carter

Feast Week Committee

780649

FLEUR CLEGG WRITES

While the S&VA’s main events this month are the Bags2School collection on 31st March and termly meeting on 24th March (to be reported on next month), there has been a lot of planning going on in relation to future events, Feast Week and a new marquee – further details of many of these should appear elsewhere in this issue. We have also been involved with hosting the school’s Zambian visitors from its partnership school. Mrs Nsama (the head) and Mr Bwalya were experiencing their first taste of England and we hope they enjoyed their trip – we certainly all learned a lot about their vastly bigger school and the challenges faced by some of the children without parents or with HIV.

As for the new smart marquee, it will enable us to maintain the village marquee team with its camaraderie and community spirit and also broaden the range of potential bookings particularly outside the village, a key part of the S&VA’s fundraising. It will require some substantial expenditure, however, which we are financing through a combination of grant funding and S&VA reserves and hopefully through additional fundraising/donations. We are delighted to have already got the ball rolling with the promise of some very kind donations from villagers and marquee team members past and present and we do hope others will want to support this long-standing village tradition. If you would like to make a donation, of whatever size, please contact Fleur Clegg, Neil Harris, Roger Swain, Scottie Hawkes or Chris Mills (and keep an eye out for donation forms) – every little counts when totted up! If you are a taxpayer we will also be able to claim gift aid to increase the amount donated by 25p (28p before 5 April 2011) for every £1 at no extra cost to you.

Finally, don’t forget the Royal Wedding Party being held around the church/green on Friday 29th April.

Feast Week Agenda and “Wanted”

Dear Friends,

 You will find in the newsletter a draft agenda of the events planned for the whole of Feast week. Volunteers for any (or all) of the events are very welcome and much needed. Please speak to one of the committee if you are able to offer any time or other help. In particular we are looking for:

• Bottles and tombola items for the bottle and tombola stall
• Cakes for the cake stall
• Raffle prizes
• Helpers for the various stalls at the Fete
• Scones for the strawberry teas at the Fete
• Clean up patrol for the end of the Fete
• Marshalls for the Parade

“Table top” sale at the Fete

We are planning on including a table top sale at the Fete as we did last year. Pitches will be £5 each for one pitch (i.e. per table). Please bring your own table if possible and confirm with us in advance – pre-booking is necessary please.

Photo competition

We are also planning on there being a photo competition as last year. The categories are:

1. Under 12s – General category
2. Over 12s – General category
3. The Seaside
4. Dry Drayton

Photos should be no larger than 8″ x 10″ and can be sent to Rob Howard beforehand or mounted in the marquee on the Friday, or Saturday before 3.00pm. Maximum per entrant 3 photos which are returnable. There will be prizes in each category.

Please contact me or one of the committee if you are able to help in anyway.

Best wishes,

Lorna Carter

Feast Week Committee 780649

Feature: The Feast

Dear All,

DRY DRAYTON BY THE SEA FEAST WEEK

2011 Friday 24th June to Sunday 3rd July 2011

Fete Parade

Theme

I am delighted to inform you that we have had a fantastic response to the competition for the Parade theme this year and that the chosen theme is “Dry Drayton by the Sea”. We hope that this will spark your imagination and look forward to seeing perhaps mermaids, sea creatures, sailors, sunbathers and maybe long Victorian woollen swimming costumes (if you dare!). We hope to make the parade at least as fun and colourful as last year’s “At the Circus”. You have a few months to plan as the parade itself (and Fete) is Saturday 2nd July 2011.

The theme was inspired by three separate entries from Sophie Norman, Miranda Clegg and Lucy Arnold. Rather than draw names out of a hat all three will receive a certificate and a prize. Well done girls!

In the next newsletter I will be placing a draft Feast week programme of events; so if your group or family (or you!) are interested in organising an event or helping out at those currently planned, then please contact me. We would like as many helping hands as possible. We appreciate that people in our community have lots of skills and so are able to help in many different ways. Please let us know how you can help.

Best Wishes

Lorna Carter, For the Feast Week planners 01954 780649 0770 101 5221 tlo@58carter.eclipse.co.uk

Happy New Year to you all from the committee!

After a successful fundraising year last year, plans are already afoot for 2011. Dates are still being finalised for some events, but the first date for your diary is:

Saturday 12th Feb 3 – 5 pm BEETLE DRIVE. When was the last time you played ‘Beetle’? All ages welcome – please see separate ad for details.

Other events include a wine tasting and a Pampering evening, with dates to fit with other groups’ potential events (such as G&S and Kate Woolf evenings).

The next Bag2School Collections for 2nd hand clothes, bedding, shoes etc are on 31 March and 6 October, keenly awaited by many already!

The AGM is on Monday 7th February at 8pm in the School Hall. Please come to hear reports of the S&VA’s and School’s activities for the year – a last chance to hear from Miss Dorrell at our meetings before her maternity leave, and enjoy a glass of something afterwards. New joiners to the committee are most welcome for the elections – please contact me if you are interested.

The next termly gathering is on Thursday 24 March at 8pm at the School where the 2011 budget will be set and plans for the year ahead outlined. The school has a number of projects in mind and parents will hopefully be keen to participate in fundraising ventures.

Feast Week planning will also begin shortly, as you can see from Lorna’s letter – volunteers please contact Lorna Carter!

Many thanks for your continuing support of the school and village!

Fleur Clegg
fleur.clegg@allenovery.com

September 2010 Report

It seems a long time since Feast Week but what a wonderful week it was! All the events were thoroughly enjoyed, the weather was glorious and the enormous effort all the volunteers kindly put in was well rewarded. There was a fantastic costumed turn out for the Saturday circus parade and fete and Charlie the stilt-walking circus artist certainly helped bring the theme alive. Games Afternoon and the Fun Run were very well attended, the Pimms, Puddings and Purchases night raised enough to buy every child an ice cream on the school trip to Hunstanton (I have it on good authority that this was much appreciated!), Saturday breakfast was a hit as ever, and a good time was had by all at the Real Ale, Quiz and Bingo nights. On top off all that, about £1300 was raised for the S&VA – a great result from a week which is about celebrating our community.

Many thanks and congratulations to all the organisers, helpers and participants. Particular thanks to the Feast Week committee – Lorna, Karen, Georgina, Ali, Ilektra, Jenny, Marie, Chris and Jane – and S&VA event coordinators Diane, Trevor, Rob, Roger, Neil, Ian, Ash, Danny and Aaron and The Black Horse, Rosemary Scambler and team and Pam Ducker and team. Thanks also to the School and staff, Marquee and bunting teams, Jason for the PA system and Phillip our MC, our quizmaster, the Church for again providing the children’s supper at Games Afternoon, Springhill Equestrian Centre for the pony rides, the Methodist Church for their facilities, St Giles Cricket Club for various assistance and all the very generous raffle prize donors. So many people pitched in to help barbecue, run fete stalls and Games Afternoon activities, do teas, bake cakes, scones and puddings, donate bottles, marshal the parade and fun run, judge the fancy dress, sell raffle tickets etc etc -  I know that the committee would very much like to thank you and your families most warmly (not to mention pencil you in again for next year)!

Anyone new to the village do take note that Feast Week is around June 29th, the Church Feast Day, and volunteers are always much appreciated.

The next Bag2School collection in aid of the S&VA is on Thursday October 14th. All good quality second hand bedding, clothes, shoes, belts, bags, curtains and soft toys much appreciated – the heavier the better. Please bag them up and bring them to the village hall coffee morning as usual.

The next termly meeting is on Monday October 18th, 8pm at the school. All school parents and village residents are invited. Please do come along.

Finally, back by popular demand, we are holding a Hoe Down on Saturday 25 September to celebrate the start of the new school term and gather people together. It will be in the marquee on the school field with a hog roast and puddings and Black Horse ale, cider and wine will be available. We are delighted to have secured The Cambridge Crofters to play and do hope you will join in – tickets are selling fast so book now to avoid disappointment! (See separate ad. Help also appreciated – please contact Georgina)

Fleur Clegg

May Report from the Village Newsletter

Activity this month has been focused on planning for Feast Week (Monday, June 28th – Saturday July 3rd) and there are lots of fun events planned (please see the separate announcements in this issue). Please do come forward to lend a hand – for example, manning a stall at the Fete for an hour or so would make a big difference in enabling everyone to have a chance to enjoy the day with their families and the committee may not be aware that you would like to help!

The annual cricket fixture with St Giles is also planned to take place this summer on the Scotland Rd pitch – please contact Neil Harris (789049) if you are interested, especially if you are new to this fixture.

The marquee has had its annual clean and is currently awaiting the Black Horse beer festival. It is available for hire in and outside the village at very competitive rates, so do bear it in mind if you are involved with a suitable event (Neil is the contact).

Please keep your recipes coming in and, if you missed the Bag2School 2nd hand clothing collection at the end of April, the next one is on October 14th.

You might have spotted some new developments at the School over Easter – some much needed and very smart bicycle and scooter racks, and the library refurbishment may well have been completed by the time you read this, fundraising for which many parents and villagers supported last term.