For the fifth year in succession, early on each evening in December a village window will be unveiled to reveal a Christmas scene, in the manner of a flap being opened on an Christmas Advent Calendar. We begin with the magical transformation of the normally rather drab village bus shelter into a cosy interior on Christmas Eve, when the children are safely in bed……
More photos on the next page……inside the bus shelter…..the opening ceremony with mulled wine, sausage rolls and mince pies….construction works…..the fish and chips van……a little history of the shelter….
Click on “Read the rest of this entry”.
After a thoroughly wet morning the rain relented by mid afternoon and a record crowd was tempted out well before the 5.30 pm deadline for the unveiling.
Five-thirty and all is revealed!
The opening ceremony coincided with the monthly appearance of the fish and chips van…..,
…..to the evident delight….
……of many of the party goers!
As is now the custom with tv nature programmes, after the performance comes an explanation of how it was done:
Pim, the sole remaining representative of many contributors, puts the finishing touches to the chimney….
…..and a suitable screen is in place to hide the contents of the bus shelter until the unveiling.
A final lick of paint.
John the Postman – to collect the letters addressed to the North Pole perhaps?
However the press, in the form of the Village Website editor, is granted a brief preview.
HISTORY OF THE BUS SHELTER (Re-cycled from last year!)
Photograph: Colin Wootton
Bus shelter under construction in 1964 (Left to Right: Sandy Munro, Sidney Wootton, Aubrey Carpenter (in background), Ken Lake and Fred Golby (on scaffolding).
Photograph: Colin Wootton
The bus shelter in 1974. The magnificent elm tree in the background stood in a field which is now part of Peter and Clare Pollak’s garden. It perished from Dutch Elm Disease in that year, as did all of the other wonderful elm trees in the Parish.
Such a joy each year and so lovely to see so many familiar faces despite the contrast of working a charity sausage sizzle in 35 degrees. (Note to self never again) Sulgrave you are the most beautiful community and will always be my home. This will be my sneaky daily login at work and if I get caught it will worth it.xx
A wonderful series of photos Colin, and seeing the shelter when it was first built is fascinating. Aaah thosecwonderful elms that graced this village and are now no more.
Thanks so much to all who attended this opening, is it a record turn out? Finally, thanks to the small band who performed the miracle of changing a drab shelter into a cosy home!
I expect that Jo is still trying to explain to Harriet that there isn’t a real man stuck in the chimney and that the legs didn’t really move at all.