New thatch for the Old Cottage

Work started in January re-thatching the Old Cottage, but we all know what January brought for us in 2010. As the two pictures above show it was a somewhat chilly start for Master Thatcher Steve Bowen and his crew.

6th February - Mark shows the depth of the new coat, well over a foot.

7th February, almost finished the front coat, just waiting for the leadwork to be raised to match the new ridge

Unfortunately for the team, winter still had a sting in its tail as blizzard conditions returned for a short sharp visit in February.

Photos : Mark Brock

 

           60th Birthday Celebration

Friends and relations of Ray Toop, (Maureen Tarbox's brother), descended on the Village Hall to celebrate Ray's 60th Birthday. They chose this venue for several reasons. One being that as invited guests were spread over a large area of Southern England, East Garston is central to all. Another reason of course is that they are all very familiar with the friendly atmosphere and welcome that they receive from the Social Club staff on such occasions, having been here before at Christmas parties and the like.

The Village Hall was superbly decorated by Sally Smith and her team and reflected a 60s theme, taking Ray back to his teenage years. Adele Porter took care of the catering for us, and once again provided a superlative party buffet.

 

photos
Laura-Jane harrison : Christopher Toop : Linda Burgess

 

 

           Bellringers Branch Dinner

This year the branch dinner took place in East Garston where we were looked after by Caterer Adele Porter and her friendly, courteous and trustworthy staff. All present agreed that the meal itself was superb in every detail and that Adele had provided excellent value for money. All to often these days one encounters restaurants that offer up as the main course, one and a half potatoes, three slices of carrot, eight peas and 2 ounces of some form of unrecognizable meat, then have the dam cheek to charge the equivalent of a weeks shopping for it. Well there was none of that old caper here, Adele provided us with three generous courses of fine home style cooking.

The dinner was organised on behalf of the branch by East Garston ringer Maureen Tarbox, and Beenham ringer, Tessa Allum. The Hall and table decor was the artistic work of Sally Smith and her team. Finally ~ Thank you to everyone for a very successful evening.,

photos
Marcus Allum