Netherfield

Netherfield Village Voice: The completion of another year is almost upon us. The perception that it passes more quickly as you get older, maybe an incorrect assumption, but it does seem that it is always the lead up to Christmas. At the moment our national existence appears to be lurching from one turning-point to another and the perception of sleepy villages in the heart of the country being unaffected by by this turmoil is a misconception. However, Christmas allows us all, even for a short time to concentrate on what is important, the kids and their faces when they pull the paper off what Santa has delivered. Whether they be your own offspring or your grandchildren the look of joy and sometimes bewilderment at what they discover hidden in boxes, bags and wrapping makes it all woth while. So, I would just like to wish all my five readers, a very happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year..
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Dec 2018, 05:00 BST
Updated 10th Jan 2019, 10:10 BST

Netherfield Village Hall Library Service: Due to the Christmas holidays the Library will be closed until 2 January 2019 when it reopens at the usual time of 2-4pm. Happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year to all our patrons.

Netherfield Village Hall future events: This is the second reminder of dates for your diary. The first of these is a New Year Jumble sale which it is proposed to hold on 19th January 2019 between 10 and 12 in the morning. This will feature all the usual stalls, full of goodies that will excite all our regulars and casuals as well. The second proposed event is a Coffee Morning on 9th February at the Hall, again between the hours of 10 and 12. This will allow everyone to come along for a coffee and a chat. What could be better? Finally, for all our Thursday evening Bingo players there will be a new regular slot in 2019 on the last Thursday of every month. The first of these will be on 31 January 2019. See you there.

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Claverham Monday Badminton Club: The last meeting of the season or should I say the year took place on this Monday just past. It is usually just the die hards who manage to make it as we all know the pressures that everyone is under at this time of the year. Getaways, shopping trips and putting up the Christmas decorations take precedence over running around a badminton court. However, six stalwarts managed to make it to the Hall to contest the last games of the year. There was Simon, Paul, Marco, sorry I mean Ben, Scot, Chris and yours truly. Fast, frenetic and frenzied are words that could describe all the encounters that transpired, but I think it was just alliteration and poetic licence on my part.

What was kind of eerie was a car-park outside, almost devoid of vehicles. The silence was almost palpable. Under normal circumstances the constant sound of engines being started and music blaring from modern speaker systems are all part of the car-park cacophony. None of that. Just silence. I almost expected to hear the music to jaws and a fin rise out of the tarmac as I made my way to the entrance.

It was another challenging week for me, with my game not reaching the heights my mind tells me I should be expecting. Perhaps Santa will leave me a bigger racket so I don’t miss anything in future. Happy Christmas everyone.

Reflections on a garden: A delivery of logs in time for the festive season was made on Saturday. They arrive in a tipper truck, which is a relatively new piece of equipment for our log-man Andy. In the past when he arrived, he and I would stand around his truck emptying logs by hand into a pile near the wood-store. Once that section of the task had been completed he would drive off into the sunset and I would stack in a relatively uniform line, making sure the previous delivery remnants were brought to the fore for continuity in the usage process. When all the logs are stacked, there is a certain beauty in looking at end-on wood piled one on top of another. Over time, the colour of the wood changes to a sort of grey hue, but even that has a kind of beauty all of its own. Anyway, I digress. Now, he, that is Andy, stands upright alongside his vehicle, pushes a little red knob and majestically the rear body of the truck rises at the front-end, the tail flap moves slowly away from the base, but always remaining perpendicular and the logs slowly fall from the rear at the start, until a final rush empties the truck in preparation for the next customer’s load.

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It still leaves me with the task of stacking but a fair proportion of my involvement in the process of the log delivery has been dramatically cut in one fell swoop. Mind you, giving the truck’s rear end a wide berth at this juncture is recommended if you don’t want to end up with a broken foot. Once emptied, another button returns the truck to normality, Christmas greetings are exchanged and cash changes hands.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Contact: If you have any stories or articles of interest that will give our readership a reason to buy the paper please contact me on email at [email protected]. Call 01424838410 and ask for Maurice or text 07957588172