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A big thank you to all residents, who have decorated their homes, making the village look so festive again this year.
Enormous thanks to the residents of The Witheys who have collectively put on a fantastic display of lights.
There were so many excellent displays to choose from, after careful consideration this year’s winners are:-
Best House – Stephen & Sarah Pidgeon, 90 Bristol Road
Best Business – Lucy Knight, Hair by Knight, Bristol Road
Highly commended, 28 Staunton Fields and 20 Orchard Park
Friday 6th December 2019 saw the Village Lights Switch On, and despite the earlier rain, a fantastic crowd of about 200 gathered around the centre of the Village.
The evening started with Father Christmas arriving from Staunton Fields having completed a village tour. As his sleigh had some technical problems, an army vehicle decked out with brilliant flashing lights was used, with Santa waving enthusiastically from the back of the vehicle.
Then after several practice countdowns, Santa switched on the lights in the Millennium Garden. One of the two large Christmas trees was kindly donated by Whitchurch Village Fete Committee, to whom we are very grateful.
After Santa had crossed the A37, he then led a procession of children, parents and onlookers towards St Nicholas Church, where the children of Whitchurch Primary School sang some lovely ‘Christmassy’ songs from a stage that had been set up in the Church grounds. The children were brilliant as always.
The crowd then sang along to several carols before going into the Church Hall for mulled wine and mince pies. Father Christmas was also very busy handing out sweets to all the children.
Our thanks go to all of you who attended this lovely festive event. The support of the public, our villagers, and the wonderful choir and staff from Whitchurch Primary School is really appreciated.
Our appreciation and acknowledgement of the support we received also goes to:
Tesco Brislington (donation of mince pies and chocolates)
Whitchurch Village Fete Committee (donated one of the trees in Millennium Garden)
Lee Gillam who helped our volunteers to decorate the Christmas trees.
The volunteers who helped with refreshments in the Hall.
St Nicholas Church, for the use of their hall.
The traffic marshals who helped set up the event and ensured safe passage to people crossing the A37.
Matt on the microphone and John, who arranged and set up the sound equipment
And of course, Father Christmas and his driver, who made a special effort to visit us at a very busy time of the year!!
Thanks to your donations, we collected £220.00 for Bristol MIND charity.
If you have any ideas on how we can improve the event do please let us know.
Everyone at Village Council would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
‘Have a Field Day’ was held at the Village Play Park on Saturday 13th July as part of a nationwide celebration of local green spaces. It was a dry warm day and it was fantastic to see so many people enjoying themselves, on the bouncy castle, playing games, having their faces painted, having picnics, as well as using the play equipment.
The races, organised by Matt, from Whitchurch Village Council, were as usual a real favourite and lots of fun was had by the participants, young and old.
.This year, donations collected on the day of £83.00 will be forwarded to Mind, thank you to all those who donated.
WVC would also like to thank Caroline, from the Whitchurch United Reformed Church Knit & Natter group, who laid out a lovely display of knitted and crocheted bunting, flowers etc. which helped make the park look colourful.
This is an annual event organised by Whitchurch Village Council, with all the facilities completely free of charge to the public…….so do look out for details on the website early in 2020.
Sadly, after much discussion, it has been decided that, for various reasons, the annual Whitchurch Village Fete will no longer continue.
This was a difficult decision for the Fete Committee to make, having held yet another successful event on the Fete’s 41st birthday in 2018; but with increasing Health & Safety considerations and fewer volunteers (not to mention the fact that those on the Committee are unfortunately not getting any younger!), it was felt that it was time for the Fete, in its traditional format, to come to an end.
Since it started in 1977, when a small event was held to present souvenir plates to village children under sixteen years old to commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, it has provided an enjoyable August Bank Holiday community event, attended some years by around 3,000 people and has raised thousands of pounds for local charities and organisations. A variety of stalls were on offer, with entertainment in the arena, popular Dog Shows and Horse Shows and flowers, vegetables, crafts etc. in the marquee, as well as bar, refreshment tent and children’s games and sports. Celebrities gave their time to officially open the Fete – from BBC’s presenter, Alex Lovell to Peter Rabbit and even a Minion! Barn dances and car boot sales were also enjoyed by many over the Bank Holiday weekends.
The Committee would like to thank everyone who has been involved and supported the Fete in one way or another over all the years.
Whitchurch Local History Society has just published this illustrated 56-page A4 size book which is the 3rd volume of ‘memories of Whitchurch life’ contributed by residents.
It costs £5.00 and copies are available by contacting:-
Keith (01275 541512), Sue (01275 834677) or Geoff (01275 830869)
The local 107th Scouts have vacancies
Consultation closing soon – 20th March
Draft Joint Local Transport Plan
Summary and Full documents available here:
Joint Local Transport Plan
Whitchurch Village Council has provided a response to the plan.
A big thank you to all residents and businesses, who have decorated their homes/premises, making the village look so festive again this year.
There were so many fantastic displays to choose from, but after careful consideration this year’s winners are:-
Best House – Martin Squires, Blackacre
Best Business – Smartmove, Bristol Road
After another successful Whitchurch Village Fete on the August Bank Holiday Monday, the Committee was able to donate cheques totalling £5,250 to 19 local charities/organisations at their Presentation Evening at the Whitchurch Royal British Legion on November 22nd.
Recipients were:-
Freewheelers Blood Bikes
Enchante Baton Twirlers
Pegasus Hawking Birds of Prey
107th Bristol (Whitchurch) Scout Group
Shaolin Wushu Martial Arts
RBL Poppy Appeal
St John Ambulance
St Peter’s Hospice
The Littlest Rescue
Barbarians Rugby Club
St Bernadette Primary School
Funding Animal Futures
Radio Bristol Alive Appeal
Jake Ogbourne
St Bernadette RC Church
Marmalade Trust
Gympanzees
Holly Hedge
St Nicholas Church