Sulgrave Village Advent Calendar Windows 2023. No 20 on Wednesday 20th December. 12 Spinners Cottages, Magpie Road.

December 21st, 2023

Photograph by Tony Keatley

Kym writes: “Very different and really lovely. Rachael had gone to a lot of trouble with her wonderful home make mincemeat brownie and choc rockie road cake, think I have that right. Sausage rolls & veggie too. Lovely mulled cider. To top it all we had a wonderful history lesson. Really lovely to talk to you and Erik, very interesting. Thank you both so much. Tomorrow night is at Kiln Cottage, bottom of Manor Rd. hope to see lots of you out – come on we only have 4 to go and then Jane and I can have a break. Thank you to all of you that have came out. Much appreciated. I feel bad when there are a few of you who are always putting into a good cause. Come on folks do what you can. We are nearly there. Plus it is a wonderful village tradition.

Photographs by Tony Keatley except where otherwise stated.

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Sulgrave Village Advent Calendar Windows 2023. No 19 on Tuesday 19th December. Belmont, Little Street.

December 20th, 2023

Photograph by Graham Roberts

Kym writes: “What a great turnout on a cold evening.  Lovely window, loved the musical sheep, very good. Mulled wine, very hot sausage rolls ! Thank you so much Alice, James, Theo and Elodie. All the children were having great fun. Tomorrow night is at Spinners Cottages. Look forward to seeing you there. Bye for now.”

Photographs by: Tony Keatley, Jo Powell and Graham Roberts

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December on the farm (2023)

December 20th, 2023

High Speed Rail Works at Sulgrave

Richard Fonge writes:

The wet autumn is now turning into a wet start to winter. Our forecasters do seem to over hype the weather more than they used too. We have had many seasons or periods of weather like this before, and for those of us who earn a living from the land, where the weather/climate plays a vital part in our businesses  we in general take it in our stride.

The winter wheat on the Stuchbury footpath is looking sicker, due to water logging and on the maize ground on the other side of the hedge, pools of water are now evident, which is a result of compaction. This continued wet will be making it difficult to harvest potatoes and other seasonal vegetables, mainly grown in the eastern counties, thereby making it a possibility of Christmas shortages.

Vegetable waste and surpluses are used for animal feed. Potatoes and carrots are fed to cattle. When farming near Northampton I used to buy twenty five ton loads of them to include in the dairy cow’s diet. The milking cow’s diet as is the beef animal is a precise science. Most dairy farmers employ a nutritionist to formulate a balanced diet with the food available at the time, with grass the main ingredient either grazed or ensiled as silage. The other product widely used are brewers grains. These are a by product of the brewing industry after the malting process. High in energy and readily available in this area from Carlsberg in Northampton. Sugar beet after the sugar has been extracted is another by product sold in pulp form for animal feed, with the green tops left in the field at lifting being fed to sheep. Waste not want not comes to mind.

As this year draws to its close the continued blight on our landscape of the HS2 works get greater and more unsightly. Never did any of us imagine that so much land and hedgerow would be destroyed in the name of progress.

Finally a true story from the past when tractors had to be started with a handle. Len an employee of my Father’s had a bad day trying to start his, swinging the handle many times. Next morning he said that he had dreamt about it and was woken by his wife as he had got a piece of her nightdress and was turning like his tractor starting handle!!  

Happy Christmas and New Year.

Richard Fonge.

Sulgrave Village Advent Calendar Windows 2023. No 18 on Monday 18th December. Lyndhurst, Little Street.

December 19th, 2023

 

TK

Kym writes: Well, hello, everyone. A huge thank you to Jackson, Holly and Dean. What beautiful house decorations. The window is really lovely too. Even the back of the car looked great. Back of the car I hear you say, well you had to be there to understand ! Great food, I didn’t try the mulled wine but oh the hot chocolate and cream went down really well. Even had marshmallows if you wanted them. Thank you so much. Tomorrow night No 19 is at Belmont, Little Street. Look forward to seeing you there. Don’t forget all pictures and write ups will be on the Sulgrave village website (www.sulgrave.org)  But you can still come out and see for yourselves. a few pennies for the pot IF you can would be most welcome.”

Photographs by Tony Keatley (TK) and Graham Roberts (GR)

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Sulgrave Village Advent Celebrations 2023. No 17. Candlelit Carol Service at the Church.

December 18th, 2023

Kym writes: “What a wonderful turn out for the church carol service, which is classed as part of our advent windows. Lovely service. Thank you. Tomorrow’s advent window is at Lyndhurst, Little street, unveiling at 6.30. look forward to seeing you there. To those that haven’t yet found your pennies. Every penny counts.If you can it would be very much appreciated. Don’t be shy if you haven’t managed to get to one yet we still have 7 to go. We do this not just for the charity but for the village.

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Sulgrave Village Advent Calendar Windows 2023. No 16 on Saturday December 16th. Forge Cottage, School Street.

December 17th, 2023

Kym writes: “Another great turnout tonight. Really lovely window, and great use of the scaffolding! Thank you so much Anna and Ben. VERY good mulled wine 🍷 Lovely sausages, sausage rolls and the veggie goats cheese pastry went down well. Thank you to all of you who came, and thank you to those that have been putting into our charity pots. Makes all our hard work worthwhile. Jane bless her has been running round with the cups and flasks. What a team. Tomorrow is the church carol service at 3 pm. No window in the evening yay a night off ! Monday is at Lyndhurst, off Little street. Just follow the stream of torches ! take care and once again Thank you to all of you.

Photographs by Tony Keatley

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Christmas Trees in the Church.

December 16th, 2023

For the first time, various groups and organisations in the village have decorated small Christmas Trees and placed them in the Church in time for the Carol Service on Sunday 17th December at 15.00.

See details of the trees on the next page

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Sulgrave Village Advent Calendar Windows 2023. No 15 on Friday 15th December. Wisteria Cottage, Helmdon Road.

December 16th, 2023

Photograph by Tony Keatley

Kym writes: “Well what a really wonderful turnout tonight, lovely to see so many of you. Thank you all so much. Lovely window, thank you so much Shrimp, Ken and your lovely family. Sausage rolls and mince pies very nice and mulled wine too. Tomorrow night is at Forge Cottage, School Street. Thank you again for coming out and we look forward to seeing you there.”

Photographs by Tony Keatley and Graham Roberts.

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Sulgrave Village Advent Calendar Windows 2023. No 14 on Thursday 14th December. The Old Farm House, Manor Road.

December 15th, 2023

Kym writes: “First of all sorry if you’re bored with the updates.! Too bad you only have 10 to go.! BUT I know from feed back that some of you are loving them. No 14 Great turn out for Sarah and Andrew. Lovely window. Thank you so much for doing a window again. Your enthusiasm is wonderful, Sarah. The port was very warming along with the sausage rolls, sausages, mince pies & sweets. Thank you so much. Thank you for all of you who attended. I’m sure you will agree a good turnout. Thank you to your son and daughter for serving. Sorry I don’t know your names. All photos and write ups will be on the Sulgrave village website. Thank you for taking the time to read. Until tomorrow good night. P.s. no claim on the shopping list !!”

Photographs by Tony Keatley

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Sulgrave Village Advent Calendar Windows 2023. No 13 on Wednesday 13th December. Mulberry Barn, off Little Street.

December 14th, 2023

Kym writes: “A fair turnout tonight, I do have to admit it was cold. Thank you to those of you who did brave it. Lovely window, well done mum for your painting, very good. Thank you to Rowena & Ollie for the really delicious pies – really good – and mulled wine. Sorry one of you is missing a shopping list. Not sure what Katharine House should do with it !!!! Maybe frame it. Ha ha. Tomorrow night is at The Old Farm House, Manor Road. Hope to see lots of you there. If you can please don’t forget to bring some pennies ( not shopping lists) Good night for now.”

Photographs by Tony Keatley.

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