Bats at Saint Botolph’s!
The Church of England Bats in Churches Project recently set up detectors in Helpston and Bainton churches, and took away samples for analysis. We now know we have three species of bats across the two churches: Common Pipistrelle and Long-eared in Helpston, and Soprano and Common Pipistrelles in Bainton.
On Tuesday 20th September at 7pm, Diana Spencer from the Project will be coming to St Botolph’s, Helpston, to talk about these interesting and important creatures, their relationship to our church buildings, and how we live with them. And if we’re lucky they may be flitting around the churchyard…
Free entry. Refreshments afterwards. All welcome.
Barnack Multi-Use Sports Court Now Open For Bookings
We are delighted to announce that the Sports Court in the grounds of Barnack Primary School is now open for community use. To use this court you must first become a member.
To register please visit https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/BarnackSportsCourt
Once signed up you can make bookings online or via the App and will be given the padlock codes for both the shed and the sports court. Please ensure they are both locked after use.
Membership is free for 12 months to residents of Barnack and Pilsgate, if you join before September 30th. After that date it will be £25 per household per year (rolling 12 month membership).
Residents of Ashton, Bainton, Southorpe and Ufford are welcome to join for £25 per household per year.
An additional perk, given that the court is part of the Lawn Tennis Association, is that members will qualify to enter ballot for Wimbledon tickets that will be allocated to the club.
To ensure this facility stays in good condition and that everyone enjoys its use, please follow the rules listed opposite.
Instructions
This facility can be used for Tennis, Basketball, Netball, five-a-side football or for other sports such as fitness training. Tennis nets are stored in the shed and must be put away again for storage after use (see instructions in shed).
Play should end 5 minutes before the next session so that the next users are able to start on time. Similarly, play should end 5 minutes before closing time, so that the facility and the school grounds are vacated by the published finish time.
Parking
No parking is allowed on the school grounds. Please use the Village Hall car park.
Sports Court Rules
Only registered Members of the Barnack Sports Club may book and use this court
Primary school children should be supervised
No dogs are allowed on the school playing field or this Sports Court
Only sports footwear, such as trainers or tennis shoes, should be worn on the court
No roller skating, roller blading, skateboards, bicycles or scooters allowed
No alcohol or glass on the court
No music, fireworks or BBQ’s
Please respect nearby residents and keep noise to a minimum
Please take any litter away when finished or use the bin provided
Please ensure the gate is locked and padlocked when you leave.
Harvest Festivals
This of all years it seems right to be celebrating God’s giving to us in the harvest, and the work of our farmers. Each of our churches will be holding a harvest festival service – including Ufford. Please bring offerings suitable for the Stamford and Peterborough food banks. In particular, shower gel, tinned meats and vegetables (there’s normally plenty of beans), shop-bought jam (no home-made, please), and long-life milk. Collections of non-perishable foods continue all year round in Wittering, Barnack, Helpston, and Bainton.
Wittering Harvest Festival and Harvest Picnic: 11th September at 10.30 am
Barnack: 18th September at 9.30 am
Helpston: 18th September at 10.45 am
Ufford: 18th September at 4.30 pm
Bainton: 25th September at 9 am
Choral Evensong with the Stamford Singers
On 9 October, as well as the regular services, the Stamford Singers will be joining us for a Benefice Choral Evensong at St John’s Barnack at 4.30 pm. The Stamford Singers gave us a lovely concert last Christmas, and they will be contributing to the following order of service:
• Introit – A Prayer of King Henry VI – Henry Ley
• Hymn – Be Still and Know that I am God
• Responses – Ayleward
• Psalm 143
• Setting – Harwood in A flat
• Anthem – The Lord Bless You and Keep You – John Rutter
• Hymn – The Day Thou Gavest
Life Events
Baptised: Sophie and Harry Lawrie (Helpston)
RIP: Alan Holmes (Ashton)
Ride and Stride
10 September is the annual Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust “Ride and Stride”. Participants visit as many churches as possible, and can be sponsored per church or “lump sum”.
I’ll be doing it again and I’ll “cap” the number of churches I charge for at 20! My aim this year is to get round 4 of the former abbeys and priories built from Barnack stone – Peterborough Cathedral, Thorney and Croyland Abbeys and St James Deeping – and visit all the other churches en route.
The Historic Churches Trust are a great bunch and I’m sure we will depend on them for support with maintenance or reordering in the future.
However much you raise, half goes to the Historic Churches Trust and the other half goes to the participant’s church. So I’ll be dividing “my” half evenly between the four parishes in the benefice.
If you would like to sponsor me please grab me / email me and we’ll put you on the form.
If, even better, you’d like to cycle (or walk) for your personal parish, the website is here. It’s a great way to get to know the area and its beautiful churches.
Reverend Gary
Barnack Church Coffee Stop
is now kindly hosted by
The Millstone.
We meet every Wednesday
10.30-12.00.
All Welcome
MOVE WITH BEN
As the heat of summer subsides we want to replace those languid afternoons with a little more movement. The weather may be cooling, but we don’t need to switch the heating on yet as the more you can move, the more you can generate your own heat – and it’s a lot cheaper than what’s on offer at the moment by the energy companies!
The following exercise is perfect for upper back mobility. Only go as far as is comfortable!
1. With feet as wide as possible, bend your right knee whilst straightening your left leg. Raise you right arm and reach over your head. Drive your arm under as shown in the first photo.
2. Keeping your feet wide, return to the centre and repeat on the other side, using the opposite arm and knee (as in photo 2.
Ben Cuthbert is a movement coach for people who have rarely exercised, suffering with certain heath issues, or simply hate the idea of going to a gym.
The Arts Soc. Peterborough
September 8th: The Arts Society Peterborough at The Fleet, PE2 8DL, come and join our friendly group for our monthly lecture, which this month is ‘ Morocco Blues- Why and How Morocco got painted blue’, by Elizabeth Gowing.
Lectures start at 10-45am but doors open at 10-15 for coffee and a chat.
For more information visit: www.the-arts-society-peterborough.org.uk.
U3A Visit to St. John the Baptist Church, Barnack
We visited the beautiful church of St John the Baptist with our U3A Church Tea group on the 11th of August. We were greeted by the Rector and shown the many items of interest within the church by Mrs Liz Young, who also took us through the varied history of the building which dates, in part, back to Anglo-Saxon times and includes an Anglo-Saxon carving of Christ in the Byzantine style. This was discovered under the floor of the north aisle in 1931 and is variously attributed to the 11th or 13th century. Most of the stained glass is 19th century and mixed with several windows of plain glass that makes the interior of the church quite light and airy. Also 19th century is the mosaic reredos, depicting four angels. Other points of interest are several memorials, in particular that of Francis Whitstone and his wife, as well as his sons and daughters.
A very worthwhile church to visit; it is very old with many interesting features, but has managed to escape the worst depredations of the Civil War, and the Victorian additions are definite enhancements.
Michael Bratley Memorial Service
A memorial service for Michael will take place on Sunday, 25th September, 2022 at 3.00p.m. In St. Mary’s Church, Bainton
The Buttercross Club
On Wednesday, August 3rd, the club members met at the Reading Room. A small group remained in the Reading Room and a second group set off on a walk led by Sarah Lambert who is a board member of the Langdyke Countryside Trust and is an ecological consultant. The Trust is a charitable organisation whose aim is the conservation, protection and heritage of the natural environment in Peterborough and surrounding country areas. The members who took part in the walk were particularly interested in what Sarah could point out in our locality. They were taken via the Buttercross to St Mary’s churchyard and on to Bainton Wash Dyke (the former sheep dip). They returned to the Reading Room via the nature reserve. On their return the walkers said that thanks to Sara hit was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative walk – and not too exhausting even though the weather remained very warm. We are grateful to Sarah who gave of her time freely and the Buttercross Club has made a donation to the Trust.
There was also a display of photographs of the work done by the Langdyke Countryside Trust in the Reading Room with information about our area. This was aimed chiefly at the members who decided not to embark on the walk. They stayed in the Reading Room and we had a quiz, 35 questions across a number of topics. There was a prize for the winner. When the walkers arrived back refreshments were served.
The next Buttercross meeting is in the Reading Room on Wednesday, 7th September. It begins at our usual start time of 7:45pm and is a talk by Sue Jakeman about beekeeping. She was recommended to us by a member who had been invited to one of her talks and said it was very interesting and entertaining.
Mallard Pass Development
I am sure you are aware of the proposed development of Mallard Pass.
Mallard Pass Solar Farm is proposed to be located on 2238 acres of agricultural land either side of the East Coast main line just north of Stamford.
Villages affected: Essendine, Carlby, Braceborough, Greatford, Barholm, Uffington, Ryhall and Belmesthorpe
It affects at least another 10 villages within a 3 mile radius, as well as being under 1 miles from Stamford.
To put it into perspective perhaps, the development will be the size of 1400 football pitches.
Find out more by following the link below
https://www.mallardpassactiongroup.com/
Or if you might like to sign the petition, see link below, to stop this development.
https://www.mallardpassactiongroup.com/petition/
Royal British Legion Barnack and District Branch
On Tuesday, October 4th we shall be presenting our annual Charles Clark Memorial Lecture in Barnack Village Hall. The speaker will be Chris Hunt of the Stamford Local History Society. His subject is the Americans at Walcot Hall during WW2.
Chris is a well-known and enthusiastic local historian and has unearthed some very interesting details to illustrate his topic. The RAF used Walcot Hall in the early years of the war, but then the property became the command centre for the American 67th Fighter Wing. We shall learn of the impact the Americans had on Barnack and the local area, as well as the nature of their mission here.
The lecture will begin at 7.30 pm preceded by refreshments from 7 pm.
Admission is £3 for RBL members and £5 for non-members.
Brian Palmer (Hon. Sec)
BOWLS UPDATE
The Stamford League has almost finished. Congratulations to the Saxons team gaining 6th position in Division 2 and the Vikings team attaining 4th place in Division 3. The Vikings have also done very well to reach the semi-finals of the Boor & Wainwright Competition. The Club 55 team are still keeping fingers crossed to stay in the Premier Division of the Peterborough League. At the moment they hold 6th position with 2 matches left to play. The Friendly teams have enjoyed their matches although some have been cancelled by the opposition unable to field a full team and very recently the extreme hot weather has resulted in other cancellations.
The hot sunshine has also been a major factor in the state of the green. Much time and effort has been given to maintaining a good playing surface. All greens locally have suffered similarly. Barnack green will stay open for play until the end of September.
MESSY CHURCH IS BACK AGAIN!
For families, carers and children. on 25th September, at Barnack Church, 4pm.
Come along at 4pm for snacks and drinks ready to hear about God’s Wonderful World, and what we are doing together during the afternoon to celebrate it. All done by 5.30pm.
Lots of painting, pasting, collaging and a play corner for the very young. Bible story, music and a prayer.
A warm welcome to all.
More information: Mike Mills 07523 312387, Carol Summers 07715 460177, Julie Stanton 07885 563128
Messy Church dates for your diary: 16th October, 20th November, 11th December.
Barnack Village Hall has WIFI!
We have finally installed a broadband connection at Barnack Village Hall, enabling hirers to access the WIFI during their period of hire. We hope that this should make the village hall even more appealing to future hirers,as well as being a welcome addition to the facility’s resources for the current regular clubs.
We have been debating the cost-benefit of getting WIFI for a few years now, but particularly during the pandemic we realised it was starting to become a limiting factor to many prospective hirers, deciding whether to use Barnack or go elsewhere.
In other news, the BCA team will be meeting again in September – following a bit of a break after the Jubilee celebrations! – to plan our Autumn and Winter socials, so watch out in the next edition and on our Facebook page @BCABarnack, for what we come up with.
Hope you have all had a lovely Summer and look forward to seeing you at one of our events over the next few months.
The BCA Team
High Energy Bills Help
The following information was received from an energy supplier which may help anyone who is experiencing difficulties paying energy bills.
With the rising costs of everything these days many people may be experiencing some issues with payment for fuels etc. The various charities below may be able to help with a payment plan.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs1_help_with_heating_costs_fcs.pdf
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-help-paying-your-bills/grants-and-benefits-to-help-you-pay-your-energy-bills/