News

James Dunn in his 2018 chairman’s report at the recent annual meeting of the Community Space revealed what a variety of activities are now on offer – he particularly welcomed the establishment of the Youth Club and also the very popular Craft Club. The finance report showed that the income from events and activities covered oil, electricity, heating maintenance, cleaning, Youth Club staff and the yearly repayment of the building works loan (£2,570). Thanks were given for support from the Tally’s Quiz Night, Littlehempston Lottery and Littlehempston Fete – the donation of £2,417 from the fete paid for the heating, supported the Youth Club, and provided a bench and children’s workshop in the community orchard.

Most of the programme for 2019 is sorted, but one more BIG IDEA is needed. Get in touch if you have a suggestion, please! The team could also do with one or two more people, as Liz Miller, Jenny Galton Fenzi and Kendal Tredinnick have retired. (Thank you!) Meetings are friendly, fast and involve good humour and wine. Please get in touch if you have a couple of hours a month to spare or if you’d like copies of the annual reports.

Support for the 2019 Littlehempston Lottery has been great and the first quarterly draw took place in March with the lucky winners coming from Gatcombe and the village. A cheque for £133 was presented to the Space – last year the Lottery helped kickstart the Youth Club. All suggestions on activities to support this year are welcome!

A commemorative English oak (Quercus robur) was planted on March 16th on Littlehempston’s community land to commemorate the purchase of Lot 7 by the village on 15 March 2018. Pictured here, braving a howling sou’westerly, are Skye Price, Mike Thomas, Jenny Galton-Fenzi, John Floyd who supervised the operation, and Jim Price. Thanks to John Todd, who dug the hole – it took him longer than he thought, as he hit the foundations of the old building that used to be there, and dug up a lot of stone, and what might be limestone flags. Thanks also to Isabel Rodwell who funded the purchase of the sapling by raffling her quilt.

The oak joins the ten new apple trees that were planted in the orchard in January, each one in memory of a local resident. The Lot 7 trustees are taking orders for more apple trees for an autumn planting in memory of people with a special connection to Littlehempston. Cost is £35 per apple tree, and another £30 if you want a brass plaque. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more.

It is said that oaks spend 300 years growing, 300 years living and 300 years dying. But English oaks are also vulnerable to climate change. What kind of changes will our oak see?

The formal notices of Parish and District Council Elections have now been published. You can read them by clicking on these links to the Notice of Parish Council Election and Notice of District Council Election. If either election is contested, the poll will take place on Thursday 2nd May.

The South Devon Steiner School are looking for Host families for their Summer Language School from July 21st to August 8th. You can earn something like £280 per week for hosting 2 students (minimum is 2). If you have space, you could host more. It could also be a great opportunity for your children to spend some time with young people (14 to 19) from other countries. More information in the attached flyer.

Only joking, you can keep your clothes on for this one! Do you have any special photos of Littlehempston? Would you like to see them published in a calendar? The Community Space team are hoping to produce a 2020 calendar and welcome any photos that you think illustrate the parish throughout the year or snaps from the past that you would like to share. Later in the year we’ll be asking for your submissions, but for the moment, bear it in mind, keep snapping and rummaging through the archives.

The Space Team are also looking for somebody to help with this project – maybe a photography student or somebody keen on IT or art? Please get in touch if you can lend a hand!