Sheldon Jottings for November 2015

Autumn is truly with us heralding the start of winter, with short days, long nights and cooler weather, we have already had the first frost here in Sheldon. The cows are coming along the road and back to the farm for milking at dawn with the lights of the Landrover shining brightly and at night they are going back in the darkness too. The calm weather for harvest allowed the farmers to bring in the crops and the gardeners to prepare for winter by getting their autumnal jobs completed.

A joyous event on the 15th September – the birth of Max, weighing in at 7lbs 6oz – a son for Melanie and Oliver. A welcome addition to the increasing numbers of young people in the village. We send the adoring couple and the very proud family our congratulations.

The Harvest Festival  Service in Church, always held on the first Sunday in October and led by Canon Tony, was well attended. The church was decorated with offerings brought by parishioners and a wonderful floral display by Julia and Mick. Many thanks to them and to all who celebrated this special time of year in our lovely church.The produce which was donated to decorate the church was gifted to Blythe House.

For the first time, courtesy of Kath, a Pie and Pea Supper and Quiz Evening was held on the following Monday at the Cock and Pullet, to help raise badly needed funds for the Church. The pub was full, good food and great companionship helped to make the evening a resounding success, although some found the quiz questions a bit tricky!  We have heard many calls in the village for this to be an annual event. It raised a staggering £415. A big thank you to Claire and Michelle for all their hard work supplying the supper and thank you to Helen for doing the quiz. Postman Pat’s Team were the winners and they kindly donated their prize money back to the church – a big thank you. The raffle prizes were won by Michael Holdsworth, Amanda and Andrew J and Philip G.  Thank you to everyone for supporting the event.

As winter approaches we hear yet again that we will not be receiving a regular gritting lorry through the village. Also, this year we have been asked to pay for any piles of grit which are usually placed free by the Council in the Dale and on Hunterside. Yet another in an ever lengthening list of cuts to services reducing our quality of life due to government cutbacks in funding to councils. As a result of the necessity to pay for our rock salt/grit, and to cover other costs, the Parish Meeting on the 14th October agreed, on the recommendation of the Finance Committee, that we would need to increase the precept to £1500 – an increase of £250.

The Parish Meeting also discussed the division of the money raised on Sheldon Day which was £4627 after expenses – a record amount. The Sheldon Day Group would retain £827 to act as a float for next year’s Sheldon Day and  £200  will pay for the Christmas Party for the older residents. The remainder would be divided equally between the Church, the Village Hall and the Playing Field,  giving them £1200 each.

The winner of the 100 Club Draw for October was Mark Elwis of Wardlow who won £25.