The Star Inn will soon be under new management and the new Landlords are planning a Family Fun Day on Saturday 30th June They write as follows:

Steve, Niki and Millie look forward to welcoming you to The Star Inn

We will be starting off with our Family Fun Day Celebrations on the 30^th June. We hope you can join us. Please come and support our local Primary School, who will be raising funds for their playground project.

We will initially be running a temporary bar menu for two weeks, with local Chef’s, who have very kindly offered to step in! Our new Chef will join us at The Star, from Tuesday 17^th July.

Popular events in the pub will continue. New ideas will be introduced, some of which have already been requested by villagers. It is lovely to see so many of you getting excited, and wanting to join in, using The Star as your community hub. The Star is a beautiful pub, with a fantastic garden. Hopefully the British Summer will be kind to us, so we can utilise this.

If any of you would like to set up a new club or have any reasonable requests (we did turn down happy hours from 6-9 I am afraid. I will not name, will leave you to guess who?) Please feel free to come and see us.

As well as a new menu, we plan to do a take away service. Details will follow shortly.

Keep an eye out for extended weekend opening hours. Especially now the warm weather is upon us. Long may it last.

You should have received your flyers for the 30^th June. For those of you who know my daughter Chloe, she will be organising a fun dog show, for you to bring your pooches to. Chloe works at a vet in Abington. Entry fee is £1 per class. There will be an independent judge, as Chloe knows far too many of you. Classes will begin around 3pm, and are as follows;

Dog most like its owner

Most Appealing Eyes

Best child handler (under 12)

Best trick

Musical sit

Best 6 legs

Most suited pub dog – Landlord’s choice

* We hope to see you soon *

John Sheppard writes:

I have been thinking recently of my childhood and my first interest in what was to become a lifetime passion, wildlife. I remember with a twinge of guilt the hours spent with my head inside a hedge looking for bird nests with a view to adding to my egg collection. This activity is frowned upon today, quite rightly, but it was an informative part of my knowledge of birds and their habitat. This reminiscing caused me to ponder some of the birds and mammals that we struggle to see now that were relatively common then.

More information and pictures on the next page. (Click “read the rest of this entry”)

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On a perfect May afternoon of bright sunshine and cloudless blue skies, many villagers drifted down to the Star Inn, still starry eyed from watching, on televisions big and small, the “fairy tale come true” that was the Royal Wedding. The idea of celebrating this event with a barbecue and games had been suggested at the annual get together of the Star Inn Aunt Sally team. The afternoon therefore gave everyone an opportunity to try Aunt Sally and the more traditional skittles as well as enjoying the ever popular dog show. Refreshments varied from burgers with a range of Hook Norton ales to tea in proper china cups and saucers, with delicious home made cakes.

Click on “read the rest of this entry” to see photographs of the event.

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To celebrate the occasion of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Aunt Sally Group and The Star Inn are putting on a barbecue in the pub gardens from 2.00 pm. Other activities will include an Aunt Sally Competition, Dog Show and games for the children. Tickets for the barbecue are £6 and can be obtained from the Star.

Troy Daniels (of Helmdon Road and PC member) is a member of Gospel Bell and he describes Gospel Bell as an ensemble of musicians and singers based in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, playing gospel blues and country music.

Troy writes: “we play songs from old American poor black (blues) and white (country) music traditions, songs by artists like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Blind Willy Johnson, etc.  All the songs that we play have been purposely chosen to be recognisable (such as ‘Let the Light From Your Lighthouse Shine on Me’; ‘Glory, Glory, Hallelujah’; and ‘I’ll Fly Away’), all have simple choruses so the audience can sing along with us.  The songs have their basis in rural poverty and contain strong expressions of faith – despite the difficult lives that the song writers and their contemporaries led. We aim to share these songs in different settings. These traditional Gospel songs have an uplifting spiritual edge, blended with musical influences from folk, blues and country. Our regular gigs are inclusive and all are welcome to join us. To reflect this, we describe the coming together of instruments and voices as the Gospel Bell collective. There is a rich tradition of Gospel music and Gospel Bell sustains this by drawing on blues, folk and country music influences to re-create these songs. Our songs are easy to learn and by joining in with voice and instrument, event participants become part of the Gospel Bell collective.”

http://gospelbell.com/

This will be a great event for all to attend and even sing along with the band!

Tickets to be purchased before the event from Shrimp Christy, Ingram Lloyd or from the Shop.

Cost £10 per adult and all children over 11 years old.  Children under 11 years £2.

Refreshments will include cake, sandwiches and tea.  Any offers of help will be very welcome

This is a fund-raising concert and all proceeds will go to St James the Less

Some three or four years ago, the footpaths in Little Street were reconstructed. After several months, the contractors returned and spread loose gravel over them to a considerable depth. This was never properly rolled in and it was not long before it spread onto the verges, over the carriageway and eventually and annoyingly into people’s houses via boots and shoes and under the pedals of parked cars.

Repeated requests to the Highway Authority to remove the excess gravel brought nothing more than a visit by a mechanical road sweeper which picked up minimal amounts in between the many parked cars.

At a recent Parish Council Meeting, it was reported that the County Council was more or less bankrupt. Libraries were to close. Bus subsidies would be discontinued. There would be very limited funds for road repairs and these would be restricted to urgent cases. It was clear that further requests for the removal of the gravel would necessarily fall on deaf ears.

During the public forum following the formal Parish Council meeting, the mood of despair gradually changed to one of optimism. “We must fend for ourselves” was the cry. Whilst not quite deciding to appoint our own constable to keep the peace and to educate our own children, it was agreed that an energetic task force of village volunteers ought to be able to remove the worst of the gravel.

So it was that on a recent Sunday morning volunteers with shovels and brooms emerged from almost every house in Little Street and many from elsewhere. A prior request for residents temporarily to park their cars elsewhere in the village was universally observed and by 10.30 the street looked much as it did in the 1940s.

As always with Sulgrave community events, it was a cheerful crowd that swept and scraped and shovelled to such good effect that “job done” was declared well in time for midday refreshments at the local hostelry! It was also a good opportunity for several people newly arrived in the village and indeed in Little Street itself, to meet up with their neighbours.

More photos on the next page. Click on: “Read the rest of this entry”.

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