VILLAGE  DIARY
So we are almost at the summer solstice and the trees have grown into their   mature, full-season hues.  The long, dry spell is affecting their foliage especially on our sandier soils and we have regularly been sweeping up fallen leaves from beneath our willow.  In our gardens the roses are coming into bloom and my neighbour’s poppy patch is a blaze of red.  In the hedges the pink and cream flowers of the honey are already attracting the bees.
I was hearing on the radio that Haweswater, the largest reservoir in England, is worryingly low.  I was brought up in the Lake District and I remember how my mother used to speak of the sorrow felt locally for the loss of Mardale when the valley was drowned in the 1920’s and how people would go to pray in Mardale Church if the water level fell so far in a drought.  Thank goodness our village is not in a valley where water engineers might cast speculative eyes.
We have a robin in our garden who appears as soon as we start turning the soil.  He keeps an eye open for insects in the freshly dug ground.  Seeing him having little luck in the parched earth recently, I brought out some dried eelworms from a supply of bird food and scattered a few on the place where I had been digging.  Then I left the plastic bag of eelworms on the lawn and continued weeding    further off.  When I looked back the robin was inside the plastic bag helping himself.
Sheila Gee tells me that she has two pairs of greater spotted woodpeckers     feeding their young in her garden and a flock of forty goldfinches are getting through an expensive amount of niger seeds.  Hilda Bowler also reports that a pair of woodpeckers are bringing two chicks to feed at her bird table.  She also notes that the small birds, about which much concern was felt during the cold weather, are plentiful in her garden.  She was pleased to see a pair of lapwings and hopes this species is re-establishing itself in our area.
It would be nice for all our friends, human, feathered and furred, if this cold wind would drop and the clouds clear to let the sun, now so high above us, shine down and warm the air.
Barbara Wilson

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THE KEN NICOL EXPERIENCE
This is to advise you that Ken Nicol is to appear at Gawsworth Village Hall on Friday 27th August 2010 with proceeds from the night in aid of the Alzheimers Society.
Ken is a very well known guitar virtuoso and composer who has fronted Steeleye Span as lead guitar for the lat seven years.
He last came to perform for us four years ago to a sell out audience and I expect this to be repeated, so please book early.  The cost of the night is £15 including a succulent hog roast proved by Jayne Holland and there will be a licensed bar.
Tickets will be on sale in July but, if you enjoyed it last time, please let me know ASAP as numbers are limited.  Many thanks,
James Rouse,
01625 429954 or 07711-532543

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PARISH COUNCIL JOTTINGS

It was observed that Mr Winston Naden, a well-respected and very hard-working former borough councilor for Gawsworth, had sadly passed away in April 2010 aged 95 years. The Parish Council wishes to offer its sincerest condolences to all of his family and friends.
The Parish Council is pleased to announce that the lower footpath in the Park has now been completely renovated. Whereas previously it had been laid with a bonded chippings finish it now has a much harder-wearing tarmac surface. This part of the Park’s pathway network had suffered badly when the bottom end of the Park was flooded on two occasions as a consequence of a land drain blockage beneath the A536. This section of the land drain has since been replaced and hence the time was right to also make good the damaged footpath.
In the wake of Wimbledon the Parish Council thought it pertinent to remind local residents of the tennis court booking arrangements for 2010. To reserve the tennis court simply telephone Mrs. Jane Robertson on 07711 623 356. The cost is a nominal £2 per person per hour for an adult and £1 per person per hour for a child aged 16 years and under.
Finally, the Parish Council held the Annual Parish Meeting in May coupled with its own AGM. For your information the newly-elected Chairman of the parish council is now Mr. Kenneth March (01625 426621) and the newly-appointed Vice Chairman is Mr. Graham Parks (01260 224407).
Alan Brennan June 2010

"And you thought you knew everything"

 ►No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times
►Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes
►You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV
►The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum
►The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache
►Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise
►American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating 1 olive from  
    each salad served in first class
►Marilyn Monroe had six toes
►Walt Disney was afraid of mice
►Pearls melt in vinegar
►Butterflies taste with their feet
►Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump
►A snail can sleep for three years. (That's a lot of sermons!)
►On average, 100 people choke on ballpoint pens every year
►No word in the English language rhymes with 'month'
►Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
    never stop growing.  Scary!
►All polar bears are left-handed
►An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (No jokes about politicians
    please)
►TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using only one row
    of the ‘Qwerty’ keyboard

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NEW ARRANGEMENT FOR HIRE OF

TENNIS COURT

Please obtain key for the court from 5 Thornycroft Close
(behind Village Shop).
Please ring 01625 267342 to book a court.