Prince Oliver and Princess Miriam of Sheldon

The Royal Wedding day was celebrated in style in our lovely Peak District village hall and was an astonishing success. The tiara and crown were lined up on the cushion ready for the Sheldon coronation! Oli Hall (who is two and a half) years old was the Prince and Miriam Swift (who is eighteen months old) the Princess. The village hall looked fabulous all decked out with Union Jack bunting, flags, streamers and balloons, and the cake, absolutely brilliant!  The organisation, masterminded by Georgina, was a military operation extending over many weeks. Many thanks to John Tanner for all the time he spent up a ladder, in all sorts of corners of the Hall and almost feet first through the ceiling working on what turned out to be quite a tricky job to find the right place for the aerial to receive live television coverage of the wedding on the day.  All sorted though! The ceremony was projected from John’s laptop to the big screen in the Hall, and  quite a lot from the village with their friends took advantage to watch. It all worked very well, despite the occasional pigeon on the aerial! The afternoon party in the Hall was a great success, a wonderful community event. So much food, from so many, everyone taking part; so many taking advantage of the community gathering just to enjoy the togetherness. But it wouldn’t have happened without the determination and enthusiasm, and hard work of Georgina and John Tanner who organised everyone and everything to perfection. I know they were both shattered afterwards, and I hope my prescription of a shot of Best Scottish Malt (or two)happened later! You deserved it. A brilliant job, you should be enormously proud, and  all done with the minimum of fuss, but still I know how much stress it caused. Now you can relax and enjoy the memory of a job well done. The cake was delicious; Peak Pantry did a magnificent job! After Marlene cut it, John worked it all out mathematically…there were about 50 in the Hall, all of whom got a piece, so the division was perfectly judged. Well done and thanks from the whole village

The Royal Wedding mugs look very fine indeed; personalised with ‘Sheldon, Derbyshire’ printed along the inside rim, real Staffordshire pottery, not cheap imports! Everyone under 18 in the village received one, with one free for every other household.  If anyone wants to buy one as a memento of the Royal Wedding, or of their visit to our beautiful Peak District village, or for their grandchildren, we’ll be selling them at  £4 each. Please contact Georgina at Swallow Cottage for more details.

The swallows are now back (returning this year around April 16th), and nesting all on schedule. As for lawn mowing, don’t ask!!

The History Group exhibition was a great success. During the two days it was open, about eighty people visited. Almost everything on show this year was different from last year’s exhibit. Ralph says, proudly, there is still enough for another completely new exhibition still. The metal detectors are working overtime!

The Sheldon Day team is busy getting ready for this year’s event, Saturday: 23rd July and the Fell Race: 21st July. Last year the village day raised over £3000, not bad for three hours, probably some kind of record for so much in such a short time! This money goes to support the community with money going to the playground upkeep, the old peoples Christmas dinner, as well as general support of village activities, areas, and the village hall, for both residents and visitors. One of the main money raisers is the Raffle, for which we pay for the main prize (this year a luxury weekend away for two.)  All other prizes are donated – food, games, meals, anything…and we need lots of donations for this. We are also looking for sponsorship to support parts of the day, for things like flowers, prizes for games and rosettes; any small amount (or big of course) will do. All sponsors will be mentioned and thanked on the free programme and we would be very grateful for your support. For the raffle contact Elizabeth Shimwell and for sponsorship, Andrew Joly.

I see a fine picture of Wendy Neilson and four-legged friend in various Peak Park brochures. Headlined: The Horserider! Wendy says: “It’s a very special place but more safe, traffic-free, places to ride.” Here here!

And just before I sign off, a special congratulations to Oliver Lester on his 21st birthday! It only seems like yesterday when he was toddling around the village.