Iden

NO THANK YOU, WE WON’T COME IN: Now is the time to search out carpets of bluebells. They are something else aren’t they? .Walk in a bluebell wood shrouded by trees, and we have the perfect spot to allow our imaginations to soar. We slip and slide on their leaves. We try not to tread on the flowers, but it’s a losing battle [a bluebell wood doesn’t do things by halves]. Those little wonders of nature are everywhere. I have some in the garden, in the process of becoming cultivated [the posh guys], but picking them seems to weaken them, and they tend to flop over, like many a delicate wild flower brought into the house. Once inside, Celandines close up, and refuse to join the party, and yet out in the sunshine in their own habitat, they positively glow. Wood anemones, snowy-white and prolific, fare even less well than bluebells if brought inside. Many wild flowers are now a protected species, and flower-lovers literally have to sit on their hands, so as not to be tempted to pick them. Nowadays we can buy a bunch of flowers cheaply enough in a supermarket, so we are less likely to rely on wild flowers for indoor decoration, but years ago wild flowers may have been the only choice, and a good part of childhood was spent gathering these untamed blooms. We may be more content these days to leave them in their meadows and woodland where they belong, but there are few things more endearing than a posy of wild flowers .

TOMORROW’S COFFEE MORNING: Tomorrow, [Saturday 16th May] there will be a coffee morning in the ‘Old Hall’ from 10 am-12 midday, run by the flower ladies of Iden Parish church. Proceeds will go towards buying flowers for the church ‘Flower Festival’. Church flowers are costly, so it’s nice to support the group, while enjoying coffee, biscuits, and a friendly chat, and we can also buy a cake, and peruse the books and bric-a-brac on sale. If anyone is willing to make a cake or scones for the sale, it would be much appreciated.

FLOURY FINGERS: Talking of donating cakes, Iden ladies do come up trumps in the cake department. Most have at least one ‘sure fire’ recipe to rely on, that will enhance an occasion. Many an Iden lady will rise from a garden kneeler, where she has displayed green-fingered ability, scrub her hands, take out a mixing bowl, and embark on becoming ‘floury-fingered’ instead, with hardly a ‘blip’. An Iden lady wears many hats!

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THE SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION: There will be a service of Holy Communion on Sunday 17th May, at 9.30 am, in Iden Parish Church.

MISSING ‘POLDARK’: I miss being whisked off to Cornwall on a Sunday evening on the back of Poldark’s horse. [I wonder if he’d fancy doing a bit of scything on our little patch of lawn!]

THE POP-IN: The next Pop-In will be held in Iden village hall, on Monday 25th May at 11am. Everyone is welcome for coffee, biscuits and a chat. It’s nice to hear the buzz of conversation, as people drink coffee and swap news.

BINGO: Eyes down and looking, on Thursday 28th May in Iden village hall. Doors open for bingo at 2pm, eyes down at 2.30pm. Many thanks to Janet Wood and Carol Bourne, for doing the raffle and providing much of our food for the tea at half time. There is a jackpot, a flier, and of course the normal bingo books, and it’s a nice way to spend an afternoon Anyone can come, from Iden and the surrounding area.

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GET TO KNOW THE CLOCKS: I love clocks, because they seem alive, and somehow friendly, but that is only if you bother to wind them. We seem to have clocks everywhere in our house, even in the larder [that one has chickens on it, so at least it’s appropriate]. My husband knows about our clocks, not by way of a hobby, just as a practicality, and they are very much his domain. He also deals with the clocks going back or forward, or I would be blissfully unaware, and arrive too late, or too early for an appointment.. I love the chiming, bonging, tick- tock language of clocks, but know nothing about their ‘innards’ or their temperament. I’m reading a book called ‘The Clockwinder, about a woman whose husband dies, and she finds herself unable to wind the clocks. There are so many things that I know nothing whatsoever about, and yet seem to have no wish to learn. Selective knowledge, I think you would call it.. My husband can’t sew a button on or make a rice pudding, but he winds clocks, and one of these days the two of us are going to come unstuck. I suppose the answer is that all of us should dabble in just about everything!

CONTACT ME: If anyone would like to add something to the village voice, please ring Gill Griffin [telephone 01-797 280311], and I’ll gladly include it.

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