News

Recently published is a book by Todd Gray entitled “Devon’s 50 Best Churches”. Littlehempston resident, Peggy Upham, went to the launch and reports it is an excellent source of information that features our St John the Baptist’s Church, a great honour considering there are over 600 churches in the county. There are more details on the Stevens Books website, but this quality book is well worth investigating. It would make a good Christmas gift for both visitors and local people, providing a great incentive for planning interesting days out.

The book is available at Totnes Bookshop, who have kindly offered to donate £1 to the Littlehempston Community Space fund for every copy sold during November 2011. (This offer can’t be used in conjunction with other discounts).  A good opportunity to find out more about this beautiful building, while helping to preserve its future.

Jenny Galton-Fenzi reports most lyrically here:  As early morning mists cleared on Saturday 1st October, ghostly figures could be seen flitting among the gravestones in Littlehempston churchyard. Villagers had turned out in force to support the first Littlehempston Big Mow.

Since Littlehempston joined the nationwide Living Churchyard movement in the spring and stopped cutting the grass regularly (except for access to recent graves), surveys have revealed an amazing biodiversity of wildflowers, ferns, grasses, insects – and eighty-eight different types of lichens! However, the time for cutting came round at last, and villagers assembled under the direction of the Rev Nicholas Pearkes to mow, strim, rake and clip. In true mowing tradition, Professor Colin Platt handed round a flagon of cold cider to encourage the team.

We hope the Littlehempston Big Mow will become an annual event – a great way to encourage wildlife, tidy the churchyard – and burn off a few calories!

Thanks, Jenny, for the lovely photos that appear in the Gallery.

The Harvest Lunch was blessed with sunshine, good food and wine. Gerald and Judy Hine-Haycock provided an excellent and ample lunch for over 50 villagers, helped by NatWest volunteers who gave up their Sunday to serve food and even wash up!  A big thank you to all those, who supplied a range of tasty starters and raffle prizes. It was lovely soaking up the sun out in the garden and everyone went home very happy (some were even a bit merry).  A perfect way to raise over £700 for the Community Space fund. Remind yourself of the sunshine by looking at the Gallery photos!

This event was a great success with the church full of stalls, heaving with local produce and goodies. Organisers, Sandra Law and Chris Waters, were hugely impressed by everyone’s generosity: much help was received from Lindy Collard, Nicky Oldridge, Christine Lyons, Sonia Cuneco and her daughter, Celeste. Nicky’s chocolate cake looked so wonderful that it became 1st prize in the raffle, and was won by Bee Criddle. Ann Life, Gerald Hine-Haycock and one of the Ride and Striders won other prizes. The sale not only raised an amazing £384.47, but was also a thoroughly enjoyable occasion.

This year’s Littlehempston Fete was a great success: the sun was shining, the evening balmy and a wide range of entertainments, stalls, animals, birds, and all sorts of traditional activities were thoroughly enjoyed by all. Homemade cakes in the tea tent went like wildfire, as did the wonderfully tasty roast pork baps and local sausages and hamburgers. It’s the village that makes the Fete, and this one was great fun and enjoyed by all!  With receipts from a “mop-up” car boot sale to sell remaining contributions and some generous contributions, a total of £2,125 was raised for the Community Space project.

Thanks to all you volunteers and to Mike Wellum, who took the photos for our Gallery.